The Interaction of Anti-DNA Antibodies with DNA: Evidence for Unconventional Binding Mechanisms

Antibodies to DNA (anti-DNA) are the serological hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus, a prototypic autoimmune disease. These antibodies bind to conserved sites on single-stranded and double-stranded DNA and display variable region somatic mutations consistent with antigen selection. Nevertheless, the interaction of anti-DNA with DNA has unconventional features. Anti-DNA antibodies bind by a mechanism called monogamous bivalency, in which stable interaction requires contact of both Fab sites with determinants on the same extended DNA molecule; the size of this DNA can be hundreds to thousands of bases, especially in solid phase assays. This binding also requires the presence of the Fc portion of IgG, a binding mechanism known as Fc-dependent monogamous bivalency. As shown by the effects of ionic strength in association and dissociation assays, anti-DNA binding is primarily electrostatic. Like anti-DNA autoantibodies, anti-DNA antibodies that bind specifically to non-conserved sites on bacterial DNA, a type of anti-DNA found in otherwise healthy individuals, also interact by monogamous bivalency. The unconventional features of anti-DNA antibodies may reflect the highly charged and polymeric nature of DNA and the need for molecular rearrangements to facilitate monogamous bivalency; the Fc portion contributes to binding in an as yet unknown way.     

Emergent Properties of the BT SDH Network

When planning an SDH network, explicit structure, such as rings or a network hierarchy, is often imposed to allow for easier network protection and management. Decisions on node connectivity are also heavily dependent on available transmission capacity and network geography, as well as the demands placed on the SDH transport layer. The strictly imposed structure therefore makes it unlikely for unplanned properties to appear but here we describe how the BT SDH network exhibits emergent power-law properties in a range of metrics. These properties are similar to those previously found in the Internet, but the Internet in contrast is not globally planned, has adaptive elements such as dynamic routing and peering agreements, lacks explicit imposed structure, and is less coupled to transmission topologies.This paper shows that even with a wide range of restrictions and controls the BT SDH network topology follows power-laws and we offer possible sources for them, concentrating on the possible effect of adjacent network layers. The existence of these properties has wide implications in network modelling, as well as network scaling, growth, and robustness analysis.     

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), NASDA's contribution to the EOS for global energy and water cycle studies

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) was developed and provided to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's EOS Aqua satellite by the National Space Development Agency of Japan, as one of the indispensable instruments for Aqua's mission. AMSR-E is a modified version of AMSR that was launched December 2002 aboard the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II). It is a six-frequency dual-polarized total-power passive microwave radiometer that observes water-related geophysical parameters supporting global change science and monitoring efforts. The hardware improvements over existing spaceborne microwave radiometers for Earth imaging include the largest main reflector of its kind and addition of 6.925-GHz channels. These improvements provide finer spatial resolution and the capability to retrieve sea surface temperature and soil moisture information on a global basis. This paper provides an overview of the instrument characteristics, mission objectives, and data products.     

An introduction to the multi-user MIMO downlink

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication techniques have been an important area of focus for next-generation wireless systems because of their potential for high capacity, increased diversity, and interference suppression. For applications such as wireless LANs and cellular telephony, MIMO systems will likely be deployed in environments where a single base must communicate with many users simultaneously. As a result, the study of multi-user MIMO systems has emerged recently as an important research topic. Such systems have the potential to combine the high capacity achievable with MIMO processing with the benefits of space-division multiple access. In this article we review several algorithms that have been proposed with this goal in mind. We describe two classes of solutions. The first uses a signal processing approach with various types of transmitter beamforming. The second uses "dirty paper" coding to overcome the interference a user sees from signals intended for other users. We conclude by describing future areas of research in multi-user MIMO communications.     

Next-generation 100-gigabit metro ethernet (100 GbME) using multiwavelength optical rings

This paper investigates the challenges for developing the current local area network (LAN)-based Ethernet protocol into a technology for future network architectures that is capable of satisfying dynamic traffic demands with hard service guarantees using high-bit-rate channels (80...100 Gb/s). The objective is to combine high-speed optical transmission and physical interfaces (PHY) with a medium access control (MAC) protocol, designed to meet the service guarantees in future metropolitan-area networks (MANs). Ethernet is an ideal candidate for the extension into the MAN as it allows seamless compatibility with the majority of existing LANs. The proposed extension of the MAC protocol focuses on backward compatibility as well as on the exploitation of the wavelength domain for routing of variable traffic demands. The high bit rates envisaged will easily exhaust the capacity of a single optical fiber in the C band and will require network algorithms optimizing the reuse of wavelength resources. To investigate this, four different static and dynamic optical architectures were studied that potentially offer advantages over current link-based designs. Both analytical and numerical modeling techniques were applied to quantify and compare the network performance for all architectures in terms of achievable throughput, delay, and the number of required wavelengths and to investigate the impact of nonuniform traffic demands. The results show that significant resource savings can be achieved by using end-to-end dynamic lightpath allocation, but at the expense of high delay.     

Effect of strong optical feedback on vertical-cavitysurface-emitting lasers

An analysis is performed of the effects of strong optical feedback on the characteristics of single-transverse mode VCSEL's. Consideration is given to the cases of short (1.5 cm) and long (15 cm) external cavities. When the laser is operated well above threshold in a short external cavity with high reflectivity, a strong dependence on the accumulated external cavity phase is observed. Stable operation is found for an optimum phase while for other values of the phase, chaotic dynamics is observed. Such behavior is not seen near threshold where the laser output is stable for any accumulated phase. For the longer external cavity the influence of the phase term is found to be insignificant: chaotic behavior is seen in the output over a wide range of operating currents     

Climate alteration A global issue for the electric power industry in the 21st century

Development of global electric generation and distribution systems will be central to mankind's economic and social well being. However, electricity is likely to be produced mainly from fossil fuel combustion for the foreseeable future. As a consequence, this global energy sector will contribute to growing carbon dioxide emissions, with a potential for climate alteration. Concern for potentially adverse climate effects has led to consideration of strategies for managing GHG emissions. With present technologies, extreme reduction strategies will be costly and may create significant stress on the projected world economic and energy systems. Technological options have been evaluated to a modest degree. These range from conventional emission control approaches to geo-engineering opportunities and biospheric carbon management. To be practical, these options need to be developed further and demonstrated to properly assess their operational characteristics.     

Quantum-confined stark effect and ultrafast absorption dynamics in bilayer inas quantum dot waveguide

A Stark shift of 40 nm at 1340 nm in a bilayer InAs/GaAs quantum dot ridge waveguide is reported. Time-resolved measurements indicate absorption recovery times of 7 ps at -8 V. Such favourable properties are desirable for intensity and phase modulators     

Simple and Accurate Optical Frequency Domain Ranging Using Off-the-Shelf DFB Lasers Subject to Frequency-Shifted Optical Feedback

It is demonstrated that accurate distance measurement may be effected using a commercially available distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor laser subject to frequency-shifted optical feedback. A simple experimental arrangement is employed wherein a chirped frequency comb is generated in an external cavity DFB laser using an intracavity acoustic-optic modulator. The frequency comb generates a beat frequency which is proportional to the path difference of a target and reference arm. An estimate of the accuracy and resolution of the measurement is given.     

Spatial resolution and processing tradeoffs for HYDROS: application of reconstruction and resolution enhancement techniques

Recent developments in reconstruction and resolution enhancement for microwave instruments suggest a possible tradeoff between computation, resolution, and downlink data rate based on postcollection reconstruction/resolution enhancement processing. The Hydrospheric State (HYDROS) mission is designed to measure global soil moisture and freeze/thaw state in support of weather and climate prediction, water, energy, and carbon cycle studies, and natural hazards monitoring. It will use an active and passive L-band microwave system that optimizes measurement accuracy, spatial resolution, and coverage. The active channels use synthetic aperture radar-type processing to achieve fine spatial resolution, requiring a relatively high downlink data rate and ground processor complexity. To support real-time applications and processing, an optional postcollection reconstruction and resolution enhancement method is investigated. With this option, much lower rate real-aperture radar data are used along with ground-based postprocessing algorithms to enhance the resolution of the observations to achieve the desired 10-km resolution. Several approaches are investigated in this paper. It is determined that a reconstruction/resolution enhancement technique combining both forward- and aft-looking measurements enables estimation of 10-km resolution or better backscatter values at acceptable accuracy. Key tradeoffs to achieve this goal are considered.