Feeding state-dependent regulation of developmental plasticity via CaMKI and neuroendocrine signaling

Information about nutrient availability is assessed via largely unknown mechanisms to drive developmental decisions, including the choice of Caenorhabditis elegans larvae to enter into the reproductive cycle or the dauer stage. In this study, we show that CMK-1 CaMKI regulates the dauer decision as a function of feeding state. CMK-1 acts cell-autonomously in the ASI, and non cell-autonomously in the AWC, sensory neurons to regulate expression of the growth promoting daf-7 TGF-β and daf-28 insulin-like peptide (ILP) genes, respectively. Feeding state regulates dynamic subcellular localization of CMK-1, and CMK-1-dependent expression of anti-dauer ILP genes, in AWC. A food-regulated balance between anti-dauer ILP signals from AWC and pro-dauer signals regulates neuroendocrine signaling and dauer entry; disruption of this balance in cmk-1 mutants drives inappropriate dauer formation under well-fed conditions. These results identify mechanisms by which nutrient information is integrated in a small neuronal network to modulate neuroendocrine signaling and developmental plasticity. © Neal et al.1

Hepatoprotective role of Sestrin2 against chronic ER stress

Upon prolonged endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, cells attenuate protein translation to prevent accumulation of unfolded proteins. Here we show that Sestrin2 is critical for this process. Sestrin2 expression is induced by an ER stress-activated transcription factor CCAATenhancer- binding protein beta (c/EBPβ). Once induced, Sestrin2 halts protein synthesis by inhibiting mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). As Sestrin2-deficient cells continue to translate a large amount of proteins during ER stress, they are highly susceptible to ER stress-associated cell death. Accordingly, dietary or genetically induced obesity, which does not lead to any pathological indication other than simple fat accumulation in the liver of wild-type (WT) mice, can provoke Sestrin2-deficient mice to develop severe ER stressassociated liver pathologies such as extensive liver damage, steatohepatitis and fibrosis. These pathologies are suppressed by liver-specific Sestrin2 reconstitution, mTORC1 inhibition or chemical chaperone administration. The Sestrin2-mediated unfolded protein response (UPR) may be a general protective mechanism against ER stress-associated diseases

Push-Pull Design of Bis(tridentate) Ruthenium(II) Polypyridine Chromophores as Deep Red Light Emitters in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells

Breivogel A, Park M, Lee D, et al. Push-Pull Design of Bis(tridentate) Ruthenium(II) Polypyridine Chromophores as Deep Red Light Emitters in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells. European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2014;2014(2):288-295.Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) with a simple device structure were prepared by using heteroleptic bis(tridentate) ruthenium(II) complexes [1](PF6)(2)-[3](PF6)(2) as emitters. The push-pull substitution shifts the emission energy to low energy, into the NIR region. The devices emit deep red light up to a maximum emission wavelength of 755 nm [CIE (International Commission on Illumination) coordinates: x = 0.731, y = 0.269 for [3](PF6)(2)], which, to the best of our knowledge, is the lowest emission energy for LECs containing bis(tridentate) ruthenium(II) complexes. A device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ruthenium(II) complex/Ag was used, and the thickness of the emitting layer was measured by AFM [ITO: indium tin oxide, PEDOT: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PSS: poly(styrenesulfonate), AFM: atomic force microscopy]. To enhance the external quantum efficiency (EQE), cells were fabricated with and without poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as additive in the emitting layer

Push-Pull Design of Bis(tridentate) Ruthenium(II) Polypyridine Chromophores as Deep Red Light Emitters in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells

Breivogel A, Park M, Lee D, et al. Push-Pull Design of Bis(tridentate) Ruthenium(II) Polypyridine Chromophores as Deep Red Light Emitters in Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells. European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2014;2014(2):288-295.Light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) with a simple device structure were prepared by using heteroleptic bis(tridentate) ruthenium(II) complexes [1](PF6)(2)-[3](PF6)(2) as emitters. The push-pull substitution shifts the emission energy to low energy, into the NIR region. The devices emit deep red light up to a maximum emission wavelength of 755 nm [CIE (International Commission on Illumination) coordinates: x = 0.731, y = 0.269 for [3](PF6)(2)], which, to the best of our knowledge, is the lowest emission energy for LECs containing bis(tridentate) ruthenium(II) complexes. A device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ruthenium(II) complex/Ag was used, and the thickness of the emitting layer was measured by AFM [ITO: indium tin oxide, PEDOT: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PSS: poly(styrenesulfonate), AFM: atomic force microscopy]. To enhance the external quantum efficiency (EQE), cells were fabricated with and without poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as additive in the emitting layer

The perfect waveguide coupler with universal impedance matching and transformation optics

Efficient energy transfer is crucial in electromagnetic communication. Therefore, producing a waveguide coupler that achieves broadband, nonreflective transmission is a challenging task. With the advancement of silicon-based integrated photonic circuits, fiber-to-chip coupling has become increasingly important. Although various couplers have been developed for fiber-to-chip coupling, they often have limitations such as long coupling length, low coupling efficiency, and narrow bandwidth. This is due to the inability to eliminate reflections between the two waveguides. Here, we introduce a method using universal impedance matching theory and transformation optics to eliminate reflections between two waveguides. The coupler, called the universal impedance matching coupler, using this method has the shortest subwavelength coupling length, a 99.9 % coupling efficiency, and a broad bandwidth

Low-Power On-Chip Implementation of Enhanced SVM Algorithm for Sensors Fusion-Based Activity Classification in Lightweighted Edge Devices

Smart homes assist users by providing convenient services from activity classification with the help of machine learning (ML) technology. However, most of the conventional high-performance ML algorithms require relatively high power consumption and memory usage due to their complex structure. Moreover, previous studies on lightweight ML/DL models for human activity classification still require relatively high resources for extremely resource-limited embedded systems; thus, they are inapplicable for smart homes’ embedded system environments. Therefore, in this study, we propose a low-power, memory-efficient, high-speed ML algorithm for smart home activity data classification suitable for an extremely resource-constrained environment. We propose a method for comprehending smart home activity data as image data, hence using the MNIST dataset as a substitute for real-world activity data. The proposed ML algorithm consists of three parts: data preprocessing, training, and classification. In data preprocessing, training data of the same label are grouped into further detailed clusters. The training process generates hyperplanes by accumulating and thresholding from each cluster of preprocessed data. Finally, the classification process classifies input data by calculating the similarity between the input data and each hyperplane using the bitwise-operation-based error function. We verified our algorithm on ‘Raspberry Pi 3’ and ‘STM32 Discovery board’ embedded systems by loading trained hyperplanes and performing classification on 1000 training data. Compared to a linear support vector machine implemented from Tensorflow Lite, the proposed algorithm improved memory usage to 15.41%, power consumption to 41.7%, performance up to 50.4%, and power per accuracy to 39.2%. Moreover, compared to a convolutional neural network model, the proposed model improved memory usage to 15.41%, power consumption to 61.17%, performance to 57.6%, and power per accuracy to 55.4%

Weighted Consensus Protocols Design based on Network Centrality for Multi-agent Systems with Sampled-data

International audienceThis paper aims at constructing and analyzing an efficient framework for the leader-following consensus protocol in multi-agent systems (MASs). We propose two novel consensus protocols weighted by calculating the betweenness and eigenvector centralities for agent and link which are determined by the interconnection structure of MASs. The concepts of centrality were introduced in the field of social science. Ultimately, the use of the proposed protocols can be described with regard to not only the number of each agent's neighbors, which was utilized in the existing works, but also more information about agents through considering two such centralities. By utilizing the Lyapunov method and some mathematical techniques, the leader-following guaranteed cost consensus conditions for MASs with the proposed protocols and sampled-data will be established in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Based on the result of consensus criteria, two new protocol design methods which utilize the betweenness and eigenvector centralities will be proposed. Finally, some simulation results are given to illustrate the advantages of the proposed protocols in point of the robustness on sampling interval and the transient consensus performance

A Development of 3D navigation system for micro-nano robot based on a Magnetic Particle Imaging system

The 3D navigation system of micro-nano robot based on magnetic particle imaging is a promising technique to be used for targeted drug delivery. Using the magnetic actuator by manipulating field free point (FFP) and non-invasive molecular imaging method such magnetic particle imaging, the device can reduce the harm in treatment. In this paper, we used closed-loop control to steer a micro robot to a desired position by a 3D FFP magnetic force based system. A custom-built MPI system with a bore size of 90 mm that can generate a gradient as high as 4T/m/µ0 was used to verify the control system in three dimensions