A near-optimum detector with reduced out-of band response fornarrowband signals

Reduced spectral response in adjacent spectral bins is very desirable for detectors since it gives capability to detect narrowband signals in the presence of unknown interference and colored noise. Conventionally, this is achieved by applying a smoothing window on the signal at the cost of detection performance. In this correspondence, a new method of detecting narrowband signals that uses a close approximation to the matched filter and the extrapolated input signal is proposed. The filter used has a frequency response that is very closely equal to that of the matched filter within a Doppler bin and nearly zero response outside it     

Improved diagnosis using enhanced fault dominance

Defect diagnosis can benefit from fault dominance relations to reduce the set of defect candidate sites. This paper presents new fault dominance collapsing operators that further reduce the set of candidates considered during the initial phase of diagnosis. In contrast to existing dominance-based methods which operate on pairs of faults, the proposed method operates on sets of faults. Fault-related entities are generated to guide the diagnosis process. The proposed collapsing operators can be used to accelerate effect-cause diagnosis. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a higher collapsing ratio than existing methods.     

WIPO Panels’ interpretation of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) three-prong test

The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is a unique process that resolves domain name disputes effectively and inexpensively. This paper, through an analysis of the UDRP three-prong test, revealed that even though the UDRP affords a great degree of discretion to the WIPO Panels deciding any given case, there is some consistency and predictability inherent in the UDRP process.     

Europe should stop taxing innovation

After nearly 48 years of failure to create the EU patent, language issues and the design of a centralised patent-litigation court still dominate headlines. But behind these issues there are high financial stakes and control power to play for. The recent EU Council deal on an ‘enhanced’ European patent system does not solve the above problems, and has not eliminated lingering governance issues. The risk for Europe is that a final patent agreement might be reached that does not cure the system of its major ills, and thus does not bring about any significant improvement for those that need it most: entrepreneurs and innovative companies starting out on the innovation process. The creation of an effective single EU patent requires (i) English-only post-grant translation, (ii) the end of nationally granted patents, (iii) phasing-out of the current ‘European patent’, (iv) lower fees for young innovative companies, and (v) a radical shake-up of the governance of the European Patent Office.     

Synthesis of crystalline metal nitride and metal carbide nanostructures by sol–gel chemistry

Attention toward nanosized metal nitrides and carbides is rapidly increasing thanks to their chemical characteristics that make them as valid and sustainable alternatives to noble metals in catalysis and to air-sensitive metals or oxides for applications under harsh conditions. They are mostly used as bulk phase or micron sized powders, due to an intrinsic difficulty to synthesize them as nanoparticles in a systematic and scalable fashion. However, nanosized metal nitrides and carbides could exhibit improved performances, e.g. in catalysis due to a higher surface area, and can be shaped more easily than corresponding larger grains for further specific applications. Recently, sol–gel chemistry has closed this gap and now enables the simple, cheap, and sustainable production of metal nitride and carbide nanoparticles.In the present review we give an overview on recent sol–gel based pathways for the synthesis of metal nitride and carbide nanoparticles, believing that a better knowledge of the potentialities of these still hardly touched materials stimulates research interest and applications.     

Purification and identification of antioxidant peptide from black pomfret, <Emphasis Type=Italic>Parastromateus niger</Emphasis> (Bloch, 1975) viscera protein hydrolysate

To utilize fish waste, black pomfret, Parastromateus niger viscera was analysed for its proximate and amino acid composition followed by hydrolysis using various proteases to extract antioxidant peptide. Antioxidant activities of the crude hydrolysate was evaluated using DPPH (54%), metal chelating (78.6%) at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, whereas the reducing power assay was done with different concentration (0.5–2.5 mg/mL) and the activity also increased with increasing concentration (0.021–0.068). Furthermore, the hydrolysate was purified by diethylaminoethyl (DEAE) ion-exchange and Sephadex G-25 gel filtration chromatography. Finally, the purified peptide had a mass of 701.9 Da, and the amino acid sequence was identified as Ala-Met-Thr-Gly-Leu-Glu-Ala using electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). Moreover, the protection ability of the peptide toward hydroxyl radical-induced oxidative DNA damage and inhibiting lipid peroxidation was evaluated and compared with natural antioxidant α-tocopherol.