Optimizing Average-Maximum TTR Trade-off for Cognitive Radio Rendezvous

In cognitive radio (CR) networks, "TTR", a.k.a. time-to-rendezvous, is one of the most important metrics for evaluating the performance of a channel hopping (CH) rendezvous protocol, and it characterizes the rendezvous delay when two CRs perform channel hopping. There exists a trade-off of optimizing the average or maximum TTR in the CH rendezvous protocol design. On one hand, the random CH protocol leads to the best "average" TTR without ensuring a finite "maximum" TTR (two CRs may never rendezvous in the worst case), or a high rendezvous diversity (multiple rendezvous channels). On the other hand, many sequence-based CH protocols ensure a finite maximum TTR (upper bound of TTR) and a high rendezvous diversity, while they inevitably yield a larger average TTR. In this paper, we strike a balance in the average-maximum TTR trade-off for CR rendezvous by leveraging the advantages of both random and sequence-based CH protocols. Inspired by the neighbor discovery problem, we establish a design framework of creating a wake-up schedule whereby every CR follows the sequence-based (or random) CH protocol in the awake (or asleep) mode. Analytical and simulation results show that the hybrid CH protocols under this framework are able to achieve a greatly improved average TTR as well as a low upper-bound of TTR, without sacrificing the rendezvous diversity.Comment: Accepted by IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2015, http://icc2015.ieee-icc.org/

High atmospheric carbon dioxide-dependent alleviation of salt stress is linked to RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE 1 (RBOH1)-dependent H2O2 production in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Plants acclimate rapidly to stressful environmental conditions. Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels are predicted to influence tolerance to stresses such as soil salinity but the mechanisms are poorly understood. To resolve this issue, tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants were grown under ambient (380 μmol mol–1) or high (760 μmol mol–1) CO2 in the absence or presence of sodium chloride (100 mM). The higher atmospheric CO2 level induced the expression of RESPIRATORY BURST OXIDASE 1 (SlRBOH1) and enhanced H2O2 accumulation in the vascular cells of roots, stems, leaf petioles, and the leaf apoplast. Plants grown with higher CO2 levels showed improved salt tolerance, together with decreased leaf transpiration rates and lower sodium concentrations in the xylem sap, vascular tissues, and leaves. Silencing SlRBOH1 abolished high CO2 -induced salt tolerance and increased leaf transpiration rates, as well as enhancing Na+ accumulation in the plants. The higher atmospheric CO2 level increased the abundance of a subset of transcripts involved in Na+ homeostasis in the controls but not in the SlRBOH1-silenced plants. It is concluded that high atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase salt stress tolerance in an apoplastic H2O2 dependent manner, by suppressing transpiration and hence Na+ delivery from the roots to the shoots, leading to decreased leaf Na+ accumulation

The Reform of Human Resource System in the Public Sector under the New Public Management System

The work presented in this paper focuses on New Public Management (NPM) and the public human resource management system. New Public Management (NPM), which has been used in the West for a number of years, is currently being implemented in China to manage various government departments. China is aware of the benefits that NPM may bring to the management of the government. In the context of New Public Management, departments of public human resources will also need to undergo transformations in order to improve talent management and recruitment efforts. This paper identifies the problems with public sector human resource management, including but not limited to the following: the focus of Chinese public sector personnel on achieving public sector goals at the expense of personal goals; the unfairness of recruitment principles due to human relations, which is not conducive to the rational allocation of talent and leads to brain drain; and the outdated management style, problematic promotion system, and inadequate incentives in China's public administration. Increasing the effectiveness of the performance evaluation process is one way to solve these shortcomings. These deficiencies can be rectified by enhancing the performance appraisal mechanism, establishing a flexible system for workers, and aiming for maximum efficiency in order to improve the difficulties in the public sector. This paper offers some references for the improvement of talent management in public organizations

A Survey of Blockchain Applications in Different Domains

Blockchains have received much attention recently since they provide decentralized approaches to the creation and management of value. Many banks, Internet companies, car manufacturers, and even governments worldwide have incorporated or started considering blockchains to improve the security, scalability, and efficiency of their services. In this paper, we survey blockchain applications in different areas. These areas include cryptocurrency, healthcare, advertising, insurance, copyright protection, energy, and societal applications. Our work provides a timely summary for individuals and organizations interested in blockchains. We envision our study to motivate more blockchain applications.Comment: Published in Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Blockchain Technology and Application (ICBTA