Parameter estimation for boundary value problems by integral equations of the second kind

This paper is concerned with the parameter estimation for boundary integral equations of the second kind. The parameter estimation technique through use of the spline collocation method is proposed. Based on the compactness assumption imposed on the parameter space, the convergence analysis for the numerical method of parameter estimation is discussed. The results obtained here are applied to a boundary parameter estimation for 2-D elliptic systems

Boundary shape identification problems in two-dimensional domains related to thermal testing of materials

The identification of the geometrical structure of the system boundary for a two-dimensional diffusion system is reported. The domain identification problem treated here is converted into an optimization problem based on a fit-to-data criterion and theoretical convergence results for approximate identification techniques are discussed. Results of numerical experiments to demonstrate the efficacy of the theoretical ideas are reported

Two-Fingered Haptic Device for Robot Hand Teleoperation

A haptic feedback system is required to assist telerehabilitation with robot hand. The system should provide the reaction force measured in the robot hand to an operator. In this paper, we have developed a force feedback device that presents a reaction force to the distal segment of the operator's thumb, middle finger, and basipodite of the middle finger when the robot hand grasps an object. The device uses a shape memory alloy as an actuator, which affords a very compact, lightweight, and accurate device

Adsorption of Urinary Proteins on the Conventionally Used Urine Collection Tubes: Possible Effects on Urinary Proteome Analysis and Prevention of the Adsorption by Polymer Coating

One possible factor determining recovery of trace amount of protein biomarker candidates during proteome analyses could be adsorption on urine tubes. This issue, however, has not been well addressed so far. Recently, a new technical device of surface coating by poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC)-co-n-butyl methacrylate (BMA)) (poly(MPC-co-BMA)) has been developed mainly to prevent the adsorption of plasma proteins. We assessed whether conventionally used urine tubes adsorb trace amount of urinary proteins and, if any, whether the surface coating by poly(MPC-co-BMA) can minimize the adsorption. Proteinuric urine samples were kept in poly(MPC-co-BMA)-coated and noncoated urine tubes for 15 min and possibly adsorbed proteins and/or peptides onto urine tubes were analyzed by SDS-PAGE, 2-DE, and the MALDI-TOF MS. It was found that a number of proteins and/or peptides adsorb on the conventionally used urine tubes and that surface coating by poly(MPC-co-BMA) can minimize the adsorption without any significant effects on routine urinalysis test results. Although it remains to be clarified to what extent the protein adsorption can modify the results of urinary proteome analyses, one has to consider this possible adsorption of urinary proteins when searching for trace amounts of protein biomarkers in urine

High-Speed Tactile Sensing for Array-Type Tactile Sensor and Object Manipulation Based on Tactile Information

We have developed a universal robot hand with tactile and other sensors. An array-type tactile sensor is crucial for dexterous manipulation of objects using a robotic hand, since this sensor can measure the pressure distribution on finger pads. The sensor has a very high resolution, and the shape of a grasped object can be classified by using this sensor. The more the number of measurement points provided, the higher the accuracy of the classification, but with a corresponding lengthening of the measurement cycle. In this paper, the problem of slow response time is resolved by using software for an array-type tactile sensor with high resolution that emulates the human sensor system. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated through experiments

Generation of Evaluation Function for Lige-time Learning of An Intelligent Robot

This paper deals with a mobile robot with structured intelligence. The robot interacts with a dynamic environment. The evaluation criteria or functions are the strategy for the behavior acquisition. Generally, it is difficult for human operators to describe internal models of the robot because the organization of the robot is quite different from that of a human. In the optimization, the evaluation function is generally given by human operators beforehand. It is easy to give the evaluation functions if the environmental condition is easy and fixed. But the robot must interact with dynamic, uncertain and unknown environments or human operators. Therefore, the robot should generate the evaluation criteria by itself based on its embodiment. A human improves its behavior by using and changing its evaluation criteria as adaptive processes. The robot also has to acquire their evaluation criteria through life-time learning. Therefore, we apply genetic programming (GP) for generating evaluation functions. The result of computer simulation shows that GP can generate the evaluation function suitable to the facing environments, the given tasks, and the robot

ヒガシ ドロンイングモードランド セール・ロンダーネ サンチ チガク チョウサタイ ホウコク 2009–2010(JARE-51)

セール・ロンダーネ山地は,東南極・東ドロンイングモードランドに位置している.第51 次日本南極地域観測隊(JARE-51)夏隊の一部は2009-2010年の夏期に,セール・ロンダーネ山地においてベルギー南極観測隊(BELARE)との国際共同により地質,地形,隕石探査の地学野外調査を実施した.地質隊と地形隊はドロンイングモードランド航空ネットワーク(DROMLAN)によりセール・ロンダーネ山地に赴き,隕石探査隊は日本の新南極観測船「しらせ」の処女航海として南極に到着した.地質隊は山地東部を含むセール・ロンダーネ山地のほぼ全域をカバーし,地形隊は山地の西部および中央部で調査を行った.隕石探査隊は山地東部で調査を行った.野外活動は安全かつ成功裏に終了した.地質隊の一部はDROMLAN により帰国し,他のメンバーはセール・ロンダーネ山地からDROMLAN により昭和基地へ離脱したのち,「しらせ」により帰国した.本稿では設営,気象を含めた野外行動全般について報告する.Earth science-related field activities, involving geology, geomorphology and meteorite searches, were carried out in the Sør Rondane Mountains, Eastern Dronning Maud Land, during the 2009-2010 summer season as a part of the 51st Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE-51), in collaboration with the Belgian Antarctic Research Expedition (BELARE). Geology and geomorphology parties accessed the Sør Rondane Mountains using the Dronning Maud Land Air Network (DROMLAN), and the meteoritesearch party to Antarctica on the maiden voyage by the new Japanese icebreaker Shirase. The geology party covered the entire area of the Sør Rondane Mountains, although with an emphasis on the eastern part. The geomorphology party carried out fieldwork in western and central parts of the mountains, and the meteorite search party performed a survey in the eastern part. All field activities were succes fully carried out. Some of the geology members returned to Japan by DROMLAN, while others flew to Syowa Station from the Sør Rondane Mountains by DROMLAN, and then returned to Japan on board Shirase. This report provides a summary of the field operations, including logistics and weather records

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead