Robust adaptive beamforming for wide-band, moving, and coherentjammers via uniform linear arrays

The problem of providing robustness to the conventional narrow-band uniform linear array configuration so as to handle wide-band and moving jammers is addressed. This robustness is achieved via the use of derivative constraints in jammer directions. However, since the jammer directions are not known a priori, these constraints are incorporated with a maximum likelihood characterization of the so-called jammer subspace. This formulation does not need to assume the availability of signal-free observations, as stipulated in earlier work. Computer simulation results are presented, which show that the algorithms proposed here yield significantly better performance as compared to the previous algorithms of Gershman et al. (see ibid., vol.44, p.361-6, 1996, and IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, vol.45, p.1878-85, 1997) and Hung and Turner (1983) in a variety of situations required to handle wide-band, moving, and coherent jammers     

Cutting edge: MHC class I triggering by a novel cell surface ligand costimulates proliferation of activated human T cells

BY55 is a human cell surface molecule whose expression is restricted to NK cells, a subset of circulating CD8+ T lymphocytes, and all intestinal intraepithelial T lymphocytes. Here, we report that BY55 is a novel NK receptor showing broad specificity for both classical and nonclassical MHC class I molecules, and that optimal binding requires a prior aggregation of MHC class I complexes. Using BY55 transfectants, we have identified functional consequences of MHC class I/ligand interactions for the class I-bearing cell. The triggering of MHC class I molecules on human T cell clones by BY55 delivered a potent proliferative signal in the presence of soluble CD3 mAb. The costimulatory signal provided by MHC class I ligation was only seen in activated, and not resting, peripheral blood T cells. This observation represents an additional and/or alternative pathway to CD28 costimulation and may be of particular relevance in memory T cells lacking CD28, such as intestinal intraepithelial T lymphocytes, which are CD28- but BY55+.     

Get wireless: a mobile technology spectrum

Mobile computing applications allow anytime, anywhere access to the Internet and corporate intranets. For several reasons, the market for wireless data services has grown at a much slower rate than wireless voice. Until recently, portable data devices were bulky, required heavy batteries, and didn't have integrated networking. Wireless services have also had to contend with narrow bandwidths, high access latency, and frequent disconnection. Added to this were inadequate coverage, expensive services, and perceived security problems. Finally, few applications were specifically designed with mobility in mind. New mobile technologies address these problems, making wireless data transmission an attractive alternative for individuals and enterprises. The next few years will see wireless data networks come into their own. Next year (year 2000), the market for wireless data networks is predicted to grow to six to eight million users with seven percent of the total wireless revenues. In fact, wireless data service is projected to be a multibillion-dollar market within five years. The combination of portable gadgets and wireless data services provides exciting opportunities for mobile computing applications     

Some Transition Metal Salts of 4,6‐Dinitrobenzofuroxan: Synthesis,Characterization and Evaluation of Their Properties

Chromium, Iron and Copper salts of 4,6‐dinitrobenzofuroxan have been prepared by reacting sodium salt of 4,6‐dinitrobenzofuroxan with chromium nitrate nonahydrate, ferric nitrate nonahydrate and cupric nitrate trihydrate, respectively. The compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, spectral data (IR and NMR) and metal content. Some properties including thermal and explosive behaviour of these compounds have been investigated and reported. Further, these molecules have also been investigated in composite propellants as burn‐rate modifiers. The preliminary data suggest that iron salt of 4,6‐dinitrobenzofuroxan is better than ferric oxide, generally used as a burn‐rate modifier for hydroxy‐terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) based composite propellants.     

Properties of Two Broad Host Range Phages of Yersinia enterocolitica Isolated from Wild Animals

Yersinia (Y.) enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis are important zoonotic agents which can infect both humans and animals. To combat these pathogens, the application of strictly lytic phages may be a promising tool. Since only few Yersinia phages have been described yet, some of which demonstrated a high specificity for certain serotypes, we isolated two phages from game animals and characterized them in terms of their morphology, host specificity, lytic activity on two bio-/serotypes and genome composition. The T7-related podovirus vB_YenP_Rambo and the myovirus vB_YenM_P281, which is very similar to a previously described phage PY100, showed a broad host range. Together, they lysed all the 62 tested pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains belonging to the most important bio-/serotypes in Europe. A cocktail containing these two phages strongly reduced cultures of a bio-/serotype B4/O:3 and a B2/O:9 strain, even at very low MOIs (multiplicity of infection) and different temperatures, though, lysis of bio-/serotype B2/O:9 by vB_YenM_P281 and also by the related phage PY100 only occurred at 37 °C. Both phages were additionally able to lyse various Y. pseudotuberculosis strains at 28 °C and 37 °C, but only when the growth medium was supplemented with calcium and magnesium cations.     

Intensification of hydrogen production by B. licheniformis using kitchen waste as substrate

Bacillus licheniformis AP1 isolated from dairy waste cheese whey water possess pyruvate formate lyase (PFL) and formate hydrogen lyase (FHL) enzyme gene which can hydrolyze pyruvate and formate to produce hydrogen under anaerobic conditions. Molecular characterization of this strain was done using 16rRNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic tree was formed on the basis of neighbor-joining method using MEGA5 which showed that no significant change occurred in 16s rRNA during the course of evolution. Biohydrogen production using this laboratory isolate was performed using pre-treated kitchen waste as substrate at optimized pH 6.5 with yield of 12.29 ± 1.2 mmolH₂/gCOD reduced. Effect of macronutrients and micronutrients were studied by varying concentrations on the hydrogen production. Hydrogen production substantially increased from 14.10 ± 1.4 mmolH₂/gCOD, 17.027 ± 1.7 mmolH₂/gCOD, 17.029 ± 1.7 mmolH₂/gCOD to 17.62 ± 1.8 mmol/gCOD reduced kitchen waste by B. licheniformis at optimized concentrations of –different metals like magnesium (MgCl₂) 0.59 g/L, nitrogen (NH₄Cl) 7 g/L, nickel (NiCl₂) 180 μg/L, and iron (II) (FeSO₄) 67 μg/L respectively. The optimized temperature for this process was found to be 34 ± 2 °C with the maximal hydrogen yield of 17.62 ± 1.8 mmol/g COD reduced kitchen waste. The end fermentation metabolites detected were acetic acid, isobutyl acid, butyric acid, and pyruvic acid in the proportion of 3.75:1:1:1 under the optimized conditions in batch experiment (30 ml MGY media broth). These are the products of pyruvate-formate lyase enzyme complex that indicates the major electron flux towards formate during hydrogen production by B. licheniformis in hydrolyzed kitchen waste.     

Accurate computation of field reject ratio based on fault latency

It is shown that the known methods of field reject ratio prediction are not accurate since they fail to realistically model the process of testing. The authors model the detection of a fault by an input test vector as a random event. However, the detection of a fault may be delayed for various reasons: the fault may be detectable only by application of a sequence of vectors or it may not have been targeted until later. In the statistical model, a fault is characterized by two parameters: a per-vector detection probability and an integer-valued latency. Irrespective of the detection probability, the fault cannot be detected by a vector sequence shorter than its latency. The circuit is characterized by the joint distribution of latency and detection probability over all faults. This distribution, obtained by applying the Bayes' rule to the actual test data, allows computations the field reject ratio. The sensitivity of this approach to variations in the measured parameters is also investigated     

Host Range,Morphology and Sequence Analysis of Ten Temperate Phages Isolated from Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica Strains

Yersinia enterocolitica is a heterogeneous species comprising highly pathogenic, weakly pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains. Previous data suggest that gene exchange may occur in Yersinia. Only scarce information exists about temperate phages of Y. enterocolitica, even though many prophage sequences are present in this species. We have examined 102 pathogenic Y. enterocolitica strains for the presence of inducible prophages by mitomycin C treatment. Ten phages were isolated from nine strains belonging to the bio (B)/serotypes (O) B2/O:5,27, B2/O:9 and 1B/O:8. All phages are myoviruses showing lytic activity only at room temperature. Whole-genome sequencing of the phage genomes revealed that they belong to three groups, which, however, are not closely related to known phages. Group 1 is composed of five phages (type phage: vB_YenM_06.16.1) with genome sizes of 43.8 to 44.9 kb, whereas the four group 2 phages (type phage: vB_YenM_06.16.2) possess smaller genomes of 29.5 to 33.2 kb. Group 3 contains only one phage (vB_YenM_42.18) whose genome has a size of 36.5 kb, which is moderately similar to group 2. The host range of the phages differed significantly. While group 1 phages almost exclusively lysed strains of B2/O:5,27, phages of group 2 and 3 were additionally able to lyse B4/O:3, and some of them even B2/O:9 and 1B/O:8 strains.     

A Comparative Study on some Explosive Properties of cobalt picrate and cobalt picramate

Cobalt picrate and cobalt picramate were prepared, their IR spectra were recorded in KBr. Explosion delay, explosion temperature, activation energy, and explosion pressure were measured. Cobalt picrate is thermally more stable than cobalt picramate.     

Effect of coagulation on the size of MF and UF membrane foulants

Microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) have become common water treatment technologies for the removal of particles from natural waters. Many water utilities are now integrating MF/UF with other treatment processes to provide treatment for nonparticulate contaminants. Research is needed to understand the impact that other processes have on MF/UF performance. This study was conducted to investigate the interactions between water quality, coagulation, and membrane fouling. The study examined the fouling of MF/UF membranes by natural waters with and without coagulation by specific fractions of constituents in natural water, separated by size. This research found thatthe component of natural organic matter (NOM) smaller than 100 kDa contributes relatively little to fouling during filtration of either raw or coagulated water. The fraction between 1 microm and 100 kDa contributes a significant portion of the fouling. After coagulation pretreatment, fouling due to various size fractions in the feedwater can change.