Performances of the H-ARQ Adaptive-QAM Transmissions over Multipath Channels

This paper presents the evaluation of the average spectral efficiencies provided by the adaptive use of a set of LDPC-coded QAM modulations in an OFDMA downlink scheme over mobile radio channels, considering a joint modeling of the channel and user-access method. It discusses the selection of the set of coded modulations, briefly describes the joint modeling of the channel and access method employed, and derives the average spectral efficiency provided by this approach in non-ARQ or H-ARQ environments. Some comments about the effects of the system’s parameters upon its performances are also included.

MOCVD Technology

This paper examines the potentials and developmental status of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) as a commercial thin film deposition technique. Reactor design, deposit purity and uniformity characteristies are discussed with regard to scale-up. Critical process parameters and process contaminants are also reviewed.     

Protocol for Candrive II/Ozcandrive,a multicentre prospective older driver cohort study

The Candrive II/Ozcandrive study, a multicentre prospective cohort study examining the predictive validity of tools for assessing fitness to drive, aims to develop an in-office screening tool that will help clinicians identify older drivers who may be unsafe to drive. This paper describes the study protocol. We are following a cohort of drivers aged ≥70 years for up to 4 years. Starting in 2009, 928 participants have been recruited in seven cities in four Canadian provinces, as well as 302 participants in two sites in Melbourne, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand. Participants underwent a comprehensive assessment at baseline and repeat the assessment yearly thereafter, as well as a brief follow-up assessment at 4 and 8 months each year. A recording device is installed in participants’ vehicles to assess driving patterns, and driving records are obtained from licensing authorities to determine the outcomes: at-fault crashes per kilometre driven and violations. To date, the protocol has been generally well adhered to, with 1230 participants, and barriers and challenges are being addressed, as necessary. The Candrive II/Ozcandrive study is unique owing to its size, duration, partnerships with Canadian, Australian and New Zealand stakeholders, and international research collaboration.     

Network coding based resource efficient congestion control for video streaming

The paper proposes a resource efficient solution for Network Coding (NC) based congestion control consisting in identification around the congested links of multiple butterfly or other low complexity NC-capable topologies by using the Discrete Lagrange Multiplier optimization algorithm. The identification of the NC-capable topologies is based on the resource management capabilities foreseen for the network entities of the Future Internet. The congestion control issue is tackled by separate encoding of appropriately selected groups of data flows passing through the bottleneck link. By optimal selection of the data flows to be encoded, the additional network resources required by the NC operations can be minimized. The encoding is realized by using an XOR-based algorithm adapted for unequal bit rate data flows, and the experimental performances are reported here. Due to its efficient usage of the network resources and high degree of scalability, the congestion control solution proposed in this paper is suitable for large bit rate transmissions, like video streaming.     

Characterization of damage structure in ion implanted SiC using high photon energy synchrotron ellipsometry

The optical properties of ion implantation induced disorder in SiC have been investigated in the photon energy range of 5-9 eV using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The most characteristic interband transitions of SiC are located between 5 and 8 eV. This photon energy region is extremely important for the sensitive characterization of lattice order in SiC. The dielectric function of the disordered layer has been calculated taking into account the surface overlayer consisting of oxide and roughness using complementary characterization tools. The dielectric function of the damaged region has been analyzed using different techniques like second derivative analysis and effective medium approximation (EMA) based on reference dielectric functions. The disorder determined by SE has been verified by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry combined with channelling (RBS/C). Using derivative lineshape analysis combined with simulations, the track size can be estimated. The results can give insight into the effect of the decreasing characteristic size of the unchanged crystalline regions on the optical properties. We created near-surface damage using heavy ions, since the penetration depth of light at photon energies around the direct interband transitions is very small (in the range of 10 nm). We used 100-keV Xe at fluences ranging from a slight damage to full amorphization (between 2.0 × 10¹³ cm^− 2 and 1.6 × 10¹⁴ cm^− 2).     

Motif mutation of bradykinin B2 receptor second intracellular loop and proximal C terminus is critical for signal transduction, internalization, and resensitization

In the search for the structural elements participating in signal transduction, internalization, and resensitization of the bradykinin B2 receptor, we identified two critical motifs, one in the second intracellular loop (IC2), the other in the proximal C terminus. We previously described the contribution of tyrosines within each of the two motifs (Tyr131 and Tyr322) to signal transduction and receptor internalization (Prado, G. N., Taylor, L., and Polgar, P. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 14638-14642). Here, we investigate the effect of exchanging both tyrosine residues simultaneously for alanine, phenylalanine, or serine, termed YAYA (Y131A/Y322A), YFYF (Y131F/Y322F), and YSYS (Y131S/Y322S) receptors, respectively. All of these mutants bound bradykinin (BK) normally, with a Kd of approximately 1.1 nM. However, although phosphoinositide (PI) turnover in response to BK by Y131A and Y131S proved negligible, the YAYA mutant returned BK-activated PI turnover to wild type (WT). In contrast, PI turnover with YSYS remained unresponsive to BK. Importantly, the pattern of BK-activated arachidonate release differed markedly in the mutant receptors. For example, whereas Y131S ablated BK-activated arachidonic acid release, conversion of this mutant to YSYS returned the BK-activated receptor function to a level above that of WT. However, YAYA showed only a partial recovery from the poor BK response of Y131A. These and additional results suggest that Tyr131 and Tyr322 interact cooperatively in conjunction with at least two separate signaling functions. Given these results, a molecular model of the receptor was generated with the IC2 and the proximal C terminus in close spatial proximity. Conformations were identified to provide structural explanation for these observations. The conserved Thr137 in the IC2 was next substituted with proline (T137P) to prevent phosphorylation at this position or with aspartate (T137D) to emulate phosphorylation. The T137P mutant demonstrated no change from WT with respect to either BK-activated PI turnover or arachidonic acid release. However, the mutant exhibited a markedly reduced capacity to internalize. It also resensitized poorly. The T137D mutant lacked both BK responsive activities. However, it internalized and resensitized normally, as did WT. These final results suggest that Thr137 is functioning as a switch in termination of signal transduction and the initiation of internalization.     

Optimization of hybrid oil/water-swelling ethylene/propylene/diene monomer compounds

Hybrid swell packers are rubber products capable of swelling in (saline) water and hydrocarbon oils, by exploiting the hydrocarbon diffusion properties of an nonpolar elastomer with the osmotic swelling of a water absorbent (WA). In this study, a variety of modified natural and synthetic WAs and mixtures thereof have been screened in a rubber compound with respect to swelling in decalin, demineralized, and saline water, respectively. We aimed at achieving high and fast swelling in all used media. Mixing of the various WAs in an ethylene/propylene/diene monomer (EPDM)/carbon black masterbatch at an addition level of 75 phr did not pose any problems, although it was found that the WAs did affect the sulfur vulcanization. Decalin swelling of the vulcanizates is very fast, reaching high equilibrium swelling within 1.5 days. Swelling in demineralized or saline water is much slower, with up to 300% swelling in water and up to 100% swelling in saline water. Significant leaching of the organic WA from the EPDM vulcanizates to the water phase occurs. Some combinations of WAs show synergetic effects for swelling in water. To our knowledge, such a systematic study of hybrid swelling elastomers constitutes a novelty in the open literature.     

A comparison between automatically generated linear and parabolic tetrahedra when used to mesh a human femur

Finite element models of bone segments generated from computed tomography data using automatic mesh generation algorithms are becoming common not only in research but also in clinical applications such as computer aided orthopaedic surgery. Especially in the case of the latter application, the models cannot be verified against an experimental measurement, therefore their inherent accuracy should be well known before drawing conclusions based on the calculated results. This study was carried out to assess the performance of tetrahedral solid finite elements with linear and quadratic displacement functions when they are used to mesh the human femur in conjunction with automatic mesh generator methods. Ten-node quadratic tetrahedra (T10) having parabolic displacement functions were compared with four-node linear tetrahedron elements (T4) on the basis of accuracy and central processing unit (CPU) time. From the analyses of 11 finite element meshes, it was concluded that linear tetrahedral elements should be avoided and quadratic tetrahedral elements ought to be chosen for the purposes of finite element analysis of the human femur. When incremental loading and iterative solution is necessary, the coarsest possible T10 mesh compatible with accuracy is needed to minimize computer capacity and CPU time.