Estimation of a focused object using a corneal surface image for eye-based interaction

Researchers are considering the use of eye tracking in head-mounted camera systems, such as Google’s Project Glass. Typical methods require detailed calibration in advance, but long periods of use disrupt the calibration record between the eye and the scene camera. In addition, the focused object might not be estimated even if the point-of-regard is estimated using a portable eye-tracker. Therefore, we propose a novel method for estimating the object that a user is focused upon, where an eye camera captures the reflection on the corneal surface. Eye and environment information can be extracted from the corneal surface image simultaneously. We use inverse ray tracing to rectify the reflected image and a scale-invariant feature transform to estimate the object where the point-of-regard is located. Unwarped images can also be generated continuously from corneal surface images. We consider that our proposed method could be applied to a guidance system and we confirmed the feasibility of this application in experiments that estimated the object focused upon and the point-of-regard

Comparative study on nocturnal behavior of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

Nocturnal behavior of non-bloodfed females of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus was studied using an automatic recording device equipped with a photoelectric sensor. Carbon dioxide, heating, and the contrast of the black and white colors were used as attractive cues for mosquitoes. The nocturnal host seeking activity positively correlated with the increasing light intensity in both species. Ae. aegypti was found to be more sensitive to light than Ae. albopictus. The threshold of light intensity for the activation of the nocturnal host seeking activity was 10 lx (ca. 1 foot candle) in Ae. albopictus, respectively. Complete darkness during the daytime deactivated the host seeking activity of both species, irrespective of their increasing flight activity controlled by their intrinsic circadian rhythms. This suggested that visual cues are indispensable for host seeking behavior. The eye parameter value, the product of the ommatidial diameter, and the interommatidial angle were significantly larger in Ae. aegypti than those in Ae. albopictus, indicating that the eye of Ae. aegypti is more adapted to a darker environment.長崎大学学位論文 学位記番号:博（医）乙第1,782号 学位授与年月日:平成19年10月31

New readout and data-acquisition system in an electron-tracking Compton camera for MeV gamma-ray astronomy (SMILE-II)

For MeV gamma-ray astronomy, we have developed an electron-tracking Compton camera (ETCC) as a MeV gamma-ray telescope capable of rejecting the radiation background and attaining the high sensitivity of near 1 mCrab in space. Our ETCC comprises a gaseous time-projection chamber (TPC) with a micro pattern gas detector for tracking recoil electrons and a position-sensitive scintillation camera for detecting scattered gamma rays. After the success of a first balloon experiment in 2006 with a small ETCC (using a 10$\times$10$\times$15 cm$^3$ TPC) for measuring diffuse cosmic and atmospheric sub-MeV gamma rays (Sub-MeV gamma-ray Imaging Loaded-on-balloon Experiment I; SMILE-I), a (30 cm)$^{3}$ medium-sized ETCC was developed to measure MeV gamma-ray spectra from celestial sources, such as the Crab Nebula, with single-day balloon flights (SMILE-II). To achieve this goal, a 100-times-larger detection area compared with that of SMILE-I is required without changing the weight or power consumption of the detector system. In addition, the event rate is also expected to dramatically increase during observation. Here, we describe both the concept and the performance of the new data-acquisition system with this (30 cm)$^{3}$ ETCC to manage 100 times more data while satisfying the severe restrictions regarding the weight and power consumption imposed by a balloon-borne observation. In particular, to improve the detection efficiency of the fine tracks in the TPC from $\sim$10\% to $\sim$100\%, we introduce a new data-handling algorithm in the TPC. Therefore, for efficient management of such large amounts of data, we developed a data-acquisition system with parallel data flow.Comment: 11 pages, 24 figure