bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-block copolymers with fluorene-containing hydrophilic segments densely functionalized by side-chain quaternary ammonium groups as anion exchange membranes
Authors: Li Liuhong , Yue Xi , Wu Wenjun , Yan Wuxin , Zeng Mingjian , Zhou You , Liao Shijun , Li Xiuhua
Published: April 2016

Design and fabrication of multi-block anion exchange membranes with fluorene-containing hydrophilic segments densely functionalized by side-chain quaternary ammonium groups.
Green oxidation of bio-lactic acid with H2O2 into tartronic acid under UV irradiation
Authors: Tian Xuxia , Wang Zhijian , Yang Pengju , Hao Ruipeng , Jia Suping , Li Na , Li Li , Zhu Zhenping
Published: April 2016

Lactic acid was photochemically converted into tartronic acid via green oxidation by using H2O2.
Esterase-responsive polymeric prodrug-based tumor targeting nanoparticles for improved anti-tumor performance against colon cancer
Authors: Pan Gang , Bao Yi-jie , Xu Jie , Liu Tao , Liu Cheng , Qiu Yan-yan , Shi Xiao-jing , Yu Hui , Jia Ting-ting , Yuan Xia , Yuan Ze-ting , Yin Pei-hao , Cao Yi-jun
Published: April 2016

We report on the fabrication of a multifunctional polymeric prodrug covalently linked with an anticancer drug (bufalin, BUF) and tumor-targeting peptide (RGD) and investigate its anticancer performance against colon cancer in mice.
Racemic alkaloids from Macleaya cordata: structural elucidation, chiral resolution, and cytotoxic, antibacterial activities
Authors: Sai Chun-Mei , Li Da-Hong , Li Sheng-Ge , Han Tong , Guo Yong-Zhi , Pei Yue-Hu , Bai Jiao , Jing Yong-Kui , Li Zhan-Lin , Hua Hui-Ming
Published: April 2016

Three pairs of new enantiomeric natural alkaloids (±)-macleayins C-E (1–3), together with five pairs of known racemic alkaloids (4–8), were isolated from the aerial parts of Macleaya cordata.
Substantially enhanced Raman signal for inorganic–organic nanocomposites by ALD-TiO2 capping
Authors: Tanskanen A. , Karttunen A. J. , Karppinen M.
Published: April 2016

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) enables conformal coating of various surface architectures with high-quality ultrathin films.
Template-assisted self-assembly of diblock copolymer micelles for non-hexagonal arrays of Au nanoparticles
Authors: Kim Sung-Soo , Sohn Byeong-Hyeok
Published: April 2016

We report the construction of non-hexagonal arrays of nanoparticles by the template-assisted self-assembly of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) copolymer micelles.
Preparation and characterization of photoactive antimicrobial graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) films
Authors: Thurston John H. , Hunter Necia M. , Cornell Kenneth A.
Published: April 2016

Nanostructuredg-C3N4effectively kills samples of the clinically relevant microorganismsE. coliO157:H7 andS. aureusunder visible radiation.
Ammonolysis of polycrystalline and amorphized gallium arsenide GaAs to polytype-specific nanopowders of gallium nitride GaN
Authors: Drygaś Mariusz , Jeleń Piotr , Radecka Marta , Janik Jerzy F.
Published: April 2016

Single-step N-for-As metathesis reactions of gallium arsenide GaAs with ammonia NH3 at temperatures in the range 650–950 °C for 6–90 hours afforded high yields of pure nanocrystalline powders of the wide bandgap semiconductor gallium nitride GaN.
Wettability gradient-induced alignment of peptide nanotubes as templates for biosensing applications
Authors: Almohammed Sawsan , Oladapo Sarah O. , Ryan Kate , Kholkin Andrei L. , Rice James H. , Rodriguez Brian J.
Published: April 2016

Peptide nanotubes coated with silver nanoparticles and aligned using wettability-patterned substrates provide improved Raman intensity for biosensing applications.
Metal-free synthesis of quinazolinones without any additives in water
Authors: Hu Ben-Quan , Cui Jie , Wang Li-Xia , Tang Ya-Lin , Yang Luo
Published: April 2016

Here we report that an excess amount of aldehyde, in particular, aliphatic aldehyde, without any additives, efficiently facilitates the oxidation of aminal intermediates to quinazolinones in pure water.
A hybrid macrocyclic anion receptor exploiting the pyrrole-2,5-diacetamide unit
Authors: Jurczak Janusz , Dydio Pawel , Stepniak Pawel , Zielinski Tomasz
Published: April 2016

Macrocyclic compound built on pyrrole-2,5-diacetic bisamide was found to be an efficient receptor for H2PO4−and PhCOO−.
A colorimetric and fluorometric NBD-based chemosensor for highly selective recognition of palladium(ii) cations
Authors: Xu Zhong-yong , Wang Xiao-lin , Yan Jin-wu , Li Jing , Guan Su , Zhang Lei
Published: April 2016

A chemosensor NBD-PMA with colorimetric and fluorometric responses for Pd2+ cations has been described.
Ammonium retention by oxidized biochars produced at different pyrolysis temperatures and residence times
Authors: Wang Bing , Lehmann Johannes , Hanley Kelly , Hestrin Rachel , Enders Akio
Published: April 2016

Maple wood biochars were produced at different pyrolysis temperatures and residence times to investigate the effects of pyrolysis conditions and oxidation on the retention of ammonium in aqueous solution and adsorption and desorption was determined.
Preparation of redox-sensitive, core-crosslinked micelles self-assembled from mPEGylated starch conjugates: remarkable extracellular stability and rapid intracellular drug release
Authors: Chen Mingjia , Gao Chunmei , Lü Shaoyu , Chen Yuanmou , Liu Mingzhu
Published: April 2016

Novel diselenide core-crosslinked mPEGylated starch micelles (mPEG-St-SeSex) were developed, which had advanced stability in ultra micelle destabilization conditions and could be quickly disunited to release the drug in the presence of 10 mM GSH.
Bioactivity-guided synthesis of tropine derivatives as new agonists for melatonin receptors
Authors: Yin Xiu-Juan , Geng Chang-An , Huang Xiao-Yan , Chen Hao , Ma Yun-Bao , Chen Xing-Long , Sun Chang-Li , Yang Tong-Hua , Zhou Jun , Zhang Xue-Mei , Chen Ji-Jun
Published: April 2016

Twenty-three tropine derivatives as new melatonin receptor (MT1and MT2) agonists were synthesized and evaluated on HEK293 cellsin vitro.
Controlled deposition of Pt nanoparticles on Fe3O4@carbon microspheres for efficient oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
Authors: Zhang Yuwei , Xue Zhimin , Wang Jinfang , Zhao Xinhui , Deng Yonghui , Zhao Wancheng , Mu Tiancheng
Published: April 2016

We report core/shell structured magnetically recyclable catalysts with a well-defined spherical morphology. Using these as catalysts for the oxidation of HMF, a 100% yield of FDCA could be achieved in just 4 h at 90 °C in water .
Production of hydrogen peroxide by combination of semiconductor-photocatalysed oxidation of water and photocatalytic two-electron reduction of dioxygen
Authors: Isaka Yusuke , Yamada Yusuke , Suenobu Tomoyoshi , Nakagawa Tatsuo , Fukuzumi Shunichi
Published: April 2016

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was produced from H2O and O2via semiconductor-photocatalysed oxidation of H2O in combination with photocatalytic two-electron reduction of O2 with [RuII((MeO)2bpy)3]2+ ((MeO)2bpy = 4,4′-dimethoxy-2,2′-bipyridine) in water.
Tailored electric and optical properties of Nd doped ZnO: from transparent conducting oxide to photon down-shifting thin films
Authors: Nistor M. , Mihut L. , Millon E. , Cachoncinlle C. , Hebert C. , Perrière J.
Published: April 2016

Tunable properties from transparent conducting to photon down-shifting are obtained with slight change in O2pressure during Nd:ZnO film growth.
Three-component 2-aryl substituted benzothiophene formation under transition-metal free conditions
Authors: Jiang Pengcheng , Che Xingzong , Liao Yunfeng , Huang Huawen , Deng Guo-Jun
Published: April 2016

A base-mediated efficient entry for 2-aryl substituted benzothiophene from 2-bromobenzene aldehydes, benzylic esters and elemental sulfur.
Selectivity engineering of O-methylation of hydroxybenzenes with dimethyl carbonate using ionic liquid as catalyst
Authors: Kabra Satish K. , Huuhtanen Mika , Keiski Riitta L. , Yadav Ganapati D.
Published: April 2016

Phenolic ethers are useful commercial entities which have been traditionally produced via polluting routes that could be replaced by benign catalytic processes.
Copper-based water repellent and antibacterial coatings by aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition
Authors: Ozkan Ekrem , Crick Colin C. , Taylor Alaric , Allan Elaine , Parkin Ivan P.
Published: April 2016

The adhesion and proliferation of bacteria on solid surfaces presents a major challenge in both healthcare and industrial applications.
An amphiphilic block–graft copolymer electrolyte: synthesis, nanostructure, and use in solid-state flexible supercapacitors
Authors: Lim Jung Yup , Kim Jin Kyu , Lee Jung Min , Ryu Du Yeol , Kim Jong Hak
Published: April 2016

A highly ionic conductive amphiphilic nanostructured polymer electrolyte with good flexibility is prepared based on a SBS-g-POEM block–graft copolymer. The performance of solid-state flexible supercapacitors based on the SBS-g-POEM electrolyte was much higher than that of the widely used conventional PVA/H3PO4 electrolyte.
Ultrastable coaxial cable-like superhydrophobic mesh with self-adaption effect: facile synthesis and oil/water separation application
Authors: Xiao Caiming , Si Lianxi , Liu Yiming , Guan Guoqing , Wu Dihua , Wang Zhongde , Hao Xiaogang
Published: April 2016

Preparation of an ultrastable coaxial cable-like superhydrophobic mesh with self-adaption effect and oil/water separation application.
Metal-substrate-supported tungsten-oxide nanoarrays via porous-alumina-assisted anodization: from nanocolumns to nanocapsules and nanotubes
Authors: Mozalev Alexander , Bendova Maria , Gispert-Guirado Francesc , Pytlicek Zdenek , Llobet Eduard
Published: April 2016

Arrays of tungsten-oxide semiconductor nanorods, nanocapsules, and nanotubes are synthesized via anodic oxidation of Al/W layers sputter-deposited on substrates.
Formation of CaCO3 fibres directed by polypeptide vesicles
Authors: Lu Yingqing , Cai Chunhua , Lin Jiaping , Zhuang Qixin
Published: April 2016

Under the mediation of polypeptide vesicles self-assembled from PLGA-b-PPO-b-PLGA triblock copolymers, calcium carbonate fibres are generated through a solution–precursor–solid process.
Effects of thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) on blood coagulation
Authors: Zhang Yi , Cai Jianzhou , Li Chenghua , Wei Jianye , Liu Zonghua , Xue Wei
Published: April 2016

Thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), hydrophilic below its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 32 °C and hydrophobic above it, has been widely used as a drug and gene delivery system with intelligent temperature-responsivity.
Electronic alteration of end-on phenyl groups of bis-triazolyl-silanes: electron-transport materials for blue phosphorescent OLEDs
Authors: Yi Seungjun , Bae Woo-Ri , Kim Jin-Hyoung , Lee Ah-Rang , Kim Woo-Young , Han Won-Sik , Son Ho-Jin , Kang Sang Ook
Published: April 2016

Electron transporting ability is controlled by alternating electronic properties of peryphery groups on silicon based oxadiazole moiety.
Reverse saturable absorbing cationic iridium(iii) complexes bearing the 2-(2-quinolinyl)quinoxaline ligand: effects of different cyclometalating ligands on linear and nonlinear absorption
Authors: Sun Wenfang , Pei Chengkui , Lu Taotao , Cui Peng , Li Zhongguo , McCleese Christopher , Fang Yu , Kilina Svetlana , Song Yinglin , Burda Clemens
Published: April 2016

Iridium(iii) complexes bearing the 2-(2-quinolinyl)quinoxaline ligand absorb weakly at 450–750 nm and can be used as broadband reverse saturable absorbers.
Antiferromagnetic single-chain magnet slow relaxation in the {Tb(α-fur)3}n polymer with non-Kramers ions
Authors: Bartolomé E. , Bartolomé J. , Arauzo A. , Luzón J. , Badía L. , Cases R. , Luis F. , Melnic S. , Prodius D. , Shova S. , Turta C.
Published: April 2016

A {Tb(α-fur)3}n one-dimensional complex shows Single-Chain-Magnet (SCM) behavior at H = 0 in two different types of antiferromagnetic transverse chains (A and B), triggered by the existence of defects breaking the chains into segments with short-range order.
The construction of a multicolored mechanochromic luminogen with high contrast through the combination of a large conjugation core and peripheral phenyl rings
Authors: Zhao Zhiju , Chen Taixin , Jiang Shuting , Liu Zhengping , Fang Decai , Dong Yong Qiang
Published: April 2016

A twisted luminogen with a bulky conjugation core exhibits multicolored emission switching with high contrast in both color and intensity.
Low mid-infrared absorption tolane liquid crystals terminated by 2,2-difluorovinyloxyl: synthesis, characterization and properties
Authors: Hu Minggang , An Zhongwei , Li Jian , Chen Haiwei , Peng Fenglin , Wu Shin-Tson , Wang Xiangru , Li Man
Published: April 2016

New 2,2-difluorovinyloxyl terminated tolane liquid crystals with wide nematic phase range, high birefringence and low mid-infrared absorption are reported.
Resveratrol ameliorates renal injury in spontaneously hypertensive rats by inhibiting renal micro-inflammation
Authors: Xue Hai-Yan , Yuan Li , Cao Ying-Jie , Fan Ya-Ping , Chen Xiao-Lan , Huang Xin-Zhong
Published: April 2016

Micro-inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of resveratrol (RSV), a polyphenol with anti-fibrosis activity in hypertensive renal damage model. In SHR renal damage model, RSV treatment blunted the increase in urine albumin excretion, urinary β2-microglobulin (β2-MG), attenuated the decrease in creatinine clearance rate (CCR). The glomerular sclerosis index (1.54±0.33 compared with 0.36±0.07) and tubulointerstitial fibrosis (1.57±0.31 compared with 0.19±0.04) were significantly higher in SHRs compared with Wistar Kyoto rats (WKYs), which were significantly lower by RSV treatment. The increases in mesangium accumulation and the expression of renal collagen type I (Col I), fibronectin (Fn), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) in SHR were also reduced by RSV treatment. Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) expression was increased in the cytoplasm and nuclei of the SHR kidneys, which was significantly decreased by RSV treatment. Furthermore, the protein level of IκB-α significantly decreased in the kidneys of the SHR when compared with the WKYs. RSV treatment partially restored the decreased IκB-α level. In SHR kidney, increased expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) were observed. These changes were attenuated by RSV treatment. No changes in blood pressure were detected between SHR group and SHR + RSV group. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that RSV treatment may significantly attenuate renal damage in the SHR model of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The renal protective effect is associated with inhibition of IL-6, ICAM-1 and MCP-1 expression via the regulation of the nuclear translocation of NF-κB, which suggesting that micro-inflammation may be a potential therapeutic target of hypertensive renal damage.
Hepatitis C virus core protein impairs metabolic disorder of liver cell via HOTAIR-Sirt1 signalling
Authors: Li Zhi-qin , Gu Xin-yu , Hu Jin-xing , Ping Yu , Li Hua , Yan Jing-ya , Li Juan , Sun Ran , Yu Zu-jing , Zhang Yi
Published: April 2016

It has been suggested that Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein is associated with metabolic disorders of liver cell. However, the precise mechanism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of HCV core protein on hepatocyte metabolism by HepG2 and the possible involvement of long non-coding (lnc) RNAs in this process. The effect of HCV core protein on lncRNAs expression was examined with quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR). Manipulation of HVC core protein and lncRNA HOTAIR was to evaluate the role of interaction between them on cell metabolism-related gene expression and cellular metabolism. The potential downstream Sirt1 signal was examined by western blotting and qRT-PCR. Our data suggested that suppression of HOTAIR abrogates HCV core protein-induced reduction in Sirt1 and differential expression of glucose- and lipid-metabolism-related genes. Also it benefits for metabolic homoeostasis of hepatocyte indicated by restoration of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and NAD/NADH ratio. By manipulation of HOTAIR, we concluded that HOTAIR negatively regulates Sirt1 expression through affecting its promotor methylation. Moreover, overexpression of Sirt1 reverses pcDNA-HOTAIR-induced glucose- and lipid-metabolism-related gene expression. Our study suggests that HCV core protein causes dysfunction of glucose and lipid metabolism in liver cells through HOTAIR-Sirt1 signalling pathway.
The first EGF domain of coagulation factor IX attenuates cell adhesion and induces apoptosis
Authors: Ishikawa Tomomi , Kitano Hisataka , Mamiya Atsushi , Kokubun Shinichiro , Hidai Chiaki
Published: April 2016

Coagulation factor IX (FIX) is an essential plasma protein for blood coagulation. The first epidermal growth factor (EGF) motif of FIX (EGF-F9) has been reported to attenuate cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix (ECM). The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of this motif on cell adhesion and apoptosis. Treatment with a recombinant EGF-F9 attenuated cell adhesion to the ECM within 10 min. De-adhesion assays with native FIX recombinant FIX deletion mutant proteins suggested that the de-adhesion activity of EGF-F9 requires the same process of FIX activation as that which occurs for coagulation activity. The recombinant EGF-F9 increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity release into the medium and increased the number of cells stained with annexin V and activated caspase-3, by 8.8- and 2.7-fold respectively, indicating that EGF-F9 induced apoptosis. Activated caspase-3 increased very rapidly after only 5 min of administration of recombinant EGF-F9. Treatment with EGF-F9 increased the level of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), but not that of phosphorylated MAPK 44/42 or c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Inhibitors of caspase-3 suppressed the release of LDH. Caspase-3 inhibitors also suppressed the attenuation of cell adhesion and phosphorylation of p38 MAPK by EGF-F9. Our data indicated that EGF-F9 activated signals for apoptosis and induced de-adhesion in a caspase-3 dependent manner.
A Prekindergarten Curriculum Supplement for Enhancing Mainstream American English Knowledge in Nonmainstream American English Speakers
Authors: Edwards Jan R. , Rosin Peggy
Published: April 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a curriculum supplement designed to enhance awareness of Mainstream American English (MAE) in African American English- (AAE-) speaking prekindergarten children.

Method

Children in 2 Head Start classrooms participated in the study. The experimental classroom received the Talking and Learning for Kindergarten program (Edwards, Rosin, Gross, & Chen, 2013), which used contrastive analysis to highlight morphological, phonological, and pragmatic differences between MAE and AAE. The control classroom received the Kindness Curriculum (Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, & Davidson, 2014), which was designed to promote mindfulness and emotional self-regulation. The amount of instruction was the same across the 2 programs. Both classrooms participated in pre- and posttest assessments.

Results

Children in the experimental classroom, but not the control classroom, showed significant improvement in 3 norm-referenced measures of phonological awareness and in an experimental measure that evaluated comprehension of words that are ambiguous in AAE, but unambiguous in MAE, because of morphological and phonological differences between the 2 dialects.

Conclusion

Although more research needs to be done on the efficacy of the Talking and Learning for Kindergarten program, these results suggest that it is possible to enhance AAE-speaking children's awareness of MAE prior to kindergarten entry.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6170288
Affix Meaning Knowledge in First Through Third Grade Students
Authors: Apel Kenn , Henbest Victoria Suzanne
Published: April 2016

Purpose

We examined grade-level differences in 1st- through 3rd-grade students' performance on an experimenter-developed affix meaning task (AMT) and determined whether AMT performance explained unique variance in word-level reading and reading comprehension, beyond other known contributors to reading development.

Method

Forty students at each grade level completed an assessment battery that included measures of phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, word-level reading, reading comprehension, and affix meaning knowledge.

Results

On the AMT, 1st-grade students were significantly less accurate than 2nd- and 3rd-grade students; there was no significant difference in performance between the 2nd- and 3rd-grade students. Regression analyses revealed that the AMT accounted for 8% unique variance of students' performance on word-level reading measures and 6% unique variance of students' performance on the reading comprehension measure, after age, phonological awareness, and receptive vocabulary were explained.

Conclusion

These results provide initial information on the development of affix meaning knowledge via an explicit measure in 1st- through 3rd-grade students and demonstrate that affix meaning knowledge uniquely contributes to the development of reading abilities above other known literacy predictors. These findings provide empirical support for how students might use morphological problem solving to read unknown multimorphemic words successfully.
High‐frequency ultrasound transducer by using inversion layer technique for intravascular ultrasound imaging
Authors: Sung J.H. , Jeong J.S.
Published: April 2016

Inversion layer technique can increase the centre frequency (f0) and the −6 dB bandwidth of the ultrasound transducer without reducing thickness of active material. However, it suffers from the reduced −6 dB bandwidth when the centre frequency is increased more than 1.5f0. A modified inversion technique is proposed and applied it to high‐frequency intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) transducer. The performance was computationally verified by using finite element method (FEM) simulation. The proposed IVUS transducer consists of two sub‐elements with each aperture size of 0.6 × 0.6 mm, and each sub‐element has different types of inversion layer using PMN‐PT and PZT‐5H. The initial thickness of overall active material was designed for 40 MHz centre frequency and the FEM simulation showed that the centre frequency was increased by about 1.8f0 maintaining the −6 dB fractional bandwidth compared with the conventional transducer.
Method of damage‐free three‐dimensional step covered interconnection for HySiF (hybrid system in flexible) using electrohydrodynamic jetting
Authors: Kim Y. , Lee J.H. , Kim S.M. , Rhee S.I. , Song J.Y.
Published: April 2016

The fabrication of a flexible electronic system which consists of a flexible polyimide (PI) substrate and a rigid silicon thin chip is demonstrated. The 50 μm thick rigid silicon chips are bonded to the PI substrate using a die attach film (20 μm) and electrically interconnected to an adjacent metal pad which is deposited on the PI substrate and silicon chips. A 3D step covered interconnection consisted of silver nanoparticles and polymer are achieved by using an electrohydrodynamic system. The mechanical and electrical characteristic was investigated by performing a Kelvin resistance measurement on the jetted lines while the substrate was subjected to bending modes of varying diameters.
Micro‐motion of a moving train observed by a Ka‐band interferometric radar
Authors: Zhai Wenshuai , Zhang Yunhua , Yang Qingshan , Shi Xiaojin
Published: April 2016

A moving train was imaged by a Ka‐band interferometric (In) radar of 2 GHz bandwidth working at the dechirping model. Two radar images from two channels as well as their In image were obtained after estimating the speed and direction of the train. The plots of In phases (InPhes) along the train exhibits periodic fluctuations, which are resulted from the back and forth motions of both locomotive and other compartments when the trains are moving ahead, and this can be attributed to the micro‐motion (m‐M) of the train. As far as it is known, this is the first time to experimentally demonstrate m‐M detection through InPhes.
High extinction‐ratio compact polarisation beam splitter on silicon
Authors: Chen Sitao , Wu Hao , Dai Daoxin
Published: April 2016

A novel polarisation beam splitter (PBS) with a high extinction ratio in a broad band has been proposed and realised by cascading a bent directional coupler and a low‐loss transverse‐magnetic (TM)‐pass polariser based on a subwavelength grating. The realised PBS has a footprint as small as 3 × 22.5 μm, a high extinction ratio (>20 dB) and a low excess loss (∼1 dB) are obtained over a broad band of ∼60 nm for both transverse‐electric and TM polarisations.
Wideband dual‐mode planar endfire antenna with circular polarisation
Authors: Zhang Ji , Lu Wen‐Jun , Li Ling , Zhu Lei , Zhu Hong‐bo
Published: April 2016

A novel wideband dual‐mode planar endfire antenna with circular polarisation is presented. The antenna consists of a semicircular disk radiator and a concentrically, stub‐loaded annular sector dipole. A pair of stubs is symmetrically loaded along the annular sector dipole so that the second odd‐order dipole mode is excited and moved downwards to the fundamental mode. Thus, a wideband, planar endfire circularly polarised antenna with dual‐resonant characteristic is achieved. It is shown that the prototype has an impedance bandwidth of more than 24.8%, and a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 18.8%.
Doppler radar microphone with logarithmic square‐law detector
Authors: Aumann H.M. , Emanetoglu N.W.
Published: April 2016

A Doppler radar based microphone is similar to an acoustic microphone except that it detects vibrations rather than sound. A microphone with a logarithmic square‐law detector for monitoring honeybees is described. The performance of a logarithmic square‐law detector is compared with a more conventional zero‐intermediate frequency (IF), direct down conversion receiver. It is shown that unavoidable coupling between the transmitter and receiver as well as stationary clutter have the same effect in the square‐law receiver as the local oscillator signal and mixer have in the direct down conversion receiver. The theoretical output of either configuration is formally the same. Both receiver designs were implemented in a low‐cost, low‐power radar microphone operating in the unlicensed 5.8 GHz industrial, scientific and medical band. The use of a logarithmic square‐law detector resulted in a significant simplification of the radar microphone design as well as a 10 dB improvement in signal‐to‐noise ratio.
Robust cardiac event change detection method for long‐term healthcare monitoring applications
Authors: Satija Udit , Ramkumar Barathram , Manikandan M Sabarimalai
Published: April 2016

A long‐term continuous cardiac health monitoring system highly demands more battery power for real‐time transmission of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and increases bandwidth, treatment costs and traffic load of the diagnostic server. In this Letter, the authors present an automated low‐complexity robust cardiac event change detection (CECD) method that can continuously detect specific changes in PQRST morphological patterns and heart rhythms and then enable transmission/storing of the recorded ECG signals. The proposed CECD method consists of four stages: ECG signal quality assessment, R‐peak detection and beat waveform extraction, temporal and RR interval feature extraction and cardiac event change decision. The proposed method is tested and validated using both normal and abnormal ECG signals including different types of arrhythmia beats, heart rates and signal quality. Results show that the method achieves an average sensitivity of 99.76%, positive predictivity of 94.58% and overall accuracy of 94.32% in determining the changes in heartbeat waveforms of the ECG signals.
Local energy‐based multimodal medical image fusion in curvelet domain
Authors: Srivastava Richa , Prakash Om , Khare Ashish
Published: April 2016

Various multimodal medical images like computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography, single photon emission CT and structural MRI have different characteristics and carry different types of complementary anatomical and functional information. Therefore, fusion of multimodal images is required, in order to achieve good spatial resolution images carrying both anatomical and functional information. In this work, the authors have proposed a fusion technique based on curvelet transform. Curvelet transform is a multiscale, multidirectional transform having anisotropic property and is very efficient in capturing edge points in images. Edges in an image are the important information carrying points used to show better visual structure of the image. They use local energy‐based fusion rule which is more effective than single pixel‐based fusion rules. Comparison of the proposed method with other existing spatial and wavelet transform based methods, in terms of visual and quantitative measures show the effectiveness of the proposed method. For quantitative analysis of the method, they used five fusion metrics as entropy, standard deviation, edge‐strength, sharpness and average gradient.
Objectness ranking by uniform Bayesian model with multimodal and global cues
Authors: Zhang Jianhua , Xie Zhen , Xiao Junhao , Chen Shengyong , Zhang Jianwei
Published: April 2016

Category‐independent object detection and localisation plays an important role in many computer vision tasks. In this study, an efficient method is proposed for generic objectness ranking by fusing two dimension (2D) or 3D information. A novel Bayesian model is designed to integrate multimodal cues and global cues to estimate object location, scale and number. In the pure trichannel colour space, the authors employ global spatial information as new global cues. From the colour+depth (red, green and blue+D) aspect, the authors compute multimodal saliency and oversegments to find two new multimodal cues. Local and regional depth cues are also explored and combined with them together so that a reliable objectness ranking scheme can be implemented. The proposed method is evaluated on web‐public common 2D and RGB+D datasets. In RGB+D cases, the experimental results show that the proposed method achieves an average 5% improvement over state‐of‐the‐art methods. Furthermore, for achieving the similar recall rates, the authors’ method only needs 30% amounts of sampled windows with respect of other available methods.
Comparisons of local methods for face alignment
Authors: Zhang Gang , Chen Jiansheng , Su Guangda , Ou Chunhui
Published: April 2016

Exploring relations among different local methods for face alignment is a problem to be solved crucially. It is of significance for face recognition and face tracking. In this study, a general framework for local face alignment is presented. On this basis, three classical methods are described, i.e. method using structured support vector machine, that using regularised landmark mean‐shift (RLMS), and that using multiview and mixtures of trees. Comparisons of performance among different methods are carried out on four datasets, i.e. BioID, LFW, Helen, and LFPW. For each face, five facial landmarks are used, i.e. tip of nose, inner corner of left eye, inner corner of right eye, left mouth corner, and right mouth corner. Average alignment time and average alignment precision are used as metrics. Test results show that methods using RLMS have better performance on the whole.
Derivative‐free square‐root cubature Kalman filter for non‐linear brushless DC motors
Authors: Potnuru Devendra , Bharani Chandra Kumar Pakki , Arasaratnam Ienkaran , Gu Da‐Wei , Alice Mary Karlapudy , Ch Sai Babu
Published: April 2016

This paper presents a non‐linear square‐root estimation scheme for brushless DC (BLDC) motors. The cubature Kalman filter (CKF) is the main estimation tool for the presented approach. The CKF is a recently proposed estimator for highly non‐linear systems and its efficacy has been verified on several applications. The square‐root version of the CKF is preferred over the conventional CKF for real‐time applications. Despite of having several advantages over other non‐linear filters, the CKF has not yet been explored for state estimation of electric drives in the electric drives community. In this study, the authors present a square‐root CKF for the speed and rotor position estimation of a highly non‐linear and high fidelity BLDC motor, these estimated speed and rotor position are then fed back to control the speed of the BLDC motor. The efficacy of the presented approach for low and high reference speeds, and in the presence of parametric uncertainties, is demonstrated by real‐time experiments.
Analysis of a distributed maximum power point tracking tracker with low input voltage ripple and flexible gain range
Authors: Wu Bin , Naderi Roozbeh , Smedley Keyue
Published: April 2016

Partial shading effects on series‐connected solar cells (modules) motivate the development of distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) technology. This study reviews three dominant DMPPT architectures with preference given to DMPPT tracker technology based on its modularity, gain flexibility and technical maturity for decades of development. Topologies suitable for DMPPT tracker application are investigated. A modified buck–boost converter with reduced input voltage ripple and flexible‐gain range is adopted for DMPPT tracker application. At steady state, the topology can reduce the power oscillation at maximum power point and improve the tracking accuracy without increasing input filter capacitor. The flexibility in gain range makes it well‐suited for many commercial solar energy harvest systems under rapidly varying temperature and illumination conditions. The simulation and experiment of a 15 W low‐power prototype under small voltage scale confirm the feasibility of the proposed converter.
Analysis of polarimetric bistatic sea clutter using the NetRAD radar system
Authors: Fioranelli Francesco , Ritchie Matthew , Griffiths Hugh , Sandenbergh Stephan , Inggs Michael
Published: April 2016

This study presents a comparative analysis of amplitude and Doppler spectra statistics from monostatic and bistatic sea clutter data at S‐band. These data cover a range of bistatic angles from 60° to 120° and include simultaneous monostatic and co‐polarised and cross‐polarised bistatic recordings, providing direct comparison of their statistical properties. The time series of amplitude data are fitted to the compound K and K + noise distribution in the range domain and in the Doppler domain, and the variation of the shape parameter is presented for monostatic and co‐polarised and cross‐polarised bistatic data as an indication of the spikiness of the clutter. From the analysis of this parameter, it is shown that cross‐polarised bistatic data tend to be less spiky in the range and Doppler domain than the simultaneous co‐polarised bistatic data, and than the simultaneous monostatic data, which could be advantageous in terms of radar detection performance, especially for low‐visibility maritime targets.
Target tracking algorithm for passive coherent location
Authors: Konovalov Аleksandr А.
Published: April 2016

A target tracking algorithm for the passive coherent location based on a two‐stage scheme is proposed and implemented. The track initiation, the tentative track filtering and the data association for all tracks are performed in bistatic coordinates using a linear decoupled Kalman filter. The confirmed track filtering is performed in Cartesian coordinates by non‐linear unscented Kalman filtering. Transformation of the measurements and their covariances from bistatic to Cartesian coordinates and vice versa are implemented via unscented transformation for 2n sigma‐points.
Phase‐modulation based dual‐function radar‐communications
Authors: Hassanien Aboulnasr , Amin Moeness G. , Zhang Yimin D. , Ahmad Fauzia
Published: April 2016

The authors develop a novel phase‐modulation based dual‐function system with joint radar and communication platforms. A bank of transmit beamforming weight vectors is designed such that they form the same transmit power radiation patterns, whereas the phase associated with each transmit beam towards the intended communication directions belongs to a certain phase constellation. During each radar pulse, a binary sequence is mapped into one point of the constellation which, in turn, is embedded into the radar emission by selecting the transmit weight vectors associated with that constellation point. The communication receiver detects the phase of the received signal and uses it to decode the embedded binary sequence. The proposed technique allows information delivery to the intended communication receiver regardless of whether it is located in the sidelobe region or within the main radar beam. Three signalling strategies are proposed which can be used to achieve coherent communications, non‐coherent communications, and non‐coherent broadcasting, respectively. It is verified that the proposed method provides improved bit error performance as compared to previously reported sidelobe modulation based dual‐functionality techniques.
Multiscale kernel sparse coding‐based classifier for HRRP radar target recognition
Authors: Xiong Wei , Zhang Gong , Liu Su , Yin Jiejun
Published: April 2016

With the combined multiscale Gaussian kernel and Morlet wavelet kernel, two multiscale kernel sparse coding‐based classifiers (MKSCCs) are proposed for radar target recognition using high‐resolution range profiles (HRRPs). The kernel trick can make samples more clustered in higher‐dimensional space. Moreover, the multiscale kernels at different scales have advantages of good generalisation and primary signature capturing ability for target's HRRP, which are helpful to improve the target recognition accuracy and robustness of MKSCC further. Numerous experiments are conducted on five types of ground vehicles’ HRRP data and the authors also make comparisons with the KSCC and some related recognition methods. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Analyses of the performance of adaptive subspace detector on fluctuating target detection in system‐dependent clutter background
Authors: Lei Shiwen , Zhao Zhiqin , Nie Zaiping
Published: April 2016

The adaptive subspace detector in system‐dependent clutter background (SDC‐ASD) is proved to be able to improve the detection performance for deterministic target detection in the authors’ previous study. However, the exact performance of the SDC‐ASD for fluctuating target detection is still unknown. In this study, with the aid of matrix decomposition theory, the analytical performance of the SDC‐ASD for detecting fluctuating target is considered and assessed. At the design stage, the rigorous mathematical derivation processes for the exact theoretical detection performance of the SDC‐ASD for fluctuating target detection is derived. The theoretical results, which have explicitly expressions for both the false alarm probability and the detection probability, not only provide an effective mathematical method to analyse the fluctuating target detection performance, but also can further simplify the deterministic target detection assessments. At the analysis stage, Monte Carlo simulations are resorted to validate the analytical results. Numerical experiments are conducted to assess the effectiveness of the SDC‐ASD for fluctuating target detection. Results show that the SDC‐ASD, by dealing separately with the clutter and the noise, performs the best in comparison with its published counterparts, i.e. the generalised likelihood ratio detectors, the adaptive matched filters, the adaptive subspace detectors and the low‐rank detectors based on sample covariance matrix.
CLEAN‐based coherent integration method for high‐speed multi‐targets detection
Authors: Li Xiaolong , Kong Lingjiang , Cui Guolong , Yi Wei
Published: April 2016

Coherent integration for high‐speed multi‐targets detection is a challenging task in radar applications. First, range migration (RM) and Doppler frequency migration (DFM) induced by target's complex motions (i.e. high speed, acceleration, etc.) would result in serious integration performance loss. Second, if the scattering intensities of different targets differ significantly, the weak one would be shadowed by the strong target and makes it difficult to achieve the coherent accumulation for weak target. Existing methods either perform poorly or are too computationally expensive for coherent integration of high‐speed manoeuvring targets. Two contributions are made towards addressing these limitations. First, a method based on keystone transform, fold factor phase term compensation and generalised dechirp process is proposed to remove the migrations (RM and DFM) and realise the coherent accumulation. Compared with the generalised Radon Fourier transform algorithm, the proposed method can avoid the blind speed sidelobe and has a much lower computational cost. Second, two CLEAN techniques based on sinc‐like point spread function (PSF) and modified PSF are presented to eliminate the strong target's effect and highlight the weak ones. By this way, the coherent integration of strong target and weak ones can be achieved iteratively. Several simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness.
Mitigating the effects of rain‐induced fading in satellite communications systems using time diversity in concert with maximal ratio combining
Authors: Uggalla Leshan , Eastment Jon , Otung Ifiok
Published: April 2016

This paper reports on a preliminary study using EutelSat Hotbird 13A beacon data at 19.7 GHz and 29.5 GHz (scaled data) to evaluate the benefit of using Time Diversity (TD) and Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) on an experimental next generation Ka‐band (26.5–40 GHz) satellite link in the UK. The authors have used the 2nd generation of video broadcasting via satellite (DVB‐S2) as the broadcasting standard to investigate the novel integration of TD and MRC. The benefit of the TD and MRC scheme was quantified in terms of percentage enhancement of the link availability. Long‐term statistics of rain and atmospheric attenuation were derived from a period of three year’s measurements made in Pontypridd, South Wales and in Chilbolton, England, at 19.7 GHz. A hypothetical Ka‐band satellite broadcast link between Pontypridd and Chilbolton has been designed to use 29.5 GHz as the uplink frequency while 19.7 GHz is used as the downlink frequency. The paper discusses the performance enhancement provided by TD and MRC during different types of fading events. The integration of TD and MRC into the DVB‐S2 standard provides the capability to continue delivering services at lower carrier‐to‐noise (C/N) levels by lowering the bit error rate (BER).
Variation of multimodality in rainfall drop size distribution with wind speeds and rain rates
Authors: Ekerete K'ufre‐Mfon E. , Hunt Francis , Jeffery Judith , Otung Ifiok
Published: April 2016

In the coming years, there will be more usage of the millimetre/sub‐millimetre frequencies due to congestion of the lower frequencies. At these frequencies, precipitation greatly affects the quality of service, by attenuating signals, hence the need for a thorough study and understanding in order to design mitigation techniques for improved signal quality. Previous studies modelled rainfall data using mostly unimodal statistical distributions, which may not fit multimodality encountered in the data. This paper looks at the prediction of the number of modes, given rain rates and wind speeds by looking at the occurrence of multimodality in rainfall data captured at Chilbolton Observatory, southern England from 2003 to 2009. From the drop size distributions, it develops a novel model based on the Gaussian mixture model. This enables the multimodal distributions observed by various researchers to be modelled. It provides expressions for calculating model parameters as a function of rain rate, R (mm/h) and wind speed, W (m/s). The model parameters include number of modes N m, standard deviation σ 1 –σ m of each mode along with corresponding means, μ 1 –μ m. The study concludes that multimodality exists, and the average number of modes tends to increase with increasing wind speeds and rain rates.
Breast thermal images classification using optimal feature selectors and classifiers
Authors: Lashkari AmirEhsan , Pak Fatemeh , Firouzmand Mohammad
Published: April 2016

In this study, a full automatic technique has been presented to assist physicians in early detection of breast cancer based on different degrees. First the region of interest is determined using full automatic operation and the quality of image is improved. Then, some features including statistical, morphological, frequency domain, histogram and grey‐level co‐occurrence matrix features are extracted from segmented right and left breasts. Subsequently, to achieve the best features and increase the accuracy of the proposed method, feature selectors such as minimum redundancy and maximum relevance, sequential forward selection, sequential backward selection, sequential floating forward selection, sequential floating backward selection and genetic algorithm have been used. Finally, to classify and TH labeling procedures, supervised learning techniques such as AdaBoost, support vector machine, nearest neighbor, Naïve Bayes and probability neural network are applied and compared with each other. The results obtained on native database showed the significant performance of the proposed algorithm in comprising to the similar studies. The experimental results gave the best mean accuracy of 88.03% for only using 0° image with combination of mRMR and AdaBoost and for combination of 3 degrees with combination of GA and AdaBoost.
Oppotunistic crowdsensing framework for Internet of things using Bluetooth low energy
Authors: Basalamah Anas
Published: April 2016

Researchers have leveraged modern day sensor rich smartphones to collect crowdsourced data and analyse it for different phenomenon of interests. Crowdsensing applications must bear with the limited energy, sensing, and computational resources available on the phone. To relief some burden from the smartphones, the authors envision a new crowdsourcing architecture where low‐cost, low‐energy sensors embedded in objects around us, i.e. walls, traffic lights, and billboards, providing a variety of sensors depending on their context, e.g. AirQuality, temperature. These devices would carry on the sensing, processing, and broadcasting of sensor data using wireless interfaces. Smartphones on the other hand, would opportunistically discover and collect data from these devices to provide a much better, richer, and energy‐efficient sensing infrastructure. They discuss the usage of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) as a new energy‐efficient sensing resource for crowdsensing. They focus on defining a unified BLE sensing framework, which provides a number of smart sensing schemes to ease the development of energy efficient and context aware crowdsensing applications. They also provide an open‐source library that allows developers to utilise this framework and acts as a layer to support opportunistic crowdsensing out of the box.