STUDY OF SPREAD CODES WITH BLOCK SPREAD OFDM

This paper presents the study undertaken with block spread OFDM and compares three spreading matrices. The matrices include the Hadamard, Rotated Hadamard and Mutually Orthogonal Complementary Sets of Sequences (MOCSS). The study is carried out for block lengths of M = 2, M = 4 and M = 8 and it shows that all the spreading matrices show improvement and a better performance over the conventional OFDM over frequency selective channel as expected. As the size ofM increased the spreading matrices which have better orthogonal qualities show greater improvemen

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance artefacts

The multitude of applications offered by CMR make it an increasing popular modality to study the heart and the surrounding vessels. Nevertheless the anatomical complexity of the chest, together with cardiac and respiratory motion, and the fast flowing blood, present many challenges which can possibly translate into imaging artefacts. The literature is wide in terms of papers describing specific MR artefacts in great technical detail. In this review we attempt to summarise, in a language accessible to a clinical readership, some of the most common artefacts found in CMR applications. It begins with an introduction of the most common pulse sequences, and imaging techniques, followed by a brief section on typical cardiovascular applications. This leads to the main section on common CMR artefacts with examples, a short description of the mechanisms behind them, and possible solutions

Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of an Extract and Flavonoids from Artemisia Herba-Alba and Their Mechanisms of Action

Artemisia herba-alba (A. h.-a.) has wide use in traditional medicine for the relief of coughing, healing external wounds, and treatment of pain associated with gastrointestinal disturbances. We investigated in vivo antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities of an aqueous extract (aq. ex.) and two isolated compounds obtained from aerial parts of A. h.-a. The analgesic effects of aq. ex. (10, 31.6, 100, 316, and 1000 mg/kg), astragalin, and eupatilin (both, 0.316, 1, 3.16, 10, 31.6, and 100 mg/kg) were studied using the hot-plate test in mice and formalin test in rats. The effects were compared with those of 5 mg/kg morphine. Dosedependent analgesic effects of aq. ex., astragalin, and eupatilin were clearly manifested in both hot-plate assay and early and late phases of formalin-induced paw licking. These effects were significantly but partly reduced by the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone (5 mg/kg). The same range of doses of aq. ex., astragalin, and eupatilin caused dose-dependent suppression of carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. Thus, we demonstrated that A. h.-a. possesses noticeable antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities; our data support the reasons for using this plant as a remedy for treatment of pain and inflammation. Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions of A. h.-a. are considerably related to the presence of astragalin and eupatilinБілий полин (Artemisia herba-alba – A. h.-a.) знаходить широке застосування в традиційній медицині. Його вживають для припинення кашлю, лікування ран, вгамування болю при шлунково-кишкових розладах та ін. В експериментах in vivo ми досліджували антиноцицептивні та протизапальні ефекти водного екстракту (в. екс.) та двох окремих компонентів, отриманих із надземних частин A. h.-a. Аналгетичні ефекти в. екс. (10, 31.6, 100, 316 та 1000 мг/кг), астрагаліну та еупатиліну (обидва в дозах 0.316, 1, 3.16, 10, 31.6 та 100 мг/кг) визначались у тесті «гарячої платівки» на мишах та формаліновому тесті на щурах; ці ефекти порівнювали з такими морфіну. Залежні від дози аналгетичні впливи в. екс., астрагаліну та еупатиліну яскраво проявлялись як у тесті «гарячої платівки», так і в перебігу ранньої та пізньої фаз реакції лизання кінцівки, індукованої ін’єкцією формаліну. Ці ефекти усувались, проте лише частково, антагоністом опіоїдних рецепторів налоксоном (5 мг/кг). Аналогічні дози в. екс., астрагаліну та еупатиліну забезпечували дозозалежне пригнічення індукованого карагенаном набряку кінцівки у щурів. Таким чином, ми продемонстрували, що для A. h.- a. характерні істотні антиноцицептивна та протизапальна властивості. Наші дані підтверджують обгрунтованість застосування цієї рослини як лікувального засобу в традиційній медицині. Згадані властивості A. h.-a. в істотній мірі залежать від наявності в її складі астрагаліну та еупатиліну

Modulation of P-glycoprotein activity by acridones and coumarins from Citrus sinensis

Bioguided fractionation of the roots of Citrus sinensis (Rutaceae) led to the isolation and identification of five coumarins, namely, clausarin, suberosin, poncitrin, xanthyletin and thamnosmonin, seven acridones, namely, acrimarine B, 2-methoxycitpressine I, citpressine I, buntanine, acrimarine E, honyumine and acrimarine C, and one terpenoid, namely, limonin. Among these compounds, clausarin, 2-methoxycitpressine I and acrimarine E inhibited P-glycoprotein-mediated drug efflux in K562/R7 human leukemic cells over-expressing P-glycoprotein

Taxonomy and structure of the Romanian personality lexicon

We identified 1746 personality-relevant trait-adjectives in a Romanian dictionary, of which 412 were classified as descriptors of dispositions by 10 judges. Self-ratings were collected from 515 participants on those 412 adjectives, and the ratings were factored using principal components analysis. Solutions with different numbers of factors were analysed. The two- and three-factor solutions, respectively, confirmed the Big Two and Big Three of personality traits. A five-factor solution reflected the Big Five model with a fifth factor emphasising Rebelliousness versus Conventionality. The five-factor solution was related to the International Personality Item Pool-Big Five scales, and the highest correlations were indeed between the corresponding factors and scales. A six-factor solution was indicative of the six-factor model as expressed in the HEXACO model, yet with a weak Honesty-Humility factor. Additional analysis with self-ratings from 218 participants on marker-scales for the six-factor solution and on the six scales of the HEXACO did not produce a clear one-to-one correspondence between the two sets of scales, confirming indeed that the six-factor model was only partially found

GALAXY: A new hybrid MOEA for the Optimal Design of Water Distribution Systems

This is the final version of the article. Available from American Geophysical Union via the DOI in this record.The first author would like to appreciate the financial support given by both the University of Exeter and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) toward the PhD research. We also appreciate the three anonymous reviewers, who help improve the quality of this paper substantially. The source code of the latest versions of NSGA-II and ε-MOEA can be downloaded from the official website of Kanpur Genetic Algorithms Laboratory via http://www.iitk.ac.in/kangal/codes.shtml. The description of each benchmark problem used in this paper, including the input file of EPANET and the associated best-known Pareto front, can be accessed from the following link to the Centre for Water Systems (http://tinyurl.com/cwsbenchmarks/). GALAXY can be accessed via http://tinyurl.com/cws-galaxy

Concurrent incorrectness separation logic

Incorrectness separation logic (ISL) was recently introduced as a theory of under-approximate reasoning, with the goal of proving that compositional bug catchers find actual bugs. However, ISL only considers sequential programs. Here, we develop concurrent incorrectness separation logic (CISL), which extends ISL to account for bug catching in concurrent programs. Inspired by the work on Views, we design CISL as a parametric framework, which can be instantiated for a number of bug catching scenarios, including race detection, deadlock detection, and memory safety error detection. For each instance, the CISL meta-theory ensures the soundness of incorrectness reasoning for free, thereby guaranteeing that the bugs detected are true positives

Selective modulation of P-glycoprotein activity by steroidal saponines from Paris polyphylla

Bio-guided fractionation of the roots of Paris polyphylla (Trilliaceae), based on inhibition of P-glycoprotein-mediated daunorubicin efflux in K562/R7 cell line, led to isolation and identification of the three saponins 3-O-Rha(1 → 2)[Ara(1 → 4)]Glc-pennogenine, gracillin and polyphyllin D, and the two ecdysteroids 20-hydroxyecdysone and pinnatasterone. These compounds were tested for multidrug reversion on P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) with both drug-selected and transfected cell lines, and also on Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP/ABCG2). By contrast to a weak efficiency on BCRP, the three saponins displayed significant effects as inhibitors of P-glycoprotein-mediated drug efflux