Hirotake Ishii

2-Oxoalkyl caged oligonucleotides: one-electron reductive activation into emergence of ordinary hybridization property by hypoxic X-irradiation

Ionizing radiation triggers the activation of caged oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) with a 2-oxoalkyl leaving group to give the corresponding normal uncaged strands. We designed and synthesized ODNs caged by a 2-oxopropyl group at a given thymine N(3) position (d(oxo)T) to evaluate their one-electron reduction characteristics. Upon hypoxic X-radiolysis in aqueous solution, the caged ODNs released the 2-oxopropyl group to produce the corresponding uncaged ODNs. Digestion by a restriction enzyme Swa I revealed that caged ODN pre-irradiated in hypoxia could form an ordinary duplex with its complementary strand.

A study on design support system for constructing machine-maintenance training environment based on virtual reality technology

A design support system has been developed for constructing a VR-based training environment for machine maintenance work. The features of the developed design support system are: 1) users can construct various training environments under a GUI environment, 2) the users need not have any expert knowledge about computer programming, 3) a Petri net model is utilized for representing the state transition of objects in the virtual environment, and 4) the constructed environment can be easily changed and reused. In this report, the system configuration, how to model the state transition of objects with a Petri net and the results of system validation experiments are described.

Improvement and evaluation of intellectual productivity model based on work state transition

For optimizing the balance between intellectual productivity and energy use in office buildings, we should reveal the mechanism of intellectual productivity variation of office workers. For this purpose, the authors had proposed an intellectual productivity model. The model is a state transit model based on short pauses while working. This model can explain the productivity variation of most of subject experiment results. In some cases, however, the explanation is insufficient with previous 2-state transit model. In this study, the authors have proposed an improved model assuming 3 states. A subject experiment was conducted where illuminance on the desk and work motivation were controlled to vary their productivity. The experimental result was emulated with 2-state/3-state transition models and their accuracies were compared. As a result it was confirmed that the 3-state model simulated more accurately. It means the 3-state transition model can explain productivity variation better than the 2-state transition model.

Development of an illumination control method to improve office productivity

A lighting control method has been proposed which adjusts the circadian rhythms of office workers and eliminates a decrease in the arousal level in the afternoon by exposing a high intensity of light in the morning in order to improve their productivity. As a result, it was found that the task performance of the CPTOP test under 2,100 lx was significantly higher than that under 700 lx and more than a 9% improvement of task performance was achieved. Furthermore, a demonstration experiment has been conducted in order to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed lighting control method in actual office rooms. As a result, it was confirmed that the performance of their accounting work was over 10% higher than under normal conditions.

Development of wide-area tracking system for augmented reality

In this study, two types of marker-based tracking systems for Augmented Reality were developed: a tracking system using line markers and a tracking system using circular markers. Both markers were designed for use inside buildings such as nuclear power plants, which are very complicated and in which it is difficult to paste many large markers. To enlarge the area in which tracking is available using only a limited number of markers, a hybrid tracking method and a two-layer tracking method were also developed. The experimental evaluation shows that both methods can increase the available area compared to legacy methods such as single-camera tracking and simple square markers.

An Intellectual Productivity Evaluation Tool Based on Work Concentration

The authors have proposed a concentration time ratio as a new evaluation index of intellectual productivity, which had been difficult to be quantitatively evaluated, with a concept of concentration on target task, and a measurement tool has been developed based on the index. In addition, a subject experiment was conducted with the tool in which the illumination conditions were changed. As the result, it was found that the index was not affected by learning effect and the difference of intellectual productivity by changing the illumination conditions could be evaluated quantitatively with the index.

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A TEMPORARY PLACEMENT AND CONVEYANCE OPERATION SIMULATION SYSTEM USING AUGMENTED REALITY

When decommissioning a nuclear power plant, it is difficult to make an appropriate plan to ensure sufficient space for temporary placement and conveyance operations of dismantling targets. This paper describes a system to support temporary placement and conveyance operations using augmented reality (AR). The system employs a laser range scanner to measure the three-dimensional (3D) information of the environment and a dismantling target to produce 3D surface polygon models. Then, the operator simulates temporary placement and conveyance operations using the system by manipulating the obtained 3D model of the dismantling target in the work field. Referring to the obtained 3D model of the environment, a possible collision between the dismantling target and the environment is detectable. Using AR, the collision position is presented intuitively. After field workers evaluated this system, the authors concluded that the system is feasible and acceptable to verify whether spaces for passage and temporary storage are sufficient for temporary placement and conveyance operations. For practical use in the future, some new functions must be added to improve the system. For example, it must be possible for multiple workers to use the system simultaneously by sharing the view of dismantling work.

Construction of the measurement system and its experimental study for diagnosing cerebral functional disorders using eye-sensing HMD

Ocular information such as pupil size, eyeblink or eye gaze point can be utilized for diagnosis of cerebral function disorders. In this paper, the relationship between ocular information and cerebral function disorders is described first, followed by a review of methods of measuring ocular information. A system configuration is described for an eye-sensing HMD which can not only provide three-dimensional images but also measure ocular information. Then, a measurement system to measure ocular information by using the eye-sensing HMD and its experimental study for diagnosing cerebral function disorders are described.

A new integration method of constructing an interactive virtual environment for the collaboration between virtual agent and real human

A new collaborative environment has been constructed recently, in which a human-shaped virtual agent can communicate with a real human through both verbal and nonverbal ways. The collaborative environment is very promising as the next generation communication environment, but the workload involved in constructing the system is too large for the practical use. In this study, the system for simulating the collaborative environment is divided into several subsystems according to its function, and for each subsystem a new construction method to reduce the construction workload has been developed individually. In this paper, newly developed construction methods are described such as an object-oriented method for constructing virtual spaces, an affordance-based body motion synthesizing method and a modeling method of the virtual agents behavior using Petri net.

Wide Area Tracking Method for Augmented Reality Supporting Nuclear Power Plant Maintenance Work

A new fiducial marker for augmented reality was designed along with a method that recognizes the markers captured by a camera and calculates the relative position and orientation between the markers and the camera. These markers can be used at both long and short distances without increasing their number in the environment. Results of the experimental evaluation show that the new marker can be used in a larger area than legacy markers such as square markers and circular markers.