ECoR: Energy-Aware Collaborative Routing for Task Offload in Sustainable UAV Swarms

In this work, we propose an Energy-aware Collaborative Routing (ECoR) scheme for optimally handling task offloading between source and destination UAVs in a grid-locked UAV swarm. We divide the proposed scheme into two parts -- routing path discovery and routing path selection. The scheme selects the most optimal path between a source and destination from a massive set of all possible paths, based on the maximization of residual energy of UAVs along a selected path. This routing path selection ensures balanced energy utilization between members of the UAV swarm and enhances the overall path lifetime without incurring additional delays in doing so. Actual readings from our small-scale UAV swarm testbed are utilized to emulate a large-scale scenario and analyze the behavior of our proposed scheme. Upon comparison of the ECoR scheme with broadcast-based routing and the shortest path based routing, we observe better sustainability regarding the longevity of the UAV lifetimes in the swarm, optimized individual UAV, as well as reduced collective path-based energy consumption, all the while having comparable transmission delays to the shortest path based scheme

CIM and IEC 61850 integration issues : application to power systems

Common Information Model (CIM) is emerging as a standard for information modelling for power control centers. While, IEC 61850 by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is emerging as a standard for achieving interoperability and automation at the substation level. In future, once these two standards are well adopted, the issue of integration of these standards becomes imminent. Some efforts reported towards the integration of these standards have been surveyed. This paper describes a possible approach for the integration of IEC 61850 and CIM standards based on mapping between the representation of elements of these two standards. This enables seamless data transfer from one standard to the other. Mapping between the objects of IEC 61850 and CIM standards both in the static and dynamic models is discussed. A CIM based topology processing application is used to demonstrate the design of the data transfer between the standards. The scope and status of implementation of CIM in the Indian power sector is briefed

Low Mach number slip flow through diverging microchannel

This paper presents experimental and three-dimensional numerical study of gaseous slip flow through diverging microchannel. The measurements are performed for nitrogen gas flowing through microchannel with different divergence angles (4 degrees, 8 degrees, 12 degrees and 16 degrees), hydraulic diameters (118, 147 and 177 mu m) and lengths (10, 20 and 30 mm). The Knudsen number falls in the continuum and slip regimes (0.0005 <= Kn <= 0.1; Mach number is between 0.03 and 0.2 for the slip regime) while the flow Reynolds number ranges between 0.4 and 1280. The static pressure drop is measured for various mass flow rates; and it is observed that the pressure drop decreases with an increase in the divergence angle. The viscous component has a relatively large contribution in the overall pressure drop. The numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations with the Maxwell's slip boundary condition shows absence of flow reversal (due to slip at the wall), larger viscous diffusion and lower kinetic energy in the diverging microchannel. The centerline velocity and wall shear stress decrease with an increase in the divergence angle. The numerical results further show three different flow behaviors: a nonlinear pressure variation with rapid flow deceleration in the initial part of the microchannel; uniform centerline velocity with linear pressure variation in the middle part, and flow acceleration with nonlinear pressure variation in the last part of the microchannel. A characteristic length scale for diverging microchannel is also defined. The location of the characteristic length is a function of the Knudsen number and shifts toward the microchannel inlet with rarefaction. Mass flow rate and pressure distribution along the channel are also obtained numerically from the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method and compared suitably with the experimental data or Navier-Stokes solutions. Empirical relations for the mass flow rate and Poiseuille number are suggested. These results on gaseous slip flow through diverging microchannels are considerably different than their continuum counterparts, and are not previously available. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

- Fully completed

We study how SVM-based binary classifiers are used for multi-way classification. We present the results of experiments run on various UCI and KDD datasets, using the SVM Light package. The methods evaluated are 1-versus-1, 1-versus-many and Erroc Correcting Output Coding (ECOC)

Experimental assessment on effect of lower porosities of bend skewed casing treatment on the performance of high speed compressor stage with tip critical rotor characteristics

Development of casing treatment geometries which will enhance the stable operating envelope of the compressor stage without sacrificing the efficiency is a great challenge for the designers. Bend skewed casing treatment with relatively lower porosities in the presence of plenum chamber is proven to be capable of improving the stall margin and gain in the compressor stage efficiency compared to other conventional casing treatments. Experimental investigations presented in this paper show very encouraging results with substantial improvement in the stable margin of the compressor stage with increase in the stage efficiency. The three bend skewed casing treatments designed for the experimental evaluations have porosities of 21%, 33% and 45%. The steady and transient performances of these three casing treatment geometries are evaluated at two axial extensions of 20% and 40%. Flow survey at the rotor exit shows distinct behaviors of the aerodynamic parameters in the tip region at near stall flow condition. The unsteady velocity measurements are performed with hot wire probe in the tip region ahead of the rotor leading edge to capture the fluctuations in the inlet axial velocity and the results are presented at the stall flow condition. The presence of the casing treatment changes the stalling behavior of the compressor stage. Highest porosity casing treatment results in 40.62% improvement in the stall margin with 0.88% improvement in the compressor stage efficiency at 20% axial extension

Custom design of protein particles as multifunctional biomaterials

Assembled protein particles, as emerging biomaterials, have broad applications ranging from vaccines and drug delivery to biocatalysis and particle tracking, but to date these require trial-and-error rational design experimentation and/or intensive computational methods to generate. Here, the authors describe an easy-to-implement engineering strategy to generate customized protein particles as multifunctional biomaterials. They utilize protein–peptide modules to generate functional nanoparticles whose assembly and size is controlled by the addition of mild stimuli. The protein assembling method is versatile, as exemplified through particle formation with 7 distinct protein modules, using a variety of assembly conditions tailored by the chemistries of 3 peptide partners. They have generated customized protein particles using enzymes, binding and reporter proteins, and their functions and utilities are demonstrated using biocatalysis, sensing, and labelling applications, respectively. Furthermore, co-assembly with two functional proteins within one particle has been successfully achieved and demonstrated. Physical insights into the kinetics and molecular mechanisms of particle formation are revealed by small angle X-ray scattering and mass photometry, providing fundamental knowledge to guide design and manufacture these interesting biomaterials in future. Their protein assembling strategy is a reliable method for fabricating a protein particle to deliver new functionalities on-demand

In vivo growth-inhibition of Sarcoma 180 by piplartine and piperine, two alkaloid amides from Piper

Piplartine {5,6-dihydro-1-[1-oxo-3-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-2-propenyl]-2(1H)pyridinone} and piperine {1-5-(1,3)-benzodioxol-5-yl)-1-oxo-2,4-pentadienyl]piperidine} are alkaloid amides isolated from Piper. Both have been reported to show cytotoxic activity towards several tumor cell lines. In the present study, the in vivo antitumor activity of these compounds was evaluated in 60 female Swiss mice (N = 10 per group) transplanted with Sarcoma 180. Histopathological and morphological analyses of the tumor and the organs, including liver, spleen, and kidney, were performed in order to evaluate the toxicological aspects of the treatment with these amides. Administration of piplartine or piperine (50 or 100 mg kg-1 day-1 intraperitoneally for 7 days starting 1 day after inoculation) inhibited solid tumor development in mice transplanted with Sarcoma 180 cells. The inhibition rates were 28.7 and 52.3% for piplartine and 55.1 and 56.8% for piperine, after 7 days of treatment, at the lower and higher doses, respectively. The antitumor activity of piplartine was related to inhibition of the tumor proliferation rate, as observed by reduction of Ki67 staining, a nuclear antigen associated with G1, S, G2, and M cell cycle phases, in tumors from treated animals. However, piperine did not inhibit cell proliferation as observed in Ki67 immunohistochemical analysis. Histopathological analysis of liver and kidney showed that both organs were reversibly affected by piplartine and piperine treatment, but in a different way. Piperine was more toxic to the liver, leading to ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes, accompanied by microvesicular steatosis in some areas, than piplartine which, in turn, was more toxic to the kidney, leading to discrete hydropic changes of the proximal tubular and glomerular epithelium and tubular hemorrhage in treated animals