Can SDN Technology Be Transported to Software-Defined WSN/IoT?

© 2016 IEEE. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are essential elements of the Internet of Things ecosystem, as such, they encounter numerous IoT challenging architectural, management and application issues. These include inflexible control, manual configuration and management of sensor nodes, difficulty in an orchestration of resources, and virtualizing sensor network resources for on-demand applications and services. Addressing these issues presents a real challenge for WSNs and IoTs. By separating the network control plane from the data forwarding plane, Software-defined networking (SDN) has emerged as network technology that addresses similar problems of current switched-networks. Despite the differences between switched network and wireless sensor network domains, the SDN technology has a real potential to revolutionize WSNs/IoTs and address their challenging issues. However, very little has been attempted to bring the SDN paradigm to WSNs. This paper identifies weaknesses of existing research efforts that aims to bring the benefits of SDN to WSNs by mapping the control plane, the OpenFlow protocol, and the functionality between the two network domains. In particular, the paper investigates the difficulties and challenges in the development of software-defined wireless sensor networking (SDWSN). Finally, the paper proposes VSensor, SDIoT controller, SFlow components with specific and relevant functionality for an architecture of an SDWSN or SDIoT infrastructure

Multi-level caching with delayed-multicast for video-on-demand

Delayed-Multicast is a novel transmission technique to support Video-on-Demand. It introduces buffers within the network to bridge the temporal delays between similar requests thus minimizing the aggregate bandwidth and server load. This paper introduces an improved online algorithm for resource allocation with Delayed-Multicast by utilizing prior knowledge of each clip's popularity. The algorithm is intended to be simple so as to allow for deployment at multiple levels in a distribution network. The result is greater backbone traffic savings and a corresponding reduction in the server load

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I: A comprehensive review of all published cases

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I (LAD-I) is a rare, serious disorder with severity determined by defective CD18 expression. LAD-I is characterized by umbilical complications, granulocytosis, and diverse infections. Severe LAD-I is frequently fatal before the age of 2 years without allogeneic transplant. We identified 323 cases published between 1975 and 2017

Stiff monolithic aerogel matrices for structural fibre composites

Resorcinol-formaldehyde based aerogel precursors were infused into structural carbon fibre weaves, then gelled and carbonised to generate a continuous monolithic matrix network. This hierarchical carbon preform was subsequently infused with polymeric resins, both multifunctional and structural, to produce dense composites. The resulting hierarchical composites have a nanoscale reinforcement in the matrix at up to an order of magnitude higher loadings than typically available by other techniques. Compression, tension, ±45° shear and short beam tests demonstrate the potential of such matrix systems to address matrix dominated failures. However, for the best structural performance it will be necessary to re-optimise the fibre-matrix interface, which is degraded by the current processing regime

Detection and monitoring of cancers with biosensors in Vietnam

Biosensors are able to provide fast, accurate and reliable detec-tions and monitoring of cancer cells, as well as to determine the effectiveness of anticancer chemotherapy agents in cancer treatments. These have attracted a great attention of research communities, especially in the capabilities of detecting the path-ogens, viruses and cancer cells in narrow scale that the conven-tional apparatus and techniques do not have. This paper pre-sents technologies and applications of biosensors for detections of cancer cells and related diseases, with the focus on the cur-rent research and technology development about biosensors in Vietnam, a typical developing country with a very high number of patients diagnosed with cancers in recent years, but having a very low cancer survival rate. The role of biosensors in early detections of diseases, cancer screening, diagnosis and treat-ment, is more and more important; especially it is estimated that by 2020, 60-70% new cases of cancers and nearly 70% of cancer deaths will be in economically disadvantaged countries. The paper is also aimed to open channels for the potential R&D collaborations with partners in Vietnam in the areas of innovative design and development of biosensors in particular and medical technology devices in general

Design of a Workflow-Based Grid Framework

This paper aims to present the design of the Grid Collaborative Framework which has been proposed in one of our previous work. Grid infrastructure for resources sharing is somewhat stable with the wide acceptance of the Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) and Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF), but Grid framework for collaboration is far from desired. Current Grid Collaborative Frameworks (GCFs) are domain specific and lack of plan-supported capability. These limitations make them less useful and narrow in scope of application. Our grid collaborative framework aims to improve these limitations. With the theoretical foundation based on the activity theory, workflow languages, and designed on top of existing OGSA infrastructure, our proposed framework aims at accelerating the development of grid collaborative systems that consider work plans as central role

S-MANAGE Protocol for Software-Defined IoT

© 2018 IEEE. The Internet of Things (IoT) has started to make a real impact with many IoT-based services in agriculture, smart farming, smart cities, personal health, and critical infrastructures. Sensor/IoT devices form one of the indispensable elements in these IoT systems and services. An effective IoT system requires the interoperability among its heterogeneous physical devices, but this presents a significant challenge regarding various communication protocols, networking management policies, as well as data processing approaches. Software-defined paradigm is considered essential for managing and provisioning IoT services on demand. An emerging solution is the application of software-defined networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in programming WSN/IoT systems. However, these technologies cannot be directly deployed due to the differences in the functionality of SDN network devices and sensor/IoT devices as well as the limitation of resources in IoT devices. We proposed the software-defined IoT(SD-IoT) model in our earlier work. This paper focuses on the S-MANAGE protocol that enables an SD-IoT controller to control and manage sensor/IoT devices via their virtual representation, called software-defined virtual sensors (SDVS). The paper presents in detail the design and the implementation of the S-MANAGE southbound protocol

Upregulation of intrarenal angiotensinogen in diabetes

Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, BR-04023040 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Foot pain and foot health in an educated population of adults: results from the Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni Foot Health Survey

Abstract Background Foot pain is common amongst the general population and impacts negatively on physical function and quality of life. Associations between personal health characteristics, lifestyle/behaviour factors and foot pain have been studied; however, the role of wider determinants of health on foot pain have received relatively little attention. Objectives of this study are i) to describe foot pain and foot health characteristics in an educated population of adults; ii) to explore associations between moderate-to-severe foot pain and a variety of factors including gender, age, medical conditions/co-morbidity/multi-morbidity, key indicators of general health, foot pathologies, and social determinants of health; and iii) to evaluate associations between moderate-to-severe foot pain and foot function, foot health and health-related quality-of-life. Methods Between February and March 2018, Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni with a working email address were invited to participate in the cross-sectional electronic survey (anonymously) by email via the Glasgow Caledonian University Alumni Office. The survey was constructed using the REDCap secure web online survey application and sought information on presence/absence of moderate-to-severe foot pain, patient characteristics (age, body mass index, socioeconomic status, occupation class, comorbidities, and foot pathologies). Prevalence data were expressed as absolute frequencies and percentages. Multivariate logistic and linear regressions were undertaken to identify associations 1) between independent variables and moderate-to-severe foot pain, and 2) between moderate-to-severe foot pain and foot function, foot health and health-related quality of life. Results Of 50,228 invitations distributed, there were 7707 unique views and 593 valid completions (median age [inter-quartile range] 42 [31–52], 67.3% female) of the survey (7.7% response rate). The sample was comprised predominantly of white Scottish/British (89.4%) working age adults (95%), the majority of whom were overweight or obese (57.9%), and in either full-time or part-time employment (82.5%) as professionals (72.5%). Over two-thirds (68.5%) of the sample were classified in the highest 6 deciles (most affluent) of social deprivation. Moderate-to-severe foot pain affected 236/593 respondents (39.8%). High body mass index, presence of bunions, back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, hip pain and lower occupation class were included in the final multivariate model and all were significantly and independently associated with moderate-to-severe foot pain (p < 0.05), except for rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.057). Moderate-to-severe foot pain was significantly and independently associated lower foot function, foot health and health-related quality of life scores following adjustment for age, gender and body mass index (p < 0.05). Conclusions Moderate-to-severe foot pain was highly prevalent in a university-educated population and was independently associated with female gender, high body mass index, bunions, back pain, hip pain and lower occupational class. Presence of moderate-to-severe foot pain was associated with worse scores for foot function, foot health and health-related quality-of-life. Education attainment does not appear to be protective against moderate-to-severe foot pain

Neuroinflammation, Mast Cells, and Glia: Dangerous Liaisons

The perspective of neuroinflammation as an epiphenomenon following neuron damage is being replaced by the awareness of glia and their importance in neural functions and disorders. Systemic inflammation generates signals that communicate with the brain and leads to changes in metabolism and behavior, with microglia assuming a pro-inflammatory phenotype. Identification of potential peripheral-to-central cellular links is thus a critical step in designing effective therapeutics. Mast cells may fulfill such a role. These resident immune cells are found close to and within peripheral nerves and in brain parenchyma/meninges, where they exercise a key role in orchestrating the inflammatory process from initiation through chronic activation. Mast cells and glia engage in crosstalk that contributes to accelerate disease progression; such interactions become exaggerated with aging and increased cell sensitivity to stress. Emerging evidence for oligodendrocytes, independent of myelin and support of axonal integrity, points to their having strong immune functions, innate immune receptor expression, and production/response to chemokines and cytokines that modulate immune responses in the central nervous system while engaging in crosstalk with microglia and astrocytes. In this review, we summarize the findings related to our understanding of the biology and cellular signaling mechanisms of neuroinflammation, with emphasis on mast cell-glia interactions