3GPP LTE‐Assisted Wi‐Fi‐Direct: Trial Implementation of Live D2D Technology

This paper is a first‐hand summary on our comprehensive live trial of cellular‐assisted device‐to‐device (D2D) communications currently being ratified by the standards community for next‐generation mobile broadband networks. In our test implementation, we employ a full‐featured 3GPP LTE network deployment and augment it with all necessary support to provide real‐time D2D connectivity over emerging Wi‐Fi‐Direct (WFD) technology. As a result, our LTE‐assisted WFD D2D system enjoys the required flexibility while meeting the existing standards in every feasible detail. Further, this paper provides an account on the extensive measurement campaign conducted with our implementation. The resulting real‐world measurements from this campaign quantify the numerical effects of D2D functionality on the resultant system performance. Consequently, they shed light on the general applicability of LTE‐assisted WFD solutions and associated operational ranges.     

Monolithic ZnTe-based pillar microcavities containing CdTe quantum dots

Micropillars of different diameters have been prepared by focused ion beam milling out of a planar ZnTe-based cavity. The monolithic epitaxial structure, deposited on a GaAs substrate, contains CdTe quantum dots embedded in a ZnTe λ-cavity delimited by two distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). The high refractive index material of the DBR structure is ZnTe, while for the low index material a short-period triple MgTe/ZnTe/MgSe superlattice is used. The CdTe quantum dots are formed by a novel Zn-induced formation process and are investigated by scanning transmission electron microscopy. Micro-photoluminescence measurements show discrete optical modes for the pillars, in good agreement with calculations based on a vectorial transfer matrix method. The measured quality factor reaches a value of 3100.     

Long-range surface plasmon-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of E. coli O157:H7

A new biosensor platform for the detection of bacterial pathogens based on long-range surface plasmon-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy (LRSP-FS) is presented. The resonant excitation of LRSP modes provides an enhanced intensity of the electromagnetic field, which is directly translated to an increased strength of fluorescence signal measured upon the capture of target analyte at the sensor surface. LRSPs originate from a coupling of surface plasmons across a thin metallic film embedded in dielectrics with similar refractive indices. With respect to regular surface plasmon-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy, the excitation of LRSPs offers the advantage of a larger enhancement of the evanescent field intensity and a micrometer probing depth that is comparable to the size of target bacterial pathogens. The potential of the developed sensor platform is demonstrated in an experiment in which the detection of E. coli O157:H7 was carried out using sandwich immunoassays. The limit of detection below 10 cfu mL(-1) and detection time of 40 min were achieved.     

A Shallow Text Processing Core Engine

In this article we present SMES–SPPC, a high–performance system for intelligent extraction of structured data from free text documents. SMES–SPPC consists of a set of domain–adaptive shallow core components that are realized by means of cascaded weighted finite–state machines and generic dynamic tries. The system has been fully implemented for German; it includes morphological and on–line compound analysis, efficient POS–filtering, high–performance named–entity recognition and chunk parsing based on a novel divide–and–conquer strategy. The whole approach proved to be very useful for processing free word order languages such as German. SMES–SPPC has a good performance (more than 6000 words per second on standard PC environments) and achieves high linguistic coverage, especially for the divide–and–conquer parsing strategy, where we obtained an f –measure of 87.14% on unseen data.     

Positive effects of allosteric modulators on the binding properties and the function of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors

Data are reviewed indicating that allosteric modulators can enhance the affinities of muscarinic receptors for their antagonists and agonists, that the enhancement of the affinity for agonists is relevant functionally, and that the allosterically induced conformational change also affects the interaction between the receptors and the G proteins.     

Accepted practices of thermal spray technology

This is the fourth and final article in a series of articles dealing with the metallographic preparation and evaluation of thermal spray coatings. Previous articles have covered variables and best practices for the sectioning, mounting, and coarse grinding of coated components. In this article, the relationship between fine grinding and polishing practices, consumables, and resultant plasma spray coating structure are discussed.     

Identifying the cutting tool type used in excavations using neural networks

The paper presents results of preliminary research on utilising neural networks to identify excavating cutting tool’s type used in multi-tool excavating heads of mechanical coal miners. Such research is necessary to identify rock excavating process with a given head, and construct adaptation systems for control of excavating process with such a head.     

Torsion classes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">MV</Emphasis>-algebras

 Torsion classes of MV-algebras are defined as radical classes which are closed with respect to homomorphisms; in this paper we investigate their relations to radical classes of lattice ordered groups and to varieties of MV-algebras. Supported by Grant VEGA 1/9056/02.     

Electronegativity Equalization Method: Parameterization and Validation for Large Sets of Organic,Organohalogene and Organometal Molecule

The Electronegativity Equalization Method (EEM) is a fast approach for charge calculation. A challenging part of the EEM is the parameterization, which is performed using ab initio charges obtained for a set of molecules. The goal of our work was to perform the EEM parameterization for selected sets of organic, organohalogen and organometal molecules. We have performed the most robust parameterization published so far. The EEM parameterization was based on 12 training sets selected from a database of predicted 3D structures (NCI DIS) and from a database of crystallographic structures (CSD). Each set contained from 2000 to 6000 molecules. We have shown that the number of molecules in the training set is very important for quality of the parameters. We have improved EEM parameters (STO-3G MPA charges) for elements that were already parameterized, specifically: C, O, N, H, S, F and Cl. The new parameters provide more accurate charges than those published previously. We have also developed new parameters for elements that were not parameterized yet, specifically for Br, I, Fe and Zn. We have also performed crossover validation of all obtained parameters using all training sets that included relevant elements and confirmed that calculated parameters provide accurate charges.     

Role of mitochondria in the switch mechanism of the cell death mode from apoptosis to necrosis--studies on rho0 cells

Detailed mechanisms of the switch of the cell death mode from apoptosis to necrosis remain to be solved, although the intracellular level of ATP and that of free radicals have been postulated to be the major factors involved in the mechanisms. In the present study menadione (MEN)-induced cell injury processes were studied using rho0 cells derived from human osteosarcoma 143B cells and parental rho+ cells co-treated with inhibitors of electron transfer chain of mitochondria or oligomycin, an inhibitor of ATP synthesis. Treatment of rho+ cells with 100 microM MEN induced apoptosis, which reached the maximum at 6 h, and was followed by an abrupt decrease thereafter, while necrotic cells (NC) increased continuously when they were judged by Annexin V and PI double staining. On the other hand, MEN induced apoptotic and necrotic changes much faster in rho0 cells compared to rho+ cells. The frequency to find apoptotic cells (AP) in the former cells was distinctly smaller than that to find NC judged by Annexin V and PI double staining. Electron microscopically, a major population of rho0 cells treated with MEN for 6 h consisted of intermediate cells, and a small number of AP co-existed. At 9 h of the treatment intermediate cells were exclusively seen, and AP were hardly detected. When parental rho+ cells were treated with MEN in the presence of oligomycin or oligomycin plus antimycin A both apoptotic and necrotic changes of the cells were distinctly accelerated. The intracellular level of superoxide in rho0 cells continuously increased after the MEN treatment, whereas that of ATP remained distinctly low before and after the MEN treatment compared to that in rho+ cells. These data suggest that the intracellular level of superoxide may be a key factor controlling the switch from apoptosis to necrosis.