Efficient Coupling Between Photonic and Dielectric-Loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton Waveguides With the Same Core Material

We theoretically investigate how to efficiently couple a photonic waveguide to a dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton (DLSPP) waveguide when they are based on a common core material. The DLSPP waveguide is tapered and butt coupled to the photonic waveguide. First, we propose the use of a dielectric with a higher refractive index than the dielectrics of previous DLSPP waveguides. The photonic and DLSPP waveguides are designed to reduce the loss and tapering region length of the coupling, and the tapering region is optimized. We achieve the coupling between the photonic and DLSPP waveguides based on a dielectric of refractive index of 1.57 with a coupling loss of 2.3 dB through a 3-mu m-long coupling region. The coupling loss is further reduced by modifying the DLSPP waveguide into a double-DLSPP ((DLSPP)-L-2) waveguide. The (DLSPP)-L-2 waveguide has an additional low-index dielectric between its high-index dielectric and metal layer. Designed appropriately, the (DLSPP)-L-2 waveguide can be coupled to the photonic waveguide with a coupling loss of 1.1 dB through a 4-mu m-long coupling region. Since the photonic and DLSPP or (DLSPP)-L-2 waveguides investigated in this paper can be simultaneously fabricated, they may constitute an easily realizable hybrid planar lightwave circuit with a relatively low loss.open

Application of Binding Free Energy Calculations to Prediction of Binding Modes and Affinities of MDM2 and MDMX Inhibitors

Molecular docking is widely used to obtain binding modes and binding affinities of a molecule to a given target protein. Despite considerable efforts, however, prediction of both properties by docking remains challenging mainly due to protein’s structural flexibility and inaccuracy of scoring functions. Here, an integrated approach has been developed to improve the accuracy of binding mode and affinity prediction, and tested for small molecule MDM2 and MDMX antagonists. In this approach, initial candidate models selected from docking are subjected to equilibration MD simulations to further filter the models. Free energy perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulations are then applied to the filtered ligand models to enhance the ability in predicting the near-native ligand conformation. The calculated binding free energies for MDM2 complexes are overestimated compared to experimental measurements mainly due to the difficulties in sampling highly flexible apo-MDM2. Nonetheless, the FEP/MD binding free energy calculations are more promising for discriminating binders from nonbinders than docking scores. In particular, the comparison between the MDM2 and MDMX results suggests that apo-MDMX has lower flexibility than apo-MDM2. In addition, the FEP/MD calculations provide detailed information on the different energetic contributions to ligand binding, leading to a better understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of protein-ligand interactions

Restructuring Revisited: Flexible Korea and Rigid Japan

Korea has successfully undergone economic restructuring, as compared to Japan. The "flexibility" of Korea and "rigidity" of Japan are strongly related to the differences between development strategies the two countries adopted. Although Korea adopted the Japanese developmental state model, it excluded workers from the development coalition. Whereas excluded workers had been a source of instability in the Korean system, the well-found coalition of government, business, and workers in Japan had guaranteed stability of the system. This difference was not conspicuous before the economic crises; strong performance of the Korean economy and a heavy-handed government had silenced discontented Korean workers. When the crisis occurred, Korean workers demanded the overhaul of the system, while Japanese workers did not. While Japan attempted to protect the system, Korea dismantled it due to the lack of support of the disenchanted Korean people, in addition to pressure from IMF and foreign countries. Though Korea has been successful in revamping its economic system and regaining economic growth since restructuring after the economic crisis of 1997, the new system is not stable. Workers, still not fully represented in national decision-making processes, are calling for revision of the system, and are frequently expressing their anger. Japan, reluctant to accept an Anglo-American economic model, is struggling to get out of a sluggish economy, but it still enjoys a relatively stable social system

'A New Wine in A New Bottle?' : The Social and Political Realignment under Restructuring in South Korea

This paper investigates the social and political concomitants of structural adjustment in South Korea. After three years of restructuring in the financial, corporate, employment, and public sectors under the IMF"s oversight, South Korea has undergone a profound societal transformation. It will be argued that the neo-liberal, market-oriented reform policies of Kim Dae Jung regime are aimed at improving national competitiveness by strengthening transnational linkages. Specifically, this paper will address ⅰ) the basic policy lines of structural adjustment programs in terms of achievements and failures, ⅱ) the resulting social and political realignment with regard to power distribution and class alliance, and ⅲ) the lessons from Mexican restructuring where the bright and dark sides have coexisted. This paper concludes that restructuring is a necessity for South Korea, but its current structural adjustment is conservative and cosmetic. In order to survive the violent 21st century, South Korea needs to undergo more fundamental restructuring based on a new alternative paradigm of development

Electrospun polymer nanofibers: the booming cutting edge technology

Electrospinning has been recognized as a simple and efficient technique for the fabrication of ultrathin fibers from a variety of materials including polymers, composite and ceramics. Significant progress has been made throughout the past years in electrospinning and the resulting fibrous structures have been exploited in a wide range of potential applications. This article reviews the state-of-art of electrospinning to prepare fibrous electrode materials and polymer electrolytes based on electrospun membranes in the view of their physical and electrochemical properties for the application in lithium batteries. The review covers the electrospinning process, the governing parameters and their influence on fiber or membrane morphology. After a brief discussion of some potential applications associated with the remarkable features of electrospun membranes, we highlight the exploitation of this cutting edge technology in lithium batteries. Finally the article is concluded with some personal perspectives on the future directions in the fascinating field of energy storag

Method and an apparatus for processing a signal

A method of processing a signal is disclosed. The present invention includes receiving a maximum number of band and a code value of at least one section length, calculating a bit number corresponding to the code value of the at least one section length using the maximum number of the band, and obtaining the section length information by decoding the code value of the section length based on the bit number. A method of processing a signal is disclosed. The present invention includes receiving factor information of a current frame, receiving flag information indicating whether a coding mode of the factor information is an absolute value mode or a relative value mode, and obtaining factor data of the current frame using factor data of a previous frame and the received factor information based on the flag information

Methods and apparatuses for encoding and decoding object-based audio signals

Provided are an audio encoding method and apparatus and an audio decoding method and apparatus in which audio signals can be encoded or decoded so that sound images can be localized at any desired position for each object audio signal. The audio decoding method generating a third downmix signal by combining a first downmix signal extracted from a first audio signal and a second downmix signal extracted from a second audio signal; generating third object-based side information by combining first object-based side information extracted from the first audio signal and second object-based side information extracted from the second audio signal; converting the third object-based side information into channel-based side information; and generating a multi-channel audio signal using the third downmix signal and the channel-based side information

Regional Community Building in Northeast Asia in a Global Context

In the context of power shift from Europe to Asia, Asia is creating a new history as the most dynamic region in the world. Historically, Asian countries have long maintained cultural and institutional connections within the region through constant contact, exchange, trade, and warfare. These cultural and institutional linkages serve as a cohesive factor for Asian countries to converge on regional commonness despite intraregional disparities. When looking at Northeast Asia, the center of Asian dynamism, the regions future is beset by serious challenges and threats, complicated by historical conflicts and territorial disputes. Building a regional community is crucial to turn tension and conflict to cooperation and coexistence in the region, but it is hampered by hegemonic competition under the rise of nationalism. As a way out, they should take both economic and cultural approaches toward the creation of regional community according to bilateral principles based upon one-to-one negotiations. In this regard, the non-expansionary stance of Korea so far gives her a moral hegemonic precedence over China and Japan in Northeast Asian community building.This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2012-413-B00006)

Quantitative Understanding of Probabilistic Behavior of Living Cells Operated by Vibrant Intracellular Networks

For quantitative understanding of probabilistic behaviors of living cells, it is essential to construct a correct mathematical description of intracellular networks interacting with complex cell environments, which has been a formidable task. Here, we present a novel model and stochastic kinetics for an intracellular network interacting with hidden cell environments, employing a complete description of cell state dynamics and its coupling to the system network. Our analysis reveals that various environmental effects on the product number fluctuation of intracellular reaction networks can be collectively characterized by Laplace transform of the time-correlation function of the product creation rate fluctuation with the Laplace variable being the product decay rate. On the basis of the latter result, we propose an efficient method for quantitative analysis of the chemical fluctuation produced by intracellular networks coupled to hidden cell environments. By applying the present approach to the gene expression network, we obtain simple analytic results for the gene expression variability and the environment-induced correlations between the expression levels of mutually noninteracting genes. The theoretical results compose a unified framework for quantitative understanding of various gene expression statistics observed across a number of different systems with a small number of adjustable parameters with clear physical meanings.National Research Foundation of Korea (Grant 2011-0016412)National Research Foundation of Korea (Priority Research Center Program 2009-0093817