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One of the necessary techniques for constructing a virtual museum is to estimate the surface normal and the albedo of the artwork which has high specularity. In this paper, we propose a novel photometric stereo method which is robust to the specular reflection of the object surface. Our method can also digitize the artwork arranged inside a glass or acrylic display case without bringing the artwork out of the display case. Our method treats the specular reflection at the object surface or at the display case as an outlier, and finds a good surface normal evading the influence of the outliers. We judiciously design the cost function so that the outlier will be automatically removed under the assumption that the object’s shape and color are smooth. At the end of this paper, we also show some archived 3D data of Segonko Tumulus and objects in the University Museum at The University of Tokyo that were generated by applying the proposed method.

AimThe purpose of the study was to investigate seasonal variations in HbA1c, GA and LDL-C and to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on these variations and on glycemic and lipid control themselves in patients with type 2 diabetes.Patients and methodsThe subjects were outpatients with type 2 diabetes who had received standard treatment for glycemic control for more than 3 years. Data for patients who visited our hospital from January 2021 to March 2021 were retrospectively investigated based on electronic medical records.ResultsHbA1c showed seasonal variation (high in winter–spring and low in summer–autumn), and this was similar during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the mean HbA1c over 1 year was significantly elevated during the COVID-19 pandemic (7.53 ± 1.02% in 2020) compared with the previous 2 years: (7.34 ± 0.91 in 2018, 7.39 ± 0.93 in 2019; 2020 vs. 2018; 0.19%, P < 0.001; 2020 vs. 2019; 0.14%, P = 0.0013) and the difference was larger in winter. GA showed no apparent seasonal variation, but mean GA during the COVID-19 pandemic was elevated compared with earlier years (2020 vs. 2018, P < 0.001; 2020 vs. 2019, P < 0.001). LDL-C did not show apparent seasonal variation and was unaffected by COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic influenced mean HbA1c and GA levels over 1 year, but did not affect seasonal variations, while LDL-C was not affected by COVID-19. Observation of these levels over a longer period is warranted to determine the longer-term influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper proposes a method for improving saturation in the context of hue-preserving color image enhancement. The proposed method handles colors in an RGB color space, which has the form of a cube, and enhances the contrast of a given image by histogram manipulation, such as histogram equalization and histogram specification, of the intensity image. Then, the color corresponding to a target intensity is determined in a hue-preserving manner, where a gamut problem should be taken into account. We first project any color onto a surface in the RGB color space, which bisects the RGB color cube, to increase the saturation without a gamut problem. Then, we adjust the intensity of the saturation-enhanced color to the target intensity given by the histogram manipulation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves higher saturation than that given by related methods for hue-preserving color image enhancement.

Japan is surrounded by the sea and is also a mountainous country with many rivers. Japan has the second- highest rate of deaths caused by drowning in the world. Pleural effusion (PE) is one of the major findings at autopsy. It is found in approximately 80% of drowning mortalities and is observable for a relatively long postmortem interval (PMI). We focused on the amount of pleural fluid in drowning cases, discussed the relationship of PE with the drowning environment, water temperature, and postmortem interval, and established more simple and practical criteria for the diagnosis of drowning. We measured the weight of the lungs, PE, and their sum as the intrathoracic (IT) weight (total weight of lungs + pleural effusion), and calculated the PE ratio [(PE weight/IT weight) × 100]. A total of 130 drowning deaths diagnosed through forensic autopsies were investigated in this study. The cases were classified by drowning environment (freshwater, brackish water, and seawater), water temperature (under 20 °C, more than 20 °C), and postmortem interval (less than 1 day, 1–3 days, more than 3 days). The present study demonstrated that the PE ratio may be more effective for the diagnosis of drowning. Moreover, the accumulation of PE is affected by drowning environment, water temperature, and PMI. Collectively, it is important to assess the PE ratio and consider these factors in autopsy cases of victims found in water.

Mathematical morphology is a fundamental tool based on order statistics for image processing, such as noise reduction, image enhancement and feature extraction, and is well-established for binary and grayscale images, whose pixels can be sorted by their pixel values, i.e., each pixel has a single number. On the other hand, each pixel in a color image has three numbers corresponding to three color channels, e.g., red (R), green (G) and blue (B) channels in an RGB color image. Therefore, it is difficult to sort color pixels uniquely. In this paper, we propose a method for unifying the orders of pixels sorted in each color channel separately, where we consider that a pixel exists in a three-dimensional space called order space, and derive a single order by a monotonically nondecreasing function defined on the order space. We also fuzzify the proposed order space-based morphological operations, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing with a state-of-the-art method based on hypergraph theory. The proposed method treats three orders of pixels sorted in respective color channels equally. Therefore, the proposed method is consistent with the conventional morphological operations for binary and grayscale images.

Two ways of anodizing 3D-printed AlSi10Mg alloy were characterized, and then their fatigue properties were evaluated. Test specimens were fabricated via a laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process followed by machining. Normal and hard anodizing were both conducted in a sulfuric acid bath. The anodized layer was observed using FE-SEM/EDS. Fine Si particles dispersed in the matrix showing web-like patterns were incorporated in the anodized layer. By etching the Si particles away with Keller’s reagent, a characteristic maze-like 3D structure of anodized Al was observed. Then, rotating bending fatigue tests were carried out to evaluate the fatigue strength at 107 cycles. The fatigue strength of the as-machined, normal-anodized and hard-anodized specimens was 106, 100 and 95 MPa, respectively. The fatigue limits were proportional to the surface roughness with higher linearity. By reducing the surface roughness, the fatigue strength of the hard-anodized specimen was improved. This result demonstrates the possibility of improving the fatigue properties of anodized components by reducing their surface roughness. Lastly, a CASS (copper-accelerated acetic acid salt spray) test was conducted, and superior corrosion resistance of the normal- and hard-anodized layers was verified.

Adsorbed hydrogen (H) species on catalyst surfaces are important active intermediates in many catalytic reactions and detailed analyses of them are necessary to understand the catalyses. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) enables direct and selective observation of H species due to the extremely large incoherent neutron scattering cross section of a hydrogen atom. In the present study, the adsorbed H species on some heterogeneous precious metal catalysts supported by alumina and carbon black were investigated by in situ INS spectroscopy with a newly designed sample cell. The newly designed double-walled long cell gave clear INS spectra with less elastic scattering. Three alumina-supported metal catalysts having Pt, Pd, and Rh metal nanoparticles with different particle sizes exhibited different INS spectra in intensities and band distribution. Observation of the H species on the metal nanoparticles and the alumina surface revealed their properties. In addition, the H atoms stored in Pd nanoparticles were observed as palladium hydride. In contrast, the H species on a Pt catalyst supported by carbon black were found to be strongly adsorbed on the carbon support. The properties of these H species were dependent on both the properties of the precious metals and those of the support materials.

Modori-inducing proteinases (MIPs) in horse mackerel and the effect of sodium citrate on the modori phenomenon were investigated. Cysteine protease caused the modori phenomenon only at 60 ℃, while metalloproteinase caused it at both 60 ℃ and 70 ℃. Moreover, the autolysis of myofibrillar proteins was mainly inhibited by ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), verifying the existence of insoluble metalloproteinase. From the results comparing thermal gel properties and protease activities, we confirmed that increased activity of insoluble metalloproteinase corresponded to the weakening of the thermal gel. Thus, insoluble metalloproteinase was the major MIP in horse mackerel. Moreover, sodium citrate could markedly inhibit insoluble metalloproteinase activity at 60 ℃. The addition of sodium citrate significantly improved the breaking force of the thermal gel at 60 ℃ and 70 ℃, suggesting that sodium citrate could suppress the modori phenomenon by inhibiting insoluble metalloproteinase. Therefore, it is desirable to use sodium citrate in horse mackerel surimi-based products to prevent the modori phenomenon.

In this paper, we propose a method for halftoning color images based on an error diffusion technique, a color design criterion and Neugebauer models for expressing colors. For a natural extension of the conventional method for grayscale error diffusion to its color version, we first reformulate grayscale error diffusion with a one-dimensional Neugebauer model. Then we increase the dimension of the model to derive a color error diffusion method based on a three-dimensional Neugebauer model in RGB (red, green and blue) color space. Moreover, we propose a sparse Neugebauer model based on a color design criterion, or the minimal brightness variation criterion (MBVC), from which we derive a sparse Neugebauer model-based error diffusion method. Experimental results show that color halftone images produced by the proposed methods preserve the color contents in original continuous-tone images better than that by conventional color error diffusion methods. We also demonstrate that the proposed sparse method reduce halftone noise better than the state-of-the-art method based on MBVC.

Settlement of larvae of Crassostrea gigas on shell chips (SC) prepared from shells of 11 different species of mollusks was investigated. Furthermore, the settlement inducing compound in the shell of C. gigas was extracted and subjected to various treatments to characterize the chemical cue. C. gigas larvae settled on SC of all species tested except on Patinopecten yessoensis and Atrina pinnata. In SC of species that induced C. gigas larvae to settle, settlement was proportionate to the amount of SC supplied to the larvae. When compared to C. gigas SC, all species except Crassostrea nippona showed lower settlement inducing activities, suggesting that the cue may be more abundant or in a more available form to the larvae in shells of conspecific and C. nippona than in other species. The settlement inducing activity of C. gigas SC remained intact after antibiotic treatment. Extraction of C. gigas SC with diethyl ether (Et2O-ex), ethanol (EtOH-ex), and water (Aq-ex) did not induce larval settlement of C. gigas larvae. However, extraction of C. gigas SC with 2N of hydrochloric acid (HCl-ex) induced larval settlement that was at the same level as the SC. The settlement inducing compound in the HCl-ex was stable at 100°C but was destroyed or degraded after pepsin, trypsin, PNGase F and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid treatments. This chemical cue eluted between the molecular mass range of 45 and 150 kDa after gel filtration and revealed a major band at 55 kDa on the SDS-PAGE gel after staining with Stains-all. Thus, a 55 kDa glycoprotein component in the organic matrix of C. gigas shells is hypothesized to be the chemical basis of larval settlement on conspecifics.