Public displays, such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are often used in urban green spaces. However, these display devices often tarnish the green landscape of urban green spaces due to their ...artificial materials. We previously proposed a green landscape-friendly grass animation display that dynamically controls the grass color pixel by pixel. The grass color is changed by moving a green grass length in yellow grass, and the grass animation display runs simple animations using grayscale images. In our previous study, the color scale is subjectively mapped to the green grass length. However, this method fails to display the grass colors corresponding to the color scale based on objective evaluations. Herein, we introduce a dynamic grass color scale display technique based on the grass length. We develop a grass color scale setting procedure to map the grass length to the five-level color scale through image processing. In the outdoor experiment of the grass color scale setting procedure, the color scale corresponds to the green grass length based on a viewpoint. Finally, we demonstrate a grass animation display to show the animations with the color scale using experimental results.
3-Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is a super antioxidant possessing many physiological advantages for human health. However, the extraction of natural HT from olive (Olea europaea) is expensive, and its chemical ...synthesis presents an environmental burden. Therefore, microbial production of HT from renewable sources has been investigated over the past decade. In the present study, we modified the chromosome of a phenylalanine-producing strain of Escherichia coli to generate an HT-producing strain. The initial strain showed good HT production in tests performed by test tube cultivation, but this performance did not transfer to jar-fermenter cultivation. To grow well and achieve higher titers, the chromosome was further engineered and the cultivation conditions were further modified. The final strain achieved a higher HT titer (8.8 g/L) and yield (8.7%) from glucose in the defined synthetic medium. These yields are the best reported to date for the biosynthesis of HT from glucose.
Of all the molecular determinants for growth, the hydronium and hydroxide ions are found naturally in the widest concentration range, from acid mine drainage below pH 0 to soda lakes above pH 13. ...Most bacteria and archaea have mechanisms that maintain their internal, cytoplasmic pH within a narrower range than the pH outside the cell, termed "pH homeostasis." Some mechanisms of pH homeostasis are specific to particular species or groups of microorganisms while some common principles apply across the pH spectrum. The measurement of internal pH of microbes presents challenges, which are addressed by a range of techniques under varying growth conditions. This review compares and contrasts cytoplasmic pH homeostasis in acidophilic, neutralophilic, and alkaliphilic bacteria and archaea under conditions of growth, non-growth survival, and biofilms. We present diverse mechanisms of pH homeostasis including cell buffering, adaptations of membrane structure, active ion transport, and metabolic consumption of acids and bases.
We are developing a social mobile robot that has a name calling function using a face memorization system. It is said that it is an important function for a social robot to call to a person by ...her/his name, and the name calling can make a friendly impression of the robot on her/him. Our face memorization system has the following features: (1) When the robot detects a stranger, it stores her/his face images and name after getting her/his permission. (2) The robot can call to a person whose face it has memorized by her/his name. (3) The robot system has a sleep–wake function, and a face classifier is re-trained in a REM sleep state, or execution frequencies of information processes are reduced when it has nothing to do, for example, when there is no person around the robot. In this paper, we confirmed the performance of these functions and conducted an experiment to evaluate the impression of the name calling function with research participants. The experimental results revealed the validity and effectiveness of the proposed face memorization system.
A car-borne survey was carried out in the northwestern, or Tokatsu, area of Chiba Prefecture, Japan, to make a detailed distribution map of absorbed dose rate in air four years after the Fukushima ...Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. This area was chosen because it was the most heavily radionuclide contaminated part of Chiba Prefecture and it neighbors metropolitan Tokyo. Measurements were performed using a 3-in × 3-in NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer in June 2015. The survey route covered the whole Tokatsu area which includes six cities. A heterogeneous distribution of absorbed dose rate in air was observed on the dose distribution map. Especially, higher absorbed dose rates in air exceeding 80 nGy h-1 were observed along national roads constructed using high porosity asphalt, whereas lower absorbed dose rates in air were observed along local roads constructed using low porosity asphalt. The difference between these asphalt types resulted in a heterogeneous dose distribution in the Tokatsu area. The mean of the contribution ratio of artificial radionuclides to absorbed dose rate in air measured 4 years after the accident was 29% (9-50%) in the Tokatsu area. The maximum absorbed dose rate in air, 201 nGy h-1 was observed at Kashiwa City. Radiocesium was deposited in the upper 1 cm surface layer of the high porosity asphalt which was collected in Kashiwa City and the environmental half-life of the absorbed dose rate in air was estimated to be 1.7 years.
There are various proposals for employing grass materials as a green landscape-friendly display. However, it is difficult for current techniques to display smooth animations using 8-bit images and to ...adjust display resolution, similar to conventional displays. We present ProgrammableGrass , an artificial grass display with scalable resolution, capable of swiftly controlling grass color at 8-bit levels. This grass display can control grass colors linearly at the 8-bit level, similar to an LCD display, and can also display not only 8-bit-based images but also videos. This display enables pixel-by-pixel color transitions from yellow to green using fixed-length yellow and adjustable-length green grass. We designed a grass module that can be connected to other modules. Utilizing a proportional derivative control, the grass colors are manipulated to display animations at approximately 10 fps. Since the relationship between grass lengths and colors is nonlinear, we developed a calibration system for ProgrammableGrass . We revealed that this calibration system allows ProgrammableGrass to linearly control grass colors at 8-bit levels through experiments under multiple conditions. Lastly, we demonstrate ProgrammableGrass to show smooth animations with 8-bit grayscale images. Moreover, we show several application examples to illustrate the potential of ProgrammableGrass . With the advancement of this technology, users will be able to treat grass as a green-based interactive display device.
When a robot works among people in a public space, its behavior can make some people feel uncomfortable. One of the reasons for this is that it is difficult for people to understand the robot’s ...intended behavior based on its appearance. This paper presents a new intention expression method using a three dimensional computer graphics (3D CG) face model. The 3D CG face model is displayed on a flat panel screen and has two eyes and a head that can be rotated freely. When the mobile robot is about to change its traveling direction, the robot rotates its head and eyes in the direction it intends to go, so that an oncoming person can know the robot’s intention from this previous announcement. Three main types of experiment were conducted, to confirm the validity and effectiveness of our proposed previous announcement method using the face interface. First, an appropriate timing for the previous announcement was determined from impression evaluations as a preliminary experiment. Secondly, differences between two experiments, in which a pedestrian and the robot passed each other in a corridor both with and without the previous announcement, were evaluated as main experiments of this study. Finally, differences between our proposed face interface and the conventional robot head were analyzed as a reference experiments. The experimental results confirmed the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Properties of four two-component bacterial transport systems of the cation/proton antiporter-2 (CPA2) family led to suggestions that this CPA2 subset may use a channel rather than an antiport ...mechanism see Booth IR, Edwards MD, Gunasekera B, Li C, Miller S (2005) in Bacterial Ion Channels, eds Kubalski A, Martinac B (Am Soc Microbiol, Washington, DC), pp 21-40. The transporter subset includes the intensively studied glutathione-gated K⁺ efflux systems from Escherichia coli, KefGB, and KefFC. KefG and KefF are ancillary proteins. They are peripheral membrane proteins that are encoded in operons with the respective transporter proteins, KefB and KefC, and are required for optimal efflux activity. The other two-component CPA2 transporters of the subset are AmhMT, an NH₄⁺ (K⁺) efflux system from alkaliphilic Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4; and YhaTU, a K⁺ efflux system from Bacillus subtilis. Here a K⁺/H⁺ antiport capacity was demonstrated for YhaTU, AmhMT, and KefFC in membrane vesicles from antiporter-deficient E. coli KNabc. The apparent Km for K⁺ was in the low mM range. The peripheral protein was required for YhaU- and KefC-dependent antiport, whereas both AmhT and AmhMT exhibited antiport. KefFC had the broadest range of substrates, using Rb⁺almost equal toK⁺>Li⁺>Na⁺. Glutathione significantly inhibited KefFC-mediated K⁺/H⁺ antiport in vesicles. The inhibition was enhanced by NADH, which presumably binds to the KTN/RCK domain of KefC. The antiport mechanism accounts for the H⁺ uptake involved in KefFC-mediated electrophile resistance in vivo. Because the physiological substrate of AmhMT in the alkaliphile is NH₄⁺, the results also imply that AmhMT catalyzes NH₄⁺/H⁺ antiport, which would prevent net cytoplasmic H⁺ loss during NH₄⁺ efflux.
PDF
