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To significantly reduce the occurrence of severe traffic accidents, reducing the number of vehicles in urban areas should be considered. Personal mobility is essential for realizing this reduction, which requires consideration of the last-/first-mile problem. The overall objective of our research is to solve this problem using standing-type personal mobility vehicles as transportation devices; however, to evaluate the feasibility of such vehicles as future mobility devices, it is necessary to evaluate their operation under real-world conditions. Therefore, in this study, experimental and survey data relating to the velocity, stability, safety, and comfort of a standing-type personal mobility device are obtained to evaluate its performance in three different scenarios. The results show that the personal mobility vehicle is socially well received and can be safely operated on sidewalks, irrespective of the gender or age of the driver; moreover, the results suggest that subjects who routinely use a bicycle are adept at avoiding and absorbing the impacts of small holes and bumps, thereby yielding reduced acceleration values (in all directions) and pitch, roll, and yaw rates. This is anticipated to benefit the future development of personal mobility devices and help realize effective and accessible public transport systems, as well as reduce the number of vehicles in urban areas.

This study investigated the effects of supervision on autonomous wheelchairs, which are considered to be a means of future transportation. A rider using an automated wheelchair needs to be vigilant about the failure modes of the system. This study focused on the effects of human factors on an automated system. Several experiments were conducted in public areas to investigate the influence of human factors including acceptability, capability, and usability on the supervision of an automated system by using questionnaires. The average reaction time from the occurrence of system failure until the emergency switch is activated was found to be similar in all the experiments for all test tracks. Regarding the positions of the subject's hand, several patterns for pushing the emergency switch were observed. The method of supervision for pushing the emergency switch was the same among all subjects, even though they had different attitudes. Most subjects had favourable opinions on the automated wheelchair, whereas some found the supervision bothersome. The results reveal the conditions under which future users would prefer to use the automated wheelchair, given the expected cost and functions. The real-world experimental data are valuable for developing automated wheelchairs and effective human–machine interfaces on automated systems.

Background Clinical observations have shown that there is a relationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and atypical lymphocytes in the peripheral blood; however, knowledge about the time course of the changes in atypical lymphocytes and the association with the clinical course of COVID-19 is limited. Objective Our purposes were to investigate the dynamics of atypical lymphocytes in COVID-19 patients and to estimate their clinical significance for diagnosis and monitoring disease course. Materials and methods We retrospectively identified 98 inpatients in a general ward at Kashiwa Municipal Hospital from May 1st, 2020, to October 31st, 2020. We extracted data on patient demographics, symptoms, comorbidities, blood test results, radiographic findings, treatment after admission and clinical course. We compared clinical findings between patients with and without atypical lymphocytes, investigated the behavior of atypical lymphocytes throughout the clinical course of COVID-19, and determined the relationships among the development of pneumonia, the use of supplemental oxygen and the presence of atypical lymphocytes. Results Patients with atypical lymphocytes had a significantly higher prevalence of pneumonia (80.4% vs. 42.6%, p < 0.0001) and the use of supplemental oxygen (25.5% vs. 4.3%, p = 0.0042). The median time to the appearance of atypical lymphocytes after disease onset was eight days, and atypical lymphocytes were observed in 16/98 (16.3%) patients at the first visit. Atypical lymphocytes appeared after the confirmation of lung infiltrates in 31/41 (75.6%) patients. Of the 13 oxygen-treated patients with atypical lymphocytes, approximately two-thirds had a stable or improved clinical course after the appearance of atypical lymphocytes. Conclusion Atypical lymphocytes frequently appeared in the peripheral blood of COVID-19 patients one week after disease onset. Patients with atypical lymphocytes were more likely to have pneumonia and to need supplemental oxygen; however, two-thirds of them showed clinical improvement after the appearance of atypical lymphocytes.

Personal Mobility Robots, such as the Seqway may be the remedy for the transportation related problems in the congested environment, especially for the last and first mile problems of the elderly people. However, the vehicle segmentation issues for the mobility robots, impede the use of these devices on the shared paths. The mobility reports can only be used in the designated areas and private facilities. The traffic regulatory institutions lack robot-society interaction database. In this study, we proposed methods and algorithms which can be employed on a widespread computing device, such as an Android tablet, to gather travel information and rider behavior making use of the motion and position sensors of the tablet PC. The methods we developed, first filter the noisy sensor readings using a complementary filter, then align the body coordinate system of the device to the Segway's motion coordinate. A couple of state of the art classification methods are integrated to classify the braking states of the Segway. The classification algorithms are not limited to classification of the braking states, but they can be used for other motion related maneuvers on the road surfaces. The detected braking states and the other classified features related to the motion are reflected to the screen of the Android tablet to inform the rider about the riding and motion conditions. The developed Android application also gathers these travel information to build a National database for further statistical analysis of the robot-society interaction. A mobile application is developed for classification of braking states.The Sparse and Collaborative Representation based Classifications are used.The developed signal filtering and classification modules is accurate and robust.The application can be used to classify different dynamical maneuvers of mobility devices.

Comparison of mapping results This paper studies an accurate localization method to make maps for mobile robots using odometry and a global positioning system (GPS) without scan matching. We investigate requirements for GPS accuracy in map-making. To generate accurate maps, SLAM techniques such as scan matching are used to obtain accurate positions. Scan matching is unstable, however, in complex environments and has a high computation cost. To avoid these problems, we studied accurate localization without scan matching. Loop closing is an important property in generating consistent maps. Inconsistencies in maps prevent correct routes to destinations from being generated. Basically, our method adds scan data to a map along a trajectory given by odometry. Odometry accumulates errors due, e.g., to wheel slippage or wheel diameter variations. To remove this accumulated error, we used bundle adjustment, introducing two types of processing. The first is a simple manual input moving a robot to a same position at start and end. This is equal that a robot returns to a start position at end. The second process uses a GPS device to improve map accuracy. Results of experiments showed that an accurate map is generated by using wheel-encoder odometry and a low-cost GPS device. Results were evaluated using a real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS device whose accuracy is within a few centimeters.

In Japan, several types of robotic rollators and walking trolleys have been developed with financial assistance from the Japanese government, and some of them have been commercialized in 2015 and 2016. In this paper, the specifications and features of these devices are presented. Moreover, the physically assistive effects of these devices in elderly users are verified and discussed using the results of fundamental function tests and verification experiments.

Aiming to eliminate a labor shortage caused by the aging of society, many kinds of service robots are under development. Nursing care for the elderly is considered as a typical application of service robots, especially in Japan. Elderly care robots or robotic care device must be designed with safety, but not a few manufacturers are inexperienced in designing and manufacturing them on the basis of safety. In this paper, we introduce a risk assessment assistance tool for robotic care device targeted for inexperienced manufacturers of risk assessment.

To date, agent-based social simulation (ABSS) is a popular method to study the behavior of a social system and the interaction of the constituent members of the system. With the development of computer and information technologies, many ABSS approaches have been proposed with wide application. However, the definitive methodology for modeling of the agent’s behavior in ABSS has not been established yet. This study proposes a new methodology of modeling of the agent’s behavior in ABSS using Bayesian network based on the questionnaire survey. This method enables us to simultaneously perform the construction of the agent’s behavior model and the estimation of the internal parameters within the model. This study took a Japanese medical insurance market as an example, since this complicated market deserves detailed consideration. We verified the effectiveness of the proposed methodology by applying the scenario analysis to this case.

This paper presents a path planning method by path energy minimizing that enables mobile robots to move smoothly in the real world with optimizing path shape for shortest distance or minimum curvature. It also enables robots to travel safely toward a destination because pedestrian motion prediction is embedded in path planning. This path planning method is based on problems experienced in a robot competition called Tsukuba Challenge. The problems involved nonsmooth motion arising from finite path patterns in A* algorithm, stuck motion arising from frequently path switching, and near misses arising from nonpredictive planning. Our path planning method minimizes pathshape energy defined as the connection between path points. Minimizing energy provides smooth paths and avoids path switching. We propose a path planning method with prediction of dynamic obstacle motion embedded to avoid near misses. Experimental results showed improvements in solving these problems.

Human-cooperative robots (HCRs) are expected to benefit various fields. Safety functions are essential to the control system of HCRs because their hazardous movements after a system failure may cause serious injuries to operators. Therefore, their reliability must be sufficiently high relative to the estimated risk, and it is important to design a suitable safety function for the control system to match the safety level required for an HCR. We propose a methodology of safety-function design for the control system of an HCR and attempt to effectively combine design approaches for hardware and software of safety-related systems (SRSs) on the basis of the concept of functional safety. This study describes the details of the methodology for an HCR that we adopted as a platform system. First, SRS hardware with a dual-channel voting architecture was designed, and then, functional safety analysis was performed to verify whether the hardware satisfied the required safety integrity level (SIL). Next, SRS software with diverse programming, which is recommended for the required SIL, was designed by utilizing a disturbance observer. Finally, experiments were conducted on the SRS for representative failures and the safety function was verified for the control system, as set by the proposed methodology.

High resolution 3D mapping of road systems is currently being carried out by expensive Mobile Mapping Systems (MMS) but coverage is limited. Recently Low Cost Sensor (LCS) systems have been developed which use common, low cost, internal MEMS position sensors from mobile phones, but such sensors come with a reduced absolute and relative positional accuracy. This study investigates the registration of LCS maps within MMS maps to improve map coverage and lower costs. MMS and LCS maps of a real world environment are made and registration is performed using feature matching and Iterative Closest Point alignment. Accuracy of ICP alignment is approximately (10cm) and local convergence is possible up to (1m). A combination of feature matching and ICP is used to demonstrate accurate alignment from an initial error of (10m). An example of a LCS map aligned within a MMS map is presented to confirm the use of LCS systems to extend 3D mapping coverage.

This paper discusses the refinement of sparse and noisy depth-maps to improve stereo measurements. Our method functions as a post-filter for stereo measurements, to remove outliers and interpolate the depths of invalid pixels. Per-pixel plane fitting is employed to estimate the normals of an object's surface in a depth-map. These normals provide information regarding the interpolation of depth and the removal of outliers by evaluating the directions of surfaces. In our experiments, our method successfully reconstructed a dense and accurate geometry from a sparse and noisy depth-map, even where several dozen percent of pixels were outliers and only a few percent were from the original correct geometry. This result indicates a novel method of fast stereo measurement, because dense reconstruction can be performed without stereo matching for all pixels.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) have many potentially useful applications. The core proteins of human hepatitis B virus self-assemble into icosahedral VLPs. As previously reported, core protein dimers (CPDs), produced by connecting two core proteins via a peptide linker, can also assemble into VLPs. CPDs in which heterologous proteins were connected to the C-terminus (CPD1) were found to rearrange into symmetrical octahedra during crystallization. In this study, a heterologous protein was inserted into the peptide linker of the CPD (CPD2). CPD2 was expressed in Escherichia coli, assembled into VLPs, purified and crystallized. A single crystal diffracted to 2.8 Å resolution and belonged to the cubic space group F432, with unit-cell parameters a = b = c = 218.6 Å. Single-crystal analysis showed that CPD1 and CPD2 rearranged into the same octahedral organization in a crystallization solution.

Recombinant hepatitis B virus core proteins dimerize to form building blocks that are capable of self-assembly into a capsid. A core capsid protein dimer (CPD) linked to a green fluorescent protein variant, EGFP, at the C-terminus has been designed. The recombinant fusion CPD was expressed in Escherichia coli, assembled into virus-like particles (VLPs), purified and crystallized. The single crystal diffracted to 2.15 Å resolution and belonged to the cubic space group F432, with unit-cell parameters a = b = c = 219.7 Å. The fusion proteins assembled into icosahedral VLPs in aqueous solution, but were rearranged into octahedral symmetry through the crystal-packing process under the crystallization conditions.

Turbine engines have been used as high reliable, safe engines in airline transportation. Safety is the most important factor in the social use of aerial robots. We started research on Aerial Cargo Robots (ACR) in 2004. The first flight of an ACR prototype was successfully achieved on November 22, 2005. The ACR prototype consists of a flexible airfoil, twin micro-turbo-jet engines and a gravity center control unit. The ACR meets the following requirements for safety: touchable, i.e., without propellers or rotors; a low sink rate the same as a parachute, i.e., below 1.0 m/sec; a low stall speed, i.e., less than 30 km/h; and a redundancy arrangement control system. The most important safety specification is the use of a silent turbojet engine for the ACR thruster. This paper reports the results of turbojet engine development for aerial robots.

Automated vehicles can contribute to the improvement of transportation through their high capacity, increased safety, low emission and high efficiency. However, unstable conditions of automated mobile systems, which include automated vehicles and mobile robots) can cause serious problems, andthus, automated mobile system requiresto be highly reliable. The objective of this research is to develop on analgorith mfor detection faults (unstable condition) in an automated mobile system and to improve the overall reliability of this system. In this study, we in itially stored and updated a few patterns of data constellations under normal and unstable conditions for fault identification through real-world experiments. Multiple experiments were performed in a public urban area (with course distance per set beingapproximately1.1(km)), where several pedestrians, bicycles, and other robots were also present. The method used for detecting faults utilizes Mahalanobis distance, correlat ion coefficient, and linearization in order to enhance the accuracy of detecting faults;further, because real-world experimental conditions vary frequently,it is essential for the proposed method to be robust undervarious conditions. The main feature of this study is that it involves the use of experimental results obtained under real-world conditions, to develop a fault detection algorithm and evaluate its validity. In addition, simu lations were performed using the real-world experimental data, wh ich includes newly logged experimental data after the algorithm was developed in order to evaluate the validity of the proposed algorithm. The simulat ion results show that the proposed algorithm detects faults accurately, thus, they prove its validity.

This study considers sharing of standing-type personal mobility devices. Such devices offer various advantages as a means of transportation, but they have been used only slightly for this purpose to date. Their cost makes sharing such devices more attractive than owning them. Sharing personal mobility devices is expected to introduce beneficial social influences such as a modal shift. For this study, we conducted small-scale experiments to assess their feasibility. Then we considered larger cases in simulations. The experiments employ four sharing stations and four personal mobility devices by more than 60 registered users. Larger scale simulations are based on a multi-agent model, presenting results for its usage compared with other means of transportation. Such a simulation is expected to provide a basis for future demand prediction and planning of personal mobility sharing.

In this article, we propose a novel Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) method by using a sampling-based approach. FastSLAM is well-known approach as a sampling-based SLAM method. FastSLAM utilizes a theorem that map errors are decidable under a sample of trajectories. From this theorem, FastSLAM samples many trajectories and maps to find a minimum error map. However, in case of constructing a large-scale grid map, FastSLAM becomes unuseful since the method requires huge memory to generate many grid maps. Our proposed method requires only one map that is deformable corresponding to a trajectory. In order to find a minimum error map, our method only generates trajectories. Our method enables construction of a minimum error map by little memory in comparison with original FastSLAM. Experimental results demonstrate our method is able to construct a large-scale 3-D grid map by low memory usage in comparison with original FastSLAM.

In this study, we consider the sharing of standing-type personal mobility devices. Such devices have various advantages as a means of transportation, but their cost makes sharing more attractive than owning. Sharing personal mobility devices is expected to have social influences such as a modal shift, however, this is not yet apparent. Consideration of the effects based on a multi-agent simulation is useful, and in a previous study, we showed the preliminary results of such simulation. In this study, we extend the simulation and investigate the effects of the location and capacity of personal mobility sharing stations. The results suggest that a location change largely affects the traveling distance. Such a simulation will provide a basis for the future demand prediction and planning of personal mobility sharing.

We present the results of our systematic investigation of the RE dependency of superconductivity in the parent compounds T′- RE 2 CuO 4 ( RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, and Tb). Superconductivity with a transition temperature ( T c ) ≥ 30 K is achieved for RE = Pr and Nd by the metal organic decomposition (MOD) method. By contrast, T c onset is at highest 20 K for RE = Gd. A stringent control of synthesis- and post-annealing-conditions is required to obtain superconducting films. Our results indicate that the induction of superconductivity into T′- RE 2 CuO 4 cuprates strongly depends on the RE 3+ ionic size. This trend is discussed from the viewpoint of RE -dependent thermodynamic stability of T′- RE 2 CuO 4 . For smaller RE 3+ ions, the thermodynamic boundary conditions become tighter.

Recent reports on superconductivity in parent compounds T ′ - RE 2 CuO 4 [RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd] prepared by metal-organic decomposition (MOD) shed new light on the electronic and magnetic phase diagram of electron-doped cuprates. A thorough reduction process is the key to inducing superconductivity in square-planar coordinated cuprates. In this work, Pr2CuO4 films were grown epitaxially by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on (001)SrTiO3, (110)GdScO3 and (110)DyScO3 substrates. A modified two-step reduction process is required in order to obtain single-phase superconducting samples. The optimized superconducting properties are T c zero = 26 K , while the room-temperature resistivity is about 400 μ Ω cm . Hence, we show that even amorphous Pr2CuOy films deposited on (110)DyScO3 become superconducting after the application of the two-step annealing process. These results indicate that superconductivity is induced to Pr2CuO4 by systematic optimization of the reduction conditions, irrespective of the synthesis route.

We propose the robust 2D localization applies an Auxiliary Particle Filter (APF) to Monte Carlo Localization (MCL). Urban environments have fewer landmarks than two-dimensional (2D) indoor maps for efficiently finding a unique location. Localization using MCL have the problem that few landmarks pose divergence of the particles of MCL. We use APF for MCL, because APF continues resampling until convergence particle occurs in one localization step. Another problem with 2D urban mapping is that of data association posed by three-dimensional (3D) surfaces. Pitching and rolling may, for example, adversely affect 2D scan-data metrics due to 3D surfaces, causing mismatching data association in 2D maps. We therefore use a Laplacian filter for 2D grid maps. Experimental results show that our localization method is more highly stable in urban environments than MCL.

We prepared thin films of T′-La2CuO4, which usually crystallizes in the T structure, by MBE, and investigated their properties while systematically changing the post-reduction conditions with a view towards obtaining superconductivity along the lines of the parent compound superconductors we have recently reported (O. Matsumoto et al., Phys. Rev. B 79 (2009) 100508(R)). The results indicate that the optimal reduction window is very narrow, near which metallic conductivity is obtained down to 50 K. The resistivity of the T′-La2CuO4 films is in the range of 10−2–10−3 Ω cm, which is several orders of magnitude lower than that of the counterpart T-La2CuO4, the implication of which is briefly discussed from the viewpoint of the difference in electronic structure induced by different oxygen coordination.

Recently we have achieved superconductivity in T ′- RE 2 CuO 4 ( RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd), films by metal organic decomposition (MOD). In this article, we first report the cation off-stoichiometry effect, which aims at screening out the possibility of hole doping by cation deficiencies. We also investigated the structure and microstructure of superconducting T ′-Nd 2 CuO 4 films synthesized by MOD. This investigation aims at elucidating why MOD-grown Nd 2 CuO 4 films become superconducting whereas our previous Nd 2 CuO 4 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy were not superconducting.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of face direction during traveling by Standing-Type Personal Mobility Device (PMD). The use of PMD devices has been a popular choice for recreational activities in the developed countries such as in the USA and the countries in Europe. These devices are not completely risk free and various accidents have been reported. Since that, the risk factors leading to accidents have to be investigated. Unfortunately, the research studies on the risk factors on riding PMD devices have not been matured as much as the studies on driving cars. In this paper, we evaluate the impacts of face angle on travelling trajectory during travelling in a PMD. We showed by experiments that, the face direction is an important factor in risk assessment for traveling by a PMD.

We propose a technique for DNA crystallization using the thermal reversible process of DNA. A double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) can be converted into two single-stranded DNAs (ssDNAs) at high temperatures to improve its water solubility. Thus, this thermal conversion can be utilized for increasing the solubility of DNA crystals by changing solute species. We investigated the solubility of the crystals of a DNA hexamer d(CGCGCG) and their melting temperature, at which thermal conversion occurs from a dsDNA to ssDNAs or vice versa. A van’t Hoff plot showed two crystallization processes with a change in temperature dependency of the solubility at around 315 K. This result almost corresponded to the melting temperature (322 K) measured by UV spectroscopy. These findings suggest that the conversion from a dsDNA to ssDNAs results in an increase in solubility. Using this temperature-controlled technique, single crystals of the DNA hexamer could be obtained from a small amount of DNA samples; X-ray assessment demonstra...

Paclitaxel (PTX) and docetaxel (DTX) have been reported to be effective for treating hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of weekly DTX (PTX)-based chemotherapy and compare weekly DTX-based chemotherapy with triweekly (once every 3 weeks) DTX-based chemotherapy. We performed a combination chemotherapy on a weekly cycle with an i.v. PTX 100 mg/m(2) or i.v. DTX 30 mg/m(2) (days 1, 8, 15, and 22), i.v. carboplatin (CBDCA) (day 1, area under the plasma concentration time curve = 6), and oral estramustine phosphate 10 mg/kg daily for 10 HRPC patients. In addition, we investigated the patient characteristics and treatment efficacy and toxicity. Among all cases, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decreased by 50% or more in 90% of patients, by 75% or more in 70%, and 90% or more in 40% after chemotherapy. The effectiveness of weekly DTX-based chemotherapy was comparable with previous reports, and we showed no toxicity serious enough to require cancellation of chemotherapy. In conclusion, weekly DTX-based chemotherapy was no less effective and less toxic than triweekly DTX-based chemotherapy for HRPC patients and therefore can be useful as the first-line chemotherapy regimen for HRPC patients, especially the elderly or those with a poor performance status.

This report presents a formation control method for personal vehicles with two independent drive wheels and with a base for a standing human driver. Drivers on the base are allowed to control forward and backward vehicle movement by changing their COG. The proposed method assists a driver in steering the vehicle for the purpose of sustaining formations. Our approach builds formations firstly by making pairs of vehicles running side by side (C-mode) and then by connecting those pairs sequentially in a traveling direction (F-mode). During C-mode, the drivers on a pair of vehicles can enjoy conversations. A pair consists of a master and a slave. A slave obtains both relative position and relative direction from its master by applying ICP algorithm to LRF data; every vehicle is equipped with a LRF and is able to exchange LRF data taken in a shared environment. A slave can track its master other than in road environments. In our formulation, a formation is generated by individual vehicles in accordance with distributed control while the whole group is guided by a single leader under centralized control. Our experimental results show that ICP performance does not degrade even if ICP is applied in a congested formation where vehicles are separated by a small inter-vehicle distance. In a demonstration, two slave vehicles with drivers were able to steer themselves successfully in the direction of a leader vehicle. Those are the first results about application of formation control to a group of personal vehicles.

We investigated the generic phase diagram of the electron doped superconductor, Nd2-xCexCuO4, using films prepared by metal organic decomposition. After careful oxygen reduction treatment to remove interstitial Oap atoms, we found that the Tc increases monotonically from 24 K to 29 K with decreasing x from 0.15 to 0.00, demonstrating a quite different phase diagram from the previous bulk one. The implication of our results is discussed on the basis of tremendous influence of Oap "impurities" on superconductivity and also magnetism in T' cuprates. Then we conclude that our result represents the generic phase diagram for oxygen-stoichiometric Nd2-xCexCuO4., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; International Symposium on Superconductivity (ISS) 2008

We have recently achieved superconductivity in T'-RE 2 CuO 4 (RE: Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd), using epitaxial thin films by metal organic decomposition. The key recipes to achieve superconductivity are low-P O2 firing and subsequent vacuum reduction to minimize the amount of impurity oxygen atoms, which are very harmful to high-T c superconductivity. In this article, we report our investigation on the reduction dependence of superconductivity of T'-RE 2 CuO 4 . For thin films, the amount of remnant O ap atoms is difficult to evaluate but we propose that one good measure for this may be the c-axis lattice constant, which tells us whether the reduction is insufficient or excessive.

In this article, we report the superconductivity in T'-RE2CuO4 (RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd), which have been for a long time believed as a Mott insulator. Our discovery was achieved by using metal-organic decomposition (MOD), an inexpensive and easy-to-implement thin-film process. The keys to prepare the superconducting films are firing with low partial-pressure of oxygen and reduction at low temperatures. The highest Tc of undoped T'-RE2CuO4 is over 30 K, substantially higher than "electron-doped" analogs. Remarkably, Gd2CuO4, even the derivatives of which have not shown superconductivity so far, gets superconducting with Tconset as high as 20 K. The implication of our discovery is briefly discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, International Symposium on Superconductivity 2007

A high average-power solid-state laser system for attaining the current goal of 20 J output energy at 10 Hz with a pulse width of 10 ns has been designed to demonstrate scalability to 100 J output energy. We proposed ring and cascade layouts that were useful for a four-pass zig-zag slab laser amplification system with effective extraction of output energy from a laser medium of an amplifier module. The reduction of thermal effects and the suppression in thermal fracture were evaluated by the measurements of temperature distributions of the laser slab. We analyzed the parasitic oscillation of the slab laser and found the threshold values of the parasitic oscillation. We designed a dual module system in consideration of these results, and examined the extraction energy from the system that incorporated an assembly of serrated apertures to suppress the laser-induced damage of optical components and the laser slab.

The laser damage on a total internal reflection (TIR) surface as well as on entrance and exit faces was evaluated to design a zig-zag slab laser. Incorporating a phase shift by the Goos–Hanchen effect on a TIR surface of a laser slab in contact with water, formulas for a laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) were modified. We determined a method for the designing the geometry of a zig-zag slab laser based on LIDT. A thin film for anti-reflection (AR) with a high LIDT must be formed on the entrance and exit faces of a laser slab glass. A sol–gel thin film was adopted for the AR coating of a high-power laser due to its high LIDT. We devised an effective dip-coating method to form a sol–gel thin film uniformly on a small area. The LIDT of the sol–gel thin film was measured and evaluated with a single mode Q-switch Nd:YAG laser by a one-on-one measurement technique.

GABA(B) receptor is a G protein-coupled receptor for GABA and drug target for neurological and psychiatric disorders. From the analysis of GTPgammaS binding assay, we found that a synthesized peptide (GABAb: ETKSVSTEKINDHR) corresponding to the intracellular third loop region of metabotropic GABA(B) receptor could activate G(i) protein alpha subunit directly. The three dimensional molecular structure of the peptide in SDS-d(25) micelles was determined by 2D (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. GABAb peptide formed an alpha helical structure and a positive charge cluster at the C-terminal site. These structural features were also found in several other G protein activating peptides. From the comparison among these peptides, we found that peptides with high helical content show the high activity.

200 kW laser diode pumping module aimed for IFE driver was developed. The pumping optics for the uniform irradiation was applied to this module. As a result, 80% filling factor for the pumping distribution was achieved. The maximum peak power of 226 kW was obtained at the 150 μs pump duration. The E-O conversion efficiency over 50% was achieved.

The discovery stories of three fluorine-containing insecticides in our laboratory are described, i.e. amidoflumet, a new trifluoromethanesulfonanilide with high miticidal activity against various house dust mites, Metofluthrin, a potent new fluorinated pyrethroid with extremely high knockdown activity against various mosquitoes, and a new α-pyrone compound, 3-[1R-trans-(2-trifluoromethyl)cyclopropanecarbonyl]-4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-pyrone with outstanding insecticidal activity against Blattella germanica.

In this paper, we describe the development of a high-average-power solid-state laser system and the derivation of equations for the amplification of a laser beam. This laser system is capable of generating an output energy of 10 J per pulse at a wavelength of 1,053 nm in a 10 Hz operation for scientific and industrial applications. The main amplifier of our system is a laser-diode-pumped solid-state amplifier. A water-cooled Nd:glass slab is pumped with two 803 nm AlGaAs laser-diode modules. The laser beam propagates through zig-zag optical paths four times and is amplified. To estimate laser output energy, we have derived and evaluated equations for the amplification of the laser beam, and designed and constructed a laser system based on the calculated results. Experimental results reveal an output energy of 10.6 J at 1 Hz, which closely fits the results calculated using the derived equations.

Human APG1 gene is homologous to Drosophila methuselah gene associated with extended life span. A peptide (APG1: RNGKRSNRTLREE) corresponding to a predicted region of the intracellular third loop of G protein-coupled receptor coded in human APG1 gene could activate G i protein α subunit directly. The three-dimensional molecular structure of the peptide in SDS- d 25 micelles was determined by 2D 1 H NMR spectroscopy. APG1 formed an α-helical structure at the C-terminal site and a positive charge cluster at the N-terminal site. The cluster was also found in several other G i protein-coupled receptor peptides. Therefore, the positive charge cluster on the helical structure might be engaged in G protein activation.

To realize auto-driving vehicles transporting to anywhere in a country, a map containing the whole regions is necessary. In order to generate and update the big size map, number of mapping systems is an important matter. To introduce a large number of mapping systems, the costs of a system must be small. This paper describes a lowcost mobile mapping system employing a smartphone for positioning. Although the positioning function of smartphones is accurate enough to detect a self-position for pedestrian navigation, however, the accuracy is not enough to generate maps that contain obstacles for auto-driving. To gain accuracy of the positioning employing a smartphone, this paper uses a bundle adjustment that improves positioning results by fusing multiple sensor data. From experimental results, the proposed low-cost mapping system can generate an accurate map for auto-driving use.

In this paper, we propose the use of Collaborative based Representation in Spectral Domain to recognize the postures and gestures from the Electromyography (EMG) recordings acquired by a recently introduced sensor; Thalmic Labs' MYO armband. The recognition accuracy obtained for a set of six hand gestures and postures is promising with an accuracy over 97 % which is a competent result in the related literature. The algorithms are developed for creating an intuitive human machine interface for navigating a robotic wheelchair.

For future transportation, boarding type personal mobilities are considered promising. On introducing such mobilities in community, sharing is more prospective than owing. In this paper, we aim at considering expected change of human behavior, including modal shift, by introducing such mobilities in society. In the hope of large scale demand prediction and optimal planning of both location and capacity of the personal mobility sharing stations, we have developed a prototype multi-agent simulator. Parameters of simulation are determined by sharing experiments in Mobility Robot Experimental Zone in Tsukuba using Toyota Winglet long type and conjoint analysis based on questionnaires. We obtained preliminary results for a realistic situation.

In order to assist elderly people and disabled people, this paper describes development of autonomous wheelchair to travel in indoor and outdoor environments for providing traveling ability to any where. For this aim, the autonomous wheelchairs should have traveling-capability without choosing indoor and outdoor environments. Position detection is a key technology for autonomous driving since people decides a traveling direction from a current position and a destination. GPS is a fundamental technology for position detection. However GPS is not available in indoor cases, and GPS is not always available in outdoor cases when tall buildings occlude satellites. In these cases autonomous wheelchair has to detect a self-position by other sensor systems. In this study we have adopted a localization system utilizing 3D maps and a 3D laser range finder. By the 3D localization system our wheelchair system can detect a self-position robustly if the wheelchair is surrounded by obstacles such as pedestrians. To avoid collision our wheelchair system uses short and long term planning. The short planning finds a safe motion-pattern from every conceivable pattern by the simulation on a map. The long term planning generates a feasible route to destination. If the route generated by the long-term planner collides to some obstacles our wheelchair avoids collision by the short term planning. By the localization system and the planning system our wheelchair could operate in public spaces.

To solve urban area traffic problems, one potential solution is to reduce traffic volumes. In order to do so, a modal shift from conventional passenger vehicles to public transportation and eco-vehicles, including personal vehicles, should be considered. We propose a personal mobility sharing system using the Segway. To evaluate this system, it is necessary to perform experiments under real conditions and gather experimental data for a social pilot study. This study introduces an application for a personal mobility sharing system using the Segway-type vehicle. The main feature of the proposed application is to gather and store experimental data on mobility sharing, and to assist a driver to use the Segway-type personal vehicle safely. Each vehicle is equipped with a tablet, on which the application is installed.

We found that a peptide (EP3a: TIKALVSRCRAKAAV) corresponding to the N-terminal site of the intracellular third loop of human prostaglandin EP3alpha receptor could activate G protein alpha-subunit directly. The activity was almost same as Mastoparan-X, a G protein activating peptide from wasp venom. The three-dimensional molecular structure of the peptide in SDS-d(25) micelles was determined by 2D (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The structure of EP3a consists of a positive charge cluster on the C-terminal helical site. The cluster was also found in several corresponding receptor peptides. Therefore, the positive charge cluster on the helical structure might play a crucial role in activation of G protein.