Optical properties of thin gold films applied to Schottky barrier solar cells

The Schottky barrier solar cell is considered a possible candidate for converting solar to electrical energy both for space and terrestrial applications. Knowledge of the optical constants of the ultrathin metal film used in the cell is essential for analyzing and designing higher efficiency Schottky barrier cells. The optical constants of 7.5 -nm (75-A) gold films on gallium arsenide have been obtained. In addition, the absolute collection efficiency of Schottky barrier solar cells has been determined from measured spectral response and optical constants of the gold film

Improved method of fabricating planar gallium arsenide diodes

Improved method fabricates electroluminescent planar P-N gallium arsenide diodes. GaAs is masked with silicon monoxide to allow P-type impurities to be diffused into unmasked portions of GaAs to form P-N junctions

PACAP induces FSHβ gene expression via EPAC.

Gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), are heterodimers of a common α subunit and unique β subunits. Regulation of their levels, primarily by GnRH, is critical for reproductive function. Several other hormones modulate gonadotropin expression, either independently or by modifying the responsiveness to GnRH. Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) is one such hormone. Four-hour treatment of female mouse primary pituitary cells by either GnRH or PACAP induced FSHβ expression, while 24-h treatment repressed FSHβ. Both PACAP and GnRH caused FSH secretion into the medium. In the gonadotropes, PACAP activates primarily Gαs and increases concentration of cAMP, while GnRH primarily functions via Gαq and increases calcium concentration. Herein, we compared PACAP and GnRH signaling pathways that lead to the induction of FSHβ expression. Interestingly, constitutively active Gαs represses LHβ and induces FSHβ expression, while Gαq induces both β-subunits. We determined that FSHβ induction by PACAP requires functional EPAC, a cAMP sensor protein that serves as a guanine exchange factors for small G proteins that then bridges cAMP signaling to MAPK pathway. We further demonstrate that in addition to the prototypical small G protein Ras, two members of the Rho subfamily, Rac and CDC42 are also necessary for PACAP induction of FSHβ, likely via activation of p38 MAPK that leads to induction of cFOS, a critical transcription factor that is necessary and sufficient for FSHβ induction. Therefore, PACAP-induced cAMP pathway leads to MAPK activation that stimulates cFOS induction, to induce the expression of FSHβ subunit and increase FSH concentration

Distributed Algorithms for Spectrum Allocation, Power Control, Routing, and Congestion Control in Wireless Networks

We develop distributed algorithms to allocate resources in multi-hop wireless networks with the aim of minimizing total cost. In order to observe the fundamental duplexing constraint that co-located transmitters and receivers cannot operate simultaneously on the same frequency band, we first devise a spectrum allocation scheme that divides the whole spectrum into multiple sub-bands and activates conflict-free links on each sub-band. We show that the minimum number of required sub-bands grows asymptotically at a logarithmic rate with the chromatic number of network connectivity graph. A simple distributed and asynchronous algorithm is developed to feasibly activate links on the available sub-bands. Given a feasible spectrum allocation, we then design node-based distributed algorithms for optimally controlling the transmission powers on active links for each sub-band, jointly with traffic routes and user input rates in response to channel states and traffic demands. We show that under specified conditions, the algorithms asymptotically converge to the optimal operating point.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networkin

Asymptotically Optimal Multiple-access Communication via Distributed Rate Splitting

We consider the multiple-access communication problem in a distributed setting for both the additive white Gaussian noise channel and the discrete memoryless channel. We propose a scheme called Distributed Rate Splitting to achieve the optimal rates allowed by information theory in a distributed manner. In this scheme, each real user creates a number of virtual users via a power/rate splitting mechanism in the M-user Gaussian channel or via a random switching mechanism in the M-user discrete memoryless channel. At the receiver, all virtual users are successively decoded. Compared with other multiple-access techniques, Distributed Rate Splitting can be implemented with lower complexity and less coordination. Furthermore, in a symmetric setting, we show that the rate tuple achieved by this scheme converges to the maximum equal rate point allowed by the information-theoretic bound as the number of virtual users per real user tends to infinity. When the capacity regions are asymmetric, we show that a point on the dominant face can be achieved asymptotically. Finally, when there is an unequal number of virtual users per real user, we show that differential user rate requirements can be accommodated in a distributed fashion.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. 15 Page