909 research outputs found
Development of New Stimuli-Responsive Vesicles Using A Novel Surfactant
Many amphiphilic molecules (surfactants) possess the ability to aggregate in aqueous solution to form thermodynamically stable aggregates that have potential for use as molecule containers and delivery systems in analytical or pharmaceutical applications. However, it is difficult to release the encapsulated molecules from these aggregates under a controllable manner, and this problem has dramatically limited the application of these aggregated systems. This study addresses this problem through fundamental structure modification by development of a novel redox stimuli-responsive amphiphile capable of forming vesicle aggregates. Aggregate structure can be adjusted through redox stimulation. The release of agents from the core of the aggregates containers can be controlled by the same mechanism. The novel surfactant molecule, Q9 (Figure 1.3), containing a redox stimuli-responsive moiety was synthesized through seven synthetic steps for this purpose (Chapter 3). The molecular structures were characterized by 1H NMR and mass spectrometry analysis methods. Properties of Q9 in aqueous solution were studied (Chapter 4). The pH sensitivity of Q9 was explored in a variety of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solutions with UV-vis measurements and 1H NMR experiments; from these studies, suitable pH value was determined for Q9 vesicle formation. The stimuli-responsive mechanism of Q9 was confirmed by 1H NMR kinetic studies. The critical aggregation concentration (CAC) was determined by surface tension measurements. Q9 vesicles were formed by the extrusion technique (Chapter 5). Vesicle characterizations were evaluated using transmission electron microscopy, light scattering, cryo-electron microscopy and asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation. Q9 vesicles were used to encapsulate the model guest calcein (Chapter 6). Size-exclusion chromatography was used to isolate Q9 vesicles containing dye calcein. The successful release of calcein from Q9 vesicles was triggered by use of a chemical reducing agent as observed by the time-dependent increase in calcein fluorescence. Based on the data, it appears that the loading volume and number density of Q9 vesicles dictates their capabilities as an efficient molecule delivery system
Towards a System Theoretic Approach to Wireless Network Capacity in Finite Time and Space
In asymptotic regimes, both in time and space (network size), the derivation
of network capacity results is grossly simplified by brushing aside queueing
behavior in non-Jackson networks. This simplifying double-limit model, however,
lends itself to conservative numerical results in finite regimes. To properly
account for queueing behavior beyond a simple calculus based on average rates,
we advocate a system theoretic methodology for the capacity problem in finite
time and space regimes. This methodology also accounts for spatial correlations
arising in networks with CSMA/CA scheduling and it delivers rigorous
closed-form capacity results in terms of probability distributions. Unlike
numerous existing asymptotic results, subject to anecdotal practical concerns,
our transient one can be used in practical settings: for example, to compute
the time scales at which multi-hop routing is more advantageous than single-hop
routing
Mating Siegel and parabolic quadratic polynomials
Let be the quadratic polynomial having an
indifferent fixed point at the origin. For any bounded type irrational number
and any rational number
, we prove that and are conformally
mateable, and that the mating is unique up to conjugacy by a M\"{o}bius map.
This gives an affirmative (partial) answer to a question raised by Milnor in
2004.
A crucial ingredient in the proof relies on an expansive property when
iterating certain rational maps near Siegel disk boundaries. Combining this
with the expanding property in repelling petals of parabolic points, we also
prove that the Julia sets of a class of Siegel rational maps with parabolic
points are locally connected.Comment: 40 pages, 9 figure
Allocating Limited Resources to Protect a Massive Number of Targets using a Game Theoretic Model
Resource allocation is the process of optimizing the rare resources. In the
area of security, how to allocate limited resources to protect a massive number
of targets is especially challenging. This paper addresses this resource
allocation issue by constructing a game theoretic model. A defender and an
attacker are players and the interaction is formulated as a trade-off between
protecting targets and consuming resources. The action cost which is a
necessary role of consuming resource, is considered in the proposed model.
Additionally, a bounded rational behavior model (Quantal Response, QR), which
simulates a human attacker of the adversarial nature, is introduced to improve
the proposed model. To validate the proposed model, we compare the different
utility functions and resource allocation strategies. The comparison results
suggest that the proposed resource allocation strategy performs better than
others in the perspective of utility and resource effectiveness.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 41 reference
Impulsive control of nonlinear systems with impulse time window and bounded gain error
In this paper, we establish a new sufficient condition for the stability of impulsive systems with impulse time window and bounded gain error. The proposed result is more general and more applicable than some existing results. Finally, a numerical example is given to show the effectiveness of our result
Configurable and Scalable Turbo Decoder for 4G Wireless Receivers
The increasing requirements of high data rates and quality of service (QoS) in fourth-generation (4G) wireless communication require the implementation of practical capacity approaching codes. In this chapter, the application of Turbo coding schemes that have recently been adopted in the IEEE 802.16e WiMax standard and 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard are reviewed. In order to process several 4G wireless standards with a common hardware module, a reconfigurable and scalable Turbo decoder architecture is presented. A parallel Turbo decoding scheme with scalable parallelism tailored to the target throughput is applied to support high data rates in 4G applications. High-level decoding parallelism is achieved by employing contention-free interleavers. A multi-banked memory structure and routing network among memories and MAP decoders are designed to operate at full speed with parallel interleavers. A new on-line address generation technique is introduced to support multiple Turbo
interleaving patterns, which avoids the interleaver address memory that is typically necessary in the traditional designs. Design trade-offs in terms of area and power efficiency are analyzed for different parallelism and clock frequency goals
Quasar Photometric Redshifts and Candidate Selection: A New Algorithm Based on Optical and Mid-Infrared Photometric Data
We present a new algorithm to estimate quasar photometric redshifts
(photo-s), by considering the asymmetries in the relative flux distributions
of quasars. The relative flux models are built with multivariate Skew-t
distributions in the multi-dimensional space of relative fluxes as a function
of redshift and magnitude. For 151,392 quasars in the SDSS, we achieve a
photo- accuracy, defined as the fraction of quasars with the difference
between the photo- and the spectroscopic redshift , within 0.1, of 74%. Combining the WISE W1 and W2 infrared
data with the SDSS data, the photo- accuracy is enhanced to 87%. Using the
Pan-STARRS1 or DECaLS photometry with WISE W1 and W2 data, the photo-
accuracies are 79% and 72%, respectively. The prior probabilities as a function
of magnitude for quasars, stars and galaxies are calculated respectively based
on (1) the quasar luminosity function; (2) the Milky Way synthetic simulation
with the Besan\c{c}on model; (3) the Bayesian Galaxy Photometric Redshift
estimation. The relative fluxes of stars are obtained with the Padova
isochrones, and the relative fluxes of galaxies are modeled through galaxy
templates. We test our classification method to select quasars using the DECaLS
, , , and WISE W1 and W2 photometry. The quasar selection completeness
is higher than 70% for a wide redshift range , and a wide magnitude
range mag. Our photo- regression and classification method has
the potential to extend to future surveys. The photo- code will be publicly
available.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figure, accepted by AJ. The code is available at
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.101440
Improving the performance of web service recommenders using semantic similarity
This paper addresses issues related to recommending Semantic Web Services (SWS) using collaborative filtering (CF). The focus is on reducing the problems arising from data sparsity, one of the main difficulties for CF algorithms. Two CF algorithms are presented and discussed: a memory-based algorithm, using the k-NN method, and a model-based algorithm, using the k-means method. In both algorithms, similarity between users is computed using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC). One of the limitations of using the PCC in this context is that in those instances where users have not rated items in common it is not possible to compute their similarity. In addition, when the number of common items that were rated is low, the reliability of the computed similarity degree may also be low. To overcome these limitations, the presented algorithms compute the similarity between two users taking into account services that both users accessed and also semantically similar services. Likewise, to predict the rating for a not yet accessed target service, the algorithms consider the ratings that neighbor users assigned to the target service, as is normally the case, while also considering the ratings assigned to services that are semantically similar to the target service. The experiments described in the paper show that this approach has a significantly positive impact on prediction accuracy, particularly when the user-item matrix is sparse.Facultad de Informátic
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