Enhanced Clustering Routing Protocol for Power-Efficient Gathering in Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a new and fast advancing technology, which is opening up many opportunities in the field of remote sensing and data monitoring. In spite of the numerous applications of WSN, issues related to determining a suitable and accurate radio model that will foster energy conservation in the network limit the performance of WSN routing protocols. A number of radio models have been proposed to address this issue. However, the underlying assumptions and inaccurate configuration of these radio models make them impractical and often lead to mismanagement of scarce energy and computational resources. This paper addresses this problem by proposing an enhanced radio model that adapts to the frequent changes in the location of the sensor nodes and is robust enough to report reliable data to the base station despite fluctuations due to interference. The impact of incorporating stepwise energy level and specialized data transmission schemes in the proposed radio model is also investigated in this paper. The performance of the proposed radio model is evaluated using OMNET++ and MATLAB and the results obtained is benchmarked against PEGASIS. It is shown by simulation that the novel LEACH-IMP performs better with respect to energy consumption, number of links faults, number of packets received, signal attenuation, and network lifetime

Regulation of smooth muscle α-actin expression and hypertrophy in cultured mesangial cells

Regulation of smooth muscle α-actin expression and hypertrophy in cultured mesangial cells.BackgroundMesangial cells during embryonic development and glomerular disease express smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA). We were therefore surprised when cultured mesangial cells deprived of serum markedly increased expression of α-SMA. Serum-deprived mesangial cells appeared larger than serum-fed mesangial cells. We hypothesized that α-SMA expression may be more reflective of mesangial cell hypertrophy than hyperplasia.MethodsHuman mesangial cells were cultured in medium alone or with fetal bovine serum, thrombin, platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and/or transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). α-SMA expression was examined by immunofluorescence, Western blot, and Northern blot analysis. Cell size was analyzed by forward light scatter flow cytometry.Resultsα-SMA mRNA was at least tenfold more abundant after three to five days in human mesangial cells plated without serum, but β-actin mRNA was unchanged. Serum-deprived cells contained 5.3-fold more α-SMA after three days and 56-fold more after five days by Western blot. Serum deprivation also increased α-SMA in rat and mouse mesangial cells. The effects of serum deprivation on α-SMA expression were reversible. Mesangial cell mitogens, thrombin or PDGF-BB, decreased α-SMA, but TGF-β1 increased α-SMA expression and slowed mesangial cell proliferation in serum-plus medium. Flow cytometry showed that serum deprivation or TGF-β1 treatment caused mesangial cell hypertrophy. PDGF-BB, thrombin, or thrombin receptor-activating peptide blocked hypertrophy in response to serum deprivation.ConclusionsWe conclude that increased α-SMA expression in mesangial cells reflects cellular hypertrophy rather than hyperplasia

Adoption Issues in DevOps from the Perspective of Continuous Delivery Pipeline

DevOps and Continuous Delivery (CD) are the terms that are always related to each other in Software Delivery and Operation Process area. DevOps introduces a significant agile perspective to deliver the software product in short cycle time that will reduce technical debt that is caused by delay. Continuous Delivery is one of the DevOps' practices that enables software organization to release new features and new products rapidly. However, the correct practices are still in ambiguity to the current CD process. This paper investigates the advantages and limitation of DevOps adoption to improve the CD process. A qualitative web survey has been conducted to identify the DevOps and Continuous Delivery advantages and adoption problems. 13 respondents' feedbacks have been collected and analyzed. Based on the survey, there are four significant DevOps' practices that need to be considered and developed as a proper guideline to introduce to practitioners

The nexus between global disruption due to the covid-19 and performance of the construction project

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, this paper attempts to empirically find out the increasing workplace bullying effect on project performance with employee deviant behaviour as a mediator, internal, and external locus of control as moderators. The random sampling technique was used to gather data from 777 employees, working in construction companies in Pakistan. The examination was established using WarpPLS software version 7.0. The results revealed that workplace bullying is positively associated with employee deviant behaviour which in return negatively affects the project performance. It can be inferred from the results that the “moderating role” of internal “locus of control” is insignificant; whereas the external “locus of control” significantly moderates the relationship between workplace bullying & employee deviant behaviour. The proposed research and hypotheses support social exchange theory and social behaviour exchanges. This study has clarified some unique points that are equally important for the managers, employees, and project-based construction organization as a whole. It is also recommended that once the pandemic COVID-19 passes, it would be the dire need of that time to re-evaluate that, what has been changed in terms of professional thinking, working & behaving as for as their project work and communication between the team members is concerned

The South Asian genome

Genetics of disease Microarrays Variant genotypes Population genetics Sequence alignment AllelesThe genetic sequence variation of people from the Indian subcontinent who comprise one-quarter of the world's population, is not well described. We carried out whole genome sequencing of 168 South Asians, along with whole-exome sequencing of 147 South Asians to provide deeper characterisation of coding regions. We identify 12,962,155 autosomal sequence variants, including 2,946,861 new SNPs and 312,738 novel indels. This catalogue of SNPs and indels amongst South Asians provides the first comprehensive map of genetic variation in this major human population, and reveals evidence for selective pressures on genes involved in skin biology, metabolism, infection and immunity. Our results will accelerate the search for the genetic variants underlying susceptibility to disorders such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease which are highly prevalent amongst South Asians.Whole genome sequencing to discover genetic variants underlying type-2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and related phenotypes amongst Indian Asians. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust cBRC 2011-13 (JS Kooner [PI], JC Chambers)

Converting simulated total dry matter to fresh marketable yield for field vegetables at a range of nitrogen supply levels

Simultaneous analysis of economic and environmental performance of horticultural crop production requires qualified assumptions on the effect of management options, and particularly of nitrogen (N) fertilisation, on the net returns of the farm. Dynamic soil-plant-environment simulation models for agro-ecosystems are frequently applied to predict crop yield, generally as dry matter per area, and the environmental impact of production. Economic analysis requires conversion of yields to fresh marketable weight, which is not easy to calculate for vegetables, since different species have different properties and special market requirements. Furthermore, the marketable part of many vegetables is dependent on N availability during growth, which may lead to complete crop failure under sub-optimal N supply in tightly calculated N fertiliser regimes or low-input systems. In this paper we present two methods for converting simulated total dry matter to marketable fresh matter yield for various vegetables and European growth conditions, taking into consideration the effect of N supply: (i) a regression based function for vegetables sold as bulk or bunching ware and (ii) a population approach for piecewise sold row crops. For both methods, to be used in the context of a dynamic simulation model, parameter values were compiled from a literature survey. Implemented in such a model, both algorithms were tested against experimental field data, yielding an Index of Agreement of 0.80 for the regression strategy and 0.90 for the population strategy. Furthermore, the population strategy was capable of reflecting rather well the effect of crop spacing on yield and the effect of N supply on product grading

A statistical learning strategy for closed-loop control of fluid flows

This work discusses a closed-loop control strategy for complex systems utilizing scarce and streaming data. A discrete embedding space is first built using hash functions applied to the sensor measurements from which a Markov process model is derived, approximating the complex system’s dynamics. A control strategy is then learned using reinforcement learning once rewards relevant with respect to the control objective are identified. This method is designed for experimental configurations, requiring no computations nor prior knowledge of the system, and enjoys intrinsic robustness. It is illustrated on two systems: the control of the transitions of a Lorenz’63 dynamical system, and the control of the drag of a cylinder flow. The method is shown to perform well

Epidemiological impact of waning immunization on a vaccinated population

This is an epidemiological SIRV model based study that is de- signed to analyze the impact of vaccination in containing infection spread, in a 4-tiered population compartment comprised of susceptible, infected, recov- ered and vaccinated agents. While many models assume a lifelong protection through vaccination, we focus on the impact of waning immunization due to conversion of vaccinated and recovered agents back to susceptible ones. Two asymptotic states exist, the \disease-free equilibrium" and the \endemic equi- librium" and we express the transitions between these states as function of the vaccination and conversion rates and using the basic reproduction number. We nd that the vaccination of newborns and adults have dierent consequences on controlling an epidemic. Also, a decaying disease protection within the re- covered sub-population is not sucient to trigger an epidemic on the linear level. We perform simulations for a parameter set modelling a disease with waning immunization like pertussis. For a diusively coupled population, a transition to the endemic state can proceed via the propagation of a traveling infection wave, described successfully within a Fisher-Kolmogorov framework

Long term outcome of adolescent and adult patients with pineal parenchymal tumors treated with fractionated radiotherapy between 1982 and 2003 -- a single institution's experience

Background: To evaluate the effectivity of fractionated radiotherapy in adolescent and adult patients with pineal parenchymal tumors (PPT). Methods: Between 1982 and 2003, 14 patients with PPTs were treated with fractionated radiotherapy. 4 patients had a pineocytoma (PC), one a PPT with intermediate differentiation (PPTID) and 9 patients a pineoblastoma (PB), 2 of which were recurrences. All patients underwent radiotherapy to the primary tumor site with a median total dose of 54 Gy. In 9 patients with primary PB treatment included whole brain irradiation (3 patients) or irradiation of the craniospinal axis (6 patients) with a median total dose of 35 Gy. Results: Median follow-up was 123 months in the PC patients and 109 months in the patients with primary PB. 7 patients were free from relapse at the end of follow-up. One PC patient died from spinal seeding. Among 5 PB patients treated with radiotherapy without chemotherapy, 3 developed local or spinal tumor recurrence. Both patients treated for PB recurrences died. The patient with PPTID is free of disease 7 years after radiotherapy. Conclusion: Local radiotherapy seems to be effective in patients with PC and some PPTIDs. Diagnosis and treatment of patients with more aggressive variants of PPTIDs as well as treatment of PB need to be further improved, since local and spinal failure even despite craniospinal irradiation (CSI) is common. As PPT are very rare tumors, treatment within multi-institutional trials remains necessary