Differential localization of the centromere-specific proteins in the major centromeric satellite of Arabidopsis thaliana

The 180 bp family of tandem repetitive sequences, which constitutes the major centromeric satellite in Arabidopsis thaliana, is thought to play important roles in kinetochore assembly. To assess the centromere activities of the 180 bp repeats, we performed indirect fluorescence immunolabeling with antibodies against phosphorylated histone H3 at Serl0, HTR12 (Arabidopsis centromeric histone H3 variant) and AtCENP-C (Arabidopsis CENP-C homologue) for the A. thaliana cell cultures. The immunosignals from all three antibodies appeared on all sites of the 180 bp,repeats detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization. However, some of the 180 bp repeat clusters, particularly those that were long or stretched at interphase, were not fully covered with the signals from anti-HTR12 or AtCENP-C. Chromatin fiber immunolabeling clearly revealed that the centromeric proteins examined in this study, localize only at the knobs on the extended chromatin fibers, which form a limited part of the 180 bp clusters. Furthermore, outer HTR12 and inner phosphohistone H3 (Ser1O) localization at the kinetochores of metaphase chromosomes suggests that two kinds of histone H3 (a centromere variant and a phosphorylated form) might be linked to different roles in centromere functionality; the former for spindle-fiber attachment, and the latter for chromatid cohesion.</p

Fatigue Deformation Preceding Fracture Under Combined Cyclic and Steady Loads

In the problems of materials fatigue, the most researches have been made on fatigue brittle fracture. But when both the steady and cyclic loads work on the specimen, the fatigue deformation (creep) occurs and it often becomes larger than that under the static load of the same maximum value. So the behavior of the fatigue deformation must be investigated to clarify the mechanism of the fatigue fracture. In this paper the investigations were made to obtain and consider the fatigue deformation at the room temperature under push-pull loads with various stress amplitudes and various mean stresses on ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Opposed to the ordinary concepts, the permanent plastic tensile strain is observed to be generated even under completely reversed push-pull loads. The stress generating no fatigue deformation is in the range with the compressive mean stress. The fatigue yield point is generally different from the static yield point, and also the value of fatigue deformation under the tensile mean stress is different from the same absolute value of that under the compressive mean stress. It seems to be materials nature. The new relations between stress conditions and fatigue deformations were discovered and represented by a criterion

Stress Distribution around a Screw Dislocation in a Thin Crystal

This paper presents the result of calculations on the stress distribution around a screw dislocation in a thin foil-crystal calculated by use of the IBM digital computer. In an infinite medium, it is well known that a screw dislocation makes a stress field with one stress component τθz, where z is the direction of the Burgers vector. In a thin foil-crystal, it was found that a screw dislocation makes a stress field with not only τθz which vanishes at free surface but τγθ which concentrates at the surface

The Effect of Stress Sequence on the Fatigue Strength under Program Loading

The annealed S35C carbon stetel was tested under the many-fold multiple repeated stresses in four stess levels in rotating bending. The effect of the stress sequence on fatigue lives was investigated in association with the effect of the initial stress level and the magnitude of stress levels as a whole. The number of cycles in one program block, n₀, was chosen at 3600. The results show : (1) The effects of the initial stress level and the stress sequence on the fatigue lives can not be seen, because the value of n₀ in this experiment is very small in comparison with the total number of cycles to failure. (2) When the maximum stress σ₄ is high and all the stresses are overstresses, the actual fatigue lives coincide nearly with the theoretical ones which are calculated by using the linear damage law. When σ₄ becomes low, the actual fatigue life Nf becomes samller than the theoretical one Nₜₕ, and Nf reaches the smallest value at a certain stress level. When the all stresses except σ₄ are understresses, Nf becomes equal to or larger than Nₜₕ

An Energy-Aware Video Streaming System for Portable Computing Devices

MDM'06 : 7th International Conference on Mobile Data Management , May 9-12, 2006 , Nara, JapanIn this demonstration, we show an energy-aware video streaming system which allows users to play back video for the specified duration within the remaining battery amount. In the system, we execute a proxy server on an intermediate node in the network. It receives the video stream from a content server, transcodes it to the videos with appropriate quality, and forwards it to a PDA or a laptop PC. Here, suitable parameter values of the video (such as picture size, frame rate and bitrate) which enable playback for the specified duration are automatically calculated on the proxy using our battery consumption model. The system also allows users to play back video segments with different qualities based on the importance specified to each video segment

Framework for virtual collaboration emphasized by awareness information and asynchronous interaction

ICME2008 : IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo , Jun 23-26, 2008 , Hannover, GermanyIn this paper, we propose a framework which allows remote users to form conversation groups based on spatial relationship in a shared virtual space. Our proposed framework can transport awareness information of real world by capturing and transferring user’s audio visual information. Our framework also provides functions useful to CSCW, which allow each user to simultaneously join different conversation groups, and communicate with others asynchronously exchanging awareness information. We show a reference implementation architecture to realize the framework in an ordinary computing and networking environment

An Endorsement-Based Mobile Payment System for a Disaster Area

AINA-2015 : IEEE 29th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications , Mar 24-27, 2015 , Gwangju, KoreaA payment system in a disaster area is essential for people to buy necessities such as groceries, clothing, and medical supplies. However, existing payment systems require the needed communication infrastructures (like wired networks and cellular networks) to enable transactions, so that these systems cannot be relied on in disaster areas, where these communication infrastructures may be destroyed. In this paper, we propose a mobile payment system, adopting infrastructure less mobile adhoc networks (MANETs), which allow users to shop in disaster areas while providing secure transactions. Specifically, we propose an endorsement-based scheme to guarantee each transaction and a scheme to provide monitoring based on location information, and thus achieve transaction validity and reliability. Our mobile payment system can also prevent collusion between two parties and reset and recover attacks by any user. Security is ensured by using location-based mutual monitoring by nearby users, avoiding thereby double spending in the system

GreenSwirl: Combining traffic signal control and route guidance for reducing traffic congestion

VNC2014 : IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference , Dec 3-5, 2014 , Paderborn, GermanySerious traffic congestion is a major social problem in large cities. Inefficient setting of traffic signal cycles, especially, is one of the main causes of congestion. Green Wave is a method for controlling traffic signals which allows one-way traffic to pass through a series of intersections without being stopped by a red light. Green Wave was tested in several cities around the world, but the results were not satisfactory. Two of the problems with Green Wave are that it still stops the crossing traffic, and it forms congestion in the traffic turning into or out of the crossing streets. To solve these problems, we propose a method of controlling traffic signals, GreenSwirl, in combination with a route guidance method, GreenDrive. GreenSwirl controls traffic signals to enable a smooth flow of traffic through signals times to turn green in succession and through non-stop circular routes through the city. The GreenWave technology is extended thereby. We also use navigation systems to optimize the overall control of the city's traffic. We did a simulation using the traffic simulator SUMO and the road network of Manhattan Island in New York. We confirmed that our method shortens the average travel time by 10%-60%, even when not all cars on the road are equipped to use this system