Survey of actual viewing conditions at home and appropriate luminance of LCD‐TV screens

Abstract— To understand actual viewing conditions at home is important for TV design. And the preferred luminance level of LCD TVs under actual viewing conditions is also important in order to obtain both good picture quality and low power consumption. The actual viewing conditions of households and the preferred luminance levels was investigated. In a field test of 83 households, the display luminance, screen illuminance, and viewing locations were measured on site. In laboratory experiments, young and elderly subjects adjusted the luminance of an LCD‐TV screen to their preferred levels under different screen illuminance levels, angular screen sizes, and average luminance levels (ALL) of the images. As a result, two equations, which represent the preferred luminance level of LCD‐TV screens corresponding to different viewing conditions for young and elderly subjects were obtained. When the ALL of the images was 25% and the screen illuminance and angular screen size were set at 100 lx and 20°, respectively, the preferred luminance was 1 60 cd/m² for the young subjects and 248 cd/m² for the elderly subjects. By using the setting of the preferred luminance of an LCD TV under actual viewing conditions, it is possible to conserve energy consumption.     

Three-dimensional scanner of a pipe with tilt detection

The 3D quantitative measurement system for a sewer pipe is introduced. Two parallel lasers are rotated by the motor and draw the two annular streaks on the inside surface of the pipe. The circular laser streaks are recorded by the CCD camera. The measurement of the cross-section is established by analyzing the recorded streaks. The tilt of the robot against the axis of the pipe is detected by the deviation between two parallel lasers. It enables us to measure the vertical cross section of the pipe regardless the tilt of the system to the pipe. Experimental result shows the feasibility of the system. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Gradually intractable problems and nondeterministic log-space lower bounds

The paper places five different problems (thek-pebble game problem, two problems aboutk finite automata, the reachability problem for Petri nets withk tokens, and the teachability problem for graphs whose k-dimensional edge sets are described by Cartesian products ofk factors) into the hierarchyNL _k of problems solvable by nondeterministic Turing machines ink-log₂ n space (and binary tape alphabet, to avoid tape speed-up). The results, when combined with the conjecture thatNL _i contains problems that requireO(n ^k ) deterministic time, show that these problems, while inP for every fixed value ofk, have polynomial deterministic time complexities with the degree of the polynomial growing linearly with the parameterk, and hence are, in this sense, gradually intractable.     

Imitating others by composition of primitive actions: A neuro-dynamic model

This paper introduces a novel neuro-dynamical model that accounts for possible mechanisms of action imitation and learning. It is considered that imitation learning requires at least two classes of generalization. One is generalization over sensory–motor trajectory variances, and the other class is on cognitive level which concerns on more qualitative understanding of compositional actions by own and others which do not necessarily depend on exact trajectories. This paper describes a possible model dealing with these classes of generalization by focusing on the problem of action compositionality. The model was evaluated in the experiments using a small humanoid robot. The robot was trained with a set of different actions concerning object manipulations which can be decomposed into sequences of action primitives. Then the robot was asked to imitate a novel compositional action demonstrated by a human subject which are composed from prior-learned action primitives. The results showed that the novel action can be successfully imitated by decomposing and composing it with the primitives by means of organizing unified intentional representation hosted by mirror neurons even though the trajectory-level appearance is different between the ones of observed and those of self-generated.     

Safety design

JAERI established the safety design philosophy of the HTTR based on that of current reactors such as LWR in Japan, considering inherent safety features of the HTTR. The strategy of defense in depth was implemented so that the safety engineering functions such as control of reactivity, removal of residual heat and confinement of fission products shall be well performed to ensure safety. However, unlike the LWR, the inherent design features of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) enables the HTTR meet stringent regulatory criteria without much dependence on active safety systems. On the other hand, the safety in an accident typical to the HTGR such as the depressurization accident initiated by a primary pipe rupture shall be ensured. The safety design philosophy of the HTTR considers these unique features appropriately and is expected to be the basis for future Japanese HTGRs.This paper describes the safety design philosophy and safety evaluation procedure of the HTTR especially focusing on unique considerations to the HTTR. Also, experiences obtained from an HTTR safety review and R&D needs for establishing the safety philosophy for the future HTGRs are reported.     

Structure,transport properties,and dielectric properties of lactic acid/pyruvic acid aqueous solution in a biofuel cell: A molecular simulation study

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of lactic acid (L‐acid) and pyruvic acid (P‐acid) in a physiological salt solution has been performed, which is used as the electrolyte in a sort of biofuel cell working on a human skin. The structure, frequency distribution of molecules, dielectric properties, rotational correlation functions, and diffusion coefficients have been calculated. The anomalous behavior of dielectric constants for the lower concentration of L‐acid and P‐acid has been obtained from MD. The anomalous dielectric constant is discussed in relation with the various physical properties of the solution including the life time of the interaction in the solution. MD results suggest that the anomalous behavior is supposed to be attributed to the difference of interactions between ions in the lower and higher concentration region. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:2474–2478, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Synthesis of New Pb-Based 1222 Cuprates Containing Phosphorus, (Pb0.75P0.25)Sr2(RE2–x–y Ce x Sr y )Cu2O z (RE = Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Y)

New Pb-based 1222 cuprates containing phosphorus have been synthesized in the (Pb_0.75P_0.25)Sr₂- (RE_2–x–y Ce _x Sr _y )Cu₂O _z (RE = Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Y) systems. The almost-single phase samples are obtained for 0.5≤x≤1.0 and y=0.1 in the cases of RE = Nd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Y, while for 0.3≤x≤1.0 and y=0.1 in the cases of RE = Sm, Eu and Gd. The samples crystallize in a tetragonal lattice, the lattice parameters a and c are decreasing with the decrease of the ionic radius of the RE element. Even after annealing under 143 atm O₂ atmosphere at 400 °C, almost all the samples with the common values x=0.5 and y=0.1 are semiconductors with a transport process followed by three-dimensional variable range hopping. However, the samples of RE = Sm, Eu and Gd, which are of almost single 1222 phase, even for x=0.3 and y=0.1, show superconductivity with the onsets at about 25 K, 20 K and 22 K, respectively. Through this study, we find very important procedure for discovery of new superconducting 1222 compound.     

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Biomarkers for Neurodegenerative Diseases

There has been an increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases with the rapid increase in aging societies worldwide. Biomarkers that can be used to detect pathological changes before the development of severe neuronal loss and consequently facilitate early intervention with disease-modifying therapeutic modalities are therefore urgently needed. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a promising tool that can be used to infer microstructural characteristics of the brain, such as microstructural integrity and complexity, as well as axonal density, order, and myelination, through the utilization of water molecules that are diffused within the tissue, with displacement at the micron scale. Diffusion tensor imaging is the most commonly used diffusion MRI technique to assess the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. However, diffusion tensor imaging has several limitations, and new technologies, including neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging, diffusion kurtosis imaging, and free-water imaging, have been recently developed as approaches to overcome these constraints. This review provides an overview of these technologies and their potential as biomarkers for the early diagnosis and disease progression of major neurodegenerative diseases.     

Development of a simple capillary electrophoretic determination of glucosamine in nutritional supplements using in-capillary derivatisation with o-phthalaldehyde

A simple capillary electrophoretic method was developed for the determination of glucosamine using in-capillary derivatisation. Glucosamine in commercial products was extracted with purified water. The CE separation was achieved on an uncoated fused-silica capillary using a 20 mM borate buffer (pH 9.2) containing 5 mM o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) and 5 mM 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) at 25 kV, followed by UV detection at 340 nm. The detector response was linear (r² > 0.999) in the concentration range 10–1000 μg/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) was 1.3 mg/g. Spiked glucosamine recoveries at 50 and 100 mg/g level were 95.1% and 104.3%, respectively. The method was applied to 16 commercial products. The concentrations of glucosamine were 109–705 mg/g, and the ratios of detected glucosamine content to the labelled value were 88.8–124%. No significant bias was observed (r² = 0.989, p < 0.01), between results obtained by the proposed CE method and an official colorimetric method (Japanese Health Food & Nutrition Food Association).     

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.