Occlusion Handling using Semantic Segmentation and Visibility-Based Rendering for Mixed Reality

Real-time occlusion handling is a major problem in outdoor mixed reality system because it requires great computational cost mainly due to the complexity of the scene. Using only segmentation, it is difficult to accurately render a virtual object occluded by complex objects such as trees, bushes etc. In this paper, we propose a novel occlusion handling method for real-time, outdoor, and omni-directional mixed reality system using only the information from a monocular image sequence. We first present a semantic segmentation scheme for predicting the amount of visibility for different type of objects in the scene. We also simultaneously calculate a foreground probability map using depth estimation derived from optical flow. Finally, we combine the segmentation result and the probability map to render the computer generated object and the real scene using a visibility-based rendering method. Our results show great improvement in handling occlusions compared to existing blending based methods

Microstructure of equiatomic and non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo high-entropy alloys for metallic biomaterials

The microstructures of equiatomic TiNbTaZrMo (Ti20Nb20Ta20Zr20Mo20—subscript numerals denote at.%) and non-equiatomic Ti2.6NbTaZrMo (Ti39.4Nb15.2Ta15.2Zr15.2Mo15.2) high-entropy alloys (HEAs) were investigated for use in metallic biomaterials, and discussed based on their thermodynamics. Equiaxial dendrite structures were observed in the as-cast specimens. Ta, Nb, and Mo were abundant in the main dendrite phase with a body centered cubic (bcc) structure, while Ti and Zr showed a tendency to be abundant in the inter-dendrite region with a bcc structure. The distribution of the constituent elements can be explained through the distribution coefficients during solidification estimated using thermodynamic calculations. The thermodynamic calculations focusing on the solidification process were effective not only for the evaluation of the solidification microstructure, but also for the design of Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo-based HEAs. The non-equiatomic Ti2.6NbTaZrMo HEA (Ti39.4Nb15.2Ta15.2Zr15.2Mo15.2) was designed based on thermodynamic calculations and the solidification microstructure was studied.Nagase T., Todai M., Hori T., et al. Microstructure of equiatomic and non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo high-entropy alloys for metallic biomaterials. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 753, 412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2018.04.082

Effects of water temperature on feeding and growth of juvenile marbled flounder Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae under laboratory conditions: evaluation by group- and individual-based methods

To determine the optimal temperature for juvenile (0 year old) marbled flounder Pseudopleuronectes yokohamae, juveniles of 40–54 mm standard length were reared at six temperature conditions in the range of 8–26 °C, using group- and individual-based methods. Growth of juveniles increased from 8 to 20 °C but decreased from 20 to 26 °C, irrespective of the rearing method used. Food intake was greatest at 20 and 24 °C compared with other temperatures, while feed conversion efficiency was greater at 20 °C than 24 °C in individual rearing. Individual rearing provided more information such as individual variations in growth and food consumption, suggesting the importance of individual-based experiments for exploring the optimal temperature for fish.This study was partly supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan.Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12562-016-1053-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Structural characterization of a binuclear center of a Cu-containing NO reductase homologue from Roseobacter denitrificans: EPR and resonance Raman studies

AbstractAerobic phototrophic bacterium Roseobacter denitrificans has a nitric oxide reductase (NOR) homologue with cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) activity. It is composed of two subunits that are homologous with NorC and NorB, and contains heme c, heme b, and copper in a 1:2:1 stoichiometry. This enzyme has virtually no NOR activity. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of the air-oxidized enzyme showed signals of two low-spin hemes at 15 K. The high-spin heme species having relatively low signal intensity indicated that major part of heme b3 is EPR-silent due to an antiferromagnetic coupling to an adjacent CuB forming a Fe–Cu binuclear center. Resonance Raman (RR) spectrum of the oxidized enzyme suggested that heme b3 is six-coordinate high-spin species and the other hemes are six-coordinate low-spin species. The RR spectrum of the reduced enzyme showed that all the ferrous hemes are six-coordinate low-spin species. ν(Fe–CO) and ν(C–O) stretching modes were observed at 523 and 1969 cm−1, respectively, for CO-bound enzyme. In spite of the similarity to NOR in the primary structure, the frequency of ν(Fe–CO) mode is close to those of aa3- and bo3-type oxidases rather than that of NOR

Modern School as Apparatus with Sex Education : historical analysis of discourses on the difference between co-education and single-sex education in Prewar period of Japan

The historical studies on sex education in Japan have depicted that there was almost no sex education at school, in Prewar period of Japan. That is owing to their definition of sex education as the transmission of information, knowledge, and value about intercourse and gendered body, or as the prohibition of sexual behavior. They have discussed only that what they define as sex education didn\u27t exist. By redefining sex education as educational discourses and practices which constitute the condition of the experiences of sexuality and gender relation of young people, Couldn\u27t I represent modern school in Prewar Period of Japan as equipped with sex education ? In this paper, I aim to examine the process whereby school had become the apparatus equipped with sex education. In order to examine this process, I focus on the transition in the intention attributed to the practice (co-education or single-sex education) through analysing the discourses on the difference between co-education and single-sex education from early 1870s to about 1930, when co-education was not regarded as ordinary but as uncommon and dangerous. The transition is as follows : (1) early 1870s : the intention of the practice isolating boys and girls (same as single-sex school), which was only requseted, was to teach the gender different curricula. (2) late 1880s : the intention attributed to the practice, which is not only keeping away boys and girls (single-sex education) but also putting them close (co-education), was to produce men and women who had the very different desirable character and to eliminate the sexual from school. (3) 1903-1931, mainly Interwar Period : the intention attributed to the practice, which is not only keeping away boys and girls but also putting them close, was to construct the united subject of sex/gender/desire thorough policing desire and identity. These findings show that during the first 30 years of 20th century, mainly Interwar Period, school had become the apparatus surrounded with the discourses and practices which make the subject of sex/gender/desire normal ; that is the apparatus equipped sex education

Development of non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo high-entropy alloys for metallic biomaterials

Nobel non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo high-entropy alloys (HEAs) for metallic biomaterials (bio-HEAs) were designed and developed. The pseudo-binary phase diagrams focusing on solidification were constructed by thermodynamic calculations. The shifting the alloy composition of the equiatomic TiNbTaZrMo bio-HEA can realize the drastic improvement of the deformability. Notably, the non-equiatomic Ti, Zr-rich composition stimulated the molecular interaction between biological cells and bio-HEA, indicating the possibility of the proposed non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo HEAs as an advanced biomaterial for bone tissue engineering applications. This is the first achievement for the alloy design including the control of alloy composition for the development of new bio-HEAs.Hori T., Nagase T., Todai M., et al. Development of non-equiatomic Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-Mo high-entropy alloys for metallic biomaterials. Scripta Materialia, 172, , 83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2019.07.011

Diffusion Programmable Device : The device to prevent reverse engineering

The secret information, which is embedded in integrated circuit (IC) devices such as a smart card, has the risk of theft by reverse engineering (RE). The circuit design of IC can be stolen by the RE, and the counterfeit can be illegally fabricated. Therefore, the secure IC device requires the circuit architecture protected from the RE attacks. This paper proposes the diffusion programmable device (DPD) architecture as a countermeasure against the RE. A look-up table circuit based on the DPD can generate desired logic function without changing the layout except diffusion layer. And, the logic function can be programmed by assigning the N-type or P-type dopant to a part of active region. A test chip using the DPD-LUT was prototyped with a 180nm CMOS technology. And, operations of vaious logic functions such as AND, OR, XOR and XNOR were confirmed through experiments