Search

There is no standard method for describing the Operational Design Domain (ODD) in automated driving vehicles. There are many elements in the operating domain, including the external environment, and it is necessary to connect them with the internal state of the automated driving system. Its content ultimately requires the user's understanding. The description method of this ODD is summarised from the aspect of safety. Consistency with standards and guidelines will also be considered.

Various Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) become prevailing recently. In this paper, we argue the safety analysis of combined ADAS systems. The definition of ADAS is vague, so we obey the definition of Code of Practice for the Design and Evaluation of ADAS (CoP) (1). In this definition, the ADAS have to be active, that is, it “provide(s) active support for lateral and/or longitudinal control”. There is a technical report that provides the consolidation way of various warnings emitted by the several ADAS systems (ISO/TR 12204 (2)). However, the problem is not limited to the warning signals. We have to consider the controller of ADAS because it is actively controlled from its definition. We need the more integrated way, and we provide a way to handle this situation by using the idea: DESH-G model.

The surveillance cameras we focus on target the volume zone, and area reduction is a top priority. However, by simplifying the ADC comparator, we face a new RUSH current issue, for which we propose a circuit solution. This paper proposes two novel techniques of column-ADC for surveillance cameras to improve low-light characteristics. RUSH current compensation reduces transient current consumption fluctuations during AD conversion and utilizing timing shift ADCs decreases the number of simultaneously operating ADCs. These proposed techniques improve low-light characteristics because they reduce the operating noise of the circuit. In order to support small signal measurement, this paper also proposes a high-accuracy evaluation system that can measure both small optical/electrical signals in low-light circumstances. To demonstrate these proposals, test chips were fabricated using a 55 nm CIS process and their optical/electrical characteristics were measured. As a result, low-light linearity as optical characteristics were reduced by 63% and column interference (RUSH current) as an electrical characteristic was also reduced by 50%. As for the high-accuracy evaluation system, we confirmed that the inter-sample variation of column interference was 0.05 LSB. This ADC achieved a figure-of-merit (FoM) of 0.32 e-·pJ/step, demonstrating its usefulness for other ADC architectures while using a single-slope-based simple configuration.

Recent evidence has indicated that, when an animal is exposed to harmful stimuli, hypothalamic orexinergic neurons are activated via the amygdala and in turn tune the neuronal circuits in the spinal cord, brainstem, and an area of the cerebellum (folium-p of the flocculus) by neuromodulation. The animal would then initiate “defense reactions” composed of complex movements and associated cardiovascular responses. To investigate neuronal mechanisms of the defense reactions, Nisimaru et al. (2013) analyzed cardiovascular responses induced by an electric foot shock stimulus to a rabbit and found two major effects. One is redistribution of arterial blood flow from visceral organs to active muscles, and the other is a modest increase in blood pressure. Kainate-induced lesions of folium-p impaired these two effects. Moreover, folium-p Purkinje cells were shown to project to the parabrachial nucleus, one of the major cardiovascular centers in the brainstem. These data indicate that folium-p Purkinje cells regulate cardiovascular defense reactions via parabrachial nucleus under orexin-mediated neuromodulation. In this article, we review these data from the viewpoint that the defense reactions are expressions of “anger and anxiety”, which respectively lead to “fight and flight” behaviors. The present orexin case may provide a model of cerebellohypothalamic interactions via neuropeptides or amines of hypothalamic origin, which may underlie various types of emotion and behavior.

Commercial greenhouse growers in both Japan and China are increasingly using reared orange-tailed bumblebees known previously as Bombus hypocrita Pérez as pollinators. Phylogenetic analysis of the DNA (COI) barcodes with Bayesian methods shows that this "species" is a long-standing confusion of two cryptic species. We find that the orange-tailed bumblebees in North China are actually part of the widespread Russian (otherwise white-tailed) B. patagiatus Nylander (as B. patagiatus ganjsuensis Skorikov, n. comb.), whereas the orange-tailed bees in Japan are true B. hypocrita. This situation has been further complicated because two other cryptic species from North China that were previously confused with the Russian B. patagiatus are now recognised as separate: B. lantschouensis Vogt n. stat. and B. minshanensis Bischoff n. stat.. As demand for pollination services by greenhouse growers inevitably increases, these bees are more likely to be transported between countries. In order to conserve genetic resources of pollinator species for their option value for future food security, we advocate preventing trade and movement of B. patagiatus from China into Japan and of B. hypocrita from Japan into China.

Large eddy simulation (LES) employing a flamelet model coupled with an artificial neural network (ANN), namely the LES/flamelet/ANN is developed for supercritical oxy-fuel combustion and its validity is investigated in detail. An ANN is introduced to reduce the size of the flamelet library for non-adiabatic three gas-stream conditions of a real supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) combustor. The fuel and oxidizer are methane (CH4) and a mixture of oxygen (O2) and CO2, respectively. To consider the real gas effect, the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state is solved to generate the flamelet library. The LES/flamelet/ANN is applied to two combustion fields in the combustor, namely the upstream and full fields of the combustor with low and high mesh sizes, respectively. The LES/flamelet/ANN for the upstream field is conducted to examine its applicability to the non-adiabatic three gas streams condition by varying the resolution of the flamelet library and by comparing it with the results obtained by the conventional LES/flamelet. The LES/flamelet/ANN for the full field is also conducted to validate the approach by comparing its results with those obtained from the experiment. The results show that the LES/flamelet/ANN of the upstream field properly reproduces the supercritical combustion behavior generated by the conventional LES/flamelet while maintaining the same level of computational cost. Furthermore, the LES/flamelet/ANN for the full field reasonably predicts the supercritical combustion behavior in the experiment, and the predicted combustor outlet temperature agrees well with the experimental results.

In performing skillful movement, humans use predictions from internal models formed by repetition learning. However, the computational organization of internal models in the brain remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that a computational architecture employing a tandem configuration of forward and inverse internal models enables efficient motor learning in the cerebellum. The model predicted learning adaptations observed in handreaching experiments in humans wearing a prism lens and explained the kinetic components of these behavioral adaptations. The tandem system also predicted a form of subliminal motor learning that was experimentally validated after training intentional misses of hand targets. Patients with cerebellar degeneration disease showed behavioral impairments consistent with tandemly arranged internal models. These findings validate computational tandemization of internal models in motor control and its potential uses in more complex forms of learning and cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission from parallel fibers (PFs) to a Purkinje cell (PC) in the cerebellum has been considered to be a core mechanism of motor learning. Recently, however, discrepancies between LTD and motor learning have been reported in mice with a mutation that targeted the expression of PF-PC LTD by blocking AMPA-subtype glutamate receptor internalization regulated via the phosphorylation of AMPA receptors. In these mice, motor learning behavior was normal, but no PF-PC LTD was observed. We reexamined slices obtained from these GluA2 K882A and GluA2 Δ7 knockin mutants at 3-6 mo of age. The conventional protocols of stimulation did not induce LTD in these mutant mice, as previously reported, but surprisingly, LTD was induced using certain modified protocols. Such modifications involved increases in the number of PF stimulation (from one to two or five), replacement of climbing fiber stimulation with somatic depolarization (50 ms), filling a patch pipette with a Cs+-based solution, or extension of the duration of conjunction. We also found that intracellular infusion of a selective PKCα inhibitor (Gö6976) blocked LTD induction in the mutants, as in WT, suggesting that functional compensation occurred downstream of PKCα. The possibility that LTD in the mutants was caused by changes in membrane resistance, access resistance, or presynaptic property was excluded. The present results demonstrate that LTD is inducible by intensified conjunctive stimulations even in K882A and Δ7 mutants, indicating no contradiction against the LTD hypothesis of motor learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated a unique microzone of the cerebellum located in folium-p (fp) of rabbit flocculus. In fp, Purkinje cells were potently excited by stimulation of the hypothalamus or mesencephalic periaqueductal gray, which induced defense reactions. Using multiple neuroscience techniques, we determined that this excitation was mediated via beaded axons of orexinergic hypothalamic neurons passing collaterals through the mesencephalic periaqueductal gray. Axonal tracing studies using DiI and biotinylated dextran amine evidenced the projection of fp Purkinje cells to the ventrolateral corner of the ipsilateral parabrachial nucleus (PBN). Because, in defense reactions, arterial blood flow has been known to redistribute from visceral organs to active muscles, we hypothesized that, via PBN, fp adaptively controls arterial blood flow redistribution under orexin-mediated neuromodulation that could occur in defense behavior. This hypothesis was supported by our finding that climbing fiber signals to fp Purkinje cells were elicited by stimulation of the aortic nerve, a high arterial blood pressure, or a high potassium concentration in muscles, all implying errors in the control of arterial blood flow. We further examined the arterial blood flow redistribution elicited by electric foot shock stimuli in awake, behaving rabbits. We found that systemic administration of an orexin antagonist attenuated the redistribution and that lesioning of fp caused an imbalance in the redistribution between active muscles and visceral organs. Lesioning of fp also diminished foot shock-induced increases in the mean arterial blood pressure. These results collectively support the hypothesis that the fp microcomplex adaptively controls defense reactions under orexin-mediated neuromodulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent report showed higher oxygen consumption, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production and mitochondrial localisation in trophectoderm cells than in the inner cell mass of mouse blastocysts. We hypothesised that this phenomenon was due to the asymmetrical distribution of mitochondria in the blastomeres during the earlier stages. Oocytes, 2-cell embryos and 4-cell embryos were analysed to determine the volume, ATP content and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number in the whole egg and individual blastomeres. Significant differences were detected in the volumes of cytoplasm and ATP contents between blastomeres from the 2-cell and 4-cell embryos. Moreover, whilst remaining stable in whole embryos, mtDNA copy number differed between blastomeres, indicating that mitochondria in oocytes are unevenly delivered into the daughter blastomeres during the first two cleavages. Although their volume and ATP content were not correlated, there was a significant correlation between volume and mtDNA copy number in 2- and 4-cell blastomeres. These results indicate that the number of mitochondria delivered to blastomeres during early cleavage is not precisely equal, suggesting that the allocation of mitochondria into daughter blastomeres is affected by uneven cytoplasmic distribution during cytokinesis in the oocyte and mother blastomeres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activating mutations of RAS gene families have been found in a variety of human malignancies, including lung cancer, suggesting their dominant role in tumorigenesis. However, several studies have shown a frequent loss of the wild-type KRAS allele in the tumors of murine models and an inhibition of oncogenic phenotype in tumor cell lines by transfection of wild-type RAS, indicating that wild-type RAS may have oncosuppressive properties. To determine whether loss of wild-type KRAS is involved in the development of human lung cancer, we investigated the mutations of KRAS, NRAS and BRAF in 154 primary non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) as well as 10 NSCLC cell lines that have been shown to have KRAS mutations. We also determined the loss of heterozygosity status of KRAS alleles in these tumors. We detected point mutations of KRAS in 11 (7%) of 154 NSCLCs, with 10 cases at codon 12 and 1 at codon 61, but no mutations of NRAS or BRAF were found. Using the laser capture microdissection technique, we confirmed that 9 of the 11 tumors and 7 of the 10 NSCLC cell lines retained the wild-type KRAS allele. Among the cell lines with heterozygosity of mutant and wild-type KRAS, all of the cell lines tested for expression were shown to express more mutated KRAS than wild-type mRNA, with higher amounts of KRAS protein also being expressed compared to the cell lines with a loss of wild-type KRAS allele. In addition, among 148 specimens available for immunohistochemical analysis, 113 (76%) showed positive staining of KRAS, indicating that the vast majority of NSCLCs continue to express wild-type KRAS. Our findings indicate that the wild-type KRAS allele is occasionally lost in human lung cancer, and that the oncogenic activation of mutant KRAS is more frequently associated with an overexpression of the mutant allele than with a loss of the wild-type allele in human NSCLC development. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intricate neuronal circuitry of the cerebellum is thought to encode internal models that reproduce the dynamic properties of body parts. These models are essential for controlling the movement of these body parts: they allow the brain to precisely control the movement without the need for sensory feedback. It is thought that the cerebellum might also encode internal models that reproduce the essential properties of mental representations in the cerebral cortex. This hypothesis suggests a possible mechanism by which intuition and implicit thought might function and explains some of the symptoms that are exhibited by psychiatric patients. This article examines the conceptual bases and experimental evidence for this hypothesis.