On Recognizing Transparent Objects in Domestic Environments Using Fusion of Multiple Sensor Modalities

Current object recognition methods fail on object sets that include both diffuse, reflective and transparent materials, although they are very common in domestic scenarios. We show that a combination of cues from multiple sensor modalities, including specular reflectance and unavailable depth information, allows us to capture a larger subset of household objects by extending a state of the art object recognition method. This leads to a significant increase in robustness of recognition over a larger set of commonly used objects.Comment: 12 page

An Analysis of Uniform Shear Flow Past a Porous Plate Attached to a Plane Surface

This is a good first study on the applicability of the wake-source model to shear flow around and through a screen. Since previous work [4] dealt with uniform flow, the authors have properly chosen shear flow as the next step in extending the work. Moreover, shear flow is probably more important than uniform flow in practical situations, and so this study should be of interest to designers who need quantitative information on the effectiveness of wind breaks and the like. To be truly useful, however, this study should be continued in order to vary plate porosity and wind shear rate. The present experiments were carried out for a single plate and for one upstream velocity profile. The pressure-drop coefficient K for the plate was 18.1, which is higher than values for normal porous materials like woven screens, and the average shear rate G of the velocity profile was 216 s" 1 , which corresponds to a moderate 53 percent change in velocity from the bottom to the top of the screen. These conditions produced a downstream velocity profile that was satisfactorily predicted by the wake-source model, but this tells us little about the accuracy of the model for other conditions. Additional experimental results would not only establish the range of validity of the model but would also provide useful data for design purposes. For the latter, the quantity of interest is likely the reduction of velocity produced by the windbreak, and thus it would be beneficial to have a plot, say, of mean velocity reduction as a function of the screen coefficient K, with G as a free parameter. I hope the present work is the initial step in an endeavour of this sort. The authors do, in fact, infer that the study is being continued and to that end I would suggest several changes in future work. First, the mapping of the velocity field upstream of the plate is presently incomplete and the matching location too arbitrary. It would be interesting to learn, for example, the effect on predicted downstream profile if the matching were carried out at x/h = -1.1, say, and not at x/h = -2.2. Secondly, it should be straightforward to measure the plate's pressure-drop coefficient and so verify the value calculated in the text. Finally, it would be useful to investigate non-uniform shear flows. Uniform shear is the logical case after uniform flow, as mentioned above, but it is not true that the theory demands a uniform shear flow which has a constant vorticity. The model requires only that the flow be inviscid, not irrotational. Consequently the approaching flow may hav

Citizen Science Observation of a Gamma‐Ray Glow Associated With the Initiation of a Lightning Flash

シチズンサイエンスで挑む雷の謎 --宇宙線と雷雲の相互作用は、雷の始まりに影響を与えるのか？--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-07-10.Zeus also plays billiards: Citizen-supported Thundercloud Project may lead to better understanding of lightning's origins. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-07-12.Gamma-ray glows are observational evidence of relativistic electron acceleration due to the electric field in thunderclouds. However, it is yet to be understood whether such relativistic electrons contribute to the initiation of lightning discharges. To tackle this question, we started the citizen science “Thundercloud Project, ” where we map radiation measurements of glows from winter thunderclouds along Japan's sea coast area. We developed and deployed 58 compact gamma-ray monitors at the end of 2021. On 30 December 2021, five monitors simultaneously detected a glow with its radiation distribution horizontally extending for 2 km. The glow terminated coinciding with a lightning flash at 04:08:34 JST, which was recorded by the two radio-band lightning mapping systems, FALMA and DALMA. The initial discharges during the preliminary breakdown started above the glow, that is, in vicinity of the electron acceleration site. This result provides one example of possible connections between electron acceleration and lightning initiation

The Heterotrimeric Laminin Coiled-Coil Domain Exerts Anti-Adhesive Effects and Induces a Pro-Invasive Phenotype

Laminins are large heterotrimeric cross-shaped extracellular matrix glycoproteins with terminal globular domains and a coiled-coil region through which the three chains are assembled and covalently linked. Laminins are key components of basement membranes, and they serve as attachment sites for cell adhesion, migration and proliferation. In this work, we produced a recombinant fragment comprising the entire laminin coiled-coil of the α1-, β1-, and γ1-chains that assemble into a stable heterotrimeric coiled-coil structure independently of the rest of the molecule. This domain was biologically active and not only failed to serve as a substrate for cell attachment, spreading and focal adhesion formation but also inhibited cell adhesion to laminin when added to cells in a soluble form at the time of seeding. Furthermore, gene array expression profiling in cells cultured in the presence of the laminin coiled-coil domain revealed up-regulation of genes involved in cell motility and invasion. These findings were confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR and zymography assays. In conclusion, this study shows for the first time that the laminin coiled-coil domain displays anti-adhesive functions and has potential implications for cell migration during matrix remodeling

Establishment and Validation of Computational Model for MT1-MMP Dependent ECM Degradation and Intervention Strategies

MT1-MMP is a potent invasion-promoting membrane protease employed by aggressive cancer cells. MT1-MMP localizes preferentially at membrane protrusions called invadopodia where it plays a central role in degradation of the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Previous reports suggested a role for a continuous supply of MT1-MMP in ECM degradation. However, the turnover rate of MT1-MMP and the extent to which the turnover contributes to the ECM degradation at invadopodia have not been clarified. To approach this problem, we first performed FRAP (Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching) experiments with fluorescence-tagged MT1-MMP focusing on a single invadopodium and found very rapid recovery in FRAP signals, approximated by double-exponential plots with time constants of 26 s and 259 s. The recovery depended primarily on vesicle transport, but negligibly on lateral diffusion. Next we constructed a computational model employing the observed kinetics of the FRAP experiments. The simulations successfully reproduced our FRAP experiments. Next we inhibited the vesicle transport both experimentally, and in simulation. Addition of drugs inhibiting vesicle transport blocked ECM degradation experimentally, and the simulation showed no appreciable ECM degradation under conditions inhibiting vesicle transport. In addition, the degree of the reduction in ECM degradation depended on the degree of the reduction in the MT1-MMP turnover. Thus, our experiments and simulations have established the role of the rapid turnover of MT1-MMP in ECM degradation at invadopodia. Furthermore, our simulations suggested synergetic contributions of proteolytic activity and the MT1-MMP turnover to ECM degradation because there was a nonlinear and marked reduction in ECM degradation if both factors were reduced simultaneously. Thus our computational model provides a new in silico tool to design and evaluate intervention strategies in cancer cell invasion

First experimental determination of the radiative-decay probability of the 31− state in ¹²C for estimating the triple alpha reaction rate in high temperature environments

The triple alpha reaction is one of the most important reactions in the nuclear astrophysics. However, its reaction rate in high temperature environments at T₉>2 was still uncertain. One of the major origins of the uncertainty was that the radiative-decay probability of the 3⁻₁ state in ¹²C was unknown. In the present work, we have determined the radiative-decay probability of the 3⁻₁ state to be 1.3[+1.2][-1.1] × 10⁻⁶ by measuring the ¹H(¹²C, ¹²Cp) reaction for the first time, and derived the triple alpha reaction rate in high temperature environments from the measured radiative-decay probability. The present result suggests that the 3⁻₁ state noticeably enhances the triple alpha reaction rate although the contribution from the 3⁻₁ state had been assumed to be small

Regulation of mammary gland branching morphogenesis by the extracellular matrix and its remodeling enzymes.

A considerable body of research indicates that mammary gland branching morphogenesis is dependent, in part, on the extracellular matrix (ECM), ECM-receptors, such as integrins and other ECM receptors, and ECM-degrading enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). There is some evidence that these ECM cues affect one or more of the following processes: cell survival, polarity, proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Both three-dimensional culture models and genetic manipulations of the mouse mammary gland have been used to study the signaling pathways that affect these processes. However, the precise mechanisms of ECM-directed mammary morphogenesis are not well understood. Mammary morphogenesis involves epithelial 'invasion' of adipose tissue, a process akin to invasion by breast cancer cells, although the former is a highly regulated developmental process. How these morphogenic pathways are integrated in the normal gland and how they become dysregulated and subverted in the progression of breast cancer also remain largely unanswered questions

High expression of tumour-associated trypsin inhibitor correlates with liver metastasis and poor prognosis in colorectal cancer

Increased expression of tumour-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in tumour tissue and/or serum has been associated with poor survival in various cancer forms. Moreover, a proinvasive function of TATI has been shown in colon cancer cell lines. In this study, we have examined the prognostic significance of tumour-specific TATI expression in colorectal cancer, assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on tissue microarrays (TMAs) with tumour specimens from two independent patient cohorts. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards modelling were used to estimate time to recurrence, disease-free survival and overall survival. In both cohorts, a high (>50% of tumour cells) TATI expression was an independent predictor of a significantly shorter overall survival. In cohort II, in multivariate analysis including age, gender, disease stage, differentiation grade, vascular invasion and carcinoembryonal antigen (CEA), high TATI expression was associated with a significantly decreased overall survival (HR=1.82; 95% CI=1.19–2.79) and disease-free survival (HR=1.56; 95% CI=1.05–2.32) in curatively treated patients. Moreover, there was an increased risk for liver metastasis in both cohorts that remained significant in multivariate analysis in cohort II (HR=2.85; 95% CI=1.43–5.66). In conclusion, high TATI expression is associated with liver metastasis and is an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer

Acatalasemic mice are mildly susceptible to adriamycin nephropathy and exhibit increased albuminuria and glomerulosclerosis

Background: Catalase is an important antioxidant enzyme that regulates the level of intracellular hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. The effects of catalase deficiency on albuminuria and progressive glomerulosclerosis have not yet been fully elucidated. The adriamycin (ADR) nephropathy model is considered to be an experimental model of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. A functional catalase deficiency was hypothesized to exacerbate albuminuria and the progression of glomerulosclerosis in this model. Methods: ADR was intravenously administered to both homozygous acatalasemic mutant mice (C3H/AnLCs(b)Cs(b)) and control wild-type mice (C3H/AnLCs(a)Cs(a)). The functional and morphological alterations of the kidneys, including albuminuria, renal function, podocytic, glomerular and tubulointerstitial injuries, and the activities of catalase were then compared between the two groups up to 8 weeks after disease induction. Moreover, the presence of a mutation of the toll-like receptor 4 (tlr4) gene, which was previously reported in the C3H/HeJ strain, was investigated in both groups. Results: The ADR-treated mice developed significant albuminuria and glomerulosclerosis, and the degree of these conditions in the ADR-treated acatalasemic mice was higher than that in the wild-type mice. ADR induced progressive renal fibrosis, renal atrophy and lipid peroxide accumulation only in the acatalasemic mice. In addition, the level of catalase activity was significantly lower in the kidneys of the acatalasemic mice than in the wild-type mice during the experimental period. The catalase activity increased after ADR injection in wild-type mice, but the acatalasemic mice did not have the ability to increase their catalase activity under oxidative stress. The C3H/AnL strain was found to be negative for the tlr4 gene mutation. Conclusions: These data indicate that catalase deficiency plays an important role in the progression of renal injury in the ADR nephropathy model