Cut-off rate calculations for the outer channel in a concatenated cooling system

Concatenated codes were long used as a practical means of achieving long block or constraint lengths for combating errors on very noisy channels. The inner and outer encoders are normally separated by an interleaver, so that decoded error bursts coming from the inner decoder are randomized before entering the outer decoder. The effectiveness of this interleaver is examined by calculating the cut-off rate of the outer channel seen by the outer decoder with and without interleaving. Interleaving never hurts the performance of a concatenated code, and when the inner code rate is near the cut-off rate of the inner channel, interleaving significantly improves code performance

Polysaccharide Fabrication Platforms and Biocompatibility Assessment as Candidate Wound Dressing Materials

Wound dressings are critical for wound care because they provide a physical barrier between the injury site and outside environment, preventing further damage or infection. Wound dressings also manage and even encourage the wound healing process for proper recovery. Polysaccharide biopolymers are slowly becoming popular as modern wound dressings materials because they are naturally derived, highly abundant, inexpensive, absorbent, non-toxic and non-immunogenic. Polysaccharide biopolymers have also been processed into biomimetic platforms that offer a bioactive component in wound dressings that aid the healing process. This review primarily focuses on the fabrication and biocompatibility assessment of polysaccharide materials. Specifically, fabrication platforms such as electrospun fibers and hydrogels, their fabrication considerations and popular polysaccharides such as chitosan, alginate, and hyaluronic acid among emerging options such as arabinoxylan are discussed. A survey of biocompatibility and bioactive molecule release studies, leveraging polysaccharide\u27s naturally derived properties, is highlighted in the text, while challenges and future directions for wound dressing development using emerging fabrication techniques such as 3D bioprinting are outlined in the conclusion. This paper aims to encourage further investigation and open up new, disruptive avenues for polysaccharides in wound dressing material development

Material parameter estimation and hypothesis testing on a 1D viscoelastic stenosis model: Methodology

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Walter de Gruyter GmbH.Non-invasive detection, localization and characterization of an arterial stenosis (a blockage or partial blockage in the artery) continues to be an important problem in medicine. Partial blockage stenoses are known to generate disturbances in blood flow which generate shear waves in the chest cavity. We examine a one-dimensional viscoelastic model that incorporates Kelvin–Voigt damping and internal variables, and develop a proof-of-concept methodology using simulated data. We first develop an estimation procedure for the material parameters. We use this procedure to determine confidence intervals for the estimated parameters, which indicates the efficacy of finding parameter estimates in practice. Confidence intervals are computed using asymptotic error theory as well as bootstrapping. We then develop a model comparison test to be used in determining if a particular data set came from a low input amplitude or a high input amplitude; this we anticipate will aid in determining when stenosis is present. These two thrusts together will serve as the methodological basis for our continuing analysis using experimental data currently being collected.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Department of Education, and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Dietary effect of Quillaja saponaria and/or Yucca schidigera extract on growth and survival of common carp Cyprinus carpio, their antioxidant capacity and metabolic response to hypoxic condition

This study evaluated dietary effects of extracts of Quillay Quillaja saponaria, and/or Yucca Yucca schidigera on growth and survival of juvenile common carp Cyprinus carpio, and their antioxidant capacity and metabolic response to low dissolved oxygen (DO) stress. For 8 weeks, fish were fed one of 4 different diets. The diets were supplemented with either 150 mg/kg Quillay (QS), 150 mg/kg Yucca (YS), the combination of 75 mg/kg Quillay and 75 mg/kg Yucca (M), or control diet (C) without addition of Quillay or Yucca. Growth and survival were monitored periodically. After rearing, fish were subjected to low DO stress, and after a week, antioxidant capacity (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase) and metabolic response (glucose, triglycerides and lactate) were analyzed. QSfed fish had the highest weight gain among all the treatments. Treatments did not affect fish survival a week after low DO stress. Among antioxidant capacity and metabolic response, significant effects were found only on superoxide dismutase and glucose. QS fed fish had 39% lower plasma superoxide dismutase than the C and M groups. QS and M groups exhibited 29% and 26% lower plasma glucose than the C group, respectively. Overall, the QS diet improved growth and exhibited favorable antioxidant capacity and metabolic response of carp to low dissolved oxygen environment

Flux-dynamics associated with the Second Magnetisation Peak in iron-pnictide Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2

We report on isofield magnetic relaxation data on a single crystal of $Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2$ with superconducting transition temperature $T_c$= 32.7 K which exhibit the so called fish-tail effect. A surface map of the superconducting transition temperature shows that the superconducting properties are close to homogeneous across the sample. Magnetic relaxation data, M(t), was used to obtain the activation energy U(M) in order to study different vortex dynamics regimes. Results of this analysis along with time dependent measurements as a function of field and temperature extended to the reversible region of some M(H) curves demonstrate that the irreversibility as well the second magnetization peak position, $H_p(T)$, are time dependent and controlled by plastic motion of the vortex state. In the region delimited by a characteristic field Hon (well below $H_p$), and $H_p$, the vortex dynamics is controlled by collective pinning. For fields below Hon the activation energy, $U_0$, increases with field as expected for collective pinning, but the pinning mechanism is likely to be in the single vortex limit.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, one tabl