Influence of convection and biomass burning outflow on tropospheric chemistry over the tropical Pacific

Observations over the tropics from the Pacific Exploratory Mission-Tropics A Experiment are analyzed using a one-dimensional model with an explicit formulation for convective transport. Adopting tropical convective mass fluxes from a general circulation model (GCM) yields a large discrepancy between observed and simulated CH3I concentrations. Observations of CH3I imply the convective mass outflux to be more evenly distributed with altitude over the tropical ocean than suggested by the GCM. We find that using a uniform convective turnover lifetime of 20 days in the upper and middle troposphere enables the model to reproduce CH3I observations. The model reproduces observed concentrations of H2O2 and CH3OOH. Convective transport of CH3OOH from the lower troposphere is estimated to account for 40-80% of CH3OOH concentrations in the upper troposphere. Photolysis of CH3OOH transported by convection more than doubles the primary HOx source and increases OH concentrations and O3 production by 10-50% and 0.4 ppbv d-1, respectively, above 11 km. Its effect on the OH concentration and O3 production integrated over the tropospheric column is, however, small. The effects of pollutant import from biomass burning regions are much more dominant. Using C2H2 as a tracer, we estimate that biomass burning outflow enhances O3 concentrations, O3 production, and concentrations of NOx and OH by 60%, 45%, 75%, and 7%, respectively. The model overestimates HNO3 concentrations by about a factor of 2 above 4 km for the upper one-third quantile of C2H2 data while it generally reproduces HNO3 concentrations for the lower and middle one-third quantiles of C2H2 data. Copyright 2000 by the American Geophysical Union

Transgenic Overexpression of LARGE Induces alpha-Dystroglycan Hyperglycosylation in Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle

Background: LARGE is one of seven putative or demonstrated glycosyltransferase enzymes defective in a common group of muscular dystrophies with reduced glycosylation of alpha-dystroglycan. Overexpression of LARGE induces hyperglycosylation of alpha-dystroglycan in both wild type and in cells from dystroglycanopathy patients, irrespective of their primary gene defect, restoring functional glycosylation. Viral delivery of LARGE to skeletal muscle in animal models of dystroglycanopathy has identical effects in vivo, suggesting that the restoration of functional glycosylation could have therapeutic applications in these disorders. Pharmacological strategies to upregulate Large expression are also being explored.Methodology/Principal Findings: In order to asses the safety and efficacy of long term LARGE over-expression in vivo, we have generated four mouse lines expressing a human LARGE transgene. On observation, LARGE transgenic mice were indistinguishable from the wild type littermates. Tissue analysis from young mice of all four lines showed a variable pattern of transgene expression: highest in skeletal and cardiac muscles, and lower in brain, kidney and liver. Transgene expression in striated muscles correlated with alpha-dystroglycan hyperglycosylation, as determined by immunoreactivity to antibody IIH6 and increased laminin binding on an overlay assay. Other components of the dystroglycan complex and extracellular matrix ligands were normally expressed, and general muscle histology was indistinguishable from wild type controls. Further detailed muscle physiological analysis demonstrated a loss of force in response to eccentric exercise in the older, but not in the younger mice, suggesting this deficit developed over time. However this remained a subclinical feature as no pathology was observed in older mice in any muscles including the diaphragm, which is sensitive to mechanical load-induced damage.Conclusions/Significance: This work shows that potential therapies in the dystroglycanopathies based on LARGE upregulation and alpha-dystroglycan hyperglycosylation in muscle should be safe

Low-delay perfect reconstruction two-channel FIR/IIR filter banks and wavelet bases with SOPOT coefficients

IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 June 2000In this paper, a new family of two-channel low-delay filter banks and wavelet bases using the PR structure in [3] with SOPOT coefficients are proposed. In particular, the functions alpha(z) and beta(z) in the structure are chosen as nonlinear-phase FIR and IIR filters, and the design of such multiplier-less filter banks is performed using the genetic algorithm. The proposed design method is very simple to use, and is sufficiently general to construct low-delay filter banks with flexible lengths, delays, and regularity. Several design examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method.published_or_final_versio

Low-delay perfect reconstruction two-channel FIR/IIR filter banks and wavelet bases with SOPOT coefficients

IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 June 2000In this paper, a new family of two-channel low-delay filter banks and wavelet bases using the PR structure in [3] with SOPOT coefficients are proposed. In particular, the functions alpha(z) and beta(z) in the structure are chosen as nonlinear-phase FIR and IIR filters, and the design of such multiplier-less filter banks is performed using the genetic algorithm. The proposed design method is very simple to use, and is sufficiently general to construct low-delay filter banks with flexible lengths, delays, and regularity. Several design examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method.published_or_final_versio

Multiplier-less low-delay FIR and IIR wavelet filter bank with SOPOT coefficients

In this paper, a new family of multiplier-less two-channel lowdelay wavelet filter banks using the PR structure in [3] and the SOPOT(sum-of-powers-of-two) representation is proposed. In particular, the functions α (z) and β (z) in the structure are chosen as nonlinear-phase FIR and IIR filters, and the design of such multiplier-less filter banks is performed using the genetic algorithm. The proposed design method is very simple to use, and is sufficiently general to construct low-delay wavelet bases with flexible length, delay, and number of zero at π (or 0) in their analysis filters. Several design examples are given to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed method.postprin

High-resolution numerical approximation of traffic flow problems with variable lanes and free-flow velocities

This paper develops macroscopic traffic flow models for a highway section with variable lanes and free-flow velocities, that involve spatially varying flux functions. To address this complex physical property, we develop a Riemann solver that derives the exact flux values at the interface of the Riemann problem. Based on this solver, we formulate Godunov-type numerical schemes to solve the traffic flow models. Numerical examples that simulate the traffic flow around a bottleneck that arises from a drop in traffic capacity on the highway section are given to illustrate the efficiency of these schemes. © 2005 The American Physical Society.published_or_final_versio

Design and multiplier-less implementation of a class of two-channel PR FIR filterbanks and wavelets with low system delay

In this paper, a new method for designing two-channel PR FIR filterbanks with low system delay is proposed. It is based on the generalization of the structure previously proposed by Phoong et al. Such structurally PR filterbanks are parameterized by two functions (β(z) and α(z)) that can be chosen as linear-phase FIR or allpass functions to construct FIR/IIR filterbanks with good frequency characteristics. The case of using identical β(z) and α(z) was considered by Phoong et al. with the delay parameter M chosen as 2N - 1. In this paper, the more general case of using different nonlinear-phase FIR functions for β(z) and α(z) is studied. As the linear-phase constraint is relaxed, the lengths of β(z) and α(z) are no longer restricted by the delay parameters of the filterbanks. Hence, higher stopband attenuation can still be achieved at low system delay. The design of the proposed low-delay filterbanks is formulated as a complex polynomial approximation problem, which can be solved by the Remez exchange algorithm or analytic formula with very low complexity. In addition, the orders and delay parameters can be estimated from the given filter specifications using a simple empirical formula. Therefore, low-delay two-channel PR filterbanks with flexible stopband attenuation and cutoff frequencies can be designed using existing filter design algorithms. The generalization of the present approach to the design of a class of wavelet bases associated with these low-delay filterbanks and its multiplier-less implementation using the sum of powers-of-two coefficients are also studied.published_or_final_versio

Multiplierless perfect reconstruction modulated filter banks with sum-of-powers-of-two coefficients

This paper proposes an efficient class of perfect reconstruction (PR) modulated filter banks (MFB) using sum-of-powers-of-two (SOPOT) coefficients. This is based on a modified factorization of the DCT-IV matrix and the lossless latrice structure of the prototype filter, which allows the coefficients to be represented in SOPOT form without affecting the PR condition. A genetic algorithm (GA) is then used to search for these SOPOT coefficients. Design examples show that SOPOT MFB with a good frequency characteristic can be designed with very low implementation complexity. The usefulness of the approach is demonstrated with a 16-channel design example.published_or_final_versio