Synthesis of a Cytotoxic Amanitin for Biorthogonal Conjugation

Alpha‐amanitin is an exceedingly toxic, naturally occurring, bicyclic octapeptide that inhibits RNA polymerase and results in cellular and organismal death. Here we report the straightforward synthesis of an amanitin analogue that exhibited near‐native toxicity. A pendant alkyne was readily installed to enable copper‐catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) to azido‐rhodamine and two azide‐bearing versions of the RGD peptide. The fluorescent toxin analogue entered cells and provoked morphological changes consistent with cell death. The latter two conjugates are as toxic as the parent alkyne precursor, which demonstrates that conjugation does not diminish toxicity. In addition, we showed that toxicity depends on a single diastereomer of the unnatural amino acid, dihydroxyisoleucine (DHIle), at position 3. The convenient synthesis of a heptapeptide precursor now provides access to bioactive amanitin analogues that may be readily conjugated to biomolecules of interest.     

Methodology to integrate augmented reality and pattern recognition for crack detection

In-field visual inspections have inherent challenges associated with humans such as low accuracy, excessive cost and time, and safety. To overcome these barriers, researchers and industry leaders have developed image-based methods for automatic structural crack detection. More recently, researchers have proposed using augmented reality (AR) to interface human visual inspection with automatic image-based crack detection. However, to date, AR crack detection is limited because: (1) it is not available in real time and (2) it requires an external processing device. This paper describes a new AR methodology that addresses both problems enabling a standalone real-time crack detection system for field inspection. A Canny algorithm is transformed into the single-dimensional mathematical environment of the AR headset digital platform. Then, the algorithm is simplified based on the limited headset processing capacity toward lower processing time. The test of the AR crack-detection method eliminates AR image-processing dependence on external processors and has practical real-time image-processing.     

Estimation of Doppler spread and signal strength in mobile communications with applications to handoff and adaptive transmission

Estimation of signal strength, a measure of channel quality, and Doppler spread which is proportional to the mobile speed, are important for handoff algorithms and optimal tuning of system parameters to changing channel conditions in adaptive transmission systems. This paper provides a survey of existing techniques for estimating the statistical parameters of the mobile channel. We discuss the current state of the art in estimation of the received signal strength, mobile velocity, and other related statistical channel parameters, illustrate their performance, and compare existing techniques. The sensitivity of these schemes to modeling error owing to the presence of line of sight, directional reception, and noise is characterized analytically and illustrated by simulations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.