Search

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system is famous for its robustness against frequency selective fading channel and the FFT processor is the critical block in all OFDM systems. In this article, an efficient FFT processor architecture suitable for OFDM systems is proposed. In order to meet the requirements of high-speed data transmission and low-area consumption in OFDM systems, two novel butterfly algorithms-- "parallel butterfly algorithm" and "dual butterfly algorithm" are developed in the design of butterfly unit, which is the kernel in FFT processor. The FFT processor with these butterfly algorithms has high throughput and requires relatively small areas. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed FFT architecture can meet the requirement of Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a) standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiologic studies showed that low birth weight is associated with high cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. This study aimed to elucidate the intrauterine programming mechanisms of adult hypercholesterolemia. The results showed that prenatal nicotine exposure (PNE) caused intrauterine growth retardation and hypercholesterolemia in male adult offspring rats. Hepatic cholesterol synthesis and output were deceased in utero but increased in adults; hepatic reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) persistently deceased before and after birth. Meanwhile, PNE elevated serum corticosterone level and decreased hepatic IGF1 pathway activity in male fetuses, whereas converse changes were observed in male adults. The chronic stress model and cortisol-treated HepG2 cells verified that excessive glucocorticoid (GC)-induced GC-IGF1 axis programming enhanced hepatic cholesterol synthesis and output. In addition, PNE decreased the expression of specific protein 1 and P300 enrichment and H3K27 acetylation at the promoter region of genes responsible for RCT both in fetal and adult, male livers and reduced expression of those genes, similar alterations were also confirmed in cortisol-treated HepG2 cells, suggesting that excessive GC-related programming induced continuous RCT reduction by epigenetic modification. Taken together, the "2-programming" approach discussed above may ultimately contribute to the development of hypercholesterolemia in male adult offspring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of queue control and user scheduling in multi-antenna broadcast (downlink) systems under zero forcing beamforming transmit strategy. In the system, we assume that the data packet arrives randomly to the buffered transmitter. By taking the broadcast channel as a controlled queueing system, we deduce the property of queue control function that maximizes the weighted system throughput while guarantees the delay fairness among users. We also present a low-complexity user selection algorithm with the consideration of queue state and channel state together. Simulation results show that the joint queue control and user selection policy can achieve considerable fairness and stability among users. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological evidence indicates that osteoarthritis (OA) and prenatal ethanol exposure (PEE) are both associated with low birth weight but possible causal interrelationships have not been investigated. To investigate the effects of PEE on the susceptibility to OA in adult rats that experienced intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), and to explore potential intrauterine mechanisms, we established the rat model of IUGR by PEE and dexamethasone, and the female fetus and 24-week-old adult offspring subjected to strenuous running for 6 weeks were sacrificed. Knee joints were collected from fetuses and adult offspring for histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and qPCR assays. Histological analyses and the Mankin score revealed increased cartilage destruction and accelerated OA progression in adult offspring from the PEE group compared to the control group. Immunohistochemistry showed reduced expression of insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling pathway components. Furthermore, fetuses in the PEE group experienced IUGR but exhibited a higher postnatal growth rate. The expression of many IGF-1 signaling components was downregulated, which coincided with reduced amounts of type II collagen in the epiphyseal cartilage of fetuses in the PEE group. These results suggest that PEE enhances the susceptibility to OA in female adult rat offspring by down-regulating IGF-1 signaling and retarding articular cartilage development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]