Negative emotion recognition using multimodal physiological signals for advanced driver assistance systems

Artificial Life and Robotics - Recent advanced driver assistance systems’ (ADASs) control cars to avoid accidents, but few of them consider driver’s comfort. To realize comfortable...     

Translational lemmas for DLOGTIME-uniform circuits,alternating TMs,and PRAMs

We present translational lemmas for the three standard models of parallel computation, and apply them to obtain tight hierarchy results. It is shown that, for arbitrarily small rational constant , (i) there is a language which can be accepted by a -uniform circuit family of depth and size but not by any -uniform circuit family of depth and size , (ii) there is a language which can be accepted by a -time -space ATM with l worktapes but not by any -time -space ATM with the same l worktapes if the number of tape symbols is fixed, and (iii) there is a language which can be accepted by a -time PRAM with processors but not by any -time PRAM with processors. Here, c > 0, d ≥ 1, r ₁ > 1, and r ₂ ≥ 1 are arbitrary rational constants, and l ≥ 2 is an arbitrary integer. Preliminary versions of different parts of this paper appeared in Proc. MCU 2004 (LNCS 3354) and Proc. FCT 2005 (LNCS 3623).     

Digital RAC with a disturbance observer for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems

Most control methods of underwater vehiclemanipulator systems (UVMS) are based on the computed torque method that is used for underwater robotic vehicles. We have proposed a resolved acceleration control (RAC) method for UVMS. In this article, we propose a disturbance compensation control method for both vehicle and manipulator based on the RAC method. Experimental results using an underwater robot with a vertical planar 2-link manipulator show that the proposed control method has good control performance.     

Mechanical strengthening of Si cantilever by chemical KOH etching and its surface analysis by TEM and AFM

Mechanical strengthening of a Si cantilever by applying KOH wet etching was investigated. Two kinds of Si cantilever specimens having the different crystallographic orientations of the sidewall surfaces, i.e., Si{100} and Si{110}, were fabricated from the same SOI wafer by a Bosch process. The typical height and pitch of the scalloping formed on the sidewall were 248 and 917 nm, respectively. A 50 % KOH (40 °C) chemical wet etching was applied to increase the fracture stress of the Si cantilever. The fracture stress in the both of Si{100} and Si{110} cantilevers increased with the advance of the etching. The obtained maximum fracture stress in Si{100} and Si{110} were 4.2 and 3.7 GPa, respectively. Sidewall surface of the cantilever was analyzed to investigate the mechanical strengthening of Si cantilever by wet etching. The etched surface crystalline was analyzed by the transmission electron microscope (TEM), and confirmed that the thickness of the affected flow layer was less than 10 nm from the obtained TEM image. Then the change of the surface roughness by the KOH etching was analyzed by the atomic force microscope. The surface was smoothened with the advance of the KOH etching. The roughness value of Ra in Si{100} and Si{110} decreased to 12.1 and 37.7 nm, respectively.     

Emergency response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants using mobile rescue robots

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake (magnitude 9.0) and accompanying tsunami hit the Tohoku region of eastern Japan. Since then, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants have been facing a crisis due to the loss of all power that resulted from the meltdown accidents. Three buildings housing nuclear reactors were seriously damaged from hydrogen explosions, and, in one building, the nuclear reactions became out of control. It was too dangerous for humans to enter the buildings to inspect the damage because radioactive materials were also being released. In response to this crisis, it was decided that mobile rescue robots would be used to carry out surveillance missions. The mobile rescue robots needed could not be delivered to the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) until various technical issues were resolved. Those issues involved hardware reliability, communication functions, and the ability of the robots' electronic components to withstand radiation. Additional sensors and functionality that would enable the robots to respond effectively to the crisis were also needed. Available robots were therefore retrofitted for the disaster reponse missions. First, the radiation tolerance of the electronic componenets was checked by means of gamma ray irradiation tests, which were conducted using the facilities of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The commercial electronic devices used in the original robot systems operated long enough (more than 100 h at a 10% safety margin) in the assumed environment (100 mGy/h). Next, the usability of wireless communication in the target environment was assessed. Such tests were not possible in the target environment itself, so they were performed at the Hamaoka Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants, which are similar to the target environment. As previously predicted, the test results indicated that robust wireless communication would not be possible in the reactor buildings. It was therefore determined that a wired communication device would need to be installed. After TEPCO's official urgent mission proposal was received, the team mounted additional devices to facilitate the installation of a water gauge in the basement of the reactor buildings to determine flooding levels. While these preparations were taking place, prospective robot operators from TEPCO trained in a laboratory environment. Finally, one of the robots was delivered to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants on June 20, 2011, where it performed a number of important missions inside the buildings. In this paper, the requirements for the exploration mission in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants are presented, the implementation is discussed, and the results of the mission are reported.     

On-Site Fabrication of Crystalline Cerium Oxide Films and Patterns by Ink-Jet Deposition Method at Moderate Temperatures

Crystalline CeO₂ films and patterns have been successfully fabricated in a "single-step process" at moderate temperature. In this process, the combination of the ink-jet technique and depositing the precursor on a hot substrate (≤300°C) gave crystalline CeO₂ without further heat treatment. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the phase formed was crystallized ceria with nanosized (<10 nm) crystallites. The film thickness was several hundred nanometers and the pattern width was about 150 μm. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the films and patterns were free of cracks and adhered to the substrate. This is the first report about the direct patterning of crystalline CeO₂ without postfiring or posttreatments like masking, etching, etc.     

Hydrothermal synthesis of hydroxyapatite whiskers with sharp faceted hexagonal morphology

We report an effective method for the synthesis of hydroxyapatite whiskers with sharp faceted hexagonal shape employing a low temperature (90 °C) hydrothermal route with calcium nitrate tetrahydrate, diammonium phosphate and urea as starting materials. The key parameters of the synthesis process i.e. duration, temperature cycle of the treatment and starting pH value are carefully varied and the end products are investigated using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman-scattering, infrared spectroscopy (IR), elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction (ED), and high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) in order to find the optimal reaction conditions that lead to the desired hexagonal morphology of HA whiskers. The results demonstrate that gradual and greater increase in solution pH during the hydrothermal process favors large quantity of the single-crystalline hydroxyapatite whiskers with well defined hexagonal morphology.     

Flowrate effects on the lateral coalescence of two growing bubbles

The coalescence of two growing bubbles presents unique characteristics compared to static bubble coalescence. The gas injection flowrate significantly affects the different stages of bubble evolution, which is poorly understood. In this study, we investigate the flowrate effects on the lateral coalescence of two growing bubbles experimentally. The synchronous bubbling from adjacent needles is achieved using water to push air. During the bubble growth process, we find that the initial nonlinear evolution of bubble volume is because the bubble emerges as a small spherical cap with a large curvature radius and apparent contact angle. As the neck expands after bubble coalescence, the injection flowrate accelerates the neck evolution compared to the case without air injection. We find the neck expansion time decreases linearly with increasing flowrate, while the expansion speed increases with flowrate, but only in the early stage. Moreover, we propose a new theoretical expression that predicts the neck radius well at all the flowrates. At the post-coalescence oscillation stage, the average projection area of the coalesced bubble increases linearly with time, except for periodic oscillations. Besides, we find that the injected air primarily influences the coalesced bubble's height, which in turn affects the projection area.     

Quantitative differences in the active-site hydrophobicity of five human glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes: water-soluble carcinogen-selective properties of the neoplastic GSTP1-1 species

The active-site (the H-site) hydrophobicity of five human glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) was analyzed by application of linear free energy relationships (LFERs) with a series of S-alkylated glutathione inhibitors, GS(CH2)n - 1CH3 (n = 1-14). Distinct linear reltionships were observed in the plots of log Ki (inhibition constant) vs n for the five forms, whereby the Kis varied by three to four orders of magnitude. Mean free enthalpy changes per methylene group (-Delta DeltaG degreess), a measure of H-site hydrophobicity, were in the order M1-1 (4.6 kJ/mol) > A1-1 (3. 9 kJ/mol) > A1-2 (3.8 kJ/mol) > A2-2 (2.8 kJ/mol) > P1-1 (1.6 kJ/mol). The quantitative differences may in part account for the extraordinary broad and overlapping substrate specificities of the Alpha-, Mu-, and Pi-class isoenzymes. In contrast to the Alpha and Mu classes being selective for strongly electrophilic compounds, the neoplastic P1-1 species was indicated to be selective for weakly electrophilic and water-soluble carcinogens such as acrolein and hydroxyalkenals.