A Proposed H-STCDD Scheme in Cooperative Communication System

In this paper, the hierarchical space time cyclic delay diversity (H-STCDD) scheme is proposed. Proposed scheme uses hierarchical modulation and achieves approximately full rate. It also uses a cyclic delay diversity scheme, which improves the benefit of channel coding particularly in high SNR environment between source to relay and source to destination. According to simulation result, proposed scheme has up to 2.2 dB better BER performance than conventional cooperative scheme at BER of 10^?3 and has similar BER performance with the STCDD scheme particularly in high SNR environment between source to relay and source to destination. Throughput of the proposed scheme is better than those of other cooperative schemes. Therefore proposed scheme is more efficient than other cooperative scheme and can be efficiently used in high SNR environment between source to relay and source to destination.     

Activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells-(NFAT) and activating protein 1 (AP-1) by oncogenic 70Z Cbl requires an intact phosphotyrosine binding domain but not Crk(L) or p85 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase association

The Cbl proto-oncogene product is a complex adapter protein that functions as a negative regulator of protein tyrosine kinases. It is rapidly tyrosine-phosphorylated and associates with Crk(L) and p85 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) upon engagement of numerous receptors linked to tyrosine kinases. Elucidation of the mechanism(s) underlying Cbl deregulation is therefore of considerable interest. The 70Z Cbl oncoprotein shows increased baseline tyrosine phosphorylation in fibroblasts and enhances nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) activity in Jurkat T cells. Its transforming ability has been proposed to relate to its increased phosphotyrosine content. We demonstrate that 70Z Cbl shows increased basal and activation-induced tyrosine phosphorylation and association with Crk(L) and p85 PI3K in Jurkat T cells. 70Z Cbl, however, retains the ability to enhance NFAT and activating protein 1 (AP1) activity in the absence of Crk(L)/p85 PI3K association. In contrast, the G306E mutation, which inactivates the phosphotyrosine binding domain of Cbl, blocks NFAT/AP1 activation by 70Z Cbl. We conclude that 70Z Cbl-induced NFAT/AP1 activation requires the phosphotyrosine binding domain but not Crk(L)/p85 PI3K association. We hypothesize that 70Z Cbl acts as a dominant negative by blocking the negative regulatory function of the Cbl phosphotyrosine binding domain on protein-tyrosine kinases.     

Behavior of oxides in the liquid stainless steel

For a super clean steel, the oxygen content should be restricted to a very low level, and controlled during the melt state. The oxide behavior in an Al killed stainless steel melt were observed by analysing the forces exerted. New parameter, homogenization number (H number), was introduced to generalize the forces. Quantitative analysis of the removal of oxides was conducted, and a homogenization number was used to predict whether the oxides would be separated from the melt or mixed with the melt. It was also shown that the H number could possibly be used to estimate the capacity of oxide-absorption at the top slag.     

Antimicrobial activity of UV-irradiated nylon film for packaging applications

Antimicrobial packaging could enhance food storage life and safety. An antimicrobial moiety that is permanently bound to the polymer surface and does not leach has particular appeal. The use of 193 nm UV irradiation to convert amide groups on the surface of nylon to amines having antimicrobial activity has been reported previously. We prepared materials accordingly and explored their mode of action and activity against pathogens. Three food related bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Enterococcus faecalis were exposed to antimicrobial film in 0.2 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0). Samples were held shaken at 100 r.p.m. in a 25°C incubator. The antimicrobial film was effective in reduction of microbial concentration in the bulk fluid for all food-related bacteria tested. The effectiveness was dependent on the bacterial strain. Adsorption of bacterial cells diminished the effectiveness of amine groups. Experimental results indicate that the decrease in concentration of bacterial cells in bulk fluid is more likely to be the bactericidal action than adsorption of live cells. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interphase cure characterization in epoxy composites by fluorescence technique

Monitoring the reaction of an aromatic diamine cure agent with epoxy by fluorescence technique was used for cure characterization of the interphase in epoxy/glass and epoxy/carbon composites. The effect of the various surface treatments was first studied by the model interphase obtained by using a quartz plate for glass or a modified quartz plate for carbon surface. Aminosilane treated quartz cured faster and showed increased cure extent, while water aging and air oxidation showed almost no effect on the cure kinetics in comparison to the untreated quartz surface. For a model carbon surface, air oxidation showed a faster reaction only at the early stage of cure. The effects of the various surface treatments on glass or carbon fiber were also studied with the actual composites made by a thin coating of epoxy-diamine melt on glass or carbon fiber bundles. Epoxy/glass fiber composite showed a similar trend as the model interphase system. In the case of epoxy/carbon fiber composite, both air oxidation and water aging treatment showed a faster cure reaction at the early stage of cure. Furthermore, air oxidation treatment for the epoxy/carbon fiber composite showed somewhat increased cure extent. The reasons for these trends have been discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 63: 1769–1775, 1997     

Conformational-induced doping effect of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate on single walled carbon nanotubes

The doping behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was investigated with an emphasis on the control of the conformation of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (NaDDBS) with sulfonate groups acting as an electro-withdrawing group. The conformation of adsorbed NaDDBS on SWCNTs was controlled as a function of the amount of NaDDBS. The doping behavior of SWCNTs was significantly affected by the dosing amount of NaDDBS due to the conformational change of NaDDBS adsorbed on the SWCNT surface, which affected the spatial distance between the SWCNT surface and the sulfonate groups in NaDDBS. At a higher concentration, the spatial distance between the sulfonate group in NaDDBS and SWCNT was not sufficiently close enough to dope SWCNT due to the repulsive forces between the sulfonate groups in NaDDBS. Alternatively, at a lower concentration, NaDDBS acted as a p-type dopant for SWCNTs. To this end, this paper demonstrates a new tendency of doping that is related to the adsorbed behavior of a dispersant.     

The Global Nonlinear Galerkin Method for the Analysis of Elastic Large Deflections of Plates under Combined Loads: A Scalar Homotopy Method for the Direct Solution of Nonlinear Algebraic Equations

In this paper, the global nonlinear Galerkin method is used to perform an accurate and efficient analysis of the large deflection behavior of a simply-supported rectangular plate under combined loads. Through applying the Galerkin method to the governing nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) of the plate, we derive a system of coupled third order nonlinear algebraic equations (NAEs). However, the resultant system of NAEs is thought to be hard to tackle because one has to find the one physical solution from among the possible multiple solutions. Therefore, a suitable initial guess is required to lead to the real solution for given load conditions. The feature of this paper is that we apply the global nonlinear Galerkin method to the governing PDEs and solve the resultant NAEs directly in each load step. To keep track of the physical solution, the initial guess for the current load step is provided by taking the solution of the NAEs for the last step as the initial guess. Besides, the size of the NAEs grows dramatically larger, with the increase of the number of terms of the trial functions, which will cost much more computational efforts. An exponentially convergent scalar homotopy algorithm (ECSHA) is introduced to solve the large set of NAEs. The approach in the present paper is more direct and simpler than either the incremental global Galerkin method, or the incremental local Galerkin method (finite element method) based on a symmetric incremental weak-form; both of which methods lead to the inversion of tangent stiffness matrices and Newton-Raphson iterations in each load step. The present method of exponentially convergent scalar homotopy of directly solving the NAEs is much better than the quadratically convergent Newton-Raphson method. Several numerical examples are provided to validate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scheme.     

Antioxidant and antigenotoxic effect of dairy products supplemented with red ginseng extract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antigenotoxic effect of dairy products milk (M) and yogurt (Y) after the addition of 2% red ginseng extract to milk (RM) and to yogurt (RY). Total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, and total radical trapping antioxidant potential were determined in the samples. Furthermore, antigenotoxic effect of samples was measured, using comet assay in human leukocytes. Total phenolic content and total flavonoid content of RM [38.3 ± 0.8 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g, 23.6 ± 0.1 mg of quercetin equivalents (QE)/100 g] and RY (41.1 ± 0.9 mg of GAE/100 g, 18.7 ± 0.1 mg of QE/100 g), respectively, were higher than those of M (6.31 ± 0.2 mg of GAE/100 g, 10.4 ± 0.1 mg of QE/100 g) and Y (8.1 ± 0.9 mg of GAE/100 g, 8.4 ± 0.2 mg of QE/100 g), respectively. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and oxygen radical absorbance capacity values increased significantly after the addition of 2% red ginseng in both. Additionally, the total radical trapping antioxidant potential in RM (787.7 ± 7.0 μg/mL) was lower than in M (2074.0 ± 28.4 μg/mL). The H₂O₂-induced DNA damage in RY (0.1 ± 0.0 mg/mL) was less than the damage in Y (0.4 ± 0.0 mg/mL), but we found no significant difference between M and RM. This study indicates that supplementation with red ginseng can fortify the antioxidant and antigenotoxic effects of dairy products effectively.     

Short communication: Antioxidative and antibacterial activities on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H4 in milk with added ginseng marc extract fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11613P

Ginseng marc, a by-product of the extraction of fresh ginseng, is known to have bioactive compounds, but is frequently discarded as agriculture waste. The objectives of our study were to assess the antioxidative activity of fermented ginseng marc extract using Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11613P and to evaluate antibacterial activity of fermented milk with added ginseng marc extract during fermentation. After 24 h of fermentation of ginseng marc extract, the viable cell number was increased to 7.7 ± 0.1 log cfu/mL, and the pH and total titratable acidity were 4.2 ± 0.4 and 0.6% lactic acid, respectively. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents of fermented ginseng marc extract increased by 32.4 and 23.3%, respectively. Higher antioxidative activity of fermented ginseng marc extract was obtained in the β-carotene bleaching, ferric-reducing ability of plasma, and ferric thiocyanate assays than the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazy assay. However, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazy scavenging effect decreased due to lowered pH. During production of fermented milk with ginseng, inhibition rate of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were 9.7 and 2.3%, respectively. The present study shows the possibilities of Lactobacillus plantarum KCCM 11613P used as a fermentation strain and ginseng marc used as a functional supplement in milk.