Modeling Wireless Signal Transmission Performance Path Loss for ZigBee Communication Protocol in Residential Houses

Low-cost and high performance wireless technologies make it a reality to develop a wireless HVAC control system for multi-zone environmental control in residential houses to improve individual comfort and reduce energy consumption. The lack of understanding on signal transmission performance of wireless sensor network in residential houses limited the application of wireless sensor networks, especially the new ZigBee protocol. This paper is to establish path loss models for predicting wireless data transmission performance in residential houses for ZigBee protocol. Factors affecting the wireless data transmission in residential indoor environment include free space separation, walls, floors, and wireless device inteference. Effects of these factors on the path loss in residential indoor environment were evaluated through empirical testing using received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value measured by commercial ZigBee modules and an embedded microcontroller-based data acquisition system. The model for the effects of walls on the same floor was able to predict 73.6% of the system variability. The measured RSSI data were made versus 1mW transmission source and therefore the RSSI-based path loss models were able to accurately predict the performance of wireless signal of stronger or weaker power transmission systems

Antidiabetic effect of Tibetan medicine Tang-Kang-Fu-San on high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the antidiabetic effects of a Tibetan medicine, Tang-Kang-Fu-San (TKFS), on experimental type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats and to explore its underlying mechanisms. Firstly two major chemical compositions of TKFS, gallic acid and curcumin, were characterized by HPLC fingerprint analysis. Next T2DM in rats was induced by high-fat diet and a low-dose streptozotocin (STZ 35 mg/kg). Then oral gavage administration of three different doses of TKFS (0.3 g/kg, 0.6 g/kg, and 1.2 g/kg) was given to T2DM rats. Experimental results showed that TKFS dramatically reduced the levels of fasting blood glucose, fasting blood insulin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol, even though it did not alter the animal body weight. The downregulation of phosphorylation-AKT (p-AKT) and glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) in skeletal muscle of T2DM rats was restored and abnormal pathological changes in pancreas tissues were also improved. Our work showed that TKFS could alleviate diabetic syndromes, maintain the glucose homeostasis, and protect against insulin resistance in T2DM rats, and the improvement of AKT phosphorylation and GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle would be one of its possible underlying mechanisms

Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the wsp gene of Wolbachia in three geographic populations of an oak gall wasp, Andricus mairei (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), from Hunan, South China

To understand the effects of Wolbachia in Andricus mairei Kieffer , an oak gall wasp ( Cynipini, Cynipidae) that forms clusters of up to 30 monothalamous galls in the catkins of Quercus glandulifera var. brevipetiolata Nakai, we examined the presence and infection frequency of Wolbachia in three widely separated geographic populations of A. mairei in Hunan Province, South China, using polymerase chain reaction and sequence determination of the wsp gene of Wolbachia from the three populations. Our survey results showed that Wolbachia infection rates were unusually high in the three test populations : 100% for the male wasps from all populations , while 100% , 100% and 80% for the Yueyang, Changsha and Shaoyang populations of the female wasps, respectively. The sequencing results showed that the gene from all the three populations is 561 bp in length. Comparison with the wsp gene sequences in A. mairei and Neuroterus macropterus , Biorhiza pallida , Andricus solitarius ( strain 1 ) and Synergus crassicornis revealed a 95% identity. The phylogenie relationship of Wolbachia strains in Cynipidae with the known wsp sequences indicated that the Wolbachia strain of A. mairei is closely related to that of N. macropterus , B. pallida, A. solitarius ( strain 1 ) , and S. crassicornis , and belongs to the A group. We also discovered strikingly male-biased sex ratios in all the test populations: females only accounted for 15.3%, 12. 1%, and 19. 8% of the Yueyang, Changsha, and Shaoyang populations, respectively, indicating the extremely male-biased sex ratios. These results suggest that the symbiosis of Wolbachia with A. mairei does not induce parthenogenesis in A. mairei, which can not be properly explained and is worth further investigation

Combination of anti-C1qA08 and anti-mCRP a.a.35-47 antibodies is associated with renal prognosis of patients with lupus nephritis

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to explore the prevalence and clinicopathological associations between anti-C1qA08 antibodies and anti-monomeric CRP (mCRP) a.a.35-47 antibodies and to explore the interaction between C1q and mCRP.MethodsNinety patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis were included from a Chinese cohort. Plasma samples collected on the day of renal biopsy were tested for anti-C1qA08 antibodies and anti-mCRP a.a.35-47 antibodies. The associations between these two autoantibodies and clinicopathologic features and long-term prognosis were analyzed. The interaction between C1q and mCRP was further investigated by ELISA, and the key linear epitopes of the combination of cholesterol binding sequence (CBS; a.a.35-47) and C1qA08 were tested by competitive inhibition assays. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used to further verify the results.ResultsThe prevalence of anti-C1qA08 antibodies and anti-mCRP a.a.35-47 antibodies were 50/90 (61.1%) and 45/90 (50.0%), respectively. Levels of anti-C1qA08 antibodies and anti-mCRP a.a.35-47 antibodies were negatively correlated with serum C3 concentrations ((0.5(0.22-1.19) g/L vs. 0.39(0.15-1.38) g/L, P=0.002) and (0.48(0.44-0.88) g/L vs. 0.41(0.15-1.38) g/L, P=0.028), respectively. Levels of anti-C1qA08 antibodies were correlated with the score of fibrous crescents and tubular atrophy (r=-0.256, P=0.014 and r=-0.25, P=0.016, respectively). The patients with double positive antibodies showed worse renal prognosis than that of the double negative group (HR 0.899 (95% CI: 0.739-1.059), P=0.0336). The binding of mCRP to C1q was confirmed by ELISA. The key linear epitopes of the combination were a.a.35-47 and C1qA08, which were confirmed by competitive inhibition experiments and SPR.ConclusionThe combination of anti-C1qA08 and anti-mCRP a.a.35-47 autoantibodies could predict a poor renal outcome. The key linear epitopes of the combination of C1q and mCRP were C1qA08 and a.a.35-47. A08 was an important epitope for the classical pathway complement activation and a.a.35-47 could inhibit this process

Overexpression of ribosomal protein L15 is associated with cell proliferation in gastric cancer

BACKGROUND: Ribosomal proteins are the components of ribosome, which also exhibit various secondary functions in DNA repair, apoptosis, drug resistance and proliferation. In our previous study of microarray, ribosomal protein L15 (RPL15) was identified as an upregulated gene in gastric cancer. METHODS: We investigated the expression of ribosomal protein L15 in gastric cancer and the effect of RPL15 on proliferation of gastric cancer. RESULTS: It was found that the expression of RPL15 was markedly up-regulated in gastric cancer tissues. RPL15 was also highly expressed in gastric cancer cell lines AGS, MKN45, MKN28, SGC7901 and KATOIII. Inhibition of RPL15 expression by siRNA vector transfection suppressed the growth of SGC7901 cells significantly, which was independent of the expression of Cyclin D1 and B1. Down-regulation of RPL15 expression inhibited SGC7901 cell growth in soft agar and its tumorigenicity in nude mice. CONCLUSION: RPL15 promotes cell proliferation and may be a potential target for anticancer therapy of gastric cancer

Interaction of Atomic and Molecular Hydrogen with Tholin Surfaces at Low Temperatures

We study the interaction of atomic and molecular hydrogen with a surface of tholin, a man-made polymer considered to be an analogue of aerosol particles present in Titan\u27s atmosphere, using thermal programmed desorption at low temperatures below 30 K. The results are fitted and analyzed using a fine-grained rate equation model that describes the diffusion, reaction and desorption processes. We obtain the energy barriers for diffusion and desorption of atomic and molecular hydrogen. These barriers are found to be in the range of 30 to 60 meV, indicating that atom/molecule-surface interactions in this temperature range are dominated by weak adsorption forces. The implications of these results for the understanding of the atmospheric chemistry of Titan are discussed

ENAT-PT: An Enhanced NAT-PT Model

NAT-PT would allow IPv4 nodes to communicate with IPv6 nodes transparently by translating the IPv6 address into a registered V4 address. However, NAT-PT would fall flat when the pool of V4 addresses is exhausted. NAPT-PT multiplexes the registered address’ ports and will allow for a maximum of 63K outbound TCP and 63K UDP sessions per IPv4 address, but it is unidirectional. We present in this paper a novel solution ENAT-PT（an enhanced NAT-PT），which will allow for a great number of inbound sessions by using a single V4 address. By using ENAT-PT, we can visit V6 networks from a V4 network with a small address pool

Aqua­(3-formyl-2-oxidobenzoato-κ2 O 1,O 2)(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)copper(II) dimethyl­formamide solvate

In the structure of the title complex, [Cu(C8H4O4)(C12H8N2)(H2O)]·C3H7NO, the CuII ion is penta­coordinated in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry by two O atoms of a 3-formyl-2-oxidobenzoate dianion and two N atoms of a 1,10-phenanthroline ligand occupying the basal plane and a water O atom located at the apical site. The structure displays O—H⋯O hydrogen bonding and inter­molecular π–π stacking inter­actions between 1,10-phenantroline ligands [inter­planar distance of 3.448 (5) Å]