Flickering flash signals and mate recognition in the Asian firefly, Aquatica lateralis.

Nocturnal fireflies sometimes use intricate bioluminescent signal systems for sexual communication. In this study, we examined flash signals and mate recognition in the Asian firefly, Aquatica lateralis, under natural field conditions. We found that the flash pattern of females changes after copulation, from simple short flashes to flashes with longer duration and flickering.

Exposure to PM and Lung Function Growth in Pre- and Early-Adolescent Schoolchildren: A Longitudinal Study Involving Repeated Lung Function Measurements in Japan.

Epidemiological evidence indicates that ambient exposure to particulate matter ⩽2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM) has adverse effects on lung function growth in children, but it is not actually clear whether exposure to low-level PM results in long-term decrements in lung function growth in pre- to early-adolescent schoolchildren. To examine long-term effects of PM within the 4-year average concentration range of 10-19 μg/m on lung function growth with repeated measurements of lung function tests.

Anticipatory postural adjustments contribute to age-related changes in compensatory steps associated with unilateral perturbations.

Compensatory steps are essential for preventing falls following perturbations. This study aimed to explore age-related changes in compensatory steps to unilateral perturbations, specifically in terms of whether anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) play a role in stabilizing lateral balance. Five young and five elderly male adults participated.

Robust extraction of local structures by the minimum beta-divergence method.

This paper discusses a new highly robust learning algorithm for exploring local principal component analysis (PCA) structures in which an observed data follow one of several heterogeneous PCA models. The proposed method is formulated by minimizing beta-divergence. It searches a local PCA structure based on an initial location of the shifting parameter and a value for the tuning parameter beta.

Robust blind source separation by beta divergence.

Blind source separation is aimed at recovering original independent signals when their linear mixtures are observed. Various methods for estimating a recovering matrix have been proposed and applied to data in many fields, such as biological signal processing, communication engineering, and financial market data analysis. One problem these methods have is that they are often too sensitive to outliers, and the existence of a few outliers might change the estimate drastically.