294 research outputs found
高度に酸素官能基化された天然生理活性物質の全合成
制度:新 ; 文部省報告番号:甲2600号 ; 学位の種類:博士(工学) ; 授与年月日:2008/3/15 ; 早大学位記番号:新475
LiftTiles: Constructive Building Blocks for Prototyping Room-scale Shape-changing Interfaces
Large-scale shape-changing interfaces have great potential, but creating such
systems requires substantial time, cost, space, and efforts, which hinders the
research community to explore interactions beyond the scale of human hands. We
introduce modular inflatable actuators as building blocks for prototyping
room-scale shape-changing interfaces. Each actuator can change its height from
15cm to 150cm, actuated and controlled by air pressure. Each unit is low-cost
(8 USD), lightweight (10 kg), compact (15 cm), and robust, making it
well-suited for prototyping room-scale shape transformations. Moreover, our
modular and reconfigurable design allows researchers and designers to quickly
construct different geometries and to explore various applications. This paper
contributes to the design and implementation of highly extendable inflatable
actuators, and demonstrates a range of scenarios that can leverage this modular
building block.Comment: TEI 202
Reconfiguration of Time-Respecting Arborescences
An arborescence, which is a directed analogue of a spanning tree in an
undirected graph, is one of the most fundamental combinatorial objects in a
digraph. In this paper, we study arborescences in digraphs from the viewpoint
of combinatorial reconfiguration, which is the field where we study
reachability between two configurations of some combinatorial objects via some
specified operations. Especially, we consider reconfiguration problems for
time-respecting arborescences, which were introduced by Kempe, Kleinberg, and
Kumar. We first prove that if the roots of the initial and target
time-respecting arborescences are the same, then the target arborescence is
always reachable from the initial one and we can find a shortest
reconfiguration sequence in polynomial time. Furthermore, we show if the roots
are not the same, then the target arborescence may not be reachable from the
initial one. On the other hand, we show that we can determine whether the
target arborescence is reachable form the initial one in polynomial time.
Finally, we prove that it is NP-hard to find a shortest reconfiguration
sequence in the case where the roots are not the same. Our results show an
interesting contrast to the previous results for (ordinary) arborescences
reconfiguration problems.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, WADS 202
Sketched Reality: Sketching Bi-Directional Interactions Between Virtual and Physical Worlds with AR and Actuated Tangible UI
This paper introduces Sketched Reality, an approach that combines AR
sketching and actuated tangible user interfaces (TUI) for bidirectional
sketching interaction. Bi-directional sketching enables virtual sketches and
physical objects to "affect" each other through physical actuation and digital
computation. In the existing AR sketching, the relationship between virtual and
physical worlds is only one-directional -- while physical interaction can
affect virtual sketches, virtual sketches have no return effect on the physical
objects or environment. In contrast, bi-directional sketching interaction
allows the seamless coupling between sketches and actuated TUIs. In this paper,
we employ tabletop-size small robots (Sony Toio) and an iPad-based AR sketching
tool to demonstrate the concept. In our system, virtual sketches drawn and
simulated on an iPad (e.g., lines, walls, pendulums, and springs) can move,
actuate, collide, and constrain physical Toio robots, as if virtual sketches
and the physical objects exist in the same space through seamless coupling
between AR and robot motion. This paper contributes a set of novel interactions
and a design space of bi-directional AR sketching. We demonstrate a series of
potential applications, such as tangible physics education, explorable
mechanism, tangible gaming for children, and in-situ robot programming via
sketching.Comment: UIST 202
A simple role of coral-algal symbiosis in coral calcification based on multiple geochemical tracers
Light-enhanced calcification of reef-building corals, which eventually create vast coral reefs, is well known and based on coral-algal symbiosis. Several controversial hypotheses have been proposed as possible mechanisms for connecting symbiont photosynthesis and coral calcification, including pH rise in the internal pool, role of organic matrix secretion, and enzyme activities. Here, based on the skeletal chemical and isotopic compositions of symbiotic and asymbiotic primary polyps of Acropora digitifera corals, we show a simple pH increase in the calcification medium as the predominant contribution of symbionts to calcification of host corals. We used the symbiotic and asymbiotic primary polyps reared for 10 days at four temperatures (27, 29, 31, and 33 °C), five salinities (34, 32, 30, 28, and 26), and four pCO2 levels (<300, 400, 800, and 1000 µatm). As a result of analyzing multiple geochemical tracers (U/Ca, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, δ18O, δ13C, and δ44Ca), a clear and systematic decrease in skeletal U/Ca ratio (used as a proxy for calcification fluid pH) was observed, indicating a higher pH of the fluid in symbiotic compared to asymbiotic polyps. In contrast, Mg/Ca ratios (used as a tentative proxy for organic matrix secretion) and δ44Ca (used as an indicator of Ca2+ pathway to the fluid) did not differ between symbiotic and asymbiotic polyps. This suggests that organic matrix secretion related to coral calcification is controlled mainly by the coral host itself, and a transmembrane transport of Ca2+ does not vary according to symbiosis relationship. Skeletal δ18O values of both symbiotic and asymbiotic polyps showed offsets between them with identical temperature dependence. Based on a newly proposed model, behavior of δ18O in the present study seems to reflect the rate of CO2 hydration in the calcifying fluid. Since CO2 hydration is promoted by enzyme carbonic anhydrase, the offset of δ18O values between symbiotic and asymbiotic polyps is attributed to the differences of enzyme activity, although the enzyme is functional even in the asymbiotic polyp. Symbiotic δ13C values in the temperature and salinity experiments were higher compared to those in the asymbiotic polyps due to photosynthesis, although photosynthetic δ13C signals in the pCO2 experiment were masked by the dominant δ13C gradient in dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater caused by 13C-depletd CO2 gas addition in the higher pCO2 treatments. Sr/Ca ratios showed a negligible relationship according to variation of temperature, salinity, and pCO2, although it might be attributed to relatively large deviations of replicates of Sr/Ca ratios in the present study. Overall, only the U/Ca ratio showed a significant difference between symbiotic and asymbiotic polyps throughout all experiments, indicating that the critical effect on coral calcification caused by symbiotic algae is the increase of pH of the calcifying fluid by photosynthesis
ShapeBots: Shape-changing Swarm Robots
We introduce shape-changing swarm robots. A swarm of self-transformable
robots can both individually and collectively change their configuration to
display information, actuate objects, act as tangible controllers, visualize
data, and provide physical affordances. ShapeBots is a concept prototype of
shape-changing swarm robots. Each robot can change its shape by leveraging
small linear actuators that are thin (2.5 cm) and highly extendable (up to
20cm) in both horizontal and vertical directions. The modular design of each
actuator enables various shapes and geometries of self-transformation. We
illustrate potential application scenarios and discuss how this type of
interface opens up possibilities for the future of ubiquitous and distributed
shape-changing interfaces.Comment: UIST 201
The efficacy of neuromuscular electrical stimulation with alternating currents in the kilohertz frequency to stimulate gait rhythm in rats following spinal cord injury
Ultrasound has the potential to detect degeneration of articular cartilage clinically, even if the information is obtained from an indirect measurement of intrinsic physical characteristics
Ultrasound properties of articular cartilage in the tibio-femoral joint in knee osteoarthritis: relation to clinical assessment (International Cartilage Repair Society grade)
Acoustic stiffness and change in plug cartilage over time after autologous osteochondral grafting: correlation between ultrasound signal intensity and histological score in a rabbit model
We investigated quantitative changes over time in ultrasound signal intensity (an index of stiffness), signal duration (an index of surface irregularity), and interval between signals (an index of thickness) of plug cartilage in an animal model of autologous osteochondral grafting. A full-thickness osteochondral plug was surgically removed and replaced in male Japanese white rabbits (n = 22). Specimens obtained at day 0 and weeks 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 postoperatively were assessed using an ultrasound system and by macroscopic and histological evaluation (modified Mankin's score). Histology revealed that the plug sank until 2 weeks postoperatively, and that newly formed cartilage-like tissue covered the plug, but at 24 weeks the tissue detached. The plug itself survived well throughout the period of observation. Although the signal intensity at the plug site was same as that in the sham operated contralateral knee at day 0, from 2 to 24 weeks postoperatively it was less than that in the sham knee. At 8 weeks, this difference was significant (P < 0.05). Modified Mankin's score revealed early degenerative changes at the site, but macroscopic examination did not. Signal intensity correlated significantly with score (both at day 0 and at the five postoperative time points [P < 0.05, r = -0.91] and as a whole [P < 0.05, r = -0.36]). Signal intensity also significantly correlated with the individual subscores for 'cartilage structure' (P < 0.05, r = -0.32) and 'cartilage cells' (P < 0.05, r = -0.30) from the modified Mankin's score, but not significantly with subscores for 'staining' and 'tidemark'. Signal duration correlated significantly with total score (as a whole [P < 0.05, r = 0.34]), but not significantly with the score for cartilage structure (P = 0.0557, r = 0.29). The interval between signals reflected well the actual thickness of the plug site. The significant relationships between ultrasound signal intensity and scores suggest that early degenerative changes in plug cartilage and cartilage-like tissue, especially in the superficial layer, are detectable by high-frequency ultrasound assessment
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