Poster abstract : Energy-efficient rate adaptive MAC Protocol (RA-MAC) for long-lived sensor networks

This paper introduces an energy-efficient Rate Adaptive MAC (RA-MAC) protocol for long-lived Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Previous research shows that the dynamic and lossy nature of wireless communication is one of the major challenges to reliable data delivery in a WSN. RA-MAC achieves high link reliability in such situations by dynamically trading off radio bit rate for signal processing gain. This extra gain reduces the packet loss rate which results in lower energy expenditure by reducing the number of retransmissions. RA-MAC selects the optimal data rate based on channel conditions with the aim of minimizing energy consumption. We have implemented RA-MAC in TinyOS on an off-the-shelf sensor platform (TinyNode), and evaluated its performance by comparing RA-MAC with state-ofthe- art WSN MAC protocol (SCP-MAC) by experiments.

Abundance indices for long-lived tropical snappers: estimating standardized catch rates from spatially and temporally coarse logbook data

The Northern Demersal Scalefish Fishery has historically comprised a small fleet (≤10 vessels year−1) operating over a relatively large area off the northwest coast of Australia. This multispecies fishery primarily harvests two species of snapper: goldband snapper, Pristipomoides multidens and red emperor, Lutjanus sebae. A key input to age-structured assessments of these stocks has been the annual time-series of the catch rate. We used an approach that combined Generalized Linear Models, spatio-temporal imputation, and computer-intensive methods to standardize the fishery catch rates and report uncertainty in the indices. These analyses, which represent one of the first attempts to standardize fish trap catch rates, were also augmented to gain additional insights into the effects of targeting, historical effort creep, and spatio-temporal resolution of catch and effort data on trap fishery dynamics. Results from monthly reported catches (i.e. 1993 on) were compared with those reported daily from more recently (i.e. 2008 on) enhanced catch and effort logbooks. Model effects of catches of one species on the catch rates of another became more conspicuous when the daily data were analysed and produced estimates with greater precision. The rate of putative effort creep estimated for standardized catch rates was much lower than estimated for nominal catch rates. These results therefore demonstrate how important additional insights into fishery and fish population dynamics can be elucidated from such “pre-assessment” analyses.

Extremely Low Microsatellite Diversity but Distinct Population Structure in a Long-Lived Threatened Species, the Australian Lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri (Dipnoi)

The Australian lungfish is a unique living representative of an ancient dipnoan lineage, listed as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Historical accounts indicate this species occurred naturally in two adjacent river systems in Australia, the Burnett and Mary. Current day populations in other rivers are thought to have arisen by translocation from these source populations. Early genetic work detected very little variation and so had limited power to answer questions relevant for management including how genetic variation is partitioned within and among sub-populations. In this study, we use newly developed microsatellite markers to examine samples from the Burnett and Mary Rivers, as well as from two populations thought to be of translocated origin, Brisbane and North Pine. We test whether there is significant genetic structure among and within river drainages; assign putatively translocated populations to potential source populations; and estimate effective population sizes. Eleven polymorphic microsatellite loci genotyped in 218 individuals gave an average within-population heterozygosity of 0.39 which is low relative to other threatened taxa and for freshwater fishes in general. Based on F_ST values (average over loci = 0.11) and STRUCTURE analyses, we identify three distinct populations in the natural range, one in the Burnett and two distinct populations in the Mary. These analyses also support the hypothesis that the Mary River is the likely source of translocated populations in the Brisbane and North Pine rivers, which agrees with historical published records of a translocation event giving rise to these populations. We were unable to obtain bounded estimates of effective population size, as we have too few genotype combinations, although point estimates were low, ranging from 29 - 129. We recommend that, in order to preserve any local adaptation in the three distinct populations that they be managed separately.

Long-lived giant number fluctuations in a swarming granular nematic

Coherently moving flocks of birds, beasts, or bacteria are examples of living matter with spontaneous orientational order. How do these systems differ from thermal equilibrium systems with such liquid crystalline order? Working with a fluidized monolayer of macroscopic rods in the nematic liquid crystalline phase, we find giant number fluctuations consistent with a standard deviation growing linearly with the mean, in contrast to any situation where the central limit theorem applies. These fluctuations are long-lived, decaying only as a logarithmic function of time. This shows that flocking, coherent motion, and large-scale inhomogeneity can appear in a system in which particles do not communicate except by contact.

Search for Long-Lived Massive Charged Particles in 1.96 TeV pp̅ Collisions

We performed a signature-based search for long-lived charged massive particles (CHAMPs) produced in 1.0 $\rm{fb}^{-1}$ of $\bar{p}p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, collected with the CDF II detector using a high transverse-momentum ($p_T$) muon trigger. The search used time-of-flight to isolate slowly moving, high-$p_T$ particles. One event passed our selection cuts with an expected background of $1.9 \pm 0.2$ events. We set an upper bound on the production cross section, and, interpreting this result within the context of a stable scalar top quark model, set a lower limit on the particle mass of 249 GeV/$c^2$ at 95% C.L.

Characterization of silver-kaolinite (AgK): an adsorbent for long-lived I-129 species

Bentonite is a preferred buffer and backfill material for deep geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW). Bentonite does not retain anions by virtue of its negatively charged basal surface. Imparting anion retention ability to bentonite is important to enable the expansive clay to retain long-lived I-129 (iodine-129; half-life = 16 million years) species that may escape from the HLW geological repository. Silver-kaolinite (AgK) material is prepared as an additive to improve the iodide retention capacity of bentonite. The AgK is prepared by heating kaolinite-silver nitrate mix at 400 degrees C to study the kaolinite influence on the transition metal ion when reacting at its dehydroxylation temperature. Thermo gravimetric-Evolved Gas Detection analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photo electron spectroscopy and electron probe micro analysis indicated that silver occurs as AgO/Ag2O surface coating on thermally reacting kaolinite with silver nitrate at 400 degrees C.

Long-lived oscillatory incoherent electron dynamics in molecules: trans-polyacetylene oligomers

We identify an intriguing feature of the electron-vibrational dynamics of molecular systems via a computational examination of trans-polyacetylene oligomers. Here, via the vibronic interactions, the decay of an electron in the conduction band resonantly excites an electron in the valence band, and vice versa, leading to oscillatory exchange of electronic population between two distinct electronic states that lives for up to tens of picoseconds. The oscillatory structure is reminiscent of beating patterns between quantum states and is strongly suggestive of the presence of long-lived molecular electronic coherence. Significantly, however, a detailed analysis of the electronic coherence properties shows that the oscillatory structure arises from a purely incoherent process. These results were obtained by propagating the coupled dynamics of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in a mixed quantum-classical study of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hamiltonian for polyacetylene. The incoherent process is shown to occur between degenerate electronic states with distinct electronic configurations that are indirectly coupled via a third auxiliary state by vibronic interactions. A discussion of how to construct electronic superposition states in molecules that are truly robust to decoherence is also presented

Discovery of Highly Excited Long-Lived Isomers in Neutron-Rich Hafnium and Tantalum Isotopes through Direct Mass Measurements

A study of cooled Au-197 projectile-fragmentation products has been performed with a storage ring. This has enabled metastable nuclear excitations with energies up to 3 MeV, and half-lives extending to minutes or longer, to be identified in the neutron-rich nuclides Hf-183,Hf-184,Hf-186 and Ta-186,Ta-187. The results support the prediction of a strongly favored isomer region near neutron number 116.

On Class-based Isolation of UDP, Short-lived and Long-lived TCP Flows

The congestion control mechanisms of TCP make it vulnerable in an environment where flows with different congestion-sensitivity compete for scarce resources. With the increasing amount of unresponsive UDP traffic in today's Internet, new mechanisms are needed to enforce fairness in the core of the network. We propose a scalable Diffserv-like architecture, where flows with different characteristics are classified into separate service queues at the routers. Such class-based isolation provides protection so that flows with different characteristics do not negatively impact one another. In this study, we examine different aspects of UDP and TCP interaction and possible gains from segregating UDP and TCP into different classes. We also investigate the utility of further segregating TCP flows into two classes, which are class of short and class of long flows. Results are obtained analytically for both Tail-drop and Random Early Drop (RED) routers. Class-based isolation have the following salient features: (1) better fairness, (2) improved predictability for all kinds of flows, (3) lower transmission delay for delay-sensitive flows, and (4) better control over Quality of Service (QoS) of a particular traffic type.

Excitation of highly conjugated (porphinato)palladium(II) and (porphinato)platinum(II) oligomers produces long-lived, triplet states at unit quantum yield that absorb strongly over broad spectral domains of the NIR.

Transient dynamical studies of bis[(5,5'-10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)palladium(II)]ethyne (PPd(2)), 5,15-bis{[(5'-10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)palladium(II)]ethynyl}(10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)palladium(II) (PPd(3)), bis[(5,5'-10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)platinum(II)]ethyne (PPt(2)), and 5,15-bis{[(5'-10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)platinum(II)]ethynyl}(10,20-bis(2,6-bis(3,3-dimethylbutoxy)phenyl)porphinato)platinum(II) (PPt(3)) show that the electronically excited triplet states of these highly conjugated supermolecular chromophores can be produced at unit quantum yield via fast S(1) → T(1) intersystem crossing dynamics (τ(isc): 5.2-49.4 ps). These species manifest high oscillator strength T(1) → T(n) transitions over broad NIR spectral windows. The facts that (i) the electronically excited triplet lifetimes of these PPd(n) and PPt(n) chromophores are long, ranging from 5 to 50 μs, and (ii) the ground and electronically excited absorptive manifolds of these multipigment ensembles can be extensively modulated over broad spectral domains indicate that these structures define a new precedent for conjugated materials featuring low-lying π-π* electronically excited states for NIR optical limiting and related long-wavelength nonlinear optical (NLO) applications.

Long-lived near-infrared luminescent lanthanide complexes of imidodiphosphinate

Near-infrared emitting complexes of Nd(III), Er(III), and Yb(III) based on hexacoordinate lanthanide ions with an aryl functionalized imidodiphosphinate ligand, tpip, have been synthesized and fully characterized. Three tpip ligands form a shell around the lanthanide with the ligand coordinating via the two oxygens leading to neutral complexes, Ln(tpip)(3). In the X-ray crystal structures of Er(III) and Nd(III) complexes there is evidence of CH-pi interactions between the phenyl groups. Photophysical investigations of solution samples of the complexes demonstrate that all complexes exhibit relatively long luminescence lifetimes in nondeuteurated solvents. Luminescence studies of powder samples have also been recorded for examination of the properties of NIR complexes in the solid state for potential material applications. The results underline the effective shielding of the lanthanide by the twelve phenyl groups of the tpip ligands and the reduction of high-energy vibrations in close proximity to the lanthanide, both features important in the design of NIR emitting lanthanide complexes.