In this context, it is useful to highlight how the WSN approach perfectly fits the perspective of ambient intelligence in large, possibly city-wide scenarios. First of all, let us recall that wireless sensors are usually very small nodes with a limited set of capabilites. They usually incorporate by default a set of environmental sensors (temperature, light, humidity), a programmable general-purpose microcontroller, some RAM/ROM units and a radio transceiver unit. Recent implementations of wireless sensors also incorporate a serial connection (e.g., through a USB interface), which is used for programming, but can also be employed for power supply. By means of wireless communications, the sensors can be organized into a network that cooperates in tasks including, but not limited to, environmental monitoring and control, alarm dissemination, localization and tracking of moving objects, and ambient intelligence in general.

The latter definition encompasses a number of applications involving complex interactions between a user, the network, and the environment, possibly including some specific actuation devices that might be interfaced to the sensors in order to carry out a certain task. For example, a wireless sensor with a hardcoded identity footprint could communicate with the network so that its movements can be tracked: such a sensor could, e.g., be attached to a piece of luggage, to make sure that it is routed toward the correct destination by airport logistics and that, in case of errors, its route can be quickly reconstructed, in order to allow timely recovery.

In WSNs, the energy efficiency aspect is of paramount importance. In fact, it should be noted that wireless sensors are mostly powered through external batteries or battery packs. As this supply is limited, energy efficient operations and communications must be pursued, so that battery replacements on the sensors are as infrequent as possible, in order to keep power supply and maintenance manpower costs low. For this reason, networking protocol design as well as application design must carefully account for the limited processing and storage capabilities of the microcontroller: therefore, the further delay that would be caused by complex processing tasks should be explicitly considered in light of, e.g., the timing of communication protocols. In the following, we give more details on the typical configurations and peculiar features of WSNs, in order to provide a wider characterization of their uses and behaviors. In general, a WSN is characterized by being:partly stationary: the Anacetrapib vast majority of the deployed nodes are fixed and constitute the infrastructure of the network.

Furthermore, the amount of template is very decisive. Only a few number of template molecules will generate less interaction centers in the coating, thus a diminished sensor effect will result. A high amount of imprinted molecules causes a dilution of the monomers and an effective polymerization is hindered. The sensor properties of the coatings are tailored according to these ideas [16]. We used different layer heights of polymers in the range of 1�C6 kHz, where 1 kHz corresponds to a thickness of 40 nm. This variation of sensor signal is demonstrated in Figure 2 and an optimum layer height is observed. Obviously this finding can be attributed to a bulk behavior since the response increases in parallel to layer height.

At a layer height of approximately 4�C5 kHz a plateau formation is followed by some hint for a slight decrease in frequency response.

This behavior is easily understood by analyte diffusion in the interior of the layer. Thin layers incorporate analytes easily due to the pores which are generated additionally by the templates. An increasing layer height will statistically block the excess to the diffusion channels and thus the behavior in Figure 2 is explained.Figure 2.Variation of sensor response with changing layer heights of terpinene MIP at 50 ppm.Table 1.Sensor responses to limonene and eucalyptol as function of MIP composition.2.2. Selectivity Pattern of the E-noseFigure 3 shows the selectivity pattern of all polymer layers at 50 ppm concentration of each analyte.

The sensor array is alternatively exposed to different analytes with the same concentration and normalized according to layer height.

The astonishing observation is the capability of the sensor array to distinguish isomeric compounds as ��-pinene and ��-pinene. Similarly all other layers showed maximum selectivity towards their corresponding GSK-3 templates. Thus the designed sensor array proved to be sensitive and selective for online monitoring of terpenes emanated from fresh and dried herbs. In addition, a sensing ability of sensor for analytes with similar structures is beneficial in regard of analyzing complex mixtures. Such problems are best addressed by multivariate analysis and the collected data should be analyzed through modern data analysis tools which are important part of today��s electronic bio-mimetic instruments.

Figure Brefeldin_A 3.Selectivity profile of e-nose at 50 ppm.2.3. Sensitivity Profile Established from Fresh and Dried HerbsThis s
Recently, there has been much research on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and its applications are spread over many areas. Location-based services are a good example of GNSS applications.

of time. Cattle which have been infected by C. oncophora, on the other hand, attain resistant to reinfec tion more readily. Furthermore, even though cattle are often found simultaneously infected with both spe cies, anthelmintic resistance has only been documented in Cooperia spp. Deciphering the underlying biological differences be tween these two similar organisms may open the path for more holistic hypotheses on host parasite relationships, host immunity, and the development of drug resist ance. Detailed and comparative explorations of their transcriptomes and genomes would not only provide insights into fundamental biological processes, but underpin the discovery of new treatments and con trol methods that may be broadly applicable to other less similar nematodes.

Although limited transcriptomic information is available for two developmental stages of O. ostertagi, this falls woefully short of representing the entire life cycle and providing insights into what dif ferentiates the free living and parasitic Anacetrapib stages. Currently, no transcriptomic data are publicly available for C. oncophora. Analysis of transcriptome data and their com parison with genomic data is well known to provide useful information about an organism. This approach has led to studies on identifying new drug targets, understanding nematode biology, and detecting para site protein specific indels and evaluating their import ance in parasitism and evolution, to name a few. The present study has generated extensive, stage related information on the transcriptomes of C. oncophora and O. ostertagi.

The comprehensive comparative transcrip tomic analysis of stages representing the entire life cycles of these animals established gene expression patterns which characterize and delineate among each of the stages investigated. In addition, transcripts which are unique to free living or parasitic stages have also been discovered. The resources and results in this study provided molecular insights that improve our under standing of parasite biology and development, and identi fied differential transcripts among stages sexes. In broader terms, these analyses will be extremely useful for annotat ing their upcoming genomes and could enable the development of new methods to control infections by these parasites. Sequencing of the transcriptomes of C. oncophora and O.

ostertagi resulted in 9,603,581 and 11,900,750 reads and 29,900 and 34,792 assembled transcripts and corresponding peptide translations, respectively. These transcripts represent an estimated 81% and 74% of the complete transcriptomes wherein 202 and 184 CEGs were detected in these two species, respectively. The transcript consensus sequences are available at. The number of transcripts likely over estimates gene discovery, as one gene could be represented by multiple non overlapping tran script fragments. Such fragmentation, was estimated at 21% for C. oncophora and 22% for O. ostertagia. Sequence homologues for 68% of the predict

on some human cancer cell lines. In addition, we also confirmed that hirsutanol A could induce autophagical cell death by causing accumulation of ROS level in human hepato cellular carcinoma cells. ROS inducer as an antican cer drug has received a lot of attention due to its selective effect on cancer cells but sparing normal cells. To date, there are some ROS inducers targeting ROS generating system or ROS scavenging system. However, most of them cannot enter clinical trials because of the high to icity or poor bioavailability. Here, we reported that hirsutanol A could significant induce cell growth inhibition and apoptosis, elevate the level of ROS in both SW620 and MDA MB 231 cells and sup press tumor growth in SW620 enografts.

Some evidences supported that ROS Brefeldin_A as a potent o idant agent could damage mitochondrial membrane to result in mitochondrial membrane potential disorder and release of cytochrome c from mitochondria which could further activate caspase 3, leading to mitochon dria cytochrome c mediated apoptosis. We had e amined the mitochondrial membrane potential and the e pression of cytochrome c in mitochondria and cytosol. The results showed that hirsutanol A could trig ger the dysfunction of mitochondrial membrane poten tial and release of cytochrome c from mitochondria. Furthermore, we evaluated whether hirsuta nol A induced growth inhibition and apoptosis were evoked by accumulation of ROS. After treatment with NAC, a potent antio idant agent that could prevent hir sutanol A induced ROS accumulation, we found that cell growth inhibition and apoptosis remarkably decreased.

As our data has clearly demon strated that hirsutanol A could elevate intrinsic ROS level, and activate mitochondria cytochrome c signaliing pathway to trigger apoptosis, further studies are required to elucidate if the release of cytochrome c is due to the elevated ROS induced by hirsutanol A. ROS, which serves as a second messenger, can modulate several signaling pathways including JNK, Akt, NF ��B etc. In this study, we showed that hirsutanol A enhanced the phosphorylation levels of JNK and c Jun dose and time dependently in SW620 cells. Moreover, preven tion of hirsutanol A induced ROS accumulation by NAC could reverse the phosphorylation of JNK and c Jun. These data indicated that hirsutanol A induced production of ROS activated JNK signaling pathway.

JNK signaling pathway is involved in both stress induced and chemotherapeutical drugs induced apoptosis. However, in hibition of JNK signaling pathway by a special inhibitor SP600125 promoted the hirsutanol A induced cell growth inhibition and apoptosis. Mass evidences verified that JNK signaling pathway is responsible for regulation of ROS level by activating c Jun, a transcription factor, which further reg ulates the transcription of some target genes involved in redo such as NO and SOD, etc. In our studies, we found that blockade of JNK signaling pathway by SP600125 and siRNA JNK could significantly enhance h

Figure 5.(a) Gas chamber optical path and (b) diagram of chamber structure.In the interest of having a long light path, high degree of convergence and a simple detector and light source integration technology in the small volume, this structure ensures a long optical path with a smaller air chamber, which enables easier gas exchange with the external environment. At the same time, a smaller gas chamber that has five-fold reflection optical paths can accommodate the signal pre-processing circuit because the volume of the sensor is reduced. The design of the air chamber structure is shown in Figure 5(b). The outer shell of the sensor is made of stainless steel. Two detectors and an IR light source are connected to a circuit board and installed in the gas chamber.

A layer of filter membrane that protects the detectors from dust and moisture is embedded in the casing and the interior casing of the sensor. Diaphragm filters were interbedded on the inner membrane, and a small hole is used to exchange gas with the external environment. In one side of the outer shell is gas, whereas the other side is closed; the gas chamber is contained in the outer shell. Filtration is performed by a hydrophobic micro-porous filtration membrane with a pore diameter in the range of 0.2 to 3 ��m.To detect gases on the basis of their absorption spectra, we designed a weak-signal detection circuit comprising a preamplifier, a filter, an A/D converter, and a liquefied crystal display. The output signal is pre-processed and amplified, converted to digital form, processed, and ultimately classified by the micro-controller.

For miniaturization and portability, a Cilengitide highly integrated hybrid micro-controller unit (MCU) is used, as shown in Figure 6. The detection system includes an IR gas sensor, a signal processing circuit, a light source modulation circuit, an MCU, and an external data transmission and alarm device.Figure 6.Schematic diagram of the detection system.The signal processing circuit detects and amplifies the weak sensor signal. The MCU mainly performs calculations and controls the other components. The module is easy to use and can also be used to detect other gases if the sensitive probe is replaced. Figure 7 shows the basic components and final sensor.Figure 7.(a) Basic components of sensor; (b) integrated detector and light source; (c) miniature gilded air chamber; (d) peripheral IC of sensor; (e) end-product; and (f)the output interface of the detector.

4.?ExperimentsAn indoor environment dynamic response and stability test and an actual environment test were designed for the sensor. The gas concentration signal is processed by the multi-channel data acquisition system and sent to the computer. Figure 8 illustrates the process of the gas sensor test and calibration. The gas sensor is enclosed in the gas chamber with a plastic inlet and outlet. The sealed chamber is shown in Figure 8 (a,b).

In this paper we describe the further development of a low-cost smartphone-based oximeter that requires no intermediate microcontroller, interfacing the sensor directly to the phone (Figure 1). By leveraging the full capabilities of the phone in this fashion, the total cost of the new device is reduced to that of the finger probe itself, and all supporting infrastructure is inherent to the host mobile phone. A clinical oximeter finger probe can be manufactured for almost two orders of magnitude less than the price of the not-for-profit Lifebox oximeter, thus potentially giving the Phone Oximeter significant global reach.Figure 1.Principle of the low-cost smartphone oximeter. An oximeter finger sensor with two light emitting diodes and a photodiode is interfaced to a smartphone running a software pulse oximeter application.

Any viable implementation of a clinical sensor that relies on consumer electronics must have an effective way of verifying performance across different devices. We present an automatic simulator-based test system that can be used to systematically examine the entire clinically relevant range of operation of the low-cost smartphone oximeter and validate the system across many different smartphone hardware versions.2.?Experimental Setup2.1. Sensor InterfaceA conventional oximeter sensor contains two LEDs for actuation and a photodiode for detection (Figure 1). The audio interface of any phone or smartphone is well suited to drive such a sensor.

The audio interface has a high-current output capable of driving the low impedance load of the LEDs and a high-gain input designed to interface to a high-impedance Junction-gate Field Effect Transistor (JFET) electret microphone pre-amplifier, equally suitable for amplifying the photodiode signal.The sensor LEDs of the audio-based smartphone oximeter are driven directly by the speaker output of the phone (Figure 2). The LEDs are wired in reverse polarity to facilitate alternating activation at opposite polarities of a driving signal. With the peak-to-peak amplitude of the speaker output larger than the forward voltage threshold of the LEDs, this can be accomplished by sending a suitable audio signal to the speaker output. The forward voltage thresholds of the red and infrared diodes Brefeldin_A are approximately 1.3 and 1.8V, respectively. The Apple iOS family of mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and iPad Mini) was found to generate sufficient output voltages to perform clinical measurements.Figure 2.Schematic interface of a low-cost smartphone oximeter. The LEDs are driven by the headset speaker output and the photodiode signal is amplified by a line-powered JFET amplifier before being detected by the microphone.

Since the communication module is considered the main consumer of a node’s energy reserves, if the sink moves closer to the event reporting nodes, greater
The automobile industry is currently very concerned about the quality of the vehicles produced. One of the aspects in which significant progress is being made is the analysis of the quality of the car sheets [1,2]. This work is done under a collaboration between Carlos III University and PSA Peugeot and it is under a process of patent. The goal is to build an automatic classification and quantification system to detect the imperfections in sheets of the auto bodywork due to the squeezing process [3,4].Currently, this classification is done by the direct observation of the pieces, and the objective and novelty of this work is to try to do in an automatic and in a deterministic way.

The final goal is to obtain a classification that is as similar as possible to the one obtained by visual inspection.The proposed algorithm uses the gradient information of multiple profiles from a retroreflective image order to characterize the defaults in an automatic way, being the main contribution of this work. The complete system that leads to the imperfection classification from the sheet is shown in Figure 1.Figure 1.Complete process for the detection of the quality index.Image acquisition: to establish the classification, the first step is to extract the geometrical characteristics of the sheet from an image. This image is taken by a system consisting of a motorized table, a light source with an optical fiber guide, a motorized camera, and a screen.

Determination of the parameters: an algorithm has been implemented that allows Cilengitide us to extract from the images the parameters from which the geometrical properties of the sheet are determined. These parameters are related to the quality of the sheet, and the classification can be established from them.Determination of the quality classification: from the geometrical information obtained by the algorithm and the rules provided by the visual experience on the criticity of the imperfections, a criticity index is determined for that imperfection.2.?Description of the Image Acquisition SystemThe system for detecting imperfections in the sheets (Figure 2) consists of seven basic elements:A camera that captures images of the door sheets, which will be later analyzed and evaluated.

A video conversion device that converts the analog image from the camera into a digital format so it can be processed by the PC.A light source: it supports the system with the adequate brightness for taking pictures. The light is guided to the optimum position and orientation through optical fiber.A retroreflective screen that reflects the light to the sheet and to the camera.A motorized table: the sheet to be analyzed is placed over it.A shaft driver that controls the (x, y) position of the table and the z position of the camera.

On these basis, in the following we shall treat and describe the particular case of electroless deposition on a silicon surface.In the described case, metal deposition takes place on the patterned substrate, where silver ions and silver dangling bonds react through a direct redox reaction to form the desired nanoparticles [31,38].The scheme of the electroless chemical reaction is briefly summarized in Figure 1D. This is a particular case in which the reducing agent is the substrate itself, silicon, that through its dangling bonding, oxidizes and reduces silver ions to the metallic forms, as described by the following chemical reaction: [23,39�C41]:4Ag++Si(s)+6HF��4Ag0+H2SiF6+4H+(1)which can be separated into two half-cell reactions, that are, the Si oxidation, as the anode:Si+2H2O��SiO2+4H++4e?(2)and the Ag reduction, at the cathode:Ag++e?��Ag0(3)In a first stage, the nanoparticle formation is dominated by the direct reaction of some silver ions with the silicon substrate, forming metallic nuclei.

These Ag nuclei are strongly electronegative, and on account of this they attract other electrons from the silicon bulk becoming negatively charged; then new silver ions react with disposable electrons on silver grains, reducing to Ag0 and thus inducing the growth of the original Ag nuclei [22]. An autocatalytic mechanism is therefore induced, which continues also when all the silicon surface has been covered by silver, until electrons can be attracted from bulk silicon. In electroless deposition, the rate of the reactions is regulated by a balance between diffusion and kinetics, and these mechanisms are closely correlated [31].

Using this technique, a wide range of systems were realized, ranging from thin films, to sub-micrometric metallic structures and metal nanoparticles [38,42�C45]. In [46], this concept was utilized for the realization of silver nanolenses, GSK-3 with single molecule detection capabilities, where the shape and size of those lenses was controlled at the
With the rapid development of wireless communication technology, wireless ways to track and identify a variety of items have become reality [1]. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is highly thought of as an effective tracking and recognition method by more and more people [2]. As the RFID technology makes advances, its application is no longer limited to goods in supply chain management, entrance-guard systems, highway-charge systems [3], etc.

In recent years, the RFID technology and sensor combination has extended the functionality of RFID systems. Reference [4] reports the use of passive high-frequency (HF) and ultra-high- frequency (UHF) RFID sensors to monitor the humidity and temperature of concrete buildings, to achieve the effect of long-term continuous monitoring that does not need maintenance.

a-Si:H diodes have been optimized at IMT Neuchatel for the fabrication of TFA sensors for visible light [6], X-ray and particle sensing [7]. In this context, diodes with dark current Jdark as low as 1 pA/cm2 and corresponding TFA sensors with Jdark of 12 pA/cm2 (both at bias voltage of -1 V) have been fabricated [6]. The issues regarding the design of a-Si:H photodiodes and specifically the influence of the CMOS chip design/topology on the performances of the a-Si:H photodiodes have already been discussed in details [6, 8].In this paper, we will focus on the performance of TFA image sensors and will analyze the transient behavior of a-Si:H diodes. a-Si:H exhibits a continuous distribution of localized states in the band gap (more exactly of the pseudo gap, see Fig.

2).

This distribution comprises tails states due to the disorder present in the amorphous silicon and defect states due to Si dangling bonds. Any change in the polarization or of the illumination level of an a-Si:H diode will perturb the equilibrium between free carriers in the band and trapped carriers in the localized states leading to transient behavior of such device. The objective of this paper is to analyze those transients in test diodes and corresponding TFA imagers.Figure 2.Schematic band diagram of a-Si:H. The continuous state distribution in the pseudo gap, tail states and defect states, is acting as charge reservoir which can be filled-up and emptied during operation of a-Si:H photodiodes and is controlling the transient .

..

Effect of carrier trapping and release in a-Si:H diode has already been investigated in previous studies and modeled by simple Shockley-Read statistics [9,10]. The present work focuses on the photocurrent decay kinetics of state-of-the-art a-Si:H diodes in TFA sensors, including simulations using a full description of a-Si:H state distribution.2.?Experimental Batimastat detailsSeveral imagers in using TFA technologies were fabricated by depositing (0.5-2 ��m thick) a-Si:H diode arrays both in the metal-i-p and in the n-i-p configurations on standard passivated CMOS chips as well as unpassivated ones covered with a common top 65 nm thick ITO electrode. These chips consisted in an array of 64��64 pixels, with a pixel lateral size of 33 ��m (passivated chip) or 38.

4 ��m (unpassivated) and a pitch of 40 ��m from Alcatel-Mitag 0.5 ��m MPW (multiple project wafer) technology. For half of the chips, pixels were connected within the CMOS chip to an individual charge integrator Anacetrapib while the other half was used to test other internal circuit designs and was not available for imaging. A fill factor of ��92% was achieved for the imager on unpassivated chips.

The amplitude of this sound wave is directly proportional to the gas concentration and can be detected using a sensitive microphone if the laser beam is modulated in the audio frequency range.In recent years, the development of new mid infrared laser sources has given a new impulse to infrared laser-based trace gas sensors. In particular, single mode quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) have become very attractive for mid-infrared gas sensing techniques thanks to single-frequency operation, narrow linewidth, high powers at mid-IR wavelengths (3 to 24 ��m), room temperature and continuous wave (CW) operation [12]. They overcom
On 5 May 2005, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched Cartosat-1, the eleventh satellite of its IRS constellation, dedicated to the stereo viewing of the Earth’s surface [1,2].

Cartosat-1 carries two high-resolution imaging cameras: the afterward looking camera (Aft) and the foreword looking camera (Fore), both able to collect panchromatic images with a spatial resolution of 2.5 m on the ground. The imaging cameras are fixed to the spacecraft to acquire near-simultaneous imaging of the same scene (with a delay of 52 s between the Fore and the Aft acquisitions) from two different angles: +26�� with respect to nadir for the Fore camera and -5�� with respect to nadir for the Aft camera. This configuration is optimized for along-the-track stereo data collection in a 30 km swath and with a base-to-height ratio of 0.62. However, Cartosat-1 is also able to collect 2.5 m mono images with a combined swath of 55 km [3].

The satellite was mainly designed for terrain modeling and large-scale mapping [3,10-16]. Nevertheless, in previous studies Cartosat-1 data have been Dacomitinib also used in different fields, such as natural hazards assessment [4,5], archaeological exploration [6], estimation of hydrological parameters [7,8] or estimation of atmospheric aerosols [9].In early 2006, ISRO started the Cartosat-1 Scientific Assessment Programme (C-SAP) jointly established with the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). The aim of the C-SAP was to assess the mapping capabilities of the Cartosat-1 satellite for different types of terrain and for different applications, such as photogrammetric stereo triangulation at scene and block level, extraction of terrain features, terrain modeling and topographic mapping.

For this purpose, ISRO and ISPRS selected thirty research groups from different countries as C-SAP Investigators (seventeen from Europe, seven from Asia, five from USA and Canada and one from South America) and provided them with Cartosat-1 stereoscopic data collected over eleven test sites (seven in Europe, one in Asia, one in USA and one in Australia), along with metadata, ground control points (GCPs) and reference digital surface models (DSMs).