WCDMA multicarrier receiver for base-station applications

The multicarrier receiver IC described in this paper receives four adjacent WCDMA channels simultaneously in order to reduce the component count of a base-station. The receiver uses low-IF architecture and it is fabricated with a 0.25-/spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS process to meet the high-performance requirements set by the base-station application. The receiver includes a dual-input low-noise amplifier (LNA), quadrature mixers, a local-oscillator (LO) divider, IIP2 calibration circuits, 10-MHz low-pass filters, and ADC buffers. The receiver noise figures, measured over the downconverted WCDMA channels centered at 2.5-MHz and 7.5-MHz intermediate frequencies, are 3.0 dB and 2.6 dB, respectively. The receiver achieves 47-dB voltage gain and -12-dBm out-of-band IIP3 and consumes 535mW from a 2.5-V supply.     

Evaluation of some metals in Brazilian coffees cultivated during the process of conversion from conventional to organic agriculture

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of nutrients and toxic elements in coffees cultivated during the process of conversion, on organic agriculture, in southwest Bahia, Brazil. Levels of the nutrients and toxic elements were determined in samples of soils and coffee tissues from two transitional organic farms by atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The metals in soil samples were extracted by Mehlich1 and USEPA-3050 procedures. Coffee samples from both farms presented relatively high levels of Cd, Zn and Cu (0.75, 45.4 and 14.9 μg g⁻¹, respectively), but were still below the limits specified by the Brazilian Food Legislation. The application of statistical methods showed that this finding can be attributed to the addition of high amounts of organic matter during the flowering tree period which can act on the bioavailability of metal ions in soils.     

Visual marking and change blindness: Moving occluders and transient masks neutralize shape changes to ignored objects.

Visual search efficiency improves by presenting (previewing) one set of distractors before the target and remaining distractor items (D. G. Watson & G. W. Humphreys, 1997). Previous work has shown that this preview benefit is abolished if the old items change their shape when the new items are added (e.g., D. G. Watson & G. W. Humphreys, 2002). Here we present 5 experiments that examined whether such object changes are still effective in recapturing attention if the changes occur while the previewed objects are occluded or masked. Overall, the findings suggest that masking transients are effective in preventing both object changes and the presentation of new objects from capturing attention in time-based visual search conditions. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of change blindness, new object capture, and the ecological properties of time-based visual selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Catalytic Asymmetry in Homodimeric H+-Pumping Membrane Pyrophosphatase Demonstrated by Non-Hydrolyzable Pyrophosphate Analogs

Membrane-bound inorganic pyrophosphatase (mPPase) resembles the F-ATPase in catalyzing polyphosphate-energized H⁺ and Na⁺ transport across lipid membranes, but differs structurally and mechanistically. Homodimeric mPPase likely uses a “direct coupling” mechanism, in which the proton generated from the water nucleophile at the entrance to the ion conductance channel is transported across the membrane or triggers Na⁺ transport. The structural aspects of this mechanism, including subunit cooperation, are still poorly understood. Using a refined enzyme assay, we examined the inhibition of K⁺-dependent H⁺-transporting mPPase from Desulfitobacterium hafniensee by three non-hydrolyzable PP_i analogs (imidodiphosphate and C-substituted bisphosphonates). The kinetic data demonstrated negative cooperativity in inhibitor binding to two active sites, and reduced active site performance when the inhibitor or substrate occupied the other active site. The nonequivalence of active sites in PP_i hydrolysis in terms of the Michaelis constant vanished at a low (0.1 mM) concentration of Mg²⁺ (essential cofactor). The replacement of K⁺, the second metal cofactor, by Na⁺ increased the substrate and inhibitor binding cooperativity. The detergent-solubilized form of mPPase exhibited similar active site nonequivalence in PP_i hydrolysis. Our findings support the notion that the mPPase mechanism combines Mitchell’s direct coupling with conformational coupling to catalyze cation transport across the membrane.     

In Situ FT-IR Mechanistic Investigations of the Zeolite Catalyzed Methylation of Benzene with Methanol: H-ZSM-5 versus H-beta

The methylation of aromatics is a reaction step that occurs in several petrochemical processes. Here, we have investigated the methylation of benzene by methanol over H-ZSM-5 and H-beta catalysts by conducting kinetic measurements and in situ FT-IR spectroscopy at comparable reaction conditions. A lower rate of methylation per Brønsted acid site is seen for H-beta, and this is linked to the formation of fairly persistent cationic species, as observed with FT-IR.     

In situ–Directed Growth of Organic Nanofibers and Nanoflakes: Electrical and Morphological Properties

Organic nanostructures made from organic molecules such as para-hexaphenylene (p-6P) could form nanoscale components in future electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the integration of such fragile nanostructures with the necessary interface circuitry such as metal electrodes for electrical connection continues to be a significant hindrance toward their large-scale implementation. Here, we demonstrate in situ–directed growth of such organic nanostructures between pre-fabricated contacts, which are source–drain gold electrodes on a transistor platform (bottom-gate) on silicon dioxide patterned by a combination of optical lithography and electron beam lithography. The dimensions of the gold electrodes strongly influence the morphology of the resulting structures leading to notably different electrical properties. The ability to control such nanofiber or nanoflake growth opens the possibility for large-scale optoelectronic device fabrication.     

The Mechanism of Energy Coupling in H+/Na+-Pumping Membrane Pyrophosphatase—Possibilities and Probabilities

Membrane pyrophosphatases (mPPases) found in plant vacuoles and some prokaryotes and protists are ancient cation pumps that couple pyrophosphate hydrolysis with the H⁺ and/or Na⁺ transport out of the cytoplasm. Because this function is reversible, mPPases play a role in maintaining the level of cytoplasmic pyrophosphate, a known regulator of numerous metabolic reactions. mPPases arouse interest because they are among the simplest membrane transporters and have no homologs among known ion pumps. Detailed phylogenetic studies have revealed various subtypes of mPPases and suggested their roles in the evolution of the “sodium” and “proton” bioenergetics. This treatise focuses on the mechanistic aspects of the transport reaction, namely, the coupling step, the role of the chemically produced proton, subunit cooperation, and the relationship between the proton and sodium ion transport. The available data identify H⁺-PPases as the first non-oxidoreductase pump with a “direct-coupling” mechanism, i.e., the transported proton is produced in the coupled chemical reaction. They also support a “billiard” hypothesis, which unifies the H⁺ and Na⁺ transport mechanisms in mPPase and, probably, other transporters.     

Chaos arising from the hydrological behaviour of a floodplain river during the last century

The hydrological regime is the main factor governing the functioning of floodplain rivers. A full comprehension of its dynamic leads to a better understanding of the system's behaviour. We analysed the daily water level of the Paraná River during the last century at three gauge stations using linear and non-linear tools to characterise the hydrological dynamic and to analyse to what extent chaotic behaviour prevails. The three water level time series were characterised as non-linear and non-stationary by power spectrum, autocorrelation function, and surrogate test analyses. A strange attractor was developed when the phase space was reconstructed, having a low dimensional chaos supported by correlation dimension, positive maximum Lyapunov exponents, and recurrence quantification analysis. The sample entropy analysis shows that the system resulted unpredictable beyond a temporal threshold, and with an intermediate hydrological complexity, while Hurst exponent characterised it as persistent and with sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In a general overview, all the evidence obtained indicates that the Paraná River's behaviour is at the edge of chaos. A latitudinal gradient of decreasing chaoticity was observed as the floodplain extent increased, whereas complexity was highest at the intermediate river station due to the inflow of tributaries with different hydrology. This paper attempts to offer some additional insights for understanding the hydrological behaviour of floodplain rivers and the most appropriate methods to understand their complexity.     

On the classical shell model underlying bilinear degenerated shell finite elements: general shell geometry

We study the shell models arising in the numerical modelling of shells by geometrically incompatible finite elements. We build a connection from the so‐called bilinear degenerated 3D FEM to the classical 2D shell theory of Reissner–Naghdi type showing how nearly equivalent finite element formulations can be constructed within the classical framework. The connection found here facilitates the mathematical error analysis of the bilinear elements based on the degenerated 3D approach. In particular, the connection reveals the ‘secrets’ that relate to the treatment of locking effects within this formulation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.