An image recognition system aimed at search activities using cyber search and rescue dogs

Disaster response presents major challenges for robotics and computer vision alike. The Cyber‐Enhanced Canine Suit is a suit equipped with a camera, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and various other sensors, to be worn by search and rescue (SAR) dogs for the purpose of enhancing SAR dog operations. This paper presents an image recognition system for use in disaster scenarios and its integration with the Cyber‐Enhanced Canine Suit platform. The system’s intended use is to spot personal items of missing individuals or other visual clues in video streams from various disaster response platforms. The system facilitates quick learning of targets from limited data and makes providing that data quick and easy. It also provides backtrack recognition functionality, to rapidly find novel targets in the seen footage. We evaluated the recognition system on footage gathered in the field, obtaining promising results. Integrated with the Cyber‐Enhanced Canine Suit, the system can automatically plot detections of search targets onto a map display, to provide operators with a quick overview of what was seen where.     

Adjoint Hamiltonian Monte Carlo algorithm for the estimation of elastic modulus through the inversion of elastic wave propagation data

Efficient inversion of noisy seismic waveform data produced due to elastic wave propagation for the estimation of a high-dimensional elastic modulus vector is achieved. Estimation is carried out in a Bayesian framework using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) that enables efficient statistical estimation over high-dimensional parameters. The truncated Karhunen-Loève (K-L) expansion is introduced to reduce the dimensionality of the elastic modulus vector. Expensive computations of the gradient of the state vector with respect to the parameter vector at every step are also eliminated through the adjoint method, which is developed from a general one-step discretization of the governing second-order ordinary differential equations (ODEs). An Adjoint HMC algorithm that employs a truncated K-L expansion of the elastic modulus vector is presented. The efficacy of the algorithm is investigated with respect to two representative problems with varying geometric complexity. Adjoint HMC offers a significant speed up in gradient calculation time over the direct differentiation counterpart as the number of terms in the K-L expansion increases. The algorithm is able to estimate the true elastic modulus within the credible intervals for both cases.     

Dietary conjugated linolenic acid in relation to CLA differently modifies body fat mass and serum and liver lipid levels in rats

The present study compared the effect of dietary conjugated linolenic acid (CLNA) on body fat and serum and liver lipid levels with that of CLA in rats. FFA rich in linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, CLA, or CLNA were used as experimental fats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (4 wk old) were fed purified diets containing 1% of one of these experimental fats. After 4 wk of feeding, adipose tissue weights, serum and liver lipid concentrations, serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and leptin levels, and hepatic β-oxidation activities were measured. Compared with linoleic acid, CLA and, more potently, CLNA were found to reduce perirenal adipose tissue weight. The same trend was observed in the weight of epididymal adipose tissue. CLNA, but not CLA, was found to significantly increase serum and liver IG concentrations. Serum FFA concentration was also increased in the CLNA group more than in the other groups. The activity of β-oxidation in liver mitochondria and peroxisomes was significantly higher in the CLNA group than in the other groups. Thus, the amount of liver TG exceeded the ability of hepatic β-oxidation. Significant positive correlation was found between the adipose tissue weights and serum leptin levels in all animals (vs. perirenal: r=0.557, P<0.001; vs. epididymal: r=0.405, P<0.05). A less significant correlation was found between adipose tissue weights and serum TNF-α level (vs. perirenal: r=0.069, P<0.1; vs. epididymal: r=0.382, P<0.05). Although the mechanism for the specific effect of CLNA is not clear at present, these findings indicate that in rats CLNA modulated the body fat and TG metabolism differently from CLA.     

Selective carbon monoxide adsorbent composed of polystyrene resin having amino groups and copper(I) chloride

A carbon monoxide adsorbent composed of 10 g of a polystyrene resin having amino groups and 70 mmol of copper(I) chloride was prepared by refluxing the resin and copper(I) chloride in acetonitrile, followed by evaporation of the liquid phase at 5 mmHg, 80°C. The adsorbent rapidly adsorbs 15.9 mmol of carbon monoxide under 1 atm at 20°C. 11.4 mmol of adsorbed carbon monoxide are desorbed when the adsorbent is subjected to a reduced pressure (5 mmHg) at 80°C for 10 min. In the second and the later adsorptions, the amount of adsorbed carbon monoxide is virtually constant at 11.4 mmol. The amount of carbon dioxide adsorbed by the adsorbent under 1 atm at 20°C is 2.8 mmol, and the value for methane is 0.0 mmol. The prepared adsorbent is applicable to selective separation of carbon monoxide from gas mixtures containing both carbon dioxide and methane.     

Effect of the preparation condition on the properties of titania-silica derived from tetraisopropyl titanate(IV) and tetraethyl orthosilicate

Titania-silica mixed oxide was prepared by hydrolyzing tetraethyl orthosilicate and tetraisopropyl titanate(IV) with a mixture of ethanol and 0.01 N aqueous acetic acid. Surface Ti content, BET surface area, and the number of acid sites increased with an increase in 0.01 N aqueous acetic acid. Thus hydrolysis of both alkoxides occurred simultaneously with a large amount of the acetic acid solution, and there was extensive interaction between TiO₂ and SiO₂ phases. With small amount of 0.01 N aqueous acetic acid, however, titanium hydroxide was first formed and, then, it was covered with the silica phase produced in a later stage of the hydrolysis. Increase in the acetic acid solution also led to the formation of a large amount of tetrahedral Ti species, which were active for the epoxidation of oct-1-ene usingt-butyl hydroperoxide as an oxidant.     

Smart polyion complex micelles for targeted intracellular delivery of PEGylated antisense oligonucleotides containing acid-labile linkages

A novel pH-sensitive and targetable antisense ODN delivery system based on multimolecular assembly into polyion complex (PIC) micelles of poly(L-lysine) (PLL) and a lactosylated poly(ethylene glycol)-antisense ODN conjugate (Lac-PEG-ODN) containing an acid-labile linkage (beta-propionate) between the PEG and ODN segments has been developed. The PIC micelles thus prepared had clustered lactose moieties on their peripheries and achieved a significant antisense effect against luciferase gene expression in HuH-7 cells (hepatoma cells), far more efficiently than that produced by the nonmicelle systems (ODN and Lac-PEG-ODN) alone, as well as by the lactose-free PIC micelle. In line with this pronounced antisense effect, the lactosylated PIC micelles showed better uptake than the lactose-free PIC micelles into HuH-7 cells; this suggested the involvement of an asialoglycoprotein (ASGP) receptor-mediated endocytosis process. Furthermore, a significant decrease in the antisense effect (27 % inhibition) was observed for a lactosylated PIC micelle without an acid-labile linkage (thiomaleimide linkage); this suggested the release of the active (free) antisense ODN molecules into the cellular interior in response to the pH decrease in the endosomal compartment is a key process in the antisense effect. Use of branched poly(ethylenimine) (B-PEI) instead of the PLL for PIC micellization led to a substantial decrease in the antisense effect, probably due to the buffer effect of the B-PEI in the endosome compartment, preventing the cleavage of the acid-labile linkage in the conjugate. The approach reported here is expected to be useful for the construction of smart intracellular delivery systems for antisense ODNs with therapeutic value.     

Scaling fire whirls

A fire whirl in an open space can cause devastating damage as was experienced in Hifukusho-ato, Tokyo, after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1921. To understand the generation mechanism of the open-space fire whirls, 1/1000th scale-model experiments were conducted in a large, low-speed open-loop wind tunnel. In analyzing the experiments, there was found to be a critical lateral wind velocity that generated intense fire whirls. A scaling law that predicts the critical wind velocity was developed and validated by various data including scale-model experiments by other researchers and real urban fire whirls. A dimensional analysis is conducted to understand the effect of flow circulation on the increase in flame height. The simple analysis was supported by the results of numerical simulations by other researchers.     

Measurement of mobile-phase volume in reversed-phase liquid chromatography and evaluation of the composition of liquid layer formed by solvation of packing materials

The mobile-phase volumes (Vm) in reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) with alkyl-bonded silica, defined as the difference between the total volume of eluent in the column (V0) and the volume of the eluent solvent layer formed by solvation of the bonded phase (VL), are determined by the method derived from the eluent electrolyte effect on the retention of ionic analytes. The validity of the Vm values obtained is evaluated by comparing them with the retention volumes of various organic compounds and inorganic ions, which have been suggested as unretained markers, and those obtained from a linear dependence of the logarithmic retention factor on the carbon numbers of homologous series. From the results obtained, it has been concluded that the solvated liquid phase on a column packing material should be assigned to a part of the stationary phase and the method developed for determination of the Vm value based on the ion partition model gives the most reasonable value as the mobile-phase volume in RPLC. The volume and the solvent composition of the solvated liquid phase on C1, C8, and C18 bonded silica are estimated, and the effects of organic modifiers and the physicochemical structures of the packing materials on these values are discussed.