An Approximate Numerical Technique for Characterizing Optical Pulse Propagation in Inhomogeneous Biological Tissue

An approximate numerical technique for modeling optical pulse propagation through weakly scattering biological tissue is developed by solving the photon transport equation in biological tissue that includes varying refractive index and varying scattering/absorption coefficients. The proposed technique involves first tracing the ray paths defined by the refractive index profile of the medium by solving the eikonal equation using a Runge-Kutta integration algorithm. The photon transport equation is solved only along these ray paths, minimizing the overall computational burden of the resulting algorithm. The main advantage of the current algorithm is that it enables to discretise the pulse propagation space adaptively by taking optical depth into account. Therefore, computational efficiency can be increased without compromising the accuracy of the algorithm

Four-Group Decodable Space-Time Block Codes

Two new rate-one full-diversity space-time block codes (STBC) are proposed. They are characterized by the \emph{lowest decoding complexity} among the known rate-one STBC, arising due to the complete separability of the transmitted symbols into four groups for maximum likelihood detection. The first and the second codes are delay-optimal if the number of transmit antennas is a power of 2 and even, respectively. The exact pair-wise error probability is derived to allow for the performance optimization of the two codes. Compared with existing low-decoding complexity STBC, the two new codes offer several advantages such as higher code rate, lower encoding/decoding delay and complexity, lower peak-to-average power ratio, and better performance.Comment: 1 figure. Accepted for publication in IEEE Trans. on Signal Processin

Endoplasmic reticulum stress signalling – from basic mechanisms to clinical applications

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a membranous intracellular organelle and the first compartment of the secretory pathway. As such, the ER contributes to the production and folding of approximately one‐third of cellular proteins, and is thus inextricably linked to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and the fine balance between health and disease. Specific ER stress signalling pathways, collectively known as the unfolded protein response (UPR), are required for maintaining ER homeostasis. The UPR is triggered when ER protein folding capacity is overwhelmed by cellular demand and the UPR initially aims to restore ER homeostasis and normal cellular functions. However, if this fails, then the UPR triggers cell death. In this review, we provide a UPR signalling‐centric view of ER functions, from the ER's discovery to the latest advancements in the understanding of ER and UPR biology. Our review provides a synthesis of intracellular ER signalling revolving around proteostasis and the UPR, its impact on other organelles and cellular behaviour, its multifaceted and dynamic response to stress and its role in physiology, before finally exploring the potential exploitation of this knowledge to tackle unresolved biological questions and address unmet biomedical needs. Thus, we provide an integrated and global view of existing literature on ER signalling pathways and their use for therapeutic purposes

Simulation of a device concept for noninvasive sensing of blood glucose levels

This paper introduces a method of modeling noninvasive glucose sensing for patients who suffer from diabetes mellitus. The proposed technique involves simulation of light propagation through biological tissue with an embedded photonic crystal. The proposed detection technique is Raman spectroscopy and the use of the photonic crystal enables the enhancement of Raman scattering by engineering the photon density of states. Further enhancement can be achieved using noble metal clusters which result in surface enhanced Raman scattering and has the ability to provide enhancements of up to a million times.<br /

Quasi-Orthogonal STBC with Minimum Decoding Complexity: Performance Analysis, Optimal Signal Transformations, and Antenna Selection Diversity

Abstract — This letter presents a new method to directly analyze and optimize symbol error rate (SER) performance of minimum decoding complexity (MDC) ABBA space-time block codes based on a tight union bound on SER. Additionally, a new signal transformation for rectangular quadrature amplitude modulation is proposed to provide better performance than the existing ones with lower encoding/decoding complexities. It is also shown that MDC-ABBA codes achieve full-diversity with antenna selection and limited feedback. Keywords: Quasi-orthogonal space-time block codes, ABBA codes, performance analysis. I

Laguerre Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method for simulating laser pulse propagation in biological tissue

An efficient algorithm for solving the transient radiative transfer equation for laser pulse propagation in biological tissue is presented. A Laguerre expansion is used to represent the time dependency of the incident short pulse. The Runge&ndash;Kutta&ndash; Fehlberg method is used to solve the intensity. The discrete ordinates method is used to discretize with respect to azimuthal and zenith angles. This method offers the advantages of representing the intensity with a high accuracy using only a few Laguerre polynomials, and straightforward extension to inhomogeneous media. Also, this formulation can be easily extended for solving the 2-D and 3-D transient radiative transfer equations.<br /

Modeling of light propagation through biological tissues : a novel approach

An efficient numerical technique for modeling biological tissues using the radiative transfer equation is presented. Time dependence of the transient radiative transfer equation is approximated using Laguerre expansion. Azimuthal angle is discretized using the discrete ordinates method and the resulting set of ordinary differential equations is solved using the Runge-Kutta-Felhberg method.<br /