Multiple fuzzy state-value functions for human evaluation through interactive trajectory planning of a partner robot

The purpose of this study is to develop partner robots that can obtain and accumulate human-friendly behaviors. To achieve this purpose, the entire architecture of the robot is designed, based on a concept of structured learning which emphasizes the importance of interactive learning of several modules through interaction with its environment. This paper deals with a trajectory planning method for generating hand-to-hand behaviors of a partner robot by using multiple fuzzy state-value functions, a self-organizing map, and an interactive genetic algorithm. A trajectory for the behavior is generated by an interactive genetic algorithm using human evaluation. In order to reduce human load, human evaluation is estimated by using the fuzzy state-value function. Furthermore, to cope with various situations, a self-organizing map is used for clustering a given task dependent on a human hand position. And then, a fuzzy state-value function is assigned to each output unit of the self-organizing map. The robot can easily obtain and accumulate human-friendly trajectories using a fuzzy state-value function and a knowledge database corresponding to the unit selected in the self-organizing map. Finally, multiple fuzzy state-value functions can estimate a human evaluation model for the hand-to-hand behaviors. Several experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Photo-Induced Effect of the Electron-Spin Resonance on the Charge-Ordered State in Pr0.65Ca0.35MnO3

Electron-spin resonance (ESR) for the charge-ordered state in well-characterized Pr_0.65Ca_0.35MnO₃ exhibited significant change of both the absorption profile and the effective spin susceptibility upon injection of laser light with photon energy of 1.17 eV provided by Nd-YAG laser. The increase of the effective spin susceptibility was clearly found out thanks to the injection of photons in the temperature range 90 K–80 K, which is below the transition temperature from the antiferromagnetic charge ordered state to the canted antiferromagnetic spin alternation state, T _CAF125 K. The temperature dependence of the change of the ESR profile excludes the possibility of heating by laser light. The present result suggests that a kind of photo-induced insulator–metal transition may occur due to propagation of the delocalized carriers via probable double exchange interaction in the charge-ordering collapsed state created by the injection of photons.     

Electron Spin Resonance in Pr0.65Ca0.35MnO3

The magnetic behavior of the distorted perovskite manganese, Pr_0.65Ca_0.35MnO₃ was studied by X-band electron spin resonance for powder samples. We observed the onset of the charge-ordered state at T _CO215 K, the antiferromagnetic transition with the peak of the ESR linewidth, H _p–p at T _AF180 K and the canted antiferromagnetic transition at T _CAF125 K associated with the abrupt increase of both the effective magnetization and H _p–p . Below 90 K, the absorption intensity profile becomes weakened with decreasing temperature suggesting the existence of some kind of magnetic disorder below 90 K, which is responsible for a part of evidence of the existence of the spin-glass state as has been proposed by Yoshizawa et al., Phys. Rev. B 52, 1689 (1996).     

Improvement of bitumen-waste product in leachability—Leachability of bitumen product containing BWR's evaporator concentrate

The method has been developed to improve the bitumen product which incorporates an evaporator concentrate from a BWR, with respect to the swelling and leaching. The leachability of the product has been measured by the method recommended by the IAEA. The swelling of the product is successfully prevented by the addition of calcium chloride. The specimen containing the waste up to Wa/B (Weight ratio of Na₂SO₄ + CaCl₂ and bitumen) = 60:40 shows no pronounced swelling, when it is immersed in water. The cumulative fractions of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁶⁰Co leached from a specimen which does not contain CaCl₂ are 0.65 and 0.2 at the leaching time of 30 days. On the hand, the corresponding value at 100 days for the specimen with calcium chloride addition is 5 × 10^?4 for ¹³⁷Cs and 1 × 10^?4 for ⁶⁰Co. The coating of the specimen surface with a fresh bitumen (5 mm thickness) reduces the leachability further. These results indicate that this method is effective to improve the bitumen product incorporating BWR's evaporator concentrate.     

Purification, bacteriolytic activity, and specificity of beta-lytic protease from Lysobacter sp. IB-9374

Lysobacter sp. IB-9374, which was isolated from soil as a high lysyl endopeptidase-producing strain (Chohnanet al., FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 213, 13-20, 2002), was found to produce a beta-lytic protease capable of lysing gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Microccocuseus, and Bacillus subtilis. The Lysobacter strain secreted the beta-lytic protease into the culture medium at a 2.4-fold higher level than Achromobacter lyticus. The enzyme was highly purified through a series of six steps with a high yield. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by tetraethylene-pentamine and 1,10-phenanthroline. The purified enzyme lysed more efficiently almost all the gram-positive bacteria tested than lysozyme, lysostaphin, and mutanolysin. The enzyme was very similar to Achromobacter beta-lytic protease containing one zinc atom in terms of amino acid composition and N-terminal sequence. The nucleotide sequence revealed that the mature enzyme was composed of 179 amino acid residues with additional 198 amino acids at the amino-terminal end of the enzyme. The deduced amino acid sequence of the mature enzyme coincided with that of the Achromobacter enzyme, although the prepro-region showed a 41% sequence identity with the counterpart. These results indicate that Lysobacter sp. is a useful strain for an efficient large-scale preparation of beta-lytic protease capable of lysing bacteria.     

Disappearance of Bose-Glass Behavior in Transport Properties of YBa2Cu3O y Films with Columnar Defects

The glass transitions of the vortex system in Au-ion irradiated YBa₂Cu₃O _y films have been studied by the measurements of transport properties as a function of magnetic field B and angle of B to the direction of columnar defects. At =0°, we find an anomalous upturn behavior of the glass transition line B _g(T) at BB /3, where B is the matching field. In B>B /3, the dependence of glass transition temperature T _g reveals cusplike behavior with a peak at =0°, which is consistent with the Bose glass theory. In B<B /3, on the other hand, T _g is almost independent of , suggesting the system undergoes the vortex glass transition induced by the inherent point-like defects.     

Chemiluminescence detection for a microchip capillary electrophoresis system fabricated in poly(dimethylsiloxane)

Chemiluminescence (CL) detection integrated with a microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) system that was fabricated in poly(dimethylsiloxane) was demonstrated for chemical and biochemical analyses. Two model CL systems were involved here: metal ion-catalyzed luminol-peroxide reaction and dansyl species conjugated peroxalate-peroxide reaction. Different strategies based on three chip patterns (cross, cross combining with Y, and cross combining with V) to perform on-line CL detection for MCE were evaluated and compared in terms of sensitivity, reproducibility, and peak symmetry. The chip pattern of cross combining with Y proved to be promising for the luminol-peroxide CL system, while the chip pattern of cross combining with V was preferred for the peroxalate-peroxide system where CL reagent could not be effectively transported by electroosmotic flow. A detection limit down to submicromolar concentrations (midattomole) was achieved with good reproducibility and symmetric peak shape. Successful separation of three metal cations such as Cr(III), Co(II), and Cu(II) and chiral recognition of dansyl phenylalanine enantiomers within 1 min revealed distinct advantages of combining MCE with CL detection for rapid and sensitive analyses.     

Mechanistic study on analyte focusing by dynamic pH junction in capillary electrophoresis using computer simulation

Dynamic pH junction is an on-line preconcentration method in capillary electrophoresis (CE) based on electrokinetic focusing of weakly ionic analytes with in large sample volumes in a multisection electrolyte system. In this report, experiments and computer simulations were performed to gain a better insight of the analyte focusing mechanism when a dynamic pH junction was used. A computer program, SIMUL, was used to simulate the band-narrowing process of a group for phenol derivatives under optimized buffer conditions, which were compared with experimental results. Computer simulations revealed the formation of a sharp moving pH boundary within the sample zone causing efficient focusing of long plugs of weakly acidic analytes based on their pKa. These studies offered useful information for understanding the band-narrowing process by control of the depth and lifetime of the moving pH boundary as a function of analyte pKa, sample pH, and injection length. The change in pH of the sample within the capillary was also estimated by measuring the absorbances of an analyte at two different wave-lengths. Optimization of analyte focusing resulted in enhanced detection responses of about 60-450-fold in terms of peak heights for some phenol derivatives' relation to conventional injections. Dynamic pH junction represents a novel approach to control band dispersion (peak width) and selectivity (mobility) of specific analytes for high-resolution CE separations.     

Conventional detection of 2,4-dinitrophenol using quartz crystal microbalance

We present conventional detection of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) for using the competitive reaction between DNP and DNP-conjugated albumin onto DNP antibody immobilized quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). This QCM method allows detection of DNP concentration in the range of 0.01 to 100 ng/ml; linear correlation obtains DNP concentration from 1 to 100 ng/ml.