Wireless sensor network for cattle monitoring system

This paper describes a cost effective Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology for monitoring the health of dairy cows. By monitoring and understanding the cow individual and herd behaviour, farmers can potentially identify the onset of illness, lameness or other undesirable health conditions. However, the WSN implementation needs to cope with various technical challenges before it can be suitably and routinely applied in cow management. This paper discusses results concerning data transportation (i.e. mobility) from the cow mounted sensory devices

Statistical interaction modeling of bovine herd behaviors

While there has been interest in modeling the group behavior of herds or flocks, much of this work has focused on simulating their collective spatial motion patterns which have not accounted for individuality in the herd and instead assume a homogenized role for all members or sub-groups of the herd. Animal behavior experts have noted that domestic animals exhibit behaviors that are indicative of social hierarchy: leader/follower type behaviors are present as well as dominance and subordination, aggression and rank order, and specific social affiliations may also exist. Both wild and domestic cattle are social species, and group behaviors are likely to be influenced by the expression of specific social interactions. In this paper, Global Positioning System coordinate fixes gathered from a herd of beef cows tracked in open fields over several days at a time are utilized to learn a model that focuses on the interactions within the herd as well as its overall movement. Using these data in this way explores the validity of existing group behavior models against actual herding behaviors. Domain knowledge, location geography and human observations, are utilized to explain the causes of these deviations from this idealized behavior

Positioning system for wireless sensor networks with location fingerprinting

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are networks that deploy hundreds or thousands of wireless sensors in a pre-defined area that can communicate with each other to detect, for example the ambient environment. Each sensor is composed of the four basic elements: transmitting unit, processing unit, power unit and sensing unit. The main task of each sensor is to detect events, perform a restricted set of local data processing tasks and then transmit the data. This technology still in its early stage new researches are being conducted intensively in MAC protocols, network and routing layer, and adaptation into various domains applications. In this proposal, the focus is placed to investigate algorithms in mapping the location of sensor nodes. Knowing the location of the sensor node is critically important; the knowledge of the location of the sensor node that reported a detected event can reduce the time for assistants reaching to the outbreak point. This can potentially save life or can bring the outbreak event under control in shortest time. As the sensor node's physical hardware is mainly comprises of low specification and low cost componentry to facilitate mass production hence affordable to be applied intensively in monitoring zone. This has created a tough challenge in mapping the locations of sensor nodes as the hard-ware can not provide precise timing in calculating time of flight of a packet which is an important parameter in estimating distance between transmitting node and receiving node. In general the sensor node is only equipped with a single antenna which has also rule out the possibility of using techniques rely on angle of arrival packet. Therefore, the research is limited to use the received signal strength as the main source in estimating the travelling distance for the received packet. This paper investigates positioning algorithms that based on received signal strength i.e., location fingerprinting. In positioning systems, location fingerprinting is also referred as pattern matching of radio signature. The advantages of using RF fingerprinting are it does not require any hardware modifications to the sensor node and in comparison to other algorithms it is immune environmental influences that caused signal attenuation such as multipath, fading, reflection, non line of sight, and etc. This paper focuses on challenges that relate specifically to the location mapping of wireless sensor node including radio propagation of low specification WSN hardware, accuracy, operational range and impact of environmental factors. The optimized positioning system for WSN is documented, and results gained from experiment based on IEEE 802.15.4 WSN platform is provided

Implementation of a herd management system with wireless sensor networks

This paper investigates an adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to cattle monitoring applications. The proposed solution facilitates the requirement for continuously assessing the condition of individual animals, aggregating and reporting this data to the farm manager. There are several existing approaches to achieving animal monitoring, ranging from using a store and forward mechanism to employing GSM-based techniques; these approaches only provide sporadic information and introduce a considerable cost in staffing and physical hardware. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software has been designed to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from dairy cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations

Quantum Andreev Oscillations in normal-superconducting-normal nanostructures

We show that the voltage drop of specially prepared normal-superconducting-normal nanostructures show quantum Andreev oscillations as a function of magnetic field or input current. These oscillations are due to the interference of the electron wave function between the normal parts of the structure that act as reflective interfaces, i.e. our devices behave as a Fabry-Perot interferometer for conduction electrons. The observed oscillations and field periods are well explained by theory.Comment: 5 pages and 4 figure

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma subtypes are characterized by loss of function of SETD2

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma (EATL) is a lethal, and the most common, neoplastic complication of celiac disease. Here, we defined the genetic landscape of EATL through whole-exome sequencing of 69 EATL tumors. SETD2 was the most frequently silenced gene in EATL (32% of cases). The JAK-STAT pathway was the most frequently mutated pathway, with frequent mutations in STAT5B as well as JAK1 , JAK3 , STAT3 , and SOCS1 . We also identified mutations in KRAS , TP53 , and TERT . Type I EATL and type II EATL (monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T cell lymphoma) had highly overlapping genetic alterations indicating shared mechanisms underlying their pathogenesis. We modeled the effects of SETD2 loss in vivo by developing a T cell–specific knockout mouse. These mice manifested an expansion of γδ T cells, indicating novel roles for SETD2 in T cell development and lymphomagenesis. Our data render the most comprehensive genetic portrait yet of this uncommon but lethal disease and may inform future classification schemes

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat

A seamless handover scheme for RSVP over 3G networks

This paper proposes a seamless handover scheme for RSVP over 3G networks. An Address Proxy Agent (APA) is proposed to be implemented in the radio network controllers (RNC) to provide a residual address for the mobile host (MR) with RSVP reservation during the handover process. The principle of this approach is to provide a residual address for MH that is valid in radio network sub-system (RNS) and traceable back to MH latest location. When MH send a packet upstream the APA will replace the packet source address with the residual address before releasing the packet to the rest of its RSVP path. And when RNC receives a return RSVP packet destined to this residual address the APA will replace this residual address back to the source address and forward this packet to the current location. This approach confines the impacts of a handover to the local RNS yet maintain PSVP path as MH moves from one cell to another