Automotive augmented reality 3D head-up display based on light-field rendering with eye-tracking.

We explore the feasibility of implementing stereoscopy-based 3D images with an eye-tracking-based light-field display and actual head-up display optics for automotive applications. We translate the driver's eye position into the virtual eyebox plane via a "light-weight" equation to replace the actual optics with an effective lens model, and we implement a light-field rendering algorithm using the model-processed eye-tracking data. Furthermore, our experimental results with a prototype closely match our ray-tracing simulations in terms of designed viewing conditions and low-crosstalk margin width. The prototype successfully delivers virtual images with a field of view of 10° × 5° and static crosstalk of <1.5%.

Enhanced Hydrogen Production by Co-cultures of Hydrogenase and Nitrogenase in Escherichia coli.

Rhodobacter sphaeroides is a bacterium that can produce hydrogen by interaction with hydrogenase and nitrogenase. We report a hydrogen production system using co-cultivation of hydrogenase in liquid medium and immobilized nitrogenase in Escherichia coli. The recombinant plasmid has been constructed to analyze the effect of hydrogen production on the expression of hupSL hydrogenase and nifHDK nitrogenase isolated from R. sphaeroides. All recombinant E. coli strains were cultured anaerobically, and cells for nitrogenase were immobilized in agar gel, whereas cells for hydrogenase were supplemented on the nitrogenase agar gel. The hupSL hydrogenase has been observed to enhance hydrogen production and hydrogenase activity under co-culture with nifHDK nitrogenase. The maximum hydrogen production has been obtained at an agar gel concentration and a cell concentration for co-culture of 2 % and 6.4 × 10(8) CFU. Thus, co-culture of hupSL hydrogenase and nifHDK nitrogenase provides a promising route for enhancing the hydrogen production and hydrogenase activity.

The effect of CbbR-binding affinity to the upstream of cbbF and cfxB on the metabolic effector in Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Rhodobacter sphaeroides is a non-sulfur photosynthetic bacterium that possesses two cbb operons, cbb I and cbb II , encoding enzymes involved in the Calvin-Bensom-Bassham reductive pentose phosphate pathway of carbon dioxide fixation. In the present study, a number of molecules have been identified that have the ability to alter the in vivo DNA-binding properties of CbbR protein in R. sphaeroides. The CbbR-binding sites on the cbb operon in R. sphaeroides were characterized by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. The ChIP assay indicated that the CbbR protein binds specifically to the upstream regions cbbF in cbb I operon and cfxB in cbb II operon. The change in the binding of CbbR to the upstream of cbbF and cfxB in the presence of RuBP, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, NADPH, KH2PO4 was observed under anaerobic, aerobic, aerobic light-dark, and aerobic dark conditions, respectively. From these results, the role of different co-inducer molecules in influencing the interactions of CbbR with the binding site within cbb operon has been ascertained. The biosynthetic intermediates and other potential metabolic effectors have been observed to play an important role in the regulatory mechanism.

Technology-based group exercise interventions for people living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment: A scoping review.

Older people living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are more vulnerable to experiencing social isolation and loneliness due to their cognitive and physical impairments. Increasingly integrating technology into group exercises contributed to the improved resilience and well-being of older adults living with dementia and MCI. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify the various types, feasibility, outcome measures, and impacts of technology-based group exercise interventions for people with dementia or MCI. We utilized the Joanna Briggs Institute approach, a three-step process. A comprehensive literature search on five databases-CINAHL, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycInfo-until January 2024 yielded 1,585 publications; the final review included 14 publications that recruited a total of 379 participants, with mean age of 69 (SD = 4.21) years to 87.07 (SD = 3.92) years. Analysis of data showed three types of technology-based group exercise interventions for people with dementia or MCI: (a) exergames, (b) virtual cycling or kayak paddling, and (c) video-conferencing platforms. In addition, we identified three key impacts: (a) feasibility and accessibility; (b) physical, psychosocial, and cognitive benefits; and (c) adaptations necessary for persons with dementia or MCI. Our study suggests that technology-based group exercise interventions are feasible and acceptable to persons with dementia or MCI. Future studies should involve individuals with dementia and their caregivers in the design and implementation of technology-based group exercise programs.

Optimal projector configuration design for 300-Mpixel multi-projection 3D display.

To achieve an immersive natural 3D experience on a large screen, a 300-Mpixel multi-projection 3D display that has a 100-inch screen and a 40° viewing angle has been developed. To increase the number of rays emanating from each pixel to 300 in the horizontal direction, three hundred projectors were used. The projector configuration is an important issue in generating a high-quality 3D image, the luminance characteristics were analyzed and the design was optimized to minimize the variation in the brightness of projected images. The rows of the projector arrays were repeatedly changed according to a predetermined row interval and the projectors were arranged in an equi-angular pitch toward the constant central point. As a result, we acquired very smooth motion parallax images without discontinuity. There is no limit of viewing distance, so natural 3D images can be viewed from 2 m to over 20 m.

Activity and characterization of mixed organic compounds extracted from Rhodobacter sphaeroides as alternative materials to serum for mammalian cell growth.

Photosynthetic microorganisms produce relatively large amounts of physiologically active materials which stimulate the physiological activity of other organisms. In this study, mammalian HeLa cells were cultured in different culture media which were Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM) with newborn calf serum (NCS), and DMEM including different types of physiologically activating compounds (PACs) extracted from Rhodobacter sphaeroides grown under various culture conditions. R. sphaeroides was grown under the following five different culture conditions: anaerobically in the light, anaerobically in the dark and treated with dimethyl sulfoxide, aerobically in the dark for 48 h, in the light for 48 h, and in the light for 24 h and changed after previous culturing in the dark for 24 h. The growth of HeLa cell was measured by cell counting using a hemocytometer, and the fluorescent intensities of cellular lysosomes were measured to check the level of cellular stress caused by adding PACs. The growth of HeLa cells cultured in DMEM with PACs extracted from R. sphaeroides aerobically grown under dark conditions was enhanced compared to that of cells grown with NCS. We also found that a high concentration of pigments such as bacteriochlorophylls and carotenoids and a high concentration of arginine produced by R. sphaeroides aerobically grown in the dark were implicated in increased growth of the HeLa cells. Therefore, our results suggest that PACs extracted from R. sphaeroides aerobically cultured in dark conditions can enhance the physiological activity of mammalian cells and serve as nontoxic and bioavailable materials.

Evaluation of Growth and Utilization Potential of Rhodobacter sphaeroides in Reused Medium.

Rhodobacter sphaeroides is a metabolically versatile purple non-sulfur bacteria that can produce valuable substances. As the low-cost and high-efficiency production of valuable substances is attracting attention, the reuse of the medium is emerging as a promising strategy. Therefore, in this study, the growth of R. sphaeroides was evaluated by reusing the medium of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As a result, in the reuse of the medium in which S. cerevisiae was cultured, sufficient growth of R. sphaeroides could be confirmed, and especially, the growth of R. sphaeroides was not inhibited under aerobic conditions. Therefore, it is considered that the strategy of reusing the medium of S. cerevisiae is sufficiently feasible. Of the organic compounds investigated, R. sphaeroides grew best in succinic acid, followed by malic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, and glucose. In addition, by comparing photopigment synthesis in the reused medium, we propose the hypothesis that succinic acid may play an important role in photopigment synthesis for the first time.

Protein localization as a principal feature of the etiology and comorbidity of genetic diseases.

Proteins targeting the same subcellular localization tend to participate in mutual protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and are often functionally associated. Here, we investigated the relationship between disease-associated proteins and their subcellular localizations, based on the assumption that protein pairs associated with phenotypically similar diseases are more likely to be connected via subcellular localization. The spatial constraints from subcellular localization significantly strengthened the disease associations of the proteins connected by subcellular localizations. In particular, certain disease types were more prevalent in specific subcellular localizations. We analyzed the enrichment of disease phenotypes within subcellular localizations, and found that there exists a significant correlation between disease classes and subcellular localizations. Furthermore, we found that two diseases displayed high comorbidity when disease-associated proteins were connected via subcellular localization. We newly explained 7584 disease pairs by using the context of protein subcellular localization, which had not been identified using shared genes or PPIs only. Our result establishes a direct correlation between protein subcellular localization and disease association, and helps to understand the mechanism of human disease progression.

Effect of glucose on xylose utilization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae harboring the xylose reductase gene.

We have constructed recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae JH1 harboring a xylose reductase gene (xyl1) isolated from Pichia stipitis. However, JH1 still utilizes glucose more easily than xylose. Therefore, in this study, we characterized the effect of a glucose supplement on xylose utilization, the expression level of xylose reductase as a recombinant gene in JH1, and the expression levels of two hexose transporters (Hxt4 and Hxt7) due to co-fermentation of different concentrations of glucose and xylose. Co-fermentation using 20 g/l of glucose increased xylose consumption up to 11.7 g/l, which was 7.9-fold that of xylose fermentation without a glucose supplement. In addition, we found xyl1 mRNA levels dramatically increased as cells grew under co-fermentation conditions with supplementary glucose; this result is consistent with a significant decrease in the xylose concentration 48 h after cultivation. In addition, the expression levels of Hxt4 and Hxt7 were strongly activated by the presence of glucose and xylose; in particular, Hxt7 showed a 2.9-fold increased expression relative to that of recombinant S. cerevisiae JHM with only a backbone vector, pYES2. The results of this study suggest that xylose utilization would be improved by activation of hexose transporters induced by glucose (rather than xylose) reductase expression.

Efficacy of Phototherapy With 308-nm Excimer Light for Skin Microbiome Dysbiosis and Skin Barrier Dysfunction in Canine Atopic Dermatitis.

The management of canine atopic dermatitis, an allergic skin disorder, is challenging. To investigate the effect of phototherapy using a 308-nm excimer light as a topical treatment for canine atopic dermatitis, 10 dogs with canine atopic dermatitis and 10 with non-allergic skin were enrolled in this study. Phototherapy was applied every 7 days for a total of 2 months. The skin microbiome, skin barrier function, and clinical outcomes were evaluated after phototherapy. Phototherapy significantly changed the composition of the skin microbiome of dogs with atopic dermatitis and significantly increased the relative abundance of the phyla Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria. It significantly alleviated the clinical signs of canine atopic dermatitis without serious adverse effects. Transepidermal water loss, as a measure of skin barrier function, significantly decreased after phototherapy. In addition, phototherapy increased microbial diversity and decreased the relative abundance of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius associated with the severity of canine atopic dermatitis. These results suggest that the excimer light therapy is a suitable and safe therapeutic option for canine atopic dermatitis, which is also a spontaneous animal model of atopic dermatitis.

The impact of cellular networks on disease comorbidity.

The impact of disease-causing defects is often not limited to the products of a mutated gene but, thanks to interactions between the molecular components, may also affect other cellular functions, resulting in potential comorbidity effects. By combining information on cellular interactions, disease-gene associations, and population-level disease patterns extracted from Medicare data, we find statistically significant correlations between the underlying structure of cellular networks and disease comorbidity patterns in the human population. Our results indicate that such a combination of population-level data and cellular network information could help build novel hypotheses about disease mechanisms.

Distribution of node characteristics in complex networks.

Our enhanced ability to map the structure of various complex networks is increasingly accompanied by the possibility of independently identifying the functional characteristics of each node. Although this led to the observation that nodes with similar characteristics have a tendency to link to each other, in general we lack the tools to quantify the interplay between node properties and the structure of the underlying network. Here we show that when nodes in a network belong to two distinct classes, two independent parameters are needed to capture the detailed interplay between the network structure and node properties. We find that the network structure significantly limits the values of these parameters, requiring a phase diagram to uniquely characterize the configurations available to the system. The phase diagram shows a remarkable independence from the network size, a finding that, together with a proposed heuristic algorithm, allows us to determine its shape even for large networks. To test the usefulness of the developed methods, we apply them to biological and socioeconomic systems, finding that protein functions and mobile phone usage occupy distinct regions of the phase diagram, indicating that the proposed parameters have a strong discriminating power.

Specific expression patterns of xyl1, xyl2 and xyl3 in response to different sugars in Pichia stipitis.

The effects of two different sugars (glucose and xylose) on the expression levels and patterns of xylose reductase (xyl1), xylitol dehydrogenase (xyl2) and xylulokinase (xyl3) genes were analyzed using Pichia stipitis. A significant increase in mRNA levels of xyl1 was observed after 6 hours growth in culture conditions using xylose as a sole carbon source, but expressions of the three genes were not influenced by normal culture media with glucose. In addition expression levels of xyl2 and xyl3 were not observed during the entire culture period during which xylose was added. It also was found that the expression level of xyl1 increased as a function of the xylose concentration (40, 60, 80 g/l) used in this study, indicating that xyl1 expression sensitively responded to xylose presence in the culture media. Although the induced level of xyl2 increased slightly after 48 hours in the xylose-supplemented culture conditions, the expression level of xyl2 was not observed in the xylitol-supplemented culture conditions. Finally, considering the expression of each gene in response to glucose or xylose, the absolute expression levels of the three genes indicate that xyl1 is induced primarily by exposure to xylose.

Modeling narrative structure and dynamics with networks, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling.

Human communication is invariably executed in the form of a narrative, an account of connected events comprising characters, actions, and settings. A coherent and well-structured narrative is therefore essential for effective communication, confusion caused by a haphazard attempt at storytelling being a common experience. This also suggests that a scientific understanding of how a narrative is formed and delivered is key to understanding human communication and dialog. Here we show that the definition of a narrative lends itself naturally to network-based modeling and analysis, and they can be further enriched by incorporating various text analysis methods from computational linguistics. We model the temporally unfolding nature of narrative as a dynamical growing network of nodes and edges representing characters and interactions, which allows us to characterize the story progression using the network growth pattern. We also introduce the concept of an interaction map between characters based on associated sentiments and topics identified from the text that characterize their relationships explicitly. We demonstrate the methods via application to Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. Going beyond simple, aggregate occurrence-based methods for narrative representation and analysis, our proposed methods show promise in uncovering its essential nature of a highly complex, dynamic system that reflects the rich structure of human interaction and communication.

Turing patterns mediated by network topology in homogeneous active systems.

Mechanisms of pattern formation-of which the Turing instability is an archetype-constitute an important class of dynamical processes occurring in biological, ecological, and chemical systems. Recently, it has been shown that the Turing instability can induce pattern formation in discrete media such as complex networks, opening up the intriguing possibility of exploring it as a generative mechanism in a plethora of socioeconomic contexts. Yet much remains to be understood in terms of the precise connection between network topology and its role in inducing the patterns. Here we present a general mathematical description of a two-species reaction-diffusion process occurring on different flavors of network topology. The dynamical equations are of the predator-prey class that, while traditionally used to model species population, has also been used to model competition between antagonistic features in social contexts. We demonstrate that the Turing instability can be induced in any network topology by tuning the diffusion of the competing species or by altering network connectivity. The extent to which the emergent patterns reflect topological properties is determined by a complex interplay between the diffusion coefficients and the localization properties of the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian. We find that networks with large degree fluctuations tend to have stable patterns over the space of initial perturbations, whereas patterns in more homogenous networks are purely stochastic.

Proteomic profile of osteoclast membrane proteins: identification of Na+/H+ exchanger domain containing 2 and its role in osteoclast fusion.

Osteoclast formation and bone resorption are multiple processes that involve the participation of specialized membrane structures and their associated proteins. In this study, we used an MS to analyze the profile of proteins associated with osteoclast membranes and focused on the function of channel proteins in osteoclast differentiation and function. We filtered out with a SEQUEST score greater than 10 and a peptide hit number of more than 2, resulting in the identification of 499 proteins that were commonly found in both macrophages and osteoclasts, 96 proteins selectively found in osteoclasts, and 179 proteins selectively found in macrophages. The proteins that were selectively found in osteoclasts were classified based on their localizations: plasma membrane (17%), ER/Golgi and lysosome/endosome (15%), mitochondrion (18%), nucleus (13%), cytosol (19%), and unknown (18%). Proteins associated with osteoclast function such as v-ATPase, IGF2R, TRAP, and cathepsin K were found in osteoclasts as previously shown. We found several ion channel proteins such as Ank and Nhedc2 and signaling molecules such as Dock5 and RAB-10 in osteoclasts. Inhibition of the Na(+)/H(+) exchanger family by amiloride suppressed RANKL-induced osteoclast fusion and bone resorption. In addition, shRNA for Nhedc2 inhibited osteoclast differentiation. Our results provide a proteomic profile of osteoclast membrane proteins and identify Nhedc2, which is probably associated with proton transport in osteoclasts, as a regulator of osteoclast function.

Generating vivid colors on red-green-blue-white electonic-paper display.

Color characteristics of an RGBW (red, green, blue, white) electrophoretic display (EPD) prototype developed by Samsung Electronics are analyzed. EPD shows strong crosstalk between subpixels because of both the fringe field between subpixels and the scattering phenomena at the display surface. An RGB-to-RGBW color-decomposition algorithm optimized to EPD characteristics is developed that compensates for color deterioration due to the fringe field and scattering phenomena. For the four-color-decomposition algorithm, white is added to the primary colors to enhance the reflectance of the vivid colors while minimizing chroma loss. The psychophysical experimental result shows that images rendered with the algorithms developed in this study are preferred more than 90% of the time over those rendered with algorithms from previous studies. This research proves that, in spite of the limited physical property of EPD, the color quality can be improved dramatically through the use of well-designed color-rendering algorithms.

Why do people move? Enhancing human mobility prediction using local functions based on public records and SNS data.

The quality of life for people in urban regions can be improved by predicting urban human mobility and adjusting urban planning accordingly. In this study, we compared several possible variables to verify whether a gravity model (a human mobility prediction model borrowed from Newtonian mechanics) worked as well in inner-city regions as it did in intra-city regions. We reviewed the resident population, the number of employees, and the number of SNS posts as variables for generating mass values for an urban traffic gravity model. We also compared the straight-line distance, travel distance, and the impact of time as possible distance values. We defined the functions of urban regions on the basis of public records and SNS data to reflect the diverse social factors in urban regions. In this process, we conducted a dimension reduction method for the public record data and used a machine learning-based clustering algorithm for the SNS data. In doing so, we found that functional distance could be defined as the Euclidean distance between social function vectors in urban regions. Finally, we examined whether the functional distance was a variable that had a significant impact on urban human mobility.

Heterogeneity in chromatic distance in images and characterization of massive painting data set.

Painting is an art form that has long functioned as a major channel for the creative expression and communication of humans, its evolution taking place under an interplay with the science, technology, and social environments of the times. Therefore, understanding the process based on comprehensive data could shed light on how humans acted and manifested creatively under changing conditions. Yet, there exist few systematic frameworks that characterize the process for painting, which would require robust statistical methods for defining painting characteristics and identifying human's creative developments, and data of high quality and sufficient quantity. Here we propose that the color contrast of a painting image signifying the heterogeneity in inter-pixel chromatic distance can be a useful representation of its style, integrating both the color and geometry. From the color contrasts of paintings from a large-scale, comprehensive archive of 179 853 high-quality images spanning several centuries we characterize the temporal evolutionary patterns of paintings, and present a deep study of an extraordinary expansion in creative diversity and individuality that came to define the modern era.

Whole-genome sequence of purple non-sulfur bacteria, Rhodobacter sphaeroides strain MBTLJ-8 with improved CO2 reduction capacity.

Rhodobacter sphaeroides consists of two chromosomes and many plasmids and incorporates many environmentally important functional gene. Rhodobacter sphaeroides MBTLJ-8 was derived from R. sphaeroides 2.4.1 using chemical mutagenesis and is characterized by enhanced production of physiological active compounds as well as improved carbon dioxide reduction capacity. We reported the complete genome sequence and characteristics based on genomic information of this bacteria. Therefore, this genome sequence provides elucidation for improved CO2 fixation and enhanced physiological active compounds production, and will be used as the efficient photosynthetic bacteria for the biological CO2 reduction system.