A utility maximization approach for information-communication tradeoff in Wireless Body Area Networks

Healthcare systems have made a dramatic shift towards ubiquitous monitoring in the recent past. The reasons for such a change have been ease of timely diagnosis, convenience and comfort of clinical treatments. Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are mainly characterized by deployment of biomedical sensors around human body which transmit vital signs measurements about the health status of the patient. Unfortunately, the huge traffic load of clinical data and limited resources of biomedical sensors make the efficiency of long-term operations almost impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to make significant advances in sensor’s energy saving. Our idea is to reduce the activities of some sensors depending on the relevance between the data they measure and the diseases to detect. This paper shows how to extend the lifetime of medical WBANs by appropriately taking benefit of correlation between the knowledge about the disease and sensing data to drive the best scheduling of the medical sensors. For that, the theoretical framework of an economic approach, i.e., network utility maximization, is developed for sensor scheduling under operations cost constraint. It is shown that the compact subset of sensors can be found to provide necessary information for timely and correct diagnoses. Based on the theoretical framework, an algorithm combining sensor selection and information gain is then proposed. Simulation results show that the algorithm achieves high performance in terms of energy saving vs latency in disease detection.     

Matching ultrasonic transducer using two matching layers where one of them is glue

The aim of this work is to propose an original solution to the acoustic impedance mismatch between a PZT transducer and a water load. The characteristic acoustic impedance of the PZT is around 33 MRayl. Theoretically, a quarter-wave layer with characteristic acoustic impedance equal to 7 MRayl is necessary to match the transducer to water. In practice, it is difficult to find a material with this particular impedance. Two or more quarter-wave layers may also be used. The following proposed solution consists in using two matching layers where one of them is the glue. Moreover, their thicknesses are not equal to a quarter of their individual wavelength. Once the glue is taken as the first matching layer, the specific material of the second layer can easily be found. In this work, the second layer, which is also the front layer, is made of glass. The thickness of each matching layer is then calculated as a function of the characteristic acoustic impedance of the two layers. The influence of the thickness of these layers is discussed. The proposed matching configuration is analyzed and theoretical results have been carefully and successfully compared with measurements.     

喹喔啉类衍生物与甲基噻吩共聚物的合成及性质

在二价镍配合物催化下,2,5-二溴-3-甲基噻吩格氏试剂与5,8-二溴-萘基喹喔啉和5,8-二溴-菲基喹喔啉共聚,得到相应的喹喔啉类共轭共聚物,收率分别为65%和68%。通过FT IR、1H-NM R对聚合物及中间体的结构进行了表征。聚合物的循环伏安图中,分别在0.66 V(Epa)/0.37 V(Epc)(Copo ly-m er I),0.78 V(Epa)/-0.06V(Epc)和1.26(Epa)/0.46(Epc)(Copo lym erⅡ)处观察到氧化还原峰,表明该类聚合物有电化学活性。在紫外-可见光谱中,分别在263 nm,323 nm处(Copo lym erⅠ)和299 nm,402 nm处(Copo lym erⅡ)出现吸收峰。所得聚合物分别在504 nm和513 nm处出现荧光最大发射峰。     

Review of failure criteria of fibrous composite materials

Composite materials exhibit various and complex failure behavior. Different formalisms have been used to predict failure. Improvement of old theories and new ones continue to be published. In this paper, the most recent and widely used models are presented. Failure criteria such as Tsai-Wu, parametric formulations, maximal stress and strain, Hashin criterion, Hart-Smith criterion, and the method based on kriging are presented. These failure theories may be classified in two categories, depending whether they integrate failure modes or not. The formalism of each theory is briefly described and their application to model failure of composite laminates is discussed by comparing the advantages and limitations of each method. The diversity of experimental failure envelopes, as reported in the literature on composites, is outlined and it is shown that most criteria permit modeling only particular failure properties of composite laminates.     

Removal of cyanide in aqueous solution by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide in presence of copper-impregnated activated carbon

This work is devoted to the removal of free cyanide from aqueous solution by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂ catalyzed by copper-impregnated activated carbon. Effects of initial molar ratio [H₂O₂]₀/[CN⁻]₀, copper-impregnated activated carbon amount, pH and the temperature on cyanide removal have been investigated.The presence of copper-impregnated activated carbon has increased the reaction rate showing thus a catalytic activity. The rate of cyanides removal increases with the raise of the initial molar ratio [H₂O₂]₀/[CN⁻]0 and decreases with the increase in the pH from 8 to 12. The increase in the copper-impregnated activated carbon amount from 1.5 to 10 g/L in reaction solution has a beneficial effect. Beyond this value, the impact of activated carbon amount is not anymore significant. The temperature does not have a significant effect between 20 and 35 °C. The four successive times re-use of catalyst shows a good stability. The kinetics of cyanide removal has been found to be of pseudo-second-order with respect to cyanide and the rate constants have been determined. This process seems very interesting because the rate of cyanides removal is very fast, the reaction does not use soluble metal catalyst and it consumes only hydrogen peroxide as chemical product.     

Restoration of heavily polluted branches of the Shatt Al-Arab river, Iraq

In view of the desire to improve the water quality of the heavily polluted branches of the Shatt al-Arab River at the City of Basrah, it was proposed to maintain effective flushing as well as contracting sewerage system. The present study was conducted in order to examine the water quality of these branches in an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed flushing system. It has been found that their waters contained very low levels of dissolved oxygen and relatively high amounts of both COD and BOD₅. The annual average water quality parameters for Basrah Branches were: dissolved oxygen 3.4 ppm; pH 7.67; hydrogen sulphide 1.4 ppm; ammonia 97 μg-at. N l⁻¹; COD 15.9 mg l⁻¹; BOD₅ 12.7 mg l⁻¹; dissolved silicates 202 μg-at. Si l⁻¹; dissolved reactive phosphate 13.4 μg-at. P-PO₄³⁻ l⁻¹; nitrate 10.4 μg-at. N-NO₃⁻ l⁻¹; nitrite 2.1 μg-at. N-NO₂⁻ l⁻¹ and chlorophyll-α 14.3 mg m⁻³. Based on our calculations, it has been concluded that the proposed system is effective, thus within a flushing cycle all of the above mentioned parameters will become within the acceptable values of the Shatt al-Arab water quality. Moreover, this system has no appreciable effect upon the water quality characteristics of the Shatt al-Arab River due to the fact that it discharges a high volume of water annually. However, It has been recommended to dredge the deposited sludge to a minimum depth of 50 cm.     

Durability of mortar and concretes containing slag with low hydraulic activity

Granulated blast furnace slag has been widely used as a partial substitute for Portland cement in many applications because of advantages which include cost reduction, reduction in heat evolution and improvement of durability properties. However, the effectiveness of slag depends on its hydraulic reactivity. In this paper, the results of an experimental study on the effect of slag with low hydraulicity on the mechanical and durability properties of concrete and the performance of mortar under sulfate attack are discussed. Special attention is given to gas permeability and water absorption of slag concrete. The durability of slag concrete is improved at long term at low Water/Binder ratio. Sulfate resistance of mortar is improved by slag replacement up to 30%.     

Partial characterization, sperm association and significance of N- and O-linked glycoproteins in epididymal fluid of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

The present study investigated regional modifications of glycosylation status, sperm association and functional significance of N- and O-linked glycoproteins in epididymal luminal fluid of the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). The predominant glycoproteins of the epididymal luminal fluid that increase in the extent of glycosylation or unmasking of exposed epitopes in a region-specific, maturation-dependent manner, included those of 150, 116, 68, 64, 58 (N- and O-linked) and 170 kDa (O-linked). The higher expression of 40 (N-linked), 38 (N- and O-linked) and 60, 56 and 33 kDa (O-linked) glycoproteins in the proximal caput epididymal fluid was followed by alteration or reorganization of 60, 38 and 33 kDa (O-linked) glycoproteins in the distal segments of the epididymis. The association of epididymal fluid glycoproteins with maturing spermatozoa was identified by generating polyclonal antiserum against monkey caudal sperm membrane in female albino rabbits. The antiserum crossreacted strongly with 58 and 33 kDa epididymal fluid glycoproteins of monkeys and also reacted with 116, 68, 58, 56 and 33 kDa glycoproteins from Triton X-100 extracts of human spermatozoa, indicating the presence of antigenically related components in both species. The functional significance of epididymal fluid glycoproteins in sperm functions was investigated by raising antiserum against a heavily glycosylated 58 kDa glycoprotein (MEF1) of caudal epididymal fluid, which crossreacted with the Triton X-100 extracts of epididymal spermatozoa of monkey and ejaculated human spermatozoa on immunoblots. In an in vitro micro-sperm agglutination assay, anti-MEF1 serum agglutinated both rat caudal epididymal spermatozoa and human spermatozoa. MEF1 seemed to be involved in fertilization as demonstrated by inhibition of fertility (100%) in female albino rabbits and rats immunized with this protein. A sperm-agglutinating 58 kDa glycoprotein of rhesus monkey epididymis with functional significance in fertility was identified, thus indicating that it is a potential candidate for contraceptive vaccine development.     

Fatty acid triazoles: Novel corrosion inhibitors for oil well steel (N-80) and mild steel

Three fatty acid triazoles, namely, 3-undecane-4-aryl-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (triazole 1), 3(heptadeca-8-ene)-4-aryl-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole (triazole 2), and 3(deca-9-ene)-4-aryl-5-mercapto-1,2-4-triazole (triazole 3) were synthesized and their corrosion-inhibiting action in 15% hydrochloric acid was evaluated by weight-loss method and electrochemical techniques. Electrochemical polarization studies at room temperature indicated that all the triazoles are mixed-type inhibitors, i.e., they inhibit both anodic and cathodic reactions. The adsorption of these compounds onto mild steel from 15% HCl followed Temkin's adsorption isotherm.