955 research outputs found
Study of spread spectrum multiple access systems for satellite communications with overlay on current services
The feasibility of using spread spectrum techniques to provide a low-cost multiple access system for a very large number of low data terminals was investigated. Two applications of spread spectrum technology to very small aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite communication networks are presented. Two spread spectrum multiple access systems which use a form of noncoherent M-ary FSK (MFSK) as the primary modulation are described and the throughput analyzed. The analysis considers such factors as satellite power constraints and adjacent satellite interference. Also considered is the effect of on-board processing on the multiple access efficiency and the feasibility of overlaying low data rate spread spectrum signals on existing satellite traffic as a form of frequency reuse is investigated. The use of chirp is examined for spread spectrum communications. In a chirp communication system, each data bit is converted into one or more up or down sweeps of frequency, which spread the RF energy across a broad range of frequencies. Several different forms of chirp communication systems are considered, and a multiple-chirp coded system is proposed for overlay service. The mutual interference problem is examined in detail and a performance analysis undertaken for the case of a chirp data channel overlaid on a video channel
A Novel Enediynyl Peptide Inhibitor of Furin That Blocks Processing of proPDGF-A, B and proVEGF-C
BACKGROUND: Furin represents a crucial member of secretory mammalian subtilase, the Proprotein Convertase (PC) or Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin (PCSK) superfamily. It has been linked to cancer, tumorgenesis, viral and bacterial pathogenesis. As a result it is considered a major target for intervention of these diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Herein, we report, for the first time, the synthesis and biological evaluation of a newly designed potent furin inhibitor that contains a highly reactive beta-turn inducing and radical generating "enediynyl amino acid" (Eda) moiety. "Eda" was inserted between P1 and P1' residues of hfurin(98-112) peptide, derived from the primary cleavage site of furin's own prodomain. The resulting hexadecapeptide derivative inhibited furin in vitro with IC(50) approximately 40 nM when measured against the fluorogenic substrate Boc-RVRR-MCA. It also inhibited furin-mediated cleavage of a fluorogenic peptide derived from hSARS-CoV spike protein with IC(50) approximately 193 nM. Additionally it also blocked furin-processing of growth factors proPDGF-A, B and VEGF-C that are linked to tumor genesis and cancer. Circular dichroism study showed that this inhibitor displayed a predominantly beta-turn structure while western blots confirmed its ability to protect furin protein from self degradation. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: These findings imply its potential as a therapeutic agent for intervention of cancer and other furin-associated diseases
Solutions for New Terrestrial Broadcasting Systems Offering Simultaneously Stationary and Mobile Services
221 p.[EN]Since the first broadcasted TV signal was transmitted in the early decades of
the past century, the television broadcasting industry has experienced a series of
dramatic changes. Most recently, following the evolution from analogue to digital
systems, the digital dividend has become one of the main concerns of the
broadcasting industry. In fact, there are many international spectrum authorities
reclaiming part of the broadcasting spectrum to satisfy the growing demand of
other services, such as broadband wireless services, arguing that the TV services
are not very spectrum-efficient.
Apart from that, it must be taken into account that, even if up to now the
mobile broadcasting has not been considered a major requirement, this will
probably change in the near future. In fact, it is expected that the global mobile
data traffic will increase 11-fold between 2014 and 2018, and what is more, over
two thirds of the data traffic will be video stream by the end of that period.
Therefore, the capability to receive HD services anywhere with a mobile device is
going to be a mandatory requirement for any new generation broadcasting system.
The main objective of this work is to present several technical solutions that
answer to these challenges. In particular, the main questions to be solved are the
spectrum efficiency issue and the increasing user expectations of receiving high
quality mobile services. In other words, the main objective is to provide technical
solutions for an efficient and flexible usage of the terrestrial broadcasting spectrum
for both stationary and mobile services.
The first contributions of this scientific work are closely related to the study of
the mobile broadcast reception. Firstly, a comprehensive mathematical analysis of
the OFDM signal behaviour over time-varying channels is presented. In order to
maximize the channel capacity in mobile environments, channel estimation and
equalization are studied in depth. First, the most implemented equalization
solutions in time-varying scenarios are analyzed, and then, based on these existing
techniques, a new equalization algorithm is proposed for enhancing the receivers’
performance.
An alternative solution for improving the efficiency under mobile channel
conditions is treating the Inter Carrier Interference as another noise source.
Specifically, after analyzing the ICI impact and the existing solutions for reducing
the ICI penalty, a new approach based on the robustness of FEC codes is
presented. This new approach employs one dimensional algorithms at the receiver
and entrusts the ICI removing task to the robust forward error correction codes.
Finally, another major contribution of this work is the presentation of the
Layer Division Multiplexing (LDM) as a spectrum-efficient and flexible solution
for offering stationary and mobile services simultaneously. The comprehensive
theoretical study developed here verifies the improved spectrum efficiency,
whereas the included practical validation confirms the feasibility of the system and
presents it as a very promising multiplexing technique, which will surely be a strong
candidate for the next generation broadcasting services.[ES]Desde el comienzo de la transmisión de las primeras señales de televisión a
principios del siglo pasado, la radiodifusión digital ha evolucionado gracias a una
serie de cambios relevantes. Recientemente, como consecuencia directa de la
digitalización del servicio, el dividendo digital se ha convertido en uno de los
caballos de batalla de la industria de la radiodifusión. De hecho, no son pocos los
consorcios internacionales que abogan por asignar parte del espectro de
radiodifusión a otros servicios como, por ejemplo, la telefonía móvil, argumentado
la poca eficiencia espectral de la tecnología de radiodifusión actual.
Asimismo, se debe tener en cuenta que a pesar de que los servicios móviles no
se han considerado fundamentales en el pasado, esta tendencia probablemente
variará en el futuro cercano. De hecho, se espera que el tráfico derivado de
servicios móviles se multiplique por once entre los años 2014 y 2018; y lo que es
más importante, se pronostica que dos tercios del tráfico móvil sea video streaming
para finales de ese periodo. Por lo tanto, la posibilidad de ofrecer servicios de alta
definición en dispositivos móviles es un requisito fundamental para los sistemas de
radiodifusión de nueva generación.
El principal objetivo de este trabajo es presentar soluciones técnicas que den
respuesta a los retos planteados anteriormente. En particular, las principales
cuestiones a resolver son la ineficiencia espectral y el incremento de usuarios que
demandan mayor calidad en los contenidos para dispositivos móviles. En pocas
palabras, el principal objetivo de este trabajo se basa en ofrecer una solución más
eficiente y flexible para la transmisión simultánea de servicios fijos y móviles.
La primera contribución relevante de este trabajo está relacionada con la
recepción de la señal de televisión en movimiento. En primer lugar, se presenta un
completo análisis matemático del comportamiento de la señal OFDM en canales
variantes con el tiempo. A continuación, con la intención de maximizar la
capacidad del canal, se estudian en profundidad los algoritmos de estimación y
ecualización. Posteriormente, se analizan los algoritmos de ecualización más
implementados, y por último, basándose en estas técnicas, se propone un nuevo
algoritmo de ecualización para aumentar el rendimiento de los receptores en tales
condiciones.
Del mismo modo, se plantea un nuevo enfoque para mejorar la eficiencia de
los servicios móviles basado en tratar la interferencia entre portadoras como una
fuente de ruido. Concretamente, tras analizar el impacto del ICI en los receptores
actuales, se sugiere delegar el trabajo de corrección de dichas distorsiones en
códigos FEC muy robustos.
Finalmente, la última contribución importante de este trabajo es la
presentación de la tecnología LDM como una manera más eficiente y flexible para
la transmisión simultánea de servicios fijos y móviles. El análisis teórico presentado
confirma el incremento en la eficiencia espectral, mientras que el estudio práctico
valida la posible implementación del sistema y presenta la tecnología LDM c
Recent Trends in Communication Networks
In recent years there has been many developments in communication technology. This has greatly enhanced the computing power of small handheld resource-constrained mobile devices. Different generations of communication technology have evolved. This had led to new research for communication of large volumes of data in different transmission media and the design of different communication protocols. Another direction of research concerns the secure and error-free communication between the sender and receiver despite the risk of the presence of an eavesdropper. For the communication requirement of a huge amount of multimedia streaming data, a lot of research has been carried out in the design of proper overlay networks. The book addresses new research techniques that have evolved to handle these challenges
Mechanistic Investigations of a Novel Flavin-dependent Enzyme Involved in Styrene Biosynthesis
The development of biorenewable resources to substitute for oil-based feedstocks in polymer manufacture is essential to address sustainability. Ethylene, propylene, and styrene together represent ~90% of the feedstocks used by the polymer industry. Some industries have attempted to utilize bio-based ethylene and propylene. However, there are very few known biosynthetic pathways to produce styrene and, generally, they are not well understood. The decarboxylation of cinnamic acid by ferulic acid decarboxylase (FDC) is one of the few biological pathways known that form styrene. The focus of this dissertation is to explore the recently proposed FDC decarboxylation mechanisms and cofactor specificity of the enzyme.
The initially proposed mechanisms for FDC decarboxylation of phenylacrylic acid postulated either Michael addition or 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. 1H NMR analysis, isotope effects and linear free-energy analysis were employed to further investigate the proposed mechanisms and determine the rate-determining step in the reaction. 1H NMR experiments demonstrated that FDC decarboxylation was stereospecific and the source of proton that replaced the carboxylic group of phenylacrylic acid was the solvent. Proton inventory experiments suggested that a single proton was involved in the transition state. The negative Hammett reaction constant provided evidence that the 1,3-cycloelimination step in the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition mechanism is likely to be rate-determining in the FDC decarboxylation. This was further supported by secondary kinetic isotope effect experiments.
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To investigate the biosynthesis of the prFMN cofactor by prenyl flavin synthase (PFS), a scPFSFDC
coupled assay was developed and optimized to monitor scPFS prenylation through the
activation of FDC. With scPFS-FDC coupling assay, we found that scPFS selectively uses
dimethylallyl pyrophosphate as the substrate for FMN prenylation, in contrast to the bacterial
enzyme for which dimethylallyl monophosphate was reported to be the substrate. By implementing
this coupled assay, steady-state kinetic parameters of scPFS prenylation were obtained.
Commercially available substrate analogs, (E)-4-Hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl pyrophosphate
(HMBPP) and geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP), were used to investigate the substrate specificity of
scPFS prenylation. The apparent first-order rate constants of prenylation were 4.45 ± 0.87 h-1, and
3.80 ± 0.34 h-1 when HMBPP and GPP were respectively used as substrate under single turnover
kinetics. Under steady state conditions, FDC was shown to utilize the cofactor synthesized from
HMBPP to decarboxylate cinnamic acid at Vmax = 5.50 ± 0.37 min-1. However, in the case of GPP
counterpart, no decarboxylation activity was observed.
The results presented in this thesis provide better understanding of styrene biosynthesis by FDC.
In order to be implemented in bioindustry, this system would have to be further optimized,
especially in terms of enzymatic efficiency. One proposed strategy is the use of cofactor analogs.
Preliminary investigations here have enabled to establish the procedure that would ultimately lead
to the discovery of cofactor analogs with enhanced decarboxylation activity.PHDChemical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144168/1/arunratt_1.pd
Performance analysis of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite link in the presence of elevation angle, fading and shadowing
This thesis report is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis report.Includes bibliographical references (page 65).Tanjila FarahPrianka RoyB. Computer Science and Engineerin
Cognitive Radio Systems
Cognitive radio is a hot research area for future wireless communications in the recent years. In order to increase the spectrum utilization, cognitive radio makes it possible for unlicensed users to access the spectrum unoccupied by licensed users. Cognitive radio let the equipments more intelligent to communicate with each other in a spectrum-aware manner and provide a new approach for the co-existence of multiple wireless systems. The goal of this book is to provide highlights of the current research topics in the field of cognitive radio systems. The book consists of 17 chapters, addressing various problems in cognitive radio systems
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