Local average consensus in distributed measurement of spatial-temporal varying parameters: 1D case

© 2014 Elsevier. Ltd All rights reserved. We study a new variant of consensus problems, termed 'local average consensus', in networks of agents. We consider the task of using sensor networks to perform distributed measurement of a parameter which has both spatial (in this paper 1D) and temporal variations. Our idea is to maintain potentially useful local information regarding spatial variation, as contrasted with reaching a single, global consensus, as well as to mitigate the effect of measurement errors. We employ two schemes for computation of local average consensus: exponential weighting and uniform finite window. In both schemes, we design local average consensus algorithms to address first the case where the measured parameter has spatial variation but is constant in time, and then the case where the measured parameter has both spatial and temporal variations. Our designed algorithms are distributed, in that information is exchanged only among neighbors. Moreover, we analyze both spatial and temporal frequency responses and noise propagation associated with the algorithms. The tradeoffs of using local consensus, as compared to standard global consensus, include higher memory requirement and degraded noise performance. Arbitrary updating weights and random spacing between sensors are also analyzed in the proposed algorithms

Toll-like receptor 2 -196 to -174 del polymorphism influences the susceptibility of Han Chinese people to Alzheimer's disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Toll-like receptor 2 (<it>TLR2</it>) represents a reasonable functional and positional candidate gene for Alzheimer's disease (AD) as it is located under the linkage region of AD on chromosome 4q, and functionally is involved in the microglia-mediated inflammatory response and amyloid-β clearance. The -196 to -174 del polymorphism affects the <it>TLR2 </it>gene and alters its promoter activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited 800 unrelated Northern Han Chinese individuals comprising 400 late-onset AD (LOAD) patients and 400 healthy controls matched for gender and age. The -196 to -174 del polymorphism in the <it>TLR2 </it>gene was genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were significant differences in genotype (P = 0.026) and allele (P = 0.009) frequencies of the -196 to -174 del polymorphism between LOAD patients and controls. The del allele was associated with an increased risk of LOAD (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.07-1.60, Power = 84.9%). When these data were stratified by apolipoprotein E (<it>ApoE</it>) ε4 status, the observed association was confined to <it>ApoE </it>ε4 non-carriers. Logistic regression analysis suggested an association of LOAD with the polymorphism in a recessive model (OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.13-2.39, Bonferroni corrected P = 0.03).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data suggest that the -196 to -174 del/del genotype of <it>TLR2 </it>may increase risk of LOAD in a Northern Han Chinese population.</p

Automated Interactive Visualization on Abstract Concepts in Computer Science

The paper presents CSVisFrame, a framework formaking visualizations, which solves the understanding difficultyon learning abstract concepts in computer science including datastructures and algorithms. With the framework, instructors anddevelopers can develop all varieties of interactive visualizations,with which students can learn and understand abstract conceptsin computer science more easily.CSVisFrame has been applied to both offline and onlinecomputer courses. Students from Sichuan Normal Universityhave enjoyed visualizations based on CSVisFrame in their AlgorithmDesign and Analysis course, and thousands of students ofJisuanke have benefitted from online CSVisFrame-based visualizedcomputer science courses. The effectiveness of CSVisFramebasedvisualizations has been demonstrated by our sample survey,which shows that visualizations are widely accepted, and almostall students can achieve a better learning. CSVisFrame is opensourced1,and demonstrations based on CSVisFrame are free2

Study on Law of Personnel Evacuation in Deep Buried Metro Station Based on the Characteristics of Fire Smoke Spreading

AbstractWith the improvement of people's life and the rapid development of urban traffic, the subway has the advantages of convenience and celerity, to a large extent, which greatly eases the traffic congestion phenomenon. With the attendant, the safety of the subway environment becomes vital. Many engineers focus on the study of the fire prevention and safety to escape. In this paper, a comprehensive study on the fire smoke spreading and the evacuation of the people in the deep buried metro model is carried out. First, the deep buried metro model is modeled on the STEPS software, and the personnel evacuation rule is obtained. According to the evacuation situation, the corresponding fire smoke monitoring points are built in the fire scenario which is set up on FDS+Evac software. Then, FDS+Evac program is used to simulate the evacuation in a fire scenario. It has not only analyzed the real time effect that the characteristics of fire smoke spread have on the personnel evacuation, but also improved the accuracy of the subway fire safety evaluation

Moby: Empowering 2D Models for Efficient Point Cloud Analytics on the Edge

3D object detection plays a pivotal role in many applications, most notably autonomous driving and robotics. These applications are commonly deployed on edge devices to promptly interact with the environment, and often require near real-time response. With limited computation power, it is challenging to execute 3D detection on the edge using highly complex neural networks. Common approaches such as offloading to the cloud induce significant latency overheads due to the large amount of point cloud data during transmission. To resolve the tension between wimpy edge devices and compute-intensive inference workloads, we explore the possibility of empowering fast 2D detection to extrapolate 3D bounding boxes. To this end, we present Moby, a novel system that demonstrates the feasibility and potential of our approach. We design a transformation pipeline for Moby that generates 3D bounding boxes efficiently and accurately based on 2D detection results without running 3D detectors. Further, we devise a frame offloading scheduler that decides when to launch the 3D detector judiciously in the cloud to avoid the errors from accumulating. Extensive evaluations on NVIDIA Jetson TX2 with real-world autonomous driving datasets demonstrate that Moby offers up to 91.9% latency improvement with modest accuracy loss over state of the art.Comment: Accepted to ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM) 202

Direct fiber vector eigenmode multiplexing transmission seeded by integrated optical vortex emitters

Spatial modes have received substantial attention over the last decades and are used in optical communication applications. In fiber-optic communications, the employed linearly polarized modes and phase vortex modes carrying orbital angular momentum can be synthesized by fiber vector eigenmodes. To improve the transmission capacity and miniaturize the communication system, straightforward fiber vector eigenmode multiplexing and generation of fiber-eigenmode-like polarization vortices (vector vortex modes) using photonic integrated devices are of substantial interest. Here, we propose and demonstrate direct fiber vector eigenmode multiplexing transmission seeded by integrated optical vortex emitters. By exploiting vector vortex modes (radially and azimuthally polarized beams) generated from silicon microring resonators etched with angular gratings, we report data-carrying fiber vector eigenmode multiplexing transmission through a 2-km large-core fiber, showing low-level mode crosstalk and favorable link performance. These demonstrations may open up added capacity scaling opportunities by directly accessing multiple vector eigenmodes in the fiber and provide compact solutions to replace bulky diffractive optical elements for generating various optical vector beams

Electrocatalysis of Oxygen Reduction on Te-Modified Platinum Stepped Crystal Surfaces

Te-modified platinum single-crystal surfaces in the [011̅] zone have been used as model electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The results clearly show that (1) except for Pt(111), all other electrodes display enhanced ORR activity when Te is deposited on the surface; (2) the intrinsic ORR activity for Pt(hkl) decreases in the order of Pt(322) > Pt(755) > Pt(977) > Pt(111) > Pt(311) > Pt(100), while the enhancement factor for ORR with Te modification decreases in the order of Pt(100) > Pt(311) > Pt(977) > Pt(755) > Pt(322); (3) metallic Te and its charge transfer to Pt as well as the consequent lower d-band center and OHad binding energy are probably the reasons for the enhanced electrocatalysis for ORR with Te modification; and (4) the inhibition of Te at Pt(111) as well as the smaller extent for the enhancement of Te at Pt(S)-[n(111) × (100)] with longer terraces in the kinetic region for ORR are a result of partial oxidation of Te. The weaker electronic interaction of Te with the Pt substrate is probably the origin of its facile oxidation at lower potential. Our results imply that modification of Pt with species that can transfer electrons to Pt may be an efficient strategy to enhance the ORR activity.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22172151, 21972131, and 21832004). E.H. gratefully acknowledged the International Professorship by USTC and financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (project PID2022–137350NB-I00)

Isolation, identification, and complete genome sequence of a bovine adenovirus type 3 from cattle in China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine adenovirus type 3 (BAV-3) belongs to the <it>Mastadenovirus </it>genus of the family <it>Adenoviridae </it>and is involved in respiratory and enteric infections of calves. The isolation of BAV-3 has not been reported prior to this study in China. In 2009, there were many cases in cattle showing similar clinical signs to BAV-3 infection and a virus strain, showing cytopathic effect in Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells, was isolated from a bovine nasal swab collected from feedlot cattle in Heilongjiang Province, China. The isolate was confirmed as a bovine adenovirus type 3 by PCR and immunofluorescence assay, and named as HLJ0955. So far only the complete genome sequence of prototype of BAV-3 WBR-1 strain has been reported. In order to further characterize the Chinese isolate HLJ0955, the complete genome sequence of HLJ0955 was determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The size of the genome of the Chinese isolate HLJ0955 is 34,132 nucleotides in length with a G+C content of 53.6%. The coding sequences for gene regions of HLJ0955 isolate were similar to the prototype of BAV-3 WBR-1 strain, with 80.0-98.6% nucleotide and 87.5-98.8% amino acid identities. The genome of HLJ0955 strain contains 16 regions and four deletions in inverted terminal repeats, E1B region and E4 region, respectively. The complete genome and DNA binding protein gene based phylogenetic analysis with other adenoviruses were performed and the results showed that HLJ0955 isolate belonged to BAV-3 and clustered within the <it>Mastadenovirus </it>genus of the family <it>Adenoviridae</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first study to report the isolation and molecular characterization of BAV-3 from cattle in China. The phylogenetic analysis performed in this study supported the use of the DNA binding protein gene of adenovirus as an appropriate subgenomic target for the classification of different genuses of the family <it>Adenoviridae </it>on the molecular basis. Meanwhile, a large-scale pathogen and serological epidemiological investigations for BVA-3 infection might be carried out in cattle in China. This report will be a good beginning for further studies on BAV-3 in China.</p