Essential information contained in an original image may be deteriorated if the image is highly compressed without considering the importance of each region in the image. Assuming that textual information contained in an image is important, we propose a method for image compression while maintaining the readability of characters by automatic evaluation for character readability. The proposed automatic evaluation classifies character images into either readable or unreadable images by using machine learning, and the proposed evaluation is used in quantization table optimization in order to ensure character readability while minimizing the overall image data size. In addition, less important information in view of image recognition in the background region is reduced. By several subjective experiments, we confirm that the proposed method maintains character readability relative to the standard JPEG compression method while retaining the required image quality of background regions in order to maintain sufficient recognition of content and situations.

To realize nucleic acid-targeting photodynamic therapy, a photosensitizer should be attached at the optimal position on a complementary oligonucleotide, where a guanine photooxidation is maximized. Here we show the photooxidation of 22 DNA duplexes with varied lengths between a 1O2-generating biphenyl photosensitizer attached at a midchain thymine in a strand and the single guanine reactant in the other strand. The best photooxidation efficiencies are achieved at 9, 10, and 21 base intervals, which coincides with the pitch of 10.5 base pairs per turn in a DNA duplex. The low efficiencies for near and far guanines are due to quenching of the biphenyl by guanine and dilution of 1O2 by diffusion, respectively. The 1O2-diffusion mapping along DNA duplex provides clues to the development of efficient and selective photosensitizer agents for nucleic acid-targeting photodynamic therapy, as well as an experimental demonstration of diffusion of a particle along cylindrical surface in molecular level.

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This study aims to understand spatial organizations inside traditional Bhutanese houses through an empirical survey in Paro, Western Bhutan, on the uses of rooms and their names in Dzongkha. The results indicate that the main floor includes an intermediate space (Bako in Dzongkha), a living room (Youkha), and an alter room (Choshom) with an inner altar room (Tshamko). The window side in the Youkha is the primary place for the view and breeze, and traditionally had precedence. Some local Dzongkha room names differ from English names in that they express the spatial placement of rooms rather than their functions.