Low-Power Wireless for the Internet of Things: Standards and Applications: Internet of Things, IEEE 802.15.4, Bluetooth, Physical layer, Medium Access Control,coexistence, mesh networking, cyber-physical systems, WSN, M2M

International audienceThe proliferation of embedded systems, wireless technologies, and Internet protocols have enabled the Internet of Things (IoT) to bridge the gap between the virtual and physical world through enabling the monitoring and actuation of the physical world controlled by data processing systems. Wireless technologies, despite their offered convenience, flexibility, low cost, and mobility pose unique challenges such as fading, interference, energy, and security, which must be carefully addressed when using resource-constrained IoT devices. To this end, the efforts of the research community have led to the standardization of several wireless technologies for various types of application domains depending on factors such as reliability, latency, scalability, and energy efficiency. In this paper, we first overview these standard wireless technologies, and we specifically study the MAC and physical layer technologies proposed to address the requirements and challenges of wireless communications. Furthermore, we explain the use of these standards in various application domains, such as smart homes, smart healthcare, industrial automation, and smart cities, and discuss their suitability in satisfying the requirements of these applications. In addition to proposing guidelines to weigh the pros and cons of each standard for an application at hand, we also examine what new strategies can be exploited to overcome existing challenges and support emerging IoT applications

On the Principles of Differentiable Quantum Programming Languages

Variational Quantum Circuits (VQCs), or the so-called quantum neural-networks, are predicted to be one of the most important near-term quantum applications, not only because of their similar promises as classical neural-networks, but also because of their feasibility on near-term noisy intermediate-size quantum (NISQ) machines. The need for gradient information in the training procedure of VQC applications has stimulated the development of auto-differentiation techniques for quantum circuits. We propose the first formalization of this technique, not only in the context of quantum circuits but also for imperative quantum programs (e.g., with controls), inspired by the success of differentiable programming languages in classical machine learning. In particular, we overcome a few unique difficulties caused by exotic quantum features (such as quantum no-cloning) and provide a rigorous formulation of differentiation applied to bounded-loop imperative quantum programs, its code-transformation rules, as well as a sound logic to reason about their correctness. Moreover, we have implemented our code transformation in OCaml and demonstrated the resource-efficiency of our scheme both analytically and empirically. We also conduct a case study of training a VQC instance with controls, which shows the advantage of our scheme over existing auto-differentiation for quantum circuits without controls.Comment: Codes are available at https://github.com/LibertasSpZ/adcompil

Impaired CK1 Delta Activity Attenuates SV40-Induced Cellular Transformation In Vitro and Mouse Mammary Carcinogenesis In Vivo

Simian virus 40 (SV40) is a powerful tool to study cellular transformation in vitro, as well as tumor development and progression in vivo. Various cellular kinases, among them members of the CK1 family, play an important role in modulating the transforming activity of SV40, including the transforming activity of T-Ag, the major transforming protein of SV40, itself. Here we characterized the effects of mutant CK1δ variants with impaired kinase activity on SV40-induced cell transformation in vitro, and on SV40-induced mammary carcinogenesis in vivo in a transgenic/bi-transgenic mouse model. CK1δ mutants exhibited a reduced kinase activity compared to wtCK1δ in in vitro kinase assays. Molecular modeling studies suggested that mutation N172D, located within the substrate binding region, is mainly responsible for impaired mutCK1δ activity. When stably over-expressed in maximal transformed SV-52 cells, CK1δ mutants induced reversion to a minimal transformed phenotype by dominant-negative interference with endogenous wtCK1δ. To characterize the effects of CK1δ on SV40-induced mammary carcinogenesis, we generated transgenic mice expressing mutant CK1δ under the control of the whey acidic protein (WAP) gene promoter, and crossed them with SV40 transgenic WAP-T-antigen (WAP-T) mice. Both WAP-T mice as well as WAP-mutCK1δ/WAP-T bi-transgenic mice developed breast cancer. However, tumor incidence was lower and life span was significantly longer in WAP-mutCK1δ/WAP-T bi-transgenic animals. The reduced CK1δ activity did not affect early lesion formation during tumorigenesis, suggesting that impaired CK1δ activity reduces the probability for outgrowth of in situ carcinomas to invasive carcinomas. The different tumorigenic potential of SV40 in WAP-T and WAP-mutCK1δ/WAP-T tumors was also reflected by a significantly different expression of various genes known to be involved in tumor progression, specifically of those involved in wnt-signaling and DNA repair. Our data show that inactivating mutations in CK1δ impair SV40-induced cellular transformation in vitro and mouse mammary carcinogenesis in vivo

Lung emphysema and impaired macrophage elastase clearance in mucolipin 3 deficient mice

Lung emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the two most common causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Excess macrophage elastase MMP-12, which is predominantly secreted from alveolar macrophages, is known to mediate the development of lung injury and emphysema. Here, we discovered the endolysosomal cation channel mucolipin 3 (TRPML3) as a regulator of MMP-12 reuptake from broncho-alveolar fluid, driving in two independently generated Trpml3-/- mouse models enlarged lung injury, which is further exacerbated after elastase or tobacco smoke treatment. Mechanistically, using a Trpml3IRES-Cre/eR26-τGFP reporter mouse model, transcriptomics, and endolysosomal patch-clamp experiments, we show that in the lung TRPML3 is almost exclusively expressed in alveolar macrophages, where its loss leads to defects in early endosomal trafficking and endocytosis of MMP-12. Our findings suggest that TRPML3 represents a key regulator of MMP-12 clearance by alveolar macrophages and may serve as therapeutic target for emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Effectiveness and safety of opicapone in Parkinson’s disease patients with motor fluctuations: the OPTIPARK open-label study

Background The efficacy and safety of opicapone, a once-daily catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor, have been established in two large randomized, placebo-controlled, multinational pivotal trials. Still, clinical evidence from routine practice is needed to complement the data from the pivotal trials. Methods OPTIPARK (NCT02847442) was a prospective, open-label, single-arm trial conducted in Germany and the UK under clinical practice conditions. Patients with Parkinson’s disease and motor fluctuations were treated with opicapone 50 mg for 3 (Germany) or 6 (UK) months in addition to their current levodopa and other antiparkinsonian treatments. The primary endpoint was the Clinician’s Global Impression of Change (CGI-C) after 3 months. Secondary assessments included Patient Global Impressions of Change (PGI-C), the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-8), and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). Safety assessments included evaluation of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs). Results Of the 506 patients enrolled, 495 (97.8%) took at least one dose of opicapone. Of these, 393 (79.4%) patients completed 3 months of treatment. Overall, 71.3 and 76.9% of patients experienced any improvement on CGI-C and PGI-C after 3 months, respectively (full analysis set). At 6 months, for UK subgroup only (n = 95), 85.3% of patients were judged by investigators as improved since commencing treatment. UPDRS scores at 3 months showed statistically significant improvements in activities of daily living during OFF (mean ± SD change from baseline: − 3.0 ± 4.6, p < 0.0001) and motor scores during ON (− 4.6 ± 8.1, p < 0.0001). The mean ± SD improvements of − 3.4 ± 12.8 points for PDQ-8 and -6.8 ± 19.7 points for NMSS were statistically significant versus baseline (both p < 0.0001). Most of TEAEs (94.8% of events) were of mild or moderate intensity. TEAEs considered to be at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 45.1% of patients, with dyskinesia (11.5%) and dry mouth (6.5%) being the most frequently reported. Serious TEAEs considered at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 1.4% of patients. Conclusions Opicapone 50 mg was effective and generally well-tolerated in PD patients with motor fluctuations treated in clinical practice. Trial registration Registered in July 2016 at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02847442)

Island of Dialog - Creating an intercultural space of dialog with the Abrahamic faiths on the Island of Heybeliada

Abweichender Titel nach Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersDas Projekt meiner Diplomarbeit befindet sich auf der Insel Heybeliada. Dieser gehört zu den Prinzeninselgruppen unweit von Istanbul. Heybeliada hat außer einem Schiffshafen weder einen Flughafen noch einen Bahnhof. Fortbewegungsarten auf der Insel sind, ausgenommen Notfahrzeuge, zu Fuß, per Fahrrad oder Kutsche. Istanbul, das ehemalige Konstantinopel, hat zahlreiche Epochen, Kulturen und Religionsgemeinschaften erlebt. Die Stadt war bekanntlich einer der größten Schauplätze der Konflikte zwischen den Religionsgemeinschaften. Im 21. Jahrhundert sind Religionen weiterhin die größten Schlagzeilen weltweit. Wir erleben zahlreiche Dialogveranstaltungen und Diskussionen unter diversen Plattformen. Mein Konzept setzt hier an und soll eine weitere Plattform schaffen, um den Dialogprozess zwischen den abrahamitische Religionen, dem Christentum, Judentum und Islam zu fördern. Ein Museum über die abrahamitische Religionen und ein Hotel auf der Insel sollen hier Räume des gegenseitigen Respekts und Aufklärung ermöglichen.The project of my dissertation is situated on the island of Heybeliada. It belongs to the prince island groups close to Istanbul. The island besides the ship harbor has neither an airport nor a railway station. Even cars are not admitted on the island, only emergency vehicles as for example police, rescue and fire brigades are excluded. Permitted means of transport on the island are on foot, by bicycle or by carriage. Istanbul, former Constantinople, has experienced throughout the ears the rise of different cultures and religious communities. The city has also been one of the biggest scenes of conflict between the confessions. In the 21st century, religious conflict and dialogue are worldwide hot topics in the media. Dialogue events and interreligious discussions are staged under various platforms. My concept takes this renewed interest in religious dialogue as a starting point and plans to provide another platform to promote this constructive process of building understanding and respect between the Abrahamic religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam. A museum about the Abrahamic religions and a hotel on the island should encourage an atmosphere of dialogue with respect towards each other.12