Bird detection and species classification with time‐lapse images around a wind farm: Dataset construction and evaluation

Collisions of birds, especially endangered species, with wind turbines is a major environmental concern. Automatic bird monitoring can be of aid in resolving the issue, particularly in environmental risk assessments and real‐time collision avoidance. For automatic recognition of birds in images, a clean, detailed, and realistic dataset to learn features and classifiers is crucial for any machine‐learning‐based method. Here, we constructed a bird image dataset that is derived from the actual environment of a wind farm and that is useful for examining realistic challenges in bird recognition in practice. It consists of high‐resolution images covering a wide monitoring area around a turbine. The birds captured in these images are at relatively low resolution and are hierarchically labeled by experts for fine‐grained species classification. We conducted evaluations of state‐of‐the‐art image recognition methods by using this dataset. The evaluations revealed that a deep‐learning‐based method and a simpler traditional learning method were almost equally successful at detection, while the former captures more generalized features. The most promising results were provided by the deep‐learning‐based method in classification. The best methods in our experiments recorded a 0.98 true positive rate for bird detection at a false positive rate of 0.05 and a 0.85 true positive rate for species classification at a false positive rate of 0.1.     

Agglomeration of particles by ac corona discharge

Improving the collection efficiency for particles smaller than 1 μm on every precipitator is important. We sought to improve the collection of these particles on an ESP due to particle agglomeration. Particles are charged by ac corona discharge in a precharger and agglomerated by a dc electric field in an agglomerator downstream of the precharger. Diesel exhaust particles were used as particulate matter for the experiments. The distribution of particle size was measured using a particle counter and a scanning electron microscope. By these methods, particles as small as 0.01 μm could be counted. Results showed the agglomeration between particles at ac corona discharge operating mode. The concentration of particles smaller than approximately 0.35 μm decreases, and that of particles larger than approximately 0.35 μm increases in the agglomerator. The agglomeration rate increases with increasing applied voltage, then saturates. These results may be due to the size distribution and to decrease of concentration by agglomeration. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(1): 30–37, 2000     

Fabrication and properties of one-mask-patterned ferroelectric integrated capacitors

A one-mask-patterned ferroelectric capacitor test structure designed with a 0.5-μm feature size was fabricated. Oxygen plasma treatment after dry etching decreased the leakage current to as low as that of as-deposited film. These one-mask-patterned ferroelectric capacitors, with switching charge almost equal to as-deposited film, were successfully fabricated. Ferroelectric memories as dense as dynamic random access memories will become possible with this technology. However, the leakage current density for micron-sized capacitors is 2 to 10 times that of large capacitors. The leakage current in small capacitors is increased due to perimeter leakage that runs through the damaged region on the capacitor sidewall. © Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 121(1): 43–50, 1997     

Fabrication of an atomic resolution low cost STM-SNOM hybrid probe

We derived a simple method to fabricate STM-SNOM hybrid probes obtained from commercial cheap communication optical fibers. The tips are fabricated by a methodology that combines two well-known techniques: the selective attack by a buffered solution and the protected layer chemical etching, in a single new one-step technique. The tailored probes are then sputtered by metal and mounted on a STM setup. The usual difficulties of integrating the optical fiber in the STM head are solved originally with a particular home made mount described in details. We will show that the resulting probes reach atomic resolution on both vertical and horizontal scale, and that the optical imaging is free of artifacts and satisfactory with a lateral resolution in the order of lamda/20, as far as we know the finest resolution obtained with a system based on a hybrid fiber probe. We believe that our methodology is very interesting for its simplicity of realization and for the good resolving power in both SNOM and STM modes.     

Study on absorption/desorption characteristics of a metal hydride tank for boil-off gas from liquid hydrogen

We have been performing research on the Totalized Hydrogen Energy Utilization System (THEUS) which has applications to commercial buildings and a planned added function of supplying energy to stations for hydrogen and electric vehicles. In that case we will utilize liquid hydrogen transported from a hydrogen station and all Boil-Off Gas (BOG) will be recovered in THEUS’s metal hydride tanks. It is known that BOG is chiefly composed of para-hydrogen, which has different thermo-physical properties from normal hydrogen. It has been reported that some metal hydride alloys work as a catalyst to accelerate the para-ortho conversion and the conversion proceeds relatively fast in the case of La–Ni₅. The conversion is considered to be an endothermic reaction. A misch metal (Mm)-Ni₅ metal hydride alloy, which contained La and Ni, was used in our THEUS metal hydride tank. To examine the effect of the para-ortho conversion on the THEUS operation, we investigated the absorption/desorption characteristics of the metal hydride tank with BOG. We confirmed that the effect of the heat of conversion was very small and BOG could be treated as normal hydrogen for practical application.     

A novel bioactive vitroceramic presents similar biological responses as autogenous bone grafts

Bioactive glasses represent an interesting class of bone substitute's biomaterials. The present study investigated the repair of bone defects filled with a novel bioactive vitroceramic (Biosilicate(?)), alone or in association with particulate autogenous bone grafts in calvaria defects of rabbits. After 7, 14, and 30 days the specimens were retrieved for histological, histomorphometric and immunohistochemistry analysis. Satisfactory bone formation was observed in all groups, and direct bone-biomaterial surface was noted. Histomorphometric assessment did not show statistically significant differences in bone formation among the groups and periods, except for BG group at day 14. Immunoexpression of Runx-2 was similar among the groups containing the graft and the biomaterial, being more intense than in control group. Similar result was observed for VEGF expression, especially in the last experimental period. These results revealed that Biosilicate(?) presented a favorable behavior, comparable to autogenous bone graft.     

Numerical simulation of the hydrogen storage with reaction heat recovery using metal hydride in the totalized hydrogen energy utilization system

Numerical simulation of a hydrogen storage tank of a Totalized Hydrogen Energy Utilization System (THEUS) for application to commercial buildings was done to verify the practicality of THEUS. THEUS consists of a fuel cell, water electrolyzer, hydrogen storage tank and their auxiliary machinery. The hydrogen storage tanks with metal hydrides for load leveling have been previously experimentally investigated as an important element of THEUS. A hydrogen storage tank with 50 kg AB5 type metal hydride was assembled to investigate the hydrogen-absorbing/desorbing process, which is exothermic/endothermic process. The goal of this tank is to recover the cold heat of the endothermic process for air conditioning, and thus improve the efficiency of THEUS. To verify the practical effectiveness of this improved system, we developed a numerical simulation code of hydrogen storage tank with metal hydride. The code was validated by comparing its results with experimental results. In this code the specific heat value of the upper and lower flanges of the hydrogen storage tank was adjusted to be equal to the thermal capacity of the entire tank. The simulation results reproduce well the experimental results.     

A study on horizontal stud welding by using steel stud for flat welding

ABSTRACT

In recent years, manufacturing sites have strongly requested for the steel stud with large diameter to be welded in the horizontal position, which is difficult because of gravity. In this study, the steel stud of 19 mm in diameter was welded horizontally to the mild steel plate by using ferrule for usage in flat position. As results two kinds of weld defect were observed; lack of fusion and blowhole. The former occurred in the welding condition of too small or too large heat input, and the latter did in the range of longer arc time. Therefore, the suitable welding condition could be found in the large current and shorter arc time. When the areal ratio of weld defect to the cross section of stud was lower than 10 percent, the welded joint had enough statical strength.     

Cytotoxic activity to acute myeloid leukemia cells by Antp-TPR hybrid peptide targeting Hsp90

We previously reported that Antp-TPR hybrid peptide inhibited the interaction of Hsp90 with TPR2A and had selective cytotoxic activity discriminating between normal and cancer cells to induce cancer cell death. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic activity of Antp-TPR peptide toward acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. It was demonstrated that Antp-TPR peptide induced AML cell death in cell lines such as U937, K562, THP-1, and HL-60 via activation of caspases 3 and 7, and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Conversely, Antp-TPR peptide did not reduce the viability of normal cells including peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), although both geldanamycin and 17-AAG, small-molecule inhibitors of Hsp90, mediated cytotoxicity to these normal cells at low concentrations. In addition, mutation analysis of TPR peptide demonstrated that the highly conserved amino acids Lys and Arg were critical to the cytotoxic activity. These results indicated that Antp-TPR hybrid peptide would provide potent and selective therapeutic options in the treatment of AML.     

Utilization of Lactoferrin as an Iron-Stabilizer for Soybean and Fish Oil

ABSTRACT: We investigated the oxidative stability of soybean oil and fish oil fortified with iron solubilized by lactoferrin (FeLF). Oxidative stability was evaluated by measuring the induction period of the Rancimat test. The induction time of soybean oil added FeCl₃ was decreased; however, that of added FeLF was not. This effect of lactoferrin was also observed in the iron-catalyzed oxidation offish oil at temperatures ranging from 50°C to 120°C, and at concentrations of iron ranging from 0 to 500 ppm. Thus, lactoferrin is considered useful as a natural iron stabilizer for food products containing polyunsaturated fatty acids.