e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

“Okayama University supports the Sustainable Development Goals”
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University

1e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

Contents
FeatureOkayama University Hosts World’s First International Conference on Attainment of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)

News・ Okayama University honored with special prize in the first Japan SDGs Awards!!
・ President Makino Speaks at 1st Japan SDGs Award Briefing Session
・ President Makino and others visit the UNESCO headquarters to present Okayama University’sefforts for SDGs and ESD

Research Highlights
・ Plant science: New insights into infection strategy of Rhizoctonia solani, a causal agent for rice
sheath blight, highlighted by the plant defense mechanism
・ Comparative genomics of epidemic strains from cholera patients reveals evolution of Vibrio
cholerae O1
・ High temperature superconductors: Discovery of a new form of electronic wave
・ Identification of illegal users from pirated copies of multimedia contents

TopicsRadio Message from International Students (World Heartful Message)

Further information
About Okayama University

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University2e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

FeatureOkayama University Hosts World’s First International Conference on Attainmentof Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
From 5-7 December 2017, Okayama
University, the United Nations University
Institute for the Advanced Study of
Sustainability (UNU-IAS) and Regional
Centers of Expertise on Education for
Sustainable Development (RCE) Okayama cohosted the first world RCE conference on thetheme of the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development entitled,“First RCE Thematic Conference: Towards
Achieving the SDGs”, at the Okayama
Convention Center in Okayama City.

First RCE Thematic Conference: Towards Achieving the SDGs

Approximately 200 representatives of international organizations, governments, academia, industry,
communities, NGOs and NPOs from 26 countries attended the conference. One of the main goals of theparticipants was to share their ideas and best practices related to Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) and to discuss ways of finding solutions to global issues such as climate change,
biodiversity, and sustainable consumption and production (of food) through plenary sessions, training
capacity building workshops and field trips.
At the opening ceremony on the first day, greetings were given by Chairperson Hirofumi Abe of the
Okayama ESD Promotion Commission (professor of Okayama University); President Hirofumi Makino of
Okayama University; UNU-IAS Director Kazuhiko Takemoto; Mayor Masao Omori of Okayama City and
Masaaki Kobayashi, Ministry of the Environment Senior Advisor (former Administrative Vice Ministerfor the Environment). UNU-IAS Project Director Naoya Tsukamoto also gave a talk on the current
activities of the RCE Network.
Furthermore, on December 5, a plenary session entitled “Further Development of ESD towards theachievement of SDGs” was held to discuss ways how ESD practices and resources of Okayama could
contribute to achieving the SDGs at local, national, regional and global levels. The panel discussioncommenced with an overview on the Okayama ESD Project by Chairperson Abe, followed by casepresentations by panelists from RCE Okayama, RCE Saskatchewan (Canada), RCE Denmark (Denmark)and RCE Cairo (Egypt) with focus on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable consumption andproduction (of food). At the conclusion of the session, Moderator Professor Kiichi Oyasu of the Center for
Global Partnerships and Education provided a summary of the key discussion points andrecommendations from the session that focused on opportunities for revisiting Okayama University’s ongoing ESD practices and activities in view of the 17 goals under the SDGs, for future planning.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University3e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

At the second plenary session, entitled “Considering SDGs from
Okayama – Towards further multi-stakeholder partnerships
between industry and academia for the SDGs ” to seek topromote and support the Goal 17, the main discussion was onchallenges and opportunities for higher education institutions tomake much wider ranging contributions to the SDGs throughexcellence in research and education with multi-stakeholder
partnerships and other voluntary initiatives. President Makino
took the podium, saying, “Resonating with the SDGs, we will
President Makino gave a talkcreate new value with the whole university progressing forwardwith education, research and social contributions,” followed by guest speakers from industry, Chair Masao
Seki of the revision drafting group at Keidanren Charter of Corporate Behavior (Senior Adviser on CSR,
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc.) and Chairperson Hisashi Matsuda of Okayama Association of
Corporate Executives (President and CEOO of Ryobi Holdings). As an example of Okayama University’s
industry-academia cooperation, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Eiji Tomita, introduced the lightenvironmental load engine being pursued as an industrial cooperation project. Additionally, Dean
Yasutomo Nasu of the Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Science described thedevelopment of medicines for use in gene therapy, and Associate Professor Yuta Nishina of the ResearchCore for Interdisciplinary Science gave an overview of his research into materials development including
as ‘graphene oxide’. The session was concluded with closing remarks from Executive Vice President
Hiroshi Kanzaki of Okayama University, saying, “Research and education could contribute to achieving
the SDGs through collaboration and greater engagement with government, industry, let alone, civil society.
Working across disciplines and sectors is also a key.”
Further plenary sessions and capacity building workshops were
held on December 6. On December 7, participants visited tocompanies in Okayama City and Maniwa City. Okayama
University students also participated in the conference and field
trips as support staff. The conference was a great success.
Soon after this event, Okayama University received the special
prize, the “SDGs Partnership Award” in the first Japan SDGs
Awards from the Government of Japan. The recipients,
The Field trips in Maniwa
companies or organizations that have made exceptional efforts
contributing to the attainment of SDGs, were selected and presented with the award by the SDGs
Promotion Headquarters (headed by the Prime Minister) in order to promote all-Japan action on SDGs.
With Okayama University’s collective action and response to the SDGs and solid foundation andreputation of ESD, the university actively seeks opportunities to advance the SDGs beyond academic
disciplines and institutional boundaries; namely connecting research and education to society, andengaging stakeholders beyond the university. In other words, the SDGs will be a major influencer anddriver for mobilizing the university’s knowledge and solutions for sustainable development whiletransforming its organizational behavior and culture, which makes it more distinct and attractive thanever before for a higher education destination for sustainable development.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
4e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Regional Centers of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs)
In 2002, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution announcing the Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (UNDESD 2005-2014), based on the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
The United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the lead agency for the UNDESD,
stressed the need to reorient existing education towards sustainability.
In 2003, in response to the UN resolution on the UNDESD, the United Nations University Institute for
the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) launched the ESD project, with funding support from
the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. The ESD project designs and implements research anddevelopment activities through two flagship initiatives: a global multi-stakeholder global network ofRegional Centers of Expertise on ESD (RCEs) and a network of higher education institutions called thePromotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research Network (ProSPER.Net).
As of September 2017, 158 RCEs have officially been acknowledged by the United Nations University
worldwide. The Global RCE Service Centre is headquartered at UNU-IAS, where it provides assistance toindividual RCEs and facilitates their communication and networking.

RCE Okayama
RCE Okayama is a multi-stakeholder platform composed of more than 250 members of organizations,collaborating to empower people to change the way they think and work towards a sustainable future in
Okayama City. Acknowledged first in the world as one of the ‘Initial Seven’ RCE’s, by the United Nations
University (UNU) in 2005, RCE Okayama has been part of a coalition of 158 RCEs around the world formore than a decade.
In 2014, RCE Okayama hosted the 9th Global RCE Conference, co-organized by UNU-IAS. Input andrecommendations were thereafter shared at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Aichi, Nagoya,
partnering with UNESCO and the Government of Japan on the occasion of the end of the UN Decade ofESD (2005-2014). After 2015, RCE Okayama and Okayama City committed to further accelerating andmainstreaming ESD, by implementing the Global Action Programme (GAP), the follow-up programme to
the UN Decade of ESD. In response to its vision and mission, RCE Okayama also launched the ESD
Okayama Award in 2015, and offered a variety of programmes for youth and multi-stakeholders acrossthe city and beyond.
Recently, RCE Okayama and Okayama City received prestigious global awards and recognition from
UNESCO, including the UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD 2016 and the UNESCO Learning City Award 2017.
These are also significant steps in RCE Okayama’s global outreach efforts to contribute to the UNSustainable Development Goals (SDGS) towards a better and sustainable future for all.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
5e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Further information
About SDGs (the United Nations)
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
About an approach to SDGs of Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/profile/okayama-sdgs.html
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7333.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7269.html

Reference (Okayama University e-Bulletin)
e-Bulletin vol.20： Getting ready for the SDGs
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/user/kouhou/ebulletin/feature/vol20/feature_001.html

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
6e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

News

Okayama University honored with special prize in the first Japan SDGs Awards!!
On 26 December 2017, Okayama University was presented
with the “SDGs Partnership Award” in the first Japan SDGs
Awards.
The Japan SDGs Award encourages efforts by companies andorganizations for realization of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The recipients,
companies or organizations that have made exceptional efforts
contributing to the attainment of SDGs, are selected andpresented with the award by the SDGs Promotion
Headquarters (headed by the Prime Minister) in order topromote all-Japan action on SDGs. Okayama University washonored with the special prize, the SDGs Partnership Award,
presented to companies and organizations recognized ashaving performed meritorious service deserving special
mention. Okayama University was the sole national or public
university to receive an award.
President Hirofumi Makino attended the award ceremony at
the Office of the Prime Minister on behalf of Okayama
University, where he received the award certificate.

Address by Prime Minister Abe(from HP of theprime minister's official residence )Commemorative photo during an interview

At a press conference held at the Tsushima Campus on the same day, President Makino said, “It is a greathonor to have Okayama University’s efforts recognized in this way. I believe this award is due to theactivities of the local community, including the Education for Sustainable Development（ESD）activities
conducted thus far in the Okayama City area. In the future, we intend to make further contributions to
the attainment of the SDGs through collaboration with the local community and international society.”In the activities toward attainment of the SDGs, Okayama University will promote the transparency andcoordination of its various kinds of intramural endeavors as well as enhancing cooperation with a wide
range of organizations and people, such as the local community, private companies and NPOs.
Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7332.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7256.html

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
7e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

News

President Makino Speaks at 1st Japan SDGs Award Briefing Session
A briefing session was held on January 20 at the Fukoku Seimei
Bldg. in Tokyo on the 1st Japan SDGs Award. The Japan SDGs
Award was created to recognize enterprises or organizations
selected by the SDGs Promotion Headquarters (headed by thePrime Minister) for making exceptional
efforts that
contribute to achievement of the SDGs. Okayama University
won a special prize, the “SDGs Partnership Award,” forachievements worthy of special mention. The briefing session
brought the twelve winning organizations together, including
Okayama University, allowing each organization to report onits efforts. There were about 250 people in attendance, with
Kotaro Katsuki, Director of the Global Issues Cooperation
Division of the International Cooperation Bureau at Japan’s
Foreign Ministry taking the platform as a commentator, alongwith Kaoru Nemoto, Director of the United Nations
Information Center (UNIC) in Tokyo, and Miyuki Hokugo,
News Bureau Copy Editor at Asahi Shimbun Co.

Group photo of speakers

President Makino gave a talkPresident Hirofumi Makino of Okayama University gave aspeech on “Partnerships Resonating with Each Other—
Okayama University’s Initiatives for Contributing to the SDGs.” He reported about “social problemsolving genes” inherited in the area of Okayama and the results of Education for Sustainable Development(ESD) in Okayama. In addition, he described how the university’s efforts toward the SDGs had accelerated
since he become president in April 2017. Before concluding his speech, he proposed having the awardwinning organizations team up to create an “SDGs Award Ecosystem” for informing the world of Japan’s
SDGs model. Director Katsuki highly appraised Okayama University’s efforts, the president’s leadershipand his proposal for informing the world of the SDGs model, commenting, “It is important that thegenerations that will bear responsibility for our future society have the SDGs spirit.” Editor Hokugo
commented, “What the SDGs constitute needs to be reexamined in an educational setting. It is there thatsolutions can be found, and they must be brought forth.”

At the conclusion of the briefing session, Director Nemoto commented, “I would like every one of you toparticipate with the SDGs as your own ideals,” and Director Katsuki said, “The awards will be held nextyear, too, so I hope we will have many entries.”

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
8e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Okayama University’s Action Guidelines and Achievements in the SDGs
Okayama University is undertaking activities that will contribute to achievement of the SDGs
(Sustainable Development Goals), and in accordance with their principles and aims, exerts leadershiptoward realization of a sustainable society.
Significance of Okayama University’s Action Guidelines regarding the SDGs
1. Contribution toward the SDGs, which consist of present-day challenges shared by all of humanity,means to help work toward Okayama University’s purpose of “Building up a new paradigm for asustainable world,” on the basis of our mission, “Creating and fostering higher knowledge and wisdom.”
2. Okayama University, which has a UNESCO Chair and has promoted Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD), has the groundwork and responsibility to promote the SDGs, joining together with
the Okayama region and international society.
3. We will engage in educational research together with activities to contribute to society, with the SDGs
as a language in common with society.
4. By contributing to achievement of the SDGs, we will foster human resources with outstanding
capability in problem-solving.

Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7337.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7280.html

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
9e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

News

President Makino and others visit the UNESCO headquarters to present
Okayama University’s efforts for SDGs and ESD
During 2-3 November 2017, President Makino and his group
visited the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, to present
Okayama University’s efforts for Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD), which UNESCO is leading, and also the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which the UN istrying to achieve with the global community. Information was
also gathered on implementation of SDGs and ESD.
UNESCO is an agency within the UN that led the 2005-2014“UN Decade of ESD” and leads the 2015-2019“Global Action
Programme (GAP) on ESD.”In 2005, the Okayama region
became a Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD (RCE)andin 2007 Okayama University was approved as UNESCO Chair.
In 2014, the UNESCO World Conference on ESD was held in
Okayama city, which shows how the Okayama region andOkayama University have been leaders for ESD and havedeveloped a close relationship with UNESCO.

President Makino visited the
Headquarters in Paris, France

UNESCO

During the visit, President Makino and his group of three
MEXT Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi andjoined gatherings for organizations that won awards related to
President Makino (left)the 3rd UNESCO-JAPAN Prize on ESD, which are given in
conjunction with the UNESCO General Conference. They also
attended publication parties related to SDGs and ESD. Opinions were exchanged in a meeting with:MEXT Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who attended as a representative of the Japanese government whichsponsored the UNESCO-JAPAN Prize on ESD; UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Qian
Tang; UNESCO Education Sector EDS Section Chief Alexander Leicht and Miriam Tereick. The Makino
Vision along with SDGs and ESD programs that are unique to Okayama University, were also presented
with passion during the exchange.
Further information
Okayama University (English page)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/news/index_id7223.html
Okayama University (Japanese page)

http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/tp/news/news_id7151.html

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
10e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

Research Highlights

Plant science: New insights into infection strategy of Rhizoctonia solani, a causal
agent for rice sheath blight, highlighted by the plant defense mechanism
Rhizoctonia solani is a soil-borne phytopathogicalfungi causing sheath blight, a major disease incultivated rice. It gives rise to serious damage in
agriculture and economies in USA and East Asia
including Japan.
Phytopathogens are classified in terms of theirlifestyle and R. solani is regarded as a necrotrophic
pathogen which kills its host to obtain nutrients. In
contrast, biotrophic pathogens parasitize their hosts
to deprive nutrients form living cells. Since all ricecultivars are not fully resistant to R. solani,

Fig.1.Effects of pretreatment of phytohormones on R. solani

fungicides are the only current means to deal with

infection in B. distachyon

this pest.
Yusuke Kouzai, Yoshiteru Noutoshi, and colleagues at Okayama University have developed apathosystem using R. solani and Brachypodium distachyon, an emerging monocotyledonous model plant,
and found that pretreatment of a phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) can induce disease resistance in both
B. distachyon and rice against R. solani. Consistently, the SA-deficient transgenic rice is more susceptible
to R. solani compared with wild-type.
Furthermore, two accessions of B. distachyon were found to be resistant against R. solani, that activate
SA-dependent immunity after inoculation.
These results update the pathogenic program of R. solani as a hemi-biotroph which uses biotrophic phaseat the initial invading step where SA-dependent plant immunity can effectively block. In addition, B.
distachyon should deploy disease resistance proteins which work as a sensor detecting R. solani to activate
defense response.
The researchers proposed two options to counteract this intractable disease: 1. development of R. solaniresistance cultivars using genetic resources of B. distachyon; and 2. development of plant immuneactivating chemicals termed plant defense activator with SA-based functionality.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
11e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Fig.2. Effect of salicylic acid pretreatment on R. solani hyphal growth (purple filaments) on B. distachyon leaf surface. SA treatment prevents
formation of structure called infection cushion (dense clots) required for the progression to its necrotrophic stage.

Fig.3. Disease symptom (left) and relative fungal biomass inside leaves (right) of three different accessions of B. distachyon Bd21, Bd3-1, andGaz-4 inoculated with R. solani.

Reference:
Authors
Yusuke Kouzai, Mamiko Kimura, Megumi Watanabe, Kazuki Kusunoki, Daiki Osaka, Tomoko Suzuki,
Hidenori Matsui, Mikihiro Yamamoto, Yuki Ichinose, Kazuhiro Toyoda, Takakazu Matsuura, Izumi C.
Mori, Takashi Hirayama, Eiichi Minami, Yoko Nishizawa, Komaki Inoue, Yoshihiko Onda, Keiichi
Mochida, and Yoshiteru Noutoshi
Title of original paper
Salicylic acid-dependent immunity contributes to resistance against Rhizoctonia solani, anecrotrophic fungal agent of sheath blight, in rice and Brachypodium distachyon.
Journal, volume, pages and year
New Phytologist 217(2), 771-783. (2018)
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
12e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1111/nph.14849
Journal website
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.14849/fullAffiliations
Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University
Author website
http://noutoshi-lab.com/english/index_e.html

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
13e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

Research Highlights

Comparative genomics of epidemic strains from cholera patients reveals evolution ofVibrio cholerae O1
Cholera is an acute serious diarrheal diseasecaused by the bacterial pathogen Vibrio
cholerae O1, and this infectious disease is amajor public health problem in many
developing countries. The Bengal region
including Kolkata City is considered theepicenter for cholera pandemics. Therefore,
to control and prevent the spread of thisdisease, it is important to clarify and gain
greater understanding of the genetic
dynamism of the strains from cholera
patients in Kolkata, India.

Genetic variation of VSP-II in V. cholerae O1 Kolkata strains.

By collaborating with other institutions including the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shin-ichi
Miyoshi obtained and analyzed the whole genome sequence data of 80 strains isolated between 2007 and2014 in Kolkata. Miyoshi and members of his colleagues also studied the periodical variation of theheterogeneous genomic region termed the Vibrio seventh pandemic island (VSP)-II.
The results of the comparative genomic analysis revealed the heterogeneity of VSP-II in Kolkata strains.
Specifically, in 2010 they found the continuous mutation of the VSP-II and the resulting shift of the
predominant strain to a virulent strain. These findings demonstrate that the epidemic of cholera in
Kolkata was caused by several distinct strains that have been constantly changing within the genetic
lineages of V. cholerae O1 in recent years.
Reference:
Authors
Daisuke Imamura, Masatomo Morita, Tsuyoshi Sekizuka, Tamaki Mizuno, Taichiro Takemura, Tetsu
Yamashiro, Goutam Chowdhury, Gururaja P. Pazhani, Asish K. Mukhopadhyay, Thandavarayan
Ramamurthy, Shin-ichi Miyoshi, Makoto Kuroda, Sumio Shinoda, and Makoto Ohnishi.
Title of original paper
Comparative genome analysis of VSP-II and SNPs reveals heterogenic variation in contemporary
strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 isolated from cholera patients in Kolkata, India.
Journal, volume, pages and year
PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11,e0005386 (2017).
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
14e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1371/journal.pntd.0005386
Journal website
http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005386
Affiliations
Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University.
Graduate School website
http://www.pharm.okayama-u.ac.jp

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
15

e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

Research Highlights

High temperature superconductors: Discovery of a new form of electronic wave
Electronsinsuperconductors

move without

feeling

resistance so that no energy is dissipated. Copper-oxide hightemperatures superconductors are promising materials toresolve the energy and environment problems of our society.
However, it is still elusive why the electrons can function athigh temperatures up to 160 Kelvin (-110 degree Celsius) in
the superconductors.

Now, a research group at Okayama University led by
Guo-qing Zheng has found that electrons form an ordercalled charge density wave before the material becomessuperconducting in the high temperature superconductor
Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6.

Figure caption: evolution of the new form of electronic
wave (labeled as CDW) in the high temperature
superconductors Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6.

The finding was made by applying a strong magnetic field up to 45 Tesla in the CuO2 plane which is themost basic unit of the material, then probing how the electrons moving around with the nuclear magnetic
resonance (NMR) technique.
Furthermore, Zheng and colleagues demonstrated that electric charge takes over the role of electron spinthat forces the material to become a magnet when a certain number of carriers are doped into the parent
compound Bi2Sr2CuO6.
This discovery sheds new light on the understanding of high temperature superconductivity and may
help find new superconductors functioning at higher temperatures.

Reference:
Authors
Shinji Kawasaki, Zheng Li, Minori Kitahashi, Chengtian Lin, Philip L. Kuhns, Arneil P. Reyes andGuo-qing Zheng.
Title of original paper
Charge-density-wave order takes over antiferromagnetism in Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6 superconductors.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
16e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Journal, volume, pages and year
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 8, 1267 (2017).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1038/s41467-017-01465-9
Journal website:
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01465-9
Affiliations
Department of Physics, Okayama University.
Department website
http://www.physics.okayama-u.ac.jp/zheng_homepage/1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
17e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

Research Highlights

Identification of illegal users from pirated copies of multimedia contents
To identify illegal users from pirated copies, information about the identities of each user— so called
fingerprints— should be inserted into multimedia content before selling. The most challenging issue isrobustness against a collusion attack where a coalition of users remove/modify fingerprints by comparing
their copies. Fingerprinting code is one of the most promising approaches for the collusion-secure tracing
system.
In the identification of illegal users, each user’s codeword is checked by calculating the similarity scorewith the codeword extracted from a pirated copy. Although an optimal scoring function has beenreported using a conventional method, the realization is difficult because the number of illegal users andtheir attack strategy are inevitable.
Now, Minoru Kuribayashi and colleagues at Okayama University have developed a new scoring function
and proposed a semi-optimal method which can effectively classify illegal and innocent users with asimple operation.
Their method estimates the attack strategy in order to select its corresponding weight for calculating
similarity scores. The advantage of this method is the simplicity required for the estimation because it
only observes the bias of symbols ‘0’ and ‘1’ and then roughly classifies the strategy into three classes.
The method also assumes a realistic situation such that a pirated copy may be distorted by additional
attacks which intend to delete the fingerprint in a signal processing domain.
The performance was evaluated in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise, and it was comparedwith some state-of-the-art methods. As a result, it was confirmed that the best performance wasobtained by the proposed method and it was very close to the optimal one.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
18e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Fig.1: Framework of the fingerprinting system.

At the distribution of multimedia content, a server inserts unique ID information called fingerprint into
the content. Once a copy is found, the illegal users can be identified if the fingerprint is correctly extracted.

Fig.2: Collusion attack

If a coalition of users compares their codewords, they can find the positions where some of their symbols
are same and they cannot modify the symbols at such positions. Otherwise, they can select the symbols
with an arbitrary strategy such as majority voting, minority voting, and so on.

Fig.3: Flowchart of the proposed method

The proposed method first estimates the attack strategy into three classes, and then customizes the scoring
function according to the estimated strategy. Both the estimator and scoring function exploit the bias ofsymbols in a pirated codeword y which can be observed directly from the codeword.

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
19e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

Reference
Authors
Minoru Kuribayashi and Nobuo Funabiki.
Title of original paper
Universal Scoring Function Based on Bias Equalizer for Bias-Based Fingerprinting Codes.
Journal, volume, pages and year
IEICE Trans. E101-D, No.1, 119-128, (2018).
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1587/transfun.E101.A.119
Journal website
http://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=e101-a_1_119
Affiliations
Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University.
Department website
http://www.ec.okayama-u.ac.jp/~dist/kuribayashi

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
20e-Bulletin■

Vol.21, March 2018

TopicsRadio Message from International Students (World Heartful Message)
Okayama University is now broadcasting an internet
radio program in which international students who havecome to study at Okayama University talk on topics suchas their lives in Japan as students, what it is like to live
in Okayama City, and research themes. The broadcasts
are produced in English or the native languages of thestudents.
Mr.Mandeep Singh Reen of the Graduate School of
Natural Science and Technology from India talked about
his research and plans for the future.

Mr.Mandeep Singh Reen (right)

Further information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZDBIR0Npo4&list=PLJikPQTwoCj4ggr
OUY2cs_AJZIeWdG4t8&index=3&t=363s
Radio Message from International Students
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJikPQTwoCj4ggrOUY2cs_AJZIeWdG4t8

1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University
21e-Bulletin

Vol.21, March 2018

◆Further information
Okayama University
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
Public Relations and Information Strategy
E-mail: www-adm@adm.okayama-u.ac.jp
Website: http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/index_e.html
Okayama University e-Bulletin
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/user/kouhou/ebulletin/
Okayama University Medical Research Updates (OU-MRU)
http://www.okayama-u.ac.jp/eng/research_highlights/index_id56.html
About Okayama University (YouTube 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDL1coqPRYIOkayama University Image Movie (YouTube 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU3hOIXS5kk◆About Okayama University
Okayama University is one of the largest comprehensive universities inJapan with roots going back to the Medical Training Place sponsored by the
Lord of Okayama and established in 1870. Now with 1,300 faculty and13,000 students, the University offers courses in specialties ranging frommedicine and pharmacy to humanities and physical sciences.
Okayama University is located in the heart of Japan approximately 3 hours
west of Tokyo by Shinkansen.
Hirofumi Makino, M.D., Ph.D.
President , Okayama University“Okayama University supports the Sustainable Development Goals”
1-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8530 Japan© Okayama University22