A Field Study of Telemetry-Recording of The Body Temperature in Wild Mongolian Pikas

The pika inhabiting in cold zone or in high mountains is thought to be adapted to cold as well as high-altitude environment. We have reported pika\u27s high body temperature (39.6℃), high metabolism and poor heat loss ability such as poor panting, small ear pinnae and lack of thermal salivation. In this study, we measured the body temperature of wild pikas (Ochotona daurica) with a telemetry device in their natural burrows in Mongolia. Two pikas captured at Undur Dov were implanted with transmitters in the abdominal cavity under anesthesia, and were returned to the own habitat. The mean body temperatures of the pikas were 39.65℃ and 39.96℃ though the data were limited to a short period of less than one day. The present results in wild pikas support pika\u27s high body temperature in our previous studies

Excessive daytime napping independently associated with decreased insulin sensitivity in cross-sectional study – Hyogo Sleep Cardio-Autonomic Atherosclerosis cohort study

BackgroundAlthough excessive daytime napping has been shown to be involved in diabetes occurrence, its impact on insulin secretion and sensitivity has not been elucidated. It is speculated that excessive napping disrupts the sleep-wake rhythm and increases sympathetic nerve activity during the day, resulting in decreased insulin sensitivity, which may be a mechanism leading to development of diabetes. We previously conducted a cross-sectional study that showed an association of autonomic dysfunction with decreased insulin sensitivity, though involvement of autonomic function in the association between napping and insulin sensitivity remained unclear. Furthermore, the effects of napping used to supplement to short nighttime sleep on insulin secretion and sensitivity are also unknown. In the present cross-sectional study, we examined the relationships of daytime nap duration and autonomic function with insulin secretion and sensitivity in 436 subjects enrolled in the Hyogo Sleep Cardio-Autonomic Atherosclerosis (HSCAA) Cohort Study who underwent a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (75-g OGTT), after excluding those already diagnosed with diabetes.MethodsDaytime nap duration was objectively measured using actigraphy, with the subjects divided into the short (≤1 hour) and long (>1 hour) nap groups. Insulin secretion and sensitivity were determined using 75-g OGTT findings. Standard deviation of normal to normal R-R interval (SDNN), a measure of autonomic function, was also determined based on heart rate variability. Subgroup analysis was performed for the associations of napping with insulin secretion and sensitivity, with the results stratified by nighttime sleep duration of less or greater than six hours.ResultsSubjects in the long nap group exhibited lower insulin sensitivity parameters (QUICKI: β=-0.135, p<0.01; Matsuda index: β=-0.119, p<0.05) independent of other clinical factors. In contrast, no associations with insulin secretion were found in either group. Furthermore, the association of long nap duration with insulin sensitivity was not confounded by SDNN. Specific subgroup analyses revealed more prominent associations of long nap habit with lower insulin sensitivity in subjects with a short nighttime sleep time (β=-0.137, p<0.05).ConclusionLong daytime nap duration may be a potential risk factor for decreased insulin sensitivity

Thermobiological Characteristics of Pikas, Rabbits and Rats

Animals are provided by nature with biological defense mechanisms against the deleterious effects of the environment. Three different animal species: pikas, rabbits and rats were compared in their thermobiological characteristics. Results revealed significant dissimilarities of the characteristics of pikas from both rabbits and rats that they called morphologically and physiologically unique. Compared to the two, these animals have relatively high body temperature and absence of circadian rhythm in core body temperature. These probably explain the non-manifestation of thermal panting and salivation which are evidences of the absence of natural heat losing ability in these animals. Since 1975 up to the present blood glucose has never been studied in pikas. Thus, in this experiment, this substance was determined to explain some biochemical related peculiarities in these animals. Findings revealed a low blood glucose level in pika in contrast to the rats but relatively similar to that of the rabbits. Conclusively, pikas have peculiarities which enable them to exist in environments with low temperature. It seems that blood glucose does not bear any relationship with this physiological nature. The same characteristics make them different from Lagomorpha and other lower animals

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) X-ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese x-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E  >  2  keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft x-rays to gamma rays. After a successful launch on February 17, 2016, the spacecraft lost its function on March 26, 2016, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the onboard instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month

Fast vision-guided mobile robot navigation using model-based reasoning and prediction of uncertainties

The model-based vision system described in this thesis allows a mobile robot to navigate indoors at an average speed of 8 meters/minute using ordinary laboratory computing hardware of approximately 16 MIPS power. The navigation capabilities of the robot are not impaired by the presence of the stationary or moving obstacles. The vision system maintains a model of uncertainty and keeps track of the growth of uncertainty as the robot travels towards the goal position. The estimates of uncertainty are then used to predict bounds on the locations and orientations of landmarks expected to be seen in a monocular image. This greatly reduces the search for establishing correspondence between the features visible in the image and the landmarks. Given a sequence of image features and a sequence of landmarks derived from a geometric model of the environment, a special aspect of our vision system is the sequential reduction in the uncertainty as each image feature is matched successfully with a landmark, allowing subsequent features to be matched more easily, this being a natural byproduct of the manner in which we use Kalman-filter based updating. Strategies for path planning, path replanning and perception planning are introduced for the robot to navigate in the presence of obstacles. Finally, experimental results are presented

Multisensor fusion for sensory intelligence in robotics

We will present case studies in the fusion of di erent sensory types on arm and mobile robots. We will rst present a system in which an infrared heat sensor and ultrasonic sensors mounted on a mobile robot are used together to detect human intruders. In this case, multisensor fusion is necessitated by the fact that each sensor by itself is inadequate for the mission. The signals from the di erent sensors are fed into a neural network that makes the intruder/no-intruder decision. Our second case study concerns the use of multiple sensors in a robotic workcell for the purpose of recognizing and localizing complex objects using the smallest number of look angles. Our nal case study will discuss a 3D vision system for fast object recognition in which range and color are fused in a manner that results in highly computationally e cient algorithms for object recognition.

Purdue Experiments in Model-Based Vision for Hallway Navigation

In the Robot Vision Laboratory of Purdue University, we have developed two robust architectures for vision-guided mobile robot navigation in indoor environments. The rst approach, FINALE, enables the robot to autonomously navigate in hallways at speeds around 8m=min through vision-based positionupdating, utilizing a geometrical map, model-based reasoning and Kalman ltering. The performance of the navigation is not impaired by the presence ofstationary or moving obstacles. The second approach, FUZZY-NAV,performs vision-based navigation in a more human-friendly manner, utilizing simply a topological map and the combination of neural networks and fuzzy logic. This approach also allows the robot to simultaneously navigate and avoid obstacles, both static and dynamic. In this paper, we describe the above two approaches and show experimental results to demonstrate the e ectiveness and the robustness of our approaches.

Vision-Based Motion Tracking of Rigid Objects Using Prediction of Uncertainties

A vision-based motion tracking method described in this paper estimates the 3D position and orientation of a moving object of known shape at an average speed of 2.5 seconds per image frame even in complex environments using a conventional computer power. Given a coarse estimate of the initial 3D object pose, the method first generates an expectation view from which visible model features are automatically selected. The method then extracts potentially matched image features from image regions bounded by the propagation of object motion uncertainty. The special aspect of our vision-based tracking is an optimal correspondence search for model features and image features in which we use a Kalman filter-based updating scheme to perform the precise 3D object pose estimation. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the robustness of the method even in the presence of occlusion. 1 1 Introduction Motion tracking using visual feedback is an important issue in robotic applications. F..