Mixed Broadcast Techniques of Leisure Information in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Telecommunication Systems - Vehicle-to-vehicle communication and probabilistic broadcast are important means for information dissemination in vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs). In contrast to...     

Cobalt Recovery by the Chlorination-Volatilization Method

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - This communication presented the chlorination-volatilization of cobalt using calcium chloride. Effects of variables on the cobalt volatilization rate...     

An energy-aware routing protocol for wireless sensor network based on genetic algorithm

Energy saving and effective utilization are an essential issue for wireless sensor network. Most previous cluster based routing protocols only care the relationship of cluster heads and sensor nodes but ignore the huge difference costs between them. In this paper, we present a routing protocol based on genetic algorithm for a middle layer oriented network in which the network consists of several stations that are responsible for receiving data and forwarding the data to the sink. The amount of stations should be not too many and not too few. Both cases will cause either too much construction cost or extra transmission energy consumption. We implement five methods to compare the performance and test the stability of our presented methods. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed scheme reduces the amount of stations by 36.8 and 20% compared with FF and HL in 100-node network. Furthermore, three methods are introduced to improve our proposed scheme for effective cope with the expansion of network scale problem.     

Viscosity of CaO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 melts containing SiC particles

The influence of SiC particle on viscosity of CaO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ melts was investigated by the rotating-cylinder method. It was found that temperature dependence of viscosity could be described by the Arrhenius law for systems with or without SiC particle addition. The activation energies of liquid–solid mixtures were mainly determined by liquid phase. Temperature had little influence on the relative viscosity (defined as the viscosity ratio of solid–liquid mixture to pure liquid). Viscosity and relative viscosity increased as decreasing rotation speed and increasing volume fraction of SiC solid particle. For the same volume fraction of SiC particle, relative viscosity was affected by the liquid slag compositions. The relative viscosity was smaller when composition of liquid slag had a larger CaO/SiO₂ ratio or MgO/Al₂O₃ ratio. Meanwhile, it was found that the smaller SiC particle will lead to a larger relative viscosity.     

Role of GDF15/MAPK14 Axis in Chondrocyte Senescence as a Novel Senomorphic Agent in Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is most prevalent in older individuals and exerts a heavy social and economic burden. However, an effective and noninvasive approach to OA treatment is currently not available. Chondrocyte senescence has recently been proposed as a key pathogenic mechanism in the etiology of OA. Furthermore, senescent chondrocytes (SnCCs) can release various proinflammatory cytokines, proteolytic enzymes, and other substances known as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), allowing them to connect with surrounding cells and induce senesce. Studies have shown that the pharmacological elimination of SnCCs slows the progression of OA and promotes regeneration. Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), a member of the tumor growth factor (TGF) superfamily, has recently been identified as a possible aging biomarker and has been linked to a variety of clinical conditions, including coronary artery disease, diabetes, and multiple cancer types. Thus, we obtained data from a publicly available single-cell sequencing RNA database and observed that GDF15, a critical protein in cellular senescence, is highly expressed in early OA. In addition, GDF15 is implicated in the senescence and modulation of MAPK14 in OA. Tissue and synovial fluid samples obtained from OA patients showed overexpression of GDF15. Next, we treated C20A4 cell lines with interleukin (IL)-1β with or without shGDF15 then removed the conditioned medium, and cultured C20A4 and HUVEC cell lines with the aforementioned media. We observed that C20A4 cells treated with IL-1β exhibited increased GDF15 secretion and that chondrocytes cultured with media derived from IL-1β–treated C20A4 exhibited senescence. HUVEC cell migration and tube formation were enhanced after culturing with IL-1β-treated chondrocyte media; however, decreased HUVEC cell migration and tube formation were noted in HUVEC cells cultured with GDF15-loss media. We tested the potential of inhibiting GDF15 by using a GDF15 neutralizing antibody, GDF15-nAb. GDF15-nAb exerted a similar effect, resulting in the molecular silencing of GDF15 in vivo and in vitro. Our results reveal that GDF15 is a driver of SnCCs and can contribute to OA progression by inducing angiogenesis.     

Targeting the SREBP-1/Hsa-Mir-497/SCAP/FASN Oncometabolic Axis Inhibits the Cancer Stem-like and Chemoresistant Phenotype of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma Cells

Background: Lung cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death, with an annual global mortality rate of 18.4%. Despite advances in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, non–small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) continues to be characterized by a poor prognosis. This may be associated with the enrichment of cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the development of chemoresistance—a double-edged challenge that continues to impede the improvement of long-term outcomes. Metabolic reprogramming is a new hallmark of cancer. Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs) play crucial regulatory roles in the synthesis and uptake of cholesterol, fatty acids, and phospholipids. Recent evidence has demonstrated that SREBP-1 is upregulated in several cancer types. However, its role in lung cancer remains unclear. Objective: This study investigated the role of SREBP-1 in NSCLC biology, progression, and therapeutic response and explored the therapeutic exploitability of SREBP-1 and SREBP-1-dependent oncometabolic signaling and miRNA epigenetic regulation. Methods: We analyzed SREBP-1 levels and biological functions in clinical samples and the human NSCLC cell lines H441 and A549 through shRNA-based knock down of SREBP function, cisplatin-resistant clone generation, immunohistochemical staining of clinical samples, and cell viability, sphere-formation, Western blot, and quantitative PCR assays. We conducted in-silico analysis of miRNA expression in NSCLC samples by using the Gene Expression Omnibus ({"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE102286","term_id":"102286"}}GSE102286) database. Results: We demonstrated that SREBP-1 and SCAP are highly expressed in NSCLC and are positively correlated with the aggressive phenotypes of NSCLC cells. In addition, downregulation of the expression of tumor-suppressing hsa-miR-497-5p, which predictively targets SREBP-1, was observed. We also demonstrated that SREBP-1/SCAP/FASN lipogenic signaling plays a key role in CSCs-like and chemoresistant NSCLC phenotypes, especially because the fatostatin or shRNA targeting of SREBP-1 significantly suppressed the viability, cisplatin resistance, and cancer stemness of NSCLC cells and because treatment induced the expression of hsa-miR-497. Conclusion: Targeting the SREBP-1/hsa-miR-497 signaling axis is a potentially effective anticancer therapeutic strategy for NSCLC.     

More efficient location tracking in PCS systems using a noveldistributed database system

In personal communication services (PCS), the complete location information and subscribers' profiles are kept in a database called the home location register (HLR). Another database, the visitor location register (VLR), is used to store partial location information. When a mobile user is called, the system queries the HLR to determine the location of the called party. Distributed databases have been introduced to improve the efficiency of querying the HLR. This paper presents an alternative means of constructing a distributed database. The proposed database design employs fixed pointers to link distributed data. Each database contains a portion of the system's information as well as several pointers. The pointers identify the location of real data, enabling the system to obtain the required information efficiently. The database of the proposed design is markedly smaller than the fully distributed databases since each database of the proposed design stores only partial information. Subscriber information is stored only in one database, thus allowing a single database, rather than multiple databases, to be updated. The single update presented herein notably reduces the signal traffic load. If the caller is in the registration area of some HLR, which holds the called party's information, the response time is significantly decreased since the transactions are served only by the local database. This phenomenon is referred to as the calling locality. The proposed method effectively shares the database and the network loading that originates from several databases' tracking mobile users in a PCS system. According to the results presented, this method is highly effective for systems with a heavy load and high calling locality. The single update feature of the proposed design reduces the traffic in the signaling link and the processing load of a database. However, the proposed method includes no fault tolerance and therein differs from the fully distributed design