A 186 to 212?GHz Downconverter in 90?nm CMOS

The design and measurements of a 200?GHz downconverter in 90?nm standard CMOS are presented. A positive conversion gain of +6.6?dB, a noise figure of 29.9?dB and an output bandwidth of 3?GHz are measured for an LO power of ?14.9?dBm. The conversion gain remains within 3?dB for an RF frequency between 186 and 212?GHz. Downconversion of BPSK and QPSK signals is demonstrated with eye diagrams and constellation plots with data rates over 4?Gbit/s. A mathematical analysis is made of the MOSFETs in the triode region and a new small-signal parameter κ is introduced, which enables the design of the mixing transistors for minimum conversion loss.     

Enabling service adaptability with versatile anycast

We present versatile anycast, which allows a service running on a varying collection of nodes scattered over a wide‐area network to present itself to the clients as one running on a single node. Providing a single logical address enables the client‐side software to preserve the traditional service access model based on single access points. At the same time, the dynamic composition of anycast groups implemented by versatile anycast enables the server‐side service infrastructure to evolve and adapt to changing network conditions. We implement versatile anycast using Mobile IPv6, which decouples the logical addresses of mobile nodes from their physical location. We exploit that decoupling to implement logical service addresses that are not bound to any physical nodes, and employ standard MIPv6 mechanisms to dynamically map each such address onto individual service nodes. Our solution enables a service to transparently hand off clients among the service nodes at the network level while preserving optimal routing between the clients and the service nodes. We demonstrate that the overhead of versatile anycasting is very low. In particular, the client‐perceived handoff time is shown to be a linear function of the latencies among the client and the service nodes participating in the handoff. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Systematic Review: Targeted Molecular Imaging of Angiogenesis and Its Mediators in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Extensive angiogenesis is a characteristic feature in the synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from a very early stage of the disease onward and constitutes a crucial event for the development of the proliferative synovium. This process is markedly intensified in patients with prolonged disease duration, high disease activity, disease severity, and significant inflammatory cell infiltration. Angiogenesis is therefore an interesting target for the development of new therapeutic approaches as well as disease monitoring strategies in RA. To this end, nuclear imaging modalities represent valuable non-invasive tools that can selectively target molecular markers of angiogenesis and accurately and quantitatively track molecular changes in multiple joints simultaneously. This systematic review summarizes the imaging markers used for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and/or positron emission tomography (PET) approaches, targeting pathways and mediators involved in synovial neo-angiogenesis in RA.     

DSP-based voice activity detection and background noise reduction

These days’ speech processing devices like voice-controlled devices, radio, and cell phones have gained more popularity in the area of military, audio forensics, speech recognition, education and health sectors. In the real world, speech signal during communication always contains background noise. The main task of speech related applications is voice activity detection (VAD) which include speech communication, speech recognition, and speech coding. Noise-reduction schemes for speech communication may increase the quality of speech and improve working efficiency in military aviation. Most of the developed algorithms can improve the quality of speech but unable to remove the background noise from the speech. This study provides researchers with a summary of the challenges in speech communication with background noise and provides research directions in the area of military personnel and workforces who work in noisy environments. Results of the study reveal that the DSP-based voice activity detection and background noise reduction algorithm reduced the spurious values of the speech signal.     

Mangrove forests as a nature-based solution for coastal flood protection: Biophysical and ecological considerations

Nature-based coastal protection is increasingly recognised as a potentially sustainable and cost-effective solution to reduce coastal flood risk. It uses coastal ecosystems such as mangrove forests to create resilient designs for coastal flood protection. However, to use mangroves effectively as a nature-based measure for flood risk reduction, we must understand the biophysical processes that govern risk reduction capacity through mangrove ecosystem size and structure. In this perspective, we evaluate the current state of knowledge on local physical drivers and ecological processes that determine mangrove functioning as part of a nature-based flood defence. We show that the forest properties that comprise coastal flood protection are well-known, but models cannot yet pinpoint how spatial heterogeneity of the forest structure affects the capacity for wave or surge attenuation. Overall, there is relatively good understanding of the ecological processes that drive forest structure and size, but there is a lack of knowledge on how daily bed-level dynamics link to long-term biogeomorphic forest dynamics, and on the role of combined stressors influencing forest retreat. Integrating simulation models of forest structure under changing physical (e.g. due to sea-level change) and ecological drivers with hydrodynamic attenuation models will allow for better projections of long-term natural coastal protection.     

Towards a rights-based approach in EU international river basin governance? Lessons from the Scheldt and Ems Basins

ABSTRACT

This article finds that the introduction of a rights-based approach in EU transboundary river basin management to remedy observed systemic difficulties and to better achieve legal water quality standards could be a next step in achieving integrated river basin management. However, its effectiveness largely depends on the willingness of member states to share river basin districts to subordinate their separate socio-economic interests to ecological needs, as well as to grant a clear mandate and partly transfer responsibilities and powers to a competent supranational authority.     

Understanding the Experiences of Relocatees during Forced Relocation in Chinese Urban Restructuring

Despite the massive forced relocation of residents during urban restructuring in China, there is no systematic overview regarding how residents experience the process and its outcomes. Most studies concerning urban restructuring in China directly equate forced relocation with displacement, which has a negative connotation. This predominantly negative view overlooks the multifaceted effects of forced relocation on relocatees. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of relocatees’ experiences during urban redevelopment in China by establishing a conceptual model in which the time sequence of events and their context are central. It conceptualizes forced relocation as a process with various and changing socio-spatial implications over time, and as a specific type of residential mobility that occurs in the context of urban restructuring. As such, the conceptual model divides the process of forced relocation into a pre-demolition stage, a transitional stage and a post-relocation stage and investigates the social, economic, physical, psychological and behavioural dimensions of the experiences of relocatees as affected by the macro and micro context. The conceptual model is used to structure the analysis of the existing literature about residents’ experiences and to subsequently identify the gaps in the literature that should be addressed in future studies of forced relocation in the Chinese context.     

Clean development mechanism: a way to sustainable waste management in developing countries?

The Clean Development Mechanism established under the Kyoto Protocol allows investors in the developed world to invest in the developing world in return for emission credits. The CDM has two goals—to contribute to the reduction of emissions in the developed countries, and to promote sustainable development in the developing country. The objective of this paper is to analyze the project portfolio of 400 published CDM projects in the sector “waste handling and disposal” according to their project and technology characteristics.     

Calculate categorically!

Diagram chasing is an established proof technique in Category Theory.Algebraic calculation is a good alternative; made possible thanks to anotation for various unique arrows and a suitableformulation of initiality, and the calculational properties brought forward by initiality.