Effects of temperature during successive generations on life-history traits in a seed beetle Callosobruchus chinensis (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera)

Temperature is an important environmental factor for life-history traits in poikilothermic animals. Many of experiments on evolution have been conducted using Drosophila species, and effects on life-history traits vary depending on the study. On the other hand, few studies have been conducted on the effects of temperature on life-history traits in the other insect species. In the present study, we reared adzuki bean beetles under two different temperatures, high and low, for 2 years (20 generations), and compared life-history traits including body size of females, fecundity, egg size, rate of egg hatching, emergence rate, development time, and wing length. No differences in responses were found in these traits between selection strains, except the rate of egg hatching. That is, the rates of egg hatching in high-temperature (32 °C) selection strains were significantly higher than those in low-temperature (24 °C) selection strains. We discuss the cause of change in egg hatchability during successive generations under different temperature treatments from the following viewpoints including evolutionary adaptation to high temperature and the experimental protocol

Towards Autonomous Driving : Road Surface Signs Recognition using Neural Networks

In recent years, the number of traffic accidents has rapidly increased for many reasons. However, the most common cause is the driver carelessness and inattentiveness to road signs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to automatically recognize road surface markings and by availing the information to the driver, hope to reduce road accidents. In the proposed method, the captured image is transformed and edges information used to extract the target road area. The road marking candidate is then extracted and recognized using a neural network

Vehicle Detection and Type Classification Based on CNN-SVM

In this paper, we propose vehicle detection and classification in a real road environment using a modified and improved AlexNet. Among the various challenges faced, the problem of poor robustness in extracting vehicle candidate regions through a single feature is solved using the YOLO deep learning series algorithm used to propose potential regions and to further improve the speed of detection. For this, the lightweight network Yolov2-tiny is chosen as the location network. In the training process, anchor box clustering is performed based on the ground truth of the training set, which improves its performance on the specific dataset. The low classification accuracy problem after template-based feature extraction is solved using the optimal feature description extracted through convolution neural network learning. Moreover, based on AlexNet, through adjusting parameters, an improved algorithm was proposed whose model size is smaller and classification speed is faster than the original AlexNet. Spatial Pyramid Pooling (SPP) is added to the vehicle classification network which solves the problem of low accuracy due to image distortion caused by image resizing. By combining CNN with SVM and normalizing features in SVM, the generalization ability of the model was improved. Experiments show that our method has a better performance in vehicle detection and type classification

The Suzaku Observations of SS Cygni in Quiescence and Outburst

We present results from the Suzaku observations of the dwarf nova SS Cyg in quiescence and outburst in 2005 November. Owing to high sensitivity of the HXD PIN detector and high spectral resolution of the XIS, we have determined parameters of the plasma with unprecedented precision. The maximum temperature of the plasma in quiescence 20.4 +4.0-2.6 (stat.) +/- 3.0 (sys.) keV is significantly higher than that in outburst 6.0 +0.2-1.3 keV. The elemental abundances are close to the solar ones for the medium-Z elements (Si, S, Ar) whereas they decline both in lighter and heavier elements. Those of oxygen and iron are 0.46 and 0.37 solar, respectively. That of carbon is exceptionally high and 2 solar at least. The solid angle of the reflector subtending over the optically thin thermal plasma is Omega/2\pi = 1.7+/-0.2 (stat.) +/-0.1 (sys.) in quiescence. A 6.4 keV iron Ka line is resolved into a narrow and broad components. These facts indicate that both the white dwarf and the accretion disk contribute to the continuum reflection and the 6.4 keV iron Ka line. We consider the standard optically thin boundary layer as the most plausible picture for the plasma configuration in quiescence. The solid angle of the reflector in outburst Omega/2\pi = 0.9 +0.5-0.4 and a broad 6.4 keV iron line indicates that the reflection in outburst originates from the accretion disk and an equatorial accretion belt. From the energy width of the 6.4 keV line, we consider the optically thin thermal plasma in outburst as being distributed on the accretion disk like solar coronae.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ Suzaku 3rd special issue Pdf of this paper can be downloaded from http://www.astro.isas.jaxa.jp/~ishida/Papers/sscyg_sub2.pd

DETECTION OF DRIVER’S VISUAL DISTRACTION USING DUAL CAMERAS

Most serious accidents are caused by the driver’s visual distraction. Therefore, early detection of a driver’s visual distraction is very important. The detection system mostly used is the dashboard camera because it is cheap and convenient. However, some studies have focused on various methods using additional equipment such as vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, and specific cameras that are common. However, these proposals are expensive. Therefore, the main goal of our research is to create a low-cost, non-intrusive, and lightweight driver’s visual distraction detection (DVDD) system using only a simple dual dashboard camera. Currently, most research has focused only on tracking and estimating the driver’s gaze. In our study, additionally, we also aim to monitor the road environment and then evaluate the driver’s visual distraction detection based on the two pieces of information. The proposed system has two main modules: 1) gaze mapping and 2) moving object detection. The gaze mapping module receives video captured through a camera placed in front of the driver, and then predicts a driver’s gaze direction to one of predefined 16 gaze regions. Concurrently, the moving object detection module identifies the moving objects from the front view and determines in which part of the predefined 16 gaze regions it appears. By combining and evaluating the two modules, the state of the distraction of the driver can be estimated. If the two module outputs are different gaze regions or non-neighbor gaze regions, the system considers that the driver is visually distracted and issues a warning. We conducted experiments based on our self-built real-driving DriverGazeMapping dataset. In the gaze mapping module, we compared the two methods MobileNet and OpenFace with the SVM classifier. The two methods outperformed the baseline gaze mapping module. Moreover, in the OpenFace with SVM classifier method, we investigated which features extracted by OpenFace affected the performance of the gaze mapping module. Of these, the most effective feature was the combination of a gaze angle and head position_R features. The OpenFace with SVM method using gaze angle and head position_R features achieved a 6.25% higher accuracy than the method using MobileNet. Besides, the moving object detection module using the Lukas-Kanade dense method was faster and more reliable than in the previous study in our experiments

Trans-Planckian censorship and single-field inflaton potential

It was recently proposed that a field theory cannot be consistent with quantum gravity if it allows a mode shorter than the Planck length to exit the Hubble horizon. This is called the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC). We discuss the implications of the TCC on the possible shape of the inflaton potential in single-field slow-roll inflation. We point out that (1) there is generically an initial condition in which the total e-folding number $N_\text{total}$ is doubled or more compared to the e-folds necessary for the cosmic microwave background fluctuations, and (2) a sizable negative running of spectral index is generically expected to make $N_\text{total}$ small. In concrete setups, we find a stringent constraint on the inflationary energy scale, $V_\text{inf}^{1/4} < \mathcal{O}(10) \, \text{TeV}$ with $r < \mathcal{O}(10^{-50})$, and the running parameter is bounded above as $\alpha_\text{s} \lesssim - 4 \times 10^{-3}$.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures; published version (minor revision

Human Detection and Tracking Using Hog Feature and Particle Filter

Video surveillance system has recently attracted much attention in various fields for monitoring and ensuring security. One of its promising applications is in crowd control to maintain the general security in public places. However, the problem of video surveillance systems is the required continuous manual monitoring especially for crime deterrence. In order to assist the security monitoring the live surveillance systems, intelligent target detection and tracking techniques can send a warning signal to the monitoring officers automatically. Towards this end, in this paper, we propose an innovative method to detect and track a target person in a crowded area using the individual’s features. In the proposed method, to realize automatic detection and tracking we combine Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) feature detection with a particle filter. The HOG feature is applied for the description of contour detection for the person, while the particle filter is used for tracking the targets using skin and clothes color based features. We have developed the evaluation system implementing our proposed method. From the experimental results, we have achieved high accuracy detection rate and tracked the specific target precisely

Le Genji monogatari : un roman en wabun

Présentation par Terada Sumie Les années 2008 et 2009 représentent une période tourmentée pour les enseignants – chercheurs français, et la présentation du livre Le Roman du Genji : opacité et transparence – scènes, langage poétique, temps et narration reflète cette tranche de l’histoire qui a une lourde signification pour beaucoup d’entre nous. Dans son discours d’ouverture du colloque qui a eu lieu en mars 2008, Anne Bayard-Sakai oppose le travail à long terme de notre équipe, centré sur Le..

Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) Technology Driver Support System Monitor using Three Onboard Camera

This paper presents the development of safety driving support system using 3 onboard cameras. One camera monitors the driver to determine the driver ’s current gaze and the other is a front camera that detects pedestrians, running lane and vehicles in front. The rear camera detects pedestrians and approaching vehicles. The pedestrians and vehicles are detected using a specially trained HOG/Adaboost system. Lane detections uses edge detection and RANSAC. Information from the 3 cameras is then used to determine whether a situation is dangerous enough to warrant warning the driver. We have conducted experiments and the results confirm that this system has the potential to support automatic driving