Analogue and digital linear modulation techniques for mobile satellite

The choice of modulation format for a mobile satellite service is complex. The subjective performance is summarized of candidate schemes and voice coder technologies. It is shown that good performance can be achieved with both analogue and digital voice systems, although the analogue system gives superior performance in fading. The results highlight the need for flexibility in the choice of signaling format. Linear transceiver technology capable of using many forms of narrowband modulation is described

A central role for p38 MAPK in the early transcriptional response to stress

Abstract The mitogen-activated protein kinase p38 (p38 MAPK) is activated by a number of stresses. A recent study in BMC Genomics has uncovered the early transcriptional responses to three types of stress and has demonstrated a central role for p38 MAPK in mediating these responses. See research article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/11/144</p

Climate justice: high-status ingroup social models increase pro-environmental action through making actions seem more moral.

This is the peer reviewed version of the article which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1111/tops.12178. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.Recent work has suggested that our cognitive biases and moral psychology may pose significant barriers to tackling climate change. Here, we report evidence that through status and group-based social influence processes, and our moral sense of justice, it may be possible to employ such characteristics of the human mind in efforts to engender pro-environmental action. We draw on applied work demonstrating the efficacy of social modeling techniques in order to examine the indirect effects of social model status and group membership (through perceptions of efficacy, pro-environmental social identity and moral judgments of how fair it is for individuals to perform particular pro-environmental actions) on pro-environmental action tendencies. We find evidence that high- (vs. low-) status models increase pro-environmental action, in part, through making such actions seem morally fairer to undertake. This effect of high-status models only occurs when they share a meaningful ingroup membership with the target of influence. Further, we find evidence that this conditional effect of high-status models may also have a direct impact on action tendencies. While the exact behaviors that are influenced may vary across student and non-student samples, we argue that a focus on the "justice pathway" to action and the social-cognitive features of models may offer a good opportunity for cognitive and behavioral scientists to integrate insights from basic research with those stemming from more applied research efforts

Cancer: A new role for an old enemy

Drugs that change the shape of AKT, a protein kinase that promotes tumor growth, may be more effective than drugs that only target its enzymatic activity

Reactor moderator, pressure vessel, and heat rejection system of an open-cycle gas core nuclear rocket concept

A preliminary design study of a conceptual 6000-megawatt open-cycle gas-core nuclear rocket engine system was made. The engine has a thrust of 196,600 newtons (44,200 lb) and a specific impulse of 4400 seconds. The nuclear fuel is uranium-235 and the propellant is hydrogen. Critical fuel mass was calculated for several reactor configurations. Major components of the reactor (reflector, pressure vessel, and waste heat rejection system) were considered conceptually and were sized

Standard random walks and trapping on the Koch network with scale-free behavior and small-world effect

A vast variety of real-life networks display the ubiquitous presence of scale-free phenomenon and small-world effect, both of which play a significant role in the dynamical processes running on networks. Although various dynamical processes have been investigated in scale-free small-world networks, analytical research about random walks on such networks is much less. In this paper, we will study analytically the scaling of the mean first-passage time (MFPT) for random walks on scale-free small-world networks. To this end, we first map the classical Koch fractal to a network, called Koch network. According to this proposed mapping, we present an iterative algorithm for generating the Koch network, based on which we derive closed-form expressions for the relevant topological features, such as degree distribution, clustering coefficient, average path length, and degree correlations. The obtained solutions show that the Koch network exhibits scale-free behavior and small-world effect. Then, we investigate the standard random walks and trapping issue on the Koch network. Through the recurrence relations derived from the structure of the Koch network, we obtain the exact scaling for the MFPT. We show that in the infinite network order limit, the MFPT grows linearly with the number of all nodes in the network. The obtained analytical results are corroborated by direct extensive numerical calculations. In addition, we also determine the scaling efficiency exponents characterizing random walks on the Koch network.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Definitive version published in Physical Review

Habitat Selection of Invasive Sika Deer Cervus nippon Living in a UK Lowland Heathland-Woodland-Grassland Mosaic: Implications for Habitat Conservation Management.

Understanding the factors determining the choice and use of habitats by invasive species is key to the conservation management of habitats and may also enable species to be harnessed as conservation tools. Here we explore the habitat use of an invasive population of sika deer, Cervus nippon on internationally important heathland in a landscape of heathland, grassland and woodland in southern UK. We used radio telemetry to test two hypotheses 1) grasses form a major part of the diet of non-native UK sika deer throughout the year 2) deer select grassland habitats above other habitats available. Results showed that although grasses form a major part of their diet, the strongest habitat selection was for heathland, the habitat that offered the least nutrient reward but which offered a source of roughage in the diet and some harbourage from human disturbance. This has implications for the conservation management of heathlands used by sika deer as it strongly indicates that heathland is a vulnerable habitat due to being favoured by sika deer but that its vulnerability can be reduced by coupling population control with targeted habitat management action such as increased disturbance or the removal of harbourage