Parasitic Interference Research Articles

Vitamin B6 generated by obligate symbionts is critical for maintaining proline homeostasis and fecundity in tsetse flies.

The viviparous tsetse fly utilizes proline as a hemolymph-borne energy source. In tsetse, biosynthesis of proline from alanine involves the enzyme alanine-glyoxylate aminotransferase (AGAT), which requires pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6) as a cofactor. This vitamin can be synthesized by tsetse's obligate symbiont, Wigglesworthia glossinidia. In this study, we examined the role of Wigglesworthia-produced vitamin B6 for maintenance of proline homeostasis, specifically during the energetically expensive lactation period of the tsetse's reproductive cycle. We found that expression of agat, as well as genes involved in vitamin B6 metabolism in both host and symbiont, increases in lactating flies. Removal of symbionts via antibiotic treatment of flies (aposymbiotic) led to hypoprolinemia, reduced levels of vitamin B6 in lactating females, and decreased fecundity. Proline homeostasis and fecundity recovered partially when aposymbiotic tsetse were fed a diet supplemented with either yeast or Wigglesworthia extracts. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of agat in wild-type flies reduced hemolymph proline levels to that of aposymbiotic females. Aposymbiotic flies treated with agat short interfering RNA (siRNA) remained hypoprolinemic even upon dietary supplementation with microbial extracts or B vitamins. Flies infected with parasitic African trypanosomes display lower hemolymph proline levels, suggesting that the reduced fecundity observed in parasitized flies could result from parasite interference with proline homeostasis. This interference could be manifested by competition between tsetse and trypanosomes for vitamins, proline, or other factors involved in their synthesis. Collectively, these results indicate that the presence of Wigglesworthia in tsetse is critical for the maintenance of proline homeostasis through vitamin B6 production.

Estimation of signal attenuation in the 60 GHZ band with an analog BiCMOS passive filter

Prediction of millimeter(mm)-wave radio signals can be beneficial in recreating and repeating atmospheric conditions in a controlled, laboratory environment. A path-loss model has been proposed that accounts for free-space losses, oxygen absorption, reflection and diffraction losses, and rain-rate attenuation at mm-wave frequencies. Two variable passive low-pass-integrated circuit filter structures for attenuation in the 57–64 GHz unlicensed frequency band have been proposed, designed, simulated, prototyped in a 130-nm SiGe bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor process, and measured. The filters are based on the Butterworth and Chebyshev low-pass filter topologies and investigate the possibility of using the structures to perform amplitude attenuation of mm-wave frequencies over a short distance. Both filters are designed and matched for direct coupling with equivalent circuit models of dipole antennas operating in this frequency band. Full integration therefore allows prediction of atmospheric losses on an analog, real-time, basis without the requirement of down-converting (sampling) to analyze high-frequency signals through a digital architecture. On-wafer probe measurements were performed to limit parasitic interference from bonding wires and enclosed packaging.

Options of Assessment of Absorption Capacity of Noise Barrier

The contribution deals with the possibilities of measuring the sound absorption coefficient of concrete panels. On the example of the modified concrete shows one of the possible methods that could be used to check for changes in the case of acoustic properties of restoration of the damaged panels. The issue of evaluation of the sound absorption coefficient is quite complex and difficult in the interpretation of the results, primarily due to the impact of the size of the tested element and parasitic interference in the surrounding environment.

Toxoplasma gondii inhibits apoptosis via a novel STAT3-miR-17–92-Bim pathway in macrophages

In order to accomplish their life cycles, intracellular pathogens, including the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii, subvert the innate apoptotic response of infected host cells. However, the precise mechanisms of parasite interference with the apoptotic pathway remain unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Using T. gondii strain TgCtwh3, which was isolated from felids and possesses the predominant genotype China 1 (ToxoDB#9) in China, we analyzed the miRNA expression profile of human macrophages challenged with TgCtwh3. The results showed that miR-17–92 miRNA expression was significantly increased and Bim was decreased in TgCtwh3-infected cells. Database analysis of miR-17–92 miRNAs revealed the potential binding sites in the 3′UTR of Bim, one of the crucial effectors of pro-apoptosis. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the promoter of the miR-17–92 gene cluster which encodes miRNAs was transactivated through the promoter binding of the STAT3 following TgCtwh3 infection. Taken together, we describe a novel STAT3-miR-17–92-Bim pathway, thus providing a mechanistic explanation for inhibition of apoptosis of host cells following Toxoplasma infection.

Voltage Controlled Intertwined Spiral Arrays for Reconfigurable Metasurfaces

Reconfigurable bistate metasurfaces composed of interwoven spiral arrays with embeddedpindiodes are proposed for single and dual polarisation operation. The switching capability is enabled bypindiodes that change the array response between transmission and reflection modes at the specified frequencies. The spiral conductors forming the metasurface also supply the dc bias for controllingpindiodes, thus avoiding the need of additional bias circuitry that can cause parasitic interference and affect the metasurface response. The simulation results show that proposed active metasurfaces exhibit good isolation between transmission and reflection states, while retaining excellent angular and polarisation stability with the large fractional bandwidth (FBW) inherent to the original passive arrays.

Off-axis setup taking full advantage of incoherent illumination in coherence-controlled holographic microscope

Coherence-controlled holographic microscope (CCHM) combines off-axis holography and an achromatic grating interferometer allowing for the use of light sources of arbitrary degree of temporal and spatial coherence. This results in coherence gating and strong suppression of coherent noise and parasitic interferences enabling CCHM to reach high phase measurement accuracy and imaging quality. The achievable lateral resolution reaches performance of conventional widefield microscopes, which allows resolving up to twice smaller details when compared to typical off-axis setups. Imaging characteristics can be controlled arbitrarily by coherence between two extremes: fully coherent holography and confocal-like incoherent holography. The basic setup parameters are derived and described in detail and experimental validations of imaging characteristics are demonstrated.

Parasitic interference in nulling interferometry

Nulling interferometry aims to detect faint objects close to bright stars. Its principle is to produce a destructive interference along the line-of-sight so that the stellar flux is rejected, while the flux of the off-axis source can be transmitted. In practice, various instrumental perturbations can degrade the nulling performance. Any imperfection in phase, amplitude, or polarization produces a spurious flux that leaks to the interferometer output and corrupts the transmitted off-axis flux. One of these instrumental pertubations is the crosstalk phenomenon, which occurs because of multiple parasitic reflections inside transmitting optics, and/or diffraction effects related to beam propagation along finite size optics. It can include a crosstalk of a beam with itself, and a mutual crosstalk between different beams. This can create a parasitic interference pattern, which degrades the intrinsic transmission map - or intensity response - of the interferometer. In this context, we describe how this instrumental effect impairs the performance of a Bracewell interferometer. A simple formalism is developed to derive the corresponding modified intensity response of the interferometer, as a function of the two parameters of interest: the crosstalk level (or contamination rate) and the phase shift between the primary and secondary - parasitic - beams. We then apply our mathematical approach to a few scientific cases, both analytically and using the GENIEsim simulation software, adapted to handle coherent crosstalk. Our results show that a coherent crosstalk level of about 1% implies a 20% drop of the SNR at most. Careful attention should thus be paid to reduce the crosstalk level inside an interferometric instrument and ensure an instrumental stability that provides the necessary sensitivity through calibration procedures.

Balanced homodyne detection of optical quantum states at audio-band frequencies and below

The advent of stable, highly squeezed states of light has generated great interest in the gravitational wave community as a means for improving the quantum-noise-limited performance of advanced interferometric detectors. To confidently measure these squeezed states, it is first necessary to measure the shot-noise across the frequency band of interest. Technical noise, such as non-stationary events, beam pointing, and parasitic interference, can corrupt shot-noise measurements at low Fourier frequencies, below tens of kilo-hertz. In this paper we present a qualitative investigation into all of the relevant noise sources and the methods by which they can be identified and mitigated in order to achieve quantum noise limited balanced homodyne detection. Using these techniques, flat shot-noise down to Fourier frequencies below 0.5 Hz is produced. This enables the direct observation of large magnitudes of squeezing across the entire audio-band, of particular interest for ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. 11.6 dB of shot-noise suppression is directly observed, with more than 10 dB down to 10 Hz.

Restraining parasitic interference fringe phenomenon in detection imaging through the medium with inclined angle

Some periodic interference fringes due to medium with inclined angle are found in the echo image when the medium plate is inclined in the penetrating experiment. These interference fringes have serious influence on the imaging result of the interesting target. The study indicates that the interference fringes are caused by the reflected waves, which mainly come from the surface and below layer of the medium plate. To analyze the interference fringe phenomenon, a point source model is constructed in the paper, and the expression of the spacing between the adjacent interference fringes is derived. When the factor about antenna is taken into account, the pyramid horn near-field model is constructed. Based on it, the accurate electromagnetic simulations are performed. The results of the commercial software CST and MATLAB calculation both confirm the analysis about the interference fringes and the relation with the inclined angle of the medium plate. From the expression of the thin medium, the spacing between the adjacent interference fringes is related to incline degree of the medium. Controlling the influence factors of the spacing between fringes can restrain the interference fringe phenomenon in order to improve the target resolving power and imaging quality.

Reduction of parasitic interferences in digital holographic microscopy by numerically decreased coherence length

Due to the large coherence length of laser light, optical path length (OPL) resolution in laser based digital holographic microscopy suffers from parasitic interferences caused by multiple reflections within the experimental setup. Use of partially coherent light reduces this drawback but requires precise and stable matching of object and reference arm’s OPLs and limits the spatial frequency of the interference pattern in off-axis holography. Here, we investigate if the noise properties of spectrally broadened light sources can be generated numerically. Therefore, holograms are coherently captured at different laser wavelengths and the corresponding reconstructed wave fields are numerically superimposed utilizing variable weightings. Gaussian and rectangular spectral shapes of the so synthesized field are analyzed with respect to the resulting noise level, which is quantified in OPL distributions of a reflective test target. Utilizing a Gaussian weighting, the noise level is found to be similar to the one obtained with the partially coherent light of a superluminescent diode. With a rectangular shaped synthesized spectrum, noise is reduced more efficient than with a Gaussian one. The applicability of the method in label-free cell analysis is demonstrated by quantitative phase contrast images obtained from living cancer cells.

Inverse problem approaches for stationary Fourier transform spectrometers

A design of a miniaturized stationary Fourier transform IR spectrometer has been developed that produces a two-dimensional interferogram. The latter is disturbed by effects like parasitic interferences or disparities in the cutoff wavelength of the pixels. Thus, a simple Fourier transform cannot be used to estimate the spectrum of the scene. However, as these defects are deterministic, they can be measured and taken into account by inversion methods. A regularization term can also be added. The first experimental results prove the efficiency of this processing methodology.

Multifeed EBG Dual-Band Antenna for Spatial Mission

We present the design of a multibeam reflector antenna fed by a multifeed dual-band electromagnetic band gap (EBG) antenna to achieve a high-gain multispot coverage for space applications. First, we design a dual-band EBG antenna in monofeed configuration. This antenna is composed of double-layer frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) arranged in the longitudinal direction and a square horn as a feed. Then, the same antenna in multifeed configuration is studied, and the results are compared to those obtained in monofeed configuration in order to emphasize the problem of coupling, generally encountered in multifeed configuration. Consequently, filters are used in order to reduce the parasitic interferences and obtain good radiation characteristics. As shown in this paper, the same EBG phase center is obtained in both frequency bands. Finally, we have studied the whole system composed of the offset reflector and the multifeed EBG dual-band antenna. An edge of coverage (EOC) gain higher than 42 dBi and sidelobes levels lower than −18 dBi are obtained over all spots.

PARASITIC INTERFERENCE IN LONG BASELINE OPTICAL INTERFEROMETRY: REQUIREMENTS FOR HOT JUPITER-LIKE PLANET DETECTION

The observable quantities in optical interferometry, which are the modulus and the phase of the complex visibility, may be corrupted by parasitic fringes superimposed on the genuine fringe pattern. These fringes are due to an interference phenomenon occurring from straylight effects inside an interferometric instrument. We developed an analytical approach to better understand this phenomenon when straylight causes crosstalk between beams. We deduced that the parasitic interference significantly affects the interferometric phase and thus the associated observables including the differential phase and the closure phase. The amount of parasitic flux coupled to the piston between beams appears to be very influential in this degradation. For instance, considering a point-like source and a piston ranging from $\lambda/500$ to $\lambda/5$ in L band ($\lambda=3.5\:\mu$m), a parasitic flux of about 1\% of the total flux produces a parasitic phase reaching at most one third of the intrinsic phase. The piston, which can have different origins (instrumental stability, atmospheric perturbations, ...), thus amplifies the effect of parasitic interference. According to specifications of piston correction in space or at ground level (respectively $\lambda/500\approx 2$nm and $\lambda/30\approx 100$nm), the detection of hot Jupiter-like planets, one of the most challenging aims for current ground-based interferometers, limits parasitic radiation to about 5\% of the incident intensity. This was evaluated by considering different types of hot Jupiter synthetic spectra. Otherwise, if no fringe tracking is used, the detection of a typical hot Jupiter-like system with a solar-like star would admit a maximum level of parasitic intensity of 0.01\% for piston errors equal to $\lambda$/15. If the fringe tracking specifications are not precisely observed, it thus appears that the allowed level of parasitic intensity dramatically decreases and may prevent the detection. In parallel, the calibration of the parasitic phase by a reference star, at this accuracy level, seems very difficult. Moreover, since parasitic phase is an object-dependent quantity, the use of a hypothetical phase abacus, directly giving the parasitic phase from a given parasitic flux level, is also impossible. Some instrumental solutions, implemented at the instrument design stage for limiting or preventing this parasitic interference, appears to be crucial and are presented in this paper.

Toxoplasma gondiiinfection confers resistance against BimS-induced apoptosis by preventing the activation and mitochondrial targeting of pro-apoptotic Bax

In order to accomplish their life style, intracellular pathogens, including the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii, subvert the innate apoptotic response of infected host cells. However, the precise mechanisms of parasite interference with the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway remain unknown. Here, we used the conditional expression of the BH3-only protein Bim(S) to pinpoint the interaction of T. gondii with the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. Infection of epithelial cells with T. gondii dose-dependently abrogated Bim(S)-triggered release of cytochrome c from host-cell mitochondria into the cytosol, induction of activity of caspases 3, 7 and 9, and chromatin condensation. Furthermore, inhibition of apoptosis in parasite-infected lymphocytes counteracted death of Toxoplasma-infected host cells. Although total cellular levels and mitochondrial targeting of Bim(S) was not altered by the infection, the activation of pro-apoptotic effector proteins Bax and Bak was strongly impaired. Inhibition of Bax and Bak activation by T. gondii was seen with regard to their conformational changes, the cytosol-to-mitochondria targeting and the oligomerization of Bax but not their cellular protein levels. Blockade of Bax and Bak activation was not mediated by the upregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2-like proteins following infection. Further, the BH3-mimetic ABT-737 failed to overcome the Toxoplasma-imposed inhibition of Bim(S)-triggered apoptosis. These results indicate that T. gondii targets activation of pro-apoptotic Bax and Bak to inhibit the apoptogenic function of mitochondria and to increase host-cell viability.

A metrological large range atomic force microscope with improved performance

A metrological large range atomic force microscope (Met. LR-AFM) has been set up and improved over the past years at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB). Being designed as a scanning sample type instrument, the sample is moved in three dimensions by a mechanical ball bearing stage in combination with a compact z-piezostage. Its topography is detected by a position-stationary AFM head. The sample displacement is measured by three embedded miniature homodyne interferometers in the x, y, and z directions. The AFM head is aligned in such a way that its cantilever tip is positioned on the sample surface at the intersection point of the three interferometer measurement beams for satisfying the Abbe measurement principle. In this paper, further improvements of the Met. LR-AFM are reported. A new AFM head using the beam deflection principle has been developed to reduce the influence of parasitic optical interference phenomena. Furthermore, an off-line Heydemann correction method has been applied to reduce the inherent interferometer nonlinearities to less than 0.3 nm (p-v). Versatile scanning functions, for example, radial scanning or local AFM measurement functions, have been implemented to optimize the measurement process. The measurement software is also improved and allows comfortable operations of the instrument via graphical user interface or script-based command sets. The improved Met. LR-AFM is capable of measuring, for instance, the step height, lateral pitch, line width, nanoroughness, and other geometrical parameters of nanostructures. Calibration results of a one-dimensional grating and a set of film thickness standards are demonstrated, showing the excellent metrological performance of the instrument.

Parasites lead to evolution of robustness against gene loss in host signaling networks

Many biological networks can maintain their function against single gene loss. However, the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for such robustness remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that antagonistic host–parasite interactions can act as a selective pressure driving the emergence of robustness against gene loss. Using a model of host signaling networks and simulating their coevolution with parasites that interfere with network function, we find that networks evolve both redundancy and specific architectures that allow them to maintain their response despite removal of proteins. We show that when the parasite pressure is removed, subsequent evolution can lead to loss of redundancy while architecture-based robustness is retained. Contrary to intuition, increased parasite virulence hampers evolution of robustness by limiting the generation of population level diversity in the host. However, when robustness emerges under high virulence, it tends to be stronger. These findings predict an increased presence of robustness mechanisms in biological networks operating under parasite interference. Conversely, the presence of such mechanisms could indicate current or past parasite interference.

A MATHEMATICAL ALGORITHM FOR ECG SIGNAL DENOISING USING WINDOW ANALYSIS

The presence of parasite interference signals could cause serious problems in the registration of ECG signals and many works have been done to suppress electromyogram (EMG) artifacts noises and disturbances from electrocardiogram (ECG). Recently, new developed techniques based on global and local transforms have become popular such as wavelet shrinkage approaches (1995) and time-frequency dependent threshold (1998). Moreover, other techniques such as artificial neural networks (2003), energy thresholding and Gaussian kernels (2006) are used to improve previous works. This review summarizes windowed techniques of the concerned issue. We conducted a mathematical method based on two sets of information, which are dominant scale of QRS complexes and their domain. The task is proposed by using a varying-length window that is moving over the whole signals. Both the high frequency (noise) and low frequency (base-line wandering) removal tasks are evaluated for manually corrupted ECG signals and are validated for actual recorded ECG signals. Although, the simplicity of the method, fast implementation, and preservation of characteristics of ECG waves represent it as a suitable algorithm, there may be some difficulties due to pre-stage detection of QRS complexes and specification of algorithm's parameters for varying morphology cases.

Direct evidence of “spring softening” nonlinearity in micromachined mechanical resonator using optical beam deflection technique

In this article the dynamic behavior of clamped-clamped micromachined mechanical resonators working at a frequency of 150kHz was characterized by electrostatic excitation and detection via both capacitive coupling and optical methods. The experimental results by optical measurement show that this system behaved very much like a simple harmonic oscillator at low actuation levels while significant nonlinearity was observed at higher actuation levels. The nonlinearity identified as “spring softening” type occurred when the product of the dc bias voltage and the ac driving voltage exceeded 0.04V2. Dependence of resonance frequency on dc bias voltage was investigated and the experimental results are in agreement with theoretical predictions. This work also demonstrated that optical detection is much less susceptible to parasitic interference than motion detection via capacitive coupling. Therefore, optical techniques will yield better characterization of the mechanical properties of the resonators.

A polymer-dispersed liquid crystal-based dynamic gain equalizer

This paper presents results obtained with a spatial light modulator (SLM) using a polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal (LC) material to provide dynamic gain equalization (DGE) for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks. We show the benefit of using a nonchannelized approach to adjust some physical parameters such as the ripple and the maximum obtainable attenuation slope for the spectra to be equalized. Particular attention is paid here to polarization dependence that can result from parasitic anisotropic multiple path interferences as well as induced anisotropy due to a planar transverse field when using a free-space SLM structure. In this frame, we demonstrate an original approach using a depolarizing prism that is only appropriate to such choice of material and that mitigates these effects. Finally, material engineering to widen the operating temperature range is also shortly presented in this paper.

Modelling of Fibre-Optic Gyroscopes with Low-Coherence Light Sources

Although much research has been done on fibre-optic gyroscopes (FOG), these sensors often show bias errors, that is, the offset rotation rate varies with temperature and other environmental parameters. A low-coherence light source is used to avoid undesirable interferences between error signals. Nevertheless, in the standard FOG design it is possible that unintentionally optical paths match, which may cause bias errors. The parasitic interferences may originate from reflections and polarization cross-coupling, whether intended or not. The authors present a new simulation tool for modelling interferometric fibre optic sensors with inclusion of polarization and coherence effects. It allows, for the first time, modelling of the FOG signal quantitatively considering temperature dependence, light source parameters, and all perturbations and interferences between them with the corresponding degree of coherence. The authors analyze the gyroscope design, which leads to a localization of a bias error source that has not yet been described. This problem may occur in every FOG with an integrated optics circuit (IOC) and a Lyot depolarizer. Reflection paths from the IOC match phase differences gained in the depolarizer and lead to temperaturedependent bias errors. Guidelines for an optimum design avoiding the perturbing interferences are given.