On the design of an energy-efficient low-latency integrated protocol for distributed mobile sensor networks

Self organizing, wireless sensors networks are an emergent and challenging technology that is attracting large attention in the sensing and monitoring community. Impressive progress has been done in recent years even if we need to assume that an optimal protocol for every kind of sensor network applications can not exist. As a result it is necessary to optimize the protocol for certain scenarios. In many applications for instance latency is a crucial factor in addition to energy consumption. MERLIN performs its best in such WSNs where there is the need to reduce the latency while ensuring that energy consumption is kept to a minimum. By means of that, the low latency characteristic of MERLIN can be used as a trade off to extend node lifetimes. The performance in terms of energy consumption and latency is optimized by acting on the slot length. MERLIN is designed specifically to integrate routing, MAC and localization protocols together. Furthermore it can support data queries which is a typical application for WSNs. The MERLIN protocol eliminates the necessity to have any explicit handshake mechanism among nodes. Furthermore, the reliability is improved using multiple path message propagation in combination with an overhearing mechanism. The protocol divides the network into subsets where nodes are grouped in time zones. As a result MERLIN also shows a good scalability by utilizing an appropriate scheduling mechanism in combination with a contention period

2014/15 Skills2Play/Sport programme evaluation

The Primary School Physical Literacy Framework reflects the importance of the development of children’s physical literacy; “the motivation, confidence, knowledge and understanding that provides children with the movement foundation for lifelong participation in physical activity.” It also provides clear guidance as to how schools can maximise opportunities to develop the physical literacy of their pupils. Skills2Play and Skills2PlaySport are two complementary primary school physical literacy initiatives designed to support the objectives of the new Framework. Together they comprise the Skills2Play/Sport programme. Throughout this report the term Skills2Play/Sport refers to the programme, comprising both initiatives (Skills2Play and Skills2PlaySport). The programme consists of training and a resource and equipment package, which includes activity cards for both Skills2Play (blue cards) and Skills2PlaySport (purple cards) supplied to primary school deliverers by the Youth Sport Trust. Skills2Play is targeted at Key Stage 1 (KS1) and focuses on generic skill development through a range of play activities that focus on stability, object control and locomotion. Skills2PlaySport is targeted at lower Key Stage 2 (KS2) and includes multiskill activities that build from the generic skills but also introduce the connectivity with the sports through the development of skills specific to sporting ‘themes’, namely ‘Invasion’, ‘Striking and Fielding’ and ‘Net/Wall’. Further themes are currently at varying stages of development and include ‘Aquatics’, ‘Gymnastics’, ‘Athletics’ and ‘Wheels’. ABOUT THE EVALUATION The Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR) was commissioned by the Youth Sport Trust to conduct an independent evaluation of the Skills2Play/Sport programme between January 2014 and July 2015. The initial stages of the evaluation focused on the pilot programme undertaken in fifty primary schools. In May 2014 SPEAR produced the Pilot Evaluation Report, which captured teachers’ experiences of the training, resources and delivery of the Skills2Play/Sport pilot programme. The programme was then rolled out to 1,000 schools nationally and the objectives of the Evaluation of the national Skills2Play/Sport programme were as follows: 1. To assess how Skills2PlaySport and Skills2Play are being delivered and sustained in primary schools to support children’s physical literacy development. 2. To investigate the impact of Skills2PlaySport on the development of lower Key Stage 2 children’s physical literacy over 12 weeks of the programme. 3. To investigate the impact of Skills2Play on the development of Key Stage 1 children’s physical literacy over 12 weeks of the programme

Determination of the total grain size distribution in a Vulcanian eruption column, and its implications to stratospheric aerosol perturbation

Grain size analysis of samples representing all sampleable portions of the airfall deposit produced by the Fuego volcano in Guatemala on 14 October 1974 form the basis for estimating the total grain size distribution of tephra from this eruption. The region enclosed by each isopach has a particular average grain size distribution which can be weighted proportionally to its percentage volume. The grain size of pyroclastic avalanche deposits produced during the eruption are also included. The total grain size distribution calculated as a sum of weighted distributions has a median grain size of 0.8∅ (0.6mm) and a sorting coefficient (σ∅) of 2.3. The size distribution seems to approximate Rosin and Rammler\u27s law of crushing and this observation allows us to estimate that no more than 15% volume of the fine tail of the total size distribution is likely to be missing. The ash composed of these fine particles did not fall in the region of the volcano as part of the recognizable tephra blanket. The eruption column reached well into the stratosphere: heights estimated from the ground were 10-12 km above sea level but estimated heights based on mass flux rates are higher (18-23 km). The proportion of ash smaller than 2 µm, which could remain for substantial periods in the stratosphere, is no more than 0.8% volume of the total. It seems probable that acid aerosol particles from vulcanian type eruptions are more important to stratospheric aerosol perturbation than fine silicate ash particles by at least an order of magnitude

Surface Textures and Features Indicative of Endogenous Growth at the McCartys Flow Field, NM, as an Analog to Martian Volcanic Plains

Basaltic lavas typically form channels or tubes, which are recognized on the Earth and Mars. Although largely unrecognized in the planetary community, terrestrial inflated sheet flows also display morphologies that share many commonalities with lava plains on Mars. The McCartys lava flow field is among the youngest (approx.3000 yrs) basaltic flows in the continental United States. The southwest sections of the flow displays smooth, flat-topped plateaus with irregularly shaped pits and hummocky inter-plateau units that form a polygonal surface. Plateaus are typically elongate in map view, up to 20 m high and display lineations within the glassy crust. Lineated surfaces occasionally display small < 1m diameter lava coils. Lineations are generally straight and parallel each other, sometimes for over 100 meters. The boundaries between plateaus and depressions are also lineated and tilted to angles sometimes approaching vertical. Plateau-parallel cracks, sometimes containing squeeze-ups, mark the boundary between tilted crust and plateau. Some plateau depressions display level floors with hummocky surfaces, while some are bowl shaped with floors covered in broken lava slabs. The lower walls of pits sometimes display lateral, sagged lava wedges. Infrequently, pit floors display the upper portion of a tumulus from an older flow. In some places the surface crust has been disrupted forming a slabby texture. Slabs are typically on the scale of a meter or less across and no less than 7-10 cm thick. The slabs preserve the lineated textures of the undisturbed plateau crust. It appears that this style of terrain represents the emplacement of an extensive sheet that experiences inflation episodes within preferred regions where lateral spreading of the sheet is inhibited, thereby forming plateaus. Rough surfaces represent inflation-related disruption of pahoehoe lava and not a a lava. Depressions are often the result of non-inflation and can be clearly identified by lateral squeeze-outs along the pit walls that form when the rising crust exposes the still liquid core of the sheet. The plains of Tharsis and Elysium, Mars, display many analogous feature

Seasonal Abundance of Adult and Immature Aedes Aegypti (L.) in Jakarta

Dari bulan Mei 1973 sampai bulan Juni 1974 telah dilakukan pengamatan nyamuk Aedes aegypti stadium dewasa dan larva di keempat daerah kota yang berpenduduk padat di Jakarta Raya. Pengamatan dikerjakan 2 kali dalam satu bulan Daya tarik nyamuk terhadap manusia rata-rata 1.2 induk betina dan 1.6 untuk nyamuk jantan tiap orang tiap jam. Dalam 100 rumah diketemukan rata-rata 180 buah bejana berisi air, dimana 58 buah positif; Container index (persentasi bejana yang tositif) 32 persen House index (persentasi rumah yang positif) adalah 47 persen dan Breteau index jumlah bejana positif dalam 100 rumah) adalah 58. Kepadatan nyamuk baik larva maupun dewasa rata-rata hampir sama sepanjang tahun, (tidak ada perbedaan pada musim hujan dan musim panas), temperatur dan kelembaban juga rata-rata hampir sama sepanjang tahun. hampir semua tempat perindukan terdapat didalam rumah, hingga sedikit sekali bejana diluar rumah yang terisi oleh air hujan dalam musim hujan

Preliminary site report for the 2005 ICDP-USGS deep corehole in the Chesapeake Bay impact crater

First report for the ICDP-USGS 1.7-km-deep corehole drilled into the central part of the Chesapeake Bay impact crater during 2005

韓国の水田の蚊幼虫捕食性魚類に対する農薬の毒性

An important consideration regarding the maintenance or increase of fish populations in rice field areas in relation to Japanese encephalitis is whether the agricultural chemicals applied to rice fields are harmful to fish. This study has shown that the herbicide PCP, which is commonly used in South Korea during the rice-transplanting period, is highly toxic to Aplocheilus latipes and Zacco platypus. Both species are larvivorous and offer promise in integrated vector control. On the other hand, certain organophosphorus materials applied for rice pest control and the herbicide 2-4 D did not appear to be toxic to fish populations.水田地域における魚類個体群の維持と増加にとって,水田に撒布される農薬が魚に有害かどうかゞ重要である.韓国南部で田植時期に普通に使用される除草剤PCPは,Aplocheilus latipesメダカ及びZacco platypusオイカワに対して強い毒性を示す.両種は蚊の幼虫を捕食するので,蚊の総合防除に当り考慮されるべきものである.一方,稲作害虫に対して撒布される有機燐剤や除草剤2-4Dは魚類個体群に有毒ではないようであった

On the linear stability of solitons and hairy black holes with a negative cosmological constant: the odd-parity sector

Using a recently developed perturbation formalism based on curvature quantities, we investigate the linear stability of black holes and solitons with Yang-Mills hair and a negative cosmological constant. We show that those solutions which have no linear instabilities under odd- and even- parity spherically symmetric perturbations remain stable under odd-parity, linear, non-spherically symmetric perturbations.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur