Context-Based Network and Application Management on Seamless Networking Platform

A context-based adaptive communication system is introduced for use in heterogeneous networks. Context includes the user's presence, location, available network interfaces, network availability, network priority, communication status, terminal features, and installed applications. An experimental system was developed to clarify the feasibility of using context information to flexibly control networks and applications. The system operates on a seamless networking platform we developed for heterogeneous networks. By using contexts, the system can inform the caller and callee of applications they can access, which are available through the network before communication occurs. Changes in contexts can switch an on-going application to another during actual communication. These functions provide unprecedented styles of communication. A business scenario for a seamless networking provider is also presented. Dr. Morikawa has also been in charge of NICT's Mobile Networking Group. Masugi Inoue received his B.E. from Kyoto University in 1992 and his M.E. and D.E. from the University of Tokyo in 1994 and 1997, all in the field of Electrical Engineering. He is currently a senior researcher at the Yokosuka Radio Communications Research Center under the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan, and has been engaged in R&D on ultrahigh-speed WLANs and mobile networking. He joined the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan, in 1997, which was reorganized as NICT in April 2004. He was a visiting researcher at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York in 2000. Khaled Mahmud received his B.Sc. (Eng.) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka in 1991. He received his M.E. and Ph.D. in the same field from Shizuoka University in Japan, in 1997 and 2000, respectively. He was a research fellow at NICT, Japan, from 2000 to 2004. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at North South University, Bangladesh. His research interests include modulation-demodulation techniques, software radio, mobile communication systems, wireless Internet, and IP mobility technologies. Homare Murakami received his B.E. and M.E. in Electronic Engineering from Hokkaido University in 1997 and 1999. In 2004, he received the Young Investigators Award from IEICE. He is currently a researcher at NICT's Mobile Networking Group. He is also an industrial PhD student in Aalborg University since 2003. His interest areas are naming scheme, wireless TCP and new transport protocol, IP mobility, fast handover method, and location management. Mikio Hasegawa received his B. Eng, M. Eng., and Dr. Eng. in 1995, 1997, and 2000 from Science University of Tokyo. From 1997 to 2000, he was a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). He is currently a senior researcher in Mobile Networking Group, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and a technical advisor in ChaosWare Inc. His research interests include applications of chaotic dynamical theory, combinatorial optimization, mobile networks, and ubiquitous computing. Hiroyuki Morikawa received his B.E., M.E., and D.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1987, 1989, and 1992. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Frontier Informatics at the University of Tokyo and is in charge of NICT's Mobile Networking Group. His research interests are in the areas of computer networks, mobile computing/networks, ubiquitous computing, and network services. He serves as Editor of Transactions of the IEICE and has been on the technical program committees of IEEE/ACM conferences and workshops. He sits on numerous telecommunications advisory committees and frequently serves as a consultant to the government.     

Hydrocarbon Group Analysis of Arabian Crude Oils TBP-Fractions

Experimental studies have been carried out on hydrocarbon group analysis of commercial Arabian crude oil fractions corresponding to the true boiling point ranges or 200-400 ast;F, 400-500 *F 500-650 *F, 650-850 *F, and 850 *F-K The crude oils included Arab heavy (API* = 28·0), Arab medium (API* = 30·0), Arab light (API* = 33·3), and Arab Berry extra light (API* = 36*9). Waters Hydrocabon Group Analyzer (HGA) system interfaced with model 730 Data Module has been used to obtain the compositional analysis in terms of saturates, neutral aromatics, polar aromatics and asphaltcnes.     

Heavily doped silicon:A potential replacement of conventional plasmonic metals

The plasmonic property of heavily doped p-type silicon is studied here.Although most of the plasmonic devices use metal-insulator-metal(MIM)waveguide in order to support the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons(SPPs),metals that possess a number of challenges in loss management,polarization response,nanofabrication etc.On the other hand,heavily doped p-type silicon shows similar plasmonic properties like metals and also enables us to overcome the challenges pos-sessed by metals.For numerical simulation,heavily doped p-silicon is mathematically modeled and the theoretically obtained re-lative permittivity is compared with the experimental value.A waveguide is formed with the p-silicon-air interface instead of the metal-air interface.Formation and propagation of SPPs similar to MIM waveguides are observed.     

Partner Selection Technique for Wireless Cooperative Communication

In wireless cooperative communication scheme, transmit diversity is achieved by coupling the distributed users. In this paper, a new partner selection algorithm is proposed. The selection scheme utilizes the basic work done by Almawgani on RS coded cooperation for wireless network. Users are classified into weak and strong ones based on the signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) uplink matrix. Users with good uplink channel SNR (strong users) are coupled with those experiencing weak uplink channel conditions (weak users). The proposed algorithm offers an improvement to the outage probability, \(P_{out}\) and power efficiency as compared to the established work. The algorithm shows a significant improvement of \(P_{out}\) at lower values of uplink SNR.     

A Review on the Role of miR-149-5p in the Carcinogenesis

miR-149 is an miRNA with essential roles in carcinogenesis. This miRNA is encoded by the MIR149 gene on 2q37.3. The miR-149 hairpin produces miR-149-5p and miR-149-3p, which are the “guide” and the sister “passenger” strands, respectively. Deep sequencing experiments have shown higher prevalence of miR-149-5p compared with miR-149-3p. Notably, both oncogenic and tumor suppressive roles have been reported for miR-149-5p. In this review, we summarize the impact of miR-149-5p in the tumorigenesis and elaborate mechanisms of its involvement in this process in a variety of neoplastic conditions based on three lines of evidence, i.e., in vitro, in vivo and clinical settings.     

The Emerging Role of Non-Coding RNAs in the Regulation of Virus Replication and Resultant Cellular Pathologies

Non-coding RNAs, particularly lncRNAs and miRNAs, have recently been shown to regulate different steps in viral infections and induction of immune responses against viruses. Expressions of several host and viral lncRNAs have been found to be altered during viral infection. These lncRNAs can exert antiviral function via inhibition of viral infection or stimulation of antiviral immune response. Some other lncRNAs can promote viral replication or suppress antiviral responses. The current review summarizes the interaction between ncRNAs and herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein–Barr infections. The data presented in this review helps identify viral-related regulators and proposes novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of viral infection.     

Pregnancy by Assisted Reproductive Technology Is Associated with Shorter Telomere Length in Neonates

Telomere length (TL) influences the development of lifestyle-related diseases, and neonatal TL may influence their prevalence. Various factors have been reported to affect neonatal TL. Although the fetus is exposed to multiple conditions in utero, the main factors affecting the shortening of neonatal TL are still not known. In this study, we sought to identify factors that influence fetal TL. A total of 578 mother-newborn pairs were included for TL analysis. TL was measured in genomic DNA extracted from cord blood samples using quantitative PCR. The clinical factors examined at enrollment included the following intrauterine environmental factors: maternal age, assisted reproductive technology (ART) used, body mass index (BMI), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), maternal stress, smoking, alcohol consumption, preterm delivery, small-for-gestational-age, neonatal sex, and placental weight. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were used to verify the relationship between neonatal TL and these clinical factors. The median neonatal TL to single-copy gene ratio was 1.0. Pregnancy with ART was among the 11 factors associated with shorter neonatal TL. From multiple regression analysis, we determined that neonatal TL was significantly shorter for pregnancies in the ART group than in the other groups. We conclude that pregnancy with ART is associated with shorter neonatal TL.     

Caffeic Acid Enhances the Anti-Leukemic Effect of Imatinib on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells and Triggers Apoptosis in Cells Sensitive and Resistant to Imatinib

Among the phenolic acids tested on the K562 cell line, a model of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), caffeic acid (CA) was biologically active on sensitive and imatinib (IM)-resistant cells at micro-molar concentration, either in terms of reduction of cell proliferation or triggering of apoptosis. The CA treatment provoked mitochondrial membrane depolarization, genomic DNA fragmentation and phosphatidylserine exposure, hallmarks of apoptosis. Cell cycle analysis following the treatment with comparable cytotoxic concentrations of IM or CA showed marked differences in the distribution profiles. The reduction of cell proliferation by CA administration was associated with increased expression of two cell cycle repressor genes, CDKN1A and CHES1, while IM at a cytotoxic concentration increased the CHES1 but not the CDKN1A expression. In addition, CA treatment affected the proliferation and triggered the apoptosis in IM-resistant cells. Taken together, these data suggested that CA induced the anti-proliferative effect and triggered apoptosis of CML cells by a different mechanism than IM. Finally, the combined administration of IM and CA at suboptimal concentrations evidenced a synergy of action in determining the anti-proliferative effect and triggering apoptosis. The ability of CA to potentiate the anti-leukemic effect of IM highlighted the nutraceutical potential of CA in CML.