Low-cost test measurement setup for real IoT BLE sensor device characterization

The methodology presented in this paper aims to characterize impairments shown by real devices which are usually neglected on standardized tests but that become very important in massive IoT scenarios. For instance, we have measured that real BLE scanners are not able to scan continuously even though they are configured to do so. Besides, we have also found and demonstrated that some manufacturers seem not to apply any backoff mechanism although it is mandatory. These two unexpected behaviors have a significant impact on the performance of massive wireless sensor networks based on BLE. So, it becomes necessary to characterize these and other impairments. The proposed tests are based on device current consumption measurements and their association with the information obtained from upper layers. We describe a new low-cost generic measurement setup and provide all the necessary data (configuration parameters, scripts, etc.) for applying the proposed methodology. As an example, we use it to profile the behavior of Bluetooth Low Energy devices. Furthermore, the proposed setup can also inspire researchers to characterize other wireless technology devices, like Wi-Fi, Zigbee, LoRa, etc

Montezuma Quail in the Edwards Plateau of Texas: Detection, Occurrence, and Habitat

Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) were historically found throughout nearly every county in the Edwards Plateau region of Texas, USA. Over the last century, shifting land use, reduction of fire on the landscape, and the subsequent encroachment of woody vegetation have constricted the distribution of Montezuma quail to a few counties in the southern portion of the Edwards Plateau. A renewed interest in management for Montezuma quail over the last decade has been met with a lack of information regarding their habitat requirements in this region. This lack of general information and increased sightings of this elusive species in areas where Ashe’s juniper (Juniperus ashei) had been removed led to the initiation of this study to identify detection and site use. During April–August of 2015 and 2016, biweekly call-back surveys were conducted at 60 randomly stratified locations distributed across 9 properties in Edwards and Kinney counties, Texas. During each survey, weather conditions were recorded. Additionally, vegetation at each of the 60 survey locations was quantified. Montezuma quail were detected at 46% (28 of 60) of the survey locations during 6.7% of the total site visits during 2015 and 2016. Detection of Montezuma quail during call-back surveys was mostly explained by temperature. When temperatures exceeded 25 °C, probability of detection dropped below 70%. Site use by Montezuma quail was best explained by bunchgrass density as probability of site use exceeded 50% when bunchgrass density exceeded 0.63 plant/m2. Future researchers may be more successful searching for Montezuma quail with an understanding of the environmental conditions under which they are most detectable. Furthermore, since relatively dense stands of bunchgrass were associated with site occupancy, this metric gives managers a management target to shoot for when restoring Montezuma quail habitat in the region

A Simulation Model of Sustained-Yield Harvest for Northern Bobwhite in South Texas

Recommended sustainable harvest rates for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) vary greatly and range from 25% to 70% of the prehunt population. Because northern bobwhite populations have declined across their geographic range, determining sustainable harvest levels is critical for effective management. Our objectives were to use simulation modeling to identify sustainable rates of bobwhite harvest, probability of population persistence, and minimum viable population estimates. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impacts of harvest on northern bobwhite populations in Texas, USA. We constructed a simulation model using Program STELLA 9.0 for a hypothetical northern bobwhite population on 800 ha in the South Texas Plains USA and modeled population dynamics to 100 years over a range of harvest rates (0–40%). A 20% harvest rate produced the greatest average yields (mean ± standard error = 231 ± 10 bobwhites harvested/year). Given a quasi-extinction criterion of ≤40 bobwhites (≤0.05 bobwhite/ha), a 30% harvest rate resulted in a high probability of quasi-extinction (PE = 0.75) within 47.8 ± 2.3 years. A 40% harvest rate was not sustainable (PE = 1.0), with quasi-extinction occurring within 15.5 ± 2.6 years. Harvesting northern bobwhite populations in the South Texas Plains at rates of 20−25% of the prehunt population should maximize long-term harvest while minimizing the probability of population extinction. Spring densities of 0.60−0.80 bobwhite/ha may represent minimum viable spring densities for northern bobwhite populations in the South Texas Plains as these are the densities associated with sustainable 20-25% harvest rates. Harvest rates \u3e30% are likely to be excessive with respect to long-term population persistence for northern bobwhite populations in the South Texas Plains

Bounds on the Wilson Dirac Operator

New exact upper and lower bounds are derived on the spectrum of the square of the hermitian Wilson Dirac operator. It is hoped that the derivations and the results will be of help in the search for ways to reduce the cost of simulations using the overlap Dirac operator. The bounds also apply to the Wilson Dirac operator in odd dimensions and are therefore relevant to domain wall fermions as well.Comment: 16 pages, TeX, 3 eps figures, small corrections and improvement

Apoptosis of peritoneal leucocytes during early stages of Fasciola hepatica infections in sheep

Several immunomodulatory properties have been described in Fasciola hepatica infections. Apoptosis has been shown to be an effective mechanism to avoid the immune response in helminth infections. The aim of the present work was to study apoptosis in peritoneal leucocytes of sheep experimentally infected with F. hepatica during the early stages of infection. Five groups (n = 5) of sheep were used. Groups 2–5 were orally infected with 200 metacercariae (mc) and sacrificed at 1, 3, 9 and 18 days post-infection (dpi), respectively. Group 1 was used as the uninfected control (UC). Apoptosis was detected using three different methods 1) immunocytochemistry (ICC) with a polyclonal antibody anti-active caspase-3; 2) an annexin V flow cytometry assay using the Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide (PI); and 3) transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The differential leucocyte count revealed that the majority of peritoneal granulocytes were eosinophils, which increased significantly at 9 and 18 dpi with respect to the uninfected controls. The ICC study revealed that the percentage of caspase-3+ apoptotic peritoneal leucocytes increased significantly from 3 dpi onwards with respect to the uninfected controls. The flow cytometry annexin V assay detected a very significant (P < 0.001) increase of apoptotic peritoneal macrophages, lymphocytes and granulocytes, which remained higher than in the UC until 18 dpi. Transmission electron microscopy studies also confirmed the presence of apoptosis in peritoneal eosinophils at 18 dpi. This is the first report of apoptosis induced by F. hepatica in the peritoneal leucocytes of sheep in vivo. The results of this work suggest the importance of apoptosis induction for the survival of the juvenile parasites in the peritoneal migratory stages of infection.This work was supported by EU grants (H2020-635408-PARAGONE) and the Spanish Ministry of Science grant AGL2015-67023-C2-1-R. The TEM studies were carried out by the Central Research Services (SCAI) of the University of CórdobaAccepted manuscriptVeterinari

Exploring the high-pressure behavior of the three known polymorphs of BiPO4: Discovery of a new polymorph

The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4914407 . Authors own version of final article on e-print serversWe have studied the structural behavior of bismuth phosphate under compression. We performed x-ray powder diffraction measurements up to 31.5 GPa and ab initio calculations. Experiments were carried out on different polymorphs: trigonal (phase I) and monoclinic (phases II and III). Phases I and III, at low pressure (P < 0.2-0.8 GPa), transform into phase II, which has a monazite-type structure. At room temperature, this polymorph is stable up to 31.5 GPa. Calculations support these findings and predict the occurrence of an additional transition from the monoclinic monazite-type to a tetragonal scheelite-type structure (phase IV). This transition was experimentally found after the simultaneous application of pressure (28 GPa) and temperature (1500 K), suggesting that at room temperature the transition might by hindered by kinetic barriers. Calculations also predict an additional phase transition at 52 GPa, which exceeds the maximum pressure achieved in the experiments. This transition is from phase IV to an orthorhombic barite-type structure (phase V). We also studied the axial and bulk compressibility of BiPO4. Room-temperature pressure-volume equations of state are reported. BiPO4 was found to be more compressible than isomorphic rare-earth phosphates. The discovered phase IV was determined to be the less compressible polymorph of BiPO4. On the other hand, the theoretically predicted phase V has a bulk modulus comparable with that of monazite-type BiPO4. Finally, the isothermal compressibility tensor for the monazite-type structure is reported at 2.4 GPa showing that the direction of maximum compressibility is in the (0 1 0) plane at approximately 15 degrees (21 degrees) to the a axis for the case of our experimental (theoretical) study. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.Research supported by the Spanish government MINECO under Grant No: MAT2013-46649-C4-1/2/3-P and by Generalitat Valenciana under Grants Nos. GVA-ACOMP-2013-1012 and GVA-ACOMP/2014/243. B.G.-D. thanks the financial support from MEC through FPI program. Experiments were performed at MSPD beamline at ALBA Synchrotron Light Facility with the collaboration of ALBA staff.Errandonea, D.; Gomis, O.; Santamaría Pérez, D.; García-Domene, B.; Muñoz, A.; Rodríguez-Hernández, P.; Achary, SN.... (2015). Exploring the high-pressure behavior of the three known polymorphs of BiPO4: Discovery of a new polymorph. Journal of Applied Physics. 117:105902-1-105902-9. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4914407S105902-1105902-911

Comparative dynamics of peritoneal cell immunophenotypes in sheep during the early and late stages of the infection with Fasciola hepatica by flow cytometric analysis

Background: The peritoneal cell populations (PCP) are thought to play a crucial role during the early immune response in Fasciola hepatica infection while newly excysted juveniles (NEJ) are migrating in the peritoneal cavity (PC) towards the liver. In this study, we aimed to determine the immunophenotypes of the PCP and to analyse the dynamics of the recruitment of the PCP during the early and late stage of the infection in sheep infected with F. hepatica. Methods: Thirty-seven sheep were divided into three groups: Group 1 (n = 20) and 2 (n = 10) were challenged with F. hepatica, Group 3 (n = 7) was not infected and remained as uninfected control (UC). After the slaughtering, peritoneal lavages were carried out to isolate peritoneal cell populations at 1, 3, 9 and 18 days post-infection (dpi) for Group 1 and at 14 weeks post-infection (wpi) for Group 2 and 3. Flow cytometry was conducted to assess the dynamics of peritoneal cavity cell populations. Results: TCD4 cells showed a significant decrease at 1 and 18 dpi when compared to UC; no statistical differences were detected for TCD8 and WC1+ γδ during the early stage of the infection with respect to the UC. CD14 cells exhibited a decreasing trend, with a significant decrease at 9 and 18 dpi when compared to the UC. The dynamics of MHCII and CD83 cells showed a similar increasing pattern from 3 to 18 dpi. During the chronic stage, both TCD4 and TCD8 cells showed no significant differences when compared to the UC, although a slight but statistically significant higher level of WC1+ γδ cells was observed. A lower percentage of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) was detected with respect to the UC. Conclusions: The recruitment of the lymphocytes subsets did not show a significant increase during the course of the infection and only WC1+ γδ cells displayed a significant increase at the chronic stage. For the CD14, a decreasing trend was observed during the early stage, which was statistically significant at the chronic stage of the infection. Peritoneal CD83 and MHCII cells developed an increasing trend during the early stage of infection, and showed a significant decrease at the late stage of the infection.This study was funded by the European Union Grant H2020-635408- PARAGONE and by National Grant AGL2015-67023-C2-1-R. RPC was supported by an FPU grant of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Funding bodies were neither involved in the design of the study nor in analysis and interpretation of the dataVeterinari