A dc-coupled noninverting one-shot Patent

Transistorized dc-coupled multivibrator with noninverted output signa

Clerocidin selectively modifies the gyrase-DNA gate to induce irreversible and reversible DNA damage

Clerocidin (CL), a microbial diterpenoid, reacts with DNA via its epoxide group and stimulates DNA cleavage by type II DNA topoisomerases. The molecular basis of CL action is poorly understood. We establish by genetic means that CL targets DNA gyrase in the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, and promotes gyrase-dependent single- and double-stranded DNA cleavage in vitro. CL-stimulated DNA breakage exhibited a strong preference for guanine preceding the scission site (-1 position). Mutagenesis of -1 guanines to A, C or T abrogated CL cleavage at a strong pBR322 site. Surprisingly, for double-strand breaks, scission on one strand consistently involved a modified (piperidine-labile) guanine and was not reversed by heat, salt or EDTA, whereas complementary strand scission occurred at a piperidine-stable -1 nt and was reversed by EDTA. CL did not induce cleavage by a mutant gyrase (GyrA G79A) identified here in CL-resistant pneumococci. Indeed, mutations at G79 and at the neighbouring S81 residue in the GyrA breakage-reunion domain discriminated poisoning by CL from that of antibacterial quinolones. The results suggest a novel mechanism of enzyme inhibition in which the -1 nt at the gyrase-DNA gate exhibit different CL reactivities to produce both irreversible and reversible DNA damage

Efficient Contact State Graph Generation for Assembly Applications

An important aspect in the design of many automated assembly strategies is the ability to automatically generate the set of contact states that may occur during an assembly task. In this paper, we present an efficient means of constructing the set of all geometrically feasible contact states that may occur within a bounded set of misalignments (bounds determined by robot inaccuracy). This set is stored as a graph, referred to as an Assembly Contact State Graph (ACSG), which indicates neighbor relationships between feasible states. An ACSG is constructed without user intervention in two stages. In the first stage, all hypothetical primitive principle contacts (PPCs; all contact states allowing 5 degrees of freedom) are evaluated for geometric feasibility with respect to part-imposed and robot-imposed restrictions on relative positioning (evaluated using optimization). In the second stage, the feasibility of each of the various combinations of PPCs is efficiently evaluated, first using topological existence and uniqueness criteria, then using part-imposed and robot-imposed geometric criteria

Robust Procedures for Obtaining Assembly Contact State Extremal Configurations

Two important components in the selection of an admittance that facilitates force-guided assembly are the identification of: 1) the set of feasible contact states, and 2) the set of configurations that span each contact state, i.e., the extremal configurations. We present a procedure to automatically generate both sets from CAD models of the assembly parts. In the procedure, all possible combinations of principle contacts are considered when generating hypothesized contact states. The feasibility of each is then evaluated in a genetic algorithm based optimization procedure. The maximum and minimum value of each of the 6 configuration variables spanning each contact state are obtained by again using genetic algorithms. Together, the genetic algorithm approach, the hierarchical data structure containing the states, the relationships among the states, and the extremals within each state are used to provide a reliable means of identifying all feasible contact states and their associated extremal configurations

Central limit theorem for signal-to-interference ratio of reduced rank linear receiver

Let $\mathbf{s}_k=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}(v_{1k},...,v_{Nk})^T,$ with $\{v_{ik},i,k=1,...\}$ independent and identically distributed complex random variables. Write $\mathbf{S}_k=(\mathbf{s}_1,...,\mathbf {s}_{k-1},\mathbf{s}_{k+1},... ,\mathbf{s}_K),$ $\mathbf{P}_k=\operatorname {diag}(p_1,...,p_{k-1},p_{k+1},...,p_K)$, $\mathbf{R}_k=(\mathbf{S}_k\mathbf{P}_k\mathbf{S}_k^*+\sigma ^2\mathbf{I})$ and $\mathbf{A}_{km}=[\mathbf{s}_k,\mathbf{R}_k\mathbf{s}_k,... ,\mathbf{R}_k^{m-1}\mathbf{s}_k]$. Define $\beta_{km}=p_k\mathbf{s}_k^*\mathbf{A}_{km}(\mathbf {A}_{km}^*\times\ mathbf{R}_k\mathbf{A}_{km})^{-1}\mathbf{A}_{km}^*\mathbf{s}_k$, referred to as the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of user$k$under the multistage Wiener (MSW) receiver in a wireless communication system. It is proved that the output SIR under the MSW and the mutual information statistic under the matched filter (MF) are both asymptotic Gaussian when$N/K\to c>0$. Moreover, we provide a central limit theorem for linear spectral statistics of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of sample covariance matrices, which is a supplement of Theorem 2 in Bai, Miao and Pan [Ann. Probab. 35 (2007) 1532--1572]. And we also improve Theorem 1.1 in Bai and Silverstein [Ann. Probab. 32 (2004) 553--605].Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-AAP477 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Evaluating Digital Math Tools in the Field

Many school districts have adopted digital tools to supplement or replace teacher-led instruction, usually based on the premise that these tools can provide more personalized or individualized experiences for students and at lower cost. Rigorously evaluating whether such initiatives promote better student outcomes in the field is difficult as most schools and teachers are unwilling to enforce rigorous study designs such as randomized control trials. We used study designs that were feasible in practice to assess whether two digital math tools, eSpark and IXL, were associated with improvements in 3rd – 6th grade student test scores in math. We also investigated the resource requirements and costs of implementing eSpark and IXL to assess whether these tools represent a valuable use of resources. We find that while IXL is substantially less costly to implement than eSpark, its use is not significantly associated with students’ math performance

Wannier–Koopmans method calculations for transition metal oxide band gaps

The widely used density functional theory (DFT) has a major drawback of underestimating the band gaps of materials. Wannier–Koopmans method (WKM) was recently developed for band gap calculations with accuracy on a par with more complicated methods. WKM has been tested for main group covalent semiconductors, alkali halides, 2D materials, and organic crystals. Here we apply the WKM to another interesting type of material system: the transition metal (TM) oxides. TM oxides can be classified as either with d0 or d10 closed shell occupancy or partially occupied open shell configuration, and the latter is known to be strongly correlated Mott insulators. We found that, while WKM provides adequate band gaps for the d0 and d10 TM oxides, it fails to provide correct band gaps for the group with partially occupied d states. This issue is also found in other mean-field approaches like the GW calculations. We believe that the problem comes from a strong interaction between the occupied and unoccupied d-state Wannier functions in a partially occupied d-state system. We also found that, for pseudopotential calculations including deep core levels, it is necessary to remove the electron densities of these deep core levels in the Hartree and exchange–correlation energy functional when calculating the WKM correction parameters for the d-state Wannier functions

Convergence of the largest eigenvalue of normalized sample covariance matrices when p and n both tend to infinity with their ratio converging to zero

Let $\mathbf{X}_p=(\mathbf{s}_1,...,\mathbf{s}_n)=(X_{ij})_{p \times n}$ where $X_{ij}$'s are independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random variables with $EX_{11}=0,EX_{11}^2=1$ and $EX_{11}^4<\infty$. It is showed that the largest eigenvalue of the random matrix $\mathbf{A}_p=\frac{1}{2\sqrt{np}}(\mathbf{X}_p\mathbf{X}_p^{\prime}-n\mathbf{I}_p)$ tends to 1 almost surely as $p\rightarrow\infty,n\rightarrow\infty$ with $p/n\rightarrow0$.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.3150/11-BEJ381 the Bernoulli (http://isi.cbs.nl/bernoulli/) by the International Statistical Institute/Bernoulli Society (http://isi.cbs.nl/BS/bshome.htm

Rotational correlation and dynamic heterogeneity in a kinetically constrained lattice gas

We study dynamical heterogeneity and glassy dynamics in a kinetically constrained lattice gas model which has both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. We find that the rotational diffusion constant tracks the structural relaxation time as density is increased whereas the translational diffusion constant exhibits a strong decoupling. We investigate distributions of exchange and persistence times for both the rotational and translational degrees of freedom and compare our results on the distributions of rotational exchange times to recent single molecule studies.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure