Asymptotically optimal cooperative wireless networks with reduced signaling complexity

This paper considers an orthogonal amplify-and-forward (OAF) protocol for cooperative relay communication over Rayleigh-fading channels in which the intermediate relays are permitted to linearly transform the received signal and where the source and relays transmit for equal time durations. The diversity-multiplexing gain (D-MG) tradeoff of the equivalent space-time channel associated to this protocol is determined and a cyclic-division-algebra-based D-MG optimal code constructed. The transmission or signaling alphabet of this code is the union of the QAM constellation and a rotated version of QAM. The size of this signaling alphabet is small in comparison with prior D-MG optimal constructions in the literature and is independent of the number of participating nodes in the network

Chemokine-receptor Mediated Dendritic Cell and T-cell Recirculation in Heart Failure and Transplantation

Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome characterized by immune activation in its chronic stages. By different forms of cardiac dysfunction, infiltration of failing human myocardium with effector leukocytes through low-grade inflammation, leads to deterioration of clinical condition to endstage HF. The only available permanent therapeutic option for patients with end-stage cardiac disease is heart transplantation (HTx). Allo-antigen dependent immune cell activatio

Developmental dynamics of transcription and genome architecture

Abstract Regulation of gene expression is necessary for the control of complex developmental processes. The genome has to shape in specific conformations to fit inside the nucleus and to tether specific regulatory elements to their target genes. Although the linear composition of many genomes is largely known, their three dimensional (3D) organization and dynamics are largely unknown. Hence, in order to unravel gene regulation, it is necessary to understand the chromatin structure and organization. Furthermore, developmental procedures are controlled by complex combinatorial transcription factor (TF) networks. Hence, unveiling those networks will provide a better insight towards understanding those developmental procedures. The work described in this thesis aims to study the genome conformation/interactome and their effect on gene regulation and to unveil the role of transcription factor proteins (TFs) in complex developmental processes

Studies on Human γ-globin Gene Regulation: Transcription Factors in a Rubik’s Cube

The red blood cell is one of the most important blood cells in the human body. Hemoglobin is the major protein in the red blood cell, and functions as a gas transporter (oxygen and carbon dioxide) to all parts of the body. Changes in the structure or the amount of hemoglobin (hemoglobinopathy) affect the function of red blood cells with consequences for human health. An example are sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. During human development, in the fetus there is mainly fetal hemoglobin and in just after birth it is replaced by adult hemoglobin. The mechanism of this process is not completely understood. In order to gain more insight in the globin gene regulation process, I generated a human globin locus reporter mouse model in which the fetal and adult globin genes are modified by introducing two fluorescent proteins. Fetal liver cell lines were established from these transgenic mice and were used as an erythroid in vitro model to study responses to genetic manipulation, such as modulating the ex

Multi-jet Production in Hadron Collisions

The advent of high-energy hadron colliders necessitates efficient and accurate computation of multi-jet production processes, both as QCD processes in their own right and as backgrounds for other physics. The algorithm that performs these tasks and a brief numerical study of multi-jet processes are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure