Insufficient bone mass is still a difficult point to be solved in oral implantation, so new bone graft materials are continuously researched and discussed in clinical practice in order to obtain better bone augmentation. In order to explore whether platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) can promote the formation of new bone in mineralized collagen (MC), MC/PRF and pure MC were implanted into the bilateral mandibular defect model in rabbits, respectively. Micro-CT scan and histological evaluation of the target area at 4, 8, and 12 weeks after operation. The results of Micro-CT three-dimensional reconstruction analysis showed that the ratio of bone volume to total volume (BV/TV), trabecular bone number (

.N), trabecular bone thickness (.Th) and trabecular bone separation (.Sp) and residual material volume fraction (RMVF) in the MC/PRF group were better than those in the MC group (p<0.05). The results of HE and Masson staining showed that the new bone formation and material degradation rate of the MC/PRF group were better than those of the MC group. The results suggest that PRF can accelerate the formation of new bone in MC, and provide new ideas for the clinical application of new bone graft materials.

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This paper presents a method for robust velocity control of electromagnetic friction brakes for constant velocity (isokinetic) training in rehabilitation. Rehabilitation treatments using robots have become an attractive option due to labor shortages. In robot rehabilitation, isokinetic exercises are a form of highly efficient training. In rehabilitation machines, passive machines (brakes and clutches) are commonly utilized because they are inexpensive and safe. We focus on electromagnetic friction (EF) brakes which have a higher torque-to-weight ratio than magneto-rheological and powder brakes. Owing to such characteristics, the size and weight of the rehabilitation robots can be reduced by using EF brakes. Consequently, it can reduce the burden on subjects. Although EF brakes generate high torque, they have hysteresis and offset torque, which deteriorates the control performance. This paper proposes three contributions of an EF brake. First, the analysis and modeling of the EF brake are proposed. Second, a disturbance observer is proposed for the EF brake. The proposed method can design the disturbance suppression characteristics independent of the tracking performance. Finally, a robust velocity control scheme that considers the sign of the velocity for isokinetic exercises is proposed. The proposed method is compared with the conventional proportional-integral controller and its effectiveness is experimentally confirmed.

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This paper would explain concept and system of innovative train control and communication network for Shinkansen train, then examine best balance of performance, reliability, system redundancy, backup system, weight reduction and total cost performance. Test results of data communication on actual Shinkansen train set are also introduced. Finally, we would propose new total and optimum train set control method with train control and communication network for future Shinkansen trains.

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Feature extractor is an important component of a tracker and the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have demonstrated excellent performance in visual tracking. However, the CNN features cannot perform well under conditions of low illumination. To address this issue, we propose a novel deep correlation tracker with backtracking, which consists of target translation, backtracking and scale estimation. We employ four correlation filters, one with a histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) descriptor and the other three with the CNN features to estimate the translation. In particular, we propose a backtracking algorithm to reconfirm the translation location. Comprehensive experiments are performed on a large-scale challenging benchmark dataset. And the results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in accuracy and robustness.

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This paper discusses operation characteristics of discontinuous current mode (DCM) for an ac-dc isolated converter for on-board battery chargers of electric vehicles. The converter discussed in this paper consists of a front-end diode-bridge rectifier, an active energy buffer, and a dual-active-bridge dc-dc converter. The energy buffer circuit absorbs the power pulsation from the single-phase ac line into a small-rated capacitor, and thus, makes it possible to reduce a required capacitance of the dc-link capacitor. This paper explains details of the DCM control method including a technique of the ripple cancel of the inductor current, to realize the power factor correction of the line current and the voltage control of the buffer capacitor at the same time without complex calculations. Then, a reference value of the inductor current and an operation range of the dc-output voltage are discussed. Experimental results obtained by a 220-V, 6.6-kW experimental setup demonstrate a sinusoidal-line current and a controlled buffer capacitor voltage as well as a smoothed dc-output current.

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　深い地盤構造を知りたいといった目的で行われる微動探査において必要とされる長周期領域の微動の振幅は短周期領域のそれに比べて非常に小さい。しかも，長周期領域ではアナログ回路が持つ1/f ノイズの影響を大きくうけるため，高価で高性能な機器を用いてさえも十分なS/N(信号ノイズ比) をもって観測することが困難な場合もある。
　このような問題を解決するために，長周期領域でも十分な分解能およびS/N を有する超低ノイズフロア，超高分解能のデータロガーを開発した。A/D コンバータ(以下，ADC)には近年低コスト化が著しい24bit のΔΣ 型を採用した。また，1 成分あたり3 チャンネルのADC を用いて，1 倍ゲイン(利得)，256 倍ゲインの信号を並行して記録するとともに，同時に入力を短絡してデータロガーの電源リップルノイズも記録する，というハイブリッド方式を採用した。1 倍ゲインおよび256 倍ゲインの記録を組み合わせることで小さな入力信号から大振幅までADC の変換ノイズの少ない部分だけを用いて理論上で32bit相当の広ダイナミックレンジと高い分解能を確保しつつ，長周期領域における大幅なノイズ低減を目指した。特に，電源リップルノイズを信号から減算するという処理を行うことで，ノイズフロアの大幅な低下に成功した。
　データロガーの試作機を作成し，微動レベルが低い地域で実際にセンサーを接続してデータを取得し，開発したデータロガーの性能について検討した。その結果，単なる256倍ゲインの場合に比べて，本研究で提案するシステムでは長周期領域で30 倍以上S/N が拡大し，実効値で5 bit 程度ものダイナミックレンジの拡大を実現した。

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Initial flight operations of the miniature propulsion system I-COUPS (Ion Thruster and COld-gas Thruster Unified Propulsion System) are presented with problems found in space and its countermeasures for them. The I-COUPS was developed by the University of Tokyo and installed on a 70 kg space probe, PROCYON as main propulsion system to verify propulsive capability of the first micropropulsion in deep space. The PROCYON was successfully launched on December 3rd, 2014 and inserted into an orbit around the Sun. The PROYON project team started flight operation on the interplanetary orbit. Up to today, the cold-gas thrusters have successfully conducted unloading maneuvers since the launch. The ion thruster overcame several problems and achieved 223 hours operation with the averaged thrust of 346 μN. The I-COUPS will become the first electric propulsion and reaction control system operated on a small space probe (<100 kg) on an interplanetary orbit.

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Event-based control is a new control methodology that aims at reducing the communication flow within a control loop by closing the loop only after events have indicated a substantial control error. This paper gives a tutorial introduction and illustrates the main characteristics of event-based control by an experiment.

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A new control design framework for vibration control, the hybrid control of active and semi-active control, is proposed in the paper. In the hybrid control framework, structural systems having both of an actuator for active vibration control and a semi-active control device, e.g., MR damper etc., is defined as the control object. In the proposed control approach, the higher control performance is aimed with the hybrid manner between the actuator and the semi-active control device. A design method to determine the active control law and the signal of the semi-active control device based on the one-step prediction of the control output is proposed. A design example of the vibration control for a base-isolated building is presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed control framework.

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We propose an open source cell library characterizer. Recently, free and open-sourced silicon design communities are attracted by hobby designers, academies and industries. These open-sourced silicon designs are supported by free and open sourced EDAs, however, in our knowledge, tool-chain lacks cell library characterizer to use original standard cells into digital circuit design. This paper proposes an open source cell library characterizer which can generate timing models and power models of standard cell library.

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This paper presents a novel method for real-time pedestrian detection and following by a mobile robot. In this method motion areas are segmented from real-time image frames captured by a monocular camera. From the segmented and filtered motion areas, contour is detected using a proposed scan conversion algorithm. The normalized contour is then compared with predefined pedestrian's shape contour templates. When satisfactory match is found the pedestrian is localized and bounded using a rectangular box. After localized the pedestrian, if the user instruct the robots to follow the pedestrian the mobile robot will follow. The effectiveness of the system is evaluated using a mobile robot-PeopleBot, where the robot follows the pedestrian movements.

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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is commonly associated with neuropathic pain, which affects large population. Thus, the presented investigation evaluates the beneficial effect of epifriedelinol against SCI-associated neuropathic pain. SCI injury was induced in rats by clip-compression and rats were treated with epifriedelinol 100 and 200 mg/kg, i.p. for 21 days after the induction of SCI. The effect of epifriedelinol was assessed on neuropathic pain by mechanical allodynia and locomotor function. Level of inflammatory cytokines were assessed in the neuronal tissue using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and expression of caspase-3 and Bcl2 protein were assessed by western blot assay. Data of investigation reveals that epifriedelinol reduces mechanical allodynia in SCI injured rats. Moreover, it also improves locomotor function in SCI injured rats. There was significant decrease in level of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the neuronal tissues of epifriedelinol-treated group than negative control group. Moreover, treatment with epifriedelinol ameliorates the altered expression of caspase 3, Bcl2 and GluN1 and level of glutamate in neuronal tissue of SCI-injured rats. In conclusion, data reveal that epifriedelinol treatment protects neuropathic pain associated with spinal cord injury by downregulating the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function.

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燃費低減と排出ガス浄化のために吸排気バルブ駆動などガソリン機関運転パラメータの可変化が進み、過渡時空燃比制御の高精度化がますます必要である。モデル適応制御の一つである単純適応制御をレギュレータである過渡時空燃比制御に用い、高精度に空燃比制御ができたことを示す。

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伝統的な嚥下の4期連続モデル（four-stage sequential model）を用いて，液体の嚥下時に生じる事象はうまく説明できる．しかし最近になって，健常者の固形食嚥下の研究の結果，従来のモデルには限界のあることがわかってきた．人間が固形食を食べる過程は，人間以外の哺乳類の研究を通して得られた過程モデル（Process model）を使用することで，説明，分類できる．いくつかの重要な新しい発見が指摘できる．すなわち，1．顎と舌の運動は，咀嚼や食物の送り込みの際，連動している．2．口腔内で食物の破砕（processing）が行われている間にも，咀嚼のすんだ食物は口峡を通って中咽頭（口腔咽頭）へと送り込まれている．3．固形食の食塊形成は，口腔ではなく咽頭で行われる．4．咽頭嚥下が開始される前に，食塊が中咽頭に5秒もしくはそれ以上集積することもある．これらの新しい発見を取り入れて，改訂版嚥下4相モデル（revised four-phase model）を提案する．この新しいモデルは，正常生理および異常嚥下を考える上で，重要な意味を有する．

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Automated tiered storage with fast memory and slow flash storage (ATSMF) is a hybrid storage system located between non-volatile memories (NVMs) and solid state drives (SSDs). ATSMF reduces the average response time for input-output (IO) accesses by migrating concentrated IO-access areas from an SSD to an NVM. However, the current ATSMF implementation cannot sufficiently reduce the average response time because of the bottleneck caused by the Linux brd driver, which is used for the NVM access driver. The response time of the brd driver is more than ten times longer than memory-access speed. To sufficiently reduce the average response time, we developed a block-level driver for an NVM called a "two-mode (2M) memory driver." This driver has a .map-access mode and direct-access mode to reduce the response time while maintaining compatibility with the Linux device-mapper framework. The direct-access mode has a drastically lower response time than the Linux brd driver because the ATSMF driver can directly execute the IO-access function of the 2M memory driver. Experimental results indicate that ATSMF using the 2M memory driver reduced the IO access response time to less than that of ATSMF using the Linux brd driver in most cases.

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Bone marrow stroma cells (MSCs) have been shown to differentiate into multiple lineages and have great potential for regenerative therapy. We have obtained hMSCs from 6 human adults. They were all positive for CD13, CD44, and CD90 and weakly positive for CD49, while negative for CD45, suggesting that they were different from hematopoetic stem cells. hMSCs were induced to become neuronal cells and maintained as long as three weeks in the serum free medium supplemented with N2. An increase in the amount of mRNA was observed for the NeuroD1, neurofilament M and H, MAP2, neuron-specific enolase, tryptophan hydroxylase, Nurr1, and neuron specific Na⁺ channel genes, and the existence of voltage-gated Na⁺ channels that were sensitive to tetrodotoxin was confirmed electro physiologically. These results suggested that hMSCs differentiated into serotonergic neural cells. However, the expression of genes specific for stroma cells, the Big-h3 and vimentin-genes, was observed equally during the induction process, indicating that the expression pattern was not the completely same as in genuine neural cells. hMSCs cultured with serial passages showed aging phenomena at the cellular level under the various conditions examined in this study. Trials to isolate cellular clones proliferating indefinitely have not succeeded.

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A motor program for controlling one’s own movement requires sensory signals from the target body parts. Information for movement is provided by sensory feedback such as visual and somatosensory information. Previous studies indicated that cortical activity related to sensory response and perception is modified by movement executing mechanisms. The integration of sensory information and motor

is critical for motor control and recognition of one movement. However, this raises the issue of how central nervous system integrates motor and sensory information whenever the intended movement is in progress. Preceding and during voluntary movement, the efference copy in relation to motor signal from motor related areas modified the information processing in somatosensory areas. This review introduces the research topics of sensorimotor integration and new findings according to recent studies of the somatosensory system in relation to sports science.

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20 世紀中期から集約的畜産業が急速に発達すると，農用動物の福祉問題が関心を集め，「5 つの自由」と呼ばれる福祉指針が動物行動学や生理学の研究成果を踏まえて確立された．「5 つの自由」は現在，農用動物に限らず愛玩・伴侶動物，実験動物，さらに動物園等の展示動物といった人の管理下にある飼育動物一般に共通の福祉指針として国際的に普及している．本総説では，初めに「5 つの自由」の成立ならびに普及の経緯を述べ，次いで動物の家畜化に際して行われる繁殖管理ならびに育種に起因する動物の健康問題について述べた．最後に，近年グローバル化が進行する中で牛海綿状脳症，口蹄疫，高病原性鳥インフルエンザなどの悪性伝染病が日本で発生し，動物の健康のみならず，人の健康，畜産食品の安全性，および国民経済にとって大きな脅威となっていることを踏まえ，予防獣医学的観点からいくつかの重要な感染症について述べた．

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For more than a century, neuroscientists have debated the problem of how self-generated voluntary motor actions are executed without interference from sensory information elicited by the movements. In the 1950's, two theories were proposed: the corollary discharge theory by Sperry¹⁾ and the efference copy theory by von Holst and Mittelstaedt²⁾. They are essentially identical in proposing the necessity of specific neuronal mechanisms to suppress undesirable percepts or reflexes, both of which might disturb ongoing movements. However, this raises a simple question as to whether the control system always ignores sensory information whenever the intended movements are in progress. Here, we review recent findings and currently debated problems in corollary discharge theory.

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