Creating the brain and interacting with the brain: an integrated approach to understanding the brain

In the past two decades, brain science and robotics have made gigantic advances in their own fields, and their interactions have generated several interdisciplinary research fields. First, in the ‘understanding the brain by creating the brain’ approach, computational neuroscience models have been applied to many robotics problems. Second, such brain-motivated fields as cognitive robotics and developmental robotics have emerged as interdisciplinary areas among robotics, neuroscience and cognitive science with special emphasis on humanoid robots. Third, in brain–machine interface research, a brain and a robot are mutually connected within a closed loop. In this paper, we review the theoretical backgrounds of these three interdisciplinary fields and their recent progress. Then, we introduce recent efforts to reintegrate these research fields into a coherent perspective and propose a new direction that integrates brain science and robotics where the decoding of information from the brain, robot control based on the decoded information and multimodal feedback to the brain from the robot are carried out in real time and in a closed loop.     

Adaptation to climate change and conservation of biodiversity using green infrastructure

In recent years, we have experienced mega‐flood disasters in Japan due to climate change. In the last century, we have been building disaster prevention infrastructure (artificial levees and dams, referred to as “grey infrastructure”) to protect human lives and assets from floods, but these hard protective measures will not function against mega‐floods. Moreover, in a drastically depopulating society such as that in Japan, farmland abandonment prevails, and it will be more difficult to maintain grey infrastructure with a limited tax income. In this study, we propose the introduction of green infrastructure (GI) as an adaptation strategy for climate change. If we can use abandoned farmlands as GI, they may function to reduce disaster risks and provide habitats for various organisms that are adapted to wetland environments. First, we present a conceptual framework for disaster prevention using a hybrid of GI and conventional grey infrastructure. In this combination, the fundamental GI, composed of forests and wetlands in the catchment (GI‐1) and additional multilevel GIs such as flood control basins that function when floodwater exceeds the planning level (GI‐2) are introduced. We evaluated the flood attenuation function (GI‐1) of the Kushiro Wetland using a hydrological model and developed a methodology for selecting suitable locations of GI‐2, considering flood risk, biodiversity and the distribution of abandoned farmlands, which represent social and economic costs. The results indicated that the Kushiro Wetland acts as a large natural reservoir that attenuates the hydrological peak discharge during floods and suitable locations for introducing GI‐2 are concentrated in floodplain areas developing in the downstream reaches of large rivers. Finally, we discussed the network structure of GI‐1 as a hub and GI‐2 as a dispersal site for conservation of the Red‐crowned Crane, one of the symbolic species of Japan.     

Phosphorus flame retardants in indoor dust and their relation to asthma and allergies of inhabitants

Organophosphate esters are used as additives in flame retardants and plasticizers, and they are ubiquitous in the indoor environment. Phosphorus flame retardants (PFRs) are present in residential dust, but few epidemiological studies have assessed their impact on human health. We measured the levels of 11 PFRs in indoor floor dust and multi‐surface dust in 182 single‐family dwellings in Japan. We evaluated their correlations with asthma and allergies of the inhabitants. Tris(2‐butoxyethyl) phosphate was detected in all samples (median value: 580 μg/g in floor dust, 111 μg/g in multi‐surface dust). Tris(2‐chloro‐iso‐propyl) phosphate (TCIPP) was detected at 8.69 μg/g in floor dust and 25.8 μg/g in multi‐surface dust. After adjustment for potential confounders, significant associations were found between the prevalence of atopic dermatitis and the presence of TCIPP and tris(1,3‐dichloro‐2‐propyl) phosphate in floor dust [per log₁₀‐unit, odds ratio (OR): 2.43 and 1.84, respectively]. Tributyl phosphate was significantly associated with the prevalence of asthma (OR: 2.85 in floor dust, 5.34 in multi‐surface dust) and allergic rhinitis (OR: 2.55 in multi‐surface dust). PFR levels in Japan were high compared with values reported previously for Europe, Asia‐Pacific, and the USA. Higher levels of PFRs in house dust were related to the inhabitants' health status.     

Reconsideration of the quantitative characterization of the reaction intermediate on electrocatalysts by a rotating ring-disk electrode: The intrinsic yield of H2O2 on Pt/C

To solve the problem of the catalyst-loading-effect on quantifying the reaction intermediates on the surface of electrocatalysts with a rotating ring-disk electrode, we studied the formation of hydrogen peroxide in the oxygen reduction reaction on Pt/C with various sample loadings and then proposed an extrapolation model for measuring the intrinsic yield of H₂O₂, which can quantitatively reflect the characteristics of the surface of a given catalyst. In the extrapolation model, the catalyst loading effect can be compensated by taking the catalyst loading-dependent probability of the re-adsorption + further reaction of the desorbed H₂O₂ into consideration. The core concept in this extrapolation model is that the probability of the re-adsorption + reaction of the desorbed H₂O₂ becomes zero if there is no other active site available (i.e., at the extrapolated hypothetical point of zero catalyst loading) for re-adsorption of the desorbed H₂O₂. The intrinsic yield of H₂O₂ by extrapolation was much higher than that measured by the conventional model, in which the re-adsorption + reaction of the desorbed H₂O₂ is not considered, and thus the catalyst loading-dependent apparent yield of H₂O₂ does not properly reflect the intrinsic characteristics of the surface of a given catalyst.     

Robust and accurate prediction of thermal error of machining centers under operations with cutting fluid supply

A novel temperature measuring system named LATSIS was proposed to realize a robust and accurate prediction of the thermal deformation of machining centers, even under external disturbances such as cutting fluid supply. LATSIS enables a drastic increase in the number of sensors employed for measuring the temperature of the machine tool. Thus, the entire temperature distribution can be obtained by interpolating the measured temperature 3-dimensionally without calculating the heat conduction. A set of experiments was conducted in which the LATSIS was employed to predict the TCP error. A total of 284 sensors were placed on the machining center, and the TCP error was predicted based on the measured temperature for the situation with/without the cutting fluid supply. The results of the prediction showed good agreement with the measured TCP error even during the initial transient temperature change as well as in the cooling phase after the machine halt. The TCP error with the cutting fluid supply is accurately predicted. LATSIS was proven to be a robust and accurate method for predicting the thermal deformation of machine tools, and is a promising technology for future manufacturing systems.     

Multi-scale parallel finite element analyses of LDH sheet formability tests based on crystallographic homogenization method

A multi-scale parallel finite element (FE) procedure based on the crystallographic homogenization method was applied to the LDH sheet formability test analysis. For the multi-scale structure, two scales are considered. One is a microscopic polycrystal structure and the other is a macroscopic elastic plastic continuum. The analysis code can predict the formability of sheet metal in macro-scale, simultaneously the crystal texture and hardening evolutions in the micro-scale (Nakamachi E et al. Int J Plasticity 2007;23:450-8). Since huge computation time is required for the nonlinear dynamic multi-scale FE analysis, parallel computing technique based on domain partitioning of FE model for macro-continuum is introduced into the multi-scale code using the message passing interface (MPI) library and PC cluster (Kuramae H et al. In: Proceedings of the eighth international conference on computational plasticity, Part 1, 2005. p. 622-5). The explicit time stepping solution scheme in the nonlinear multi-scale FE dynamic problem is well-suited for parallel computing on distributed memory environment such as PC cluster because solving simultaneous equation is not required. We measured crystal morphologies of four automotive sheet metals, aluminum alloy sheet metals A6022-T43 and A5182-O, an asymmetrically rolled aluminum alloy sheet metal A6022-ASR, and mild steel HC220YD, by using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) with electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) analyses, and defined a three-dimensional representative volume element (RVE) of micro polycrystal structure, which satisfy the periodicity condition of crystal orientation distribution. We evaluate not only macroscopic formability of the automotive sheet metals by the multi-scale LDH test analysis, but also microcrystalline texture evolution during plastic deformation. Furthermore, a relationship between the macroscopic formability and the microcrystal texture evolution was discussed through looking at multi-scale FE results. It is concluded that the mild steel HC220YD was the highest formability than the aluminum alloy sheet metals because of remaining and generating the γ-fiber texture, such as {1 1 1}〈1 1 0〉-{1 1 1}〈1 1 2〉 orientations, during plastic deformation.     

Protective effects of galacturonic acid-rich vinegar brewed from Japanese pear in a dextran sodium sulfate-induced acute colitis model

The effects of pear vinegar (PV), which was specially brewed for enhanced galacturonic acid content, on the DSS-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) mouse model were evaluated. PV improved clinical symptoms, colon inflammation, and histological tissue injury in the DSS-induced acute UC mouse model. Moreover, PV suppressed inflammation due to acute UC by suppressing the myeloperoxidase (MPO)-mediated activation of inflammatory cells such as leukocytes and decreasing the serum concentration of IL-6. Our results demonstrated the protective action of PV in the DSS-induced acute UC mouse model. On the other hand, commercial apple vinegar did not show a protective effect in the DSS-induced acute UC mouse model. Our findings indicate that PV may act as a new functional food for inflammatory bowel disease patients.     

A 500-MHz pipelined burst SRAM with improved SER immunity

This paper describes a 0.25-μm, 64 K×36 bit pipelined burst SRAM using a 6.156-μm² cell. It realizes over 500-MHz operation using a lower cost double metal process, Internal 16 K×144 organization by T-shaped bit line array reduces 20% of latency, 20% of active power, and 8.5% of die size. The low power also enables us to use lower cost thin quad flat type packages. Our solution to the soft error problem, a shallow triple well structure and four-transistor cell with stacked capacitor, improved soft error rate by 3.5 orders of magnitude compared with the conventional SRAM cell