A general scheme for spectral efficiency evaluation ofdirect-sequence spread-spectrum systems

Typically, spectral efficiency, the throughput in bits/second/hertz, has been evaluated for fixed values of the bit error probability. We introduce a cutoff-rate-based approach to evaluation of the spectral efficiency of direct-sequence spread-spectrum schemes so that the results are independent of specific bit error rates or channel codes. Results are shown for M-ary phase-shift keyed modulation on the slow-fading Rician channel     

Crystal structure of a complex of Escherichia coli glycerol kinase and an allosteric effector fructose 1,6-bisphosphate

The three-dimensional structures of Escherichia coli glycerol kinase (GK) with bound glycerol in the presence and absence of one of the allosteric regulators of its activity, fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (FBP), at 3.2 and 3.0 A, are presented. The molecule crystallized in space group P41212, and the structure was solved by molecular replacement. The models were refined with good stereochemistry to final R-factors of 21.1 and 21.9%, respectively. A tetrameric arrangement of monomers was observed which was essentially identical to the proposed inactive tetramer II previously described [Feese, M. D., Faber, H. R., Bystrom, C. E., Pettigrew, D. W., and Remington, S. J. (1998) Structure (in press)]. However, the crystal packing in this form was especially open, permitting the FBP binding site to be occupied and identified. The crystallographic data revealed a most unusual type of FBP binding site formed between two glycine-arginine loops (residues 234-236) where one-half of the binding site is donated by each monomer at the regulatory interface. The molecule of FBP binds in two mutually exclusive modes on a noncrystallographic 2-fold axis at 50% occupancy each; thus, a tetramer of GK binds two molecules of FBP. Ionic interactions between the 1- and 6-phosphates of FBP and Arg 236 were observed in addition to hydrogen bonding interactions between the backbone amide of Gly 234 and the 6-phosphate. No contacts between the protein and the furanose ring were observed. Mutagenesis of Arg 236 to alanine drastically reduced the extent of inhibition of GK by FBP and lowered, but did not eliminate, the ability of FBP to promote tetramer association. These observations are consistent with the previously characterized mechanism of FBP inhibition of GK, in which FBP acts both to promote dimer-tetramer assembly and to inactivate the tetramers.     

The chordlet transform with an application to shape compression

Due to their abilities to succinctly capture features at different scales and directions, wavelet-based decomposition or representation methods have found wide use in image analysis, restoration, and compression. While there has been a drive to increase the representation ability of these methods via directional filters or elongated basis functions, they still have been focused on essentially piecewise linear representation of curves in images. We propose to extend the line-based dictionary of the beamlet framework to one that includes sets of arcs that are quantized in height. The proposed chordlet dictionary has elements that are constrained at their endpoints and limited in curvature by system rate or distortion constraints. This provides a more visually natural representation of curves in images and, furthermore, it is shown that for a class of images the chordlet representation is more efficient than the beamlet representation under tight distortion constraints. A data structure, the fat quadtree and an algorithm for determining an optimal chordlet representation of an image are proposed. Codecs have been implemented to illustrate applications to both lossy and lossless low bitrate compressions of binary edge images, and better rate or rate–distortion performance over the JBIG2 standard and a beamlet-based compression method are demonstrated.     

Combined source-channel coding schemes for video transmission overan additive white Gaussian noise channel

There has been an increased interest in the transmission of digital video over real-world transmission media, such as the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) channel. Video transmitted over such a channel is subject to degradation due, in part, to additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Some form of forward error-control (FEC) coding may be applied in order to reduce the effect of the noise on the transmitted bitstream; however, determination of the appropriate level of FEC coding is generally an unwieldy and computationally intensive problem, as it may depend upon a variety of parameters such as the type of video, the available bandwidth, and the channel SNR. More specifically, a combined source-channel coding approach is necessary in optimally allocating rate between source and channel coding subject to a fixed constraint on overall transmission bandwidth. In this paper we develop a method of optimal bit allocation under the assumption that the distortion is additive and independent on a frame-by-frame basis. A set of universal operational distortion-rate characteristics is developed which balances the tradeoff between source coding accuracy and channel error protection for a fixed overall transmission rate and provides the basis for the optimal bit allocation approach. The results for specific source and channel coding schemes show marked improvement over suboptimum choices of channel error protection. In addition, we show that our results approach information-theoretic performance bounds which are developed in this work     

Narrow mass extraction of time-of-flight data for quantitative analysis of proteins: determination of insulin-like growth factor-1

Methods for quantitative analysis of proteins by mass spectrometry have progressed dramatically. While isotope-dilution approaches using selected reaction monitoring of tryptic peptides (also known as bottom up) have become common, the potential to use narrow mass extraction of high-resolution mass spectra provides a compelling alternative. We investigated the relationships between instrument performance and data processing with the aim of determining whether this approach can lead to robust bioanalytical assays for proteins. Our approach utilized off-line sample preparation combined with online sample extraction coupled to HPLC with the effluent from the analytical column directed to a high-resolution, high-mass accuracy quadrupole time-of-flight (qTOF) mass spectrometer operated in full scan mode. Narrow mass extraction of a single isotope from IGF-1 in the 7+ charge state (m/z 1093.5209) was used to generate extracted ion chromatograms. We found that with appropriate attention to instrument performance and data processing, quantitative protein assays with good sensitivity, high selectivity, and excellent analytical performance can be developed.     

A displacement sensor for nonmetallic hydraulic cylinders

A sensor was developed to provide signals proportional to the position of the rod in a hydraulic cylinder. The sensor has a coil winding in the shell of the cylinder. The sensor operates by sensing the change in the coil impedance as the rod moves in the cylinder. This paper describes the construction of the cylinder and the sensor, and the performance evaluation of the sensor. Several different materials were placed in the rod and tested. For the cylinder tested, an aluminum core provided the highest precision, about 0.38 /spl Omega/. The full-scale output was 19.90 /spl Omega/ over a stroke length of 193 mm. The linearity was about 1.64% of full-scale. Shielding from electromagnetic interference can improve the precision dramatically. A ferrite-cored rod assembly yielded a much greater full-scale output, 1300 /spl Omega/, but exhibited significant hysteresis.     

Coherent optical vector modulation for fiber radio using electrooptic microchip lasers

Future communication systems will require high data rates and flexible modulation. Direct optical phase modulation of two microchip lasers by information-bearing signals allows for high-rate delivery via fiber to a basestation. At the basestation, the coherent optical signals are combined with a reference in a photodetector to produce a microwave/millimeter-wave carrier with arbitrary M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation, which can then be transmitted over a wireless channel. Rapid tuning of the microwave/millimeter-wave carrier, the modulation scheme, and the data rate is achievable through this method with no fixed oscillators at the basestation, thus providing for flexible architectures. Results show a high-quality carrier and, for 4- and 16-QAM, with data rates to 200 Mb/s. Extensions to higher data rates are discussed.     

Incidental Writing in the Engineering Classroom

Currently, most of the writing that students do in engineering classes is formal writing, such as laboratory or design reports, produced at the end of the design process. Although appropriate for communicating the results of this process, formal writing tends to be less effective at helping students master the design concepts presented in the class. A potentially more beneficial form of writing is “incidental writing,” informal writing that students do throughout the course of the design process. Students enrolled in an engineering class developed under an NSF-funded program at the University of Washington kept journals throughout the class. Analysis of the journals indicated that incidental writing enables students to communicate with instructors, and improves not only the students' writing skills and comprehension of class material, but also their problem-solving abilities and ability to monitor their thinking and learning strategies.     

Glycerol kinase from Escherichia coli and an Ala65-->Thr mutant: the crystal structures reveal conformational changes with implications for allosteric regulation

BACKGROUND: Glycerol kinase (GK) from Escherichia coli is a velocity-modulated (V system) enzyme that has three allosteric effectors with independent mechanisms: fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP); the phosphocarrier protein IIAGlc; and adenosine nucleotides. The enzyme exists in solution as functional dimers that associate reversibly to form tetramers. GK is a member of a superfamily of ATPases that share a common ATPase domain and are thought to undergo a large conformational change as an intrinsic step in their catalytic cycle. Members of this family include actin, hexokinase and the heat shock protein hsc70. RESULTS: We report here the crystal structures of GK and a mutant of GK (Ala65-->Thr) in complex with glycerol and ADP. Crystals of both enzymes contain the same 222 symmetric tetramer. The functional dimer is identical to that described previously for the IIAGlc-GK complex structure. The tetramer interface is significantly different, however, with a relative 22.3 degrees rotation and 6.34 A translation of one functional dimer. The overall monomer structure is unchanged except for two regions: the IIAGlc-binding site undergoes a structural rearrangement and residues 230-236 become ordered and bind orthophosphate at the tetramer interface. We also report the structure of a second mutant of GK (IIe474-->Asp) in complex with IIAGlc; this complex crystallized isomorphously to the wild type IIAGlc-GK complex. Site-directed mutants of GK with substitutions at the IIAGlc-binding site show significantly altered kinetic and regulatory properties, suggesting that the conformation of the binding site is linked to the regulation of activity. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the new tetramer structure presented here is an inactive form of the physiologically relevant tetramer. The structure and location of the orthophosphate-binding site is consistent with it being part of the FBP-binding site. Mutational analysis and the structure of the IIAGlc-GK(IIe474-->Asp) complex suggest the conformational transition of the IIAGlc-binding site to be an essential aspect of IIAGlc regulation.     

Detection of Aperiodically Embedded Synchronization Patterns on Rayleigh Fading Channels

Correct reception of synchronization patterns aperiodically embedded in random data is vital for robust data transmission. In this letter, we derive general metrics and high-signal-to-noise ratio approximations to the metrics for random-length frames transmitted over Rayleigh fading channels. Simulation results are presented for commonly used modulation schemes with coherent and noncoherent demodulation