Integration and management of Wi-Fi offloading in service provider infrastructures

A. Serdar Tan (MEF Author)##nofulltext##Integration of offloading technologies into mobile network operator's infrastructures that provide heterogeneous access services is a challenging task for mobile operators. A connectivity management platform is a key element for heterogeneous mobile network operators in order to enable optimal offloading. In this study, development and integration of a connectivity management platform that uses a novel multiple attribute decision making algorithms for efficient Wi-Fi Offloading in heterogeneous wireless networks is presented. The proposed platform collects several terminal and network level attributes via infrastructure and client Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and decides the best network access technology to connect for requested users. Through experimentation, we provide details on the platform integration with service provider's network and sensitivity analysis of the multiple attribute decision making algorithm

Some researches on the effect of harvesting dates on forage yields and other traits and including cotton yields utilizing some forage crops varieties grown as second winter crop

Bu çalışmada, Menderes vadisinde sürekli pamuk yetiştirilen alanlarda, farklı kışlık ara ürün yem bitkilerinin iki hasat zamanında ot verimleri ve kalite özellikleri araştırılmıştır. Ayrıca, yem bitkilerinin ardından gelen geleneksel ya da işlemesiz olarak ekilen pamuğun bazı verim unsurları üzerine etkisi de belirlenmiştir. Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Araştırma ve Uygulama tarlalarında 1997-1998 ve 1999-2000 üretim sezonlarında, bölünmüş parseller deneme deseninde üç tekrarlamalı olarak yürütülen çalışmada; yem bitkisi denemesinde hasat zamanlan (nisan ortası ve nisan sonu) ana parselleri, 6 yem bitkisi tür veya çeşidi ile bunların yulaf (Avena sativa L.) ile karışımları da alt parselleri oluşturmuştur. Yembitkisi denemesinin ardından kurulan pamuk denemesinde de nisan ortası hasadım takiben sürülerek ve nisan sonu hasadım takiben toprak işlemesiz yapılan ekimler ana parselleri, ön bitki olarak kullanılan yembitkisi türleri de alt parselleri oluşturmuştur. Yembitkileri nisan sonunda hasat edildiğinde kuru madde ve ham protein verimlerinde artışlar olmuştur. Nisan ortası ve nisan sonu hasatlarında, ilk yıl yine sırasıyla 366 ve 657 kg/da kuru madde ile 42 ve 84 kg/da ham protein verimi alınırken, ikinci yıl yine sırasıyla 635 ve 763 kg/da kuru madde ile 93 ve 107 kg/da ham protein verimi elde edilmiştir. Yembitkilerinin karışık ekimleri yalın ekimlerinden daha fazla verim verirken en yüksek yeşil ot ve kuru madde verimlerini Efes-79 çeşidinin yulafla karışımı vermiş ve onu META-3 izlemiştir. Pamuk denemesine ait sonuçlar değerlendirildiğinde, ön bitki olan yem bitkilerinin ve bunların hasat zamanının pamukta verim unsurlarında istatistik olarak önemli farklılıklara neden olmamıştır. Sonuç olarak, bölgemizde Efes-79 (Vida villosa Rom. var. glabrescensYxxa. yulafla olan karışımının kaba yenlinin kaliteli ve yüksek verimli olduğu, ayrıca yembitkisi hasadım takiben, yembitkisi anızı üzerine toprak işlemesi yapılmaksızın pamuk ekilmesinin pamuk verimini azaltmadığı kanısına varılmıştır. This study aims to explore the yield and quality attributes of various winter inter-crop fodder plants in the cotton fields of Menderes Valley, Turkey. This study also evaluates the effects of sowing cotton conventionally and without tillage on cotton yield and lint quality characteristics. This research is conducted in the experiment fields of the Field Crops Department of Faculty of Agriculture at Adnan Menderes University in 1997-1998 and 1999-2000 periods. A field experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with three replications. The plots were split based on harvest date (such as mid-April and late-April). And six fodder plants and their mixtures with oat constituted the subplots. In the cotton experiment that was conduced after the fodder plant harvest, conventional sowing following mid- April harvest, and sowing without any tillage treatment after late-April harvest formed the main plots. Those fodder plants used, as initial plantation constituted the subplots. When the fodder plants harvested at the end of April, an increase in the dry matter and crude protein yield occurred. In mid-April and late-April harvest dates, 366 kg/da and 657 kg/da dry matter and 42 kg/ha and 84 kg/ha crude protein yield obtained in the first year of the experiment respectively. In the second year the dry matter numbers increased to 635 kg/ha and 763 kg/da for dry matter, and 93 kg/ha and 107 kg/da for crude protein yield. Mix sowing of fodder plants was resulted higher yield than their sole planting. The highest fresh and dry fodder yields were obtained from mixture of Efes-79 with oat followed by META-3. In terms of the results of cotton experiment, those fodder plants used as initial plantation and their harvest time has no statistically significant effect on the cotton yield. As conclusion, the mixture of Efes-79 with oat generates high quality and yield crude fodder, and the cotton sowing without any tillage of fodder plant residue does not decrease the cotton yield in our region

Hot tear-melt quality relationship in 3xxx aluminium alloys

Corrosion resistance, formability and high strength is few of the major properties that makes aluminium alloys preferred choice of material for extrusion or deep drawing processes. Particularly, buildings, windows, doors are main application areas and it is growing. Twin roll casting method is used to produce such materials. One of the common problems faced in this method is called hot tearing. The effect of alloying elements is the reason for this defect. As a result, segregation causes tear and decrease process efficiency. The economic impact is immanent. Thus, it is aimed to study the hot tear tendency of 3xxx series aluminium alloys and the effect of alloying elements will be investigated in this work

Sıcak Yırtılmanın Alüminyum Alaşımlarının Metal Kalitesine Etkisinin İncelenmesi ve Alaşımların Titreşim Karakteristiğinin Belirlenmesi

Alüminyum alaşımlarının döküm yoluyla üretilmesindeki önemli kusurlardan birisi sıcak yırtılmadır. Bu çalışmada, farklı özelliklere sahip 1050 ve 5083 döküm alaşımlarının sıcak yırtılmaları araştırılmış ve sıcak yırtılmaya neden olan tasarım parametreleri ile döküm koşulları belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca sıcak yırtılmanın metalografik ve mekanik özellikler üzerindeki etkileri de araştırılmıştır. Bununla birlikte, Vakum Altında Katılaşma Testi (VAKT) ile bifilm indeks ölçümleri gerçekleştirilerek sıcak yırtılmanın metal kalitesi üzerindeki etkileri, döküm alaşımlarının yapısındaki porozitelerin varlığına bağlı olarak incelenmiştir. Son olarak, döküm alaşımlarının doğal frekans analizleri ve titreşim testleri yapılmış, serbest titreşim ve burkulma karakteristikleri farklı sınır koşulları altında ayrı ayrı incelenmiştir

Mobility management: deployment and adaptability aspects through mobile data traffic analysis

The expected boost in mobile data traffic and the evolution towards the next generation of networks are making cellular operators reconsider whether current approaches for handling mobility could be improved, according to the characteristics of the mobile traffic that actually flows through real networks. In this work, we make use of extensive analysis of real network traces to infer the main characteristics of mobile data traffic for a particular operator. Our analysis focuses on the features related to mobility, i.e., location information, number of handovers, or duration of the data traffic exchange. New techniques to gather the mobility characteristics of the user based on data and control packets correlation are designed and applied to compare the gains of deploying different mobility management approaches.The research leading to these results has received funding from the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement 318115 (Connectivity management for eneRgy Op- timised Wireless Dense networks, CROWD). The work of Antonio de la Oliva has also been funded by the EU H2020 5G-Crosshaul Project (grant no. 671598)

Clinicopathological Profile and Surgical Treatment of Abdominal Tuberculosis: A Single Centre Experience in Northwestern Tanzania.

Abdominal tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem worldwide and poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to general surgeons practicing in resource-limited countries. This study was conducted to describe the clinicopathological profile and outcome of surgical treatment of abdominal tuberculosis in our setting and compare with what is described in literature. A prospective descriptive study of patients who presented with abdominal tuberculosis was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in northwestern Tanzania from January 2006 to February 2012. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from relevant authorities. Statistical data analysis was performed using SPSS version 17.0. Out of 256 patients enrolled in the study, males outnumbered females. The median age was 28 years (range = 16-68 years). The majority of patients (77.3%) had primary abdominal tuberculosis. A total of 127 (49.6%) patients presented with intestinal obstruction, 106 (41.4%) with peritonitis, 17 (6.6%) with abdominal masses and 6 (2.3%) patients with multiple fistulae in ano. Forty-eight (18.8%) patients were HIV positive. A total of 212 (82.8%) patients underwent surgical treatment for abdominal tuberculosis. Bands /adhesions (58.5%) were the most common operative findings. Ileo-caecal region was the most common bowel involved in 122 (57.5%) patients. Release of adhesions and bands was the most frequent surgical procedure performed in 58.5% of cases. Complication and mortality rates were 29.7% and 18.8% respectively. The overall median length of hospital stay was 32 days and was significantly longer in patients with complications (p < 0.001). Advanced age (age ≥ 65 years), co-morbid illness, late presentation, HIV positivity and CD4+ count < 200 cells/μl were statistically significantly associated with mortality (p < 0.0001). The follow up of patients were generally poor as only 37.5% of patients were available for follow up at twelve months after discharge. Abdominal tuberculosis constitutes a major public health problem in our environment and presents a diagnostic challenge requiring a high index of clinical suspicion. Early diagnosis, early anti-tuberculous therapy and surgical treatment of the associated complications are essential for survival

MicroRNA-34a Inhibits the Proliferation and Metastasis of Osteosarcoma Cells Both In Vitro and In Vivo

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenously expressed, small noncoding RNAs, which suppress its target mRNAs at the post-transcriptional level. Studies have demonstrated that miR-34a, which is a direct target of the p53 tumor suppressor gene, functions as a tumor suppressor and is associated with the tumor growth and metastasis of various human malignances. However, the role of miR-34a in osteosarcoma has not been totally elucidated. In the present study, the effects of miR-34a on osteosarcoma and the possible mechanism by which miR-34a affected the tumor growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma were investigated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: Over-expression of miR-34a partially inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells in vitro, as well as the tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis of osteosarcoma cells in vivo. c-Met is a target of miR-34a, and regulates the migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. Osteosarcoma cells over-expressing miR-34a exhibited a significant decrease in the expression levels of c-Met mRNA and protein simultaneously. Finally, the results from bioinformatics analysis demonstrated that there were multiple putative targets of miR-34a that may be associated with the proliferation and metastasis of osteosarcoma, including factors in Wnt and Notch signaling pathways. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The results presented in this study demonstrated that over-expression of miR-34a could inhibit the tumor growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma probably through down regulating c-Met. And there are other putative miR-34a target genes beside c-Met which could potentially be key players in the development of osteosarcoma. Since pulmonary metastases are responsible for mortality of patient carrying osteosarcoma, miR-34a may prove to be a promising gene therapeutic agent. It will be interesting to further investigate the mechanism by which miR-34a functions as a tumor suppressor gene in osteosarcoma

Translational studies in the complex role of neurotransmitter systems in anxiety and anxiety disorders

Discovery of innovative anxiolytics is severely hampering. Existing anxiolytics are developed decades ago and are still the therapeutics of choice. Moreover, lack of new drug targets forecasts a severe jeopardy in the future treatment of the huge population of CNS-diseased patients. We simply lack the knowledge on what is wrong in brains of anxious people (normal and diseased). Translational research, based on interacting clinical and preclinical research, is extremely urgent. In this endeavor, genetic and genomic approaches are part of the spectrum of contributing factors. We focus on three druggable targets: serotonin transporter, 5-HT1A, and GABAA receptors. It is still uncertain whether and how these targets are involved in normal and diseased anxiety processes. For serotonergic anxiolytics, the slow onset of action points to indirect effects leading to plasticity changes in brain systems leading to reduced anxiety. For GABAA benzodiazepine drugs, acute anxiolytic effects are found indicating primary mechanisms directly influencing anxiety processes. Close translational collaboration between fundamental academic and discovery research will lead to badly needed breakthroughs in the search for new anxiolytics.</p

GABAA receptor subtype involvement in addictive behaviour

GABAA receptors form the major class of inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the mammalian brain. This review sets out to summarise the evidence that variations in genes encoding GABAA receptor isoforms are associated with aspects of addictive behaviour in humans, while animal models of addictive behaviour also implicate certain subtypes of GABAA receptor. In addition to outlining the evidence for the involvement of specific subtypes in addiction, we summarise the particular contributions of these isoforms in control over the functioning of brain circuits, especially the mesolimbic system, and make a first attempt to bring together evidence from several fields to understanding potential involvement of GABAA Receptor Subtypes in addictive behaviour. While the weight of the published literature is on alcohol dependency, the underlying principles outlined are relevant across a number of different aspects of addictive behaviour