An Online RFID Localization in the Manufacturing Shopfloor

{Radio Frequency Identification technology has gained popularity for cheap and easy deployment. In the realm of manufacturing shopfloor, it can be used to track the location of manufacturing objects to achieve better efficiency. The underlying challenge of localization lies in the non-stationary characteristics of manufacturing shopfloor which calls for an adaptive life-long learning strategy in order to arrive at accurate localization results. This paper presents an evolving model based on a novel evolving intelligent system, namely evolving Type-2 Quantum Fuzzy Neural Network (eT2QFNN), which features an interval type-2 quantum fuzzy set with uncertain jump positions. The quantum fuzzy set possesses a graded membership degree which enables better identification of overlaps between classes. The eT2QFNN works fully in the evolving mode where all parameters including the number of rules are automatically adjusted and generated on the fly. The parameter adjustment scenario relies on decoupled extended Kalman filter method. Our numerical study shows that eT2QFNN is able to deliver comparable accuracy compared to state-of-the-art algorithms

The Role of TLR4 in the Paclitaxel Effects on Neuronal Growth In Vitro

Paclitaxel (Pac) is an antitumor agent that is widely used for treatment of solid cancers. While being effective as a chemotherapeutic agent, Pac in high doses is neurotoxic, specifically targeting sensory innervations. In view of these toxic effects associated with conventional chemotherapy, decreasing the dose of Pac has been recently suggested as an alternative approach, which might limit neurotoxicity and immunosuppression. However, it remains unclear if low doses of Pac retain its neurotoxic properties or might exhibit unusual effects on neuronal cells. The goal of this study was to analyze the concentration-dependent effect of Pac on isolated and cultured DRG neuronal cells from wild-type and TLR4 knockout mice. Three different morphological parameters were analyzed: the number of neurons which developed neurites, the number of neurites per cell and the total length of neurites per cell. Our data demonstrate that low concentrations of Pac (0.1 nM and 0.5 nM) do not influence the neuronal growth in cultures in both wild type and TLR4 knockout mice. Higher concentrations of Pac (1-100 nM) had a significant effect on DRG neurons from wild type mice, affecting the number of neurons which developed neurites, number of neurites per cell, and the length of neurites. In DRG from TLR4 knockout mice high concentrations of Pac showed a similar effect on the number of neurons which developed neurites and the length of neurites. At the same time, the number of neurites per cell, indicating the process of growth cone initiation, was not affected by high concentrations of Pac. Thus, our data showed that Pac in high concentrations has a significant damaging effect on axonal growth and that this effect is partially mediated through TLR4 pathways. Low doses of Pac are devoid of neuronal toxicity and thus can be safely used in a chemomodulation mode. © 2013 Ustinova et al

Disk-Magnetosphere Interaction and Outflows: Conical Winds and Axial Jets

We investigate outflows from the disk-magnetosphere boundary of rotating magnetized stars in cases where the magnetic field of a star is bunched into an X-type configuration using axisymmetric and full 3D MHD simulations. Such configuration appears if viscosity in the disk is larger than diffusivity, or if the accretion rate in the disk is enhanced. Conical outflows flow from the inner edge of the disk to a narrow shell with an opening angle 30-45 degrees. Outflows carry 0.1-0.3 of the disk mass and part of the disk's angular momentum outward. Conical outflows appear around stars of different periods, however in case of stars in the "propeller" regime, an additional - much faster component appears: an axial jet, where matter is accelerated up to very high velocities at small distances from the star by magnetic pressure force above the surface of the star. Exploratory 3D simulations show that conical outflows are symmetric about rotational axis of the disk even if magnetic dipole is significantly misaligned. Conical outflows and axial jets may appear in different types of young stars including Class I young stars, classical T Tauri stars, and EXors.Comment: Invited review, conference proceedings of the meeting "Protostellar Jets in Context", 7-12 July 2008, island of Rhodes, Greece; editors: profs. Tom Ray and Kanaris Tsinganos; 10 pages, 10 figures, see animations at http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~romanova/conical.htm and http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~romanova/propeller.ht

CLE14/CLE20 peptides may interact with CLAVATA2/CORYNE receptor-like kinases to irreversibly inhibit cell division in the root meristem of Arabidopsis

Towards an understanding of the interacting nature of the CLAVATA (CLV) complex, we predicted the 3D structures of CLV3/ESR-related (CLE) peptides and the ectodomain of their potential receptor proteins/kinases, and docking models of these molecules. The results show that the ectodomain of CLV1 can form homodimers and that the 12-/13-amino-acid CLV3 peptide fits into the binding clefts of the CLV1 dimers. Our results also demonstrate that the receptor domain of CORYNE (CRN), a recently identified receptor-like kinase, binds tightly to the ectodomain of CLV2, and this likely leads to an increased possibility for docking with CLV1. Furthermore, our docking models reveal that two CRN-CLV2 ectodomain heterodimers are able to form a tetramer receptor complex. Peptides of CLV3, CLE14, CLE19, and CLE20 are also able to bind a potential CLV2-CRN heterodimer or heterotetramer complex. Using a cell-division reporter line, we found that synthetic 12-amino-acid CLE14 and CLE20 peptides inhibit, irreversibly, root growth by reducing cell division rates in the root apical meristem, resulting in a short-root phenotype. Intriguingly, we observed that exogenous application of cytokinin can partially rescue the short-root phenotype induced by over-expression of either CLE14 or CLE20 in planta. However, cytokinin treatment does not rescue the short-root phenotype caused by exogenous application of the synthetic CLE14/CLE20 peptides, suggesting a requirement for a condition provided only in living plants. These results therefore imply that the CLE14/CLE20 peptides may act through the CLV2-CRN receptor kinase, and that their availabilities and/or abundances may be affected by cytokinin activity in planta

Energy gaps, topological insulator state and zero-field quantum Hall effect in graphene by strain engineering

Among many remarkable qualities of graphene, its electronic properties attract particular interest due to a massless chiral character of charge carriers, which leads to such unusual phenomena as metallic conductivity in the limit of no carriers and the half-integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) observable even at room temperature [1-3]. Because graphene is only one atom thick, it is also amenable to external influences including mechanical deformation. The latter offers a tempting prospect of controlling graphene's properties by strain and, recently, several reports have examined graphene under uniaxial deformation [4-8]. Although the strain can induce additional Raman features [7,8], no significant changes in graphene's band structure have been either observed or expected for realistic strains of approx. 10% [9-11]. Here we show that a designed strain aligned along three main crystallographic directions induces strong gauge fields [12-14] that effectively act as a uniform magnetic field exceeding 10 T. For a finite doping, the quantizing field results in an insulating bulk and a pair of countercirculating edge states, similar to the case of a topological insulator [15-20]. We suggest realistic ways of creating this quantum state and observing the pseudo-magnetic QHE. We also show that strained superlattices can be used to open significant energy gaps in graphene's electronic spectrum

DBSolve Optimum: a software package for kinetic modeling which allows dynamic visualization of simulation results

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Systems biology research and applications require creation, validation, extensive usage of mathematical models and visualization of simulation results by end-users. Our goal is to develop novel method for visualization of simulation results and implement it in simulation software package equipped with the sophisticated mathematical and computational techniques for model development, verification and parameter fitting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present mathematical simulation workbench DBSolve Optimum which is significantly improved and extended successor of well known simulation software DBSolve5. Concept of "dynamic visualization" of simulation results has been developed and implemented in DBSolve Optimum. In framework of the concept graphical objects representing metabolite concentrations and reactions change their volume and shape in accordance to simulation results. This technique is applied to visualize both kinetic response of the model and dependence of its steady state on parameter. The use of the dynamic visualization is illustrated with kinetic model of the Krebs cycle.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DBSolve Optimum is a user friendly simulation software package that enables to simplify the construction, verification, analysis and visualization of kinetic models. Dynamic visualization tool implemented in the software allows user to animate simulation results and, thereby, present them in more comprehensible mode. DBSolve Optimum and built-in dynamic visualization module is free for both academic and commercial use. It can be downloaded directly from <url>http://www.insysbio.ru</url>.</p

Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars

Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars (AMXPs) are astrophysical laboratories without parallel in the study of extreme physics. In this chapter we review the past fifteen years of discoveries in the field. We summarize the observations of the fifteen known AMXPs, with a particular emphasis on the multi-wavelength observations that have been carried out since the discovery of the first AMXP in 1998. We review accretion torque theory, the pulse formation process, and how AMXP observations have changed our view on the interaction of plasma and magnetic fields in strong gravity. We also explain how the AMXPs have deepened our understanding of the thermonuclear burst process, in particular the phenomenon of burst oscillations. We conclude with a discussion of the open problems that remain to be addressed in the future.Comment: Review to appear in "Timing neutron stars: pulsations, oscillations and explosions", T. Belloni, M. Mendez, C.M. Zhang Eds., ASSL, Springer; [revision with literature updated, several typos removed, 1 new AMXP added

The Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone Protein GRP94 Is Required for Maintaining Hematopoietic Stem Cell Interactions with the Adult Bone Marrow Niche

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis in the adult bone marrow (BM) is regulated by both intrinsic gene expression products and interactions with extrinsic factors in the HSC niche. GRP94, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone, has been reported to be essential for the expression of specific integrins and to selectively regulate early T and B lymphopoiesis. In GRP94 deficient BM chimeras, multipotent hematopoietic progenitors persisted and even increased, however, the mechanism is not well understood. Here we employed a conditional knockout (KO) strategy to acutely eliminate GRP94 in the hematopoietic system. We observed an increase in HSCs and granulocyte-monocyte progenitors in the Grp94 KO BM, correlating with an increased number of colony forming units. Cell cycle analysis revealed that a loss of quiescence and an increase in proliferation led to an increase in Grp94 KO HSCs. This expansion of the HSC pool can be attributed to the impaired interaction of HSCs with the niche, evidenced by enhanced HSC mobilization and severely compromised homing and lodging ability of primitive hematopoietic cells. Transplanting wild-type (WT) hematopoietic cells into a GRP94 null microenvironment yielded a normal hematology profile and comparable numbers of HSCs as compared to WT control, suggesting that GRP94 in HSCs, but not niche cells, is required for maintaining HSC homeostasis. Investigating this, we further determined that there was a near complete loss of integrin α4 expression on the cell surface of Grp94 KO HSCs, which showed impaired binding with fibronectin, an extracellular matrix molecule known to play a role in mediating HSC-niche interactions. Furthermore, the Grp94 KO mice displayed altered myeloid and lymphoid differentiation. Collectively, our studies establish GRP94 as a novel cell intrinsic factor required to maintain the interaction of HSCs with their niche, and thus regulate their physiology