SMOOTH BRIGHTNESS TRANSITION FOR COMPUTING DEVICES

A brightness transition module is described that enables a computing device (e.g., a mobile phone, a camera, a tablet computer, etc.) to smoothly adjust an amount of light output by a display of the computing device when the computing device transitions between a high brightness mode and a normal mode (e.g., transitioning based on ambient lighting conditions). By smoothly adjusting the amount of light emitted by the display when transitioning between modes, the brightness transition module may prevent a sudden or abrupt change in the brightness (e.g., prevent a sudden flash when transitioning from the normal mode to the high brightness mode), thereby improving the user experience

Modeling Information Acquisition and Social Learning Dynamics: A Rational Inattention Perspective

Social learning, a fundamental process through which individuals shape their beliefs and perspectives via observation and interaction with others, is critical for the development of our society and the functioning of social governance. Prior works on social learning usually assume that the initial beliefs are given and focus on the update rule. With the recent proliferation of online social networks, there is an avalanche amount of information, which may significantly influence users' initial beliefs. In this paper, we use the rational inattention theory to model how agents acquire information to form initial beliefs and assess its influence on their adjustments in beliefs. Furthermore, we analyze the dynamic evolution of belief distribution among agents. Simulations and social experiments are conducted to validate our proposed model and analyze the impact of model parameters on belief dynamics.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ICASSP 202

Tetherin and Its Viral Antagonists

Restriction factors comprise an important layer of host defense to fight against viral infection. Some restriction factors are constitutively expressed whereas the majority is induced by interferon to elicit innate immunity. In addition to a number of well-characterized interferon-inducible antiviral factors such as RNaseL/OAS, ISG15, Mx, PKR, and ADAR, tetherin (BST-2/CD317/HM1.24) was recently discovered to block the release of enveloped viruses from the cell surface, which is regarded as a novel antiviral mechanism induced by interferon. Here, we briefly review the history of tetherin discovery, discuss how tetherin blocks virus production, and highlight the viral countermeasures to evade tetherin restriction

A Viable LoRa Framework for Smart Cities

This research is intended to provide practical insights to empower designers, developers and management to develop smart cities underpinned by Long Range (LoRa) technology. LoRa, one of most prevalent long-range wireless communication technologies, can be used to underpin the development of smart cities. This study draws upon relevant research to gain an understanding of underlying principles and issues involved in the design and management of long-range and low-power networks such as LoRa. This research uses empirical evidence that has been gathered through experiments with a LoRa network to analyse network design and identify challenges and then proposes cost-effective and timely solutions. Particularly, practical measurements of LoRa network dependencies and performance metrics are used to support our proposals. This research identifies a number of network performance metrics that need to be considered and controlled when designing and managing LoRa- specific networks from the perspectives of hardware, software, networking and security

ROCSAT-3 Constellation Mission

ROCSAT-3 mission is an international collaboration of Taiwan and the United States to deploy in 2005 a constellation of six microsatellites equipped with GPS occultation receivers in low Earth orbits to collect the GPS signal as passing through the atmosphere. The satellites would generate thousands of sounding data everyday uniformly distributed over the world. The satellites will then downlink the GPS occultation measurements to the ground receiving stations for processing and assimilated into the weather forecast model with minimal delay. The design of ROCSAT-3 constellation takes into consideration factors such as the capability of the available launch vehicle, the mass of the propellant, the locations of ground receiving stations, and the deployment period to achieve the final constellation. The six ROCSAT-3 satellites will be delivered by a single Minotaur launch into the same orbit plane initially. The dispersion of the satellites into the target constellation utilizes the principle that satellites at different altitudes will precess into different orbits over the time. By adjusting the altitude profiles, the six ROCSAT-3 microsatellites would be placed into six orbit planes. Considering ionospheric research, the fuel constraint, and the launcher lifting capability, the mission orbit of 800 km is selected. The inclination angle of 72 degrees is selected as the results of the trade studies involving the location of receiving stations and the precession rate of the orbit. The dominant factor in the selection of the separation angle among orbit planes is the requirement of distribution of the sounding data uniformly. With the constraint of the deployment period, the separation angle is currently defined as 24 degrees. Furthermore, in order to minimize the downlink confliction among satellite passes at the ground stations, a true anomaly separation of 52.5 degrees between satellites in adjacent orbit planes is selected. The mission life of ROCSAT-3 is 2 years. The constellation will be achieved 13 months after launch. An early phase mission plan has also been developed for the deployment period when the satellites are at lower altitudes. At altitude below 500 km, a pitch-biased attitude control can be used to point either the forward or aft occultation antenna at the desired angle for conducting the experiment

Differential response of lymphatic, venous and arterial endothelial cells to angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2

BACKGROUND: The lymphatic system complements the blood circulatory system in absorption and transport of nutrients, and in the maintenance of homeostasis. Angiopoietins 1 and 2 (Ang1 and Ang2) are regulators of both angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis through the Tek/Tie-2 receptor tyrosine kinase. The response of endothelial cells to stimulation with either Ang1 or Ang2 is thought to be dependent upon the origin of the endothelial cells. In this study, we examined the effects of the angiopoietins on lymphatic, venous and arterial primary endothelial cells (bmLEC, bmVEC and bmAEC, respectively), which were isolated and cultured from bovine mesenteric vessels. RESULTS: BmLEC, bmVEC and bmAEC cell populations all express Tie-2 and were shown to express the appropriate cellular markers Prox-1, VEGFR3, and Neuropilin-1 that define the particular origin of each preparation. We showed that while bmLECs responded slightly more readily to angiopoietin-2 (Ang2) stimulation, bmVECs and bmAECs were more sensitive to Ang1 stimulation. Furthermore, exposure of bmLECs to Ang2 induced marginally higher levels of proliferation and survival than did exposure to Ang1. However, exposure to Ang1 resulted in higher levels of migration in bmLECs than did to Ang2. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that although both Ang1 and Ang2 can activate the Tie-2 receptor in bmLECs, Ang1 and Ang2 may have distinct roles in mesenteric lymphatic endothelial cells

CFEST Coupled Flow, Energy & Solute Transport Version CFEST005 Theory Guide

This document presents the mathematical theory implemented in the CFEST (Coupled Flow, Energy, and Solute Transport) simulator. The simulator is a three-dimensional finite element model that can be used for evaluating flow and solute mass transport. Although the theory for thermal transport is presented in this guide, it has not yet been fully implemented in the simulator. The flow module is capable of simulating both confined and unconfined aquifer systems, as well as constant and variable density fluid flows. For unconfined aquifers, the model uses a moving boundary for the water table, deforming the numerical mesh so that the uppermost nodes are always at the water table. For solute transport, changes in concentration of a single dissolved chemical constituent are computed for advective and hydrodynamic transport, linear sorption represented by a retardation factor, and radioactive decay. Once fully implemented, transport of thermal energy in the groundwater and solid matrix of the aquifer can also be used to model aquifer thermal regimes. Mesh construction employs “collapsible”, hexahedral finite elements in a three-dimensional coordinate system. CFEST uses the Galerkin finite element method to convert the partial differential equations to algebraic form. To solve the coupled equations for momentum, solute and heat transport, either Picard or Newton-Raphson iterative schemes are used to treat nonlinearities. An upstream weighted residual finite-element method is used to solve the advective-dispersive transport and energy transfer equations, which circumvents problems of numerical oscillation problems. Matrix solutions of the flow and transport problems are performed using efficient iterative solvers available in ITPACK and PETSc, solvers that are available in the public domain. These solvers are based on the preconditioned conjugate gradient and ORTHOMIN methods for symmetric and a nonsymmetric matrices, respectively