Location-Based Services and Privacy Protection under Mobile Cloud Computing

Location-based services can provide personalized services based on location information of moving objects and have already been widely used in public safety services, transportation, entertainment and many other areas. With the rapid development of mobile communication technology and popularization of intelligent terminals, there will be great commercial prospects to provide location-based services under mobile cloud computing environment. However, the high adhesion degree of mobile terminals to users not only brings facility but also results in the risk of privacy leak. The paper introduced the necessities and advantages to provide location-based services under mobile cloud computing environment, stressed the importance to protect location privacy in LBS services, pointed out new security risks brought by mobile cloud computing, and proposed a new framework and implementation method of LBS service. The cloud-based LBS system proposed in this paper is able to achieve privacy protection from the confidentiality of outsourced data and integrity of service results, and can be used as a reference while developing LBS system under mobile cloud computing environment

Nonfragile Robust H

The nonfragile H∞ filtering problem for a kind of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy stochastic system which has a time-varying delay and parameter uncertainties has been studied in this paper. Sufficient conditions for stochastic input-to-state stability (SISS) of the fuzzy stochastic systems are obtained. Attention is focused on the design of a nonfragile H∞ filter such that the filtering error system can tolerate some level of the gain variations in the filter and the H∞ performance level also could be satisfied. By using the SISS result, the approach to design the nonfragile filter is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Nonisolated switching-capacitor-integrated three- port converters with seamless PWM/PFM modulation

Efficiency and power density of power converters for interfacing photovoltaic panels, energy storage components such as batteries, and loads in photovoltaic (PV) systems become more and more important. Compared with individual converter design for different terminals, power-integrated multiport converters shows obvious advantages in simplifying the system structure, reducing the component count, and improving the operation reliability. Originated from the high power-density switched capacitor topology, a nonisolated switching-capacitor-integrated three-port converter (SCI-TPC) is presented to achieve single-stage direct power conversion among three ports. In order to minimize the cross-regulation effect, pulse-width-modulation (PWM) and pulse-frequency-modulation (PFM) are adopted to realize the flexible power regulation and achieve power balance among three ports. Main operation modes, power flow distribution, and power transfer characteristic are analyzed. With the seamless PWM and PFM hybrid modulation, the current stress can be reduced and the overall conversion efficiency over a full operating range can be improved. Main experimental results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed concept

Isoconversional kinetic analysis applied to five phosphoniumcation-based ionic liquids

Thermal degradation of five phosphonium cation-based ionic liquids ([P66614][BEHP], [P66614][(iC8)2PO2],[P66614][NTf2], [P44414][DBS] and [P4442][DEP]) was studied using dynamic methodology (25–600◦C at 5,10 and 20◦C/min) in both inert (nitrogen) and reactive (oxygen) atmospheres. In addition, isothermalexperiments (90 min at 200, 225 and 250◦C) were carried out with [P66614][(iC8)2PO2]. Results indicatethat thermal stability is clearly dominated by the coordination ability of the anion, with [P66614][NTf2] out-performing the other ones in both pyrolytic and oxidising conditions. Although the thermal degradationmechanism is affected by atmospheric conditions, the degradation trend remains practically constant.As the dynamic methodology usually overestimates the long-term thermal stability, an isoconversionalmethodology is better for predicting the long-term thermal stability of these ionic liquids in order to beused as base oil or additive in lubricants formulation. Finally, the model-free methodology can predict atlower costs the ILs performance in isothermal conditions

Two Antarctic penguin genomes reveal insights into their evolutionary history and molecular changes related to the Antarctic environment. GigaScience

Abstract Background: Penguins are flightless aquatic birds widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The distinctive morphological and physiological features of penguins allow them to live an aquatic life, and some of them have successfully adapted to the hostile environments in Antarctica. To study the phylogenetic and population history of penguins and the molecular basis of their adaptations to Antarctica, we sequenced the genomes of the two Antarctic dwelling penguin species, the Adélie penguin [Pygoscelis adeliae] and emperor penguin [Aptenodytes forsteri]. Results: Phylogenetic dating suggests that early penguins arose~60 million years ago, coinciding with a period of global warming. Analysis of effective population sizes reveals that the two penguin species experienced population expansions from~1 million years ago to~100 thousand years ago, but responded differently to the climatic cooling of the last glacial period. Comparative genomic analyses with other available avian genomes identified molecular changes in genes related to epidermal structure, phototransduction, lipid metabolism, and forelimb morphology. Conclusions: Our sequencing and initial analyses of the first two penguin genomes provide insights into the timing of penguin origin, fluctuations in effective population sizes of the two penguin species over the past 10 million years, and the potential associations between these biological patterns and global climate change. The molecular changes compared with other avian genomes reflect both shared and diverse adaptations of the two penguin species to the Antarctic environment

Non-fragile Robust L2–L¥ Filtering for Uncertain Neutral Fuzzy Stochastic Time-Delay Systems

This paper investigates the problem of non-fragile L2–L¥ filter design for a kind of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy stochastic system with neutral delay and parameter uncertainties. The addressed problem is the design of a non-fragile fuzzy filter such that the error system is robustly stochastic stable and the filtering error system can tolerant some level of the gain variations in the filter. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional we chose, the delay-dependent conditions are obtained. The resulting filters can ensure that the error system is both stochastically stable and the peak value of the estimation error is bounded by a prescribed level for all possible bounded energy disturbances. Finally, an illustrative example is given to substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Nonfragile Robust ∞ Filter Design for a Class of Fuzzy Stochastic Systems with Stochastic Input-to-State Stability

The nonfragile ∞ filtering problem for a kind of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy stochastic system which has a time-varying delay and parameter uncertainties has been studied in this paper. Sufficient conditions for stochastic input-to-state stability (SISS) of the fuzzy stochastic systems are obtained. Attention is focused on the design of a nonfragile ∞ filter such that the filtering error system can tolerate some level of the gain variations in the filter and the ∞ performance level also could be satisfied. By using the SISS result, the approach to design the nonfragile filter is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

Immunological Markers for Central Nervous System Glia

Glial cells in the central nervous system (CNS) are composed of oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and microglia. They contribute more than half of the total cells of the CNS, and are essential for neural development and functioning. Studies on the fate specification, differentiation, and functional diversification of glial cells mainly rely on the proper use of cell- or stage-specific molecular markers. However, as cellular markers often exhibit different specificity and sensitivity, careful consideration must be given prior to their application to avoid possible confusion. Here, we provide an updated overview of a list of well-established immunological markers for the labeling of central glia, and discuss the cell-type specificity and stage dependency of their expression

Finite-Time Distributed Control of Non-Triangular Stochastic Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems with Input Constraints

This paper investigates the problem of finite-time distributed consensus control for non-triangular stochastic nonlinear multi-agent systems (SNMASs) with input constraints. Fuzzy logical systems are used to identify the unknown nonlinear dynamics of non-triangular SNMASs. A finite-time command filter is utilized to eliminate the issue of “explosion of complexity” in the conventional backstepping-based distributed control algorithm, and a fractional power error compensation mechanism is constructed to improve the distributed control performance of SNMASs. It is proved that the proposed distributed controller enables all of the closed-loop system’s signals to be semi-globally finite-time bounded in probability, and the consensus tracking errors will converge to a sufficiently small neighborhood of the origin in a finite time. Finally, the effectiveness of the presented finite-time distributed control scheme is illustrated with a simulated example