Hybrid Life: Integrating biological, artificial, and cognitive systems.

Artificial life is a research field studying what processes and properties define life, based on a multidisciplinary approach spanning the physical, natural, and computational sciences. Artificial life aims to foster a comprehensive study of life beyond "life as we know it" and toward "life as it could be," with theoretical, synthetic, and empirical models of the fundamental properties of living systems. While still a relatively young field, artificial life has flourished as an environment for researchers with different backgrounds, welcoming ideas, and contributions from a wide range of subjects.

Prediction of Protein Function from Tertiary Structure of the Active Site in Heme Proteins by Convolutional Neural Network.

Structure-function relationships in proteins have been one of the crucial scientific topics in recent research. Heme proteins have diverse and pivotal biological functions. Therefore, clarifying their structure-function correlation is significant to understand their functional mechanism and is informative for various fields of science.

Elucidation of the Correlation between Heme Distortion and Tertiary Structure of the Heme-Binding Pocket Using a Convolutional Neural Network.

Heme proteins serve diverse and pivotal biological functions. Therefore, clarifying the mechanisms of these diverse functions of heme is a crucial scientific topic. Distortion of heme porphyrin is one of the key factors regulating the chemical properties of heme.

Superposition mechanism as a neural basis for understanding others.

Social cognition has received much attention in fields such as neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy. Theory-theory (TT) and simulation theory (ST) provide the dominant theoretical frameworks for research on social cognition. However, neither theory addresses the matter of how the concepts of "self" and "other" are acquired through the development of human and nonhuman agents.

A Sensorimotor Signature of the Transition to Conscious Social Perception: Co-regulation of Active and Passive Touch.

It is not yet well understood how we become conscious of the presence of other people as being other subjects in their own right. Developmental and phenomenological approaches are converging on a relational hypothesis: my perception of a "you" is primarily constituted by another subject's attention being directed toward "me." This is particularly the case when my body is being physically explored in an intentional manner.

Intuitive control of mobile robots: an architecture for autonomous adaptive dynamic behaviour integration.

In this paper, we present a novel approach to human-robot control. Taking inspiration from behaviour-based robotics and self-organisation principles, we present an interfacing mechanism, with the ability to adapt both towards the user and the robotic morphology. The aim is for a transparent mechanism connecting user and robot, allowing for a seamless integration of control signals and robot behaviours.

Four-pole galvanic vestibular stimulation causes body sway about three axes.

Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) can be applied to induce the feeling of directional virtual head motion by stimulating the vestibular organs electrically. Conventional studies used a two-pole GVS, in which electrodes are placed behind each ear, or a three-pole GVS, in which an additional electrode is placed on the forehead. These stimulation methods can be used to induce virtual head roll and pitch motions when a subject is looking upright.

Unconscious learning of auditory discrimination using mismatch negativity (MMN) neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback is a strong direct training method for brain function, wherein brain activity patterns are measured and displayed as feedback, and trainees try to stabilize the feedback signal onto certain desirable states to regulate their own mental states. Here, we introduce a novel neurofeedback method, using the mismatch negativity (MMN) responses elicited by similar sounds that cannot be consciously discriminated. Through neurofeedback training, without participants' attention to the auditory stimuli or awareness of what was to be learned, we found that the participants could unconsciously achieve a significant improvement in the auditory discrimination of the applied stimuli.

Using minimal human-computer interfaces for studying the interactive development of social awareness.

According to the enactive approach to cognitive science, perception is essentially a skillful engagement with the world. Learning how to engage via a human-computer interface (HCI) can therefore be taken as an instance of developing a new mode of experiencing. Similarly, social perception is theorized to be primarily constituted by skillful engagement between people, which implies that it is possible to investigate the origins and development of social awareness using multi-user HCIs.

Alternating images of congruent and incongruent movement creates the illusion of agency.

We report a novel illusion whereby people perceive both congruent and incongruent hand motions as a united, single, and continuous motion of one's own hand (i.e. a sense of agency).

Embodied social interaction constitutes social cognition in pairs of humans: a minimalist virtual reality experiment.

Scientists have traditionally limited the mechanisms of social cognition to one brain, but recent approaches claim that interaction also realizes cognitive work. Experiments under constrained virtual settings revealed that interaction dynamics implicitly guide social cognition. Here we show that embodied social interaction can be constitutive of agency detection and of experiencing another's presence.

From synthetic modeling of social interaction to dynamic theories of brain-body-environment-body-brain systems.

Synthetic approaches to social interaction support the development of a second-person neuroscience. Agent-based models and psychological experiments can be related in a mutually informing manner. Models have the advantage of making the nonlinear brain-body-environment-body-brain system as a whole accessible to analysis by dynamical systems theory.

Experimental study on co-evolution of categorical perception and communication systems in humans.

In this paper, we present an experiment that integrates a semiotic investigation with a dynamical perspective on embodied social interactions. The primary objective is to study the emergence of a communication system between two interacting individuals, where no dedicated communication modalities are predefined and the only possible interaction is very simple, non-directional, and embodied. Throughout the experiment, we observe the following three phenomena: (1) the spontaneous emergence of turn-taking behaviour that allows communication in non-directional environments; (2) the development of an association between behaviours and perceptive categories; (3) the acquisition of novel meaning by exploiting the notion of complementary set theory.

Phenotype and genotype characteristics of age-related macular degeneration in a Japanese population.

Purpose: To describe phenotype and genotype characteristics of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Japanese patients.

Design: A case-control study.

Participants: A total of 550 case-control samples composed of 408 consecutive AMD cases and 142 controls.

Association of type 1 diabetes with two Loci on 12q13 and 16p13 and the influence coexisting thyroid autoimmunity in Japanese.

Context: Recent genome-wide association studies have identified several novel type 1 diabetes (T1D) loci in white populations.

Objective: In line with recent findings, we conducted a replication study of two loci on chromosome 12p13 and 16p13 and assessed their potential associations with thyroid autoimmunity in a Japanese population.

Subjects And Methods: Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2292399 in ERBB3 on 12q13 and rs2903692 in CLEC16A (or KIAA0350) on 16p13, were analyzed in Japanese subjects consisting of 735 T1D patients, 330 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), and 621 control subjects.

Coding and noncoding variants in the CFH gene and cigarette smoking influence the risk of age-related macular degeneration in a Japanese population.

Purpose: Ethnic variation has been reported in age-related macular degeneration (AMD)-associated Y402H polymorphism in complement factor H (CFH). This variation is evident in the Japanese population. Recently a strong association between a novel single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs1410996) in the CFH gene and AMD has been identified in Caucasian patients.

How (not) to model autonomous behaviour.

Autonomous systems are the result of self-sustaining processes of constitution of an identity under precarious circumstances. They may transit through different modes of dynamical engagement with their environment, from committed ongoing coping to open susceptibility to external demands. This paper discusses these two statements and presents examples of models of autonomous behaviour using methods in evolutionary robotics.

Promoter polymorphisms of the pigment epithelium-derived factor gene are associated with diabetic retinopathy.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF or SERPINF1), a neuroprotective and anti-angiogenic factor, may play an important role in the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy (DR). In 416 patients with type 2 diabetes, four polymorphisms in the PEDF SNPs were identified, rs12150053 and rs12948385 in the promoter region, rs9913583 in the 5'-untranslated region, and rs1136287 (Met72Thr) in exon 3. Based on case-control studies, rs12150053 and rs12948385, but not rs9913583 and rs1136287, were significantly associated with DR.

Turn-taking interaction as a cooperative and co-creative process.

In the present article, computer simulation of turn-taking interaction was studied and compared with psychological experiments such as the double TV experiment and synchronous imitation. By introducing the concepts of virtual agents, prediction error and adaptability, the simulation showed that turn-taking dynamics is a cooperative and co-creative process between two agents, which is in accordance with psychological findings. In particular, much attention is paid to styles of motion, as turn-taking with chaotic spatial pattern has developed to be sensitive to it.

Insulin gene/IDDM2 locus in Japanese type 1 diabetes: contribution of class I alleles and influence of class I subdivision in susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

Context: It is suggested that insulin autoimmunity plays an important role in the development of type 1 diabetes in humans. However, the association between insulin gene (INS) region (IDDM2) and type 1 diabetes has been uncertain in Asians.

Objective: A multicenter collaboration study was conducted to clarify the role of the IDDM2 region in Japan.

Effects of 138-355, a beta3-adrenoceptor selective agonist, on relaxation of the human detrusor muscle in vitro.

Aims: Beta-adrenoceptors are the predominant beta-adrenoceptor subtype present in the bladder and urethra. This study investigates the effects of 138-355, an active-metabolite of TT-138 and beta(3)-adrenoceptor agonist, on relaxation of the human detrusor in vitro.

Methods: Tumor-free tissue samples of human bladder muscle from 39 patients undergoing total cystectomy due to bladder cancer were obtained, and the mucosa and serosa were removed.

Functional VEGF C-634G polymorphism is associated with development of diabetic macular edema and correlated with macular retinal thickness in type 2 diabetes.

Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has a strong effect on induction of vascular permeability, VEGF is an attractive candidate gene for development of diabetic macular edema (ME). Among the 378 patients with type 2 diabetes studied, 203 patients had no retinopathy, 93 had non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and 82 had proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). ME was present in 16 patients with NPDR and 47 patients with PDR.

Adaptability and diversity in simulated turn-taking behavior.

Turn-taking behavior is simulated in a coupled-agents system. Each agent is modeled as a mobile robot with two wheels. A recurrent neural network is used to produce the motor outputs and to hold the internal dynamics.