Abstract picture generation and zooming user interface for intuitive music browsing

Today many people store music media files in personal computers or portable audio players, thanks to recent evolution of multimedia technologies. The more music media files these devices store, the messier it is to search for tunes that users want to listen to. We propose MusCat, a music browser to interactively search for the tunes according to features, not according to metadata (e.g. title, artist name). The technique firstly calculates features of tunes, and then hierarchically clusters the tunes according to the features. It then automatically generates abstract pictures, so that users can recognize characteristics of tunes more instantly and intuitionally. It finally visualizes the tunes by using abstract pictures. MusCat enables intuitive music selection with the zooming user interface.     

Connection‐Strength Estimation of Neuronal Networks by Fitting for Izhikevich Model

Recently, there has been abundant research using multineuron recording, but there are many problems with extracting the features from the obtained spike time series, which are huge in volume and complex. Here we introduce a new method of estimating synaptic connection strengths between neurons by fitting to the Izhikevich model by maximum likelihood estimation. We demonstrate that our method can estimate connection strengths from spike time series given by a simulated neural ensemble and can estimate nonconnectivity between two independent cultured neuronal networks. These results suggest that our method is applicable to network and plasticity analysis of neuronal networks.     

Chemical Recognition of Partner Plant Species by Foundress Ant Queens in Macaranga–Crematogaster Myrmecophytism

The partnership in the Crematogaster–Macaranga ant–plant interaction is highly species-specific. Because a mutualistic relationship on a Macaranga plant starts with colonization by a foundress queen of a partner Crematogaster species, we hypothesized that the foundress queens select their partner plant species by chemical recognition. We tested this hypothesis with four sympatric Macaranga species and their Crematogaster plant-ant species. We demonstrated that foundress Crematogaster queens can recognize their partner Macaranga species by contact with the surface of the seedlings, that they can recognize compounds from the stem surface of seedlings of their partner plant species, and that the gas chromatographic profiles are characteristic of the plant species. These findings support the hypothesis that foundress queens of the Crematogaster plant-ant species select their partner Macaranga species by recognizing nonvolatile chemical characteristics of the stem surfaces of seedlings.     

A FAST METHOD OF RADIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS BETWEEN ARBITRARY THREE-DIMENSIONAL BODIES COMPOSED OF SPECULAR AND DIFFUSE SURFACES

The radiation element method by ray emission model (REM²) has been improved by using the law of reciprocity for the specular view factor and the incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient (ICCG) method to reduce computational time. This improved method was applied to analyze the radiative heat transfer between arbitrary three-dimensional bodies composed of specular and diffuse surfaces. The accuracy of the improved method was evaluated by comparing analytical solutions. And the method was used to calculate radiative heat transfer between machine elements and heater panels. CPU time to calculate the radiative exchange for a model composed of 3193 elements was reduced to 1/430 of that by the previous numerical method using a decomposition method.     

2-Arachidonoyl glycerol suppresses gastric emptying via the cannabinoid receptor 1-cholecystokinin signaling pathway in mice

2-Monoacylglycerol (2-MAG) is one of the digestion products of dietary lipids. We recently demonstrated that a 2-MAG, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) potently stimulated cholecystokinin (CCK) secretion via cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) in a murine CCK-producing cell line, STC-1. CCK plays a crucial role in suppressing postprandial gastric emptying. To examine the effect of 2-AG on gastric emptying, we performed acetaminophen and phenol red recovery tests under oral or intraperitoneal administration of 2-AG in mice. Orally administered 2-AG (25 mg/kg) suppressed the gastric emptying rate in mice, as determined by the acetaminophen absorption test and phenol red recovery test. Intraperitoneal administration of a cholecystokinin A receptor antagonist (0.5 mg/kg) attenuated the gastric inhibitory emptying effect. In addition, both oral (10 mg/kg) and intraperitoneal (0.5 mg/kg) administration of a CB1 antagonist counteracted the 2-AG-induced gastric inhibitory effect. Furthermore, intraperitoneal 2-AG (25 mg/kg) suppressed gastric emptying. These results indicate that 2-AG exhibits an inhibitory effect on gastric emptying in mice, possibly mediated by stimulating both CCK secretion via CB1 expressed in CCK-producing cells and acting on CB1 expressed in the peripheral nerves. Our findings provide novel insights into the 2-MAG-sensing mechanism in enteroendocrine cells and the physiological role of 2-MAG.     

Composition of Corn Hull Dietary Fiber

The corn hull dietary fiber was decomposed into their components such as cellulose, hemicellulose-A, -B, -C, -other and lignin by the Siegel method, and their contents were 16%, 1%, 57%, 14% and 2%, respectivity. The components of ordinary corn fiber were insoluble in water, but several decomposed fractions were able to dissolved. The solubility in water of hemicellulose-B was well and of hemicellulose A was slightly, but other fractions were insoluble. Hemicellulose-A, -B, -C and -other fractions were made up of about 30% of arabinose and 50% of xylose. Uronic acid contents and solubility in water of each hemicellulose fraction were mutually related.