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a b s t r a c tThe chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration is one of the most important parameters for evaluating the state of water environments, which often vary markedly across both time and space. Here we propose a hybrid algorithm for retrieving the Chl-a values from in situ remote sensing data. This hybrid algorithm contains three individual Chl-a estimation algorithms that were previously developed for clear waters (a bluegreen algorithm), turbid waters (a two-band index-based red-near infrared algorithm), and highly turbid waters (a three-band index-based red-near infrared algorithm). The MCI value (maximum chlorophyll index) was used to switch the three algorithms. To evaluate the performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm, we used the in situ remote sensing reflectance and Chl-a values collected from five Asian lakes, the trophic status of which varied from oligotrophic to hypertrophic. The results showed that the hybrid algorithm performed well for a wide variety of optical properties, with the NMAE (normalized mean absolute error) of 13.3%. Our results indicate that the proposed hybrid algorithm has the potential for use as an operational tool for monitoring Chl-a in waters with widely varying trophic conditions without the requirement of reparameterization. Ó

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The spectral decomposition algorithm (SDA), which is a new approach for the simultaneous estimation of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and non-phytoplankton suspended solid (NPSS) concentrations in Case 2 waters using satellite data, was proposed by our previous study. Here, we investigated the effect of phytoplankton composition on the SDA based on the tank experiments using cultured samples for five phytoplankton species (three cyanobacteria, one green algae and one diatom) and lake water samples collected from Lake Kasumigaura from . The results showed that the SDA-based models obtained from the cultured samples (culture-based models) showed high accuracies for Chl-a and NPSS estimations in all phytoplankton species (root mean square error [RMSE] about 16.2 mg l -1 for Chl-a and about 11.0 mg l -1 for NPSS). However, the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) band combinations, which gave the smallest RMSE of the Chl-a and NPSS estimations, differed among the species. In addition, the culture-based models could apply to lake water samples with similar accuracies if the optimal standard reflectance spectra (SRS) of endmembers in the water body could be determined. This implies the potential of the SDA-based model as follows: (1) it is less site-and time-specific compared with conventional empirical methods (single band, band ratio, and arithmetic band calculation); (2) it can be proposed by a tank experiment or by a simulation using bio-optical modelling.

In Japan, the number of elderly recipients who take medicines regularly has been increasing due to population aging. Since they have many risks of incorrect medication, we have developed the intelligent medicine case system (iMec System) for assisting their caretakers in medication monitoring. The system confirms the type, quantity and timing of medication every time a recipient picks medicines up. And then, the system notifies the caretakers about the adequacy of the type, quantity, and timing. Since the way of medication is also specified on prescription by their doctors, we have strengthened the system so that it confirms the way of medication when the recipient picks medicines up. For realizing the function, we placed RFID readers in the iMec and the recipient's house. The readers measure the movement of objects such as medicines, foods, drinks, dishes, utensils. By using the information, the iMec could evaluate the adequacy about how to take medicines. We confirmed that the new system was able to recognize foods, drinks and utensils by experiments. In this paper, we propose an adequacy evaluation method by applying fuzzy inference.

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Recently ， the number of elderly persons who live alone is increasing ． The communication robot that resides in home and talks with is expected to relieve elderly persons from a feeling Qfloneliness ， In this paper ， we propose a cornmunication robot that speaks variety of contents derived from RSS ， It also takes account of the preference of elderly persons so that the contents spoken by robQts become attractive ones ． We conducted experiments with subjects and confirmed that the proposed robotic system won ' t be a boredom one compare with conventional communication robots ． Key Words ； Communication robot ， RSS ， Elderly persons support