A Mobile Tiled Display (MTD) is a technology to realize a large virtual display using multiple mobile terminals. Since a MTD which composed of a group of terminals with different characteristics, differences in performance among terminals and differences in the network environment affect the video playback. In this study, we propose a MTD configuration method that controls the window composition of terminals in consideration of terminal performance and network characteristics. In addition, we develop a novel MTD system that incorporates our proposed method. The developed system aims to reduce the impact of differences in terminal characteristics by placing terminals with good communication quality in the center of the screen. As an evaluation of the developed system, we investigated the time over-head of the initial window positioning configuration. The result shows that there is no problem in displaying the video in MTD, although it takes about 4.5 seconds in the case of 16 terminals. Moreover, we prepare several MTD videos using the developed system, and conduct questionnaires for subjective evaluation of the viewing experience from 60 people. and we clarified the screen composition method we developed was effective.

In this paper, we propose a novel motion planning method for off-road unmanned ground vehicles, based on three-dimensional (3-D) terrain map information. Previous studies on the motion planning of a vehicle traveling on rough terrain dealt only with a relatively small environment. Furthermore, unique vehicle characteristics were not considered, and it was also impossible to incorporate regulations, such as maintaining driving speed and suppressing posture change. The proposed method enables vehicles to adaptively generate a path by considering vehicle characteristics and the regulations, in a large-scale environment, with rough terrain. A random sampling based scheme was applied to carrying out global path planning, based on a 3-D environmental model. Experimental results showed that the proposed off-road motion planner could generate an appropriate path, which satisfies vehicle characteristics and predefined regulations.

In this paper, we propose an algorithm to improve the naturalness of the reconstructed glossectomy patient's speech that is generated by voice conversion to enhance the intelligibility of speech uttered by patients with a wide glossectomy. While existing VC algorithms make it possible to improve intelligibility and naturalness, the result is still not satisfying. To solve the continuing problems, we propose to directly modify the speech waveforms using a spectrum differential. The motivation is that glossectomy patients mainly have problems in their vocal tract, not in their vocal cords. The proposed algorithm requires no source parameter extractions for speech synthesis, so there are no errors in source parameter extractions and we are able to make the best use of the original source characteristics. In terms of spectrum conversion, we evaluate with both GMM and DNN. Subjective evaluations show that our algorithm can synthesize more natural speech than the vocoder-based method. Judging from observations of the spectrogram, power in high-frequency bands of fricatives and stops is reconstructed to be similar to that of natural speech.

Precise patterning of morphogen molecules and their accurate reading out are of key importance in embryonic development. Recent experiments have visualized distributions of proteins in developing embryos and shown that the gradient of concentration of Bicoid morphogen in Drosophila embryos is established rapidly after fertilization and remains stable through syncytial mitoses. This stable Bicoid gradient is read out in a precise way to distribute Hunchback with small fluctuations in each embryo and in a reproducible way, with small embryo-to-embryo fluctuation. The mechanisms of such stable, precise, and reproducible patterning through noisy cellular processes, however, still remain mysterious. To address these issues, here we develop the one- and three-dimensional stochastic models of the early Drosophila embryo. The simulated results show that the fluctuation in expression of the hunchback gene is dominated by the random arrival of Bicoid at the hunchback enhancer. Slow diffusion of Hunchback protein, however, averages out this intense fluctuation, leading to the precise patterning of distribution of Hunchback without loss of sharpness of the boundary of its distribution. The coordinated rates of diffusion and transport of input Bicoid and output Hunchback play decisive roles in suppressing fluctuations arising from the dynamical structure change in embryos and those arising from the random diffusion of molecules, and give rise to the stable, precise, and reproducible patterning of Bicoid and Hunchback distributions.

Simultaneous measurements of sea surface temperature (SST) by infrared and microwave sensors on single satellites are compared. The sensors are Global Imager (GLI) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) aboard Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II), and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and AMSR for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) aboard Aqua. The characteristics of SST differences are discussed with regard to the spatial distribution and water vapor amount in atmosphere.

This paper proposes a force control algorithm for Stewart platform type of parallel link manipulators with velocity controlled hydraulic actuators. First, we design a control scheme for one degree-of-freedom, hydraulic actuator then we extend the control scheme to the parallel link manipulator. The hybrid force/position control scheme for parallel link manipulator is also proposed. The control scheme is designed based on velocity based force control algorithm, so that we can apply it to the parallel link manipulators with velocity controlled hydraulic actuators. The proposed algorithm is applied to the experimental system with six degrees of freedom and the experimental results illustrate the validity of the system.

A macro-micro manipulator system has been proposed with the purpose of overcoming the difficulty to realize a trajectory tracking control of a flexible manipulator. In this paper, a trajectory tracking controller of macro-micro manipulator system is proposed which takes the dynamics of the system into consideration. This control law consists of a simple PD feedback law for the macro flexible manipulator and a dynamic trajectory tracking control law for the micro rigid manipulator. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.>

In this paper, to realize the hybrid position/force control of a flexible manipulator, the macro-micro manipulator system is used. The macro manipulator can move widely, but can not realize fast and precise motion because of its flexibility. To compensate the position and force errors, a micro manipulator is attached at the tip of the macro manipulator. The kinematic equations of the macro-micro manipulator system are introduced. By utilizing the redundancy and flexibility of the system, the trajectory planning is discussed. A quasi-static hybrid position/force control algorithm and a dynamic hybrid position/force control algorithm are proposed. Lastly, experimental results are shown to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms.>