ECS: Efficient Communication Scheduling for Underwater Sensor Networks

TDMA protocols have attracted a lot of attention for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWSNs), because of the unique characteristics of acoustic signal propagation such as great energy consumption in transmission, long propagation delay and long communication range. Previous TDMA protocols all allocated transmission time to nodes based on discrete time slots. This paper proposes an efficient continuous time scheduling TDMA protocol (ECS) for UWSNs, including the continuous time based and sender oriented conflict analysis model, the transmission moment allocation algorithm and the distributed topology maintenance algorithm. Simulation results confirm that ECS improves network throughput by 20% on average, compared to existing MAC protocols

Modeling Multi-aspect Preferences and Intents for Multi-behavioral Sequential Recommendation

Multi-behavioral sequential recommendation has recently attracted increasing attention. However, existing methods suffer from two major limitations. Firstly, user preferences and intents can be described in fine-grained detail from multiple perspectives; yet, these methods fail to capture their multi-aspect nature. Secondly, user behaviors may contain noises, and most existing methods could not effectively deal with noises. In this paper, we present an attentive recurrent model with multiple projections to capture Multi-Aspect preferences and INTents (MAINT in short). To extract multi-aspect preferences from target behaviors, we propose a multi-aspect projection mechanism for generating multiple preference representations from multiple aspects. To extract multi-aspect intents from multi-typed behaviors, we propose a behavior-enhanced LSTM and a multi-aspect refinement attention mechanism. The attention mechanism can filter out noises and generate multiple intent representations from different aspects. To adaptively fuse user preferences and intents, we propose a multi-aspect gated fusion mechanism. Extensive experiments conducted on real-world datasets have demonstrated the effectiveness of our model

iPLA2β Overexpression in Smooth Muscle Exacerbates Angiotensin II-Induced Hypertension and Vascular Remodeling

Calcium independent group VIA phospholipase A(2) (iPLA(2)β) is up-regulated in vascular smooth muscle cells in some diseases, but whether the up-regulated iPLA(2)β affects vascular morphology and blood pressure is unknown. The current study addresses this question by evaluating the basal- and angiotensin II infusion-induced vascular remodeling and hypertension in smooth muscle specific iPLA(2)β transgenic (iPLA(2)β-Tg) mice.Blood pressure was monitored by radiotelemetry and vascular remodeling was assessed by morphologic analysis. We found that the angiotensin II-induced increase in diastolic pressure was significantly higher in iPLA(2)β-Tg than iPLA(2)β-Wt mice, whereas, the basal blood pressure was not significantly different. The media thickness and media∶lumen ratio of the mesenteric arteries were significantly increased in angiotensin II-infused iPLA(2)β-Tg mice. Analysis revealed no difference in vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. In contrast, adenovirus-mediated iPLA(2)β overexpression in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells promoted angiotensin II-induced [(3)H]-leucine incorporation, indicating enhanced hypertrophy. Moreover, angiotensin II infusion-induced c-Jun phosphorylation in vascular smooth muscle cells overexpressing iPLA2β to higher levels, which was abolished by inhibition of 12/15 lipoxygenase. In addition, we found that angiotensin II up-regulated the endogenous iPLA(2)β protein in-vitro and in-vivo.The present study reports that iPLA(2)β up-regulation exacerbates angiotensin II-induced vascular smooth muscle cell hypertrophy, vascular remodeling and hypertension via the 12/15 lipoxygenase and c-Jun pathways

On the design evolution of hip implants: A review

This manuscript reviews the development of femoral stem prostheses in the biomedical field. After a brief introduction on the development of these prostheses and the associated problems, we describe the standard design of these systems. We review the different materials, constructions, and surfaces used in the development of femoral stems, in order to solve and avoid various problems associated with their use. Femoral stem prostheses have undergone substantial changes and design optimizations since their introduction. Common materials include stainless steel, cobalt–chromium alloy, titanium alloy, and composites. The structural development of femoral stem prostheses, including their length, shape, porosity, and functional gradient construction, is also reviewed. The performance of these prostheses is affected not only by individual factors, but also by the synergistic combination of multiple effects; therefore, several aspects need to be optimized. The main purpose of this study is to summarize various strategies for the material and construction optimization of femoral stem prostheses, and to provide a reference for the combined optimization of their performance. Substantial research is still needed to develop prostheses emulating the behavior of a real human femoral stem

Abundant aftershock sequence of the 2015 M_w7.5 Hindu Kush intermediate-depth earthquake

The 2015 M_w7.5 Hindu Kush earthquake occurred at a depth of 213 km beneath the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. While many early aftershocks were missing from the global earthquake catalogues, this sequence was recorded continuously by eight broad-band stations within 500 km. Here we use a waveform matching technique to systematically detect earthquakes around the main shock. More than 3000 events are detected within 35 d after the main shock, as compared with 42 listed in the Advanced National Seismic System catalogue (or 196 in the International Seismological Centre catalogue). The aftershock sequence generally follows the Omori's law with a decay constant p = 0.92. We also apply the recently developed double-pair double-difference technique to relocate all detected aftershocks. Most of them are located to the west of the hypocentre of the main shock, consistent with the westward propagation of the main-shock rupture. The aftershocks outline a nearly vertical southward dipping plane, which matches well with one of the nodal planes of the main shock. We conclude that the aftershock sequence of this intermediate-depth earthquake shares many similarities with those for shallow earthquakes and infer that there are some common mechanisms responsible for shallow and intermediate-depth earthquakes

Smooth Muscle-specific Expression of Calcium-independent Phospholipase A2 (iPLA2 ) Participates in the Initiation and Early Progression of Vascular Inflammation and Neointima Formation

Background: The role of iPLA 2 β as a regulator of inflammatory signaling and neointima formation is unknown. Result: Smooth muscle-specific expression of iPLA 2 β exacerbates proinflammatory cytokine production, macrophage infiltration, and neointima formation. Conclusion: Smooth muscle-specific iPLA 2 β participates in the initiation and early progression of vascular inflammation and neointima formation. Significance: iPLA 2 β may represent a novel therapeutic target for attenuating vascular inflammation and restenosis