Nanoengineering Hybrid Supramolecular Multilayered Biomaterials Using Polysaccharides and Self‐Assembling Peptide Amphiphiles

Developing complex supramolecular biomaterials through highly dynamic and reversible noncovalent interactions has attracted great attention from the scientific community aiming key biomedical and biotechnological applications, including tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, or drug delivery. In this study, the authors report the fabrication of hybrid supramolecular multilayered biomaterials, comprising high‐molecular‐weight biopolymers and oppositely charged low‐molecular‐weight peptide amphiphiles (PAs), through combination of self‐assembly and electrostatically driven layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assembly approach. Alginate, an anionic polysaccharide, is used to trigger the self‐assembling capability of positively charged PA and formation of 1D nanofiber networks. The LbL technology is further used to fabricate supramolecular multilayered biomaterials by repeating the alternate deposition of both molecules. The fabrication process is monitored by quartz crystal microbalance, revealing that both materials can be successfully combined to conceive stable supramolecular systems. The morphological properties of the systems are studied by advanced microscopy techniques, revealing the nanostructured dimensions and 1D nanofibrous network of the assembly formed by the two molecules. Enhanced C2C12 cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation are observed on nanostructures having PA as outermost layer. Such supramolecular biomaterials demonstrate to be innovative matrices for cell culture and hold great potential to be used in the near future as promising biomimetic supramolecular nanoplatforms for practical applications.     

A Robust Wearable Point-of-Care CNT-Based Strain Sensor for Wirelessly Monitoring Throat-Related Illnesses

Point-of-care testing (POC) has the ability to detect chronic and infectious diseases early or at the time of occurrence and provide a state-of-the-art personalized healthcare system. Recently, wearable and flexible sensors have been employed to analyze sweat, glucose, blood, and human skin conditions. However, a flexible sensing system that allows for the real-time monitoring of throat-related illnesses, such as salivary parotid gland swelling caused by flu and mumps, is necessary. Here, for the first time, a wearable, highly flexible, and stretchable piezoresistive sensing patch based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reported, which can record muscle expansion or relaxation in real-time, and thus act as a next-generation POC sensor. The patch offers an excellent gauge factor for in-plane stretching and spatial expansion with low hysteresis. The actual extent of muscle expansion is calculated and the gauge factor for applications entailing volumetric deformations is redefined. Additionally, a bluetooth-low-energy system that tracks muscle activity in real-time and transmits the output signals wirelessly to a smartphone app is utilized. Numerical calculations verify that the low stress and strain lead to excellent mechanical reliability and repeatability. Finally, a dummy muscle is inflated using a pneumatic-based actuator to demonstrate the application of the affixed wearable next-generation POC sensor.     

Hybrid wideband transceiver design for achievable rate maximization in millimeter-wave MIMO systems

Telecommunication Systems - This paper proposes two algorithms for hybrid (Analog–Digital) beamforming in a single-user millimeter-wave (mm-wave) multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems under...     

Quantitative preparation of long chain thioethers from an oxo-trans-2-enoic ester and a 9,12-dioxo-trans-10-enoic acid

Branched-chain thioethers have been prepared from methyl 4-oxo-trans-2-hexadecenoate and 9,12-dioxo-trans-10-octadecenoic acid. The reagents involved in these preparations were mercaptoacetic and mercaptopropionic acids. The yields of these thioethers are almost quantitative.     

Throughput Analysis and Admission Control for IEEE 802.11a

We propose a new Markov model for the distributed coordination function (DCF) of IEEE 802.11. The model incorporates carrier sense, non-saturated traffic and SNR, for both basic and RTS/CTS access mechanisms. Analysis of the model shows that the throughput first increases, and then decreases with the number of active stations, suggesting the need for an admission control mechanism.We introduce such a mechanism, which tries to maximize the throughput while maintaining a fair allocation. The maximum achievable throughput is tracked by the mechanism as the number of active stations increases. An extensive performance analysis shows that the mechanism provides significant improvements.Mustafa Ergen received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) and was the METU Valedictorian in 2000. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 2002 and 2004, the MOT certificate of HAAS Business School in 2003, and the M.A. degree in International and Area Studies in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley.Dr. Ergen has been conducting research in wireless communication networks with an emphasis on sensor networks, wireless LAN and OFDM systems and is the author of many works in the field, including the book (with A.R.S. Bahai and B.R. Saltzberg) Multi-Carrier Digital Communications: Theory and Applications of OFDM (New York: Springer, 2004).He is National Semiconductor Post Doctoral Fellow and was awarded eight times Bulent Kerim Altay Award by department of electrical engineering in METU and received Best Student Paper Award in IEEE ISCC 2003 and has an invited paper in IEEE GLOBECOM CAMAD 200.Pravin Varaiya is Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1975 to 1992, he was also Professor of Economics at Berkeley. His research is concerned with communication networks, transportation, and hybrid systems. He has taught at MIT and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Varaiya has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Miller Research Professorship. He received an Honorary Doctorate from L’Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, and the Field Medal of the IEEE Control Systems Society. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is on the editorial board of several journals, including “Discrete Event Dynamical Systems” and “Transportation Research-C.” He has co-authored three books and more than 250 technical papers. The second edition of “High-Performance Communication Networks” (with Jean Walrand) was published by Morgan-Kaufmann in 2000. “Structure and interpretation of signals and systems” (with Edward Lee) was published in 2002 by Addison-Wesley.     

Thermoelectric and Magnetic Properties of Pt-Substituted $${BaFe_{4-{x}}Pt_{{x}}Sb_{12}}$$ Compounds

\({BaFe_{4-{x}}Pt_{{x}}Sb_{12}}\) (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2) compounds were prepared by melting and annealing, followed by a spark plasma sintering method. Low-temperature thermoelectric and magnetic properties were investigated based on Seebeck coefficient, electrical and thermal conductivity and magnetization measurements. The structural properties of \({BaFe_{4-{x}}Pt_{{x}}Sb_{12}}\) (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2) compounds were ascertained by powder x-ray diffraction analysis, confirming that all samples have a main phase of a skutterudite structure with the space group Im\({\mathrm {\bar{3}}}\). The lattice parameters obtained, 9.202(5), 9.199(5) and 9.202(1) Å for x = 0, 0.1 and 0.2, respectively, were found consistent with literature. The Seebeck coefficient sign shows that holes are dominant carriers in all compounds. The local maximum Seebeck coefficient was observed around 50 K which may be a trace of paramagnon-drag effect of charge carriers. Thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity measurements were carried out between 4.2 and 300 K. Temperature dependence of electrical resistivity reflects that all samples show semi-metallic behavior in our temperature range of 4.2–300 K. Samples for x = 0.1 and x = 0.2 show Kondo-like behavior. In magnetization measurement, we observe that there are two successive magnetic transitions in Pt-substituted compounds; however, there is only one (transition from a paramagnetic state to long-range magnetic ordering) in Pt-free compounds. In Pt-substituted compounds, the first transition appears at \( T _{ {\rm c}}\) = 48 K. In addition, the second transition is observed at \( T _{ {\rm irr}}\) = 30 K where an intermediate state is observed before the magnetic ordering transforms to an irreversible ferromagnetic state. We concluded that Pt substitution on the Fe side effectual on the thermoelectric and magnetic properties of \({BaFe_{4-{x}}Pt_{{x}}Sb_{12}}\) (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2) compounds.     

Quantum‐Tunneling Metal‐Insulator‐Metal Diodes Made by Rapid Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition

A quantum‐tunneling metal‐insulator‐metal (MIM) diode is fabricated by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (AP‐CVD) for the first time. This scalable method is used to produce MIM diodes with high‐quality, pinhole‐free Al₂O₃ films more rapidly than by conventional vacuum‐based approaches. This work demonstrates that clean room fabrication is not a prerequisite for quantum‐enabled devices. In fact, the MIM diodes fabricated by AP‐CVD show a lower effective barrier height (2.20 eV) at the electrode–insulator interface than those fabricated by conventional plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition (2.80 eV), resulting in a lower turn on voltage of 1.4 V, lower zero‐bias resistance, and better asymmetry of 107.     

SER and throughput analysis of space–time analog network coded relaying system over shadowed Rician fading channels

Wireless Networks - This research article presents an innovative approach based on analog network coding (ANC) in conjunction with space time block coding (STBC) which is termed as space time...     

Impulsive Noise Suppression from Highly Distorted Images with Triangular Interpolants

In this paper a new filter, Triangular Interpolant Based Impulsive Noise Suppression Filter (SF), is proposed to restore images corrupted by fixed valued impulsive noise (IN). The proposed filter comprises two main stages: detection of noise and restoration of corrupted pixels. The SF achieves the restoration of the detected noisy pixels by using one of the Triangular Interpolant techniques and leaves the other pixels unaltered. Simulation results reveal that the proposed filter shows better performance than the highly approved IN suppression filters across a wide noise density ranging from 10% to 90%. The proposed filter also perfectly achieves the robustness anddetail preservation with reduced computational complexity.