A collaborative contour detector by gradient and active contours for ultrasound kidney images

In the process of urinary system disease diagnosis, a complete kidney contour is crucial to estimate its size, area, volume and other properties. These properties can effectively help doctors diagnosis and prepare treatment plans. However, ultrasound images suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio, speckle, missing boundaries and other artefacts. Traditional contour detection algorithms can hardly extract a continuous and accurate kidney contour. To solve the problem, we propose a collaborative contour detector by gradient and active contour. It not only can make sure that the extracted contour is continuous and accurate but also is simple and suitable to use in practice. Both the simulated experiments and clinical experiments show that the proposed algorithm achieves a good performance in ultrasound kidney images and can effectively assist doctors in diagnosis.     

Resource and Power Allocation for OFDM-Based Device-to-Device Communications in a Multicell Environment

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - We investigate the optimal resource and power allocation for device-to-device (D2D) communications in a multicell environment. When D2D links...     

Identification and guaranteed performance control of Hammerstein systems over wireless channels

The problems of identification and stabilization of a class of Hammerstein systems over a wireless network are investigated in this paper. A new approach for the proof of iterative identification is presented first. Then a guaranteed performance controller is designed to stabilize the system. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by numerical examples.     

Identifying energy inefficient industries vulnerable to trade dependence of energy sources

Korea has transformed itself from a developing country to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member country and a donor for developing nations. It has ranked among the world’s top 10 energy-consuming countries. Its industrial sector depends heavily on the utilization of fossil fuels and consumes more than 45% of national energy expenditure. Plausible concerns about industrial energy inefficiency can upset the structural dependence of the whole Korean industry on the energy sector. Using Korea’s industrial input–output data from 2010 to 2012, this research conducts a simulation analysis on trade suspension resulting from shocks provided by each of the six energy industries. This study investigates the propagation of these shocks across 160 industries. We found that the petroleum, electricity, and town gas industries are the most influential energy industries in terms of diffusion of trade shocks to other industries, and the number of propagation steps of energy shocks decreases over time due to the industries’ unimproved energy inefficiency. Therefore, governments need to address this interdependence within energy sectors and between energy and non-energy industries, with integrated policies for energy efficiency and contingency plans.     

Leaf-to-Whole Plant Spread Bioassay for Pepper and Ralstonia solanacearum Interaction Determines Inheritance of Resistance to Bacterial Wilt for Further Breeding

Bacterial wilt (BW) disease from Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious disease and causes severe yield losses in chili peppers worldwide. Resistant cultivar breeding is the most effective in controlling BW. Thus, a simple and reliable evaluation method is required to assess disease severity and to investigate the inheritance of resistance for further breeding programs. Here, we developed a reliable leaf-to-whole plant spread bioassay for evaluating BW disease and then, using this, determined the inheritance of resistance to R. solanacearum in peppers. Capsicum annuum ‘MC4′ displayed a completely resistant response with fewer disease symptoms, a low level of bacterial cell growth, and significant up-regulations of defense genes in infected leaves compared to those in susceptible ‘Subicho’. We also observed the spreading of wilt symptoms from the leaves to the whole susceptible plant, which denotes the normal BW wilt symptoms, similar to the drenching method. Through this, we optimized the evaluation method of the resistance to BW. Additionally, we performed genetic analysis for resistance inheritance. The parents, F₁ and 90 F₂ progenies, were evaluated, and the two major complementary genes involved in the BW resistance trait were confirmed. These could provide an accurate evaluation to improve resistant pepper breeding efficiency against BW.     

Two-step sintering technique for enhancing mechanical and oxygen permeation properties of dual-phase oxygen transport membranes

The present work involved the application of a two-step sintering (TSS) technique for typical Ce_0.9Gd_0.1O_2?δ–La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O_3–δ (GDC–LSCF) composites and its effect on the microstructure and resultantly mechanical and O₂-permeating properties. The samples obtained by conventional sintering (CS) performed at 1100, 1250, and 1400 °C for 3 h exhibited maximum flexural strength and hardness values of 142 MPa and 8.71 GPa, respectively. However, the application of a TSS procedure produced fine-grained microstructures with improved mechanical properties. In particular, with the use of a typical 1250/1200 TSS protocol, increases of approximately 31 % and 7% in the flexural strength and hardness values, respectively, were observed compared to those obtained using the CS method. Moreover, thick-film (～ 60 μm) GDC–LSCF membrane prepared by tape casting and the TSS technique showed remarkably 1.5–2 times higher oxygen permeation flux than membrane sintered by CS method. The results are discussed and explained in detail.     

Deep freezing to maintain the freshness of pork loin during long-term storage

Food Science and Biotechnology - As storage temperature impacts frozen meat quality, we evaluated the ideal freezing and storage temperatures for pork loin, and effects of long-term storage...