Enhancing data rate of molecular communication system using Brownian motion

Inter‐symbol and co‐channel interferences restrict the capacity of molecular communication (MC) systems. In this study, the effect of these interferences on the data rate of MC systems is investigated to design an efficient MC system. To this end, the authors propose an analytical model for a diffusion‐based MC system comprised of two nanomachines when they exploit On/Off keying modulation. They model the Brownian motion of molecules in a one‐dimensional environment as a wiener process and the life expectancy of diffused molecules as an exponential process. First, they consider the inter‐symbol interference to derive the data rate of the MC system as a function of the receiver decision threshold and the symbol time duration. Hence, they propose an algorithm to obtain the optimal values of MC system parameters. Then, the effect of co‐channel interference is considered by assuming parallel MC systems. They propose a minimum distance between adjacent MC systems that their co‐channel interferences effect to be negligible. Moreover, they verify the accuracy of the analytical results by Monte–Carlo simulations. Results show a remarkable improvement in the data rate of MC systems. The derived results may find application in nanonetworks where nanomachines connect together to perform complex tasks.Inspec keywords: channel capacity, Monte Carlo methods, intersymbol interference, stochastic processes, Brownian motion, cochannel interferenceOther keywords: enhancing data rate, molecular communication system, Brownian motion, co‐channel interference, efficient MC system, diffusion‐based MC system, inter‐symbol interference, MC system parameters, parallel MC systems, adjacent MC systems, co‐channel interferences effect     

Design equation with mathematical kinetic modeling for photooxidative degradation of C.I. Acid Orange 7 in an annular continuous-flow photoreactor

The decolorization of C.I. Acid Orange 7 (AO7), an anionic monoazo dye of acid class was investigated using UV/H(2)O(2) process in an annular continuous-flow photoreactor (ACFP) as a function of oxidant, dye concentrations, reactor length and volumetric flow rate. The removal efficiency of AO7 was a function of operational parameters and increased with increasing initial concentration of H(2)O(2) but it was low at high flow rate and initial concentration of AO7. Results indicated that the decolorization rate was pseudo-first order kinetic with respect to the dye concentration. A rate equation for decolorization of AO7 was obtained by kinetic modeling. Design equation for ACFP reactor was obtained with combination of kinetic model and rearranged tubular reactor design equation. Design equation was used for predicting concentration of AO7 and also electrical energy per order (E(EO)) at different conditions. The calculated results obtained from design equation and kinetic model were in good agreement with experimental data.     

Measurement and Correlation of Surface Tension for Single Aqueous Electrolyte Solutions

In this study, the values of the surface tension for a number of single aqueous electrolyte solutions were measured at various temperatures and electrolyte concentrations using the well-known and computer-aided pendant-drop method. In order to conduct the experimental measurements, a high-pressure IFT-700 apparatus, equipped with a view cell and a data acquisition system, was used. The systems studied in this study were aqueous solutions of KCl, NaCl, CaCl₂, and Na₂SO₄. The pooled standard deviation and the confidence limit of the surface-tension data for a 95 % confidence level were determined to be 0.17 mN · m^?1 and ${\bar{\sigma} \pm 0.19}$ , respectively. It should be noted that while the surface tension for electrolyte solutions increases as the electrolyte concentration increases, it decreases with an increase in temperature as expected. Finally, data reduction was carried out using an empirical equation to show the effect of temperature, electrolyte concentration, and the nature of ionic species on the surface tension for the systems studied.     

Modelling of the carbon nanotube bridging effect on the toughening of polymers and experimental verification

The effect of aligned and randomly oriented carbon nanotube (CNT), with respect to the crack growth plane, on the fracture toughness of polymers is modelled in this paper using the Elastic Plastic Fracture Mechanics. According to a critical length, two dominant toughening mechanisms for CNT-modified polymers are presented, i.e. CNT pull-out and CNT rupture. The model is then used to identify the effect of CNTs geometrical and mechanical properties on the enhancement of fracture toughness in CNT-modified polymers. The key CNT properties are the CNT radius, average length, ultimate strength, elongation before failure, interfacial shear strength between CNTs and the polymer and nanotube volume fraction. Finally, experimental results are compared with the model predictions. The correlation shows that processing of long, aligned CNTs remains the main barrier in achieving major fracture toughness enhancement.     

Alkyl Passivation and Amphiphilic Polymer Coating of Silicon Nanocrystals for Diagnostic Imaging

A method to produce biocompatible polymer‐coated silicon nanocrystals for medical imaging is shown. Silica‐embedded Si nanocrystals are formed by HSQ thermolysis. The nanocrystals are then liberated from the oxide and terminated with Si–H bonds by HF etching, followed by alkyl monolayer passivation by thermal hydrosilylation. The Si nanocrystals have an average diameter of 2.1 nm ± 0.6 nm and photoluminesce with a peak emission wavelength of 650 nm, which lies within the transmission window of 650–900 nm that is useful for biological imaging. The hydrophobic Si nanocrystals are then coated with an amphiphilic polymer for dispersion in aqueous media with the pH ranging between 7 and 10 and an ionic strength between 30 mM and 2 M , while maintaining a bright and stable photoluminescence and a hydrodynamic radius of only 20 nm. Fluorescence imaging of polymer‐coated Si nanocrystals in biological tissue is demonstrated, showing the potential for in vivo imaging.     

Brittleness of rock and stability assessment in hard rock tunneling

Brittleness is a characteristic of many geomaterials in which the pre-existing heterogeneities among the mechanical and geometrical properties of the constituent materials, (e.g. grains cementing materials and voids) and loading conditions promote non-homogeneous distribution of the stresses inside the failing mass and eventually along the potential failure plane. This study relates the brittleness of failing hard rocks and tunnels to a strain-dependent brittleness index (I_B) which characterizes the entire failure process of rock (pre- to post-peak), and accounts for the involved mechanisms in inducing inelastic strains (damage) inside the failing rock. The strain-dependent brittleness of rock dictates the mobilized strength around underground excavations, affects their short- and long-term stability, and determines the shape of breakout (failed or inelastic) zone. The ground-support pressure interaction mechanism is also affected by rock brittleness. Brittleness of rock is a time- (loading rate) and size- (geometry) dependent property.     

Cancer-Associated Dysregulation of Sumo Regulators: Proteases and Ligases

SUMOylation is a post-translational modification that has emerged in recent decades as a mechanism involved in controlling diverse physiological processes and that is essential in vertebrates. The SUMO pathway is regulated by several enzymes, proteases and ligases being the main actors involved in the control of sumoylation of specific targets. Dysregulation of the expression, localization and function of these enzymes produces physiological changes that can lead to the appearance of different types of cancer, depending on the enzymes and target proteins involved. Among the most studied proteases and ligases, those of the SENP and PIAS families stand out, respectively. While the proteases involved in this pathway have specific SUMO activity, the ligases may have additional functions unrelated to sumoylation, which makes it more difficult to study their SUMO-associated role in cancer process. In this review we update the knowledge and advances in relation to the impact of dysregulation of SUMO proteases and ligases in cancer initiation and progression.     

Conservative Taylor least squares reconstruction with application to material point methods

Within the standard material point method (MPM), the spatial errors are partially caused by the direct mapping of material-point data to the background grid. In order to reduce these errors, we introduced a novel technique that combines the least squares method with the Taylor basis functions, called the Taylor least squares (TLS), to reconstruct functions from scattered data while preserving their integrals. The TLS technique locally approximates quantities of interest such as stress and density, and when used with a suitable quadrature rule, it conserves the total mass and linear momentum after transferring the material-point information to the grid. The integration of the technique into MPM, dual domain MPM, and B-spline MPM significantly improves the results of these methods. For the considered examples, the TLS function reconstruction technique resembles the approximation properties of highly accurate spline reconstruction while preserving the physical properties of the standard algorithm.