This paper proposes a novel face descriptor based on color information, i.e., so-called local color vector binary patterns (LCVBPs), for face recognition (FR). The proposed LCVBP consists of two discriminative patterns: color norm patterns and color angular patterns. In particular, we have designed a method for extracting color angular patterns, which enables to encode the discriminating texture patterns derived from spatial interactions among different spectral-band images. In order to perform FR tasks, the proposed LCVBP feature is generated by combining multiple features extracted from both color norm patterns and color angular patterns. Extensive and comparative experiments have been conducted to evaluate the proposed LCVBP feature on five public databases. Experimental results show that the proposed LCVBP feature is able to yield excellent FR performance for challenging face images. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed LCVBP feature has successfully been tested by comparing other state-of-the-art face descriptors.

We have found, using a newly developed genetic method, a protein (named Cnu, for oriC-binding nucleoidassociated) that binds to a specific 26-base-pair sequence (named cnb) in the origin of replication of Escherichia coli, oriC. Cnu is composed of 71 amino acids (8.4 kDa) and shows extensive amino acid identity to a group of proteins belonging to the Hha/YmoA family. Cnu was previously discovered as a protein that, like Hha, complexes with H-NS in vitro. Our in vivo and in vitro assays confirm the results and further suggest that the complex formation with H-NS is involved in Cnu/Hha binding to cnb. Unlike the hns mutants, elimination of either the cnu or hha gene did not disturb the growth rate, origin content, and synchrony of DNA replication initiation of the mutants compared to the wild-type cells. However, the cnu hha double mutant was moderately reduced in origin content. The Cnu/Hha complex with H-NS thus could play a role in optimal activity of oriC.The chromosomal DNA replication in Escherichia coli starts from a single locus called oriC that is minimally 258 base pairs (bp) long. This DNA sequence contains DNA-binding sites for many different proteins that participate in DNA replication (Fig. 1). There are eight binding sites (DnaA boxes and I sites) for the initiator protein DnaA (19,35). The IciA and DpiA proteins bind to the AT-rich 13-mer repeats in oriC. IciA inhibits unwinding of the repeats (11), and overexpression of DpiA can cause SOS response (20). Nucleoid proteins such as IHF and Fis bind specifically to oriC and bend oriC upon binding (27). Another nucleoid protein, HU, binds to oriC nonspecifically but modulates the binding of IHF to oriC (5). Binding of these nucleoid proteins was shown in vitro to assist the action of DnaA protein in the unwinding of oriC (12, 28). The SeqA protein known as a negative modulator of replication initiation (17) binds specifically to two sites in oriC and has higher affinity toward hemimethylated rather than fully methylated oriC (33,34). Nonspecific acid phosphatase also preferentially binds to hemimethylated oriC (26). Rob binds to the right region of oriC (31), while phosphorylated ArcA protein binds to the left region of oriC (16). Although deletion of the rob gene has no phenotype, phosphorylated ArcA inhibits chromosomal replication in vitro (16). Finally, CspD, a singlestranded DNA-binding protein, was shown to inhibit DNA replication in vitro (37).The control of chromosomal DNA replication is a complex process in which many proteins are needed to allow initiation at the right time and frequency in accordance with the changing environment. Because the process remains to be satisfactorily understood, we contemplated that there could be more oriC-binding proteins yet to be discovered. In an attempt to find new oriC-binding proteins, we used a genetic strategy that employs transcriptional repression that is caused by DNA binding of a protein to an operator (15). This assay revealed a novel oriC-binding protein, which we have named Cnu (oriCbinding nucle...

Automatic facial expression recognition (FER) is becoming increasingly important in the area of affective computing systems because of its various emerging applications such as human-machine interface and human emotion analysis. Recently, sparse representation based FER has become popular and has shown an impressive performance. However, sparse representation could often produce less meaningful sparse solution for FER due to intra-class variation such as variation in identity or illumination. This paper proposes a new sparse representation based FER method, aiming to reduce the intra-class variation while emphasizing the facial expression in a query face image. To that end, we present a new method for generating an intra-class variation image of each expression by using training expression images. The appearance of each intra-class variation image could be close to the appearance of the query face image in identity and illumination. Therefore, the differences between the query face image and its intra-class variation images are used as the expression features for sparse representation. Experimental results show that the proposed FER method has high discriminating capability in terms of improving FER performance. Further, the intra-class variation images of non-neutral expressions are complementary with that of neutral expression, for improving FER performance.

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Abstract. An Er:YAG laser with 2940-nm wavelength and 250-μs pulse duration is used to generate a microjet that is ejected at ∼50 m∕s in air. The strength of the microjet depends on the bubble dynamics from the beamwater interaction within the driving chamber as well as the discharging of the drug solution underneath the elastic membrane that separates the drug from the driving liquid. The jet characteristics, such as velocity, volume, and level of atomization, are obtained by high-speed camera images taken at 42,000 fps. The enhancements in jet volume (dosage) and repeated jet generation, which are aimed at making the injector suitable for general clinical applications, are achieved. The generation of repeated microjets is achieved with the help of a stepping motor that provides a uniform pressure within the drug reservoir before an ejection occurs through a micro nozzle. Also, two types of human growth hormones are used for monitoring any potential thermal damage to the drug solution due to a repeated laser ablation when driving the microjet. We provide strong evidence to support that the drugs, as they are injected to porcine skins, are free of the damage associated with the present delivery method. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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