A Laguerre polynomial-based bound on the symbol error probability for adaptive antennas with optimum combining

We derive a simple closed-form upper bound on the symbol error probability for coherent detection of M-ary phase-shift keying using antenna arrays with optimum combining, in the presence of multiple uncorrelated equal-power cochannel interferers and thermal noise in a Rayleigh fading environment. The new bound, based on Laguerre polynomials, is valid for an arbitrary number of antenna elements as well as arbitrary number of interferers, and it is proven to be asymptotically tight. Comparisons with Monte Carlo simulation are also provided, showing that our bound is useful in many cases of interest.     

The process window of a-Si/Ti bilayer metallization for anoxidation-resistant and self-aligned TiSi2 process

The dependences of both oxidation-resistant and self-aligned silicidation properties on the thicknesses of top amorphous-Si (a-Si) and Ti metal in an a-Si/Ti bilayer process are presented. It is shown that a thin silicide layer formed during the reaction between a-Si and Ti films becomes a stable oxidation and nitridation barrier for oxygen- and nitrogen-related impurities. Moreover, the formation sequence of the silicide phase depends not only on the annealing temperature but also on the thickness of the Ti film. In addition, the preferential orientation of the silicide phase after annealing at high temperature also shows a strong dependence on the thickness of Ti film, which is attributed to the difference of the grain size in the polycrystalline silicide film. The allowed process window for the a-Si thickness can be determined experimentally and a reproducible and homogeneous self-aligned TiSi₂ film can be easily obtained by using the a-Si/Ti bilayer process in salicide applications despite high-level contaminations of oxygen impurities in both the as-deposited Ti film and the annealing ambient     

Regulation of organelle movement in melanophores by protein kinase A (PKA), protein kinase C (PKC), and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)

We used melanophores, cells specialized for regulated organelle transport, to study signaling pathways involved in the regulation of transport. We transfected immortalized Xenopus melanophores with plasmids encoding epitope-tagged inhibitors of protein phosphatases and protein kinases or control plasmids encoding inactive analogues of these inhibitors. Expression of a recombinant inhibitor of protein kinase A (PKA) results in spontaneous pigment aggregation. alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), a stimulus which increases intracellular cAMP, cannot disperse pigment in these cells. However, melanosomes in these cells can be partially dispersed by PMA, an activator of protein kinase C (PKC). When a recombinant inhibitor of PKC is expressed in melanophores, PMA-induced pigment dispersion is inhibited, but not dispersion induced by MSH. We conclude that PKA and PKC activate two different pathways for melanosome dispersion. When melanophores express the small t antigen of SV-40 virus, a specific inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), aggregation is completely prevented. Conversely, overexpression of PP2A inhibits pigment dispersion by MSH. Inhibitors of protein phosphatase 1 and protein phosphatase 2B (PP2B) do not affect pigment movement. Therefore, melanosome aggregation is mediated by PP2A.     

Interactive Evolutionary Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithm Using Cone Dominance

As the number of objectives increases, the performance of the Pareto dominance-based Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization (EMO) algorithms such as NSGA-II, SPEA2 severely deteriorates due to the drastic increase in the Pareto-incomparable solutions. We propose a sorting method which classifies these incomparable solutions into several ordered classes by using the decision maker's (DM) preference information. This is accomplished by designing an interactive evolutionary algorithm and constructing convex cones. This method allows the DMs to drive the search process toward a preferred region of the Pareto optimal front. The performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed for two, three, and four-objective knapsack problems. The results demonstrate the algorithm's ability to converge to the most preferred point. The evaluation and comparison of the results indicate that the proposed approach gives better solutions than that of NSGA-II. In addition, the approach is more efficient compared to NSGA-II in terms of the number of generations required to reach the preferred point.     

Isolation and identification of caffeine-degrading bacteria from coffee plantation area

Decaffeination of food and beverage products is in high demand. In this study, a caffeine-degrading bacterium Burkholderia spp. was isolated from coffee plantation area of Chiang Mai province of Thailand. The bacterial isolates were first identified by morphological, physiological, and biochemical tests followed by 16S rDNA analysis. The bacterial isolate of Burkholderia spp. showed 45.5% of caffeine degradation in caffeine containing media (2.5 g/L) after 110 h of incubation period. Burkholderia spp. showed only 2.6% caffeine degradation when exposed to high concentrations of caffeine containing medium (20 g/L). The growth rate of Burkholderia spp. declined with the increase in the caffeine concentration, which indicated the inhibiting effect of caffeine at very high concentrations. The maximum growth rate of 0.053 h^?1 was observed at 2.5 g/L of caffeine. Overall due to high caffeine tolerance and biodegradation of caffeine, Burkholderia spp. can be effectively used to degrade caffeine from agro-industrial wastes targeted for value added food applications and environmental remediation.     

England's Town Development Act: 1952: PART I: Background of the Act

The land use model recasts an unsuccessful urban form of the past. Concentric rings of declining land value begin at the intense, historic center and grade down through concentric rings to become the city plan. Little planning remains after such a model is accepted. The new freedom of the auto-age city is lost to the principle of a falling body. Further, the land use model plan restricts mobility of resident and employer by type, each to his ring Urban land value patterns are sustained by public action or inaction. A true city plan musters this power to form the best possible city.     

Global data and control in multicomputers: Operating system primitives and experimentation with a parallel branch-and-bound algorithm

The static distribution of work among tasks is not possible in many parallel applications. Therefore, it is essential to implement convenient and efficient abstractions for ‘work sharing’ on multicomputers. This paper compares the utility of two operating system facilities for the implementation of such ‘work sharing’: (1) a system for the migration of processes from heavily to less loaded processors and (2) a more general OS construct for the implementation of arbitrary distributed objects. Both were implemented as extensions to the Intel iPSC/1 operating system on a 32-node hypercube. Their experimental evaluation is based on a parallel implementation of a branch-and-bound algorithm. Two sets of results are attained. First, the necessity of the constructs for dynamic work sharing is demonstrated for applications with dynamic data domains, such as parallel branch-and-bound algorithms. This is followed by measurements that demonstrate the acceptable cost of process migration for a specific parallel branch-and-bound algorithm. These measurements are then compared with results attained with the construct for the implementation of distributed objects. Second, when using branch-and-bound to solve the Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP), evaluation of the resulting parallel TSP program shows that some analytical and simulation results attained in past, published work may not hold.     

测量复合视频信号性能:差分增益与差分相位

首先简要介绍了复合NSTC/PAL视频,并阐述差分增益与差分相位的重要性,随后,重点讨论了如何理解规格表中的各种规格及各种重要的DG/DP测量方法。     

Synthesis and intestinal metabolism of ursodeoxycholic acid conjugate with an antiinflammatory agent, 5-aminosalicylic acid

5-Aminosalicylic acid conjugate of ursodeoxycholic acid was synthesized in above 90% yield by adding a basic solution of 5-aminosalicylic acid into the mixed anhydride formed with ursodeoxycholic acid and ethyl chloroformate. The 5-aminosalicylic acid conjugate of ursodeoxycholic acid was poorly secreted into the bile and was deconjugated with cholylglycine hydrolase and Clostridium perfringens, that deconjugate naturally occurring glycine and taurine conjugates of bile acids. However, ursodeoxycholic acid 5-aminosalicylic acid conjugate was not absorbed from the duodenum but was concentrated in the colon where it was partially hydrolyzed by the intestinal bacteria to ursodeoxycholic acid and 5-aminosalicylic acid. We believe that this unique conjugation of ursodeoxycholic acid with 5-aminosalicylic acid may facilitate the transport of both 5-aminosalicylic acid and ursodeoxycholic acid to the colon and may be useful for the treatment of colonic inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.     

Cloning and heterologous expression of a beta-fructofuranosidase gene from Arthrobacter globiformis IFO 3062, and site-directed mutagenesis of the essential aspartic acid and glutamic acid of the active site

We have cloned the gene encoding a beta-fructofuranosidase from Arthrobacter globiformis IFO 3062, and subsequently, the gene was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. This beta-fructofuranosidase gene encodes a protein of 548 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 60,519 Da. We have examined the roles of three residues of A. globiformis IFO 3062 beta-fructofuranosidase by site-directed mutagenesis, and found that aspartic acid 130 and glutamic acid 392, which are two of the apparent catalytic residues, are essential for hydrolase activity. This study provides the first experimental evidence showing that these two amino acid residues of beta-fructofuranosidase play a critical role in hydrolyzing sucrose.