Analysis of a homologous series of non-reducing oligosaccharides from Arnica montana L. Roots

The oligosaccharide component compositions of a series of non-reducing oligosaccharides extracted from the roots of Arnica montana L. has been determined by gel permeation chromatography (g.p.c.). The range of oligosaccharides present was found to extend beyond the octasaccharide previously reported. with 16% to 19% of the oligosaccharides having a degree of polymerisation of between 11 and 19 and almost 3% having a degree of polymerisation greater than 20. The chromatographic behaviour of this series of oligosaccharides is compared with that observed for series of D-gluco-oligosaccharides.     

Kinetic interpretation ofα- andβ-Si3N4 formation from oxide-free high-purity silicon powder

A kinetic analysis of the isothermal nitridation of high-purity oxide-free silicon powder is described. The kinetic analysis suggests that the and polymorphs of Si₃N₄ are formed by separate and parallel reaction paths. This analysis provides for the decoupling and quantitative kinetic interpretation of- and-Si₃N₄ formation reactions. Consistent with existing microstructural and thermodynamic evidence, the-forming reaction is shown to obey a first-order rate law, whereas a phase-boundary controlled rate law describes the-forming reaction. A kinetic model employing these rate laws is developed and is used to predict the/ phase ratio as a function of isothermal reaction temperature and extent of reaction. The/ phase ratios so obtained are shown to be in good agreement with experimental observations made under a variety of reaction conditions.     

Real-time imaging using a 4.3-THz quantum cascade laser and a 320 /spl times/ 240 microbolometer focal-plane array

We report the use of a /spl sim/50-mW peak power 4.3-THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) as an illumination source for real-time imaging with a 320 /spl times/ 240 element room-temperature microbolometer focal-plane array detector. The QCL is modulated synchronously with the focal-plane array for differential imaging. Signal-to-noise ratios of /spl sim/340 are achieved at a 20-frame/s acquisition rate, and the optical noise equivalent power of the detector array at 4.3 THz is estimated to be /spl sim/320 pW//spl radic/Hz. Both reflection and transmission mode imaging are demonstrated.     

Performance evaluation and implementation complexity analysis framework for ZF based linear massive MIMO detection

Wireless Networks - This paper discusses a framework for algorithm-architecture synergy for (1) performance evaluation and (2) FPGA implementation complexity analysis of linear massive MIMO...     

Strontium Zirconate and Strontium Titanate Ceramics for High-Voltage Applications: Synthesis, Processing, and Dielectric Properties

The synthesis, processing, and electrical properties of SrZrO₃ and SrTiO₃ materials have been examined. Phase-pure powders of SrZrO₃ and SrTiO₃ materials were synthesized using the Pechini method. Powder processing routes that used water and 2-propanol as carrier fluids were developed to achieve high green densities, which resulted in sintered densities of >99% of the theoretical density. The relative permittivity and average breakdown strength for carefully processed SrZrO₃ were 60 and 40 V/μm; the corresponding values for SrTiO₃ were 400 and 35 V/μm. The higher breakdown strengths suggest that these materials can be used in high-voltage capacitor applications.     

Temporal alterations in mRNA levels for proteinases and inhibitors and their potential regulators in the healing medial collateral ligament

Thrombin elicits responses in platelets such as shape change, aggregation, arachidonate liberation and secretion of the contents of three storage granules, processes that coincide with serine/threonine and tyrosine phosphorylation of numerous proteins, hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides and mobilisation of Ca2+ within the cell. However, the significance of these parallel signal transduction processes has not been clearly elucidated in the light of the prevalent autocrine stimulation in platelets: a great amplification of the thrombin signal through secreted ADP, by production of thromboxane A2 from the liberated arachidonic acid, by the close cell contact produced by aggregation caused by exposure of integrin receptors that become ligated by fibrinogen and other platelet-produced factors. In the present communication five pathways of autocrine stimulation have been prevented by appropriate inhibitors. Under these conditions thrombin stimulated platelet secretion with little tyrosine phosphorylation, except for a 125-130 kDa protein that was tyrosine-phosphorylated in response to one of the inhibitors, the peptide Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (RGDS) used to block aggregation. In sharp contrast, collagen elicits massive tyrosine phosphorylation and platelet secretion in the absence of autocrine stimulation. When the thrombin-induced tyrosine phosphorylations was corrected for RGDS-induced phosphorylation, the presence of inhibitors of autocrine stimulation reduced the thrombin-induced phosphorylation by 97%. Our results strongly suggests that tyrosine phosphorylation is not part of the signal transduction pathway initiated by thrombin per se, but it represents an integral part of signal transduction initiated by collagen.     

Characterization and Modeling of Broad Spectrum InAs–GaAs Quantum-Dot Superluminescent Diodes Emitting at 1.2–1.3 μm

High-power broadband superluminescent diodes (SLDs) emitting in the 1.2-1.3-mum region are demonstrated using InAs-GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The highest output powers of ~30-50 mW are achieved using 18 QD layers with p-doped GaAs spacers. At these high powers the device operates in a regime of broad bandwidth (~100 nm) with a spectral dip of ~5 dB between two separate peaks originated by the QD ground and excited states. Spectral calculations performed with a traveling-wave rate equation model show excellent agreement with the experimental data and provide design rules for optimizing the output spectrum. SLD characteristics are presented for two different device structures consisting of tilted and bent waveguides. The latter allows the achievement of higher output powers at lower currents. The coherence properties and the temperature characteristics are also discussed in detail.     

Benchmarking of communication techniques for GPUs

We report about the performances obtained, at the application level, by two MPI implementations for Infiniband that allow direct exchange of data stored in the global memory of Graphic Processing Units (GPU) based on the Nvidia CUDA. For the same purpose, we tested also the Application Programming Interface of APEnet, which is a custom, high performance interconnect technology. As a benchmark we consider the time required to update a single spin of the 3D Heisenberg spin glass model by using the over-relaxation algorithm. The results show that CUDA streams are instrumental in achieving the best possible performances.