An approximation to the QoS aware throughput region of a tree network under IEEE 802.15.4 CSMA/CA with application to wireless sensor network design

In the context of wireless sensor networks, we are motivated by the design of a tree network spanning a set of source nodes that generate packets, a set of additional relay nodes that only forward packets from the sources, and a data sink. We assume that the paths from the sources to the sink have bounded hop count, that the nodes use the IEEE 802.15.4 CSMA/CA for medium access control, and that there are no hidden terminals. In this setting, starting with a set of simple fixed point equations, we derive explicit conditions on the packet generation rates at the sources, so that the tree network approximately provides certain quality of service (QoS) such as end-to-end delivery probability and mean delay. The structures of our conditions provide insight on the dependence of the network performance on the arrival rate vector, and the topological properties of the tree network. Our numerical experiments suggest that our approximations are able to capture a significant part of the QoS aware throughput region (of a tree network), that is adequate for many sensor network applications. Furthermore, for the special case of equal arrival rates, default backoff parameters, and for a range of values of target QoS, we show that among all path-length-bounded trees (spanning a given set of sources and the data sink) that meet the conditions derived in the paper, a shortest path tree achieves the maximum throughput. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mononuclear five-coordinate cobalt(II) complexes with N-4-coordinate pyrazole based ligand and pseudohalogens: synthesis, structures, DNA and protein binding study

A series of mononuclear five-coordinate cobalt(II) complexes, Co(dbdmp)(X)]Y, where dbdmp=N,N-diethyl-N,N-bis((3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)methyl)ethane-1, 2-diamine, X=N-3(-)/NCO-/NCS- and Y=PF6-/BF4-/ClO4-, have been synthesized and characterized by microanalyses and spectroscopic techniques. Crystal structures of Co(N-3)(dbdmp)]PF6 (1), Co(N-3)(dbdmp)]ClO4 (3), Co(NCO)(dbdmp)]PF6 (4), Co(NCO)(dbdmp)]ClO4 (6), and Co(NCS)(dbdmp)]ClO4 (9) have been solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies and showed that all the complexes have distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry; PF6- counter anion containing complexes Co(N-3)(dbdmp)]PF6 and Co(NCO)(dbdmp)]PF6 have chiral space groups. The binding ability of synthesized complexes with CT-DNA and bovine serum albumin (BSA) has been studied by spectroscopic methods and viscosity measurements. The experimental results of absorption titration of cobalt(II) complexes with CT-DNA indicate that the complexes have ability to form adducts and they can stabilize the DNA helix. The cobalt(II) complexes exhibit good binding propensity to BSA protein.

Spectral characterizations and photophysical properties of one-step synthesized blue fluorescent 4 `-aryl substituted 2,2 `:6 `,2 `'-terpyridine for OLEDs application

We have synthesized a series of 4'-aryl substituted 2,2':6',2 `'-terpyridine (terpy) derivatives, namely 4'-(4-methylphenyl)-2,2':6',2 `'-terpyridine (C-1), 4'-(2-furyl)-2,2':6'2 `'-terpyridine (C-2), and 4'-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)-2,2':6',2 `'-terpyridine (C-3). The synthesized terpy compounds were characterized by elemental analyses, FTIR, NMR (H-1 and C-13), and ESI-Mass spectrometry. Photophysical, electrochemical and thermal properties of terpy compounds were systematically studied. Maximum excitation band was observed between 240 and 330 nm using UV-visible spectra, and maximum emission peaks from PL spectra were observed at 385, 405 and 440 nm for C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively. Fluorescence lifetime (tau) of the fluorophores was found to be 035 and 1.55 ns at the excitation wavelength of 406 nm for C-1 and C-2 respectively, and tau value for C-3 was found to be 0.29 ns at the excitation wavelength of 468 nm. We noticed that the calculated values of HOMO energy levels were increased from 5.96 (C-1) to 6.08 (C-3) eV, which confirms that C-3 derivative is more electrons donating in nature. The calculated electrochemical band gaps were 2.95, 2.82 and 3.02 eV for C-1, C-2 and C-3 respectively. These blue fluorescent emitter derivatives can be used as an electron transport and electroluminescent material to design the blue fluorescent organic light emitting diode (OLED) applications. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V: All rights reserved.

A controller design method for 3 phase 4 wire grid connected VSI with LCL filter

Closed loop control of a grid connected VSI requires line current control and dc bus voltage control. The closed loop system comprising PR current controller and grid connected VSI with LCL filter is a higher order system. Closed loop control gain expressions are therefore difficult to obtain directly for such systems. In this work a simplified approach has been adopted to find current and voltage controller gain expressions for a 3 phase 4 wire grid connected VSI with LCL filter. The closed loop system considered here utilises PR current controller in natural reference frame and PI controller for dc bus voltage control. Asymptotic frequency response plot and gain bandwidth requirements of the system have been used for current control and voltage controller design. A simplified lower order model, derived for closed loop current control, is used for the dc bus voltage controller design. The adopted design method has been verified through experiments by comparison of the time domain response.

Crystal chemistry and photomechanical behavior of 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid: correlation between maximum yield in the solid-state topochemical reaction and cooperative molecular motion

A new monoclinic polymorph, form II (P2(1)/c, Z = 4), has been isolated for 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid (DMCA). Its solid-state 2 + 2 photoreaction to the corresponding alpha-truxillic acid is different from that of the first polymorph, the triclinic form I (P (1) over bar, Z = 4) that was reported in 1984. The crystal structures of the two forms are rather different. The two polymorphs also exhibit different photomechanical properties. Form I exhibits photosalient behavior but this effect is absent in form II. These properties can be explained on the basis of the crystal packing in the two forms. The nanoindentation technique is used to shed further insights into these structure-property relationships. A faster photoreaction in form I and a higher yield in form II are rationalized on the basis of the mechanical properties of the individual crystal forms. It is suggested that both Schmidt-type and Kaupp-type topochemistry are applicable for the solid-state trans-cinnamic acid photodimerization reaction. Form I of DMCA is more plastic and seems to react under Kaupp-type conditions with maximum molecular movements. Form II is more brittle, and its interlocked structure seems to favor Schmidt-type topochemistry with minimum molecular movement.

Instrumentation and control of a two-stage 4-bed silica gel plus water adsorption cooling cum desalination system

This paper presents the instrumentation and control architecture for a laboratory based two-stage 4-bed silica gel + water adsorption system. The system consists of primarily two fluids: refrigerant (water vapour) and heat transfer fluid (water) flowing through various components. Heat input to the system is simulated using multiple heaters and ambient air is used as the heat sink. The laboratory setup incorporates a real time National Instruments (NI) controller to control several digital and analog valves, heaters, pumps and fans along with simultaneous data acquisition from various flow, pressure and temperature sensors. The paper also presents in detail the various automated and manual tasks required for successful operation of the system. Finally the system pressure and temperature dynamics are reported and its performance evaluated for various cycle times. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A fast and accurate performance analysis of beaconless IEEE 802.15.4 multi-hop networks

We develop an approximate analytical technique for evaluating the performance of multi-hop networks based on beaconless IEEE 802.15.4 ( the ``ZigBee'' PHY and MAC), a popular standard for wireless sensor networks. The network comprises sensor nodes, which generate measurement packets, relay nodes which only forward packets, and a data sink (base station). We consider a detailed stochastic process at each node, and analyse this process taking into account the interaction with neighbouring nodes via certain time averaged unknown variables (e.g., channel sensing rates, collision probabilities, etc.). By coupling the analyses at various nodes, we obtain fixed point equations that can be solved numerically to obtain the unknown variables, thereby yielding approximations of time average performance measures, such as packet discard probabilities and average queueing delays. The model incorporates packet generation at the sensor nodes and queues at the sensor nodes and relay nodes. We demonstrate the accuracy of our model by an extensive comparison with simulations. As an additional assessment of the accuracy of the model, we utilize it in an algorithm for sensor network design with quality-of-service (QoS) objectives, and show that designs obtained using our model actually satisfy the QoS constraints (as validated by simulating the networks), and the predictions are accurate to well within 10% as compared to the simulation results in a regime where the packet discard probability is low. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simple crystallizations of 4-manifolds

Minimal crystallizations of simply connected PL 4-manifolds are very natural objects. Many of their topological features are reflected in their combinatorial structure which, in addition, is preserved under the connected sum operation. We present a minimal crystallization of the standard PL K3 surface. In combination with known results this yields minimal crystallizations of all simply connected PL 4-manifolds of ``standard'' type, that is, all connected sums of CP2, S-2 x S-2, and the K3 surface. In particular, we obtain minimal crystallizations of a pair of homeomorphic but non-PL-homeomorphic 4-manifolds. In addition, we give an elementary proof that the minimal 8-vertex crystallization of CP2 is unique and its associated pseudotriangulation is related to the 9-vertex combinatorial triangulation of CP2 by the minimum of four edge contractions.

Positive isotropic curvature and self-duality in dimension 4

We study a positivity condition for the curvature of oriented Riemannian 4-manifolds: the half-PIC condition. It is a slight weakening of the positive isotropic curvature (PIC) condition introduced by M. Micallef and J. Moore. We observe that the half-PIC condition is preserved by the Ricci flow and satisfies a maximality property among all Ricci flow invariant positivity conditions on the curvature of oriented 4-manifolds. We also study some geometric and topological aspects of half-PIC manifolds.

Virulent Salmonella enterica infections can be exacerbated by concomitant infection of the host with a live attenuated S. enterica vaccine via Toll-like receptor 4-dependent interleukin-10 production with the involvement of both TRIF and MyD88.

During systemic disease in mice, Salmonella enterica grows intracellularly within discrete foci of infection in the spleen and liver. In concomitant infections, foci containing different S. enterica strains are spatially separated. We have investigated whether functional interactions between bacterial populations within the same host can occur despite the known spatial separation of the foci and independence of growth of salmonellae residing in different foci. In this study we have demonstrated that bacterial numbers of virulent S. enterica serovar Typhimurium C5 strain in mouse tissues can be increased by the presence of the attenuated aroA S. Typhimurium SL3261 vaccine strain in the same tissue. Disease exacerbation does not require simultaneous coinjection of the attenuated bacteria. SL3261 can be administered up to 48 hr after or 24 hr before the administration of C5 and still determine higher tissue numbers of the virulent bacteria. This indicates that intravenous administration of a S. enterica vaccine strain could potentially exacerbate an established infection with wild-type bacteria. These data also suggest that the severity of an infection with a virulent S. enterica strain can be increased by the prior administration of a live attenuated vaccine strain if infection occurs within 48 hr of vaccination. Exacerbation of the growth of C5 requires Toll-like receptor 4-dependent interleukin-10 production with the involvement of both Toll/interleukin-1 receptor-domain-containing adaptor inducing interferon-beta and myeloid differentiation factor 88.

Transferencia de liquido ruminal o transfaunacion en terneros de 2 a 4 meses con trastornos de poco desarrollo corporal en la Finca Las Mercedes de la UNA

El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de Evaluar la transferencia de líquido ruminal o transfaunación en terneros de 2 a 4 meses con trastornos de poco desarrollo corporal como alternativa terapéutica para mejorar el estado físico y reducir problemas de salud en la Finca las Mercedes de la UNA. Se seleccionaron 20 terneros al azar con edades de 2 a 4 meses y se dividieron en dos grupos 10 terneros por grupo, homogéneos en edades y condición corporal, donde el tratamiento I aplicación del liquido ruminal en dosis de 1 litro por animal y el tratamiento II control sin tratamiento. El estudio se realizó en seis meses iniciando el 20 de Diciembre del 2006 hasta el 20 de Junio del 2007. Obteniéndose los siguientes resultados, los animales que se les aplicó líquido ruminal tuvieron una ganancia de peso de 80 Kg y una ganancia media diaria de 444g, mientras que los no tratados tuvieron una ganancia de peso de 58Kg y una ganancia media diaria de 322g. Al realizar el análisis estadístico se encontró diferencia significativa para p<0.05 entre tratamiento ganancia de peso y ganancia media diaria siendo el mejor el tratamiento I. Los animales que se les aplicó la transfaunación alcanzaron mejor condición corporal que los no tratados. Los animales que se les suministraron líquido ruminal se enfermaron 3 animales representando el 30%, mientras que los que no se trataron enfermaron 9 animales representando el 90%.

Transferencia de liquido ruminal o transfaunacion en ovino de 2 a 4 meses con trastornos de poco desarrollo corporal en la Finca Santa Rosa de la UNA

El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de evaluar la transferencia de líquido ruminal o transfaunación en ovino de 2 a 4 meses con trastornos de poco desarrollo corporal como alternativa terapéutica para mejorar el estado físico y reducir problemas de salud en la Finca Santa Rosa de la UNA. Se tomaron 10 ovinos con edades de 2 a 4 meses y se dividieron en dos grupos 5 ovinos, homogéneos en edades y condición corporal, seleccionados al azar donde el tratamiento 1 aplicación del líquido ruminal en dosis de 50ml por animal y el tratamiento 11 control sin tratamiento. Los animales que se trataron con líquido ruminal tuvieron una ganancia de peso de 7Kg y una ganancia media diaria de 47.2g, mientras que los no tratado tuvieron una ganancia de peso de 4.9 Kg y una ganancia media diaria de 32.6g. Al realizar el análisis estadístico se encontró diferencia significativa para p<0.05 entre tratamiento ganancia de peso y ganancia media diaria siendo el mejor el tratamiento l. Los animales tratados con la transfaunación alcanzaron mejor condición corporal que los que no tratados y se enfermó 1 animal, representando el 20%, mientras que los que no tratados se enfermaron 5 animales con diferentes trastornos representando el 100%.

Frequency diversity measurements at 2.4 GHz for wireless sensor networks deployed in tunnels

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) which utilise IEEE 802.15.4 technology operate primarily in the 2.4 GHz globally compatible ISM band. However, the wireless propagation channel in this crowded band is notoriously variable and unpredictable, and it has a significant impact on the coverage range and quality of the radio links between the wireless nodes. Therefore, the use of Frequency Diversity (FD) has potential to ameliorate this situation. In this paper, the possible benefits of using FD in a tunnel environment have been quantified by performing accurate propagation measurements using modified and calibrated off-the-shelf 802.15.4 based sensor motes in the disused Aldwych underground railway tunnel. The objective of this investigation is to characterise the performance of FD in this confined environment. Cross correlation coefficients are calculated from samples of the received power on a number of frequency channels gathered during the field measurements. The low measured values of the cross correlation coefficients indicate that applying FD at 2.4 GHz will improve link performance in a WSN deployed in a tunnel. This finding closely matches results obtained by running a computational simulation of the tunnel radio propagation using a 2D Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. ©2009 IEEE.

Evaluación preliminar de rendimiento de siete lineas de arroz (Oryza sativa L.) en comparación con la variedad Oryzica llanos 4

En el período comprendido del23 de Septiembre de 1996 al 8 de enero de 1997, en los terrenos de la Empresa Agropecuaria Guadalupe, ubicada en el municipio de Malacatoya, Departamento de Granada, se realizó el presente ensayo con el propósito de evaluar los componentes de crecimiento, rendimiento (kg/ha) y calidad industrial de 7 líneas promisorias de arroz (Oryza sativa L) en el sistema de inundación. Los tratamientos en estudios se establecieron en un diseño Unifactorial de Bloques Completo al azar (B.C.A), con cuatro repeticiones. La evaluación de los datos obtenidos de las variables en estudios se efectúo mediante el sistema de evaluación estándar para arroz, Análisis de Varianza (ANDEVA) y separación de medios rangos múltiples de Duncan al 95 % de confiabilidad. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la línea CT 9841-5-2-1p-21-21-M presentó la floración más temprana; en la aplicación de la escala de evaluación de exerción de la panícula los tratamientos que presentaron buena excersion fueron las Líneas CT 9882-2-M-14-1-M-1-3p-M-1, CT 10166-16-1-2p-1-3 y la línea CT 10175-4-6- 2p-2-2; la mayor resistencia al desgrane la obtuvieron las Líneas CT 10308-27-3-3p-3-3 CT 9682-2-M-14-1-M-1-3p-M-1 y variedad testigo; las líneas que presentaron tallos fuertes y sin volcamiento fueron: CT 10175-4-6-2p-2-2 y CT 9841-5-2-1p-21-21-M y la variedad testigo Oryzica llanos 4; los tratamientos CT 9682-2-M-14-1-M-1-3p-M-1, CT 10175-4-6-2p-2-2 y CT 9841-5-2-1p-21-21-M, la línea CT 10184-2-1-M-1-MI y la variedad Oryzica Llanos 4 presentaron buena aceptabilidad fenotípica. El mayor rendimiento de grano se obtuvo con la línea CT 10184-2-1-M-1-MI, con 4,034.14 kglha, y la menor producción se alcanzó con el tratamiento CT 9841-5-2-1p-21-21-M y sin diferencias significativas con la variedad testigo Oryzica llanos 4 (2,393.76 y 2,444.66 kglha respectivamente). En cuanto a rendimiento y calidad industrial todas las líneas se comportaron de manera similar destacándose la línea (IR-44624-127-1-2-2-3) y la variedad testigo Oryzica Llanos-4