Image compression and energy harvesting for energy constrained sensors

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on June 21, 2013Dissertation advisor: Walter D. Leon-SalasVitaIncludes bibliographic references (pages 176-[187])Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Computing and Engineering. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2013The advances in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology have led to the integration of all components of electronic system into a single integrated circuit. Ultra-low power circuit techniques have reduced the power consumption of circuits. Moreover, solar cells with improved efficiency can be integrated on chip to harvest energy from sunlight. As a result of all the above, a new class of miniaturized electronic systems known as self-powered system on a chip has emerged. There is an increasing research interest in the area of self-powered devices which provide cost-effective solutions especially when these devices are used in the areas that changing or replacing batteries is too costly. Therefore, image compression and energy harvesting are studied in this dissertation. The integration of energy harvesting, image compression, and an image sensor on the same chip provides the energy source to charge a battery, reduces the data rate, and improves the performance of wireless image sensors. Integrated circuits of image compression, solar energy harvesting, and image sensors are studied, designed, and analyzed in this work. In this dissertation, a hybrid image sensor that can perform the tasks of sensing and energy harvesting is presented. Photodiodes of hybrid image sensor can be programmed as image sensors or energy harvesting cells. The hybrid image sensor can harvest energy in between frames, in sleep mode, and even when it is taking images. When sensing images and harvesting energy are both needed at the same time, some pixels have to work as sensing pixels, and the others have to work as solar cells. Since some pixels are devoted to harvest energy, the resolution of the image will be reduced. To preserve the resolution or to keep the fair resolution when a lot of energy collection is needed, image reconstruction algorithms and compressive sensing theory provide solutions to achieve a good image quality. On the other hand, when the battery has enough charge, image compression comes into the picture. Multiresolution decomposition image compression provides a way to compress image data in order to reduce the energy need from data transmission. The solution provided in this dissertation not only harvests energy but also saves energy resulting long lasting wireless sensors. The problem was first studied at the system level to identify the best system-level configuration which was then implemented on silicon. As a proof of concept, a 32 x 32 array of hybrid image sensor, a 32 x 32 array of image sensor with multiresolution decomposition compression, and a compressive sensing converter have been designed and fabricated in a standard 0.5 [micrometer] CMOS process. Printed circuit broads also have been designed to test and verify the proposed and fabricated chips. VHDL and Matlab codes were written to generate the proper signals to control, and read out data from chips. Image processing and recovery were carried out in Matlab. DC-DC converters were designed to boost the inherently low voltage output of the photodiodes. The DC-DC converter has also been improved to increase the efficiency of power transformation.Introduction -- Hybrid imager system and circuit design -- Hybrid imager energy harvesting and image acquisition results and discussion -- Detailed description and mathematical analysis for a circuit of energy harvesting using on-chip solar cells -- Multiresolution decomposition for lossless and near-lossless compression -- An incremental [sigma-delta] converter for compressive sensing -- Detailed description of a sigma-delta random demodulator converter architecture for compressive sensing applications -- Conclusion -- Appendix A. Chip pin-out -- Appendix B. Schematics -- Appendix C. Pictures of custom PC

The Relationship Between Mechanical Properties, Ultrastructural Changes, and Intrafibrillar Bond Formation in Corneal UVA/Riboflavin Cross-linking Treatment for Keratoconus

PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between mechanical behavior in cross-linked corneas and changes in the corneal ultrastructure after corneal cross-linking (CXL). METHODS: Porcine corneas were treated following the “Dresden” protocol, the current gold standard for clinical treatment, consisting of dropwise application of 0.1% riboflavin in 20% dextran followed by 30 minutes of ultraviolet-A (UVA) irradiation. The effect of CXL was assessed using uniaxial tensile testing, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, with results compared against corneas treated with each of the treatment solution components individually. RESULTS: UVA/riboflavin cross-linked corneas displayed 28% ± 17% increase in the material tangent modulus compared with dextran treatment alone, and altered collagen architecture within the first 300 µm of stromal depth consisting of 5% increase in the thickness of collagen fibrils, no significant changes to interfibrillar spacing, and an 8% to 12% decrease in number of fibrils per unit area. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed formation of interfibrillar bonds (P = .012) induced by UVA-mediated CXL. CONCLUSIONS: The data support a model wherein collagen fibril diameter and structural density are fundamental parameters in defining tissue stiffening following UVA/riboflavin CXL and provide benchmarks against which modifications to the Dresden CXL protocol can be evaluated

Transcriptional activation of the Axl and PDGFR-α by c-Met through a ras- and Src-independent mechanism in human bladder cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A cross-talk between different receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of human cancers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Both NIH-Met5 and T24-Met3 cell lines harboring an inducible human c-Met gene were established. C-Met-related RTKs were screened by RTK microarray analysis. The cross-talk of RTKs was demonstrated by Western blotting and confirmed by small interfering RNA (siRNA) silencing, followed by elucidation of the underlying mechanism. The impact of this cross-talk on biological function was demonstrated by Trans-well migration assay. Finally, the potential clinical importance was examined in a cohort of 65 cases of locally advanced and metastatic bladder cancer patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A positive association of Axl or platelet-derived growth factor receptor-alpha (PDGFR-α) with c-Met expression was demonstrated at translational level, and confirmed by specific siRNA knock-down. The transactivation of c-Met on Axl or PDGFR-α <it>in vitro </it>was through a <it>ras</it>- and Src-independent activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK/ERK) pathway. In human bladder cancer, co-expression of these RTKs was associated with poor patient survival (<it>p </it>< 0.05), and overexpression of c-Met/Axl/PDGFR-α or c-Met alone showed the most significant correlation with poor survival (<it>p </it>< 0.01).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In addition to c-Met, the cross-talk with Axl and/or PDGFR-α also contributes to the progression of human bladder cancer. Evaluation of Axl and PDGFR-α expression status may identify a subset of c-Met-positive bladder cancer patients who may require co-targeting therapy.</p

Women with endometriosis have higher comorbidities: Analysis of domestic data in Taiwan

AbstractEndometriosis, defined by the presence of viable extrauterine endometrial glands and stroma, can grow or bleed cyclically, and possesses characteristics including a destructive, invasive, and metastatic nature. Since endometriosis may result in pelvic inflammation, adhesion, chronic pain, and infertility, and can progress to biologically malignant tumors, it is a long-term major health issue in women of reproductive age. In this review, we analyze the Taiwan domestic research addressing associations between endometriosis and other diseases. Concerning malignant tumors, we identified four studies on the links between endometriosis and ovarian cancer, one on breast cancer, two on endometrial cancer, one on colorectal cancer, and one on other malignancies, as well as one on associations between endometriosis and irritable bowel syndrome, one on links with migraine headache, three on links with pelvic inflammatory diseases, four on links with infertility, four on links with obesity, four on links with chronic liver disease, four on links with rheumatoid arthritis, four on links with chronic renal disease, five on links with diabetes mellitus, and five on links with cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.). The data available to date support that women with endometriosis might be at risk of some chronic illnesses and certain malignancies, although we consider the evidence for some comorbidities to be of low quality, for example, the association between colon cancer and adenomyosis/endometriosis. We still believe that the risk of comorbidity might be higher in women with endometriosis than that we supposed before. More research is needed to determine whether women with endometriosis are really at risk of these comorbidities

Proteomics Characterization of Cytoplasmic and Lipid-Associated Membrane Proteins of Human Pathogen Mycoplasma fermentans M64

Mycoplasma fermentans is a potent human pathogen which has been implicated in several diseases. Notably, its lipid-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) play a role in immunomodulation and development of infection-associated inflammatory diseases. However, the systematic protein identification of pathogenic M. fermentans has not been reported. From our recent sequencing results of M. fermentans M64 isolated from human respiratory tract, its genome is around 1.1 Mb and encodes 1050 predicted protein-coding genes. In the present study, soluble proteome of M. fermentans was resolved and analyzed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. In addition, Triton X-114 extraction was carried out to enrich amphiphilic proteins including putative lipoproteins and membrane proteins. Subsequent mass spectrometric analyses of these proteins had identified a total of 181 M. fermentans ORFs. Further bioinformatics analysis of these ORFs encoding proteins with known or so far unknown orthologues among bacteria revealed that a total of 131 proteins are homologous to known proteins, 11 proteins are conserved hypothetical proteins, and the remaining 39 proteins are likely M. fermentans-specific proteins. Moreover, Triton X-114-enriched fraction was shown to activate NF-kB activity of raw264.7 macrophage and a total of 21 lipoproteins with predicted signal peptide were identified therefrom. Together, our work provides the first proteome reference map of M. fermentans as well as several putative virulence-associated proteins as diagnostic markers or vaccine candidates for further functional study of this human pathogen

Automatic Detection of Mouse Mating Behavior by Video Surveillance

The purpose of this study was to detect the behavior of mouse mating using video surveillance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on developing the algorithm for the automatic detection of mouse mating based on video surveillance. First, the mouse movement in a cage was detected by the background subtraction method. When two mice contacted, the corresponding contour can be extracted by edge detection method, by which the distances between the centroid and the edge pixels of contour were determined as a waveform signal. After further sub-sampling and smoothing the waveform, two decision criteria emerged: (1) the total number n of peaks and troughs and (2) the angle θ between two lines connecting the adjacent peak-edges and the centroid of the contour. By using these two criteria, we can successfully detect the mating behavior in the recorded video. Experimental results showed that 87.0% of precision and recall accuracy can be achieved.APSIPA ASC 2009: Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association, 2009 Annual Summit and Conference. 4-7 October 2009. Sapporo, Japan. Poster session: 3D Mapping, Modeling, Tracking, and Applications (6 October 2009)