The covariance matrix in the Mahalanobis distance can be trained by semi-definite programming, but training for a large size data set is inefficient. In this paper, we constrain the covariance matrix to be diagonal and train Mahalanobis kernels by linear programming (LP). Training can be formulated by ν-LP SVMs (support vector machines) or regular LP SVMs. We clarify the dependence of the solut...

Computational disaster mitigation and reduction research unit is aimed at developing advanced largescale numerical simulation of natural disasters such as an earthquake, tsunami and heavy rain, for Kobe City and other urban areas in Hyogo Prefecture. Besides for the construction of a sophisticated urban area model and the development of new numerical codes, the unit seeks to be a bridge between...

The concept of plate tectonics is generally accepted in earth science and seismology. The surface of the earth is divided into rigid tectonic plates that move on the earth surface at extremely slow speed. The islands of Japan sit on the North American and Eurasian plates. The Pacific plate moves westward and the Philippines plate moves to northwest direction; both plates sink under the islands ...

In TRECVID 2009 search task, we have developed a method which defines any interesting topic from examples provided by a user, especially, positive and negative examples. Specifically, considering a large variation of features in a topic, we use “rough set theory” which defines the topic as a union of subsets. In each subset, some positive examples can be correctly distinguished from all negativ...

Soybean products are healthy and an important source of vegetable protein in Japan. This study examines the effects of using soybean products at home and decreasing children’s dislike of soybean products. A quasiexperimental pre-post-test design was utilised to examine the effect of using school lunch programs to assess the consumption of soybean products. The study’s participants included 309 ...

This paper presents an analysis of the distribution of earthquake magnitudes for the period 1990–1998 in a broad area surrounding the epicenter of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. The frequency–magnitude distribution analysis is performed in a nonextensive statistical physics context. The nonextensive parameter qM, which is related to the frequency-magnitude distribution, reflects the existence of lon...

Unhealing Bone Fracture via Early Neovascularization + 1, 2 Y.Kawakami; 2 T.Matsumoto; 1 M.Ii; 1 A.Kawamoto; 1, 2 Y.Mifune; 1, 2 T.Fukui; 1, 2 T.Shoji; 2 R.Kuroda; 2 M.Kurosaka; 1 T.Asahara + 1 Group of Vascular Regeneration Research, Institute of Biomedical Research and Innovation, Kobe, Japan. + 2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. Yohe...

S. Hayashi., Y. Miura., T. Nishiyama., Y. Sakai., R. Kuroda., R. Saura., M. Kurosaka. Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kobe Univ. Graduate School of Med., Kobe, Japan [email protected] Introduction Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3)/TR6/M68 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) superfamily. DcR3 lacks the transmembrane domain of conventional TNFRs to be a secreted protein. DcR3 is overexp...

As demonstrated in recent disasters such as the 1994 Northridge and 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu (Kobe) earthquakes, urban areas can suffer potentially large economic losses when highway transportation systems are damaged in seismic events. This paper addresses the development of performance measures for highway systems that are suitable for estimating the economic impact of earthquake damage. Economic ...