A Gunn-Diode Active Leaky-Wave Frequency Scanning Antenna

A frequency tunable active leaky-wave scanning antenna using Gunn-diode voltage control oscillator (VCO) as source is developed. The frequency tuning controlled by changing either the varactor diode dc bias or the Gunn diode dc bias is demonstrated. The measured scanning angle of active antenna is close to 15 degree as the Gunn VCO frequency tuned from 12.58GHz to 12.98GHz. To excite the first higher order mode of the microstrip leaky-wave antenna is fed asymmetrically. The dominant mode excitation has been successfully suppressed by adding a sequence of covered wire in the middle line of the microstrip leaky wave antenna. This is a prototype of frequency scanning antenna using two terminal device, which can be easily scaled up to millimeter wave frequency region.     

Towards a functional neuroanatomy of conscious perception and its modulation by volition: implications of human auditory neuroimaging studies

Conscious sensory perception and its modulation by volition are integral to human mental life. Functional neuroimaging techniques provide a direct means of identifying and characterizing in vivo the systems-level patterns of brain activity associated with such mental functions. In a series of positron emission tomography activation experiments, we and our colleagues have examined a range of normal and abnormal auditory states that, when contrasted, provide dissociations relevant to the question of the neural substrates of sensory awareness. These dissociations include sensory awareness in the presence and absence of external sensory stimuli, the transition from sensory unawareness to awareness (or vice versa) in the presence of sensory stimuli, and sensory awareness with and without volition. The auditory states studied include hallucinations, mental imagery, cortical deafness modulated by attention, and hearing modulated by sedation. The results of these studies highlight the distributed nature of the functional neuroanatomy that is sufficient, if not necessary, for sensory awareness. The probable roles of unimodal association (as compared with primary) cortices, heteromodal cortices, limbic/paralimbic regions and subcortical structures (such as the thalamus) are discussed. In addition, interactions between pre- and post-rolandic regions are examined in the context of top-down, volitional modulation of sensory awareness.     

Coordinated induction of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and inhibition of plasminogen activator gene expression by hypoxia promotes pulmonary vascular fibrin deposition

PURPOSE: In a rabbit model, transposition of a muscle pedicle flap to an ischemic hind limb has been shown to result in the development of new blood vessels that connect the arterial circulation of the flap to the circulation of the limb. The hypothesis that exogenous recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) would enhance the development of this new blood supply was examined and the regulation of bFGF in this process was investigated. METHODS: The right common iliac artery was ligated in 12 male New Zealand white rabbits. An abdominal wall muscle flap based on the left inferior epigastric artery was transposed to the right thigh. bFGF in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 3 ng/h (n = 6), or PBS alone (n = 6), was infused for 7 days via mini-osmotic pumps with an infusion catheter positioned at the flap-muscle interface. The flap-muscle interface was immunostained with anti-alpha-actin antibody to determine blood vessel density (number of vessels/mm) and with anti-bFGF antibody to evaluate bFGF distribution. RNA was isolated from these sections, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to examine endogenous bFGF messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. RESULTS: Blood vessel density was significantly increased in animals receiving exogenous bFGF (22. 0 +/- 10.6 vessels/mm vs. 10.7 +/- 8.8 vessels/mm, P =.009). In the controls, neovessels were arranged in clusters with endogenous bFGF concentrated around these clusters. In bFGF-treated animals, vessels were diffusely scattered throughout the flap-limb interface, corresponding to the distribution pattern of infused bFGF. There was no difference in bFGF mRNA expression between the control and the bFGF-treated groups. CONCLUSION: Exogenous bFGF infusion significantly augmented new blood vessel development at the flap-limb interface. Endogenous bFGF was up-regulated around the newly developed microvessels in control animals, and vessel growth correlated with the diffuse distribution of exogenous bFGF, implicating bFGF as an important factor in angiogenesis. Exogenous bFGF did not affect bFGF mRNA expression, suggesting that the regulation of bFGF is not under autocrine control.     

Classification of Spectral Patterns Obtained from Eustachian Tube Sonometry

Spectral patterns of sound transmission through the Eustachian tube (ET) have been obtained in a series of experiments designed to identify ET dysfunction. Previous studies of ET function using sonometry have relied on heuristic and somewhat arbitrary methods in interpreting the data. In this study, an automated classification algorithm was developed to separate these sonograms into three distinct groups. From a total of 150 sample spectra, 75 were used in the formation of learning sets. The remaining spectra were classified into these three groups using standard Bayesian techniques. Both parametric and nonparametric methods were applied in estimating conditional probability density functions. Results of classification are compared with an independent test of ET function. Agreement between our classifier and the results of the independent test was as good as 97.3 percent. The results of this study indicate that an automated classification procedure can effectively distinguish among the three major types of sonograms obtained from ET sonometry.     

1H-NMR of the amidation of syndiotactic poly(methacrylic acid) with carbodiimide

Summary The reaction of syndiotactic poly(methacrylic acid) with dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in the presence of benzylamine yields syndiotactic methacrylic acid-methacryloyl-N-benzylamide copolymers. A limiting conversion to amide of about 62% and a tendency of alternation for the monomer units is observed by¹H-NMR. The amidation is accompanied by the formation of a smaller amount of cyclic imide as a side reaction. The imide portion can also be transformed into amide by a consecutive hydrolysis step.     

RSA-OAEP Is Secure under the RSA Assumption

Recently Victor Shoup noted that there is a gap in the widely believed security result of OAEP against adaptive chosen-ciphertext attacks. Moreover, he showed that, presumably, OAEP cannot be proven secure from the one-wayness of the underlying trapdoor permutation. This paper establishes another result on the security of OAEP. It proves that OAEP offers semantic security against adaptive chosen-ciphertext attacks, in the random oracle model, under the partial-domain one-wayness of the underlying permutation. Therefore, this uses a formally stronger assumption. Nevertheless, since partial-domain one-wayness of the RSA function is equivalent to its (full-domain) onewayness, it follows that the security of RSA-OAEP can actually be proven under the sole RSA assumption, although the reduction is not tight.     

Effect of formulation composition on the properties of controlled release tablets prepared by roller compaction

This study discusses the effect of formulation composition on the physical characteristics and drug release behavior of controlled-release formulations made by roller compaction. The authors used mixture experimental design to study the effect of formulation components using diclofenac sodium as the model drug substance and varying relative amounts of microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and glyceryl behenate (Compritol). Dissolution studies revealed very little variability in drug release. The t₇₀ values for the 13 formulations were found to vary between 260 and 550 min. A reduced cubic model was found to best fit the t₇₀ data and gave an adjusted r-square of 0.9406. Each of the linear terms, the interaction terms between Compritol and Avicel and between all three of the tested factors were found to be significant. The longest release times were observed for formulations having higher concentrations of HPMC or Compritol. Tablets with higher concentrations of Avicel showed reduced ability to retard the release of the drug from the tablet matrix. Crushing strength showed systematic dependence on the formulation factors and could be modeled using a reduced quadratic model. The crushing strength values were highest at high concentrations of Avicel, while tablets with a high level of Compritol showed the lowest values. A predicted optimum formulation was derived by a numerical, multiresponse optimization technique. The validity of the model for predicting physical attributes of the product was also verified by experiment. The observed responses from the calculated optimum formulation were in very close agreement with values predicted by the model. The utility of a mixture experimental design for selecting formulation components of a roller compacted product was demonstrated. These simple statistical tools can allow a formulator to rationally select levels of various components in a formulation, improve the quality of products, and develop more robust processes.     

Shannon number and information capacity of three-dimensional integral imaging

Integral imaging systems performance has been previously investigated with regard to different parameters such as lateral resolution, field of view, and depth of view. Those parameters are linked to one another, and, since the information capacity of an integral imaging system is finite, there are always trade-offs among them. We use the Shannon number and information capacity limit as figures of merit of integral imaging systems. The Shannon number and information capacity provide compact assessments of the system and are useful for analysis and design. The limitations on the Shannon number and the information capacity of an integral imaging system are determined by the recording and display media.     

Use or disposal of by-products and spent material from the vegetable oil processing industry in Europe

The tendency in the oil and fat industry in Europe as far as by-products and spent material are concerned is to use and regenerate as much as possible for chemical-technical purposes. Materials with a high thermal value which are not suitable or profitable for use in chemical-technical products will in the future probably be utilized as a fuel in combination with fuel oil. By-products and spent material that cannot be exploited in the manners outlined above will be deposited in dumps. Incineration is another possibility. However, the quantities of waste must be of a considerable magnitude if this method is not to be too expensive.