Adopting IoT Technology to Optimize Intelligent Water Management

Intelligent water management (IWM) has been used to study the supply and demand of tap water in Taiwan. This research aims to enhance existing and future water utility management. Leveraging the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology that connects sensors to a distributive infrastructure, the system detects leaks, assesses quality, monitors discharge, and manages assets of water utility. In this paper, we propose a prototype of urban intelligent water system by installing an intelligent water meter. Three steps are undertaken to demonstrate the IWM: 1) choose the way of data transmission; 2) establish communication equipment and generate cloud database; and 3) apply big data analyses and value-added applications. By intelligently managing the water supply system, it generates benefits of saving water, saving energy and optimizing water resources dispatching

GPER-induced signaling is essential for the survival of breast cancer stem cells.

G protein-coupled estrogen receptor-1 (GPER), a member of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, mediates estrogen-induced proliferation of normal and malignant breast epithelial cells. However, its role in breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) remains unclear. Here we showed greater expression of GPER in BCSCs than non-BCSCs of three patient-derived xenografts of ER- /PR+ breast cancers. GPER silencing reduced stemness features of BCSCs as reflected by reduced mammosphere forming capacity in vitro, and tumor growth in vivo with decreased BCSC populations. Comparative phosphoproteomics revealed greater GPER-mediated PKA/BAD signaling in BCSCs. Activation of GPER by its ligands, including tamoxifen (TMX), induced phosphorylation of PKA and BAD-Ser118 to sustain BCSC characteristics. Transfection with a dominant-negative mutant BAD (Ser118Ala) led to reduced cell survival. Taken together, GPER and its downstream signaling play a key role in maintaining the stemness of BCSCs, suggesting that GPER is a potential therapeutic target for eradicating BCSCs

High resolution Compton scattering as a Probe of the Fermi surface in the Iron-based superconductor LaO1−xFxFeAsLaO_{1-x}F_xFeAs

We have carried out first principles all-electron calculations of the (001)-projected 2D electron momentum density and the directional Compton profiles along the [100], [001] and [110] directions in the Fe-based superconductor LaOFeAs within the framework of the local density approximation. We identify Fermi surface features in the 2D electron momentum density and the directional Compton profiles, and discuss issues related to the observation of these features via Compton scattering experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Metrology Camera System of Prime Focus Spectrograph for Subaru Telescope

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. PFS will cover a 1.3 degree diameter field with 2394 fibers to complement the imaging capabilities of Hyper SuprimeCam. To retain high throughput, the final positioning accuracy between the fibers and observing targets of PFS is required to be less than 10um. The metrology camera system (MCS) serves as the optical encoder of the fiber motors for the configuring of fibers. MCS provides the fiber positions within a 5um error over the 45 cm focal plane. The information from MCS will be fed into the fiber positioner control system for the closed loop control. MCS will be located at the Cassegrain focus of Subaru telescope in order to to cover the whole focal plane with one 50M pixel Canon CMOS camera. It is a 380mm Schmidt type telescope which generates a uniform spot size with a 10 micron FWHM across the field for reasonable sampling of PSF. Carbon fiber tubes are used to provide a stable structure over the operating conditions without focus adjustments. The CMOS sensor can be read in 0.8s to reduce the overhead for the fiber configuration. The positions of all fibers can be obtained within 0.5s after the readout of the frame. This enables the overall fiber configuration to be less than 2 minutes. MCS will be installed inside a standard Subaru Cassgrain Box. All components that generate heat are located inside a glycol cooled cabinet to reduce the possible image motion due to heat. The optics and camera for MCS have been delivered and tested. The mechanical parts and supporting structure are ready as of spring 2016. The integration of MCS will start in the summer of 2016.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures. SPIE proceeding. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1408.287

Mapping the unconventional orbital texture in topological crystalline insulators

The newly discovered topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) harbor a complex band structure involving multiple Dirac cones. These materials are potentially highly tunable by external electric field, temperature or strain and could find future applications in field-effect transistors, photodetectors, and nano-mechanical systems. Theoretically, it has been predicted that different Dirac cones, offset in energy and momentum-space, might harbor vastly different orbital character, a unique property which if experimentally realized, would present an ideal platform for accomplishing new spintronic devices. However, the orbital texture of the Dirac cones, which is of immense importance in determining a variety of materials properties, still remains elusive in TCIs. Here, we unveil the orbital texture in a prototypical TCI Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_x$Se. By using Fourier-transform (FT) scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) we measure the interference patterns produced by the scattering of surface state electrons. We discover that the intensity and energy dependences of FTs show distinct characteristics, which can directly be attributed to orbital effects. Our experiments reveal the complex band topology involving two Lifshitz transitions and establish the orbital nature of the Dirac bands in this new class of topological materials, which could provide a different pathway towards future quantum applications

Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and Applications

Contains reports on two research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant DMR-84- 18718)Wan-Yuan Company, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China Contrac

Metrology Camera System of Prime Focus Spectrograph for Subaru Telescope

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a new optical/near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph designed for the prime focus of the 8.2m Subaru telescope. The metrology camera system of PFS serves as the optical encoder of the COBRA fiber motors for the configuring of fibers. The 380mm diameter aperture metrology camera will locate at the Cassegrain focus of Subaru telescope to cover the whole focal plane with one 50M pixel Canon CMOS sensor. The metrology camera is designed to provide the fiber position information within 5{\mu}m error over the 45cm focal plane. The positions of all fibers can be obtained within 1s after the exposure is finished. This enables the overall fiber configuration to be less than 2 minutes.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 201

Diffusive and localization behavior of electromagnetic waves in a two-dimensional random medium

In this paper, we discuss the transport phenomena of electromagnetic waves in a two-dimensional random system which is composed of arrays of electrical dipoles, following the model presented earlier by Erdogan, et al. (J. Opt. Soc. Am. B {\bf 10}, 391 (1993)). A set of self-consistent equations is presented, accounting for the multiple scattering in the system, and is then solved numerically. A strong localization regime is discovered in the frequency domain. The transport properties within, near the edge of and nearly outside the localization regime are investigated for different parameters such as filling factor and system size. The results show that within the localization regime, waves are trapped near the transmitting source. Meanwhile, the diffusive waves follow an intuitive but expected picture. That is, they increase with travelling path as more and more random scattering incurs, followed by a saturation, then start to decay exponentially when the travelling path is large enough, signifying the localization effect. For the cases that the frequencies are near the boundary of or outside the localization regime, the results of diffusive waves are compared with the diffusion approximation, showing less encouraging agreement as in other systems (Asatryan, et al., Phys. Rev. E {\bf 67}, 036605 (2003).)Comment: 8 pages 9 figure

Differential requirements for the Pax6(5a) genes eyegone and twin of eyegone during eye development in Drosophila

In eye development the tasks of tissue specification and cell proliferation are regulated, in part, by the Pax6 and Pax6(5a) proteins respectively. In vertebrates, Pax6(5a) is generated as an alternately spliced isoform of Pax6. This stands in contrast to the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, which has two Pax6(5a) homologs that are encoded by the eyegone and twin of eyegone genes. In this report we set out to determine the respective contributions that each gene makes to the development of the fly retina. Here we demonstrate that both eyg and toe encode transcriptional repressors, are expressed in identical patterns but at significantly different levels. We further show, through a molecular dissection of both proteins, that Eyg makes differential use of several domains when compared to Toe and that the number of repressor domains also differs between the two Pax6(5a) homologs. We predict that these results will have implications for elucidating the functional differences between closely related members of other Pax subclasses