Scheduling contention‐free broadcasts in heterogeneous networks

With the advance of network and computer techniques, the development of scalable computing becomes a new trend. To integrate and utilize distributed and heterogeneous resources efficiently, message broadcasting is an important and crucial technique for distributed computing systems such as grids and clouds. In this paper, we present a Location Aware Broadcasting Scheme (LABS) for performing message broadcast on irregular and heterogeneous networks in distributed systems. The LABS introduces a new scheduling scheme that based on heterogeneity of workstation and network topology. Together with a binomial tree optimization technique, the LABS is able to schedule communications to avoid both node and link contention. To evaluate the performance of the proposed techniques, we have implemented the LABS method along with some well‐known algorithms. These algorithms were performed in a variety of scenarios. Our extensive experiments show that the LABS is able to provide reliable performance with lower network latency in different circumstances. In particular, the LABS have significant improvements when the environment is with high heterogeneity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tailoring Enzyme‐Like Activities of Gold Nanoclusters by Polymeric Tertiary Amines for Protecting Neurons Against Oxidative Stress

The cytotoxicity of nanozymes has drawn much attention recently because their peroxidase‐like activity can decompose hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to produce highly toxic hydroxyl radicals (?OH) under acidic conditions. Although catalytic activities of nanozymes are highly associated with their surface properties, little is known about the mechanism underlying the surface coating‐mediated enzyme‐like activities. Herein, it is reported for the first time that amine‐terminated PAMAM dendrimer‐entrapped gold nanoclusters (AuNCs‐NH₂) unexpectedly lose their peroxidase‐like activity while still retaining their catalase‐like activity in physiological conditions. Surprisingly, the methylated form of AuNCs‐NH₂ (i.e., MAuNCs‐N⁺R₃, where R = H or CH₃) results in a dramatic recovery of the intrinsic peroxidase‐like activity while blocking most primary and tertiary amines (1°‐ and 3°‐amines) of dendrimers to form quaternary ammonium ions (4°‐amines). However, the hidden peroxidase‐like activity is also found in hydroxyl‐terminated dendrimer‐encapsulated AuNCs (AuNCs‐OH, inside backbone with 3°‐amines), indicating that 3°‐amines are dominant in mediating the peroxidase‐like activity. The possible mechanism is further confirmed that the enrichment of polymeric 3°‐amines on the surface of dendrimer‐encapsulated AuNCs provides sufficient suppression of the critical mediator ?OH for the peroxidase‐like activity. Finally, it is demonstrated that AuNCs‐NH₂ with diminished cytotoxicity have great potential for use in primary neuronal protection against oxidative damage.     

Basic principle and design criteria of axial-flux PM machineshaving counterrotating rotors

Axial-flux PM machines are particularly suitable for application in electrical drives devoted to ship propulsion, since they allow the elimination of the large-power gearbox used in conventional systems. In consideration of that, this paper deals with a novel slotless axial-flux PM machine topology which is characterized by the synchronous counterrotation of the two machine rotors. Such a new machine topology can find application in the direct driving of two counterrotating propellers, which may be used in ship propulsion systems to recover energy from the rotational flow of the main propeller slip stream. In this case, the use of an axial-flux machine having counter-rotating rotors allows an improvement in terms of weight and efficiency, since the epicyclic gear otherwise required for the motion reversal can be avoided. The paper discusses the stator winding arrangement which allows the opposite motion of the machine rotors and reports experimental results taken from a small-size machine prototype     

Wide-Band UHF Radio Propagation Characteristics in a Tunnel Environment

This paper presents the measured wide-band characteristics of 900 and 1800 MHz band radio propagation channels in a tunnel environment for microcellular and personal communications. The measurements were made using the swept frequency technique. The analysis of the average measured power delay profiles reveals that the rms time delay spread is less than 25 ns when the tunnel is empty and can be as large as 103 ns when the tunnel is blocked by vehicles.     

A block alternating likelihood maximization approach to multiuser detection

In this paper, we address the maximum-likelihood (ML) multiuser detection problem for asynchronous code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems with multiple receiver antennas in frequency-selective fading environments. Multiuser ML detection (MLD) in this case provides attractive symbol error performance, but it requires the solution of a large-scale combinatorial optimization problem. To deal with the computational complexity of this problem, we propose an efficient approximation method based on a block alternating likelihood maximization (BALM) principle. The idea behind BALM is to decompose the large-scale MLD problem into smaller subproblems. Assuming binary or quaternary phase shift keying (BPSK or QPSK) (which are often employed in CDMA), the combinatorial subproblems are then accurately and efficiently approximated by the semidefinite relaxation (SDR) algorithm-an algorithm that has been recently shown to lead to quasi-ML performance in synchronous CDMA scenarios. Simulation results indicate that this BALM detector provides close-to-optimal bit error rate (BER) performance. The BALM principle is quite flexible, and we demonstrate this flexibility by extending BALM to multicarrier (MC) multiuser systems. By exploiting the special signal correlation structure of MC systems, we develop a variation of BALM in which dynamic programming (DP) is used to solve the subproblems. It is shown using simulations that the BER performance of this DP-based BALM detector is as promising as that of the SDR-based BALM detector.     

Generation of human cytolytic T lymphocyte lines directed against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) employing a PSA oligoepitope peptide

Prostate-specific Ag (PSA), which is expressed in a majority of prostate cancers, is a potential target for specific immunotherapy. Previous studies have shown that two 10-mer PSA peptides (designated PSA-1 and PSA-3) selected to conform to human HLA class I-A2 motifs can elicit CTL responses in vitro. A longer PSA peptide (30-mer) designated PSA-OP (oligoepitope peptide), which contains both the PSA-1 and PSA-3 HLA-A2 epitopes and an additional potential CTL epitope (designated PSA-9) for the HLA-class I-A3 allele, was investigated for the ability to induce cytotoxic T cell activity. T cell lines from different HLA-A2 and HLA-A3 donors were established by in vitro stimulation with PSA-OP; the CTL lines lysed PSA-OP as well as PSA-1- or PSA-3-pulsed C1R-A2 cells, and PSA-OP and PSA-9-pulsed C1R-A3 cells, respectively. The CTL lines derived from the PSA-OP peptide also lysed PSA-positive prostate cancer cells. PSA-OP-derived T cell lines also lysed recombinant vaccinia-PSA-infected targets but not targets infected with wild-type vaccinia. PSA-OP did not bind HLA-A2 and HLA-A3 molecules. The decrease in cytotoxicity in the presence of protease inhibitors suggests that the PSA-OP is cleaved into shorter peptides, which in turn can interact with HLA-class I molecules and, as a consequence, induce CTL-mediated lysis. We have also demonstrated that it is possible to induce CTL responses in HLA-A2.1/Kb transgenic mice by immunization with PSA-OP with adjuvant. These studies thus provide evidence that oligopeptides such as PSA-OP may be useful candidates for peptide-based cancer vaccines.     

Study of serum 3,5,3''-triiodothyronine sulfate concentration in patients with systemic non-thyroidal illness

The thyroid doses received by the juvenile population of Belarus following the Chernobyl accident ranged up to about 10 Gy. The thyroid cancer risk estimate recommended in NCRP Report No. 80 was used to predict the number of thyroid cancer cases among children during 1990-1992 in selected Belarussian regions and cities. The results obtained using this risk estimate show an excess of thyroid cancer cases being registered vs. the predicted cases. Thyroid cancer incidence rate among boys under investigation is higher than among girls in the postaccident period. The excess of the observed over the expected incidence in the general juvenile population is caused by the high thyroid cancer incidence rate among boys. These results, which can be considered part of the first stage of a thorough thyroid cancer risk estimation after the Chernobyl accident, demonstrate the critical need to complete these studies in depth.