Urban area characterization based on crowd behavioral lifelogs over Twitter

Recent location-based social networking sites are attractively providing us with a novel capability of monitoring massive crowd lifelogs in the real-world space. In particular, they make it easier to collect publicly shared crowd lifelogs in a large scale of geographic area reflecting the crowd’s daily lives and even more characterizing urban space through what they have in minds and how they behave in the space. In this paper, we challenge to analyze urban characteristics in terms of crowd behavior by utilizing crowd lifelogs in urban area over the social networking sites. In order to collect crowd behavioral data, we exploit the most famous microblogging site, Twitter, where a great deal of geo-tagged micro lifelogs emitted by massive crowds can be easily acquired. We first present a model to deal with crowds’ behavioral logs on the social network sites as a representing feature of urban space’s characteristics, which will be used to conduct crowd-based urban characterization. Based on this crowd behavioral feature, we will extract significant crowd behavioral patterns in a period of time. In the experiment, we conducted the urban characterization by extracting the crowd behavioral patterns and examined the relation between the regions of common crowd activity patterns and the major categories of local facilities.     

Mineralogical mapping of southern Namibia by application of continuum-removal MSAM method to the HyMap data

We applied the Modified Spectral Angle Mapper (MSAM) and continuum-removal methods to reflectance data obtained in the shortwave infrared regions by the airborne hyperspectral sensor, HyMap, to delineate distribution of the minerals related to hydrothermal alteration and pegmatite. The combination of these two methods was applied to remotely sensed hyperspectral data for the first time in this study. The effectiveness of this method, ‘continuum-removal MSAM’, was confirmed by comparing our mineral index maps with existing mineral maps of the Cuprite region, Nevada, USA. We then produced mineral index maps of southern Namibia using newly observed hyperspectral data. The existence of many pegmatite- and porphyry-type deposits is reported in this study area, where detailed mineralogical mapping based on remote-sensing data has not previously been conducted. Our mineral index maps are consistent with our field survey results, and also with X-ray diffraction analyses and spectral measurements of rock samples. In this study, the continuum-removal MSAM method successfully discriminated hydrothermal alteration minerals such as kaolinite and pyrophyllite, and pegmatite-related minerals such as high-aluminium muscovite and lepidolite in southern Namibia for the first time. The main advantages of our classification method are simplicity and high-precision identification of alteration minerals.     

Pulsed laser processing of nano-polycrystalline diamond: A comparative study with single crystal diamond

We have conducted laser processing of ultrahard nano-polycrystalline and single crystalline diamonds (NPD, SCD, respectively) using nano-pulsed near-ultraviolet laser, and the machining properties were compared through microstructural examinations by SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopy. The cut depth of the laser-cut grooves was observed to be deeper for the NPD than for the SCD. This is probably due to the lower thermal conductivity feature of NPD, which provides higher absorption efficiency of the laser energy and decreases the laser ablation threshold. TEM cross-section observation showed that the processed grooves in the both types of diamonds are covered with identical laser-modified layers (~ 1 µm thick) composed of roughly oriented nanocrystalline graphite. A marked difference was observed between the laser-processed surfaces of NPD and SCD: in the former the diamond–graphite interface is almost linear and undamaged, whereas in the latter the boundary is slightly folded and significantly distorted. These textural features suggest that different laser-machining processes are involved between NPD and SCD in the microscopic scale. Our results demonstrate that pulsed laser can be used even more effectively for the fabrication of nano-polycrystalline diamond than the case for single crystal diamond.     

Localization of clavulons,prostanoids with antitumor activity,within the Okinawan soft coral <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clavularia viridis</Emphasis> (alcyonacea,clavulariidae): Preparation of a high-purity <Emphasis Type="Italic">Symbiodinium</Emphasis> faction using a protease and a detergent

To investigate the localization of clavulones (CV), prostanoids with antitumor activity, in the Okinawan soft coral Clavularia viridis, we developed a method for the isolation of Symbiodinium cells from the coral, i.e., treatment of a coral homogenate with a protease, pronase F, and a detergent, Nonidet P-40. The conditions for the treatment were optimized by monitoring the morphology microscopically and the amount of chlorophyll in the Symbiodinium fraction (SymF) optically. To evaluate the purity of SymF and a Symbiodinium-free coral fraction (CorF), we analyzed them for proteins and lipids using cultivated Symbiodinium as a reference. TLC of lipids revealed that SymF contained a greater amount of glycolipids, whereas CorF comprised mostly phospholipids. SDS-PAGE of proteins in SymF and CorF revealed their distinct profiles. Thus, we could obtain each fraction with high purity; we reached the conclusion that CV and arachidonic acid, their possible precursor, are localized exclusively in the insoluble fraction of host coral cells.     

Equivalent lightness of colored objects of equal munsell chroma and of equal munsell value at various illuminances

Equivalent lightness was determined for 26 colored surfaces by heterochromatic brightness matching with a grey scale. The illuminance for observation was varied from 0.01 to 1000 lx to cover scotopic, mesopic, and photopic vision, and the equivalent lightness-versus-log illuminance curve was obtained for every stimulus. The shape of the curves did not change if the surfaces had the same Munsell hue and chroma. It differed significantly if they had different hues or different chroma. The curves were interpreted in terms of achromatic lightness and chromatic lightness, which are both subject to change with illuminance level. The achromatic lightness was assumed to follow the Purkinje shift and the chromatic lightness monotonically increased with illuminance. The chromatic lightness was larger for larger Munsell chroma within a single hue.     

Acoustic emission and e.s.r. studies of polymers under stress

A nearly noise-free apparatus for the stressing of polymers is described. It has been used, in conjunction with a sensitive piezo-electric transducer and associated apparatus for the generation, detection and collection of acoustic emissions, from stressed polymers. It is shown that detectable levels of acoustic energy are released from several polymers and composites, and that the distribution of acoustic events varies with material examined. Parallel experiments have been carried out in which free radicals are generated by stressing bulk polymer in the cavity of an e.s.r. spectrometer. There is some correlation between stress and both acoustic emissions and free radical generation.     

Formation of self-assembled glycolipid nanotubes with bilayer sheets

Rolled-up morphology of bilayer sheets in a self-assembled glycolipid nanotube (LNT) in water was carefully examined by using a cryogenic transmission electron microscope (cryo-TEM) with a rapid-freezing specimen-preparation technique. The LNTs were obtained under a series of self-assembly conditions: boiling of an aqueous dispersion of glycolipid N-(11-cis-octadecenoyl)-beta-D-glucopyranosylamine, subsequent gradual cooling, and incubation at room temperature for several days. Cryo-TEM images revealed that the LNT walls consist of a multilayer structure with interlayer distance of about 4.7 nm. These layers correspond to constituent lipid bilayers. From the result of precise cryo-TEM observations and analyses, we confirmed the rolled-up morphology of the lipid bilayer sheets in a complete self-assembled glycolipid nanotube.     

Lymphatic Absorption and Deposition of Various Plant Sterols in Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats,a Strain Having a Mutation in ATP binding cassette transporter G5

ATP binding cassette transporter G5 (ABCG5) and ATP binding cassette transporter G8 (ABCG8) have been suggested to transport absorbed plant sterols and cholesterol from enterocytes to the intestinal lumen and from hepatocytes to bile. It has been thought that mutations of ABCG5 or ABCG8 cause the deposition of plant sterols in the body. In the present study, lymphatic absorption of various plant sterols and their deposition in various tissues was investigated in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP), having a mutation in Abcg5 and depositing plant sterols in the body. The order of lymphatic 24-h recovery of plant sterols was as follows: campesterol > sitosterol > brassicasterol > stigmasterol = sitostanol. When SHRSP were fed a diet containing one of the plant sterols, the depositions of campesterol and sitosterol were comparatively higher than those of brassicasterol, stigmasterol and sitostanol. Highly positive correlations were obtained between lymphatic recovery of plant sterols and their levels in plasma, liver, adipose tissue and heart. The tendency of differential absorption of plant sterols to the lymph in SHRSP was similar to that in normal Wistar rats previously reported by us (Hamada et al. Lipids 41:551–556, 2006). These observations suggest that differential absorption of various plant sterols is kept in SHRSP in spite of a mutation in Abcg5.     

Vascular bundle shape in cross-section and relaxation properties of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens)

The variation in the longitudinal and radial direction of the R/T ratio which is the ratio of the radially maximum length (R) to the tangentially maximum width (T) of a vascular bundle and area ratio of vascular bundles, which are cross-sectional image features of bamboo, and the relationships between the R/T ratio or area ratio and relaxation behavior were investigated. These image features varied characteristically in the longitudinal and radial directions. Relationships between these image features and relaxation behavior were evaluated using the instantaneous creep compliance ln[J (0)] and the creep intensity ln [J(3 × 10⁴) ? J (0)]. Although both instantaneous compliance and creep intensity decreased as density increased, their dependence properties were remarkably different. Instantaneous compliance was strongly correlated with R/T ratio and density, which was related to the area ratio, whereas creep intensity was weakly correlated with density in a given range. The results indicate a difference between the two relaxation properties, because creep intensity depends more on microstructures, such as the conformation of molecular chains in the substance, or interactions among cells than on R/T ratio and area ratio image features.