Sticky CSMA/CA: Implicit synchronization and real-time QoS in mesh networks

We propose a novel approach to QoS for real-time traffic over wireless mesh networks, in which application layer characteristics are exploited or shaped in the design of medium access control. Specifically, we consider the problem of efficiently supporting a mix of Voice over IP (VoIP) and delay-insensitive traffic, assuming a narrowband physical layer with CSMA/CA capabilities. The VoIP call carrying capacity of wireless mesh networks based on classical CSMA/CA (e.g., the IEEE 802.11 standard) is low compared to the raw available bandwidth, due to lack of bandwidth and delay guarantees. Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) could potentially provide such guarantees, but it requires fine-grained network-wide synchronization and scheduling, which are difficult to implement. In this paper, we introduce Sticky CSMA/CA, a new medium access mechanism that provides TDM-like performance to real-time flows without requiring explicit synchronization. We exploit the natural periodicity of VoIP flows to obtain implicit synchronization and multiplexing gains. Nodes monitor the medium using the standard CSMA/CA mechanism, except that they remember the recent history of activity in the medium. A newly arriving VoIP flow uses this information to grab the medium at the first available opportunity, and then sticks to a periodic schedule, providing delay and bandwidth guarantees. Delay-insensitive traffic fills the gaps left by the real-time flows using novel contention mechanisms to ensure efficient use of the leftover bandwidth. Large gains over IEEE 802.11 networks are demonstrated in terms of increased voice call carrying capacity (more than 100% in some cases). We briefly discuss extensions of these ideas to a broader class of real-time applications, in which artificially imposing periodicity (or some other form of regularity) at the application layer can lead to significant enhancements of QoS due to improved medium access.     

Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>-TiC Composite Prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering Process: Evaluation of Mechanical and Tribological Properties

Al₂O₃-10TiC composites were synthesized by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Microstructural and mechanical properties of the composite reveal homogeneous distribution of the fine TiC particles in the matrix. The samples were produced with different sintering temperature, and it shows that the hardness and density gradually increases with increasing sintering temperature. Abrasion wear test result reveals that the composite sintered at 1500 °C shows high abrasion resistance (wt. loss ~ 0.016 g) and the lowest abrasion resistance was observed for the composite sample sintered at 1100 °C (wt. loss ~ 1.459 g). The profilometry surface roughness study shows that sample sintered at 1100 °C shows maximum roughness (R_a = 6.53 µm) compared to the sample sintered at 1500 °C (R_a = 0.66 µm) corroborating the abrasion wear test results.     

Electrokinetic remediation of wood preservative contaminated soil containing copper, chromium, and arsenic

As a result of wood treatment, and the recent banning of the copper, chromium, and arsenic (CCA) treated wood for residential use many CCA treatment facilities have been abandoned or being closed. Soil contamination resulting from CCA is common at these sites. In this study, the feasibility of electrokinetic technique to remove CCA from contaminated soil was investigated. To better understand the ionic mobility within the soil and to detect the generation and advancement of acid front, sampling ports were provided along the longitudinal axis of a test cell. To determine the effect of varying current, three tests were performed at different current densities of 5.9, 2.9, and 1.5mA/cm(2) for a period of 15 days. The initial concentrations of copper, chromium, and arsenic in the soil were 4800, 3100, and 5200mg/kg, respectively. Dilute nitric acid was used as an amendment to neutralize the hydroxyl ions produced at the cathode. Experiments resulted in removal efficiencies as high as 65% for copper, 72% for chromium, and 77% for arsenic. The results also indicated that the advancement of acid front favored desorption of metals from the soil and the metals were mobilized either as free cations or metal complexes. Chromium that was in its +6 valence state was transported as anion prior to its reduction. However, once the chromium was reduced to chromium(III) its transport direction reversed with transport being favored towards the cathode.     

A comparison of crystallization behavior for melt and cold crystallized poly (l-Lactide) using rapid scanning rate calorimetry

A unique rapid scanning rate differential scanning calorimeter is used to examine the differences in melt and cold crystallized poly (l-Lactide) (PLLA), a biodegradable semi-crystalline polymer. After isothermal melt and cold crystallization at various temperatures, both melt and cold crystallized PLLA are characterized by similar melting temperatures (T_m) and exhibit multiple melting behavior on heating at 500 °C/min. However, cold crystallization results in a higher degree of crystallinity (w_c) compared to melt crystallization. While the overall amorphous fraction is higher for melt crystallization, the mobile amorphous fraction (w_a) is found to be higher for cold crystallization. The rigid amorphous fraction (w_raf) in PLLA is determined to be higher for melt crystallization than for cold crystallization at almost all temperatures. The higher values of w_raf also appear to result in higher values of the glass transition temperature (T_g) for melt crystallized samples due to a reduction in mobility of amorphous phase. These dramatic differences depending on whether the material is brought to the crystallization temperature from the melt or the glassy state, could have profound implications for processing and optimizing the properties of PLLA.     

Aniline‐nonamer segmented polyurea: A facile electrocatalyst for detection of ascorbic acid

An unprecedented A‐B‐A type block copolymer electroactive polyurea (EPU) is designed and synthesized with tetraaniline dimer and 1,4‐phenylenediamine via an oxidative coupling, where aniline–nonamer and hexamethylene di‐urea constitute two segments. The EPU was characterized by spectral techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and UV–vis spectra. The structural characterization of the prepared EPU was obtained by powder X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. EPU reorganizes into core–shell microcapsules in presence of aqueous acetic acid/n‐octane interface. These microcapsules exhibited a wide range of pH responses in their absorption spectrum (UV–vis). The EPU is modified as carbon paste electrode which exhibits a remarkable electrocatalytic oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA, Vitamin C) in 0.2 M and pH 7.0 phosphate buffer solution. The carbon paste electrode is useful in sensing as low as 50 µM of ascorbic acid. This can open up new opportunities for fast, simple detection of AA providing a promising platform for sensor/biosensor designs for AA detection. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46630.     

Extracellular Vesicle Proteome in Prostate Cancer: A Comparative Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Studies

Molecular diagnostics based on discovery research holds the promise of improving screening methods for prostate cancer (PCa). Furthermore, the congregated information prompts the question whether the urinary extracellular vesicles (uEV) proteome has been thoroughly explored, especially at the proteome level. In fact, most extracellular vesicles (EV) based biomarker studies have mainly targeted plasma or serum. Therefore, in this study, we aim to inquire about possible strategies for urinary biomarker discovery particularly focused on the proteome of urine EVs. Proteomics data deposited in the PRIDE archive were reanalyzed to target identifications of potential PCa markers. Network analysis of the markers proposed by different prostate cancer studies revealed moderate overlap. The recent throughput improvements in mass spectrometry together with the network analysis performed in this study, suggest that a larger standardized cohort may provide potential biomarkers that are able to fully characterize the heterogeneity of PCa. According to our analysis PCa studies based on urinary EV proteome presents higher protein coverage compared to plasma, plasma EV, and voided urine proteome. This together with a direct interaction of the prostate gland and urethra makes uEVs an attractive option for protein biomarker studies. In addition, urinary proteome based PCa studies must also evaluate samples from bladder and renal cancers to assess specificity for PCa.     

Stochastic-Reinforcement Learning Assisted Dynamic Power Management Model for Zone-Routing Protocol in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - The Zone Routing Protocol of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks is one of the most reliable and efficient routing protocols. However, maintaining Quality of Service,...     

Role of Polymer Concentration and Crosslinking Density on Release Rates of Small Molecule Drugs

Over the past few years, researchers have demonstrated the use of hydrogels to design drug delivery platforms that offer a variety of benefits, including but not limited to longer circulation times, reduced drug degradation, and improved targeting. Furthermore, a variety of strategies have been explored to develop stimulus-responsive hydrogels to design smart drug delivery platforms that can release drugs to specific target areas and at predetermined rates. However, only a few studies have focused on exploring how innate hydrogel properties can be optimized and modulated to tailor drug dosage and release rates. Here, we investigated the individual and combined roles of polymer concentration and crosslinking density (controlled using both chemical and nanoparticle-mediated physical crosslinking) on drug delivery rates. These experiments indicated a strong correlation between the aforementioned hydrogel properties and drug release rates. Importantly, they also revealed the existence of a saturation point in the ability to control drug release rates through a combination of chemical and physical crosslinkers. Collectively, our analyses describe how different hydrogel properties affect drug release rates and lay the foundation to develop drug delivery platforms that can be programmed to release a variety of bioactive payloads at defined rates.     

Synthesis and characterization of highly photoresponsive fullerenyl dyads with a close chromophore antenna-C(60) contact and effective photodynamic potential

We report the synthesis of a new class of photoresponsive C(60)-DCE-diphenylaminofluorene nanostructures and their intramolecular photoinduced energy and electron transfer phenomena. Structural modification was made by chemical conversion of the keto group in C(60)(>DPAF-C(n)) to a stronger electron-withdrawing 1,1-dicyanoethylenyl (DCE) unit leading to C(60)(>CPAF-C(n)) with an increased electronic polarization of the molecule. The modification also led to a large bathochromic shift of the major band in visible spectrum giving measureable absorption up to 600 nm and extended the photoresponsive capability of C(60)-DCE-DPAF nanostructures to longer red wavelengths than C(60)(>DPAF-C(n)). Accordingly, C(60)(>CPAF-C(n)) may allow 2γ-PDT using a light wavelength of 1000-1200 nm for enhanced tissue penetration depth. Production efficiency of singlet oxygen by closely related C(60)(>DPAF-C(2) (M)) was found to be comparable with that of tetraphenylporphyrin photosensitizer. Remarkably, the (1)O(2) quantum yield of C(60)(>CPAF-C(2) (M)) was found to be nearly 6-fold higher than that of C(60)(>DPAF-C(2) (M)), demonstrating the large light-harvesting enhancement of the CPAF-C(2) (M) moiety and leading to more efficient triplet state generation of the C(60)> cage moiety. This led to highly effective killing of HeLa cells by C(60)(>CPAF-C(2) (M)) via photodynamic therapy (200 J cm(-2) white light). We interpret the phenomena in terms of the contributions by the extended π-conjugation and stronger electron-withdrawing capability associated with the 1,1-dicyanoethylenyl group compared to that of the keto group.     

Electrochemical investigations of an anticancer drug in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate as an enhancing agent at carbon paste electrode

In the present work, the electrochemical behavior of an anticancer drug, gemcitabine hydrochloride (GMB) was studied in the presence of a surface active agent (surfactant) at carbon paste electrode (CPE). GMB showed an oxidation peak at 1.101 V. The presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in the electrolyte was found to enhance the oxidation signal of GMB at CPE. The oxidation peak current of GMB in the presence of SDS was observed to be the function of accumulation time, scan rate, pH of the medium, and concentration of GMB. Accumulation time greatly influenced the peak current but did not exhibit significant influence on the peak potential. Based on this, a novel, sensitive, and convenient differential pulse voltammetric method was developed for the determination of GMB in the concentration range of 5.0 × 10⁻⁸–3.0 × 10⁻⁴ M with a limit of detection value of 8.2 × 10⁻⁹ M. The proposed procedure was successfully applied for the determination of GMB in pharmaceutical formulations and spiked biological samples.