Application of SPRT to an image data sequence for a remote monitoring system

Recently, remote monitoring camera systems have been widely used for security. In such systems, one important function is that the system automatically detects any change in the scenes from the monitoring cameras. In wireless remote monitoring camera systems, the images of the scenes are generally transmitted as compressed data (e.g., JPEG file), because of the capacity of the wireless channel. This article shows the automated detection of the change point in time-series data of compressed JPEG file quantity (Kbytes) from the monitoring camera by applying the sequential probabilistic ratio test (SPRT) and the Chow test, which is well known as a standard method for detecting structural change in time-series data.     

Lipid components,fatty acid distributions of triacylglycerols and phospholipids in rice brans

Endogenous tocochromanols in extracted lipids from rice brans of the five cultivars were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography, and were investigated in relation to the fatty acid (FA) distribution of triacylglycerols (TAG) and phospholipids (PL). The dominant tocols were α-tocopherol and γ-tocotrienol, followed by α-tocotrienol and with much smaller amounts of γ-tocopherol and δ-tocotrienol. The lipids of these rice brans comprised mainly TAG (80.6–86.0 wt.%), free FA (4.2–9.0 wt.%), and phospholipids (5.5–6.7 wt.%), whilst other components were also detected in minor proportions (0.2–2.1 wt.%). The PL components included phosphatidyl choline (31.8–46.8 wt.%), phosphatidyl ethanolamine (25.0–38.9 wt.%) and phosphatidyl inositol (20.2–23.2 wt.%). Comparison of these different cultivars showed, with a few exceptions, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in FA distribution. FA distribution of TAG among the five cultivars was evident in the rice brans: unsaturated FA were predominantly concentrated at the sn-2 position and saturated FA primarily occupying the sn-1 or sn-3 position. These results suggest that the tocopherol content, lipid component, and FA distribution in rice brans are not dependent on the cultivation areas during the growing season.     

Novel circular-beam equalizing techniques that use graded-index fiber optics for a high-power laser diode

We demonstrate a novel method of equalizing a laser diode (LD) beam into a circular beam. This method uses the twist effect of graded index (GI) fiber optics. An asymmetric LD beam with beam qualities of M2 = 500 in the slow axis and M2 = 4 in the fast axis is converted successfully into a symmetric circular beam with a beam quality of M2 = 175. The circular-output beam with 92% coupling efficiency from the fiber input to the fiber output is obtained with a 5-m-long GI1200 (1200 means a core diameter of 1200 microm) fiber for a 2-W LD array. We extend the experiments to a higher-power source with higher asymmetric beam qualities of M2 = 3000 and M2 = 4. By slightly bending the GI10000 (10000 means a core diameter of 10,000 microm) fiber, we have succeeded in generating a symmetric beam with a improved beam quality of M2 = 2000. The average beam quality is preserved when the asymmetric ratio is not high, and the beam quality degradation ratio is investigated up to asymmetric ratios of 750.     

Simultaneous three-dimensional step-height measurement and high-resolution tomographic imaging with a spectral interferometric microscope

A noncontact, nonmechanical scanning, wide-field spectral interference microscope is developed for simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional step-height of discontinuous objects and tomographic imaging. A superluminescent diode (SLD) is used as a broadband light source and a liquid-crystal Fabry-Perot interferometer (LC-FPI) as a frequency-scanning device. By means of changing the injection current to the SLD, the spectral profile of the SLD is equalized, and a constant light input to the interferometer is achieved over the entire frequency-scan range. The Fourier-transform technique is used to determine both the amplitude and the phase of spectral fringe signals. Three-dimensional height distribution of a discontinuous object is obtained from the phase information, whereas optically sectioned images of the object are obtained either from the amplitude information alone or from the combination of both the amplitude and phase information. Experimental results with submicrometer resolution are presented for both step-height measurement and tomographic sectioning.     

Application of a NDI method using magneto-optical film for micro-cracks

Leakage magnetic flux is occurred in the cracked area of magnetized specimens, and also it changes the magnetic domain area of the magneto-optical film positioned on the specimen. It causes the change of the optical permeability of the magnetic domain on the crack area. So crack images can be obtained easily using this principle. On the other hand, utilizing a laser in this method makes possible to perform a remote sensing by detecting the light intensity contrast between cracked area and normal area. This paper shows the application of non-destructive inspection system taking advantage of magneto-optical method for micro-cracks and presents examples applied to the several types of specimens having fatigue cracks and fabricated cracks using this method. Also the authors prove the possibility of this method as a remote sensing system under the oscillation load considering application to real fields.     

Crystallization in rapid quenching of La0.33NbO3 melt

Transparent La_0.33NbO₃ flakes were fabricated by a rapid quenching technique. The quenched La_0.33NbO₃ phase takes a simple cubic perovskite structure and cation vacancies are randomly distributed on the A sites. The cubic La_0.33NbO₃ phase is a new modification which is different from the well-known orthorhombic phase with ordered A-site vacancies. Transparent flakes were found to show the predominant orientation of (110) and (220) planes.     

Oligoethylenes in high pressure polyethylene

Summary Series of several alkylated cycloheptanes were detected in some commercial samples of high pressure polyethylene. The structures of the alkylated cycloheptanes were found closely related to the chain transfer agents used in the polymerization process. A probable mechanism involving radical cyclization to cycloheptane structures was presented.     

Generalization of a Suffix Tree for RNA Structural Pattern Matching

In molecular biology, it is said that two biological sequences tend to have similar properties if they have similar three-dimensional structures. Hence, it is very important to find not only similar sequences in the string sense, but also structurally similar sequences from databases. In this paper we propose a new data structure that is a generalization of a parameterized suffix tree (p-suffix tree for short) introduced by Baker. We call it the structural suffix tree or s-suffix tree for short. The s-suffix tree can be used for finding structurally related patterns of RNA or single-stranded DNA. Furthermore, we propose an O(n(log|| + log||)) on-line algorithm for constructing it, where n is the sequence length, || is the size of the normal alphabet, and || is that of the alphabet called parameter, which is related to the structure of the sequence. Our algorithm achieves linear time when it is used to analyze RNA and DNA sequences. Furthermore, as an algorithm for constructing the p-suffix tree, it is the first on-line algorithm, though the computing bound of our algorithm is the same as that of Kosarajus best-known algorithm. The results of computational experiments using actual RNA and DNA sequences are also given to demonstrate our algorithms practicality.     

Multiplexed toxin analysis using four colors of quantum dot fluororeagents

Quantum dots (QDs) have the potential to simplify the performance of multiplexed analysis. In this work, we prepared bioinorganic conjugates made with highly luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals (CdSe-ZnS core-shell QDs) and antibodies to perform multiplexed fluoroimmunoassays. Sandwich immunoassays for the detection of cholera toxin, ricin, shiga-like toxin 1, and staphylococcal enterotoxin B were performed simultaneously in single wells of a microtiter plate. Initially the assay performance for the detection of each toxin was examined. We then demonstrated the simultaneous detection of the four toxins from a single sample probed with a mixture of all four QD-antibody reagents. Using a simple linear equation-based algorithm, it was possible to deconvolute the signal from mixed toxin samples, which allowed quantitation of all four toxins simultaneously.