ICELUS: Investigating strategy switching for throughput maximization to a mobile sink

Wireless sensor networks offer a pragmatic solution for monitoring in a variety of scenarios. For efficient and practical data gathering, especially in large-scale systems deployed in inaccessible areas, unmanned vehicles are becoming a compelling solution. The added infrastructure flexibility comes at the cost of limited contact time between the mobile entity and the stationary devices. The channel fading caused by mobility further decreases the data yield.We address this challenge by analysing the relevant classes of data transfer schemes and identifying adaptation conditions that enable the selection of the best fitting strategy. The result of this analysis, ICELUS, provides an integrated protocol that exploits the available communication resources. © 2016 IFIP

Identification of a Thymic Epithelial Cell Subset Sharing Expression of the Class Ib HLA-G Molecule with Fetal Trophoblasts

HLA-G is the only class I determinant of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expressed by the trophoblasts, the fetal cells invading the maternal decidua during pregnancy. A unique feature of this nonclassical HLA molecule is its low polymorphism, a property that has been postulated to play an important role in preventing local activation of maternal alloreactive T and natural killer cells against the fetus. Yet, the mechanisms by which fetal HLA-G can be recognized as a self-MHC molecule by the maternal immune system remain unclear. Here we report the novel observation that HLA-G is expressed in the human thymus. Expression is targeted to the cell surface of thymic medullary and subcapsular epithelium. Thymic epithelial cell lines were generated and shown to express three alternatively spliced HLA-G transcripts, previously identified in human trophoblasts. Sequencing of HLA-G1 transcripts revealed a few nucleotide changes resulting in amino acid substitutions, all clustered within exon 3 of HLA-G, encoding for the α2 domain of the molecule. Our findings raise the possibility that maternal unresponsiveness to HLA-G–expressing fetal tissues may be shaped in the thymus by a previously unrecognized central presentation of this MHC molecule on the medullary epithelium

WIVERN: A new satellite concept to provide global in-cloud winds, precipitation and cloud properties.

A new satellite concept with a conically scanning W-band Doppler radar to provide in-cloud winds, together with estimates of global rainfall, snowfall and cloud properties. This paper presents a conically scanning space-borne Dopplerized 94GHz radar Earth Science mission concept, WIVERN, ‘Wind VElocity Radar Nephoscope’. WIVERN aims to provide global measurements of in-cloud winds using the Doppler shifted radar returns from hydrometeors. The conically scanning radar could provide wind data with daily revisits poleward of 50°, 50-km horizontal resolution and approximately 1km vertical resolution. The measured winds, when assimilated into weather forecasts and provided they are representative of the larger scale mean flow, should lead to further improvements in the accuracy and effectiveness of forecasts of severe weather and better focusing of activities to limit damage and loss of life. It should also be possible to characterize the more variable winds associated with local convection. Polarization diversity would be used to enable high wind speeds to be unambiguously observed; analysis indicates that artifacts associated with polarization diversity are rare and can be identified. Winds should be measurable down to 1 km above the ocean surface and 2 km over land. The potential impact of the WIVERN winds on reducing forecast errors is estimated by comparison with the known positive impact of cloud motion and aircraft winds. The main thrust of WIVERN is observing in-cloud winds, but WIVERN should also provide global estimates of ice water content, cloud cover and vertical distribution continuing the data series started by CloudSat with the conical scan giving increased coverage. As with CloudSat, estimates of rainfall and snowfall rates should be possible. These non-wind products may also have a positive impact when assimilated into weather forecasts

High resolution profiling of the atmospheric boundary layer

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List of rare, endemic and threatened plants in Romania (I)

The IUCN list of rare, endemic and threatened plant species of Romania are presented with the indication of corresponding IUCN Red Data Book Categories, habitat codes and threat codes. In this first report 47 endemic and 101 other threatened plant species were included

Using "Double Metre" method in studying Secuieu prairies (Apuseni Mountains)

Dans les recherches actuelles des prairies de la Roumanie il s'impose l'application d'une methode qui fournit des donnees numeriques concernant la structure du tapis vert, c'est-a-dire les changements quantitatifs et qualitatifs qui y ont lieu, dans le but: - de connaitre les changements structurax, consequence de l'amelioration, application d'engrais chimiques et naturals, herbicides, drainage etc; de trouver de nouveaux procedes pour apprecier la valeur des prairies au point de vue du paturage; de preciser les unites utilisees dans la typologie pratologique. En poursuivant nos etudes ecologiques concernant la productivite des prairies et le circuit de l'azote dans les praires (6,7), de meme utiliser une methode simple d'etude ecologique de la structure des prairies ayant comme but les changements intervenes dans les experiences effectuees dans le stationnaire grace a l'enregistrement de certains indices specifiques (frequnce specifique, contribution specifique)