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Firstly, this paper proposes a generalized log-determinant optimization model with the purpose of estimating the high-dimensional sparse inverse covariance matrices. Under the normality assumption, the zero components in the inverse covariance matrices represent the conditional independence between pairs of variables given all the other variables. The generalized model considered in this study, because of the setting of the eigenvalue bounded constraints, covers a large number of existing estimators as special cases. Secondly, rather than directly tracking the challenging optimization problem, this paper uses a couple of alternating direction methods of multipliers (ADMM) to solve its dual model where 5 separable structures are contained. The first implemented algorithm is based on a single Gauss–Seidel iteration, but it does not necessarily converge theoretically. In contrast, the second algorithm employs the symmetric Gauss–Seidel (sGS) based ADMM which is equivalent to the 2-block iterative scheme from the latest sGS decomposition theorem. Finally, we do numerical simulations using the synthetic data and the real data set which show that both algorithms are very effective in estimating high-dimensional sparse inverse covariance matrix.

We proposed and numerically studied a traceless encryption approach for physical layer security in coherent optical communications system, the most attractive advantage of which is that it is hard for eavesdroppers to be aware that the transmission signal has been encrypted because the modulation formats of encrypted signal are still the regular ones, i.e. traceless encryption. In the proposed approach, the phase only or the combination of phase and amplitude dimensions can be used for encryption and decryption. Three simple encryption rules are designed and used to investigate the encryption security performance of the scheme, in which the QPSK signal can be encrypted to be as 8PSK, QPSK and 8QAM. The results show that three simple encryption rules can cause 37.5%, 25%, 62.5% of user signal binary codes to be misinterpreted by the eavesdroppers, respectively. When the modulation formats of encrypted signal and user signal are identical, the scheme can not only cover up the real information, but also have a potential application at misleading eavesdroppers. The impacts of the control light peak power at the receiver on the decryption performance are also analysed, the results indicate that the decryption performance of the scheme has a good tolerance to the peak power fluctuation of control light at the receiver.

Estimating large and sparse inverse covariance matrix plays a fundamental role in modern multivariate analysis, because the zero entries capture the conditional independence between pairs of variables given all other variables. This estimation task can be realized by penalizing the maximum likelihood estimation with an adaptive group lasso penalty imposed directly on the elements of the inverse, which allows the estimated to have a blockwise sparse structure that is particularly useful in some applications. In the paper, we are particularly interested in studying the implementation of optimization algorithms for minimizing a class of log-determinant model. This considered minimization model, one the one hand, contains a large number of popular sparse models as special cases, but on the other hand, it poses more challenges especially in high-dimensional situations. Instead of targeting the challenging optimization problem directly, we employ the symmetric Gauss–Seidel (sGS) iteration based alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) to tackle the 3-block nonsmooth dual program. By choosing an appropriate proximal term, it was shown that the implemented sGS-ADMM is equivalent to the 2-block ADMM, so its convergence is followed directly from some existing theoretical results. Numerical experiments on synthetic data and real data sets, including the performance comparisons with the directly extended ADMM, demonstrate that the implemented algorithm is effective in estimating large and sparse inverse covariance matrices.

The impact of 1-(4-amino-2-hydroxyphenyl)ethanone (AHPE) from the metabolites of endophytic fungus Phomopsis liquidambari on quorum sensing (QS) of Agrobacterium tumefaciens was evaluated for the first time in this study. Exposure to AHPE at concentrations ranging from 12.5 to 50 μg/mL, the β-galactosidase activity, acyl-homoserine lactone level, swimming motility, chemotaxis, and flagella formation were significantly inhibited. qRT-PCR quantification combined with the docking analysis demonstrated that AHPE affected the QS system of A. tumefaciens by repressing the transcriptional levels of traI and traR rather than signal mimicry. 1H NMR-based metabolic analysis indicated that the metabolism of A. tumefaciens was notably disturbed with AHPE treatment. AHPE treatment also resulted in the enhanced oxidative stress in A. tumefaciens. The enhanced oxidative stress lead to the disorder of energy supply, protein synthesis, and nucleotide metabolism, and ultimately attenuated the pathogenicity of A. tumefaciens. Our study indicated that AHPE can serve as a potential pesticide to defend against A. tumefaciens.

Phomopsis liquidambari S47 is an endophytic fungus isolated from the leaves of Punica granatum. Here, we are the first to report a quorum sensing (QS) inhibitor 1-(4-amino-2-hydroxyphenyl)ethanone (AHE) isolated and identified from the metabolites of P. liquidambari S47. Exposure to AHE at sub-MIC concentrations notably suppressed the secretion of acyl-homoserine lactones and virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. To investigate the metabolic variations of P. aeruginosa PAO1 exposed to AHE, magnetic resonance imaging-based metabolomic analysis was performed. AHE treatment created a disturbance in the QS system by suppressing the expressions of QS-related genes. The disturbed QS system resulted in the inhibited activity of antioxidant enzymes and thus enhanced oxidative stress. The vegetable infection assay showed that the virulence of P. aeroginosa PAO1 was attenuated which could be due to the impacts to the amino acid and nucleotide metabolism by enhanced oxidative stress. These findings suggest that AHE has a potential to become an antivirulence "agent" to tackle P. aeruginosa infection. KEY POINTS: • AHE treatment inhibited AHL secretion and virulence factors production. • AHE treatment aggravated oxidative stress and disturbed metabolism. • AHE suppressed QS-related gene expressions and reduced virulence of P. aeruginosa.

A new scheme of generating optical arbitrary waveforms based on multi-wavelength semiconductor fiber ring laser (SFRL) is proposed. In this novel scheme, a wide and flat optical frequency comb (OFC) is provided directly by multi-wavelength SFRL, whose central frequency and comb spacing are tunable. OFC generation, de-multiplexing, amplitude and phase modulation, and multiplexing are implementing in an intensity and phase tunable comb filter, as induces the merits of high spectral coherence, satisfactory waveform control and low system loss. By using the mode couple theory and the transfer matrix method, the theoretical model of the scheme is established. The impacts of amplitude control, phase control, number of spectral line, and injection current of semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) on the waveform similarity are studied using the theoretical model. The results show that, amplitude control and phase control error should be smaller than 1% and 0.64% respectively to achieve high similarity. The similarity of the waveform is improved with the increase of the number of spectral line. When the injection current of SOA is in a certain range, the optical arbitrary waveform reaches a high similarity.

Two oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins named pedunsaponin D (

An ultra-wide and flat optical frequency comb (OFC) generation scheme using multiple continuous wave (CW) light sources based on electro-absorption modulator (EAM) and frequency modulator (FM) is proposed. In the scheme, each CW light source is broadened and modulated by the first EAM and FM, respectively. The second EAM is introduced to flatten the ultra-wide OFC lines. By setting the wavelength spacing of light sources equal to the bandwidth of sub-OFC, an ultra-wide OFC can be obtained. Principle analysis and simulation for the scheme are performed. The results show that in the case of a single light source, a tunable and flat OFC is obtained. With the increase of light sources, the bandwidth of the generated ultra-wide OFC expands rapidly. In the case of 28 light sources, a 22 GHz ultra- wide OFC with bandwidth of 16.52 THz can be generated.

An acousto-optic switch scheme based on optical tamm state (OTS) is proposed. The acousto-optic switch’s structure is one-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure, which is composed of three materials: silicon dioxide, gallium arsenide and tellurium dioxide. All three materials are acousto-optic materials, which can ensure the acousto-optic effect when the ultrasonic wave and the light wave are incident at the same time. Due to the acousto-optic effect, the refractive index and thickness of one-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructures are changed by ultrasonic. The acousto-optic switch changes the ultrasonic amplitude to shift the intrinsic wavelength of OTS to the shorter wave direction. With the increase of ultrasonic amplitude, the intrinsic wavelength of OTS hardly changes after the amplitude exceeds 0.4 nm. This means that the ultrasonic wave with an amplitude of 0.4 nm can shift the intrinsic wavelength to 1538 nm. The acousto-optic switch realizes the on-off function within the permitted range. In this paper, the theoretical model of the acousto-optic switch is established. The propagation of ultrasonic wave in one-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure is analyzed by theoretical model. The propagation of light in the medium after acousto-optic effect is analyzed by transmission matrix method. The simulation is carried out through COMSOL Multiphysics software. The results show OTS exists and localization can be seen in the electric field diagram. The acousto-optic switch of 1548.8–1551.7 nm can be realized by applying certain amplitude of ultrasonic or not. In this wavelength range, the extinction ratio is not lower than 12 dB and the insertion loss is not higher than 0.97 dB. The maximum extinction ratio is 13.17 dB, and the minimum insertion loss is only 0.65 dB. The acousto-optic switch of 1536.6–1543.3 nm can be realized by applying ultrasonic wave with amplitude corresponding to the length of incident light. In this wavelength range, the extinction ratio is not lower than 12 dB, and the insertion loss is not higher than 0.99 dB. The maximum extinction ratio is 13.15 dB, and the minimum insertion loss is only 0.65 dB. The response time of the acousto-optic switch is less than 13 ns. The acousto-optic switch has the characteristics of high extinction ratio and low insertion loss. It has a good application prospect and can be effectively applied in future optical communication.

A novel photonic technique for instantaneous microwave frequency measurement based on hybrid microwave photonic filter (HMPF) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The HMPF is composed of an all-pass filter and a band-pass filter with negative coefficients. By properly controlling the power relationship between the all-pass filter and the band-pass filter, the HMPF can realize a monotonic frequency response, and then a unique relationship between the output power and the input frequency is established. A high measurement resolution can be achieved for a given frequency range.

A novel scheme for all-optical ultra-wideband signal source based on semiconductor fiber ring laser (SFRL) is proposed, in which three monocycle signals can be generated simultaneously. The effect of the bias current of the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) in the SFRL, the wavelength of the lasing light, the power and the wavelength of input signal light on the performance of the monocycle signals are analyzed through numerical simulation. The results show that the output monocycle pulses with better symmetry can be obtained when the bias current of SOA is in a range of 200−220 mA. The average power, the amplitude of the positive and negative pulses of the output monocycle pulses increase as the wavelength of the lasing light increases. A better performance of the monocycle pulses can be obtained under lower input signal optical power. The wavelength of the input signal light has a little effect on the output monocycle pulses.

A microwave photonic filter, which can be switched between a high-Q bandpass filter and a notch filter, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. It is based on a recirculating delay line loop with a reflective semiconductor optical amplifier, and negative taps are generated employing wavelength conversion. The filter can be also tuned by adjusting an optical variable delay line. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 56:198–201, 2014

We propose a novel ultra-wideband (UWB) triplet signal source based on the cross-gain modulation (XGM) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). In the proposed scheme, only an optical source and two SOAs are needed, so the all-optical structure is compact. A triplet optical pulse with center frequency of 6.25 GHz and fractional bandwidth of 83% is obtained by the scheme. The extinction ratio can be improved by the counter-propagating scheme. The triplet pulse signal with only one wavelength can be easily controlled, and can aviod the dispersion effect. The output triplet pulse signal is insensitive to the light wavelength shifts, its available wavelength range is wide, the dynamic range of the input power is more than 6 dBm, and the bias current of the SOAs is exhibited.

A cascaded filter combining active and passive filters is proposed. The active filter acts as a low-coherence infinite-impulse-response (IIR) filter and achieves a sharp frequency response. The low-coherence IIR filter is realized by employing the cross-gain modulation (XGM) of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectrum of the semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). The passive filter is an n-section unbalance Mach-Zehnder (UMZ) structure, which is used to increase free spectral range (FSR) and Q factor further. The low-coherence IIR filter cascaded with one section of UMZ passive filter is experimentally demonstrated, and a Q factor of 1268 is obtained.

A high-Q microwave photonic filter using a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based mode-locking fiber ring laser is proposed, analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The proposed microwave photonic filter can realize a high-Q frequency response, it is compact without an optical source, and it can be easily tuned by adjusting an optical variable delay line in a ring cavity. A result with a Q-factor of about 236 and a rejection ratio of about 45 dB is obtained. The measured results and the theoretical estimations agree very well.

We propose a novel scheme to generate the ultra-wideband (UWB) doublet signal pulse based on the cross-gain modulation (XGM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). In the scheme, only an optical source and an SOA are needed. As there is only one wavelength included in the output doublet signal pulse, no time difference between the upper and down pulses is introduced during the transmission process. By using the software of Optisystem 7.0, the impacts of the optical power, the SOA current, the wavelength and the input signal pulse width on the generated doublet pulse are simulated and tudied numerically. The results show that when the pulse width of the input signal pulse is larger, the output signal pulse is better, and is insensitive to the change of wavelength. In addition, the ultra-wideband positive and negative monocycles can be generated by choosing suitable optical source power and SOA current.

The FE models of the front beam and the moving trolley of pipe hydrostatic tester are built with FE simulation software ABAQUS in the study. With the FE models, the force statuses of the two heavy parts of pipe hydrostatic tester are studied. It is found that the stress of the action field of the axial force and that of small field contacting with the pins of the front beam is higher and thicker middle cylinder can significantly improve the stress of the front beam. The stress of the middle cylinder and that of small field contacting with the pins of the moving trolley is higher. Thicker middle cylinder and optimizational ribs can significantly improve the stress of the moving trolley. The front beam and the moving trolley are optimized and the strength and the stiffness of the optimized front beam and moving trolley can be satisfied with the requirement of application. The results of the study are very useful to design the pipe hydrostatic tester.

In this paper, we propose a novel scheme for ultrafast multifunctional all-optical logic gates, which can achieve not only simple logic gates including AND, NOR, Smacr 1Smacr2,Smacr1Smacr2,XNOR, and XOR but also complex logic gates including half adder, half subtracter, decoder, and comparer based on four-wave mixing in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) with polarization-shift-keying (PolSK) modulated signals. A comprehensive polarization-dependent broadband dynamic model of this kind of ultrafast multifunctional all-optical logic gates is presented. By numerical simulation, the multifunctional all-optical logic gates are theoretically realized at 40 Gbit/s. The effects of two input signal powers, injected current, frequency detuning, and polarization dependence of SOA on the output performance of the multifunctional all-optical logic gates are theoretically investigated in detail. The results indicate that this scheme is free of pattern effect due to using the PolSK modulation format. Moreover, the nice eye opening of the logic gates indicates the good performance of the proposed ultrafast multifunctional all-optical logic gates. This scheme is potential for applications in future high bit rate optical networks.

Plasmid conjugation systems are composed of two components, the DNA transfer and replication system, or Dtr, and the mating pair formation system, or Mpf. During conjugal transfer an essential factor, called the coupling protein, is thought to interface the Dtr, in the form of the relaxosome, with the Mpf, in the form of the mating bridge. These proteins, such as TraG from the IncP1 plasmid RP4 (TraG RP4 ) and TraG and VirD4 from the conjugal transfer and T-DNA transfer systems of Ti plasmids, are believed to dictate specificity of the interactions that can occur between different Dtr and Mpf components. The Ti plasmids of Agrobacterium tumefaciens do not mobilize vectors containing the oriT of RP4, but these IncP1 plasmid derivatives lack the trans -acting Dtr functions and TraG RP4 . A. tumefaciens donors transferred a chimeric plasmid that contains the oriT and Dtr genes of RP4 and the Mpf genes of pTiC58, indicating that the Ti plasmid mating bridge can interact with the RP4 relaxosome. However, the Ti plasmid did not mobilize transfer from an IncQ relaxosome. The Ti plasmid did mobilize such plasmids if TraG RP4 was expressed in the donors. Mutations in traG RP4 with defined effects on the RP4 transfer system exhibited similar phenotypes for Ti plasmid-mediated mobilization of the IncQ vector. When provided with VirD4, the tra system of pTiC58 mobilized plasmids from the IncQ relaxosome. However, neither TraG RP4 nor VirD4 restored transfer to a traG mutant of the Ti plasmid. VirD4 also failed to complement a traG RP4 mutant for transfer from the RP4 relaxosome or for RP4-mediated mobilization from the IncQ relaxosome. TraG RP4 -mediated mobilization of the IncQ plasmid by pTiC58 did not inhibit Ti plasmid transfer, suggesting that the relaxosomes of the two plasmids do not compete for the same mating bridge. We conclude that TraG RP4 and VirD4 couples the IncQ but not the Ti plasmid relaxosome to the Ti plasmid mating bridge. However, VirD4 cannot couple the IncP1 or the IncQ relaxosome to the RP4 mating bridge. These results support a model in which the coupling proteins specify the interactions between Dtr and Mpf components of mating systems.

Two regions of the nopaline-type Ti plasmid pTiC58 are important for conjugal transfer of this element to recipient bacteria. These two regions were cloned into two independent replicons to produce a binary transfer system. For one region, oriT/tra, we constructed two derivatives, pFRtra and pDCtra-5. Each contains the oriT site and the two flanking, divergently transcribed tra operons that encode the DNA processing functions associated with the relaxosome. These two plasmids also carry traR, which encodes the transcriptional activator necessary for expression of transfer genes. The two plasmids differ by the amounts of traB sequence or sequence downstream of traG present in the construct. The second replicon, pPLE2, carries the traI/trb region. The traI gene confers production of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens N-acyl homoserine lactone autoinducer, while the remaining genes in the trb operon encode components of the mating bridge. Donors harboring the two plasmids mobilized the transfer of the plasmid carrying the oriT/tra region to an A. tumefaciens recipient at frequencies similar to that at which the intact Ti plasmid transferred. Plasmid pFRtra, which encodes most of traB, was mobilized at a frequency almost 10-fold higher than was pDCtra-5, which lacks most of the gene. A. tumefaciens donors also mobilized pFRtra to Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fluorescens recipients at frequencies similar to those observed with A. tumefaciens recipients. Rhizobium meliloti harboring the binary system also transferred the oriT/tra component to these recipients. However, E. coli or P. fluorescens donors harboring the binary system did not transfer pFRtra to any of the recipients. Furthermore, while the A. tumefaciens and R. meliloti donors produced high levels of the autoinducer, the P. fluorescens and E. coli donors produced only trace amounts of this signal molecule. These results indicate that the tra system of pTiC58 is fully contained within the characterized tra and trb regions of the Ti plasmid, that conjugation does not require functions encoded by the vir system for maximal activity, and that while the Ti plasmid tra system recognizes diverse gram-negative bacteria as recipients, of the hosts tested, it functions only in members of the family Rhizobiaceae.

Conjugal transfer of the nopaline-type Agrobacterium Ti plasmid pTiC58 is regulated by a transcriptional activator, TraR, and a diffusible signal molecule, conjugation factor (CF). CF is a member of a family of substituted homoserine lactones (HSLs) that act as coinducers for regulating gene expression in diverse Gram-negative bacteria by a mechanism called autoinduction. In Vibrio fischeri HSL production is conferred by the luxI gene. Homologues of this gene are responsible for HSL production by other Gram-negative bacteria. A gene that we call traI, conferring production of material with CF activity, was localized to a 1-kb region at the upstream end of tra3 of pTiC58. Spectroscopy showed that the activity was authentic CF. Sequence analysis showed that traI could encode a protein of 211 amino acids, TraI, that is related to the proteins responsible for HSL production by other bacteria. A second, partial open reading frame immediately downstream of traI could encode a protein related to TrbB of plasmid RP4, which is required for conjugal transfer. Transcription of traI and of the downstream tra3 genes requires TraR and CF and initiates from the traI promoter. The results show that traI is responsible for CF production, that it is the first gene of the tra3 operon, and that expression of this operon is regulated by autoinduction.

We proposed a simultaneous three-wavelength conversion based on the cross-gain modulation (XGM) in the multi-wavelength semiconductor fiber ring laser (SFRL). It is easily implemented owing to the simple structure. Furthermore, it has realized multi-channel wavelength conversion, which reduces the cost of network expansion. A comprehensive broadband dynamic model is presented. By numerical simulation, the proposed multi-wavelength conversion is theoretically realized using the broadband dynamic model. Moreover, the dependences of conversion efficiency and extinction ratio on the input signal power, signal wavelength and injection current are investigated in detail.

We propose an ultrahigh-speed all-optical wavelength conversion for polarization-shift-keying (PolSK) signal, based on parallel dual-pump four-wave mixing (FWM) in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). A comprehensive broad-band dynamic model of this kind of all-optical wavelength converter is developed. By numerical simulation, using the broad-band dynamic model, the effects of input waves powers and wavelengths on the output performance of wavelength conversion for PolSK signal are theoretically investigated in detail. This scheme is suitable for wide wavelength range of input PolSK signal. It is simple, compact, and feasible for ultrahigh-speed operation.

A novel scheme for an ultrahigh-speed all-optical full adder based on dual-pump four-wave mixing (FWM), including parallel dual-pump FWM and orthogonal dual-pump FWM, in two semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) is proposed. In this scheme, the polarization-shift-keying (PolSK) modulation format is used, so pattern-dependent degradation can be reduced. The proposed all-optical full adder is simple, compact, and can accommodate ultrahigh-speed operation. By numerical simulation, it is theoretically investigated using the broad-band dynamic model.

Ultrahigh-speed all-optical AND and NOR gates for three-input polarization-shift-keying (PolSK) signals, based on orthogonal dual-pump four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), is proposed and theoretically investigated. This scheme is simple, compact, and feasible for ultrahigh-speed operation.

Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based all-optical XNOR and AND gates using four-wave mixing (FWM) and cross-gain modulation (XGM) with improved dynamics are simultaneously realized. The effects of the input optical wave powers and injection current on the critical factors of the logic gate performances, such as the ON-OFF contrast ratio, the output power level of the logic "1", and the output power difference of the logic "1", are theoretically investigated in detail. In addition, the effect of the counter-propagating CW pump on the gain recovery is analyzed.

In this paper, a comprehensive broad-band model of tunable wavelength converter based on four-wave mixing (FWM) in semiconductor fiber ring laser (SFRL) is presented. Critical factors, eg., the material gain profile, the longitudinal variation of the optical field, the carrier density and the broad-band spontaneous noise emission are considered in the model. By numerical simulation, the effects of the input signal power, injection current, the coupling of the output couplers and the lasing wavelength on the performances of the wavelength converter, such as the conversion efficiency and the SBR, are investigated. Simulation results are in agreement with the experimental results in literatures.

The replicator ( rep ) of the nopaline-type Ti plasmid pTiC58 is located adjacent to the trb operon of this conjugal element. Previous genetic studies of this region (D. R. Gallie, M. Hagiya, and C. I. Kado, J. Bacteriol. 161:1034–1041, 1985) identified functions involved in partitioning, origin of replication and incompatibility, and copy number control. In this study, we determined the nucleotide sequence of a 6,146-bp segment that encompasses the rep locus of pTiC58. The region contained four full open reading frames (ORFs) and one partial ORF. The first three ORFs, oriented divergently from the traI-trb operon, are closely related to the repA , repB , and repC genes of the octopine-type Ti plasmid pTiB6S3 as well as to other repA , - B , and - C genes from the Ri plasmid pRiA4b and three large plasmids from Rhizobium spp. The fourth ORF and the partial ORF are similar to y4CG and y4CF , respectively, of the Sym plasmid pNGR234a. The 363-bp intergenic region between traI and repA contained two copies of the tra box which is the cis promoter recognition site for TraR, the quorum-sensing activator of Ti plasmid conjugal transfer. Expression of the traI-trb operon from the tra box II-associated promoter mediated by TraR and its acyl-homoserine lactone ligand, AAI, was negatively influenced by an intact tra box III. On the other hand, the region containing the two tra boxes was required for maximal expression of repA , and this expression was enhanced slightly by TraR and AAI. Copy number of a minimal rep plasmid increased five- to sevenfold in strains expressing traR but only when AAI also was provided. Consistent with this effect, constitutive expression of the quorum-sensing system resulted in an apparent increase in Ti plasmid copy number. We conclude that Ti plasmid copy number is influenced by the quorum-sensing system, suggesting a connection between conjugal transfer and vegetative replication of these virulence elements.