Magnetization states and switching in narrow-gapped ferromagnetic nanorings

We study permalloy nanorings that are lithographically fabricated with narrow gaps that break the rotational symmetry of the ring while retaining the vortex ground state, using both micromagnetic simulations and magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The vortex chirality in these structures can be readily set with an in-plane magnetic field and easily probed by MFM due to the field associated with the gap, suggesting such rings for possible applications in storage technologies. We find that the gapped ring edge characteristics (i.e., edge profile and gap shape) are critical in determining the magnetization switching field, thus elucidating an essential parameter in the controls of devices that might incorporate such structures

Deep Meta Q-Learning based Multi-Task Offloading in Edge-Cloud Systems

Resource-Constrained Edge Devices Can Not Efficiently Handle the Explosive Growth of Mobile Data and the Increasing Computational Demand of Modern-Day User Applications. Task Offloading Allows the Migration of Complex Tasks from User Devices to the Remote Edge-Cloud Servers Thereby Reducing their Computational Burden and Energy Consumption While Also Improving the Efficiency of Task Processing. However, Obtaining the Optimal Offloading Strategy in a Multi-Task Offloading Decision-Making Process is an NP-Hard Problem. Existing Deep Learning Techniques with Slow Learning Rates and Weak Adaptability Are Not Suitable for Dynamic Multi-User Scenarios. in This Article, We Propose a Novel Deep Meta-Reinforcement Learning-Based Approach to the Multi-Task Offloading Problem using a Combination of First-Order Meta-Learning and Deep Q-Learning Methods. We Establish the Meta-Generalization Bounds for the Proposed Algorithm and Demonstrate that It Can Reduce the Time and Energy Consumption of IoT Applications by Up to 15%. through Rigorous Simulations, We Show that Our Method Achieves Near-Optimal Offloading Solutions While Also Being Able to Adapt to Dynamic Edge-Cloud Environments

Collisionless Pattern Discovery in Robot Swarms Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

We present a deep reinforcement learning-based framework for automatically discovering patterns available in any given initial configuration of fat robot swarms. In particular, we model the problem of collision-less gathering and mutual visibility in fat robot swarms and discover patterns for solving them using our framework. We show that by shaping reward signals based on certain constraints like mutual visibility and safe proximity, the robots can discover collision-less trajectories leading to well-formed gathering and visibility patterns

CAPS: Energy-Efficient Processing of Continuous Aggregate Queries in Sensor Networks

In this paper, we design and evaluate an energy efficient data retrieval architecture for continuous aggregate queries in wireless sensor networks. We show how the modification of precision in one sensor affects the sample-reporting fre-quency of other sensors, and how the precisions of a group of sensors may be collectively modified to achieve the target Quality of Information (QoI) with higher energy-efficiency. The proposed Collective Adaptive Precision Setting (CAPS) architecture is then extended to exploit the observed tempo-ral correlation among successive sensor samples for even greater energy efficiency. Detailed simulations with syn-thetic and real data traces demonstrate how the combi-nation of weak consistency semantics and temporal corre-lation can dramatically lower the energy consumption in practical sensor environments.

Indian Forage Scenario – Region Wise Availability and Deficit

In India, rapid urbanisation, changing food habit and higher purchasing power have increased the demand for animal based food products.Proper feeding strategies using green nutritious fodderis key to increase livestock production and productivity in economical and sustainable way.Three major sources of fodder are crop residues, cultivated fodder from arable land (irrigated and rainfed) and fodder from common property resources like forests, permanent pastures, grazing lands, cultivated wasteland, fallow lands etc. Based on the livestock census, we estimated the green and dry fodder availability vis-a-vis demand and emerging deficit/surplus situation. The state wise livestock population for Cattle, Buffaloes, Goat, Sheep, Yak and Mithun were taken into account and the requirement for green, dry forage and animal feed concentrate was worked out considering factors like age, milking or non-milking state, gender, working nature, feeding practices etc. The availability of green forages was estimated based on cultivated area under forage, cropping intensity, productivity etc., green fodder from fallow land, wasteland, forest fringe areas, social forestry, pasture land. For dry fodder, availability of crop residue for fodder was calculated based on the major utilizable cereals, pulses and oilseed crops, harvest index, production, and utilization pattern. Availability of dry forages from forest, wasteland, fallow land and cultivated field after harvest available for grazing were considered. On all India basis, there is an overall deficit of nearly 11 % in green fodder availability and 23 % in dry fodder availability. To meet the deficit scenario various strategies are proposed which includea national programme in mission mode for accelerating production; grassland and grazing policy; rejuvenation of degraded pastures; targeted research and extension programme; entrepreneurship in commercial venture of fodder production and utilization

Genome-wide study predicts promoter-G4 DNA motifs regulate selective functions in bacteria: radioresistance of D. radiodurans involves G4 DNA-mediated regulation

A remarkable number of guanine-rich sequences with potential to adopt non-canonical secondary structures called G-quadruplexes (or G4 DNA) are found within gene promoters. Despite growing interest, regulatory role of quadruplex DNA motifs in intrinsic cellular function remains poorly understood. Herein, we asked whether occurrence of potential G4 (PG4) DNA in promoters is associated with specific function(s) in bacteria. Using a normalized promoter-PG4-content (PG4P) index we analysed >60 000 promoters in 19 well-annotated species for (a) function class(es) and (b) gene(s) with enriched PG4P. Unexpectedly, PG4-associated functional classes were organism specific, suggesting that PG4 motifs may impart specific function to organisms. As a case study, we analysed radioresistance. Interestingly, unsupervised clustering using PG4P of 21 genes, crucial for radioresistance, grouped three radioresistant microorganisms including Deinococcus radiodurans. Based on these predictions we tested and found that in presence of nanomolar amounts of the intracellular quadruplex-binding ligand N-methyl mesoporphyrin (NMM), radioresistance of D. radiodurans was attenuated by ∼60%. In addition, important components of the RecF recombinational repair pathway recA, recF, recO, recR and recQ genes were found to harbour promoter-PG4 motifs and were also down-regulated in presence of NMM. Together these results provide first evidence that radioresistance may involve G4 DNA-mediated regulation and support the rationale that promoter-PG4s influence selective functions

Antenatal dexamethasone for early preterm birth in low-resource countries

BACKGROUND: The safety and efficacy of antenatal glucocorticoids in women in low-resource countries who are at risk for preterm birth are uncertain. METHODS: We conducted a multicountry, randomized trial involving pregnant women between 26 weeks 0 days and 33 weeks 6 days of gestation who were at risk for preterm birth. The participants were assigned to intramuscular dexamethasone or identical placebo. The primary outcomes were neonatal death alone, stillbirth or neonatal death, and possible maternal bacterial infection; neonatal death alone and stillbirth or neonatal death were evaluated with superiority analyses, and possible maternal bacterial infection was evaluated with a noninferiority analysis with the use of a prespecified margin of 1.25 on the relative scale. RESULTS: A total of 2852 women (and their 3070 fetuses) from 29 secondary- and tertiary-level hospitals across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan underwent randomization. The trial was stopped for benefit at the second interim analysis. Neonatal death occurred in 278 of 1417 infants (19.6%) in the dexamethasone group and in 331 of 1406 infants (23.5%) in the placebo group (relative risk, 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 0.97; P=0.03). Stillbirth or neonatal death occurred in 393 of 1532 fetuses and infants (25.7%) and in 444 of 1519 fetuses and infants (29.2%), respectively (relative risk, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.99; P=0.04); the incidence of possible maternal bacterial infection was 4.8% and 6.3%, respectively (relative risk, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.56 to 1.03). There was no significant between-group difference in the incidence of adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among women in low-resource countries who were at risk for early preterm birth, the use of dexamethasone resulted in significantly lower risks of neonatal death alone and stillbirth or neonatal death than the use of placebo, without an increase in the incidence of possible maternal bacterial infection.Fil: Oladapo, Olufemi T.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Vogel, Joshua P.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Piaggio, Gilda. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Nguyen, My-Huong. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Althabe, Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Metin Gülmezoglu, A.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Bahl, Rajiv. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Rao, Suman P.N.. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: de Costa, Ayesha. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Gupta, Shuchita. Organizacion Mundial de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Shahidullah, Mohammod. No especifíca;Fil: Chowdhury, Saleha B.. No especifíca;Fil: Ara, Gulshan. No especifíca;Fil: Akter, Shaheen. No especifíca;Fil: Akhter, Nasreen. No especifíca;Fil: Dey, Probhat R.. No especifíca;Fil: Abdus Sabur, M.. No especifíca;Fil: Azad, Mohammad T.. No especifíca;Fil: Choudhury, Shahana F.. No especifíca;Fil: Matin, M.A.. No especifíca;Fil: Goudar, Shivaprasad S.. No especifíca;Fil: Dhaded, Sangappa M.. No especifíca;Fil: Metgud, Mrityunjay C.. No especifíca;Fil: Pujar, Yeshita V.. No especifíca;Fil: Somannavar, Manjunath S.. No especifíca;Fil: Vernekar, Sunil S.. No especifíca;Fil: Herekar, Veena R.. No especifíca;Fil: Bidri, Shailaja R.. No especifíca;Fil: Mathapati, Sangamesh S.. No especifíca;Fil: Patil, Preeti G.. No especifíca;Fil: Patil, Mallanagouda M.. No especifíca;Fil: Gudadinni, Muttappa R.. No especifíca;Fil: Bijapure, Hidaytullah R.. No especifíca;Fil: Mallapur, Ashalata A.. No especifíca;Fil: Katageri, Geetanjali M.. No especifíca;Fil: Chikkamath, Sumangala B.. No especifíca;Fil: Yelamali, Bhuvaneshwari C.. No especifíca;Fil: Pol, Ramesh R.. No especifíca;Fil: Misra, Sujata S.. No especifíca;Fil: Das, Leena. No especifíca