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This paper proposes the first object counting method for omnidirectional images. Because conventional object counting methods cannot handle the distortion of omnidirectional images, we propose to process them using stereographic projection, which enables conventional methods to obtain a good approximation of the density function. However, the images obtained by stereographic projection are still distorted. Hence, to manage this distortion, we propose two methods. One is a new data augmentation method designed for the stereographic projection of omnidirectional images. The other is a distortion-adaptive Gaussian kernel that generates a density map ground truth while taking into account the distortion of stereographic projection. Using the counting of grape bunches as a case study, we constructed an original grape-bunch image dataset consisting of omnidirectional images and conducted experiments to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method performs better than a direct application of the conventional method, improving mean absolute error by 14.7% and mean squared error by 10.5%., Accepted 25th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR 2020)

We investigated the shoot growth and fruit production of ‘Masui Dauphine’ fig trees (Ficus carica L.) with a newly devised “renewal long pruning” method and compared the results with those of conventional short pruning under straight-line training with both normal and high limb styles. This novel pruning method combines long pruning and continuous renewal pruning such that a few dormant shoots remain long and serve both as long mother shoots and as replaceable limbs. In experiments in 2009 and 2010, the shoots sprouted earlier from the renewal long pruning trees than from the short pruning trees. The number of lateral shoots was less in the renewal long pruning trees, indicating the prevention of excess vigour in bearing shoots. Renewal long pruning did not affect total percentage of fruit set; however, it slightly increased fruit set failure in the basal portion of bearing shoots. It potentially induced early maturation and greater enlargement of the fruit. Renewal long pruning was especially useful in high-limb straight-line training because it effectively compensated for disadvantage of this training, such as increasing numbers of lateral shoots and inhibition of fruit enlargement. Discipline: Horticulture Additional key words: high limb style, leaf-wood ratio, straight-line training. This study was supported by the Research and Development Projects for Application in Promoting New Policy of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries. *Corresponding author: e-mail: hosomi@mbox.kannousuiken-osaka.or.jp Received 1 December 2014; accepted 16 March 2015. Introduction In the Japanese fruit industry, fig trees are cultivated mainly around city areas, and ‘Masui Dauphine’ (‘San Piero’ sensu Condit 1955) is a major fig cultivar in Japan for which straight-line training with short pruning has been successfully adapted (Kabumoto et al. 1985). This training is similar to bi-lateral cordon training of the grapevine in which two limbs are extended horizontally on opposing sides of the trunk. Each limb with a short pruned mother shoot (= spur) is distributed alternately across the limb at equal intervals of ca. 0.2 m. Each of the bearing shoots grows upward from the mother shoot and is pinched at ca. the 20th node position. This training system is advantageous because it reduces the labour required for shoot control and fruit harvesting, but it has some disadvantages. For example, it delays fruit maturation (Kanafusa et al. 1985) and can lead to discoloration of the fruit (Kabumoto et al. 1985). Recently, a novel straight-line training method named “high-limb straight-line training” has been adopted for fig trees (Hosomi et al. 2013). This training involves the use of a long trunk and a high limb position (ca. 1.8 m above ground level); and in contrast with conventional training, the bearing shoots grow downward from high position. This training compensates for the problem of fruit discoloration that can occur with normal straight-line training (Hosomi et al. 2013). However, this novel training method leads to a new problem: the number of superfluous lateral shoots increases and the fruit does not grow as large as it does in upward growth (Hosomi et al. 2013). Here, we present a novel pruning system for fig trees as an alternative to short pruning. The system resembles “cane pruning” employed for grape vines. A few dormant shoots per tree are retained and are trained horizontally once they begin to grow so they can act both as long pruned mother shoots (= cane) and as renewed limbs for the next season. We call this method “renewal long pruning,” and applied it in straight-line training with both normal and

Enzyme replacement therapy might improve chronic liver dysfunction and contribute to the resolution of basal ganglia lesions in patients with type 3b Gaucher disease.

Scores of radioallergosorbent test (RAST) for cow's milk or buckwheat flour and proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to bovine serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin or buckwheat flour were measured in cow's milk or buckwheat flour sensitive patients with allergic tension-fatigue syndrome. In all 3 cow's milk sensitive patients with allergic tension-fatigue syndrome, RAST scores for cow's milk were negative or slightly positive, but PBMCs well responded to bovine serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin, but not to ovalbumin. In a buckwheat flour sensitive patient with allergic tension-fatigue syndrome, RAST scores for buckwheat flour were negative, but PBMCs well responded to buckwheat flour, but not to ovalbumin, bovine serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin. Conversely, in cow's milk or buckwheat flour sensitive patients with immediate allergic symptoms, RAST scores for offending foods were positive although PBMCs did not respond to offending food antigens. These results suggest that proliferative responses of PBMCs to food antigens are very useful for detection of offending foods in allergic tension-fatigue syndrome.