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A fuel injection system which is operated with ECU HILS was used to evaluate the transient fuel injection rate and fuel economy. Several sensor signals from a car such as the engine speed, car speed, cam position, crank position, air mass flow, throttle position and several other sensor signals are measured and recorded as a data file with DAQ-system for a vehicle driven in FTP-75 mode in a chassis dynamometer. Electric signals that are equivalent to the sensor signals from the car are reconstructed from the recorded data file using DAQ boards and a computer. All the reconstructed sensor signals are provided to the ECU with synchronized timing. Injectors were connected to the ECU output pins and were driven by the system to measure the quantity of injected fuel. The ECU HILS show that the transient fuel injection rate and fuel economy for the car driving mode could be successfully predicted. Also, the repeatability of the generation of sensor signals can enhance the accuracy of a range of experiments related to cars fuel injection experiment.

A correlation between the spray tip penetration and dispersion area was investigated. Images of diesel fuel sprays from high-pressure common rail injectorwere analyzed using an edge-detecting technique. Diesel fuel sprays were injected into a pressurized spray chamber. The gas density in the spray chamber was 17.97kg/m3, which is representative of the density in a typical diesel engine when the fuel injection process starts. Consecutive images of the diesel spray were captured with a high-speed digital camera. The spray tip penetration and dispersion area according to the time when the fuel injectionprocess starts was determined. The spray dispersion area increased linearlywith the time after the fuel injection process starts.The slope of the linear correlation line between the spray dispersion area and time after start of fuel injection was steeper when the fuel injection pressure was higher. There was little effect on the slope of the linear correlation line with a change of the duration of the fuel injection time. Also, the spray dispersion area increased parabollically with the spraytip penetration.

Each country regularly inspects smoke emissions from diesel vehicles. The most common method is a snap acceleration test at no load. Currently, the representative smoke value of a tested vehicle is decided by averaging three peak values which correspond to three consecutive measurement cycles. The biggest problem of the current method of determining the representative smoke of tested vehicles based on the averaging 3 consecutive peak values is that it varies enormously according to how the driver pushes the accelerator. In this study, new methods based on integration were researched to calculate representative smoke values from tested vehicles using the same data obtained by a snap acceleration test at no load. The smoke emissions for each measurement cycle were integrated with respect to time, and the average of the integrated values was obtained. Also, the smoke value of the acceleration range in each measurement cycle was integrated and the average was obtained. The representative value of smoke emissions was analyzed according to both the old and new calculation method. A total of 20 vehiclesof the same model with 2 liter diesel engineswere tested using snap acceleration at no load. It was found that the fluctuation of the representative smoke values of the tested vehicles was reduced when the average of the integrated values over either one measurement cycle or the acceleration range was used as the representative value.

CFD simulation of spray penetration with standard KIVA-3V were compared with those using both an ‘original gas jet model’ and a ‘normal gas jet profile model that features a new breakup length formula’ by implementing them in the standard KIVA-3V code. The effects of entrainment coefficient on the spray penetration simulated with the gas jet profile were compared to that simulated with the standard KIVA-3V spray model. The accuracy of the CFD simulation results was estimated by comparing them with available experimental data. Both the standard KIVA-3V spray model and the normal gas jet profile model with the breakup length formula predict well the spray tip penetration up to a gas density of 60 kg/m3. The CFD simulation of spray tip penetration with the standard KIVA-3V predicts better with the ‘original gas jet model’ when the ambient gas density is lower than 60 kg/m3. For higher densities, the normal gas jet profile model with breakup length formula predicts the spray penetration better.

The CFD simulation of diesel spray tip penetrations were compared with 0-D simulation for experimental data obtained with common rail injection system. The simulated four injection patterns include single, pilot and split injections. The CFD simulation of the spray penetration over these injection patterns was performed using the KIVA-3V code, which was implemented with both the standard KIVA spray and original gas jet sub-models. 0-D simulation of the spray tip penetration with time-varying injection profiles was formulated based on the effective injection velocity concept as an extension of steady gas jet theory. Both the CFD simulation of the spray tip penetration with the standard KIVA spray model and 0-D simulation matched better with the experimental data than the results of the gas jet model for the entire fuel injection patterns.

This paper presents a novel structure for a diesel particulate filter (DPF) with inclined gas paths, which was designed so that the gas paths offered a fluent flow of exhaust gases, and particulate matter (PM) was collected at pores formed in the body. The alumina porous filter was prepared by a conventional sintering process at 1200℃ for 2 h. Straight gas paths with 30° of inclination from the gas flow direction were formed in the filter body. It is shown that this filter structure worked as a PM filter, in which 90.2% of soot filtration efficiency and 59.6 mbar of pressure drop were achieved.

A new averaging Pitot tube flow meter that has a shape similar to an Annubar® type flow meter was designed and its flow rate characteristic was evaluated. The air temperature supplied to the developed flow meter was maintained at a constant by controlling electric power supply to an electric heater during the calibration. Two kinds of differential pressure measured at the flow meter were used in calculating the H parameters, which represent characteristics of the developed flow meter. One H parameter (HΔP1) which was newly proposed in this research was calculated based on the difference between upstream pressure (stagnation pressure) at the flow meter and static pressure of the measured flow. The differential pressure is equivalent to the dynamic pressure of the flow. The other H parameter (HΔP2) which is used in a typical Annubar® type flow meter was calculated based on the difference between upstream and downstream pressure at the developed flow meters. Relationship curves between the two H parameters and the mass flow rate at the developed flow meter were obtained. The curves based on the HΔP2 parameter, which uses the difference between up and down stream pressure, show different gradients for varying the controlled air temperature. However, the other curve, based on the other HΔP1 parameter, which uses the dynamic pressure, can be represented by one linear curve even with varying air temperature.

This paper addresses a geometrically invariant watermarking method for digital images. Most previous watermarking algorithms perform weakly against geometric distortions, which desynchronize the location for the inserted watermark. Watermark synchronization, which is a process for finding the location for watermark insertion and detection, is crucial for robust watermarking. In this paper, we propose a watermarking method that is robust to geometric distortions. In order to synchronize the location for watermark insertion and detection, we use circular Hough transform, which extracts circular features that are invariant to geometric distortions. The circular features are then watermarked using additive way on the spatial domain. Our method belongs to the category of blind watermarking techniques, because we do not need the original image during detection. Experimental results support the contention that our method is useful and considerably robust against both geometric distortion attacks and signal processing attacks as listed in Stirmark 3.1.

o-Phenylene-bridged or substituted o-phenylene-bridged di- or trimethylcyclopentadienyl/carboxamide ligands 2-(RMe2C5H2)-4,6-R‘2C6H2NHC(O)tBu (R = Me or H; R‘ = Me, H, or F) are prepared. When R‘ is methyl or H, unbridged trichlorotitanium complexes containing a chloroimine unit as a pendant group, 2-[(η5-RMe2C5H)TiCl3]-4,6-R‘2C6H2NC(Cl)tBu (7, R = H, R‘ = H; 8, R = Me, R‘ = H; 9, R = H, R‘ = Me; 10, R = Me, R‘ = Me), are unexpectedly afforded through the successive addition of Ti(NMe2)4 and SiCl4 to the ligands. The same treatment to the ligands where R‘ = F affords oxygen-coordinated bridged complexes [2-(η5-RMe2C5H)-4,6-F2C6H2NC(O)tBu-κO]TiCl2 (11, R = H; 12, R = Me). The desired nitrogen-coordinated bridged complexes [2-(η5-RMe2C5H)C6H4NC(O)tBu-κ2N,O]TiMe2 (13, R = H; 14, R = Me) are obtained by reacting the corresponding dilithium compound with Me2TiCl2. The binding modes of 7, 8, 9, 11, and 14 are confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Trichlorotitanium complex 8 shows high activity in ethylene/1-octen...

Bacteria form biofilms by adhering to biotic or abiotic surfaces. This phenomenon causes several problems, including a reduction in the transport of mass and heat, an increase in resistance to antibiotics, and a shortening of the lifetimes of modules in bioindustrial fermentors. To overcome these difficulties, we created a biofilm production-deficient Escherichia coli strain, BD123, by deleting genes involved in curli biosynthesis and assembly, Δ( csgG-csgC ); colanic acid biosynthesis and assembly, Δ( wcaL-wza ); and type I pilus biosynthesis, Δ( fimB-fimH ). E. coli BD123 remained mostly in the form of planktonic cells under the conditions tested and became more sensitive to the antibiotics streptomycin and rifampin than the wild-type E. coli MG1655: the growth of BD123 was inhibited by one-fourth of the concentrations needed to inhibit MG1655. In addition, the transformation efficiency of BD123 was about 20 times higher than that of MG1655, and the production and secretion of recombinant proteins were ∼16% and ∼25% greater, respectively, with BD123 than with MG1655. These results indicate that the newly created biofilm production-deficient strain of E. coli displays several key properties that substantially enhance its utility in the biotechnology arena.

Purpose: To assess the usefulness of early stabilization for initial shoulder dislocation which is indicated in some patients by comparing the arthroscopic findings and the outcomes of Bankart repair in the initial and recurrent dislocation. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on 16 cases of initial dislocation and 44 cases of recurrent dislocation. The follow-up period was 25 months in the initial dislocation group and 28 months in the recurrent group. Bankart lesion and the adjacent tissues were compared, and the results were evaluated by the Rowe rating scale. Results: Detached labrum and capsular ligament of the initial dislocation group were elastic and unretracted. While in the recurrent dislocation those were inelastic, and displaced and adhesive in many cases. The outcomes were mean 95 points in the initial group and 91 points in the recurrent group. In the initial group, apprehension was detected in only 1 case(6%). In the recurrent group, instability was detected in 4 cases(9%). Conclusion: Our data suggest that Bankart lesion in the initial dislocation can be repaired readily by surgery, the recovery is efficient, and the recurrence would be reduced. Thus, in active young sports lovers as well as athletes, early stabilization surgery for initial shoulder dislocation may be more helpful.

In this paper, we propose an improved autocorrelation function (ACF)-based watermarking that is robust against combined geometric and removal attacks. ACF-based watermarking is known to be effective against geometric attacks. In this watermarking scheme, both the embedded watermark and autocorrelation peaks of the watermark should survive a variety of attacks. However, the autocorrelation peaks are not strong enough. The proposed method improves the robustness of ACF-based watermarking by enhancing the strength of the autocorrelation peaks. Instead of the simple addition of a watermark to an image, the proposed watermark embedder uses the information of an original image more actively during the embedding process, so that the marked image has strong autocorrelation peaks. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides better robustness than conventional ACF-based watermarking against a variety of combined geometric-removal attacks.

C1-bridged and Me2Si-bridged 2,5-dimethylcylcopentadienyl ansa-zirconocene complexes, [Me(H)C(C5H4)(2,5-Me2C5H2)]ZrCl2 (6), [(CH3CH2CH2)(H)C(C5H4)(2,5-Me2C5H2)]ZrCl2 (9), [(Me)(H)C(2,5-Me2C5H2)2]ZrCl2 (13), and [Me2Si(2,5-Me2C5H2)2]ZrCl2 (15), are prepared by using 2-bromo-3-methoxy-2,5-dimethylcyclopentene (7) as a starting material. Solid structures of 6 and 13 were determined by X-ray crystallography. The C1-bridged zirconocene complexes 6, 9, and 13 are highly active for ethylene/norbornene copolymerization with high incorporation of norbornene, while the Me2Si-bridged complex 15 shows relatively low activity. Complex 9 shows the highest activity and the highest incorporation of norbornene among the complexes, but the molecular weight of the obtained polymer is relatively low.

Ethylene polymerization studies have been carried out with novel precatalysts of the type: [(η 5 -C 13 H 8 )-X( t -BuOC 6 H 12 )Me-(η 5 -C 5 H 4 )]ZrCl 2 [X=C [ 1a ], Si [ 2a ]], [(η 5 -C 13 H 8 )-XMe 2 -(η 5 -( t -BuOC 6 H 12 C 5 H 3 ))] ZrCl 2 [X=C [ 3a ], Si [ 4a ]] in the presence of excess methylalumoxane (MAO) to compare their catalytic activity and to delineate the effect of the 6- t -butoxyhexyl functionality on ethylene polymerization. The precatalysts [ 1a ] and [ 2a ] with the bridge functionality showed higher activity in ethylene polymerization than the corresponding complexes [ 3a ] and [ 4a ] which have it on the Cp ring moiety. On the other hand the silyl bridged complexes [ 2a ] and [ 4a ] produced a higher molecular weight polyethylene than the carbon-bridged one, regardless of the location of functional group.

The spatially resolved spray volume fractions from both line-of-sight data of direct measuring cells and a laser diffraction particle analyzer (LDPA) are tomographically reconstructed by the Convolution Fourier transformation, respectively. Asymmetric sprays generated from a twinhole injector are tested with 12 equiangular projections of measurements. For each projection angle, a line-of-sight integrated injection rate was measured using a direct sampling method and also a liquid volume fraction from a set of line-of-sight Fraunhofer diffraction measurements was measured using a light extinction method. Interpolated data between the projection angles effectively increase the number of projections, significantly enhancing the signal-to-noise level in the reconstructed data. The reconstructed volume fractions from the direct sampling cells were used as reference data for evaluating the accuracy of the volume fractions from the LDPA.

An increasing number of microbial genomes have been completely sequenced, and functional analyses of these genomic sequences are under way. To facilitate these analyses, we have developed a genome-engineering tool for determining essential genes and minimizing bacterial genomes. We made two large pools of independent transposon mutants in Escherichia coli using modified Tn5 transposons with two different selection markers and precisely mapped the chromosomal location of 800 of these transposons. By combining a mapped transposon mutation from each of the mutant pools into the same chromosome using phage P1 transduction and then excising the flanked genomic segment by Cre-mediated loxP recombination, we obtained E. coli strains in which large genomic fragments (59-117 kilobases) were deleted. Some of these individual deletions were then combined into a single "cumulative deletion strain" that lacked 287 open reading frames (313.1 kilobases) but that nevertheless exhibited normal growth under standard laboratory conditions.

Reaction of 2-(diphenylamino)benzoic acid with bis(methallyl)nickel(II) results in the dinuclear complex bis(η3-methallyl)bis{μ-[(2-diphenylamino)benzoato-O:O‘]}dinickel(II) (1), where the nitrogen atom does not coordinate to the nickel. Addition of B(C6F5)3 to 1 in benzene affords the nitrogen-coordinating complex [(2-diphenylamino)benzoate tris(pentafluorophenyl)borate-κ2N,O](η3-methallyl)nickel(II) (2). The structures of 1 and 2 are confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Complex 2 shows good activity for norbornene polymerization, while complex 1 is inactive.

A fully-differential capacitive touch sensing method is proposed in which common-mode noise currents are symmetrically subtracted at the differential input of the first stage such that it doesn't contribute to dynamic range reduction in the later stages. And, for better sensitivity, the proposed method could accumulate signal charges in continuous time domain, and does not suffer from aliasing issues observed in many discrete-time charge integrating methods. Measurement results showed 42 dB SNR for a 1-mm diameter stylus on a 5-inch full-HD on-cell touch display panel.

This paper reports on the existence of deep level defects in the band gap of porous silicon by the photo-induced current transient spectroscopy technique combined with the results of thermovoltage and conductivity measurements. The defects are found to exhibit deep donor levels in the upper part of the band gap. It is found that the thermal emission and ionization energies of the defect increase in the range from 0.29 to 0.86 eV below the conduction band edge as the porosity increases, and it is proposed that the defects play the role of a luminescence killer.

Structure and chemical properties of zirconium(IV) complexes containing a rigid naphthalene diamide ligand ([1,8-C10H6(NSiMe3)2]2-) or flexible propylene diamide ligands ([1,3-C3H6(NR)2]2-, R = SiMe3, Si(i-Pr)3) are described. The reaction of 1,8-C10H6(NHSiMe3)2 with Zr(NMe2)4 in refluxing toluene yields [1,8-C10H6(NSiMe3)2]Zr(NMe2)2 (1), and the product 1 is converted to [1,8-C10H6(NSiMe3)2]ZrCl2 (2) in a moderate isolation yield by the treatment with excess ClSiMe3. X-ray crystallographic analysis establishes that 2 forms a dimer associated through two chloride bridges in the solid state and has a highly puckered six-membered ring with a small N−Zr−N bite angle (91.05°). The reaction of 1,3-C3H6(NHR)2 (R = SiMe3, Si(i-Pr)3) with Zr(NMe2)4 also affords [1,3-C3H6(NR)2]Zr(NMe2)2. Treatment of the amide complex with excess ClSiMe3 results in [1,3-C3H6(NR)2]ZrCl2 (4, R = SiMe3; 5, R = Si(i-Pr)3) in a facile manner. The crystal structure of 5 shows that the molecule is monomeric, featuring a mirror plane that...

Reactions of Me2Si(OR)(NHR‘) (R = 2,6-Me2Ph; R‘ = Cy (2a), Ph (2b)) with AlMe3 in pentane at room temperature afford unusual dinuclear aluminum complexes (Me2Al)2[(μ-OR)(μ-NR‘SiMe3)] (R = 2,6-Me2Ph; R‘ = Cy (3a), Ph (3b)) that contain both nitrogen- and oxygen-bridging groups. Meanwhile, the corresponding reaction of Me2Si(OR)(NHR‘) (R, R‘ = 2,6-Me2Ph (2c)) yields a monomeric N,O-chelated aluminum species [Me2Si(OR)(NR‘)]AlMe2 (3c). It is most likely that two AlMe3 molecules are associated with the facile cleavage of the Si−O bond to form the stable four-membered (μ-N)Al2(μ-O) ring of 3a,b, but the analogous reaction does not occur in 2c, having a bulkier N-substituent. The crystal structure of 3a is reported.

An experimental and numerical study has been conducted of drop trajectory and breakup mechanisms for liquid drops injected into high velocity gas flows with various chamber gas pressures at room temperature. In the experimental study, air-assisted liquid drop atomization processes were investigated using photographic techniques under well-controlled experimental conditions. A monodisperse stream of drops from a vibrating-orifice drop generator was injected into a transverse high velocity gas stream. The back pressures and gas velocities were adjusted independently to control the drop Weber numbers. The Weber numbers used in the experiments were 72, 148, 270, 532. High-magnification photographs and conventional spray field photography revealed the microscopic breakup mechanisms and the parent drop trajectory in the high velocity flow field, respectively. Drop sizes were measured using a Phase/Doppler particle analyzer. The experimental results were used to test and assess spray models in the KIVA3 code. The breakup model considered Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability mechanisms to account for secondary drop breakup. The computations show good agreement with experimental results of parent drop trajectories and for the spatial drop size distributions which result from secondary breakup at high gas densities. At low gas densities, it is concluded that the use of K-H model to predict drop breakup may not be justified.

A hydride vapor phase epitaxy was employed to grow the 10∼240 µm thick GaN films on a (111) MgAl2O4 substrate. The GaN films on a MgAl2O4 substrate revealed characteristics of photoluminescence (PL) in impurity doped GaN, which may be due to the out-diffusion and auto-doping of Mg from the MgAl2O4 substrate during GaN growth. The PL peak energy of neutral donor bound exciton emission and the frequency of Raman E2 mode were decreased by increasing the GaN thickness, due to the residual strain relaxation in the epilayers. The dependence of Raman E2 mode of GaN films on residual strain can be estimated as Δ ω/Δ σ=3.93 (cm−1/GPa).

The reaction of 1,8-diaminonaphthalene with trimethylchlorosilane and tri(isopropyl)chlorosilane gives N,N‘-disilylated products (1a,b) in moderate yields. Double deprotonation of 1a,b with n-BuLi yields the dilithiated products (2a,b) in 78−85% yield. The reaction of 2a,b with TiCl4 produces diamidotitanium(IV) dichlorides, {1,8-C10H6(NSiMe3)2}TiCl2 (3a) and {1,8-C10H6(NSi(i-Pr)3)2}TiCl2 (3b). The crystal structure of 3a shows that the complex has an unusually large Cl−Ti−Cl angle (120.5°). Meanwhile, the bulkier substituents on the nitrogen atoms of 3b are significantly away from the naphthalene plane. The reaction of 2a,b with ZrCl4 produces a bis(diamido)zirconium(IV) complex {1,8-C10H6(NSiMe3)2}2Zr (4a) and a diamidozirconium(IV) dichloride {1,8-C10H6(NSi(i-Pr)3)2}ZrCl2 (4b), respectively. The crystal structure of 4b shows that the molecule forms a dimer associated through two chloro bridges in the solid state. Facile monomethylation and transmetalation of 3a to form a dinuclear aluminum complex (5) ...

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)aluminum was prepared from a metathesis between AlMe3 and B(C6F5)3 in a quantitative yield. Out of CN stretching frequency of various benzonitrile adducts, it is found that the title aluminum compound is a quite weaker Lewis acid than B(C6F5)3 is, and has rather similar acidity as AlMe3. When mixtures of methylalumoxane (MAO) and Al(C6F5)3·(toluene)0.5 or B(C6F5)3 were heated at 65°C, it is observed that the C6F5 group was exchanged with the methyl group of the MAO. Several MAOs were prepared with variable degrees of modification. Catalytic activity of pristine MAO and modified MAOs were tested for ethylene and propylene polymerization. It is found that the activity is enhanced with the modification, and the effectiveness is reduced as modification level is increased. In particular, 7-fold increase of activity for polyethylene is observed, when 5.5×10−3 equimolar amount of Al(C6F5)3·(toluene)0.5 is used for the modification. The modification with B(C6F5)3 incorporates boron atoms into the oligomeric chain, and is less effective than that with the aluminum analogue.

A power-efficient and speed-enhancing technique for time-interleaved (TI) SAR ADCs that is assisted by a low-resolution flash ADC is presented. The 3 b MSBs achieved from a flash ADC at every clock save two decision cycles from every SAR ADC channel, resulting in a reduced number of time interleaving channels with a total 27% energy saving compared with the energy consumption of a conventional TI SAR ADC. A prototype 6 b 2 GS/s ADC in a 45 nm CMOS consumes 14.4 mW under a 1.2 V supply and achieves 5.2 ENOBNyq with a background offset calibration.

By taking advantage of the merits of the low power consumption and hardware simplicity of SAR ADCs, 2b/cycle conversion structures in SAR ADCs have been actively studied in recent years for enhanced conversion rates and excellent FoM [1-3]. However, many error sources in the 2b/cycle SAR ADCs, such as mismatches between DACs and comparators, and the signal-dependent errors from comparators, namely kickback noise and offset, make it difficult to achieve high resolution. To date, pure 2b/cycle structures operating above hundreds of MS/s have shown a somewhat limited resolution with an ENOB lower than 7 at Nyquist rates [1,2]. As a derivation of the structure, a sub-ADC could be implemented using the 2b/cycle SAR ADC structure for high resolution as in [4], at the cost of increased circuit complexity and static current flow. In this work, we present a resolution-enhancing design technique for 2b/cycle SAR ADCs with negligible hardware overhead, while relieving the requirements for the aforementioned errors: Reconfiguration from a 2b/cycle structure to a normal 1b/cycle SAR ADC with error-correction capability achieves an 8.6 ENOB from a 9b ADC.

Rhodopsin-containing marine microbes such as those in the class Flavobacteriia play a pivotal role in the biogeochemical cycle of the euphotic zone (Fuhrman JA, Schwalbach MS, Stingl U. 2008. Proteorhodopsins: an array of physiological roles? Nat Rev Microbiol. 6: 488-494). Deciphering the genome information of flavobacteria and accessing the diversity and ecological impact of microbial rhodopsins are important in understanding and preserving the global ecosystems. The genome sequence of the orange-pigmented marine flavobacterium Nonlabens dokdonensis (basonym: Donghaeana dokdonensis) DSW-6 was determined. As a marine photo-heterotroph, DSW-6 has written in its genome physiological features that allow survival in the oligotrophic environments. The sequence analysis also uncovered a gene encoding an unexpected type of microbial rhodopsin containing a unique motif in addition to a proteorhodopsin gene and a number of photolyase or cryptochrome genes. Homologs of the novel rhodopsin gene were found in other flavobacteria, alphaproteobacteria, a species of Cytophagia, a deinococcus, and even a eukaryote diatom. They all contain the characteristic NQ motif and forma phylogenetically distinct group. Expression analysis of this rhodopsin gene in DSW-6 indicated that it is induced at high NaCl concentrations, as well as in the presence of light and the absence of nutrients. Genomic and metagenomic surveys demonstrate the diversity of the NQ rhodopsins in nature and the prevalent occurrence of the encoding genes among microbial communities inhabiting hypersaline niches, suggesting its involvement in sodium metabolism and the sodium-adapted lifestyle.

Volatile and nonvolatile compounds emitted from the plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium Bacillus sp. strain JS enhance the growth of tobacco and lettuce. Here, we report the high-quality genome sequence of this bacterium. Its 4.1-Mb genome reveals a number of genes whose products are possibly involved in promotion of plant growth or antibiosis.

Plant growth-promoting bacteria colonize various habitats, including the phyllosphere. Here, we present the high-quality draft genome sequence of Bacillus sp. strain 5B6, which was isolated from the leaf of a cherry tree. The 3.9-Mb genome uncovers its potential for understanding the nature of leaf colonization as well as antibiosis against plant pathogens.

Thermococcus zilligii , a thermophilic anaerobe in freshwater, is useful for physiological research and biotechnological applications. Here we report the high-quality draft genome sequence of T. zilligii AN1 T . The genome contains a number of genes for an immune system and adaptation to a microbial biomass-rich environment as well as hydrogenase genes.

In order to predict biologically significant attributes such as function from protein sequences, searching against large databases for homologous proteins is a common practice. In particular, BLAST and HMMER are widely used in a variety of biological fields. However, sequencehomologous proteins determined by BLAST and proteins having the same domains predicted by HMMER are not always functionally equivalent, even though their sequences are aligning with high similarity. Thus, accurate assignment of functionally equivalent proteins from aligned sequences remains a challenge in bioinformatics. We have developed the FEP-BH algorithm to predict functionally equivalent proteins from protein-protein pairs identified by BLAST and from protein-domain pairs predicted by HMMER. When examined against domain classes of the Pfam-A seed database, FEP-BH showed 71.53% accuracy, whereas BLAST and HMMER were 57.72% and 36.62%, respectively. We expect that the FEP-BH algorithm will be effective in predicting functionally equivalent proteins from BLAST and HMMER outputs and will also suit biologists who want to search out functionally equivalent proteins from among sequence-homologous proteins.

This study explores the politics of counter-assimilation in Japan by focusing on Chosun/Korean immigrant activism: its political dynamics in relation with the political-cultural nexus of assimilation anti-assimilation that has dominated the Japanese politics of immigration as well as Chosun/Korean immigrant identity formations. The Japanese politics of immigration mainly consists of ‘assimilation’ and ‘exclusion’(anti-assimilation), represented in migration policies and through naturalization of immigrants in order to make a homogeneous peoplehood (imperial subjects and Kokumin) or exclude immigrants from Japanese society. Korean immigrant groups have responded to the Japanese politics of immigration by assimilation, the ‘collective and individual boundary crossing’ in cooperation with Japanese counterparts and state, and ‘anti-assimilation’, the ‘collective boundary fixing against Japanese notions of peoplehood’. This study suggests that the counter-assimilation of Chosun/Korean immigrants for equal treatment and rights has been a pivotal constitutive part of the politics of immigration in Japan. To understand this political dynamics among assimilation, anti-assimilation, and counter-assimilation, this study utilizes the contemporary debate on the immigrant voting rights for local elections by tracing its process and examining different political positions in the debate.

Linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC) provide excellent linearity with high efficiency by adopting switch mode power amplifiers. One of the issues regarding LINC is the efficiency degradation due to wasted power at the power combiner when phase difference is large. In this paper, two efficiency enhancement architectures are presented: multi-level LINC (MLINC) architecture improves transmitter efficiency compared to a conventional LINC system, and the proposed uneven multi-level LINC (UMLINC) can further improve the efficiency. Another problem of LINC is the amplitude and phase mismatches between the two signal paths degrading the linearity performance. To address the problem, an unbalanced mismatch calibration technique for the proposed LINC system is introduced.

Escherichia coli K-12 and B have been the subjects of classical experiments from which much of our understanding of molecular genetics has emerged. We present here complete genome sequences of two E. coli B strains, REL606, used in a long-term evolution experiment, and BL21(DE3), widely used to express recombinant proteins. The two genomes differ in length by 72,304 bp and have 426 single base pair differences, a seemingly large difference for laboratory strains having a common ancestor within the last 67 years. Transpositions by IS1 and IS150 have occurred in both lineages. Integration of the DE3 prophage in BL21(DE3) apparently displaced a defective prophage in the lambda attachment site of B. As might have been anticipated from the many genetic and biochemical experiments comparing B and K-12 over the years, the B genomes are similar in size and organization to the genome of E. coli K-12 MG1655 and have >99% sequence identity over approximately 92% of their genomes. E. coli B and K-12 differ considerably in distribution of IS elements and in location and composition of larger mobile elements. An unexpected difference is the absence of a large cluster of flagella genes in B, due to a 41 kbp IS1-mediated deletion. Gene clusters that specify the LPS core, O antigen, and restriction enzymes differ substantially, presumably because of horizontal transfer. Comparative analysis of 32 independently isolated E. coli and Shigella genomes, both commensals and pathogenic strains, identifies a minimal set of genes in common plus many strain-specific genes that constitute a large E. coli pan-genome.

Spectrum sensing technology is most vital to the implementation of a CR system using dynamic spectrum resource management. This paper suggested a CR system architecture with a wideband dual-stage spectrum sensing technique - a coarse and a fine spectrum sensing. Specifically, a coarse spectrum sensing technique adopted wavelet transforms in this architecture to provide a multi-resolution spectrum sensing (MRSS) feature. Analog implementation of the MRSS block offers wideband, low-power, and real-time operation. A fine spectrum sensing technique used the beneficial properties of auto-correlation in time domain - temporal signature detection (TSD). This TSD technique enables identifying the unique signature feature of each specific signal type. Moreover, this feature detection technique in time domain realizes simple and fast spectrum-detection compared to spectral feature detection methods.

The Suzuki-coupling reaction of 2-(dihydroxyboryl)-3,4-dimethyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (1) and 2-(dihydroxyboryl)-3-methyl-2-cyclopenten-1-one (2) with 2-bromoaniline derivatives affords cyclopentenone compounds (3–8) from which cyclopentadiene compounds, 4,6-R′2-2-(2,5-Me2C5H3)C6H2NH2 (9–11) and 4,6-R′2-2-(2,3,5-Me3C5H2)C6H2NH2 (12–14) are prepared. After sulfonation of the –NH2 group with p-TsCl, metallation is carried out by successive addition of Ti(NMe2)4 and Me2SiCl2 affording o-phenylene-bridged Cp/sulfonamido titanium dichloride complexes, [4,6-R′2-2-(2,5-Me2C5H2)C6H2NSO2C6H4CH3)]TiCl2 (R′ = H, 21; R′ = Me, 22; R′ = F, 23) and [4,6-R′2-2-(2,3,5-Me3C5H)C6H2NSO2C6H4CH3)]TiCl2 (R′ = H, 24; R′ = Me, 25; R′ = F, 26). The molecular structures of 24 and [2-(2,5-Me2C5H2)C6H4NSO2C6H4CH3)]Ti(NMe2)2 (27) are determined by X-ray crystallography. The Cp(centroid)–Ti–N angle in 24 is smaller (100.90°) than that observed for the CGC (constrained-geometry catalyst), [Me2Si(η5-Me4Cp)(NtBu)]TiCl2 (107.6°) indicating a more “constrained feature” in 24 than in the CGC. Complex 24 shows the highest activity among the newly prepared complexes in ethylene/1-octene copolymerization but it is slightly inferior to the CGC in terms of activity, comonomer-incorporation ability, and molecular weight of the obtained polymers.

SiPM (silicon photomultiplier), which is 2D arrays of avalanche photodiodes operated in Geiger mode, is one of the candidates for photosensors of PET. In this paper, DOI-PET detector, which consists of 2 SiPM of 1.5 mm times 1.5 mm pixel size and 3 cm long LSO crystals, was designed using TCAD and DETECT2000. Because light photon distribution of scintillation crystal becomes different with respect to surface treatments, simulations to improve of DOI information were done with different surface conditions. Side surface treatments of LSO, which have best DOI information, were determined by DETECT2000 simulation. High quantum efficient SiPM was also designed using TCAD. In order to enhance quantum efficiency of SiPM, shallow junction is made by implantation and anti-reflection coating is also optimized.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common solid renal neoplasm. Clear cell (conventional) carcinoma is the most common pathologic subtype of RCC. Usually RCC is a hypervascular, solid, solitary mass with contour bulging. However, RCC can manifest different features according to the pathologic tumor subtypes. Preoperative diagnosis of cyst-associated RCC is very difficult, especially in cases of RCC originating in a cyst. Multiple or bilateral presentation of RCC occurs in fewer than 5% of cases. In addition, RCCs may demonstrate unusual findings such as infiltrative growth mimicking transitional cell carcinoma, fatty component mimicking angiomyolipoma, severe perinephric infiltration, and extensive calcifications mimicking inflammation or other tumor. RCCs can be associated with hereditary diseases such as von Hippel-Lindau disease. Familiarity with these radiologic features of unusual RCCs can help ensure correct diagnosis and proper management.

This paper addresses an effective technique for digital fingerprinting for video. The code modulation technique, that uses an averaging collusion resilient fingerprint code derived from BIBD, is a robust method against averaging attacks. In this paper, we propose a new fingerprint code based on GD-PBIBD theory that is efficient in designing the fingerprint code and describe an effective method to embed and detect the fingerprint code, in which the merits of orthogonal modulation and coded modulation techniques are combined. To analyze the performance, we apply our method to video applications using a spread-spectrum watermarking technique in the spatial domain and the results show the proposed method is effective for fingerprint code embedding and detection.

This paper addresses feature-based image watermarking methods for digital contents. Most previous watermarking algorithms suffer from geometric distortion attacks that desynchronize the location of the inserted watermark. In order to synchronize the watermark location, watermark synchronization should be performed. One solution for watermark synchronization is to use image features. This paper describes a feature-based watermarking method based on scale-invariant keypoints. We extract feature points from the scale-invariant keypoint extractor and then decompose feature points into a set of disjoint triangles. These triangles are watermarked by an additive spread-spectrum method on the spatial domain. We perform an intensive simulation in comparison with other feature-based watermarking methods using 100 test images. Results show that the proposed method is considerably robust against both geometric distortion attacks and signal processing attacks listed in Stirmark 3.1.

By using a non-isolated power combiner, the overall power efficiency can be improved by reducing the wasted power at the combined out-phased signal. To further improve the efficiency of the low-power mode, a multi-power mode out-phasing power amplifier (PA) is proposed with load modulation by switches. Compared with the conventional linear amplification using nonlinear component (LINC) transmitter, the proposed multi-level LINC improves the power-added-efficiency more than 40% for a 7 dB peak-to-average power ratio orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signal. To the authors' knowledge, the proposed LINC PA is the first multi-level LINC PA without multiple power supplies.

A novel method of miniaturising the size of a coaxial cavity resonator by utilising zeroth-order resonance (ZOR) characteristics is presented. This miniaturisation has been achieved through the introduction of air-core coils inside a conventional coaxial cavity resonator. This structure possesses ZOR characteristics, which results in the miniaturisation of the resonator while still exhibiting a reasonable high unloaded Q factor. A duplexer was designed and fabricated using the proposed resonator. The measurement results verified that a 30% reduction in size was achieved compared with a traditional duplexer.

Digital watermarking is an enabling technology to prove ownership on copyrighted material, detect originators of illegally made copies, monitor the usage of copyrighted multimedia data, and analyze the spread spectrum of data over networks and servers. Most watermarking methods for images and video can be viewed as a communications problem in which the watermark must be transmitted and received through a watermark channel. This channel includes distortions resulting from attacks and interference from the original digital data. It is well accepted that an effective watermarking scheme may be described as the secure, imperceptible, robust communication of information by direct embedding in, and retrieval from, digital data. For verifying the security and robustness of watermarking algorithms, specific attacks have to be applied to test them. By using a theoretical approach based on random processes, signal processes, and communication theory, we propose a stochastic formulation of a new watermarking attack using a blind source separation-based concept. The proposed attack considers the watermarking channel as a "black-box". A host image was passed through the "black-box", which includes the watermarking embedding process, and then the watermarked image was produced The watermarked image is viewed as linear mixtures of unknown source signals, and we attempt to recover sources from their linear mixtures without resorting to any prior knowledge by using blind source separation theory.

In this paper, we propose an improved autocorrelation function (ACF) based watermarking. The autocorrelation function based watermarking has been known to be one of the effective watermarking schemes that are resilient to geometric transform attacks. In this watermarking scheme, both the peaks in the autocorrelation function of a marked image and the embedded watermark should survive after various attacks. Generally, the autocorrelation peaks are less robust than the actual watermark signal. The main focus of this paper is the improvement of the robustness of the peaks in an autocorrelation function. Since an original image and the detector structure are available at the embedding time, instead of simple addition of a watermark to an image, the watermark embedder analyzes the original image and uses this information actively during the embedding process so that the marked image has higher periodic autocorrelation peaks. The proposed watermarking scheme has higher robustness than a conventional ACF based watermarking against geometric attacks that are combined with removal attacks.

An adaptive digital image watermarking system considering of the human visual system (HVS) is presented in the frequency domain. The digital watermarks are embedded in selected discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of variable size of blocks. To accommodate the HVS characteristics, the image is divided into variable size of blocks, where each block contains only homogeneous regions. The watermark is inserted by significantly changing the selected DCT coefficients of the block that has great variance or by slightly changing for the stationary block. It is shown that the proposed method has good robustness against several image processing operations without significant degradation of image quality by simulation using various test images.

Endophytes live inside plant tissues without causing any harm and may even benefit plants. Here, we provide the high-quality genome sequence of Burkholderia sp. strain KJ006, an endophytic bacterium of rice with antifungal activity. The 6.6-Mb genome, consisting of three chromosomes and a single plasmid, contains genes related to plant growth promotion or degradation of aromatic compounds.