High-precision dynamic torque control of high stiffness actuator for humanoids.

The high stiffness actuator (HSA), applied to each joint of an electrical driven humanoid robot, can directly affect the motion performance of the torque-controlled humanoid robots. For high control performance of HSA, a high-precision dynamic torque control (HDTC) is proposed. The HDTC consists of two phases: (1) A novel dynamic current control is used to linearize high stiffness actuator torque control system, which can estimate and compensate the nonlinear coupling parts; (2) An enhanced internal model control is designed to ensure high tracking accuracy in the system containing noisy torque signal and even numerical differentiation signals.

Coelenterazine Indicators for the Specific Imaging of Human and Bovine Serum Albumins.

Albumin assays in serum are important for the prognostic assessment of many life-threatening diseases, such as heart failure, liver disease, malnutrition, inflammatory bowel disease, infections, and kidney disease. In this study, synthetic coelenterazine (CTZ) indicators are developed to quantitatively illuminate human and bovine serum albumins (HSA and BSA) with high specificity. Their functional groups were chemically modified to specifically emit luminescence with HSA and BSA.

Spiral Chiral Metamaterial Structure Shape for Optical Activity Improvements.

We report on a spiral structure suitable for obtaining a large optical response. We constructed a structural mechanics model of the shape of the planar spiral structure when deformed and verified the effectiveness of the model. As a verification structure, we fabricated a large-scale spiral structure that operates in the GHz band by laser processing.

Utility-Privacy Trade-Offs with Limited Leakage for Encoder.

The utilization of databases such as IoT has progressed, and understanding how to protect the privacy of data is an important issue. As pioneering work, in 1983, Yamamoto assumed the source (database), which consists of public information and private information, and found theoretical limits (first-order rate analysis) among the coding rate, utility and privacy for the decoder in two special cases. In this paper, we consider a more general case based on the work by Shinohara and Yagi in 2022.

14.31 % Power Conversion Efficiency of Sn-Based Perovskite Solar Cells via Efficient Reduction of Sn.

The photoelectric properties of nontoxic Sn-based perovskite make it a promising alternative to toxic Pb-based perovskite. It has superior photovoltaic performance in comparison to other Pb-free counterparts. The facile oxidation of Sn to Sn presents a notable obstacle in the advancement of perovskite solar cells that utilize Sn, as it adversely affects their stability and performance.

Enhanced Hot-Phonon Bottleneck Effect on Slowing Hot Carrier Cooling in Metal Halide Perovskite Quantum Dots with Alloyed A-Site.

A deep understanding of the effect of the A-site cation cross-exchange on the hot-carrier relaxation dynamics in perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) has profound implications on the further development of disruptive photovoltaic technologies. In this study, the hot carrier cooling kinetics of pure FAPbI (FA , CH(NH ) ), MAPbI (MA , CH NH ), CsPbI (Cs , Cesium) and alloyed FA MA PbI , FA Cs PbI , and MA Cs PbI QDs are investigated using ultrafast transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. The lifetimes of the initial fast cooling stage (<1 ps) of all the organic cation-containing PQDs are shorter than those of the CsPbI QDs, as verified by the electron-phonon coupling strength extracted from the temperature-dependent photoluminescence spectra.

Convergent evolution of nitrogen-adding enzymes in the purine nucleotide biosynthetic pathway, based on structural analysis of adenylosuccinate synthetase (PurA).

Adenylosuccinate synthetase (PurA) is an enzyme responsible for the nitrogen addition to inosine monophosphate (IMP) by aspartate in the purine nucleotide biosynthetic pathway. And after which the fumarate is removed by adenylosuccinate lyase (PurB), leaving an amino group. There are two other enzymes that catalyze aspartate addition reactions similar to PurA, one in the purine nucleotide biosynthetic pathway (SAICAR synthetase, PurC) and the other in the arginine biosynthetic pathway (argininosuccinate sythetase, ArgG).

Detecting passive and active response in patients with behaviourally diagnosed unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.

The diagnosis of unresponsive wakefulness syndrome depends mostly on the motor response following verbal commands. However, there is a potential for misdiagnosis in patients who understand verbal commands (passive response) but cannot perform voluntary movements (active response). To evaluate passive and active responses in such patients, this study used an approach combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and passive listening tasks to evaluate the level of speech comprehension, with portable brain-computer interface modalities that were applied to elicit an active response to attentional modulation tasks at the bedside.

Major Depressive Disorder and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Show Characteristic Heart Rate Variability Profiles Reflecting Autonomic Dysregulations: Differentiation by Linear Discriminant Analysis.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have overlapping symptoms, and differentiation is important to administer the proper treatment. The present study aimed to assess the usefulness of heart rate variability (HRV) indices. Frequency-domain HRV indices, including high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) components, their sum (LF+HF), and their ratio (LF/HF), were measured in a three-behavioral-state paradigm composed of initial rest (Rest), task load (Task), and post-task rest (After) periods to examine autonomic regulation.

Field-Controlled Microrobots Fabricated by Photopolymerization.

Field-controlled microrobots have attracted extensive research in the biological and medical fields due to the prominent characteristics including high flexibility, small size, strong controllability, remote manipulation, and minimal damage to living organisms. However, the fabrication of these field-controlled microrobots with complex and high-precision 2- or 3-dimensional structures remains challenging. The photopolymerization technology is often chosen to fabricate field-controlled microrobots due to its fast-printing velocity, high accuracy, and high surface quality.

Non-coding RNAs and functional RNA elements in Thermus thermophilus.

To complete the ThermusQ database, small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and functional RNA elements found in Thermus thermophilus were summarized with annotations. The well-known three ncRNAs, M1 RNA, tmRNA and SRP RNA, were annotated as ttj8_nc001 to ttj8_nc003, and 10 novel RNAs were annotated as ttj8_nc004 to ttj8_nc013. Antisense RNAs for some ORFs were annotated as ttj8_EST00001 to ttj8_EST00006.

Bilayered lanthanide squarate hydrates (Ln = Eu to Lu) and magnetization reversal barriers of 21 K for Ln = Tm and 57 K for Yb.

A squarate (sq) bridge was applied to heavy lanthanide (Ln) complexes for possible development of high-performance single-ion magnets (SIMs). A selective synthetic method for lanthanide squarate hydrates [Ln(sq)(HO)] (abbreviated as Ln-sq) has been established, where Ln stands for Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu. As the crystallographic analysis clarified, they all form a bilayer polymeric structure, which is isomorphic to known Eu-sq and Tb-sq.

Generation of equatorial plasma bubble after the 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption.

Equatorial plasma bubbles are a phenomenon of plasma density depletion with small-scale density irregularities, normally observed in the equatorial ionosphere. This phenomenon, which impacts satellite-based communications, was observed in the Asia-Pacific region after the largest-on-record January 15, 2022 eruption of the Tonga volcano. We used satellite and ground-based ionospheric observations to demonstrate that an air pressure wave triggered by the Tonga volcanic eruption could cause the emergence of an equatorial plasma bubble.

Spatiotemporal bias of the human gaze toward hierarchical visual features during natural scene viewing.

The human gaze is directed at various locations from moment to moment in acquiring information necessary to recognize the external environment at the fine resolution of foveal vision. Previous studies showed that the human gaze is attracted to particular locations in the visual field at a particular time, but it remains unclear what visual features produce such spatiotemporal bias. In this study, we used a deep convolutional neural network model to extract hierarchical visual features from natural scene images and evaluated how much the human gaze is attracted to the visual features in space and time.

Look into my eyes: What can eye-based measures tell us about the relationship between physical activity and cognitive performance?

Background: There is a growing interest to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that drive the positive associations of physical activity and fitness with measures of cognitive performance. To better understand those mechanisms, several studies have employed eye-based measures (e.g.

Förster resonance energy transfer involving the triplet state.

Triplet harvesting is important for high-efficiency optoelectronics devices, time-resolved bioimaging, sensing, and anti-counterfeiting devices. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the donor (D) to the acceptor (A) is important to efficiently harvest the triplet excitons after a variety of excitations. However, general explanations of the key factors of FRET from the singlet state (FRET) reverse intersystem crossing and FRET from the triplet state (FRET) have not been reported beyond spectral overlap between emission of the D and absorption of the A.

Relay Selection for Over-the-Air Computation Achieving Both Long Lifetime and High Reliability.

In a general wireless sensor network, a sink node collects data from each node successively and then post-processes the data to obtain useful information. However, conventional methods have a scalability problem: the data collection/processing time increases with the number of nodes, and frequent transmission collisions degrade spectrum efficiency. If only statistical values of the data are needed, using over-the-air computation (AirComp) can efficiently perform data collection and computation.

Biomimetic Soft Underwater Robot Inspired by the Red Muscle and Tendon Structure of Fish.

Underwater robots are becoming increasingly important in various fields. Fish robots are attracting attention as an alternative to the screw-type robots currently in use. We developed a compact robot with a high swimming performance by mimicking the anatomical structure of fish.

Polyvinyl chloride-added dibutyl adipate for high-performance electrohydrodynamic pumps.

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pumps are a promising driving source for various fluid-driven systems owing to features such as simple structure and silent operation. The performance of EHD pumps depends on the properties of the working fluid, such as conductivity, viscosity, and permittivity. This implies that the tuning of these parameters in a working fluid can enhance the EHD performance.

Bright Molecular Strain Probe Templates for Reporting Protein-Protein Interactions.

Imaging protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is a hot topic in molecular medicine in the postgenomic sequencing era. In the present study, we report bright and highly sensitive single-chain molecular strain probe templates which embed full-length luciferase 8.6-535SG (RLuc86SG) or Artificial luciferase 49 (ALuc49) as reporters.

Efficient Charge Transfer in MAPbI QDs/TiO Heterojunctions for High-Performance Solar Cells.

Methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI) perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have become one of the most promising materials for optoelectronics. Understanding the dynamics of the charge transfer from MAPbI QDs to the charge transport layer (CTL) is critical for improving the performance of MAPbI QD photoelectronic devices. However, there is currently less consensus on this.

A vacuum-actuated soft robot inspired by Drosophila larvae to study kinetics of crawling behaviour.

Peristalsis, a motion generated by the propagation of muscular contraction along the body axis, is one of the most common locomotion patterns in limbless animals. While the kinematics of peristalsis has been examined intensively, its kinetics remains unclear, partially due to the lack of suitable physical models to simulate the locomotion patterns and inner drive in soft-bodied animals. Inspired by a soft-bodied animal, Drosophila larvae, we propose a vacuum-actuated soft robot mimicking its crawling behaviour.

Strong Polarization of a J=1/2 to 1/2 Transition Arising from Unexpectedly Large Quantum Interference.

We experimentally show that the 1s^{2}2s^{2}2p_{1/2}-1s2s^{2}2p_{1/2}^{2} transition in Pb^{77+} emitted in dielectronic recombination of Pb^{78+} is strongly polarized, although it is an intrinsically unpolarized J=1/2 to 1/2 transition. This unanticipated polarization is shown to be due to quantum interference with radiative recombination. The interference effect has been studied on an asymmetric resonance profile but has never been studied on polarization.