Generalized measuring-worm algorithm: high-accuracy mapping and movement via cooperating swarm robots

Recently, many extensive studies have been conducted on robot control via self-positioning estimation techniques. In the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) method, which is one approach to self-positioning estimation, robots generally use both autonomous position information from internal sensors and observed information on external landmarks. SLAM can yield higher accuracy positioning estimations depending on the number of landmarks; however, this technique involves a degree of uncertainty and has a high computational cost, because it utilizes image processing to detect and recognize landmarks. To overcome this problem, we propose a state-of-the-art method called a generalized measuring-worm (GMW) algorithm for map creation and position estimation, which uses multiple cooperating robots that serve as moving landmarks for each other. This approach allows problems of uncertainty and computational cost to be overcome, because a robot must find only a simple two-dimensional marker rather than feature-point landmarks. In the GMW method, the robots are given a two-dimensional marker of known shape and size and use a front-positioned camera to determine the marker distance and direction. The robots use this information to estimate each other’s positions and to calibrate their movement. To evaluate the proposed method experimentally, we fabricated two real robots and observed their behavior in an indoor environment. The experimental results revealed that the distance measurement and control error could be reduced to less than 3 %.     

A superhydrophilic titanium implant functionalized by ozone gas modulates bone marrow cell and macrophage responses

Bone-forming cells and M? play key roles in bone tissue repair. In this study, we prepared a superhydrophilic titanium implant functionalized by ozone gas to modulate osteoconductivity and inhibit inflammatory response towards titanium implants. After 24 h of ozone gas treatment, the water contact angle of the titanium surface became zero. XPS analysis revealed that hydroxyl groups were greatly increased, but carbon contaminants were largely decreased 24 h after ozone gas functionalization. Also, ozone gas functionalization did not alter titanium surface topography. Superhydrophilic titanium (O₃–Ti) largely increased the aspect ratio, size and perimeter of cells when compared with untreated titanium (unTi). In addition, O₃–Ti facilitated rat bone marrow derived MSCs differentiation and mineralization evidenced by greater ALP activity and bone-like nodule formation. Interestingly, O₃–Ti did not affect RAW264.7 M? proliferation. However, naive RAW264.7 M? cultured on unTi produced a two-fold larger amount of TNFα than that on O₃–Ti. Furthermore, O₃–Ti greatly mitigated proinflammatory cytokine production, including TNFα and IL-6 from LSP-stimulated RAW264.7 M?. These results demonstrated that a superhydrophilic titanium prepared by simple ozone gas functionalization successfully increased MSCs proliferation and differentiation, and mitigated proinflammatory cytokine production from both naive and LPS-stimulated M?. This superhydrophilic surface would be useful as an endosseous implantable biomaterials and as a biomaterial for implantation into other tissues.     

Virtual segment: Store–carry–forward relay-based support for wide-area non-real-time data exchange

We have proposed the concept of the virtual segment (VS), in which a global communication service is provided by combining a store–carry–forward scheme using vehicles with broadband wireless/wired network infrastructures along roads connected to the Internet. The VS can be a practical framework for non-real-time, asynchronous message transfer (especially for large messages) in a cost-effective manner. In this study, a critical implementation design issue, the message forward scheduling, in the VS approach is discussed and investigated through computer simulation by our developed VS simulator that has reflected the results of the field experiment for realistic performance evaluation.     

Logic programming for combinatorial problems

Combinatorial problems appear in many areas in science, engineering, biomedicine, business, and operations research. This article presents a new intelligent computing approach for solving combinatorial problems, involving permutations and combinations, by incorporating logic programming. An overview of applied combinatorial problems in various domains is given. Such computationally hard and popular combinatorial problems as the traveling salesman problem are discussed to illustrate the usefulness of the logic programming approach. Detailed discussions of implementation of combinatorial problems with time complexity analyses are presented in Prolog, the standard language of logic programming. These programs can be easily integrated into other systems to implement logic programming in combinatorics.     

New dissimilarity measure for recognizing noisy subsequence trees

Tree is a data structure used to express various objects such as semistructured data and genes. When objects are represented as trees, computing tree similarity is essential for pattern recognition and retrieval. This paper considers the noisy subsequence tree recognition problem whose purpose is to recognize the original tree, given its noisy subsequence tree. Previous research on this problem relied on constrained tree edit distance to measure the dissimilarity. However, the number of relabelings must be predetermined to compute it. This paper proposes a new dissimilarity measure for this problem. Our dissimilarity measure is obtained by counting the node edit operations included in the unit‐cost tree edit distance that contribute to the matching of node labels. The number of relabelings need not be specified to compute our dissimilarity measure. Moreover, our measure achieves more accurate recognition performance and faster execution speed than the constrained tree edit distance. Our measure is also useful to solve the tree inclusion problem which is the problem of deciding whether a tree includes another tree and shows the extent of approximate tree inclusion when a tree incompletely includes another tree. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

X-ray CCD calibration system using fluorescent lines

We have developed a CCD calibration system using fluorescent X-ray lines with energies ranging from 1.49 keV (Al K) to 11.2 keV (Se K). The absolute X-ray flux is calibrated by a gas proportional counter, while the emerging spectra are monitored by solid-state silicon detectors. In order to suppress contaminating X-rays in the fluorescence spectra, mechanical collimators were set in the X-ray beam line, high-purity targets for fluorescent lines were used, and band-pass filters were put on the X-ray beam line. As for the purity of the fluorescent X-rays, the typical purity achieved was 98%.     

Stoichiometry Control for the Tuning of Grain Passivation and Domain Distribution in Green Quasi‐2D Metal Halide Perovskite Films and Light‐Emitting Diodes

Quasi‐2D metal halide perovskite films are promising for efficient light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), because of their efficient radiative recombination and suppressed trap‐assisted quenching compared with pure 3D perovskites. However, because of the multidomain polycrystalline nature of solution‐processed quasi‐2D perovskite films, the composition engineering always impacts the emitting properties with complicated mechanisms. Here, defect passivation and domain distribution of quasi‐2D perovskite films prepared with various precursor compositions are systematically studied. As a result, in perovskite films prepared from stoichiometric quasi‐2D precursor compositions, large organic ammonium cations function well as passivators. In comparison, precursor compositions of simply adding large organic halide salt into a 3D perovskite precursor ensure not only the defect passivation but also the effective formation of quasi‐2D perovskite domains, avoiding unfavorable appearance of low‐order domains. Quasi‐2D perovskite films fabricated with a well‐designed precursor composition achieve a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 95.3% and an external quantum efficiency of 14.7% in LEDs.