3.125 Gb/s Power Efficient Line Driver with 2-level Pre-emphasis and 2kV HBM ESD Protection

Abstract Th

Predicting Coral Species Richness: The Effect of Input Variables, Diversity and Scale

Coral reefs are facing a biodiversity crisis due to increasing human impacts, consequently, one third of reef-building corals have an elevated risk of extinction. Logistic challenges prevent broad-scale species-level monitoring of hard corals; hence it has become critical that effective proxy indicators of species richness are established. This study tests how accurately three potential proxy indicators (generic richness on belt transects, generic richness on point-intercept transects and percent live hard coral cover on point-intercept transects) predict coral species richness at three different locations and two analytical scales. Generic richness (measured on a belt transect) was found to be the most effective predictor variable, with significant positive linear relationships across locations and scales. Percent live hard coral cover consistently performed poorly as anindicator of coral species richness. This study advances the practical framework for optimizing coral reef monitoring programs and empirically demonstrates that generic richness offers an effective way to predict coral species richness with a moderate level of precision. While the accuracy of species richness estimates will decrease in communities dominated byspecies-rich genera (e.g. Acropora), generic richness provides a useful measure of phylogenetic diversity and incorporating this metric into monitoring programs will increase the likelihood that changes in coral species diversity can be detected

Semi-blind iterative joint channel estimation and K-best sphere decoding for MIMO

An efficient and high-performance semi-blind scheme is proposed for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems by iteratively combining channel estimation with K-Best Sphere Decoding (SD). To avoid the exponentially increasing complexity of Maximum Likelihood Detection (MLD) while achieving a near optimal MLD performance, K-best SD is considered to accomplish data detection. Semi-blind iterative estimation is adopted for identifying the MIMO channel matrix. Specifically, a training-based least squares channel estimate is initially provided to the K-best SD data detector, and the channel estimator and the data detector then iteratively exchange information to perform the decision-directed channel update and consequently to enhance the detection performance. The proposed scheme is capable of approaching the ideal detection performance obtained with the perfect MIMO channel state information

Polymeric Nanoparticles that Combine Dexamethasone and Naproxen for the Synergistic Inhibition of Il12b

Recent studies have demonstrated in vivo synergistic immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory capacity of dexamethasone (Dx) and naproxen (NAP) in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats. However, the molecular basis of this synergistic effect is barely understood. The low solubility of these drugs and their adverse effects hamper their efficacy on the treatment of inflammatory processes making nanoparticulated systems promising candidates to overcome these drawbacks. The aim of this work is the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) that combine NAP and Dx in different concentrations, and the evaluation of the expression of key genes related to autoimmune diseases like CIA. To do so, self-assembled polymeric NPs that incorporate covalently-linked NAP and physically entrapped Dx are designed to have hydrodynamic properties that, according to bibliography, may improve retention and colocalization of both drugs at inflammation sites. The rapid uptake of NPs by macrophages is demonstrated using coumarine-6-loaded NPs. Dx is efficiently encapsulated and in vitro biological studies demonstrate that the Dx-loaded NAP-bearing NPs are noncytotoxic and reduce lipopolysaccharide- induced NO released levels at any of the tested concentrations. Moreover, at the molecular level, a significant synergistic reduction of Il12b transcript gene expression when combining Dx and NAP is demonstrated.Authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MAT2017-84277-R and SAF2017-82223-R) and CIBER-BBN for the financial support of this project. E.E.-C. and Y.P. would like to thank the training program for Academic Staff (FPU15/06109 and FPU15/06170, respectively) of the Spanish Ministry of Education Culture and Sport. The kind support by Alvaro González- Gómez, Rosana Ramírez, and David Gómez, in the synthesis, cell culture and SEM experiments is greatly appreciatedPeer reviewe

Molecular barcodes : information transmission via persistent chemical tags

In molecular communication information is conveyed through chemical signals. In this work, we have considered a novel communication scheme where information is encoded in chemical barcodes, through use of persistent chemical tags. We have assumed that this information is already encoded in the environment, and we have devised a robotic platform for reading the chemical tag. We have performed many experiments to find the optimal encoding scheme and an algorithm for reading and decoding the chemically tagged information. We have demonstrated that chemical tags can be decoded using simple algorithms and inexpensive, off-the-shelf sensors. Finally, we have evaluated and presented the bit error rate performance of our devised algorithm. Index Terms—Molecular Communication; Chemical Tags; Robot Communication; Chemical Communication; Chemical Barcodes; Chemical Signallin