Reduced EGFR signaling enhances cartilage destruction in a mouse osteoarthritis model

Osteoarthritis （OA） is a degenerative joint disease and a major cause of pain and disability in older adults. We have previously identified epidermal growth factor receptor （EGFR） signaling as an important regulator of cartilage matrix degradation during epiphyseal cartilage development. To study its function in OA progression, we performed surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus （DMM） to induce OA in two mouse models with reduced EGFR activity, one with genetic modification （, was/＋ mice） and the other one with pharmacological inhibition （gefitinib treatment）. Histological analyses and scoring at 3 months post-surgery revealed increased cartilage destruction and accelerated OA progression in both mouse models. TUNEL staining demonstrated that EGFR signaling protects chondrocytes from OA-induced apoptosis, which was further confirmed in primary chondrocyte culture. Immunohistochemistry showed increased aggrecan degradation in these mouse models, which coincides with elevated amounts of ADAMTS5 and matrix metalloproteinase 13 （MMP13）, the principle proteinases responsible for aggrecan degradation, in the articular cartilage after DMM surgery. Furthermore, hypoxia-inducible factor 2α （HIF2α）, a critical catabolic transcription factor stimulating MMP13 expression during OA, was also upregulated in mice with reduced EGFR signaling. Taken together, our findings demonstrate a primarily protective role of EGFR during OA progression by regulating chondrocyte survival and cartilage degradation.

Transfer function modeling and analysis of the open-loop Buck converter using the fractional calculus

Based on the fact that the real inductor and the real capacitor are fractional order in nature and the fractional calculus,the transfer function modeling and analysis of the open-loop Buck converter in a continuous conduction mode（CCM） operation are carried out in this paper.The fractional order small signal model and the corresponding equivalent circuit of the open-loop Buck converter in a CCM operation are presented.The transfer functions from the input voltage to the output voltage,from the input voltage to the inductor current,from the duty cycle to the output voltage,from the duty cycle to the inductor current,and the output impedance of the open-loop Buck converter in CCM operation are derived,and their bode diagrams and step responses are calculated,respectively.It is found that all the derived fractional order transfer functions of the system are influenced by the fractional orders of the inductor and the capacitor.Finally,the realization of the fractional order inductor and the fractional order capacitor is designed,and the corresponding PSIM circuit simulation results of the open-loop Buck converter in CCM operation are given to confirm the correctness of the derivations and the theoretical analysis.

A search-free near-field source localization method with exact signal model

Most of the near-field source localization methods are developed with the approximated signal model,because the phases of the received near-field signal are highly non-linear.Nevertheless,the approximated signal model based methods suffer from model mismatch and performance degradation while the exact signal model based estimation methods usually involve parameter searching or multiple decomposition procedures.In this paper,a search-free near-field source localization method is proposed with the exact signal model.Firstly,the approximative estimates of the direction of arrival(DOA)and range are obtained by using the approximated signal model based method through parameter separation and polynomial rooting operations.Then,the approximative estimates are corrected with the exact signal model according to the exact expressions of phase difference in near-field observations.The proposed method avoids spectral searching and parameter pairing and has enhanced estimation performance.Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Modeling random telegraph signal noise in CMOS image sensor under low light based on binomial distribution

The random telegraph signal noise in the pixel source follower MOSFET is the principle component of the noise in the CMOS image sensor under low light. In this paper, the physical and statistical model of the random telegraph signal noise in the pixel source follower based on the binomial distribution is set up. The number of electrons captured or released by the oxide traps in the unit time is described as the random variables which obey the binomial distribution. As a result,the output states and the corresponding probabilities of the first and the second samples of the correlated double sampling circuit are acquired. The standard deviation of the output states after the correlated double sampling circuit can be obtained accordingly. In the simulation section, one hundred thousand samples of the source follower MOSFET have been simulated,and the simulation results show that the proposed model has the similar statistical characteristics with the existing models under the effect of the channel length and the density of the oxide trap. Moreover, the noise histogram of the proposed model has been evaluated at different environmental temperatures.

Advanced SPICE-Modeling of 4H-SiC MESFETs

A modified drain source current suitable for simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis （SPICE） simulations of SiC MESFETS is presented in this paper. Accurate modeling of SiC MESFET is achieved by introducing three parameters in Triquint＇s own model （TOM）. The model, which is single piece and continuously differentiable, is verified by measured direct current （DC） I-V curves and scattering parameters （up to 20 GHz）.

ANALYSIS OF THE RETURNED SIGNAL MODEL IN BISTATIC RADAR SYSTEMS

Taking the relativistic effect of high velocity moving target into account, the Doppler shift, polarization deflection, reflection coefficient and phase delay of reflected electric field are analyzed rigorously under the assumptions that incident signal to the target is a plane wave and the target is a perfect conductor plane; and their analytic expressions are obtained. The present results are of practical significance to some extent for the accurate expression of the wideband returned signal of a high velocity moving target in the bistatic radar system and for the understanding of wideband ambiguity functions.

Susceptibility-weighted imaging is suitable for evaluating signal strength in different brain regions of a rabbit model of acute hemorrhagic anemia

Acute hemorrhagic anemia can decrease blood flow and oxygen supply to brain, and affect its physiological function. While detecting changes in brain function in patients with acute hemorrhagic anemia is helpful for preventing neurological complications and evaluating therapeutic effects, clinical changes in the nervous systems of these patients have not received much attention. In part, this is because current techniques can only indirectly detect changes in brain function following onset of anemia, which leads to lags between real changes in brain function and their detection.

Operational Modal Analysis of a Ship Model in the Presence of Harmonic Excitation

A ship is operated under an extremely complex environment, and waves and winds are assumed to be the stochastic excitations. Moreover, the propeller, host and mechanical equipment can also induce the harmonic responses. In order to reduce structural vibration, it is important to obtain the modal parameters information of a ship. However, the traditional modal parameter identification methods are not suitable since the excitation information is difficult to obtain. Natural excitation technique-eigensystem realization algorithm （NExT-ERA） is an operational modal identification method which abstracts modal parameters only from the response signals, and it is based on the assumption that the input to the structure is pure white noise. Hence, it is necessary to study the influence of harmonic excitations while applying the NExT-ERA method to a ship structure. The results of this research paper indicate the practical experiences under ambient excitation, ship model experiments were successfully done in the modal parameters identification only when the harmonic frequencies were not too close to the modal frequencies.

Modeling Distortion Signals of Power Grid Based on Wiener-G Functionals

The uniform mathematical model of distortion signals in power grid has been setup with the theory of Wiener-G Functional. Firstly,the Matlab simulation models were established. Secondly,the Wiener kernel of power load was found based on the Gaussian white noise as input. And then the uniform mathematical model of the power grid signal was established according to the homogeneous of the same order of Wiener functional series. Finally,taking three typical distortion sources which are semiconductor rectifier,electric locomotive and electric arc furnace in power grid as examples,we have validated the model through the Matlab simulation and analyzed the simulation errors. The results show that the uniform mathematical model of distortion signals in power grid can approximation the actual model by growing the items of the series under the condition of the enough storage space and computing speed.

Analysis of Additional Damping Control Strategy and Parameter Optimization for Improving Small Signal Stability of VSC-HVDC System

The voltage source converter based high voltage direct current(VSC-HVDC)system is based on voltage source converter,and its control system is more complex.Also affected by the fast control of power electronics,oscillation phenomenon in wide frequency domain may occur.To address the problem of small signal stability of the VSCHVDC system,a converter control strategy is designed to improve its small signal stability,and the risk of system oscillation is reduced by attaching a damping controller and optimizing the control parameters.Based on the modeling of the VSC-HVDC system,the general architecture of the inner and outer loop control of the VSCHVDC converter is established;and the damping controllers for DC control and AC control are designed in the phase-locked loop and the inner and outer loop control parts respectively;the state-space statemodel of the control system is established to analyze its performance.And the electromagnetic transient simulation model is built on the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation platform to verify the accuracy of the small signal model.The influence of the parameters of each control part on the stability of the system is summarized.The main control parts affecting stability are optimized for the phenomenon of oscillation due to changes in operation mode occurring on the AC side due to faults and other reasons,which effectively eliminates system oscillation and improves system small signal stability,providing a certain reference for engineering design.

Design Capability Identify under Asymmetric Information

Under the condition of asymmetric information,the Spence 's Job Market Signaling Model is generally applied to inspect the design capability of a designer and his labor and efforts to be invested; however,since the"prior probability"and "posterior probability"have great uncertainties,the practical effect of this model is poor. On the basis of analyzing reverse selection questions,this paper provides a design capability screening model,which can make a designer automatically expose his hidden information so that necessary actions can be taken as required by the owner to realize risk sharing. A calculation example is finally given to demonstrate that the new model is helpful for an owner to select a designer with high professional level and to lead the designer to work hard,so it is of significant application value.

Non-inverting buck-boost DC-DC converter based on constant inductor current control

The hysteresis control combined with PWM control non-inverting buck-boost was proposed to improve the light load efficiency and power density.The constant inductor current control(CICC)was established to mitigate the dependence on the external components and device variation and make smooth transition between hysteresis control loop and pulse width modulation(PWM)control loop.The small signal model was deduced for the buck and boost operation mode.The inductor current slope control(ICSC)was proposed to implement the automatic mode transition between buck and boost mode in one switching cycle.The results show that the converter prototype has good dynamic response capability,achieving 94%efficiency and 95%peak efficiency at full 10 A load current.

Ground moving target signal model and power calculation in forward scattering micro radar

Forward scattering micro radar is used for situation awareness; its operational range is relatively short because of the battery power and local horizon, the free space propagation model is not appropriate. The ground moving targets, such as humans, cars and tanks, have only comparable size with the transmitted signal wavelength; the point target model and the linear change of observation angle are not applicable. In this paper, the signal model of ground moving target is developed based on the case of forward scattering micro radar, considering the two-ray propagation model and area target model, and nonlinear change of observation angle as well as high order phase error. Furthermore, the analytical form of the received power from moving target has been obtained. Using the simulated forward scattering radar cross section, the received power of theoretical calculation is near to that of measured data. In addition, the simulated signal model of ground moving target is perfectly matched with the experimented data. All these results show the correctness of analytical calculation completely.

Performance prediction of switched reluctance generator with time average and small signal models

This paper presents the complete mathematical model and predicts the performance of switched reluctance generator with time average and small signal models. The complete mathematical model is developed in three stages. First, a switching model is developed based on quasi-linear inductance profile. Next, based on the switching behaviour, a time average model is obtained to measure the difference between the excitation and generation time in each switching cycle. Finally, to track control voltage and current wave shapes, a small signal model is designed. The effectiveness of the complete multilevel model combining electrical machine, power converter, load and control with programming language is demonstrated through simulations. A PI controller is used for controlling the voltage of the generator. The results presented show that the controller exhibits accurate tracking control of load voltage under different operating conditions. This demonstrates that the proposed model is able to perform an accurate control of the generated output voltage even in transient situations. The simulation is performed to choose the control parameters and study the performance of switched reluctance generator prior to its actual implementation. Initial experimental results are presented using NI-Data acquisition card to control the output power according to load requirements.

A Verilog-A large signal model for InP DHBT including thermal effects

A large signal model for InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors including thermal effects has been reported,which demonstrated good agreements of simulations with measurements.On the basis of the previous model in which the double heterojunction effect,current blocking effect and high current effect in current expression are considered,the effect of bandgap narrowing with temperature has been considered in transport current while a formula for model parameters as a function of temperature has been developed.This model is implemented by Verilog-A and embedded in ADS.The proposed model is verified with DC and large signal measurements.

Large-signal modeling method for power FETs and diodes

Under a large signal drive level,a frequency domain black box model of the nonlinear scattering function is introduced into power FETs and diodes.A time domain measurement system and a calibration method based on a digital oscilloscope are designed to extract the nonlinear scattering function of semiconductor devices.The extracted models can reflect the real electrical performance of semiconductor devices and propose a new large-signal model to the design of microwave semiconductor circuits.

Notes on M-Estimation in Exponential Signal Models

An M-estimation of the parameters in an undamped exponential signal model was proposed in Wu and Tam(IEEE Trans Signal Process 49(2):373–380,2001),and the estimation was shown to be consistent under mild assumptions.In this paper,the limiting distributions of the M-estimators are investigated.It is shown that they are asymptotically normally distributed under similar conditions as assumed in Wu and Tam(IEEE Trans Signal Process 49(2):373–380,2001).In addition,a recursive algorithm for computing the M-estimators of frequencies is proposed,and the strong consistency of these estimators is established.Monte Carlo simulation studies using Huber’sρfunction are also provided.

An improved temperature-dependent large signal model of microwave GaN HEMTs

Accurate modeling of the electrothermal effects of GaN electronic devices is critical for reliability de- sign and assessment. In this paper, an improved temperature-dependent model for large signal equivalent circuit modeling of GaN HEMTs is proposed. To accurately describe the thermal effects, a modified nonlinear thermal sub-circuit which is related not only to power dissipation, but also ambient temperature is used to calculate the variations of channel temperature of the device; the temperature-dependent parasitic and intrinsic elements are also taken into account in this model. The parameters of the thermal sub-circuit are extracted by using the numerical finite element method. The results show that better performance can be achieved by using the proposed large signal model in the range of-55 to 125℃ compared with the conventional model with a linear thermal sub-circuit.

Intrinsic stability of an HBT based on a small signal equivalent circuit model

Intrinsic stability ofthe heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） was analyzed and discussed based on a small signal equivalent circuit model. The stability factor of the HBT device was derived based on a compact T-type small signal equivalent circuit model of the HBT. The effect of the mainly small signal model parameters of the HBT on the stability of the HBT was thoroughly examined. The discipline of parameter optimum to improve the intrinsic stability of the HBT was achieved. The theoretic analysis results of the stability were also used to explain the experimental results of the stability of the HBT and they were verified by the experimental results.

Planar Schottky varactor diode and corresponding large signal model for millimeterwave applications

A GaAs-based planar Schottky varactor diode （PSVD） is successfully developed to meet the demand of millimeter-wave harmonic generation. Based on the measured S-parameter, I-V and C-V characteristics, an accurate and reliable extraction method of the millimeter-wave large signal equivalent circuit model of the PSVD is proposed and used to extract the model parameters of two PSVDs with Schottky contact areas of 160 μm2 and 49 μm2, respectively. The simulated S-parameter, I-V and C-V performances of the proposed physics-based model are in good agreement with the measured one over the frequency range from 0.1 to 40 GHz for wide operation bias range from -10 to 0.6 V for these two PSVDs. The proposed equivalent large signal circuit model of this PSVD has been proven to be reliable and can potentially be used to design microwave circuits.