National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

About: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology is a government organization based out in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Thin film. The organization has 22114 authors who have published 65856 publications receiving 1669827 citations. The organization is also known as: Sangyō Gijutsu Sōgō Kenkyū-sho.

Dynamically-Stable Motion Planning for Humanoid Robots

Abstract: We present an approach to path planning for humanoid robots that computes dynamically-stable, collision-free trajectories from full-body posture goals. Given a geometric model of the environment and a statically-stable desired posture, we search the configuration space of the robot for a collision-free path that simultaneously satisfies dynamic balance constraints. We adapt existing randomized path planning techniques by imposing balance constraints on incremental search motions in order to maintain the overall dynamic stability of the final path. A dynamics filtering function that constrains the ZMP (zero moment point) trajectory is used as a post-processing step to transform statically-stable, collision-free paths into dynamically-stable, collision-free trajectories for the entire body. Although we have focused our experiments on biped robots with a humanoid shape, the method generally applies to any robot subject to balance constraints (legged or not). The algorithm is presented along with computed examples using both simulated and real humanoid robots.

Local electric field and scattering cross section of Ag nanoparticles under surface plasmon resonance by finite difference time domain method

Abstract: Local electric field and scattering cross section on Ag nanoparticles were evaluated by the FDTD (finite difference time domain) method with respect to single-molecule sensitivity (SMS) in SERS (surface-enhanced Raman scattering). As a result, (1) vast enhancement of >300-fold (in amplitude enhancement) in the SMS level was obtained at a junction between two connecting Ag particles with various shapes and sizes in addition to an edge of isolated triangular cylinders. Other sites of the connecting particles and of isolated circular and ellipsoidal cylinders gave only modest enhancement of ca. 20−30-fold. (2) The enormously large electric field at the junction rapidly decays with increasing gap sizes <1 nm, irrespective of particle size or shape. In contrast, the LSP (localized surface plasmon) extinction spectra from connecting particles gradually shift toward those from isolated particles with the gap. Thus, in addition to the dipole LSP excitation, nanostructures such as sharp edges, which yield higher o...

Microbial dark matter ecogenomics reveals complex synergistic networks in a methanogenic bioreactor.

Abstract: Ecogenomic investigation of a methanogenic bioreactor degrading terephthalate (TA) allowed elucidation of complex synergistic networks of uncultivated microorganisms, including those from candidate phyla with no cultivated representatives. Our previous metagenomic investigation proposed that Pelotomaculum and methanogens may interact with uncultivated organisms to degrade TA; however, many members of the community remained unaddressed because of past technological limitations. In further pursuit, this study employed state-of-the-art omics tools to generate draft genomes and transcriptomes for uncultivated organisms spanning 15 phyla and reports the first genomic insight into candidate phyla Atribacteria, Hydrogenedentes and Marinimicrobia in methanogenic environments. Metabolic reconstruction revealed that these organisms perform fermentative, syntrophic and acetogenic catabolism facilitated by energy conservation revolving around H2 metabolism. Several of these organisms could degrade TA catabolism by-products (acetate, butyrate and H2) and syntrophically support Pelotomaculum. Other taxa could scavenge anabolic products (protein and lipids) presumably derived from detrital biomass produced by the TA-degrading community. The protein scavengers expressed complementary metabolic pathways indicating syntrophic and fermentative step-wise protein degradation through amino acids, branched-chain fatty acids and propionate. Thus, the uncultivated organisms may interact to form an intricate syntrophy-supported food web with Pelotomaculum and methanogens to metabolize catabolic by-products and detritus, whereby facilitating holistic TA mineralization to CO2 and CH4.

Nature and physical origin of CH/π interaction: significant difference from conventional hydrogen bonds

Abstract: Recently reported high-level ab initio calculations and gas phase spectroscopic measurements show that the nature of CH/π interactions is considerably different from conventional hydrogen bonds, although the CH/π interactions were often regarded as the weakest class of hydrogen bonds. The major source of attraction in the CH/π interaction is the dispersion interaction and the electrostatic contribution is small, while the electrostatic interaction is mainly responsible for the attraction in the conventional hydrogen bonds. The nature of the “typical” CH/π interactions is similar to that of van der Waals interactions, if some exceptional “activated” CH/π interactions of highly acidic C–H bonds are excluded. Shifts of C–H vibrational frequencies and electronic spectra also support the similarity. The hydrogen bond is important in controlling structures of molecular assemblies, since the hydrogen bond is sufficiently strong and directional due to the large electrostatic contribution. On the other hand, the directionality of the “typical” CH/π interaction is very weak. Although the “typical” CH/π interaction is often regarded as an important interaction in controlling the structures of molecular assemblies as in the cases of conventional hydrogen bonds, the importance of the “typical” CH/π interactions is questionable.

Cbln1 Is a Ligand for an Orphan Glutamate Receptor δ2, a Bidirectional Synapse Organizer

Abstract: Cbln1, secreted from cerebellar granule cells, and the orphan glutamate receptor delta2 (GluD2), expressed by Purkinje cells, are essential for synapse integrity between these neurons in adult mice. Nevertheless, no endogenous binding partners for these molecules have been identified. We found that Cbln1 binds directly to the N-terminal domain of GluD2. GluD2 expression by postsynaptic cells, combined with exogenously applied Cbln1, was necessary and sufficient to induce new synapses in vitro and in the adult cerebellum in vivo. Further, beads coated with recombinant Cbln1 directly induced presynaptic differentiation and indirectly caused clustering of postsynaptic molecules via GluD2. These results indicate that the Cbln1-GluD2 complex is a unique synapse organizer that acts bidirectionally on both pre- and postsynaptic components.