Additional kernel observer: privilege escalation attack prevention mechanism focusing on system call privilege changes

International Journal of Information Security - Cyberattacks, especially attacks that exploit operating system vulnerabilities, have been increasing in recent years. In particular, if administrator...     

Effect of Computational Constraints on Zero-Dimensional Computations for the Nanosecond-Order Ignition Process of the CH4/Air Mixture

Combustion, Explosion, and Shock Waves - Zero-dimensional computations of nanosecond-order ignition using a nanosecond discharge are performed with two constraints. The effects of these constraints...     

Experimental design to evaluate properties of electrospun fibers of zein/poly (ethylene oxide) for biomaterial applications

The production of polymer fibers from the combination of zein and PEO might have great potential in the field of biomaterial. Zein/PEO fibers were obtained in this work through solution electrospinning. An experimental design, 2^4-1, was used for evaluating the influences of PEO content in the blend, distance from the needle tip to the collector, applied electric voltage and solution flow for average fiber diameter and relative-yield process. Beyond this, the relationship between PEO content in the blend and the fiber properties were evaluated through FTIR, DSC, TG, tensile tests, and cytotoxic tests. The factor that exerts the greatest effect on the average fiber diameter response was the electrical voltage. The increase in PEO content in the blend decreased the thermal stability and increased the degree of the fibers' crystallinity. The mechanical tests showed that fibers with higher elongation were obtained at richer PEO blends. The fibers presented cytocompatible characteristics.     

Hydrogen absorption characteristics of Pd1−xLix (x = 0.055 and 0.072) alloys and ordered Pd7Li

Thermodynamic quantities were determined for the absorption of hydrogen in Pd-5.5at.%Li and Pd-7.2at.%Li alloys, the latter alloy being in the two-phase field of saturated -Pd(Li,s) solid solution and the ordered Pd₇Li phase. Data were also determined for the Pd-10.6at.%Li alloy which consists only of the ordered Pd₇Li phase. The data were determined from measurements of pressure-composition isotherms at temperatures between 273 K and 463 K and hydrogen pressures up to 1000 Torr. The Pd---Li alloys dissolve considerable amounts of hydrogen and form a more stable hydride phase than Pd despite the lattice contraction which occurs on alloying Pd with Li. The hydrogen solubility in the ordered Pd₇Li phase alone is a little smaller than that in the two-phase mixture. The large hydrogen absorption of Pd---Li alloys, which does not depend on the presence of ordered Pd₇Li, may be attributed to (i) an attractive H---Li pair interaction, (ii) a decrease in the strain energies necessary for hydrogen occupation of the interstices, because of the similar lattice parameters of the -Pd(Li,s) and ordered Pd₇Li phases, and the large compressibility of Pd---Li alloys, and (iii) the valence of 1 of Li in Pd compared with 3 for, for example, Y in Pd.     

A new refining process for iron oxide using iron ore and its application to hard ferrites

Kawasaki Steel Corporation and Kawatetsu Mining Co., Ltd. have developed a new refining process to extract iron oxide from iron ore to meet the increase in demand for iron oxide for high- grade hard ferrites. This article discusses the quality of iron oxides and the characteristics of the hard ferrite magnets produced from them.     

Predicting Long‐Term Changes in Riparian Bird Communities in Floodplain Landscapes

As anthropogenic impacts on riverine ecosystems expand, both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are influenced over large spatiotemporal scales. We predicted how riparian bird communities changed in response to long‐term changes in floodplain landscapes such as woodland expansion (i.e. rapid increases in vegetation cover on gravel bars and the progress of vegetation succession due to a decrease in the frequency and magnitude of flood disturbance). To test the hypothesis that woodland expansion after dam construction reduces the abundance of gravel bar‐nesting birds and increases the abundance of forest‐nesting birds, we estimated historical changes between past and present bird abundances using species distribution models across multiple rivers that were either unregulated or regulated by dams. We created past and present vegetation maps from remote sensing images and used habitat quantities as explanatory variables in the species distribution models. As we hypothesized, the estimated abundance of gravel bar‐nesting birds decreased and that of forest‐nesting birds increased because of woodland expansion in some regulated rivers. This suggests that anthropogenic alterations of riverine conditions (e.g. dam construction) can affect terrestrial ecosystems (e.g. riparian bird communities) through changes in floodplains (e.g. woodland expansion). In addition, our findings highlight the efficacy of combining spatial and temporal analyses when examining long‐term ecological dynamics. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-aspect-ratio through-hole array microfabricated in a PMMA plate for monodisperse emulsion production

Microchannel (MC) emulsification is a promising technique for producing monodisperse emulsions consisting of highly uniform droplets. The authors developed a high-aspect-ratio microstructure (HARMST) made of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a new MC emulsification device. A PMMA straight-through MC array plate consisting of 31,250 through-holes with a 7.3 × 22.9-μm oblong section and a 200-μm depth was fabricated by a process of synchrotron radiation (SR) lithography and etching. Oblong MCs fabricated in a PMMA straight-through MC array were highly uniform with a coefficient of variation of less than 2%. The fabricated PMMA straight-through MC array plate was used to produce water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. Monodisperse W/O emulsions with average droplet diameters of approximately 25 μm and a minimum coefficient of variation of 3.2% were produced via a hydrophobic PMMA straight-through MC array. The PMMA straight-through MC array plate also produced monodisperse W/O emulsions at droplet production rates of up to 1.7 × 10⁴/s. The PMMA straight-through MC array plates developed in this work are expected to expand the application field of emulsification using straight-through MC array plates, which have previously been made of single-crystal silicon.     

High‐pixel‐rate grating‐light‐valve laser projector

Abstract— A high‐pixel‐rate, high‐contrast (30,000:1) wide‐color‐gamut grating‐light‐valve laser projector is reported. A new optical engine enabling high‐frame‐rate (240 Hz) scan projection is employed. Panoramic wide‐angle‐scan projection with a 64:9 aspect ratio was also developed. Speckle noise is eliminated using a simple but highly efficient technique. The optical throughput efficiency of the grating‐light‐valve laser projector is reviewed.     

Anode‐voltage‐control circuit for compensation of luminance deterioration

Abstract— An external driving circuit that has realized long lifetime, power‐consumption control, and peak luminance for organic light‐emitting diode (OLED) displays have been developed. This circuit realizes an effective method for constant‐anode‐voltage (CV) driving refered to as clamped inverter (CI) driving. The feature of CV driving is to achieve low‐power consumption compared with constant‐anode‐current (CC) driving and to control the power consumption and peak luminance according to the image because display luminance can be easily changed by controlling the anode voltage. On the other hand, CV driving has the problem that luminance deterioration appears to be serious compared with that of CC driving because the current of the OLED element decreases according to usage time. To cope with this, a lifetime compensation circuit that has increased the anode voltage so that it compensates for the luminance deterioration has been developed. This circuit can compensate not only the decrease in current but also the decrease in luminance at a constant current that CC driving cannot. However, increasing the anode voltage causes an increase in stress on the OLED element. The influence of stress on OLED lifetime was verified. As a result, it was confirmed that this circuit can extend the lifetime by 32% even if the anode voltage is increased, causing stress on the OLED structure.     

Production of monodisperse water-in-oil emulsions consisting of highly uniform droplets using asymmetric straight-through microchannel arrays

This paper reports the production of monodisperse water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions using new microchannel emulsification (MCE) devices, asymmetric straight-through MC arrays that were hydrophobically modified. The silicon asymmetric straight-through MC arrays consisted of numerous pairs of microslots and circular microholes whose cross-sectional sizes were 10 μm. This paper primarily focused on investigating the effect of the osmotic pressure of a dispersed phase (Π_d) on MCE. This paper also investigated the effects of the type of continuous-phase oils and the dispersed-phase flux (J _d) on MCE. The dispersed phases were Milli-Q water and Milli-Q water solutions containing sodium chloride. The continuous phases were decane (as control), hexane, medium chain triacylglyceride (MCT), and refined soybean oil (RSO) solutions containing tetraglycerin monolaurate condensed ricinoleic acid ester (TGCR) as a surfactant. At Π_d of exceeding threshold, highly uniform aqueous droplets with coefficients of variation of less than 3% were stably generated via hydrophobic asymmetric straight-through MCs. Monodisperse W/O emulsions with average droplet diameters between 32 and 45 μm were produced using the alkane–oil and triglyceride–oil solutions as the continuous phase. This work also demonstrated that the hydrophobic asymmetric straight-through MC array had remarkable ability to produce highly uniform aqueous droplets at very high J _d of up to 1,200 L m⁻² h⁻¹.