Labeling and Characterization of Phenol-Containing Glycopeptides Using Chemoselective Probes with Isotope Tags

Secondary metabolites are structurally diverse natural products (NPs) and have been widely used for medical applications. Developing new tools to enrich NPs can be a promising solution to isolate novel NPs from the native and complex samples. Here, we developed native and deuterated chemoselective labeling probes to target phenol-containing glycopeptides by the ene-type labeling used in proteomic research. The clickable azido-linker was included for further biotin functionalization to facilitate the enrichment of labeled substrates. Afterward, our chemoselective method, in conjunction with LC-MS and MSn analysis, was demonstrated in bacterial cultures. A vancomycin-related phenol-containing glycopeptide was labeled and characterized by our labeling strategy, showing its potential in glycopeptide discovery in complex environments.     

Flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna

A flower‐shaped ultra‐wideband fractal antenna is presented. It comprises a fourth iterative flower‐shaped radiator, asymmetrical stub‐loaded feeding line, and coplanar quarter elliptical ground planes. A wide operating band of 12.12 GHz (4.58‐16.7 GHz) for S ₁₁ ≤ ? 10 dB is achieved along with an overall antenna footprint of 15.7 × 11.4 mm². In addition, other desirable characteristics, that is, omnidirectional radiation patterns, peak gain upto 5 dB, and fidelity factor more than 75% are achieved. A good agreement exists between the simulation and measured results. The obtained results illustrate that this antenna has wide operating range and compact dimensions than available structures.     

A Frame Breaking Based Hybrid Algorithm for UHF RFID Anti-Collision

Multi-tag collision imposes a vital detrimental effect on reading performance of an RFID system. In order to ameliorate such collision problem and to improve the reading performance, this paper proposes an efficient tag identification algorithm termed as the Enhanced Adaptive Tree Slotted Aloha (EATSA). The key novelty of EATSA is to identify the tags using grouping strategy. Specifically, the whole tag set is divided into groups by a frame of size F. In cases multiple tags fall into a group, the tags of the group are recognized by the improved binary splitting (IBS) method whereas the rest tags are waiting in the pipeline. In addition, an early observation mechanism is introduced to update the frame size to an optimum value fitting the number of tags. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the system throughput of our proposed algorithm can reach as much as 0.46, outperforming the prior Aloha-based protocols.     

基于RFID智能感知摄像机的溯源系统

近年来,食品安全案件屡有发生,亟需采用透明、安全、可信的食品安全溯源系统。然而现有的溯源系统高额的视频监测储存和传输费用,限制了溯源平台的推广。设计基于RFID具备联动功能的智能感知摄像机,采用自修复机制改进基于RFID的LANDMARC定位算法,精准定位每一只牲畜的活动区域;利用联动摄像头定量采集牲畜活动信息,建立牲畜活动信息;通过GPRS将采集的照片上传到服务器,极大降低视频存储和传输成本。同时将摄像头的功耗降到最低,使其能在野外用太阳能板为系统供电。用户可以通过扫描二维码查询牲畜档案信息,极大降低绿色健康畜产品溯源成本,推动溯源系统的广泛应用。     

一种相位测试用曲口面天线的设计与应用

相位测试技术可满足不同外形天线罩的在线测试需求。通过数值仿真,设计最佳变换曲线完成矩形 传输波导与圆形辐射天线的拟合连接,能够有效降低天线驻波比,实现测试探头的高增益收发,提升测试有效性。 在维持驻波比参数前提下,对天线口面弧线给予二次曲率调整,可以适应不同外形天线罩的测试稳定性要求。根据 仿真结果加工的低驻波比反射相位测试天线,已应用于多个型号天线罩成型中的相位在线测试,提高了监控的有效 性,验证了设计仿真结果的正确性。     

移动物料信息分布式传输方法及应用

在流程工业生产中,移动物料计量信息的传输普遍采用电台和无线模块。接收电台周围环境严重影响计量信息的传输效果,尤其是钢结构厂房、电磁干扰区内,数据传输过程中的丢包率、误码率相当严重。本文提出一种多节点分布式传输方法,根据各个生产作业区环境条件设置相应的WIFI节点数,实现对作业区的无线信号覆盖。网络覆盖区内无线模块、PDA终端(PDA)、终端查询设备通过节点工作频段和阵列天线自适应调节,实现数据传输最佳化。铜熔炼生产现场测试表明,此种传输方法可以有效消除周围环境的电磁干扰,数据丢包率低于0.1%。     

In Silico Study on Tumor-Size-Dependent Thermal Profiles inside an Anthropomorphic Female Breast Phantom Subjected to Multi-Dipole Antenna Array

Electromagnetic hyperthermia as a potent adjuvant for conventional cancer therapies can be considered valuable in modern oncology, as its task is to thermally destroy cancer cells exposed to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. Hyperthermia treatment planning based on computer in silico simulations has the potential to improve the localized heating of breast tissues through the use of the phased-array dipole applicators. Herein, we intended to improve our understanding of temperature estimation in an anatomically accurate female breast phantom embedded with a tumor, particularly when it is exposed to an eight-element dipole antenna matrix surrounding the breast tissues. The Maxwell equations coupled with the modified Pennes’ bioheat equation was solved in the modelled breast tissues using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) engine. The microwave (MW) applicators around the object were modelled with shortened half-wavelength dipole antennas operating at the same 1 GHz frequency, but with different input power and phases for the dipole sources. The total input power of an eight-dipole antenna matrix was set at 8 W so that the temperature in the breast tumor did not exceed 42 °C. Finding the optimal setting for each dipole antenna from the matrix was our primary objective. Such a procedure should form the basis of any successful hyperthermia treatment planning. We applied the algorithm of multi for multi-objective optimization for the power and phases for the dipole sources in terms of maximizing the specific absorption rate (SAR) parameter inside the breast tumor while minimizing this parameter in the healthy tissues. Electro-thermal simulations were performed for tumors of different radii to confirm the reliable operation of the given optimization procedure. In the next step, thermal profiles for tumors of various sizes were calculated for the optimal parameters of dipole sources. The computed results showed that larger tumors heated better than smaller tumors; however, the procedure worked well regardless of the tumor size. This verifies the effectiveness of the applied optimization method, regardless of the various stages of breast tumor development.     

Design and Characterization of a New pVII Combinatorial Phage Display Peptide Library for Protease Substrate Mining Using Factor VII Activating Protease (FSAP) as Model

We describe a novel, easy and efficient combinatorial phage display peptide substrate-mining method to map the substrate specificity of proteases. The peptide library is displayed on the pVII capsid of the M13 bacteriophage, which renders pIII necessary for infectivity and efficient retrieval, in an unmodified state. As capture module, the 3XFLAG was chosen due to its very high binding efficiency to anti-FLAG mAbs and its independency of any post-translational modification. This library was tested with Factor-VII activating protease (WT-FSAP) and its single-nucleotide polymorphism variant Marburg-I (MI)-FSAP. The WT-FSAP results confirmed the previously reported Arg/Lys centered FSAP cleavage site consensus as dominant, as well as reinforcing MI-FSAP as a loss-of-function mutant. Surprisingly, rare substrate clones devoid of basic amino acids were also identified. Indeed one of these peptides was cleaved as free peptide, thus suggesting a broader range of WT-FSAP substrates than previously anticipated.     

Synthesizing a uniformly spaced array pattern using integral operator for removing progressive phase shift

In this article, an analytical technique is introduced to obtain the excitation coefficients of uniformly spaced linear antenna arrays in order to achieve a desired array factor. By integration of the prescribed array factor, the array factor dependency to the progressive phase shift is eliminated. A new system of linear equations is consequently obtained whose solution represents the excitation coefficients of the array. Some examples are presented to verify the accuracy of the introduced method. The performance of this strategy is compared with those obtained by the other well‐known techniques such as Woodward‐Lawson and Fourier transform. It is shown that the presented method estimates the desired array pattern with a very good precision.