Every Color Chromakey

In this paper, we propose a region extraction method using chromakey with a two-tone checker pattern background. The proposed method solves the problem in conventional chromakey techniques that foreground objects become transparent if they have the same color with the background. The adjacency condition between two-tone regions of the background and the geometrical information of the background grid lines are utilized for extracting foreground objects. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Same color (a) Conventional chromakey. Same color as C 1 or C

Magnons and electromagnons in a spin-lattice-coupled frustrated magnet CuFeO2 as seen via inelastic neutron scattering

We have investigated spin-wave excitations in a four-sublattice (4SL) magnetic ground state of a frustrated magnet CuFeO2, in which `electromagnon' (electric-field-active magnon) excitation has been discovered by recent terahertz time-domain spectroscopy [Seki et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 097207 (2010)]. In previous study, we have identified two spin-wave branches in the 4SL phase by means of inelastic neutron scattering measurements under applied uniaxial pressure. [T. Nakajima et al. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 80 014714 (2011) ] In the present study, we have performed high-energy-resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements in the 4SL phase, resolving fine structures of the lower-energy spin-wave branch near the zone center. Taking account of the spin-driven lattice distortions in the 4SL phase, we have developed a model Hamiltonian to describe the spin-wave excitations. The determined Hamiltonian parameters have successfully reproduced the spin-wave dispersion relations and intensity maps obtained in the inelastic neutron scattering measurements. The results of the spin-wave analysis have also revealed physical pictures of the magnon and electromagnon modes in the 4SL phase, suggesting that collinear and noncollinear characters of the two spin-wave modes are the keys to understand the dynamical coupling between the spins and electric dipole moments in this system.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

<ORIGINAL>Microradiography in the differentiation and definite diagnosis of odontomas

The present study evaluated the usefulness of microradiography in differentiny and making a definite diagnosis of odontomas. A surgically removed odontoma from a 14-year-old girl was used here. The specimen was sectioned at approximately 100μm thickness and ground to 50μm. Microradiographic images were obtained using soft X-ray equipment (Sofron, Japan) under the conditions of : tube voltage, 10kVp ; tube current, 5mA ; FSD 7.5cm ; and exposure time, 20min. The images were evaluated by comparing to images obtained by histological procedures. The results showed that the microradiographic images had almost the same resolution as that of the microscopic images

Magnetic Phase Diagrams with Possible Field-induced Antiferroquadrupolar Order in TbB2_2C2_2

Magnetic phase diagrams of a tetragonal antiferromagnet TbB$_2$C$_2$ were clarified by temperature and field dependence of magnetization. It is noticeable that the N{\'e}el temperature in TbB$_2$C$_2$ is anomalously enhanced with magnetic fields, in particular the enhancement reaches 13.5 K for the ${}$ direction at 10 T. The magnetization processes as well as the phase diagrams are well interpreted assuming that there appear field-induced antiferroquadrupolar ordered phases in TbB$_2$C$_2$. The phase diagrams of the AFQ compounds in RB$_2$C$_2$ are systematically understood in terms of the competition with AFQ and AFM interactions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

Early Detection of Adverse Drug Reaction Signals by Association Rule Mining Using Large-Scale Administrative Claims Data

INTRODUCTION: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a leading cause of mortality worldwide and should be detected promptly to reduce health risks to patients. A data-mining approach using large-scale medical records might be a useful method for the early detection of ADRs. Many studies have analyzed medical records to detect ADRs; however, most of them have focused on a narrow range of ADRs, limiting their usefulness. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify methods for the early detection of a wide range of ADR signals. METHODS: First, to evaluate the performance in signal detection of ADRs by data-mining, we attempted to create a gold standard based on clinical evidence. Second, association rule mining (ARM) was applied to patient symptoms and medications registered in claims data, followed by evaluating ADR signal detection performance. RESULTS: We created a new gold standard consisting of 92 positive and 88 negative controls. In the assessment of ARM using claims data, the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve and the precision-recall curve were 0.80 and 0.83, respectively. If the detection criteria were defined as lift > 1, conviction > 1, and p-value < 0.05, ARM could identify 156 signals, of which 90 were true positive controls (sensitivity: 0.98, specificity: 0.25). Evaluation of the capability of ARM with short periods of data revealed that ARM could detect a greater number of positive controls than the conventional analysis method. CONCLUSIONS: ARM of claims data may be effective in the early detection of a wide range of ADR signals

Calcium-binding analysis and molecular modeling reveal echis coagulation factor IX/factor X-binding protein has the Ca-binding properties and Ca ion-independent folding of other C-type lectin-like proteins

Abstract Many biologically active heterodimeric proteins of snake venom consist of two C-type lectin-like subunits. One of these proteins, habu IX/X-bp, is a Gla domain-binding protein whose subunits both bind to a Ca 2+ ion, with a total of two Ca 2+ -binding sites. The molecular modeling and Ca 2+ -binding analysis of echis IX/X-bp revealed that it lacks one of two Ca 2+ -binding sites, though the folding of this subunit is conserved. It is concluded that heterodimeric C-type lectin-like proteins function independent of Ca 2+ and have essentially a similar folding to habu IX/X-bp

Bio-mimetic Control of An Externally powered Prosthetic Forearm Based on EMG Signals

The EMG signals which include information on not only mascle force but operator's intended motion and mechanical impedance property of joints have been often used as control signals of prosthetic arms. Most of previous researches, however, adopted only the ON/OFF control of the prosthetic arms depending on the results of the EMG pattern discrimination, or controlled only a particular joint depending on the torque estimated from the EMG signals. In this paper, we propose a multi-joint control method of a prosthetic forearm using the EMG signals. In order to realize the natural feeling of control similar to that of the human movements, the impedance model of human forearm is introduced to the control system. Also the force level during the motion is estimated from the EMG signals and used as the control command to each joint. It is shown from the experiments that the forearm motions and force levels can be estimated by using the EMG signals, and the prosthetic forearm can be controlled based on the impedance model smoothly

Importin Alpha Subtypes Determine Differential Transcription Factor Localization in Embryonic Stem Cells Maintenance

SummaryWe recently demonstrated that the expression of the importin α subtype is switched from α2 to α1 during neural differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and that this switching has a major impact on cell differentiation. In this study, we report a cell-fate determination mechanism in which importin α2 negatively regulates the nuclear import of certain transcription factors to maintain ESC properties. The nuclear import of Oct6 and Brn2 was inhibited via the formation of a transport-incompetent complex of the cargo bound to a nuclear localization signal binding site in importin α2. Unless this dominant-negative effect was downregulated upon ESC differentiation, inappropriate cell death was induced. We propose that although certain transcription factors are necessary for differentiation in ESCs, these factors are retained in the cytoplasm by importin α2, thereby preventing transcription factor activity in the nucleus until the cells undergo differentiation

The Possible Role of TASK Channels in Rank-Ordered Recruitment of Motoneurons in the Dorsolateral Part of the Trigeminal Motor Nucleus.

Because a rank-ordered recruitment of motor units occurs during isometric contraction of jaw-closing muscles, jaw-closing motoneurons (MNs) may be recruited in a manner dependent on their soma sizes or input resistances (IRs). In the dorsolateral part of the trigeminal motor nucleus (dl-TMN) in rats, MNs abundantly express TWIK (two-pore domain weak inwardly rectifying K channel)-related acid-sensitive-K(+) channel (TASK)-1 and TASK3 channels, which determine the IR and resting membrane potential. Here we examined how TASK channels are involved in IR-dependent activation/recruitment of MNs in the rat dl-TMN by using multiple methods. The real-time PCR study revealed that single large MNs (&gt;35 μm) expressed TASK1 and TASK3 mRNAs more abundantly compared with single small MNs (15-20 μm). The immunohistochemistry revealed that TASK1 and TASK3 channels were complementarily distributed in somata and dendrites of MNs, respectively. The density of TASK1 channels seemed to increase with a decrease in soma diameter while there were inverse relationships between the soma size of MNs and IR, resting membrane potential, or spike threshold. Dual whole-cell recordings obtained from smaller and larger MNs revealed that the recruitment of MNs depends on their IRs in response to repetitive stimulation of the presumed Ia afferents. 8-Bromoguanosine-cGMP decreased IRs in small MNs, while it hardly changed those in large MNs, and subsequently decreased the difference in spike-onset latency between the smaller and larger MNs, causing a synchronous activation of MNs. These results suggest that TASK channels play critical roles in rank-ordered recruitment of MNs in the dl-TMN