Search for high-performance probe-fed stacked patches using optimization

High-performance circular probe-fed stacked patch antenna designs are explored through the use of numerical optimization. New trends are sought to aid understanding and to suggest novel solutions. We describe the optimization technique, present a new design trend relating efficiency and bandwidth to the choice of substrate dielectric, and propose and demonstrate a novel, optimized antenna achieving 33% bandwidth whilst maintaining greater than 80% surface wave efficiency

Optical properties of dense self-assembled gold nanoparticle layers with organic linker molecules

Films consisting of self-assembled gold nanoparticles cross-linked with alkane-dithiols were prepared by a filtration method and studied with scanning electron microscopy to determine the structure of the films and spectrophotometry and ellipsometry to ascertain their optical properties. The structural characterization showed the existence of nanometer-sized voids within the films. This previously unmentioned feature is responsible for the previous difficulties in modelling the optical properties with effective medium models. This can be remedied, using a two-tiered hierarchical effective medium model, which takes into account the existence of the voids. Using this model we were able to fit the experimental data, with only the void volume fraction to be determined by the overall fit, while the gold volume fraction in the linker medium is fixed by the wavelength of the resonance peak. Our model should be applicable to all such films, when the deposition method, which determines the microstructure, is properly taken into account

The significance of macrophage polarization subtypes for animal models of tissue fibrosis and human fibrotic diseases.

The systemic and organ-specific human fibrotic disorders collectively represent one of the most serious health problems world-wide causing a large proportion of the total world population mortality. The molecular pathways involved in their pathogenesis are complex and despite intensive investigations have not been fully elucidated. Whereas chronic inflammatory cell infiltration is universally present in fibrotic lesions, the central role of monocytes and macrophages as regulators of inflammation and fibrosis has only recently become apparent. However, the precise mechanisms involved in the contribution of monocytes/macrophages to the initiation, establishment, or progression of the fibrotic process remain largely unknown. Several monocyte and macrophage subpopulations have been identified, with certain phenotypes promoting inflammation whereas others display profibrotic effects. Given the unmet need for effective treatments for fibroproliferative diseases and the crucial regulatory role of monocyte/macrophage subpopulations in fibrogenesis, the development of therapeutic strategies that target specific monocyte/macrophage subpopulations has become increasingly attractive. We will provide here an overview of the current understanding of the role of monocyte/macrophage phenotype subpopulations in animal models of tissue fibrosis and in various systemic and organ-specific human fibrotic diseases. Furthermore, we will discuss recent approaches to the design of effective anti-fibrotic therapeutic interventions by targeting the phenotypic differences identified between the various monocyte and macrophage subpopulations

Mechanical Properties Comparison of Engineering Materials Produced by Additive and Subtractive Technologies for Dental Prosthetic Restoration Application

Comparative investigations are presented into the structure and properties of selected engineering materials used for dental prosthetic restorations manufactured alternatively by the subtractive method by milling on computerised numerical control (CNC) milling machines and by the additive selective laser sintering (SLS) method of solid and porous elements using computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques; moreover, an original technology was presented of manufacturing the elements used in prosthodontics, produced with titanium and Ti6Al4V alloy powders with the SLS technique. Suitability was confirmed of applying the manufacturing technologies used in prosthodontics from powders by the SLS technique. The results were compared of the executed tests of strength micro-samples and of the selected prosthetic Bridges. The SLS technology for titanium, and even more for Ti6Al4V alloy, ensures the achievement of mechanical properties comparable or better than a reference Co-Cr alloy commonly used for prosthetic restorations, including prosthetic bridges fabricated by milling solid discs with CNC milling machines. For all the examined engineering materials, the milled and then sintered ZrO2 material exhibits the lowest strength properties. The results presented in this chapter can be directly applied in dental practice

Dissipation time and decay of correlations

We consider the effect of noise on the dynamics generated by volume-preserving maps on a d-dimensional torus. The quantity we use to measure the irreversibility of the dynamics is the dissipation time. We focus on the asymptotic behaviour of this time in the limit of small noise. We derive universal lower and upper bounds for the dissipation time in terms of various properties of the map and its associated propagators: spectral properties, local expansivity, and global mixing properties. We show that the dissipation is slow for a general class of non-weakly-mixing maps; on the opposite, it is fast for a large class of exponentially mixing systems which include uniformly expanding maps and Anosov diffeomorphisms.Comment: 26 Pages, LaTex. Submitted to Nonlinearit

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https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allfacultyother-bookschapters/1002/thumbnail.jp

Attenuated and Protease-Profile Modified Sendai Virus Vectors as a New Tool for Virotherapy of Solid Tumors

Peer reviewe

Natural humoral immune response to ribosomal P0 protein in colorectal cancer patients

Tumor associated antigens are useful in colorectal cancer (CRC) management. The ribosomal P proteins (P0, P1, P2) play an important role in protein synthesis and tumor formation. The immunogenicity of the ribosomal P0 protein in head and neck, in breast and prostate cancer patients and the overexpression of the carboxyl-terminal P0 epitope (C-22 P0) in some tumors were reported