Allosteric Modulation of GPCRs of Class A by Cholesterol

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are membrane proteins that convey extracellular signals to the cellular milieu. They represent a target for more than 30% of currently marketed drugs. Here we review the effects of membrane cholesterol on the function of GPCRs of Class A. We review both the specific effects of cholesterol mediated via its direct high-affinity binding to the receptor and non-specific effects mediated by cholesterol-induced changes in the properties of the membrane. Cholesterol binds to many GPCRs at both canonical and non-canonical binding sites. It allosterically affects ligand binding to and activation of GPCRs. Additionally, it changes the oligomerization state of GPCRs. In this review, we consider a perspective of the potential for the development of new therapies that are targeted at manipulating the level of membrane cholesterol or modulating cholesterol binding sites on to GPCRs.     

Low power and high-speed FPGA implementation for 4D memristor chaotic system for image encryption

In this paper, we proposed a novel low power and high-speed FPGA implementation of the 4D memristor chaotic system with cubic nonlinearity based on Xilinx System Generator (XSG) model. Firstly, a pseudo-random number generator based on the proposed XSG FPGA implementation of the proposed 4D memristor chaotic system which implemented into Xilinx Spartan-6 X6SLX45 board with 32 fixed-point format. The aim of the FPGA implementation is increasing the frequency of the memristor chaotic random number generators. The FPGA implementation of the memristor chaotic system results show that the new design approach achieves a maximum frequency of 393 MHz and dissipates 117 m watt. The standard fifteen randomization tests are used to measure the quality of the proposed pseudo-random number generator based on the 4D memristor chaotic system and it gives an excellent randomization analysis. Also, the gray image encryption scheme based on the 4D memristor chaotic system has been introduced. The proposed cryptosystem has a large keyspace, very low correlation values, high entropy which is much closer to the ideal entropy value, a high number of pixels change rate and high unified average changing intensity values. The results and security analysis of the proposed encryption scheme demonstrate that the investigated encryption approach can protect high speed and high security against various attack.

     

Reconfigurable simulator using graphical user interface (GUI) and object-oriented design for OFDM systems

In this paper, a design of a new object-oriented simulation environment and graphical user interface (GUI) for versatile orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems is presented. This is achieved using high-level design, parallelism and usability for the simulation environment. GUI interface can serve as a learning/research tool for students or practiced professionals to investigate particular designs. It is evident that OFDM systems intended to be used in dynamic environments must be tested under various conditions in order to be designed for optimality. Hence, a simulation design is proposed coupling the GUI, parallelism, and high-level object-oriented design techniques to be beneficial to the researcher. A high-level design and GUI layouts of the proposed simulator is shown in details. Important OFDM parameters needed for reconfiguration of transmitter components, channel condition parameters, and receiver components are discussed. In addition, this paper provides a simple technique to implement simulation partitioning for increased parallel performance of reconfigurable object-oriented OFDM simulators. This simple technique applies to scenarios where there is disproportionate simulation duration between different OFDM configurations. It is shown to decrease total simulation time considerably.     

A Web-based integrated design system: its applications on conceptual design stage

This paper describes the development of a Web-based integrated system for collaborative product development evolving from marketing analysis to prototype generation. The proposed system encompasses a marketing information system (MIS), a human resources management (HRM) system, a supply-chain management (SCM) system, a communication media, an integrated product design studio, a user interface and databases. It enables project planners, marketing analysts, designers, suppliers, and manufacturing planners to work at the early stages to reduce any unnecessary wasted time, resources, and costs, thus increasing the total product quality, maximising the organisation resources used, and reducing the total product cost and product lead time to better face global competition. The tangible advantage of implementing this system is that it provides an integrated environment for total product development from concept to realisation. Therefore, an efficient product development process is generated. One case study is demonstrated and discussed to validate the proposed system.     

Counting-based secret sharing technique for multimedia applications

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Secret Sharing is required in situations where access to important resources has to be protected by more than one person. We propose new secret-sharing scheme...     

Synthesis and solution properties of poly(acrylamide-styrene) block copolymers with high hydrophobic content

Hydrophobically associating block copolymers of polyacrylamide/styrene with a high hydrophobe content were synthesized using micellar copolymerization under various conditions of surfactant and initiator concentrations with the objective of determining the conditions that produce optimum solution properties for enhanced oil recovery. Solubilities, aqueous solution viscosities and interfacial properties with air and oil of the copolymers were investigated. The influence of salt on the solution properties was also studied. Nature of hydrophobic sites and onset of hydrophobic association were studied by measuring the fluorescence of pyrene in polymer solutions. Optimum solution properties were obtained for copolymers synthesized under conditions of high surfactant and initiator concentrations. The copolymers displayed substantial thickening properties at low concentrations with enhanced thickening in the presence of salt. The interfacial tensions of the aqueous solutions with n-decane and air were also reduced. Interfacial properties were slightly sensitive to salt concentration. The copolymer solutions showed shear and temperature thinning behaviors typical of polymer solutions.     

Non‐isolated single‐switch DC–DC converters with extended duty cycle for high step‐down voltage applications

Several new topologies of single‐switch non‐isolated DC–DC converters with wide conversion gain and reduced semiconductor voltage stress are proposed in this paper. Most of the proposed topologies are derived from the conventional inverse of SEPIC (Zeta) converter. The proposed topologies can operate with larger switch duty cycles compared with the existing single switch topologies, hence, making them well suitable for high step‐down voltage conversion applications. With extended duty cycle, the current stress in the active power switch is reduced, leading to a significant improvement of the system losses. Moreover, the active power switch in some of the proposed topologies is utilized much better compared to the conventional Zeta and quadratic‐buck converters. The principle of operation, theoretical analysis, and comparison of circuit performances with other step‐down converters are discussed regarding voltage and current stress and switch silicon utilization. Finally, simulation and experimental results for a design example of a 50 W/5 V at 42‐V input voltage operating at 50 kHz will be provided to evaluate the performance of the proposed converters. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative study of farm nutrient budgets and nutrient flows of certified organic and non-organic farms in China,Brazil and Egypt

Increased demand for certified organic products has led to an increase in the number of certified organic farms in developing countries. Knowledge of farmer nutrient management practices on certified organic farms in developing countries is limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of the adoption of certified organic agriculture on farm nutrient flows and nutrient budgets, and evaluate to which degree organic farms comply with organic principles relating to nutrient management. The study is based on five case studies of different types of certified organic farming systems in Brazil, Egypt and China. Farm nutrient flows and nutrient budgets for nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium were created for each farm. Four of the five organic systems studied had nutrient surpluses on the farm budget. The surpluses were of varying magnitude. The main difference between organic and non-organic farm nutrient flows was the replacement of mineral fertilizers with organic inputs. However, the magnitude of nutrient flows were generally similar for organic and non-organic farms. Certified organic farms with positive nutrient budgets had a heavy reliance on external inputs. Continued high dependence on an external supply of nutrients, which typically originate from mineral sources, poses a significant challenge to organic farmers’ fulfilment of the principles of organic agriculture.     

Crop responses to 15N-labelled organic and inorganic nitrogen sources

A major challenge for low-external-input farming systems is to secure the N supply. Lack of synchrony between mineralization of organic N sources and plant N requirements is causing many growers to use different techniques to overcome this problem. One of these techniques is the application of soluble water extracts of different farm residues and plants. A field study was conducted to study the crop uptake of applied ¹⁵N-labeled alfalfa and clover extracts as compared to the N uptake from¹⁵N-glycine and three levels of ¹⁵N-(NH₄)₂SO₄. The results show that total N accumulation in the field crops, squash and lettuce was primarily affected by the amount of added N (P ≤ 0.05) and not by the form in which the N was applied (P ≤ 0.05). The utilization efficiencies of N (pNdff) from plant extracts and glycine increased (P ≤ 0.05) gradually from 10, 20, to 30 days after application in contrast to (NH₄)₂SO₄ which peaked in utilization efficiencies of 56% around 20 days after application. The pNdff reached 60%, 40% and 36% of the applied glycine, alfalfa and clover extracts, respectively in lettuce. Squash showed the same pattern during at 10, 20 and 30 days; however, the proportion of N derived from most of the treatments was higher in squash than in lettuce (P ≤ 0.05). These results indicate that plant extracts of clover and alfalfa can be used as efficient N fertilisers in low-external-input agroecosystems.     

Performance of DSRC systems using conventional channel estimation at high velocities

In this paper, we present a study of the dedicated short range communications (DSRC) receiver performance under varying signal to noise ratio, velocity, symbol durations and packet lengths. Conventional channel estimation, which is used in IEEE 802.11a, assumes static channel characteristics for the entire packet duration. That is found to be infeasible for high velocity DSRC applications. Simulation results show that the packet-error-rate increases with the increase in relative velocity. Viterbi decoding substantially improves the performance, but the sensitivity to Doppler shift still exists. Analysis and simulation results show that extending the symbol duration or increasing packet length results in an increase of the packet-error-rate. These results may serve as benchmarks for future DSRC channel estimation methods.