Window effect on wall penetration loss in mobile communications
In mobile communication scenarios, a window opening on a wall enhances the field strength inside the room, as compared to a whole wall. Scarce models in the literature address this topic, or objectively quantify this effect relating it to window dimensions - this is the objective of the present paper. Wall and window are treated as an antenna aperture with the appropriate field distribution, which re-radiates its near field into the room. Measurements on a scaled model of a wall with different window sizes show good agreement with simulations. Based on simulation results, a statistical model is constructed to enable fast quantification of the window effect through a "window gain" parameter.
Indoor Penetration of Outdoor Urban UMTS Coverage: An Experimental Model
The development of the new third generation cellular system, the UMTS, makes an extensive use of microcells and picocells other than macrocells: picocells are especially used to offer indoor radio coverage. Usually, indoor coverage design is modeled by disregarding the outdoor signal and by analyzing only micro and picocells placed indoor. This paper investigates the importance of the signal penetrating through windows and the measurements performed highlight how to decouple outdoor and indoor effects by modeling windows as equivalent radiating antennas. This solutions can be used as a precious support to indoor cellular design.
Axonal sensorimotor neuropathy in patients with β-thalassaemia
Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in patients with β-thalassaemia. Methods: Thirty six patients with a mean age of 29.2±8.2 years and 17 healthy controls with a mean age of 27.6±9.1 were included in this study. Measurements included the neuropathy symptoms score (NSS), the neuropathy disability score (NDS) as well as nerve conduction studies of two motor (ulnar and peroneal) and two sensory (ulnar and sural) nerves of the right limbs. Results: A mainly sensory axonal polyneuropathy was present in 19 out of 36 patients (52.7%). Eight out of these 19 patients also had abnormal NDS values. The neuropathy correlated significantly with the age of the patients and the hematocrit. However, it did not correlate with the presence of antibodies against HCV, the ferritin levels, or with a history of transfusions, desferrioxamine treatment, or splenectomy. Conclusions: This study showed a high prevalence of a predominantly sensory neuropathy in patients with β-thalassaemia. The electrophysiological data suggest that the underlying pathology is an axonopathy. Chronic hypoxia of the nerves resulting from severe anaemia may contribute to the pathogenesis of this neuropathy.