Joint Interference Alignment and Bi-Directional Scheduling for MIMO Two-Way Multi-Link Networks

By means of the emerging technique of dynamic Time Division Duplex (TDD), the switching point between uplink and downlink transmissions can be optimized across a multi-cell system in order to reduce the impact of inter-cell interference. It has been recently recognized that optimizing also the order in which uplink and downlink transmissions, or more generally the two directions of a two-way link, are scheduled can lead to significant benefits in terms of interference reduction. In this work, the optimization of bi-directional scheduling is investigated in conjunction with the design of linear precoding and equalization for a general multi-link MIMO two-way system. A simple algorithm is proposed that performs the joint optimization of the ordering of the transmissions in the two directions of the two-way links and of the linear transceivers, with the aim of minimizing the interference leakage power. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.Comment: To be presented at ICC 2015, 6 pages, 7 figure

Long-term treadmill exercise upregulated hippocampal learning-related genes without improving cognitive behaviour in socially isolated rats

Background: Some environment enrichments such as exercise has been reported to improve the diminished cognitive functions and related gene expression. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the effects of prolonged treadmill exercise on long-term learning and hippocampal gene expression, which involves learning and plasticity. Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats (n = 32) randomly assigned into four groups: control (C), social isolation (SI), exercised (E), social isolation + exercise (SE) during postnatal days (PNDs) 21–34. Social isolation protocol was applied during 14 days by placing the rat alone in a cage. Rats were exercised daily, 5 days per week, for overall 4 weeks. Finally, learning performance was evaluated by the novel object recognition test. At the end of learning test, the rats were decapitated to isolate hippocampus tissues for learning related gene expression such as N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) subunit genes (Grin1, Grin2a, Grin2b) and cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), Cdk5 regulatory subunit p35 (Cdk5r), activity-regulated, cytoskeletal-associated protein (Arc), the immediate early gene (c-Fos, a marker of neuronal activation), doublecortin (DCX), achaetescute homolog 1 (ASCL1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: Grin1, NMDAR subunit gene expression was increased significantly in E group compared to other groups. Grin2b, NMDAR subunit gene expression was increased in E group compared to the SI group. Cdk5 level increased in E group compared to the SE group. The ASCL1 gene expression increased in E group compare to the SE group. The DCX gene expression increasing in C group compared to SI and SE groups. Conclusions: Taken together these findings may point out that long-term social isolation down-regulated learning-related genes. However, treadmill exercise together with social isolation did not restore this down-regulation although treadmill exercise increased learning-related genes without improving cognitive behaviour

A new method for fabrication of nanohydroxyapatite and TCP from the sea snail Cerithium vulgatum

Biphasic bioceramic nanopowders of hydroxyapatite (HA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (TCP) were prepared from shells of the sea snail Cerithium vulgatum (Bruguière, 1792) using a novel chemical method. Calcination of the powders produced was carried out at varying temperatures, specifically at 400°C and 800°C, in air for 4 hours. When compared to the conventional hydrothermal transformation method, this chemical method is very simple, economic, due to the fact that it needs inexpensive and safe equipment, because the transformation of the aragonite and calcite of the shells into the calcium phosphate phases takes place at 80°C under the atmospheric pressure. The powders produced were determined using infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The features of the powders produced along with the fact of their biological origin qualify these powders for further consideration and experimentation to fabricate nanoceramic biomaterials. © 2014 O. Gunduz et al

Effects of feed refreshing frequency on growth and carcass characteristics of Awassi lambs

Sixty, two-month old male Awassi lambs were used in this study to investigate the effects of feed refreshing (FR) frequencies on their growth and carcass characteristics over a period of 65 days. Treatments were: Feed refreshing at 2 h (FR2), 4 h (FR4), 8 h (FR8), 12 h (FR12) and 24 h (FR24) intervals. The lambs were fed individually. At the onset of each refreshing period the lambs were offered fresh feed ad libitum. Daily feed intakes, weekly live weights and carcass characteristics were recorded. Daily feed intakes per lamb per treatment were: 1.13 kg, 1.05 kg, 1.00 kg, 0.98 kg and 0.95 kg; daily gains were 193.6 g, 180.6 g, 148.6 g, 169.3 g and 146.4 g; feed conversion ratios (kg feed/kg gain) were 6.1, 6.7, 7.2, 7.2 and 7.5; hot carcass weights were 13.0 kg, 13.1 kg, 12.1 kg, 13.3 kg and 13.1 kg; dressing percentages were 42.3%, 42.4%, 39.9%, 40.2% and 41.2%; the proportion of muscle in the carcass was 52.0%, 55.2%, 55.6%, 55.8% and 54.8%; bone ratio was 20.4%, 20.3%, 21.9%, 21.1% and 20.9%; subcutaneous fat ratio was 16.9%, 14.2%, 12.9%, 12.7% and 14.0% and intramuscular fat ratio was 8.8%, 7.1%, 6.8%, 8.7% and 7.7% in FR2, FR4, FR8, FR12 and FR24 treatments, respectively. Results showed that frequent feed refreshing stimulated feed intake and daily gain without affecting carcass characteristics. Keywords: Lamb, feeding system, daily gain, body componentsSouth African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 37 (4) 2007: pp. 248-25

Recovering 6D Object Pose: A Review and Multi-modal Analysis

A large number of studies analyse object detection and pose estimation at visual level in 2D, discussing the effects of challenges such as occlusion, clutter, texture, etc., on the performances of the methods, which work in the context of RGB modality. Interpreting the depth data, the study in this paper presents thorough multi-modal analyses. It discusses the above-mentioned challenges for full 6D object pose estimation in RGB-D images comparing the performances of several 6D detectors in order to answer the following questions: What is the current position of the computer vision community for maintaining "automation" in robotic manipulation? What next steps should the community take for improving "autonomy" in robotics while handling objects? Our findings include: (i) reasonably accurate results are obtained on textured-objects at varying viewpoints with cluttered backgrounds. (ii) Heavy existence of occlusion and clutter severely affects the detectors, and similar-looking distractors is the biggest challenge in recovering instances' 6D. (iii) Template-based methods and random forest-based learning algorithms underlie object detection and 6D pose estimation. Recent paradigm is to learn deep discriminative feature representations and to adopt CNNs taking RGB images as input. (iv) Depending on the availability of large-scale 6D annotated depth datasets, feature representations can be learnt on these datasets, and then the learnt representations can be customized for the 6D problem

MicroRNA-519a is a novel oncomir conferring tamoxifen resistance by targeting a network of tumour-suppressor genes in ER+ breast cancer

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Tamoxifen is an endocrine therapy which is administered to up to 70% of all breast cancer patients with oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) expression. Despite the initial response, most patients eventually acquire resistance to the drug. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs which have the ability to post-transcriptionally regulate genes. Although the role of a few miRNAs has been described in tamoxifen resistance at the single gene/target level, little is known about how concerted actions of miRNAs targeting biological networks contribute to resistance. Here we identified the miRNA cluster, C19MC, which harbours around 50 mature miRNAs, to be up-regulated in resistant cells, with miRNA-519a being the most highly up-regulated. We could demonstrate that miRNA-519a regulates tamoxifen resistance using gain- and loss-of-function testing. By combining functional enrichment analysis and prediction algorithms, we identified three central tumour-suppressor genes (TSGs) in PI3K signalling and the cell cycle network as direct target genes of miR-519a. Combined expression of these target genes correlated with disease-specific survival in a cohort of tamoxifen-treated patients. We identified miRNA-519a as a novel oncomir in ER+ breast cancer cells as it increased cell viability and cell cycle progression as well as resistance to tamoxifen-induced apoptosis. Finally, we could show that elevated miRNA-519a levels were inversely correlated with the target genes' expression and that higher expression of this miRNA correlated with poorer survival in ER+ breast cancer patients. Hence we have identified miRNA-519a as a novel oncomir, co-regulating a network of TSGs in breast cancer and conferring resistance to tamoxifen. Using inhibitors of such miRNAs may serve as a novel therapeutic approach to combat resistance to therapy as well as proliferation and evasion of apoptosis in breast cancer. © 2014 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Innovative online platforms: Research opportunities

Economic growth in many countries is increasingly driven by successful startups that operate as online platforms. These success stories have motivated us to define and classify various online platforms according to their business models. This study discusses strategic and operational issues arising from five types of online platforms (resource sharing, matching, crowdsourcing, review, and crowdfunding) and presents some research opportunities for operations management scholars to explore

A Search for leptophilic Z_(l) boson at future linear colliders

We study the possible dynamics associated with leptonic charge in future linear colliders. Leptophilic massive vector boson, Z_(l), have been investigated through the process e^(+)e^(-) -> mu^(+)mu^(-). We have shown that ILC and CLIC will give opportunity to observe Z_(l) with masses up to the center of mass energy if the corresponding coupling constant g_(l) exceeds 10^(-3).Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure