Abstract

The viral protein U (Vpu) encoded by HIV-1 has been shown to assist in the detachment of virion particles from infected cells. Vpu forms cation-specific ion channels in host cells, and has been proposed as a potential drug target. An understanding of the mechanism of ion transport through Vpu is desirable, but remains limited because of the unavailability of an experimental structure of the channel. Using a structure of the pentameric form of Vpu – modeled and validated based on available experimental data – umbrella sampling molecular dynamics simulations (cumulative simulation time of more than 0.4 µs) were employed to elucidate the energetics and the molecular mechanism of ion transport in Vpu. Free energy profiles corresponding to the permeation of Na+ and K+ were found to be similar to each other indicating lack of ion selection, consistent with previous experimental studies. The Ser23 residue is shown to enhance ion transport via two mechanisms: creating a weak binding site, and increasing the effective hydrophilic length of the channel, both of which have previously been hypothesized in experiments. A two-dimensional free energy landscape has been computed to model multiple ion permeation, based on which a mechanism for ion conduction is proposed. It is shown that only one ion can pass through the channel at a time. This, along with a stretch of hydrophobic residues in the transmembrane domain of Vpu, explains the slow kinetics of ion conduction. The results are consistent with previous conductance studies that showed Vpu to be a weakly conducting ion channel.

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a new histogram equalization based contrast enhancement method called High Speed Quantile Based Histogram Equalization (HSQHE) suitable for high contrast digital images. The proposed method is an effective tool to deal with the “mean-shift” problem, which is a usual problem with the histogram equalization based contrast enhancement methods. The main idea of HSQHE is to divide input image histogram into two or more sub-histograms, where segmentation is based on quantile values. Since the histogram segmentation is based on the quantile values, the entire spectrum of gray level will always play an important role in enhancement process. Also the proposed method does not require the recursive segmentation of the histogram as in many other methods, and hence proposed method requires less time for segmentation. The experimental results show that the performance of proposed HSQHE method is better as compared to other existing methods available in literature. Also this method preserves image brightness more accurately than the prevailing state of art and takes less time as compared to the other methods.

Abstract

This paper presents a novel visual servoing controller for a satellite mounted dual-arm space robot. The controller is designed to complete the task of servoing the robot's endeffectors to the desired pose, while regulating orientation of the base-satellite. Task redundancy approach is utilized to coordinate the servoing process and attitude of the base satellite. The visual task is defined as a primary task, while regulating attitude of the base satellite to zero is defined as a secondary task. The secondary task is formulated as an optimization problem in such a way that it does not affect the primary task, and simultaneously minimizes its cost function. A set of numerical experiments are carried out on a dual-arm space robot showing efficacy of the proposed control methodology.

Abstract

In this paper, we present a posture control scheme for step climbing by an in-house developed three-segmented tracked robot, miniUGV. The posture control scheme results in minimum torque at the actuated joints of the segments. Non-linear optimization is carried out offline for progressively decreasing distance of the robot from the step with torque minimization as objective function and force balance, motor torque limits, slippage avoidance and interference avoidance constraints. The resulting angles of the joints are fitted to a third degree polynomial as a function of the robot distance from the step and the step height. It is shown that a single set of polynomial functions is sufficient for climbing steps of all permissible heights and angles of attack of the front segment. The methodology has been verified through simulation followed by implementation on the real robot. As a consequence of this optimization we find that the average current reduced by more than thirty percent, reducing power consumption and confirming the efficacy of the optimization framework

Abstract

In the field of active perception, object search is a widely studied problem. To search for an object in large rooms, it would be expensive to explore and check each object's similarity with the object of interest. The expense could uncontrollably bloat as the number of objects to be searched increases. If the objects are of the order of a 2-5cm, they appear very small, making it difficult for the present algorithms to recognize them. A general human strategy in such cases is to sparsely identify, from far away (4-6m), if the object of interest is present in the scene. Subsequently, each of the possible objects is analysed from closer proximity to recognize, for further manipulation. In this work, we present a similar framework. We reduce search-space, by identifying existential probability of a small object from a distance followed by a closer 3-D analysis of its point cloud to accurately recognize it. This is achieved by 2-D modelling of the objects using Gaussian Mixture Models followed by recognizing objects using efficient RGB-Depth based algorithm.

Abstract

Channel bonding is a mechanism deployed to synchronize serial communication channels of higher data rate and bandwidth applications. Application that demands higher bandwidth, for example 400G Ethernet, it is not possible to achieve such massive rate using single high speed serial IO channel and aggregating multiple communication-links as a single communication channel makes such ultra-high speed realizable. One challenge that is faced in aggregating communication links is elimination of serial data skew introduced by non-identical trace length of the serial links. Various techniques exist to de-skew lanes in the receive side of the high speed serial transceiver. This paper presents a novel approach to channel bonding that optimizes area, power, initialization time and yields better performance. The idea discussed here is based on a delay based model and explores the possibility of performing channel bonding in a centralized way rather than a distributed way.

Abstract

This paper explains the importance of the role played by photon lifetime in the generation of terminal voltage across Semiconductor Ring Laser Gyroscope (SRLG). This terminal voltage can be used for direct measurement of rotation rate.

Abstract

Saturation area E and porisity paramenter using new data set recorded by the Gujarath sesmic network of India.

Abstract

day by day increasing cost of vehicle transport service for petrolium product, made pipeline as more affordable mean

Abstract

Ports are lifeline systems that function as storage and maintaning facility for the transport of cargos. The port structures are frequently exposed to failure under