Correlation-based wireless sensor networks performance: the compressed sensing paradigm

Cluster Computing - In this paper, the performance of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) operating for environmental monitoring is investigated. The performance metrics considered are normalized...     

Bursting dynamics remarkably improve the performance of neural networks on liquid computing

Burst firings are functionally important behaviors displayed by neural circuits, which plays a primary role in reliable transmission of electrical signals for neuronal communication. However, with respect to the computational capability of neural networks, most of relevant studies are based on the spiking dynamics of individual neurons, while burst firing is seldom considered. In this paper, we carry out a comprehensive study to compare the performance of spiking and bursting dynamics on the capability of liquid computing, which is an effective approach for intelligent computation of neural networks. The results show that neural networks with bursting dynamic have much better computational performance than those with spiking dynamics, especially for complex computational tasks. Further analysis demonstrate that the fast firing pattern of bursting dynamics can obviously enhance the efficiency of synaptic integration from pre-neurons both temporally and spatially. This indicates that bursting dynamic can significantly enhance the complexity of network activity, implying its high efficiency in information processing.     

Understanding cellular networks to improve hematopoietic stem cell expansion cultures

Efforts to develop culture technologies capable of eliciting robust human blood stem cell growth have met with limited success. Considering that adult stem cell cultures are complex systems, comprising multiple cell types with dynamically changing intracellular signalling environments and cellular compositions, this is not surprising. Typically treated as single-input single-output systems, adult stem cell cultures are better described as complex, non-linear, multiple-input multiple-output systems wherein the proliferation of subpopulations of cells leads to the formation of intercellular endogenously secreted protein interaction networks. Genomic and proteomic tools need to be applied to generate high-throughput (and ideally high-content) biological measurements of stem cell culture evolution. Datasets describing cellular interaction networks need to be integrated into predictive models of in vitro stem cell development. Ultimately, such models will serve as a starting point for the rational design of blood stem cell expansion bioprocesses utilizing dynamic system perturbations to achieve the preferential expansion of target cell populations.     

Use of Capability Index to improve laboratory analytical performance

* For detection of errors where the standard deviation is wide compared to clinical requirements, consider use of the Capability Index (Cps). * Cps is defined as 'Allowable Limit of Error divided by the standard deviation of between-batch QC measurement'. * 'Capable' assays have Cps >4 compared with 'incapable' ones with Cps <4. * Capability of an analyte can be used to optimise the amount of quality control (QC) required and still maintain appropriate error detection. * For EQA material, Cps can be used for continuously monitoring individual analytes, comparing laboratory performance with peers and comparison with industry-wide performance. * The capability approach can result in reducing the number of QCs run per day, reducing costs as well as significantly improving the performance of a number of assays.     

Deconstructing feedback-signaling networks to improve anticancer therapy with mTORC1 inhibitors

Targeting mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), which regulates general protein translation, represents one of the most attractive approaches to treating cancer, since up-regulation of this pathway is a common hallmark in many tumors. Nevertheless, the use of rapamycin and its analogs in the clinic has revealed that mTORC1 pathway is embedded in a network of signaling cross-talks and feedbacks which might reduce its effectiveness in cancer. We have recently described a novel signaling feedback stemming from mTORC1 inhibition, which leads to the activation of ERK-MAPK (MAPK) pathway. The observation that MAPK is activated by rapamycin and its analogs in vitro, in mouse models, and cancer patient biopsies sets the rationale for the combined use of MAPK and mTORC1 inhibitors in cancer therapy. In this extra-view, we integrate our findings into the mTORC1 signaling network and discuss its relevance for the design of combinatorial therapies with mTORC1 inhibitors.     

The genesis of Thy-1-lymphomas in NFS mice exposed to X irradiation

The kinetics of the appearance of potentially leukemic cells (PoLCs) for radiation-induced lymphoma in NFS mice was investigated by the opposite sex (male----female) transplantation assay. The origin of the cells of the lymphomas that developed in the host was decided by sex chromosome markers. The bone marrow and the spleen cells collected from mice 30 days after fractionated irradiation (1.7 Gy X 4) gave rise, upon transfer to 4-Gy-irradiated hosts, to tumors of either donor or host origin. Most tumors of donor origin were thymine-1-negative (Thy-1-) and surface immunoglobulin negative and classified as nonthymic lymphoma, while the tumors of host origin were mainly Thy-1-positive thymic lymphoma. In contrast, neither the bone marrow nor the thymus contained any PoLCs for thymic lymphoma 30 days after split-dose irradiation. These results indicate that PoLCs for Thy-1-lymphoma were induced in the bone marrow and spleens of NFS mice by the split-dose regimen which developed exclusively T-cell lymphomas in the absence of cell grafting.     

Altering meal timing to improve cognitive performance during simulated nightshifts

ABSTRACT

Altering meal timing could improve cognition, alertness, and thus safety during the nightshift. This study investigated the differential impact of consuming a meal, snack, or not eating during the nightshift on cognitive performance (ANZCTR12615001107516). 39 healthy participants (59% male, age mean±SD: 24.5 ± 5.0y) completed a 7-day laboratory study and underwent four simulated nightshifts. Participants were randomly allocated to: Meal at Night (MN; n= 12), Snack at Night (SN; n = 13) or No Eating at Night (NE; n = 14). At 00:30 h, MN consumed a meal and SN consumed a snack (30% and 10% of 24 h energy intake respectively). NE did not eat during the nightshift. Macronutrient intake was constant across conditions. At 20:00 h, 22:30 h, 01:30 h, and 04:00 h, participants completed the 3-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT-B), 40-min driving simulator, post-drive PVT-B, subjective sleepiness scale, 2-choice Reaction Time task, and Running Memory task. Objective sleep was recorded for each of the day sleeps using Actigraphy and for the third day sleep, Polysomnography was used. Performance was compared between conditions using mixed model analyses. Significant two-way interactions were found. At 04:00 h, SN displayed increased time spent in the safe zone (p < .001; percentage of time spent within 10 km/h of the speed limit and 0.8 m of lane center), and decreases in speed variability (p < .001), lane variability (p < .001), post-drive PVT-B lapses (defined as RT > 355 ms; p < .001), and reaction time on the 2-choice reaction time task (p < .001) and running memory task (p < .001) compared to MN and NE. MN reported greater subjective sleepiness at 04:00 h (p < .001) compared to SN and NE. There was no difference in objective sleep between eating conditions. Eating a large meal during the nightshift impairs cognitive performance and sleepiness above the effects of time of night alone. For improved performance, shiftworkers should opt for a snack at night.     

Ant colony optimization for multicasting in static wireless ad-hoc networks

Nodes of wireless ad-hoc networks are generally equipped with batteries. This makes energy a scarce resource. Therefore, power consumption of network operations is critical and subject to optimization. One of the fundamental problems in ad-hoc networks is multicasting. In this work, we consider the so-called minimum energy multicast (MEM) problem in static ad-hoc networks. This problem can be stated as a combinatorial optimization problem. We develop an ant colony optimization algorithm for networks with omni-directional as well as directional antennas. The results show that our algorithm consistently outperforms existing techniques. This work was supported by grant TIN2007-66523 (FORMALISM) of the Spanish Government, and by the EU project FRONTS (FP7-ICT-2007-1) funded by the European Commission under the FET Proactive Initiative Pervasive Adaptation. In addition, Christian Blum acknowledges support from the Ramón y Cajal program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Hugo Hernández acknowledges support from the Catalan Government through an FI grant.     

Algorithms for energy efficient mobile object tracking in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks have found more and more applications in a variety of pervasive computing environments, in their functions as data acquisition in pervasive applications. However, how to get better performance to support data acquisition of pervasive applications over WSNs remains to be a nontrivial and challenging task. The network lifetime and application requirement are two fundamental, yet conflicting, design objectives in wireless sensor networks for tracking mobile objects. The application requirement is often correlated to the delay time within which the application can send its sensing data back to the users in tracking networks. In this paper we study the network lifetime maximization problem and the delay time minimization problem together. To make both problems tractable, we have the assumption that each sensor node keeps working since it turns on. And we formulate the network lifetime maximization problem as maximizing the number of sensor nodes who don’t turn on, and the delay time minimization problem as minimizing the routing path length, after achieving the required tracking tasks. Since we prove the problems are NP-complete and APX-complete, we propose three heuristic algorithms to solve them. And we present several experiments to show the advantages and disadvantages referring to the network lifetime and the delay time among these three algorithms on three models, random graphs, grids and hypercubes. Furthermore, we implement the distributed version of these algorithms.     

The thermal dependence of fast-start performance in fish

Many fish species use fast-starts to escape predators and capture prey. There is evidence for changes in fast-start behaviour with temperature, over acute, seasonal, developmental and evolutionary time scales. Maximum velocity often increases with acute temperature changes. Thermal acclimation can improve fast-start performance, although responses appear to be reduced in more eurythermal species. Changes in performance with thermal acclimation are often reflected at the molecular, biochemical and cellular levels of organisation. There appears to be little compensation in fast-start performance in Antarctic fish compared to warmer water species.     

A selective learning method to improve the generalization of multilayer feedforward neural networks

Multilayer feedforward neural networks with backpropagation algorithm have been used successfully in many applications. However, the level of generalization is heavily dependent on the quality of the training data. That is, some of the training patterns can be redundant or irrelevant. It has been shown that with careful dynamic selection of training patterns, better generalization performance may be obtained. Nevertheless, generalization is carried out independently of the novel patterns to be approximated. In this paper, we present a learning method that automatically selects the training patterns more appropriate to the new sample to be predicted. This training method follows a lazy learning strategy, in the sense that it builds approximations centered around the novel sample. The proposed method has been applied to three different domains: two artificial approximation problems and a real time series prediction problem. Results have been compared to standard backpropagation using the complete training data set and the new method shows better generalization abilities.     

Information maintenance and statistical dependence reduction in simple neural networks

This study compares the ability of excitatory, feed-forward neural networks to construct good transformations on their inputs. The quality of such a transformation is judged by the minimization of two information measures: the information loss of the transformation and the statistical dependency of the output. The networks that are compared differ from each other in the parametric properties of their neurons and in their connectivity. The particular network parameters studied are output firing threshold, synaptic connectivity, and associative modification of connection weights. The network parameters that most directly affect firing levels are threshold and connectivity. Networks incorporating neurons with dynamic threshold adjustment produce better transformations. When firing threshold is optimized, sparser synaptic connectivity produces a better transformation than denser connectivity. Associative modification of synaptic weights confers only a slight advantage in the construction of optimal transformations. Additionally, our research shows that some environments are better suited than others for recoding. Specifically, input environments high in statistical dependence, i.e. those environments most in need of recoding, are more likely to undergo successful transformations.     

A simple vector system to improve performance and utilisation of recombinant antibodies

Background  

Isolation of recombinant antibody fragments from antibody libraries is well established using technologies such as phage display. Phage display vectors are ideal for efficient display of antibody fragments on the surface of bacteriophage particles. However, they are often inefficient for expression of soluble antibody fragments, and sub-cloning of selected antibody populations into dedicated soluble antibody fragment expression vectors can enhance expression.     

Using caching and optimization techniques to improve performance of the Ensembl website

Background  

The Ensembl web site has provided access to genomic information for almost 10 years. During this time the amount of data available through Ensembl has grown dramatically. At the same time, the World Wide Web itself has become a dramatically more important component of the scientific workflow and the way that scientists share and access data and scientific information.     

An improved localization algorithm based on genetic algorithm in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor network (WSN) are widely used in many applications. A WSN is a wireless decentralized structure network comprised of nodes, which autonomously set up a network. The node localization that is to be aware of position of the node in the network is an essential part of many sensor network operations and applications. The existing localization algorithms can be classified into two categories: range-based and range-free. The range-based localization algorithm has requirements on hardware, thus is expensive to be implemented in practice. The range-free localization algorithm reduces the hardware cost. Because of the hardware limitations of WSN devices, solutions in range-free localization are being pursued as a cost-effective alternative to more expensive range-based approaches. However, these techniques usually have higher localization error compared to the range-based algorithms. DV-Hop is a typical range-free localization algorithm utilizing hop-distance estimation. In this paper, we propose an improved DV-Hop algorithm based on genetic algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm improves the localization accuracy compared with previous algorithms.     

Use of hydrogel coating to improve the performance of implanted glucose sensors

In order to protect implanted glucose sensors from biofouling, novel hydrogels (146-217% water by mass) were developed based on a copolymer of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 2,3-dihydroxypropyl methacrylate (DHPMA). The porosity and mechanical properties of the hydrogels were improved using N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone (VP) and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA). The results of SEM and DSC FT-IT analyses showed that the hydrogel (VP30) produced from a monomeric mixture of 34.5% HEMA, 34.5% DHPMA, 30% VP and 1% EDGMA (mol%) had an excellent pore structure, high water content at swelling equilibrium (W eq=166% by mass) and acceptable mechanical properties. Two kinds of VP30-coated sensors, Pt/GOx/VP30 and Pt/GOx/epoxy-polyurethane (EPU)/VP30 sensors were examined in glucose solutions during a period of 4 weeks. The Pt/GOx/VP30 sensors produced large response currents but the response linearity was poor. Therefore, further studies were focused on the Pt/GOx/EPU/VP30 sensors. With a diffusion-limiting epoxy-polyurethane membrane, the linearity was improved (2-30 mM) and the response time was within 5 min. Eight Pt/GOx/EPU/VP30 sensors were subcutaneously implanted in rats and tested once per week over 4 weeks. All of the implanted sensors kept functioning for at least 21 days and 3 out of 8 sensors still functioned at day 28. Histology revealed that the fibrous capsules surrounding hydrogel-coated sensors were thinner than those surrounding Pt/GOx/EPU sensors after 28 days of implantation.     

Ten minutes of dynamic stretching is sufficient to potentiate vertical jump performance characteristics

The current literature recommends dynamic rather than static stretching for the athletic warm-up. Dynamic stretching and various conditioning stimuli are used to induce potentiation in subsequent athletic performance. However, it is unknown as to which type of activity in conjunction with dynamic stretching within a warm-up provides the optimal potentiation of vertical jump performance. It was the objective of the study to examine the possible potentiating effect of various types of conditioning stimuli with dynamic stretching. Twenty athletes participated in 6 protocols. All the experimental protocols included 10 minutes of dynamic stretching. After the dynamic stretching, the subjects performed a (a) concentric (DS/CON): 3 sets of 3 repetition maximum deadlift exercise; (b) isometric (DS/ISOM): 3 sets of 3-second maximum voluntary contraction back squats; (c) plyometric (DS/PLYO): 3 sets of 3 tuck jumps; (d) eccentric (DS/ECC): 3 modified drop jumps; (e) dynamic stretching only (DS), and (f) control protocol (CON). Before the intervention and at recovery periods of 15 seconds, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 minutes, the participants performed 1-2 maximal countermovement jumps. The DS and DS/CON protocols generally had a 95-99% likelihood of exceeding the smallest worthwhile change for vertical jump height, peak power, velocity and force. However, the addition of the deadlift to the DS did not augment the potentiating effect. Time-to-peak potentiation was variable between individuals but was most consistent between 3 and 5 minutes. Thus, the volume and the intensity associated with 10 minutes of dynamic stretching were sufficient to provide the potentiation of vertical jump characteristics. Additional conditioning activities may promote fatigue processes, which do not permit further potentiation.     

Exploiting application buffer reuse to improve MPI small message transfer protocols over RDMA-enabled networks

To avoid the memory registration cost for small messages in MPI implementations over RDMA-enabled networks, message transfer protocols involve a copy to intermediate buffers at both sender and receiver. In this paper, we propose to eliminate the send-side copy when an application buffer is reused frequently. We show that it is more efficient to register the application buffer and use it for data transfer. The idea is examined for small message transfer protocols in MVAPICH2, including RDMA Write and Send/Receive based communications, one-sided communications and collectives. The proposed protocol adaptively falls back to the current protocol when the application does not frequently use its buffers. The performance results over InfiniBand indicate up to 14% improvement for single message latency, close to 20% improvement for one-sided operations and up to 25% improvement for collectives. In addition, the communication time in MPI applications with high buffer reuse is improved using this technique.     

Thermal dependence of locomotor performance in two cool-temperate lizards

Temperate-zone ectotherms experience varying or very low ambient temperatures and may have difficulty in attaining preferred body temperatures. Thus, adaptations to reduce the thermal dependence of physiological processes may be present. We measured the optimal temperature range for sprint speed and compared it with the selected body temperatures (T _sel) of two sympatric, cool-temperate lizards: the diurnal skink Oligosoma maccanni and the primarily nocturnal gecko Woodworthia (previously Hoplodactylus) “Otago/Southland”. We also investigated whether time-of-day influenced sprint speed. Contrary to results for other reptiles, we found that time-of-day did not influence speed in either species. For each species, the optimal temperature range for sprinting and T _sel overlapped, supporting the ‘thermal coadaptation’ hypothesis. However, the optimal range of temperatures for speed is not always attainable during activity by either species, which have limited opportunities to attain T _sel in the field. The thermal sensitivity of sprint speed in these two species does not appear to have evolved to fully match their current thermal environment. More data on cold-adapted species are needed to fully understand physiological adaptation in ectotherms.