Self-map building in wireless sensor network based on TDOA measurements

Node localization has long been established as a key problem in the sensor networks. Self-mapping in wireless sensor network which enables beacon-based systems to build a node map on-the-fly extends the range of the sensor network's applications. A variety of self-mapping algorithms have been developed for the sensor networks. Some algorithms assume no information and estimate only the relative location of the sensor nodes. In this paper, we assume a very small percentage of the sensor nodes aware of their own locations, so the proposed algorithm estimates other node's absolute location using the distance differences. In particular, time difference of arrival (TDOA) technology is adopted to obtain the distance difference. The obtained time difference accuracy is 10ns which corresponds to a distance difference error of 3m. We evaluate self-mapping's accuracy with a small number of seed nodes. Overall, the accuracy and the coverage are shown to be comparable to those achieved results with other technologies and algorithms. © 2012 IEEE.</p

Fighting against kidney diseases with small interfering RNA: opportunities and challenges

The significant improvements in siRNA therapy have been achieved, which have great potential applications in humans. The kidney is a comparatively easy target organ of siRNA therapy due to its unique structural and functional characteristics. Here, we reviewed recent achievements in siRNA design, delivery and application with focuses on kidney diseases, in particular kidney transplant-related injuries. In addition, the strategy for increasing serum stability and immune tolerance of siRNA was also discussed. At last, the future challenges of siRNA therapy including organ/tissue/cell-specific delivery and time-controlled silence, as well as selecting therapeutic targets, were addressed as well

Surfactant-like Additives Assisted the Lateral Growth of Pentacene Films

Lateral growth of thin films is crucial for organic electronic devices, such as field-effect transistors. Here, we report a strategy to improve the lateral growth of pentacene films using rubrene as a surfactant-like additive. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images confirm the enhanced lateral growth with the presence of rubrene, resulting in smooth and enlarged molecule domains in the films in comparison to those without rubrene. Molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to explore the interlayer diffusion of pentacene molecules during the growth. With the rubrene molecules as surfactant-like additives, mean square displacement (MSD) analysis shows that the pentacene molecules have a descending diffusion coefficient of 2.0 × 10–5 cm2 s–1, which is greater than the ascending diffusion coefficient of 1.6 × 10–5 cm2 s–1. The more descending molecules lead to an enhanced lateral growth of pentacene films, which is in good agreement with the experiments. As a result, the pentacene films grown with rubrene exhibit a rapid increase in carrier mobility over thickness due to the well-connected domains resulting from enhanced lateral growth. This finding will provide a new strategy to modulate the morphology of organic films for high-performance devices

Long non-coding RNA CHCHD4P4 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and inhibits cell proliferation in calcium oxalate-induced kidney damage

<div><p>Kidney stone disease is a major cause of chronic renal insufficiency. The role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in calcium oxalate-induced kidney damage is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to explore the roles of lncRNAs in glyoxylate-exposed and healthy mouse kidneys using microarray technology and bioinformatics analyses. A total 376 mouse lncRNAs were differentially expressed between the two groups. Using BLAST, 15 lncRNA homologs, including AU015836 and CHCHD4P4, were identified in mice and humans. The AU015836 expression in mice exposed to glyoxylate and the CHCHD4P4 expression in human proximal tubular epithelial (HK-2) cells exposed to calcium oxalate monohydrate were analyzed, and both lncRNAs were found to be upregulated in response to calcium oxalate. To further evaluate the effects of CHCHD4P4 on the cell behavior, we constructed stable CHCHD4P4-overexpressing and CHCHD4P4-knockdown HK-2 cells. The results showed that CHCHD4P4 inhibited cell proliferation and promoted the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in kidney damage and fibrosis caused by calcium oxalate crystallization and deposition. The silencing of CHCHD4P4 reduced the kidney damage and fibrosis and may thus be a potential molecular target for the treatment of kidney stones.</p></div

Effects of aluminum diffusion on the adhesive behavior of the Ni(111)/Cr2O3(0001) interface: First principle study

Density functional theory was employed to investigate the structure and properties of Ni/Cr2O3 and Ni/Al2O3/Cr2O3. The O-terminated Ni(1 1 1)/Cr2O3(0 0 0 1) interface was firstly found to be the most stable configuration. Based on this construction, the effects of the Al diffusion at the Ni/Cr2O3 interface were further studied. The results of total energies indicate that Al atoms originating from Ni slab prefer to diffuse into Cr2O3 slab through the interface, resulting in the formation of alumina at the Ni/Cr2O3 interface. Due to the presence of Al atoms, there was an amazing increase in the work of adhesion, whereas the Ni/Al2O3/Cr2O3 interface showed the strongest stability. Moreover, this calculated work well agrees with the reported experimental results

A 4-40 Gb/s PAM4 transmitter with output linearity optimization in 65 nm CMOS

This paper presents a 4-40 Gb/s current mode PAM4 transmitter with an optimized eye linearity. By embedding an additional mixed combiner and an extra current source into the output driver and developing a coherent scaled-replica based bias generator, the channel-length modulation caused tail-current variations for both DC and AC coupling modes can be effectively compensated. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS, the transmitter occupies an area of 1.02 mm2 and consumes 102 mW at 40 Gb/s. After applying the proposed linearity optimization, the measured eye linearity can be optimized from 1.28 to 1.01 with a single-end swing of 480 mV in AC coupling mode. © 2017 IEEE.</p

A 10 GHz 56 fsrms-integrated-jitter and -247 dB FOM ring-VCO based injection-locked clock multiplier with a continuous frequency-tracking loop in 65 nm CMOS

This paper presents a low jitter ring-VCO based injection-locked clock multiplier (RILCM) with a phase-shift detection based hybrid frequency tracking loop (FTL). A full-swing pseudo-differential delay cell (FS-PDDC) is proposed to lower the device noise to phase noise conversion. To obtain high operation speed, high detection accuracy, and low output disturbance, a compact timing-adjusted phase detector (TPD) tightly combining with a well-matched charge pump (CP) is designed. Additionally, a lock-loss detection and lock recovery (LLD-LR) scheme is devised to equip the RILCM with a similar lock-acquisition ability to conventional PLL, thus excluding the initial frequency setup aid and preventing potential lock loss. Implemented in 65 nm CMOS, the RILCM occupies an active area of 0.07 mm2 and consumes 59.4 mW at 10 GHz. The measured results show that it achieves 56.1 fs rms-jitter and -57.13 dBc spur level. The calculated figure-of-merit (FOM) is -247.3 dB, which is better than previous RILCMs and even comparable to those large-area LC-ILCMs. © 2017 IEEE.</p

Additional file 1: Table S1. of Hox genes reveal genomic DNA variation in tetraploid hybrids derived from Carassius auratus red var. (female) × Megalobrama amblycephala (male)

The PCR Gene-specific degenerate primers. Gene-specific degenerate primers designed based on the alignment and identification of consensus orthologous Hox gene sequences from zebrafish (Danio rerio), medaka (Oryzias latipes), pufferfish (Fugu rubripes), mouse (Mus musculus), cichlids, and humans (Homo sapiens). Table S2. The Percentage of the amino acid. Percentage amino acid identity between paralogous Hox sequences obtained from 4nF1 and reported orthologues from zebrafish, fugu, and medaka. Table S3. Comparison of GC levels among duplicated genes. (DOCX 20 kb

sj-docx-1-jdr-10.1177_00220345231182052 – Supplemental material for Fibulin-1 Regulates Initiation of Successional Dental Lamina

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-jdr-10.1177_00220345231182052 for Fibulin-1 Regulates Initiation of Successional Dental Lamina by G. Li, Q. Li, Z. Shen, X. Lin, X. Li, J. Wang, B. Zhao, Y. Feng, L. Feng, W. Guo, L. Hu, J. Wang, C. Zhang, Z. Fan, S. Wang and X. Wu in Journal of Dental Research</p

Genome-wide association scan meta-analysis identifies three Loci influencing adiposity and fat distribution.

To identify genetic loci influencing central obesity and fat distribution, we performed a meta-analysis of 16 genome-wide association studies (GWAS, N = 38,580) informative for adult waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). We selected 26 SNPs for follow-up, for which the evidence of association with measures of central adiposity (WC and/or WHR) was strong and disproportionate to that for overall adiposity or height. Follow-up studies in a maximum of 70,689 individuals identified two loci strongly associated with measures of central adiposity; these map near TFAP2B (WC, P = 1.9x10(-11)) and MSRA (WC, P = 8.9x10(-9)). A third locus, near LYPLAL1, was associated with WHR in women only (P = 2.6x10(-8)). The variants near TFAP2B appear to influence central adiposity through an effect on overall obesity/fat-mass, whereas LYPLAL1 displays a strong female-only association with fat distribution. By focusing on anthropometric measures of central obesity and fat distribution, we have identified three loci implicated in the regulation of human adiposity