Energy-rate based MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks and key pre-distribution schemes

Sensor networks are typically unattended because of their deployment in hazardous, hostile or remote environments. This makes the problem of conserving energy at individual sensor nodes challenging. S-MAC and PAMAS are two MAC protocols which periodically put nodes (selected at random) to sleep in order to achieve energy savings. Unlike these protocols, we propose an approach in which node duty cycles (i.e sleep and wake schedules) are based on their criticality. A distributed algorithm is used to find sets of winners and losers, who are then assigned appropriate slots in our TDMA based MAC protocol. We introduce the concept of energy-criticality of a sensor node as a function of energies and traffic rates. Our protocol makes more critical nodes sleep longer, thereby balancing the energy consumption. Security in sensor networks is more important than traditional networks as they are deployed in hostile environments and are more prone to capture. Trusted third party authentication schemes, public-key systems are not suitable owing to their high resource requirements. Key pre-distribution was introduced in to solve this problem. Our scheme achieves identical connectivity compared to the random key pre distribution using a less number of preloaded keys in each sensor node. Our proposed key pre-distribution scheme is based on assigning keys to sensors by placing them on a grid. This approach has been further modified to use multiple mappings of keys to nodes. In each mapping every node gets distinct set of keys which it shares with different nodes. The key assignment is done such that, there will be keys in common between nodes in different sub-grids. After randomly being deployed, the nodes discover common keys, authenticate and communicate securely. The analysis and simulation results show that this scheme is able to achieve better security compared to the random schemes

Peptide Design for Mesenchymal Stem Cell Specific Attachment on Apatite Surfaces for Bone Tissue Regeneration.

Over 2 million bone grafting procedures are performed annually worldwide for the treatment of bone defects. Cell transplantation therapies are promising alternatives to conventional auto-, allo-, and xenograft therapies. Successfully delivering stem and progenitor cells to the defect site requires biomaterials that support and guide reconstruction. Biomaterial functionalization with extracellular matrix derivatives to improve adhesion and guide tissue regeneration lacks specificity towards particular regenerative cell populations. In order to direct cell specific adhesion to specific biomaterial surface chemistries, we used a combinatorial phage display strategy to identify 2 sequences, 1 with high affinity towards apatite (VTK) and a second with high affinity to clonally derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from human bone marrow stroma (DPI) and combined the two sequences into a dual-functioning peptide (DPI-VTK). Dual-functioning peptide DPI-VTK exhibited greater apatite binding compared to single peptide controls (p < 0.01). Mesenchymal stem cells on DPI-VTK coated apatite substrates exhibited greater adhesion strength compared to pre-osteoblasts and fibroblasts (p <0.01). DPI-VTK also increased MSC spreading (p < 0.001) and proliferation (p < 0.001) compared to apatite controls while supporting differentiation on apatite substrates. Competitive inhibition revealed RGD-binding integrin involvement in MSC attachment to DPI-VTK. MSC driven bone formation, cellularity and vascularization in a subcutaneous mouse model were greater on DPI-VTK coated PLGA-mineral composite scaffolds compared to VTK (p < 0.017) and uncoated controls (p <0.001) and acellular peptide-coated controls (p <0.002). Taken together, DPI-VTK improves MSC specific attachment and subsequent adhesion on mineralized substrates driving greater proliferation and bone formation compared to acellular and non-peptide coated controls. A vast array of biomaterials and multitude of regenerative cell sources are available for tissue regeneration applications. As tissue engineering shifts from developing technologies to meet general clinical challenges to addressing more focused clinical applications, there will be an increased need for delivering cell specific cues to material surfaces with defined surface chemistries. Combinatorial phage display is a powerful platform to enable focused cell based tissue regeneration through the discovery of cell specific and material specific peptide sequences.PhDBiomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116680/1/sramara_1.pd

Analysis and Exposure of Parkinson’s Disease Signal in the Vicinity of Wavelet Transform

Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) is a gradual progressive central neurodegenerative disorder that affects body movement and is characterized by symptoms such as muscle rigidity, resting tremors, loss of facial expression, hypophonia, diminished blinking, and akinesia [4]. This work aims at providing new insights on the Parkinson\u27s disease fragmentation problem using wavelets [1, 2, 3]. The present work describes a computer model to provide a more accurate picture of the Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) signal processing via Wavelet Transform [7, 8, 9, 10]. The Matlab techniques have been uses which provide a system oriented scientific decision making modal [7, 8]. Within this practice the applied signal has been compared in a sequential order with dissimilar cases in attendance in the database. Special biomedical signals have been considered from Gait in Aging and Disease Database [6] and Physio bank [5]. Analyze the signal under consideration and renowned the holder 100% truthfully

Egg removal device for the management of three stored product pests

Investigations were carried out to assess the efficiency of pulse beetle egg removal device in the removal of eggs of Tribolium castaneum and Rhyzopertha dominica from infested sorghum, wheat, maize and paddy grains and the eggs of Lasioderma serricorne from infested coriander. The efficiency of the device or the impact of rotation was assessed based on the number of offspring adults emerged and percentage reduction in adult emergence compared to untreated controls. Rotation of the grains for three consecutive days for 15 min/day gave the highest reduction in the emergence of offspring adults. Reductions in emergence of T. castaneum and R. dominica were found to be 54 and 57% in sorghum; 69 and 69% in wheat; and 71 and 76% in maize, respectively. There was a 77% reduction in L. serricorne on coriander seed, and a similar level for R. dominica on paddy. Keywords: Pulse beetle egg removal device, Tribolium castaneum, Rhyzopertha dominica, Lasioderma serricorn

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Working Memory: Comparison of effect on Learning Shapes and English Letters

We present the results of a study investigating whether there is an effect of Anodal-Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (A-tDCS) on working memory (WM) performance. The relative effectiveness of A-tDCS on WM is investigated using a 2-back test protocol using two commonly used memory visual stimuli (shapes and letters). In a double-blinded, randomised, crossover, sham-controlled experiment, real A-tDCS and sham A-tDCS were applied separately to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC) of twenty healthy subjects. There was a minimal interval of one week between sham and real A-tDCS sessions. For the letters based stimulus experiment, 2-back test recall accuracy was measured for a set of English letters (A-L) which were presented individually in a randomised order where each was separated by a blank interval. A similar 2-back protocol was used for the shapes based stimuli experiment where instead of letters, a set of 12 geometric shapes were used. The working memory accuracy scores measured appeared to be significantly affected by memory stimulus type used and by the application of A-tDCS (repeated measures ANOVA p<0.05). A large effect size (d = 0.98) and statistical significance between sham and real A-tDCS WM scores (p = 0.01) was found when shapes were used as a visual testing stimulus, while low (d = 0.38) effect size and insignificant difference (p = 0.15) was found when letters were used. This results are important as they show that recollection different stimuli used in working memory can be affected differently by A-tDCS application. This highlights the importance of considering using multiple methods of WM testing when assessing the effectiveness of A-tDCS

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ENUMERATION OF SOIL MYCOFLORA IN BRINJAL CROP FIELDS.

A total of 36 species of fungi belonging to 15 genera were isolated from brinjal crop fields of Kodad. The present study results clearly revealed that the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil showed variation in diversity of mycoflora.  Aspergillus was observed to be an important component of the present rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil fungal flora constituting 70.54% and 58.96% respectively, and Aspergillus niger was observed to be predominant species in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils.Key words: microflora, non-rhizosphere, rhizospher

Load Balancing for Multiplexing Gains of BBU Pool in 5G Cloud Radio Access Networks

Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is an architecture for 5G cellular networks to improve coverage, increase data rates, enhancing signaling efficiency etc. In C-RAN architecture of 5G cellular networks, multiple Base Station (BS) Base Band processing Units (BBU) are centralized in the cloud. Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) that reside at cell sites will have only antennas and other radio frequency functions. The central cloud based system will provide higher layer protocols of LTEBS that process on a pool of BBUs on top of a pool of computing resources i.e., General Purpose Processors (GPPs). The centralized BBU pool and RRHs are connected with high speed optical fiber links. Each BBU maps to a GPP that has a specified processing capacity and processes In-phase Quadrature (IQ) samples received from Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) deployed at cell sites. A single BBU can serve multiple RRHs based on the limits imposed on processing capacity of GPP. C-RAN helps telecom service providers in cutting down their CAPEX and OPEX by reducing power consumption of BBUs

Studies on physico-chemical characteristics and microbial diversity of top-soil collected from proposed coal mining area of Latehar district, Jharkhand

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals from earth. Mining creates pollution which affects the surrounding environment. Loss of many biological species and deterioration of soil quality were the ultimate consequences. During mining, companies should adopt mitigation measures for maintaining good environmental conditions. EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) is required to understand the status of the environment that will help in taking up appropriate strategy to combat any adverse effect on it. Soil status is one of the key factors in the EIA. Land rehabilitation and mine reclamation are very crucial after finishing of mining. For this purpose the present study was conducted on physico-chemical characteristics and microbial diversity of top soil from selected villages (Nawari, Tubed and Dhobiajharan) in the proposed coal mining area of Tubed Coal Mines Ltd., Latehar district, Jharkhand, India. The results showed that the pH of the soil was found to be slightly acidic in nature. The bulk density and the specific gravity of the soil samples were very low, that indicates that the soil samples contain higher organic matter which is suitable for the growth of plants. The Chloride content ranged between 8.62 – 12.69 mg/g which is far higher than normal range (0.3 -1 mg/g). Potassium content is extremely high in all the soil samples which ranged between 566- 597 Kg/ha except the soil samples from Dhobiajharan village which is found to be very low 63 Kg/ha (normal range is 198.5-254.1 Kg/ha). 5 bacterial species (Bacillus species, Micrococcus species, Pseudomonas species, Staphylococcus species and Enterobacter species) and one fungal species (Aspergillus sp.) were identified from the soil samples. From the result it is concluded that the soils is rich in macronutrients which is essential for the growth of plants. Hence the suitability of the soil should be maintained after completion of mining in the proposed area