WorldWideScience

Sample records for beacons

  1. Auditory evacuation beacons

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wijngaarden, S.J. van; Bronkhorst, A.W.; Boer, L.C.

    2005-01-01

    Auditory evacuation beacons can be used to guide people to safe exits, even when vision is totally obscured by smoke. Conventional beacons make use of modulated noise signals. Controlled evacuation experiments show that such signals require explicit instructions and are often misunderstood. A new

  2. COSPAS-SARSAT Beacon Certification Facility

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — EPG's COSPAS-SARSAT Beacon Certification Facility is one of five certification facilities in the world. Formal certifications are available for all beacon types and...

  3. 47 CFR 97.203 - Beacon station.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Beacon station. 97.203 Section 97.203... SERVICE Special Operations § 97.203 Beacon station. (a) Any amateur station licensed to a holder of a Technician, Technician Plus, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operator license may be a beacon. A...

  4. Searching for Cost-Optimized Interstellar Beacons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benford, Gregory; Benford, James; Benford, Dominic

    2010-06-01

    What would SETI beacon transmitters be like if built by civilizations that had a variety of motives but cared about cost? In a companion paper, we presented how, for fixed power density in the far field, a cost-optimum interstellar beacon system could be built. Here, we consider how we should search for a beacon if it were produced by a civilization similar to ours. High-power transmitters could be built for a wide variety of motives other than the need for two-way communication; this would include beacons built to be seen over thousands of light-years. Extraterrestrial beacon builders would likely have to contend with economic pressures just as their terrestrial counterparts do. Cost, spectral lines near 1 GHz, and interstellar scintillation favor radiating frequencies substantially above the classic "water hole." Therefore, the transmission strategy for a distant, cost-conscious beacon would be a rapid scan of the galactic plane with the intent to cover the angular space. Such pulses would be infrequent events for the receiver. Such beacons built by distant, advanced, wealthy societies would have very different characteristics from what SETI researchers seek. Future searches should pay special attention to areas along the galactic disk where SETI searches have seen coherent signals that have not recurred on the limited listening time intervals we have used. We will need to wait for recurring events that may arriarrive in intermittent bursts. Several new SETI search strategies have emerged from these ideas. We propose a new test for beacons that is based on the Life Plane hypotheses.

  5. Recent progress in satellite radio beacon studies with particular emphasis on the ATS-6 radio beacon experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, K.

    1980-01-01

    In May 1974 a new era in satellite radio beacon studies of the ionosphere opened with the ATS-6 Radio Beacon Experiment. The history of radio beacon studies up to that time is reviewed briefly and the particular features of the ATS-6 beacon are discussed together with the basic theory required to interpret the measurements. The main emphasis is on the ATS-6 beacon experiment but other beacon data are discussed which provide the necessary background. The diurnal and seasonal variations of the total electron content and the plasmaspheric content are presented for the U.S.A. and Europe. In winter the plasmaspheric content over the Western Hemisphere maximizes at night while in Europe and the Pacific it appears to peak near noon. This is thought to be caused by flow of plasma from the local and conjugate ionospheres. Night maxima of total electron content are found showing that they do not arise from depletions of the plasmaspheric content. The plasmaspheric content is highly sensitive to solar-terrestrial disturbance, it reaches a minimum on the third day of a storm and may take between 10 and 20 days of partial filling and emptying to recover. Travelling disturbances in U.S.A., Europe, and India show similarities of speeds but not of direction. Beacon observations of micropulsations in total content, tropospheric fluctuations and Fresnel diffraction by intense ionospheric irregularities are discussed together with radio wave scintillations and some applications of beacon radio data to communications and navigation. (orig.)

  6. Beacon-S TM: Non-uniform attenuation correction for SPECT imaging. The new medium-energy transmission device for AXIS and IRIX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daniel Gagnon, D.

    1999-01-01

    The paper presents new medium-energy transmission device for SPECT imaging. Beacon-S includes a 356-keV medium energy 133 Ba source with a 10.54-year half-life. Beacon-S provide high-resolution and high-contrast transmission scans. The higher energy of the gamma substantially improves the transmission contrast for larger patients by virtue of better penetration through the body

  7. Molecular Beacons in Diagnostics

    OpenAIRE

    Tyagi, Sanjay; Kramer, Fred Russell

    2012-01-01

    Recent technical advances have begun to realize the potential of molecular beacons to test for diverse infections in clinical diagnostic laboratories. These include the ability to test for, and quantify, multiple pathogens in the same clinical sample, and to detect antibiotic resistant strains within hours. The design principles of molecular beacons have also spawned a variety of allied technologies.

  8. 14 CFR 171.269 - Marker beacon performance requirements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Marker beacon performance requirements. 171.269 Section 171.269 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF... Landing System (ISMLS) § 171.269 Marker beacon performance requirements. ISMLS marker beacon equipment...

  9. Personal Beacon

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    The MicroPLB (personal locator beacon) is a search and rescue satellite-aided tracking (SARSAT) transmitter. When activated it emits a distress signal to a constellation of internationally operated satellites. The endangered person's identity and location anywhere on Earth is automatically forwarded to central monitoring stations around the world. It is accurate to within just a few meters. The user uses the device to download navigation data from a global positioning satellite receiver. After the download is complete, the MicroPLB functions as a self-locating beacon. Also, it is the only PLB to use a safe battery. In the past, other PLB devices have used batteries that have enough volatility to explode with extreme force. It was developed by Microwave Monolithic, Inc. through SBIR funding from Glenn Research Center and Goddard Space Flight Center.

  10. Robot-Beacon Distributed Range-Only SLAM for Resource-Constrained Operation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-González, Arturo; Martínez-de Dios, Jose Ramiro; Ollero, Anibal

    2017-04-20

    This work deals with robot-sensor network cooperation where sensor nodes (beacons) are used as landmarks for Range-Only (RO) Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Most existing RO-SLAM techniques consider beacons as passive devices disregarding the sensing, computational and communication capabilities with which they are actually endowed. SLAM is a resource-demanding task. Besides the technological constraints of the robot and beacons, many applications impose further resource consumption limitations. This paper presents a scalable distributed RO-SLAM scheme for resource-constrained operation. It is capable of exploiting robot-beacon cooperation in order to improve SLAM accuracy while meeting a given resource consumption bound expressed as the maximum number of measurements that are integrated in SLAM per iteration. The proposed scheme combines a Sparse Extended Information Filter (SEIF) SLAM method, in which each beacon gathers and integrates robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, and a distributed information-driven measurement allocation tool that dynamically selects the measurements that are integrated in SLAM, balancing uncertainty improvement and resource consumption. The scheme adopts a robot-beacon distributed approach in which each beacon participates in the selection, gathering and integration in SLAM of robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements, resulting in significant estimation accuracies, resource-consumption efficiency and scalability. It has been integrated in an octorotor Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) and evaluated in 3D SLAM outdoor experiments. The experimental results obtained show its performance and robustness and evidence its advantages over existing methods.

  11. Molecular Beacon-Based MicroRNA Imaging During Neurogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jonghwan; Kim, Soonhag

    2016-01-01

    The fluorescence monitoring system for examining endogenous microRNA (miRNA) activity in cellular level provides crucial information on not only understanding a critical role of miRNA involving a variety of biological processes, but also evaluating miRNA expression patterns in a noninvasive manner. In this protocol, we report the details of a new procedure for a molecular beacon-based miRNA monitoring system, which includes the illustration scheme for miRNA detection strategy, exogenous miRNA detection, and measurement of endogenous miRNA expression level during neurogenesis. The fluorescence signal of miR-124a beacon quenched by BHQ2 was gradually recovered as increasing concentration of the miR-124a in tube. The functional work of miR-124a beacon was examined in intracellular environment, allowing for the internalization of the miR-124a beacon by lipofectamine, which resulted in activated fluorescent signals of the miR-124a beacon in the HeLa cells after the addition of synthetic miR-124a. The endogenous miR-124a expression level was detected by miR-124a beacon system during neurogenesis, showing brighter fluorescence intensity in cytoplasmic area of P19 cells after induction of neuronal differentiation by retinoic acid. The molecular beacon based-miRNA detection technique could be applicable to the simultaneous visualization of a variety of miRNA expression patterns using different fluorescence dyes. For the study of examining endogenous miRNA expression level using miRNA-beacon system, if cellular differentiation step is already prepared, transfection step of miR-124a beacon into P19 cells, and acquisition of activated fluorescence signal measured by confocal microscope can be conducted approximately within 6 h.

  12. Do rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) use visual beacons?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurly, T Andrew; Franz, Simone; Healy, Susan D

    2010-03-01

    Animals are often assumed to use highly conspicuous features of a goal to head directly to that goal ('beaconing'). In the field it is generally assumed that flowers serve as beacons to guide pollinators. Artificial hummingbird feeders are coloured red to serve a similar function. However, anecdotal reports suggest that hummingbirds return to feeder locations in the absence of the feeder (and thus the beacon). Here we test these reports for the first time in the field, using the natural territories of hummingbirds and manipulating flowers on a scale that is ecologically relevant to the birds. We compared the predictions from two distinct hypotheses as to how hummingbirds might use the visual features of rewards: the distant beacon hypothesis and the local cue hypothesis. In two field experiments, we found no evidence that rufous hummingbirds used a distant visual beacon to guide them to a rewarded location. In no case did birds abandon their approach to the goal location from a distance; rather they demonstrated remarkable accuracy of navigation by approaching to within about 70 cm of a rewarded flower's original location. Proximity varied depending on the size of the training flower: birds flew closer to a previously rewarded location if it had been previously signalled with a small beacon. Additionally, when provided with a beacon at a new location, birds did not fly directly to the new beacon. Taken together, we believe these data demonstrate that these hummingbirds depend little on visual characteristics to beacon to rewarded locations, but rather that they encode surrounding landmarks in order to reach the goal and then use the visual features of the goal as confirmation that they have arrived at the correct location.

  13. Beacon-Colss core monitoring system application and benefits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, W.A.; Yoon, T.Y.

    2005-01-01

    Westinghouse and KNFC are creating an upgraded core monitoring system by merging the BEACON system (best estimate analyzer for core operation-nuclear) and COLSS (core operating limit supervisory system) into an integrated product. Although both BEACON and COLSS are core monitoring systems that have been in operation at many plants for a number of years, they each have some features and capabilities that are not in the other. Therefore it has been decided to incorporate portions of COLSS into the beacon system to create an optional level to support core monitoring applications on selected combustion engineering (C-E) designed plants. This optional level in the beacon system will be called BEACON-COLSS and will allow the beacon system to monitor the LCO's and Tech Spec limits at CE plants that currently use COLSS. This paper will present the structure of the new core monitoring system and the benefits it achieves for current COLSS plants, i.e., CE plants in the US and KSNP (Korean standard nuclear power plant). (authors)

  14. High-visibility infrared beacons for IFF and combat ID

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pralle, Martin; Puscasu, Irina; Johnson, Edward; Loges, Peter; Melnyk, James

    2005-05-01

    A new kind of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) infrared beacon has been demonstrated. The omni-directional beacon consists of a pyramidal array of 1W pulsIR thermal light sources. Operating at a total power of 84W, the beacon can be used to track and identify surface vehicles and personnel with a recognition range of up to 6 miles on the battlefield and in urban environments or the marine boundary layer. Advanced photonic technology enables the beacon to be seen only while using a 3-5 μm or 8-12 μm thermal imaging system. There is no visible or near-IR emission to betray the location of the beacon. The beacon is rugged and will operate from -40 to 50°C ambient temperature, 0-100% relative humidity, 0 - 10,000 ft altitude, and meets MIL-STD 810F and MIL-STD 461E.

  15. 78 FR 75392 - American Beacon Funds, et al.; Notice of Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-11

    ... Asset Management LLC; (b) American Beacon Balanced Fund--the Manager, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney... Beacon Funds, et al.; Notice of Application December 5, 2013. AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission...) (order). Applicants: American Beacon Funds and American Beacon Select Funds (collectively, the ``Trusts...

  16. BEACON: automated tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON

    KAUST Repository

    Kalkatawi, Manal M.; Alam, Intikhab; Bajic, Vladimir B.

    2015-01-01

    We developed BEACON, a fast tool for an automated and a systematic comparison of different annotations of single genomes. The extended annotation assigns putative functions to many genes with unknown functions. BEACON is available under GNU General Public License version 3.0 and is accessible at: http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/BEACON/

  17. Doing Forensic on DTUsat-2 Using the Beacon Counter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fléron, René

    2016-01-01

    DTUsat-2 was launched into a Polar LEO on a Dnepr rocket out of Yasny on 19th June 2014. After the first few days of beacon recording and precise orbit determination it became apparent that all was not nominal. One notable thing was the relatively low beacon count number. The beacon count reflects...

  18. Localization with a mobile beacon in underwater acoustic sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sangho; Kim, Kiseon

    2012-01-01

    Localization is one of the most important issues associated with underwater acoustic sensor networks, especially when sensor nodes are randomly deployed. Given that it is difficult to deploy beacon nodes at predetermined locations, localization schemes with a mobile beacon on the sea surface or along the planned path are inherently convenient, accurate, and energy-efficient. In this paper, we propose a new range-free Localization with a Mobile Beacon (LoMoB). The mobile beacon periodically broadcasts a beacon message containing its location. Sensor nodes are individually localized by passively receiving the beacon messages without inter-node communications. For location estimation, a set of potential locations are obtained as candidates for a node's location and then the node's location is determined through the weighted mean of all the potential locations with the weights computed based on residuals.

  19. Localization with a Mobile Beacon in Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangho Lee

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Localization is one of the most important issues associated with underwater acoustic sensor networks, especially when sensor nodes are randomly deployed. Given that it is difficult to deploy beacon nodes at predetermined locations, localization schemes with a mobile beacon on the sea surface or along the planned path are inherently convenient, accurate, and energy-efficient. In this paper, we propose a new range-free Localization with a Mobile Beacon (LoMoB. The mobile beacon periodically broadcasts a beacon message containing its location. Sensor nodes are individually localized by passively receiving the beacon messages without inter-node communications. For location estimation, a set of potential locations are obtained as candidates for a node’s location and then the node’s location is determined through the weighted mean of all the potential locations with the weights computed based on residuals.

  20. Overshadowing of geometric cues by a beacon in a spatial navigation task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Redhead, Edward S; Hamilton, Derek A; Parker, Matthew O; Chan, Wai; Allison, Craig

    2013-06-01

    In three experiments, we examined whether overshadowing of geometric cues by a discrete landmark (beacon) is due to the relative saliences of the cues. Using a virtual water maze task, human participants were required to locate a platform marked by a beacon in a distinctively shaped pool. In Experiment 1, the beacon overshadowed geometric cues in a trapezium, but not in an isosceles triangle. The longer escape latencies during acquisition in the trapezium control group with no beacon suggest that the geometric cues in the trapezium were less salient than those in the triangle. In Experiment 2, we evaluated whether generalization decrement, caused by the removal of the beacon at test, could account for overshadowing. An additional beacon was placed in an alternative corner. For the control groups, the beacons were identical; for the overshadow groups, they were visually unique. Overshadowing was again found in the trapezium. In Experiment 3, we tested whether the absence of overshadowing in the triangle was due to the geometric cues being more salient than the beacon. Following training, the beacon was relocated to a different corner. Participants approached the beacon rather than the trained platform corner, suggesting that the beacon was more salient. These results suggest that associative processes do not fully explain cue competition in the spatial domain.

  1. Weak beacon detection for air-to-ground optical wireless link establishment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Yaoqiang; Dang, Anhong; Tang, Junxiong; Guo, Hong

    2010-02-01

    In an air-to-ground free-space optical communication system, strong background interference seriously affects the beacon detection, which makes it difficult to establish the optical link. In this paper, we propose a correlation beacon detection scheme under strong background interference conditions. As opposed to traditional beacon detection schemes, the beacon is modulated by an m-sequence at the transmitting terminal with a digital differential matched filter (DDMF) array introduced at the receiving end to detect the modulated beacon. This scheme is capable of suppressing both strong interference and noise by correlation reception of the received image sequence. In addition, the DDMF array enables each pixel of the image sensor to have its own DDMF of the same structure to process its received image sequence in parallel, thus it makes fast beacon detection possible. Theoretical analysis and an outdoor experiment have been demonstrated and show that the proposed scheme can realize fast and effective beacon detection under strong background interference conditions. Consequently, the required beacon transmission power can also be reduced dramatically.

  2. Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification (BEACON) system

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification system (BEACON) is a colletion of state and local data reported to EPA about beach closings and advisories. BEACON is...

  3. The BEACON on-line core monitoring system. Functional upgrades and applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, W.A.; Miller, R.W.

    1997-01-01

    The BEACON TM core monitor system has been in commercial operation since 1989 and was licensed by the USNRC for on-line core power distribution and thermal power limit monitoring in 1994. Since that time BEACON has been installed at 17 plants. Each of these customers has a different perspective on the use of data from BEACON and a different approach on the application of BEACON to support their plant operations. To support these varied needs and approaches the BEACON system has been divided into three operational levels to better match the system functions to the customer needs and approaches to system integration. Based on customer feedback, the BEACON system was upgraded in some areas and streamlined in other areas to better support the needs of each customer. The three operational levels of the BEACON system, the major product upgrades and system evolution that has taken place to support the needs and applications of our customers are discussed. (authors)

  4. 14 CFR 171.321 - DME and marker beacon performance requirements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false DME and marker beacon performance... (MLS) § 171.321 DME and marker beacon performance requirements. (a) The DME equipment must meet the..._regulations/ibr_locations.html. (b) MLS marker beacon equipment must meet the performance requirements...

  5. Evaluation of BEACON-COLSS Core Monitoring System Benefits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Joon Sung; Park, Young Ho; Morita, Toshio; Book, Michael A.

    2005-01-01

    In Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant COLSS (Core Operating Limit Supervisory System) is used to monitor the DNBR Power Operating Limit (DNBRPOL) and Linear Heat Rate POL (KWPFPOL). Westinghouse and KNFC have developed an upgraded core monitoring system by combining the BEACON TM core monitoring system 1 (Best Estimate Analyzer for Core Operation . Nuclear) and COLSS into an integrated product that is called BEACON-COLSS. BEACON-COLSS generates the 3-D power distribution corrected by the in-core detectors measurements. The 3-D core power distribution methodology in BEACON-COLSS is significantly better than the synthesis methodology in COLSS. BEACONCOLSS uses the CETOP-D 2 thermal hydraulic code instead of CETOP-1. CETOP-D is a multi-channel thermal hydraulics code that will provide more accurate DNBR calculations than the DNBR calculators currently used in COLSS

  6. 76 FR 17625 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Emergency Beacon Registrations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-30

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Emergency Beacon Registrations AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric... emergency radio beacon. Persons purchasing a digital distress beacon, operating in the frequency range of...

  7. Addressing Beacon re-identification attacks: quantification and mitigation of privacy risks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raisaro, Jean Louis; Tramèr, Florian; Ji, Zhanglong; Bu, Diyue; Zhao, Yongan; Carey, Knox; Lloyd, David; Sofia, Heidi; Baker, Dixie; Flicek, Paul; Shringarpure, Suyash; Bustamante, Carlos; Wang, Shuang; Jiang, Xiaoqian; Ohno-Machado, Lucila; Tang, Haixu; Wang, XiaoFeng; Hubaux, Jean-Pierre

    2017-07-01

    The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) created the Beacon Project as a means of testing the willingness of data holders to share genetic data in the simplest technical context-a query for the presence of a specified nucleotide at a given position within a chromosome. Each participating site (or "beacon") is responsible for assuring that genomic data are exposed through the Beacon service only with the permission of the individual to whom the data pertains and in accordance with the GA4GH policy and standards.While recognizing the inference risks associated with large-scale data aggregation, and the fact that some beacons contain sensitive phenotypic associations that increase privacy risk, the GA4GH adjudged the risk of re-identification based on the binary yes/no allele-presence query responses as acceptable. However, recent work demonstrated that, given a beacon with specific characteristics (including relatively small sample size and an adversary who possesses an individual's whole genome sequence), the individual's membership in a beacon can be inferred through repeated queries for variants present in the individual's genome.In this paper, we propose three practical strategies for reducing re-identification risks in beacons. The first two strategies manipulate the beacon such that the presence of rare alleles is obscured; the third strategy budgets the number of accesses per user for each individual genome. Using a beacon containing data from the 1000 Genomes Project, we demonstrate that the proposed strategies can effectively reduce re-identification risk in beacon-like datasets. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

  8. Crowdsourcing for Context: Regarding Privacy in Beacon Encounters via Contextual Integrity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bello-Ogunu Emmanuel

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Research shows that context is important to the privacy perceptions associated with technology. With Bluetooth Low Energy beacons, one of the latest technologies for providing proximity and indoor tracking, the current identifiers that characterize a beacon are not sufficient for ordinary users to make informed privacy decisions about the location information that could be shared. One solution would be to have standardized category and privacy labels, produced by beacon providers or an independent third-party. An alternative solution is to find an approach driven by users, for users. In this paper, we propose a novel crowdsourcing based approach to introduce elements of context in beacon encounters.We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach through a user study, where participants use a crowd-based mobile app designed to collect beacon category and privacy information as a scavenger hunt game. Results show that our approach was effective in helping users label beacons according to the specific context of a given beacon encounter, as well as the privacy perceptions associated with it. This labeling was done with an accuracy of 92%, and with an acceptance rate of 82% of all recommended crowd labels. Lastly, we conclusively show how crowdsourcing for context can be used towards a user-centric framework for privacy management during beacon encounters.

  9. Optimalization of Beacon Selection for Localization in Wireless AD-HOC Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Matula

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we engage in optimalization of convenient beacons for localization position of a node in the ad-hoc network. An algorithm designed by us localizes position of moving or static node by RSS (Received Signal Strength method and trilateration. At first, localization of unknown node runs by combination of all beacons. Than optimalizating algorithmreduces the number of beacons (and repeats localization, while only three left. Its reduction is based on highest levels of received signal strength. It is only when signals are from the nearest beacons. Position localizating exactness is statistically interpreted from all localization by beacons combination and its repeating.

  10. Uncertainty analysis for the BEACON-COLSS core monitoring system application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morita, T.; Boyd, W.A.; Seong, K.B.

    2005-01-01

    This paper will cover the measurement uncertainty analysis of BEACON-COLSS core monitoring system. The uncertainty evaluation is made by using a BEACON-COLSS simulation program. By simulating the BEACON on-line operation for analytically generated reactor conditions, accuracy of the 'Measured' results can be evaluated by comparing to analytically generated 'Truth'. The DNB power margin is evaluated based on the Combustion Engineering's Modified Statistical Combination of Uncertainties (MSCU) using the CETOPD code for the DNBR calculation. A BEACON-COLSS simulation program for the uncertainty evaluation function has been established for plant applications. Qualification work has been completed for two Combustion Engineering plants. Results of the BEACON-COLSS measured peaking factors and DNBR power margin are plant type dependent and are applicable to reload cores as long as the core geometry and detector layout are unchanged. (authors)

  11. Synthesis and Characterization of a Magnetically Active 19F Molecular Beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dempsey, Megan E; Marble, Hetal D; Shen, Tun-Li; Fawzi, Nicolas L; Darling, Eric M

    2018-02-21

    Gene expression is used extensively to describe cellular characteristics and behaviors; however, most methods of assessing gene expression are unsuitable for living samples, requiring destructive processes such as fixation or lysis. Recently, molecular beacons have become a viable tool for live-cell imaging of mRNA molecules in situ. Historically, beacon-mediated imaging has been limited to fluorescence-based approaches. We propose the design and synthesis of a novel molecular beacon for magnetic resonance detection of any desired target nucleotide sequence. The biologically compatible synthesis incorporates commonly used bioconjugation reactions in aqueous conditions and is accessible for laboratories without extensive synthesis capabilities. The resulting beacon uses fluorine ( 19 F) as a reporter, which is broadened, or turned "off", via paramagnetic relaxation enhancement from a stabilized nitroxide radical spin label when the beacon is not bound to its nucleic acid target. Therefore, the 19 F NMR signal of the beacon is quenched in its hairpin conformation when the spin label and the 19 F substituent are held in proximity, but the signal is recovered upon beacon hybridization to its specific complementary nucleotide sequence by physical separation of the radical from the 19 F reporter. This study establishes a path for magnetic resonance-based assessment of specific mRNA expression, providing new possibilities for applying molecular beacon technology in living systems.

  12. The Westinghouse BEACON on-line core monitoring system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buechel, Robert J.; Boyd, William A.; Casadei, Alberto L.

    1995-01-01

    BEACON (Best Estimate Analysis of Core Operations - Nuclear), a core monitoring and operational support package developed by Westinghouse, has been installed at many operating PWRs worldwide. The BEACON system is a real-time monitoring system which can be used in plants with both fixed and movable incore detector systems and utilizes an on-line nodal model combined with core instrumentation data to provide continuous core power distribution monitoring. In addition, accurate core-predictive capabilities utilizing a full core nodal model updated according to plant operating history can be made to provide operational support. Core history information is kept and displayed to help operators anticipate core behavior and take pro-active control actions. The BEACON system has been licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for direct, continuous monitoring of DNBR and peak linear heat rate. This allows BEACON to be integrated into the plant technical specifications to permit significant relaxation of operating limitations defined by conventional technical specifications. (author). 4 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab

  13. Beacon-based tourist information system to identify visiting trends of tourists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akihiro Yamaguchi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available In this study, we propose a system that provides tourist information and obtains trends of visiting tourists using beacons and cloud service. As part of our research, we are working on the promotion of local area tourism in cooperation with a local community. A low energy Bluetooth device is used as a beacon to transmit a universally unique identifier. In addition, beacons are placed at sightseeing spots and tourist facilities. Our proposed system comprises two application programs; one is a client-side application program that provides area-specific tourist information corresponding to the detected beacon. The other is a server-side application to record time and location information of the detected beacons. In this paper, we describe the scheme of our system, and present the results of experiments conducted using the prototype system in the local tourist area. In addition, we discuss an open platform for information collection services using beacons.

  14. Development of a universal RNA beacon for exogenous gene detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Yuanjian; Lu, Zhongju; Cohen, Ira Stephen; Scarlata, Suzanne

    2015-05-01

    Stem cell therapy requires a nontoxic and high-throughput method to achieve a pure cell population to prevent teratomas that can occur if even one cell in the implant has not been transformed. A promising method to detect and separate cells expressing a particular gene is RNA beacon technology. However, developing a successful, specific beacon to a particular transfected gene can take months to develop and in some cases is impossible. Here, we report on an off-the-shelf universal beacon that decreases the time and cost of applying beacon technology to select any living cell population transfected with an exogenous gene. ©AlphaMed Press.

  15. Quantum dot-based molecular beacon to monitor intracellular microRNAs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jonghwan; Moon, Sung Ung; Lee, Yong Seung; Ali, Bahy A; Al-Khedhairy, Abdulaziz A; Ali, Daoud; Ahmed, Javed; Al Salem, Abdullah M; Kim, Soonhag

    2015-06-02

    Fluorescence monitoring of endogenous microRNA (miRNA or miR) activity related to neuronal development using nano-sized materials provides crucial information on miRNA expression patterns in a noninvasive manner. In this study, we report a new method to monitor intracellular miRNA124a using quantum dot-based molecular beacon (R9-QD-miR124a beacon). The R9-QD-miR124a beacon was constructed using QDs and two probes, miR124a-targeting oligomer and arginine rich cell-penetrating peptide (R9 peptide). The miR124a-targeting oligomer contains a miR124a binging sequence and a black hole quencher 1 (BHQ1). In the absence of target miR124a, the R9-QD-miR124a beacon forms a partial duplex beacon and remained in quenched state because the BHQ1 quenches the fluorescence signal of the R9-QD-miR124a beacon. The binding of miR124a to the miR124a binding sequence of the miR124a-targeting oligomer triggered the separation of the BHQ1 quencher and subsequent signal-on of a red fluorescence signal. Moreover, enhanced cellular uptake was achieved by conjugation with the R9 peptide, which resulted in increased fluorescent signal of the R9-QD-miR124a beacons in P19 cells during neurogenesis due to the endogenous expression of miR124a.

  16. Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification (BEACON) system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beach Advisory and Closing Online Notification system (BEACON) is a colletion of state and local data reported to EPA about beach closings and advisories. BEACON is the public-facing query of the Program tracking, Beach Advisories, Water quality standards, and Nutrients database (PRAWN) which tracks beach closing and advisory information.

  17. The use of BEACON monitoring in plant power uprates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, Wade

    2003-01-01

    BEACON is the core support software technology that provides Utilities with continuous 3-D core power distribution monitoring, operational analysis capability, and operations support capability. BEACON monitoring delivers quantifiable plant margins for both reload design and plant operations improvement. When linked to Plant Power Upratings, BEACON permits an improvement in fuel cycle economics through higher peaking factors, higher power levels and higher discharge burnups. Operational flexibility of Uprated Plants is enhanced through elimination of axial power shape and core power tilt specifications. Also, the number of flux maps for these plants is reduced and local power is monitored continuously, permitting faster power escalation. Integrated 3-D power distribution analysis capabilities provide core designers with historical margin data that permits a reduction in core follow requirements as well as reduced curve book data related scope. Examples of specific Uprated Plant applications will be discussed. In anticipation of future needs of Uprated Plants, plans to integrate the technology of BEACON with COLSS are being executed. Finally, the capability to monitor Crud Induced Power Shift (axial offset) is also planned for incorporation into BEACON in the near future and will be discussed

  18. Quantum Dot-Based Molecular Beacon to Monitor Intracellular MicroRNAs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonghwan Lee

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Fluorescence monitoring of endogenous microRNA (miRNA or miR activity related to neuronal development using nano-sized materials provides crucial information on miRNA expression patterns in a noninvasive manner. In this study, we report a new method to monitor intracellular miRNA124a using quantum dot-based molecular beacon (R9-QD-miR124a beacon. The R9-QD-miR124a beacon was constructed using QDs and two probes, miR124a-targeting oligomer and arginine rich cell-penetrating peptide (R9 peptide. The miR124a-targeting oligomer contains a miR124a binging sequence and a black hole quencher 1 (BHQ1. In the absence of target miR124a, the R9-QD-miR124a beacon forms a partial duplex beacon and remained in quenched state because the BHQ1 quenches the fluorescence signal of the R9-QD-miR124a beacon. The binding of miR124a to the miR124a binding sequence of the miR124a-targeting oligomer triggered the separation of the BHQ1 quencher and subsequent signal-on of a red fluorescence signal. Moreover, enhanced cellular uptake was achieved by conjugation with the R9 peptide, which resulted in increased fluorescent signal of the R9-QD-miR124a beacons in P19 cells during neurogenesis due to the endogenous expression of miR124a.

  19. Rayleigh beacon for measuring the surface profile of a radio telescope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Padin, S

    2014-12-01

    Millimeter-wavelength Rayleigh scattering from water droplets in a cloud is proposed as a means of generating a bright beacon for measuring the surface profile of a radio telescope. A λ=3  mm transmitter, with an output power of a few watts, illuminating a stratiform cloud, can generate a beacon with the same flux as Mars in 10 GHz bandwidth, but the beacon has a narrow line width, so it is extremely bright. The key advantage of the beacon is that it can be used at any time, and positioned anywhere in the sky, as long as there are clouds.

  20. Detection of thermocouple malfunction in the Beacon system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morita, T.; Heibel, M.D.; Congedo, T.V.

    1992-01-01

    The BEACON system uses Core Exit Thermocouples (T/C) extensively for continuous radial power distribution monitoring. The T/C's are used to adjust the reference power distribution generated by the BEACON system to match the current radial power distribution. T/C reliability, repeatability, and relative accuracy have been very satisfactory. However, it is very important to detect any T/C malfunctions during operation, since a T/C signal change caused by an undetected malfunction can lead to serious errors in the radial power distribution developed by BEACON. A simple procedure has been developed which is capable of discriminating between changes in T/C signals caused by actual changes in reactor conditions and signal changes caused by T/C malfunctions

  1. Tight Bounds for Beacon-Based Coverage in Simple Rectilinear Polygons

    KAUST Repository

    Bae, Sang Won

    2016-03-21

    We establish tight bounds for beacon-based coverage problems. In particular, we show that $$\\\\lfloor \\\\frac{n}{6} \\ floor $$⌊n6⌋ beacons are always sufficient and sometimes necessary to cover a simple rectilinear polygon P with n vertices. When P is monotone and rectilinear, we prove that this bound becomes $$\\\\lfloor \\\\frac{n+4}{8} \\ floor $$⌊n+48⌋. We also present an optimal linear-time algorithm for computing the beacon kernel of P.

  2. Tight Bounds for Beacon-Based Coverage in Simple Rectilinear Polygons

    KAUST Repository

    Bae, Sang Won; Shin, Chan-Su; Vigneron, Antoine E.

    2016-01-01

    We establish tight bounds for beacon-based coverage problems. In particular, we show that $$\\lfloor \\frac{n}{6} \\rfloor $$⌊n6⌋ beacons are always sufficient and sometimes necessary to cover a simple rectilinear polygon P with n vertices. When P is monotone and rectilinear, we prove that this bound becomes $$\\lfloor \\frac{n+4}{8} \\rfloor $$⌊n+48⌋. We also present an optimal linear-time algorithm for computing the beacon kernel of P.

  3. Nucleic acid detection using BRET-beacons based on bioluminescent protein-DNA hybrids

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Engelen, W.; van de Wiel, K.M.; Meijer, L.H.H.; Saha, B.; Merkx, M.

    2017-01-01

    Bioluminescent molecular beacons have been developed using a modular design approach that relies on BRET between the bright luciferase NanoLuc and a Cy3 acceptor. While classical molecular beacons are hampered by background fluorescence and scattering, these BRET-beacons allow detection of low pM

  4. Accurate beacon positioning method for satellite-to-ground optical communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qiang; Tong, Ling; Yu, Siyuan; Tan, Liying; Ma, Jing

    2017-12-11

    In satellite laser communication systems, accurate positioning of the beacon is essential for establishing a steady laser communication link. For satellite-to-ground optical communication, the main influencing factors on the acquisition of the beacon are background noise and atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, we consider the influence of background noise and atmospheric turbulence on the beacon in satellite-to-ground optical communication, and propose a new locating algorithm for the beacon, which takes the correlation coefficient obtained by curve fitting for image data as weights. By performing a long distance laser communication experiment (11.16 km), we verified the feasibility of this method. Both simulation and experiment showed that the new algorithm can accurately obtain the position of the centroid of beacon. Furthermore, for the distortion of the light spot through atmospheric turbulence, the locating accuracy of the new algorithm was 50% higher than that of the conventional gray centroid algorithm. This new approach will be beneficial for the design of satellite-to ground optical communication systems.

  5. SU-E-J-257: Image Artifacts Caused by Implanted Calypso Beacons in MRI Studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amro, H; Chetty, I; Gordon, J; Wen, N [Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI (United States)

    2014-06-01

    Purpose: The presence of Calypso Beacon-transponders in patients can cause artifacts during MRI imaging studies. This could be a problem for post-treatment follow up of cancer patients using MRI studies to evaluate metastasis and for functional imaging studies.This work assesses (1) the volume immediately surrounding the transponders that will not be visualized by the MRI due to the beacons, and (2) the dependence of the non-visualized volume on beacon orientation, and scanning techniques. Methods: Two phantoms were used in this study (1) water filled box, (2) and a 2300 cc block of pork meat. Calypso beacons were implanted in the phantoms both in parallel and perpendicular orientations with respect to the MR scanner magnetic field. MR image series of the phantom were obtained with on a 1.0T high field open MR-SIM with multiple pulse sequences, for example, T1-weighted fast field echo and T2-weighted turbo spin echo. Results: On average, a no-signal region with 2 cm radius and 3 cm length was measured. Image artifacts are more significant when beacons are placed parallel to scanner magnetic field; the no-signal area around the beacon was about 0.5 cm larger in orthogonal orientation. The no-signal region surrounding the beacons slightly varies in dimension for the different pulse sequences. Conclusion: The use of Calypso beacons can prohibit the use of MRI studies in post-treatment assessments, especially in the immediate region surrounding the implanted beacon. A characterization of the MR scanner by identifying the no-signal regions due to implanted beacons is essential. This may render the use of Calypso beacons useful for some cases and give the treating physician a chance to identify those patients prior to beacon implantation.

  6. SU-E-J-257: Image Artifacts Caused by Implanted Calypso Beacons in MRI Studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amro, H; Chetty, I; Gordon, J; Wen, N

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The presence of Calypso Beacon-transponders in patients can cause artifacts during MRI imaging studies. This could be a problem for post-treatment follow up of cancer patients using MRI studies to evaluate metastasis and for functional imaging studies.This work assesses (1) the volume immediately surrounding the transponders that will not be visualized by the MRI due to the beacons, and (2) the dependence of the non-visualized volume on beacon orientation, and scanning techniques. Methods: Two phantoms were used in this study (1) water filled box, (2) and a 2300 cc block of pork meat. Calypso beacons were implanted in the phantoms both in parallel and perpendicular orientations with respect to the MR scanner magnetic field. MR image series of the phantom were obtained with on a 1.0T high field open MR-SIM with multiple pulse sequences, for example, T1-weighted fast field echo and T2-weighted turbo spin echo. Results: On average, a no-signal region with 2 cm radius and 3 cm length was measured. Image artifacts are more significant when beacons are placed parallel to scanner magnetic field; the no-signal area around the beacon was about 0.5 cm larger in orthogonal orientation. The no-signal region surrounding the beacons slightly varies in dimension for the different pulse sequences. Conclusion: The use of Calypso beacons can prohibit the use of MRI studies in post-treatment assessments, especially in the immediate region surrounding the implanted beacon. A characterization of the MR scanner by identifying the no-signal regions due to implanted beacons is essential. This may render the use of Calypso beacons useful for some cases and give the treating physician a chance to identify those patients prior to beacon implantation

  7. 33 CFR 149.580 - What are the requirements for a radar beacon?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What are the requirements for a radar beacon? 149.580 Section 149.580 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... Navigation Miscellaneous § 149.580 What are the requirements for a radar beacon? (a) A radar beacon (RACON...

  8. BEACON: automated tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalkatawi, Manal; Alam, Intikhab; Bajic, Vladimir B

    2015-08-18

    Genome annotation is one way of summarizing the existing knowledge about genomic characteristics of an organism. There has been an increased interest during the last several decades in computer-based structural and functional genome annotation. Many methods for this purpose have been developed for eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Our study focuses on comparison of functional annotations of prokaryotic genomes. To the best of our knowledge there is no fully automated system for detailed comparison of functional genome annotations generated by different annotation methods (AMs). The presence of many AMs and development of new ones introduce needs to: a/ compare different annotations for a single genome, and b/ generate annotation by combining individual ones. To address these issues we developed an Automated Tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON (BEACON) that benefits both AM developers and annotation analysers. BEACON provides detailed comparison of gene function annotations of prokaryotic genomes obtained by different AMs and generates extended annotations through combination of individual ones. For the illustration of BEACON's utility, we provide a comparison analysis of multiple different annotations generated for four genomes and show on these examples that the extended annotation can increase the number of genes annotated by putative functions up to 27%, while the number of genes without any function assignment is reduced. We developed BEACON, a fast tool for an automated and a systematic comparison of different annotations of single genomes. The extended annotation assigns putative functions to many genes with unknown functions. BEACON is available under GNU General Public License version 3.0 and is accessible at: http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/BEACON/ .

  9. BEACON TSM application system to the operation of PWR reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lozano, J. A.; Mildrum, C.; Serrano, J. F.

    2012-01-01

    BEACON-TSM is an advanced core monitoring system for PWR reactor cores, and also offers the possibility to perform a wide range of predictive calculation in support of reactor operation. BEACON-TSM is presently installed and licensed in the 5 Spanish PWR reactors of standard Westinghouse design. the purpose of this paper is to describe the features of this software system and to show the advantages obtainable by a nuclear power plant from its use. To illustrate the capabilities and benefits of BEACON-TSM two real case reactor operating situations are presented. (Author)

  10. Snapshot analysis for rhodium fixed incore detector using BEACON methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cha, Kyoon Ho; Choi, Yu Sun; Lee, Eun Ki; Park, Moon Ghu; Morita, Toshio; Heibel, Michael D.

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this report is to process the rhodium detector data of the Yonggwang nuclear unit 4 cycle 5 core for the measured power distribution by using the BEACON methodology. Rhodium snapshots of the YGN 4 cycle 5 have been analyzed by both BEACON/SPINOVA and CECOR to compare the results of both codes. By analyzing a large number of snapshots obtained during normal plant operation. Reviewing the results of this analysis, the BEACON/SPNOVA can be used for the snapshot analysis of Korean Standard Nuclear Power (KSNP) plants

  11. 76 FR 65216 - Beacon Medical Services, LLC, Aurora, CO; Notice of Negative Determination Regarding Application...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-20

    ... DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Employment and Training Administration [TA-W-80,219] Beacon Medical Services... workers and former workers of Beacon Medical Services, LLC, Aurora, Colorado (Beacon Medical Services... published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2011 (76 FR 40401). The workers of Beacon Medical Services are...

  12. Beacon communities' public health initiatives: a case study analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massoudi, Barbara L; Marcial, Laura H; Haque, Saira; Bailey, Robert; Chester, Kelley; Cunningham, Shellery; Riley, Amanda; Soper, Paula

    2014-01-01

    The Beacon Communities for Public Health (BCPH) project was launched in 2011 to gain a better understanding of the range of activities currently being conducted in population- and public health by the Beacon Communities. The project highlighted the successes and challenges of these efforts with the aim of sharing this information broadly among the public health community. The Beacon Community Program, designed to showcase technology-enabled, community-based initiatives to improve outcomes, focused on: building and strengthening health information technology (IT) infrastructure and exchange capabilities; translating investments in health IT to measureable improvements in cost, quality, and population health; and, developing innovative approaches to performance measurement, technology, and care delivery. Four multimethod case studies were conducted based on a modified sociotechnical framework to learn more about public health initiative implementation and use in the Beacon Communities. Our methodological approach included using document review and semistructured key informant interviews. NACCHO Model Practice Program criteria were used to select the public health initiatives included in the case studies. Despite differences among the case studies, common barriers and facilitators were found to be present in all areas of the sociotechnical framework application including structure, people, technology, tasks, overarching considerations, and sustainability. Overall, there were many more facilitators (range = 7-14) present for each Beacon compared to barriers (range = 4-6). Four influential promising practices were identified through the work: forging strong and sustainable partnerships; ensuring a good task-technology fit and a flexible and iterative design; fostering technology acceptance; and, providing education and demonstrating value. A common weakness was the lack of a framework or model for the Beacon Communities evaluation work. Sharing a framework or approach

  13. Beacon Communities’ Public Health Initiatives: A Case Study Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massoudi, Barbara L.; Marcial, Laura H.; Haque, Saira; Bailey, Robert; Chester, Kelley; Cunningham, Shellery; Riley, Amanda; Soper, Paula

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: The Beacon Communities for Public Health (BCPH) project was launched in 2011 to gain a better understanding of the range of activities currently being conducted in population- and public health by the Beacon Communities. The project highlighted the successes and challenges of these efforts with the aim of sharing this information broadly among the public health community. Background: The Beacon Community Program, designed to showcase technology-enabled, community-based initiatives to improve outcomes, focused on: building and strengthening health information technology (IT) infrastructure and exchange capabilities; translating investments in health IT to measureable improvements in cost, quality, and population health; and, developing innovative approaches to performance measurement, technology, and care delivery. Methods: Four multimethod case studies were conducted based on a modified sociotechnical framework to learn more about public health initiative implementation and use in the Beacon Communities. Our methodological approach included using document review and semistructured key informant interviews. NACCHO Model Practice Program criteria were used to select the public health initiatives included in the case studies. Findings: Despite differences among the case studies, common barriers and facilitators were found to be present in all areas of the sociotechnical framework application including structure, people, technology, tasks, overarching considerations, and sustainability. Overall, there were many more facilitators (range = 7–14) present for each Beacon compared to barriers (range = 4–6). Discussion: Four influential promising practices were identified through the work: forging strong and sustainable partnerships; ensuring a good task-technology fit and a flexible and iterative design; fostering technology acceptance; and, providing education and demonstrating value. Conclusions: A common weakness was the lack of a framework or model for

  14. An Interactive Real-Time Locating System Based on Bluetooth Low-Energy Beacon Network †.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, You-Wei; Lin, Chi-Yi

    2018-05-21

    The ubiquity of Bluetooth-enabled smartphones and peripherals has brought tremendous convenience to our daily life. In recent years, Bluetooth beacons have also been gaining popularity in implementing a variety of innovative location-based services such as self-guided systems in exhibition centers. However, the broadcast-based beacon technology can only provide unidirectional communication. In case smartphone users would like to respond to the beacon messages, they have to rely on their own mobile Internet connections to send the information back to the backend system. Nevertheless, mobile Internet services may not be always available or too costly. In this work, we develop a real-time locating system based only on the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology to support interactive communications by combining the broadcast and mesh topology options to extend the applicability of beacon solutions. Specifically, we turn the smartphone into a beacon device and augment the beacon devices with the capability of forming a mesh network. The implementation result shows that our beacon devices can detect the presence of specific users at specific locations, and then the presence state can be sent to the application server via the relay of beacon devices. Moreover, the application server can send personalized location-based messages to the users, again via the relay of beacon devices. With the capability of relaying messages between the beacon devices, it would be convenient for developers to implement a variety of interactive applications such as tracking VIP customers at the airport, or tracking an elder with Alzheimer’s disease in the neighborhood.

  15. An Interactive Real-Time Locating System Based on Bluetooth Low-Energy Beacon Network †

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    You-Wei Lin

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The ubiquity of Bluetooth-enabled smartphones and peripherals has brought tremendous convenience to our daily life. In recent years, Bluetooth beacons have also been gaining popularity in implementing a variety of innovative location-based services such as self-guided systems in exhibition centers. However, the broadcast-based beacon technology can only provide unidirectional communication. In case smartphone users would like to respond to the beacon messages, they have to rely on their own mobile Internet connections to send the information back to the backend system. Nevertheless, mobile Internet services may not be always available or too costly. In this work, we develop a real-time locating system based only on the Bluetooth low energy (BLE technology to support interactive communications by combining the broadcast and mesh topology options to extend the applicability of beacon solutions. Specifically, we turn the smartphone into a beacon device and augment the beacon devices with the capability of forming a mesh network. The implementation result shows that our beacon devices can detect the presence of specific users at specific locations, and then the presence state can be sent to the application server via the relay of beacon devices. Moreover, the application server can send personalized location-based messages to the users, again via the relay of beacon devices. With the capability of relaying messages between the beacon devices, it would be convenient for developers to implement a variety of interactive applications such as tracking VIP customers at the airport, or tracking an elder with Alzheimer’s disease in the neighborhood.

  16. Smartphone-Based Indoor Localization with Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan Zhuang

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Indoor wireless localization using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE beacons has attracted considerable attention after the release of the BLE protocol. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that uses the combination of channel-separate polynomial regression model (PRM, channel-separate fingerprinting (FP, outlier detection and extended Kalman filtering (EKF for smartphone-based indoor localization with BLE beacons. The proposed algorithm uses FP and PRM to estimate the target’s location and the distances between the target and BLE beacons respectively. We compare the performance of distance estimation that uses separate PRM for three advertisement channels (i.e., the separate strategy with that use an aggregate PRM generated through the combination of information from all channels (i.e., the aggregate strategy. The performance of FP-based location estimation results of the separate strategy and the aggregate strategy are also compared. It was found that the separate strategy can provide higher accuracy; thus, it is preferred to adopt PRM and FP for each BLE advertisement channel separately. Furthermore, to enhance the robustness of the algorithm, a two-level outlier detection mechanism is designed. Distance and location estimates obtained from PRM and FP are passed to the first outlier detection to generate improved distance estimates for the EKF. After the EKF process, the second outlier detection algorithm based on statistical testing is further performed to remove the outliers. The proposed algorithm was evaluated by various field experiments. Results show that the proposed algorithm achieved the accuracy of <2.56 m at 90% of the time with dense deployment of BLE beacons (1 beacon per 9 m, which performs 35.82% better than <3.99 m from the Propagation Model (PM + EKF algorithm and 15.77% more accurate than <3.04 m from the FP + EKF algorithm. With sparse deployment (1 beacon per 18 m, the proposed algorithm achieves the accuracies of <3.88 m at

  17. 46 CFR 169.555 - Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). 169.555 Section 169.555 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS... Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). (a) Each vessel certificated for exposed waters must...

  18. 46 CFR 169.744 - Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). 169.744 Section 169.744 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS... position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). Each EPIRB must be marked with the vessel's name. ...

  19. Q-Band (37-41 GHz) Satellite Beacon Architecture for RF Propagation Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simmons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, the design of a beacon transmitter that will be flown as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite to enable propagation experiments at Q-band (37-41 GHz) frequencies is presented. The beacon uses a phased locked loop stabilized dielectric resonator oscillator and a solid-state power amplifier to achieve the desired output power. The satellite beacon antenna is configured as an offset-fed cut-paraboloidal reflector.

  20. 46 CFR 169.831 - Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). 169.831 Section 169.831 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS... radio beacon (EPIRB). The master shall ensure that— (a) The EPIRB required in § 169.555 of this...

  1. Results from the northern New Mexico satellite-beacon radio interferometer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlos, R.; Jacobson, A.; Massey, R.; Wu, G.

    1994-01-01

    An interferometer described in the Boston, 1992, meeting of the Beacon Satellite Symposium has been in full operation for over a year now. It consists of four autonomous stations; three are in a triangle 70 km on a side and one is in the center. The stations receive the VHF beacons from two geosynchronous satellites, GOES-2 and ATS-3. The phases of the beacons are tracked at each station by referring them to an extremely stable rubidium oscillator. The studies of the two satellites are virtually separate experiments. The received phase of the beacon is retarded by the increased Total-Electron-Content of the dense regions of waves in the ionosphere. By comparing the phase history at four spatially separated stations, the authors can determine the two-dimensional propagation vector of the waves. This array is optimal for wavelengths of 70--300 km (periods of 300--3,000 seconds). Since the measurement is of the phase of the signal rather than the difference between the O-mode and X-mode phases, and since the beacons are in the VHF rather than in the L-band of GPS beacons, the array is very sensitive. It has a noise level of 10 13 electrons/m 2 , or 10 -4 of the normal daytime TEC. This has been verified by operating two stations in the same location, so that they saw the same ionosphere. The first interesting results from a year's study is that the authors do not see the same TID's when looking at the two satellites. One conclusion they draw is that they do not see evidence of ionospheric winds

  2. 77 FR 41271 - Safety Zone; Newburgh to Beacon Swim, Newburgh, Hudson River, NY

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-13

    ... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Newburgh to Beacon Swim, Newburgh, Hudson River, NY AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... navigable waters of the Hudson River, NY in the vicinity of Newburgh, NY for the annual Newburgh Beacon Swim... Beacon Swim is an annual recurring event that has a permanent safety zone found at 33 CFR 165.160. The...

  3. Power-Efficient Beacon Recognition Method Based on Periodic Wake-Up for Industrial Wireless Devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Soonyong; Lee, Donghun; Jang, Ingook; Choi, Jinchul; Son, Youngsung

    2018-04-17

    Energy harvester-integrated wireless devices are attractive for generating semi-permanent power from wasted energy in industrial environments. The energy-harvesting wireless devices may have difficulty in their communication with access points due to insufficient power supply for beacon recognition during network initialization. In this manuscript, we propose a novel method of beacon recognition based on wake-up control to reduce instantaneous power consumption in the initialization procedure. The proposed method applies a moving window for the periodic wake-up of the wireless devices. For unsynchronized wireless devices, beacons are always located in the same positions within each beacon interval even though the starting offsets are unknown. Using these characteristics, the moving window checks the existence of the beacon associated withspecified resources in a beacon interval, checks again for neighboring resources at the next beacon interval, and so on. This method can reduce instantaneous power and generates a surplus of charging time. Thus, the proposed method alleviates the problems of power insufficiency in the network initialization. The feasibility of the proposed method is evaluated using computer simulations of power shortage in various energy-harvesting conditions.

  4. Development of an aptamer beacon for detection of interferon-gamma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuleuova, Nazgul; Jones, Caroline N; Yan, Jun; Ramanculov, Erlan; Yokobayashi, Yohei; Revzin, Alexander

    2010-03-01

    Traditional antibody-based affinity sensing strategies employ multiple reagents and washing steps and are unsuitable for real-time detection of analyte binding. Aptamers, on the other hand, may be designed to monitor binding events directly, in real-time, without the need for secondary labels. The goal of the present study was to design an aptamer beacon for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based detection of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)--an important inflammatory cytokine. Variants of DNA aptamer modified with biotin moieties and spacers were immobilized on avidin-coated surfaces and characterized by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The SPR studies showed that immobilization of aptamer via the 3' end resulted in the best binding IFN-gamma (K(d) = 3.44 nM). This optimal aptamer variant was then used to construct a beacon by hybridizing fluorophore-labeled aptamer with an antisense oligonucleotide strand carrying a quencher. SPR studies revealed that IFN-gamma binding with an aptamer beacon occurred within 15 min of analyte introduction--suggesting dynamic replacement of the quencher-complementary strand by IFN-gamma molecules. To further highlight biosensing applications, aptamer beacon molecules were immobilized inside microfluidic channels and challenged with varying concentration of analyte. Fluorescence microscopy revealed low fluorescence in the absence of analyte and high fluorescence after introduction of IFN-gamma. Importantly, unlike traditional antibody-based immunoassays, the signal was observed directly upon binding of analyte without the need for multiple washing steps. The surface immobilized aptamer beacon had a linear range from 5 to 100 nM and a lower limit of detection of 5 nM IFN-gamma. In conclusion, we designed a FRET-based aptamer beacon for monitoring of an inflammatory cytokine-IFN-gamma. In the future, this biosensing strategy will be employed to monitor dynamics of cytokine production by the immune cells.

  5. Accelerated Adoption of Advanced Health Information Technology in Beacon Community Health Centers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Emily; Wittie, Michael

    2015-01-01

    To complement national and state-level HITECH Act programs, 17 Beacon communities were funded to fuel community-wide use of health information technology to improve quality. Health centers in Beacon communities received supplemental funding. This article explores the association between participation in the Beacon program and the adoption of electronic health records. Using the 2010-2012 Uniform Data System, trends in health information technology adoption among health centers located within and outside of Beacon communities were explored using differences in mean t tests and multivariate logistic regression. Electronic health record adoption was widespread and rapidly growing in all health centers, especially quality improvement functionalities: structured data capture, order and results management, and clinical decision support. Adoption lagged for functionalities supporting patient engagement, performance measurement, care coordination, and public health. The use of advanced functionalities such as care coordination grew faster in Beacon health centers, and Beacon health centers had 1.7 times higher odds of adopting health records with basic safety and quality functionalities in 2010-2012. Three factors likely underlie these findings: technical assistance, community-wide activation supporting health information exchange, and the layering of financial incentives. Additional technical assistance and community-wide activation is needed to support the use of functionalities that are currently lagging. © Copyright 2015 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

  6. Chimeric peptide beacons: a direct polypeptide analog of DNA molecular beacons†

    OpenAIRE

    Oh, Kenneth J.; Cash, Kevin J.; Lubin, Arica A.; Plaxco, Kevin W.

    2007-01-01

    We have developed a new biosensor architecture, which is comprised of a polypeptide–peptide nucleic acid tri-block copolymer and which we have termed chimeric peptide beacons (CPB), that generates an optical output via a mechanism analogous to that employed in DNA-based molecular beacons.

  7. Pedestrian and motorists' actions at pedestrian hybrid beacon sites: findings from a pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulugurtha, Srinivas S; Self, Debbie R

    2015-01-01

    This paper focuses on an analysis of pedestrian and motorists' actions at sites with pedestrian hybrid beacons and assesses their effectiveness in improving the safety of pedestrians. Descriptive and statistical analyses (one-tail two-sample T-test and two-proportion Z-test) were conducted using field data collected during morning and evening peak hours at three study sites in the city of Charlotte, NC, before and after the installation of pedestrian hybrid beacons. Further, an analysis was conducted to assess the change in pedestrian and motorists' actions over time (before the installation; 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after the installation). Results showed an increase in average traffic speed at one of the pedestrian hybrid beacon sites while no specific trends were observed at the other two pedestrian hybrid beacon sites. A decrease in the number of motorists not yielding to pedestrians, pedestrians trapped in the middle of the street, and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts were observed at all the three pedestrian hybrid beacon sites. The installation of pedestrian hybrid beacons did not have a negative effect on pedestrian actions at two out of the three sites. Improvements seem to be relatively more consistent 3 months after the installation of the pedestrian hybrid beacon.

  8. BEACON: automated tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON

    KAUST Repository

    Kalkatawi, Manal M.

    2015-08-18

    Background Genome annotation is one way of summarizing the existing knowledge about genomic characteristics of an organism. There has been an increased interest during the last several decades in computer-based structural and functional genome annotation. Many methods for this purpose have been developed for eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Our study focuses on comparison of functional annotations of prokaryotic genomes. To the best of our knowledge there is no fully automated system for detailed comparison of functional genome annotations generated by different annotation methods (AMs). Results The presence of many AMs and development of new ones introduce needs to: a/ compare different annotations for a single genome, and b/ generate annotation by combining individual ones. To address these issues we developed an Automated Tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON (BEACON) that benefits both AM developers and annotation analysers. BEACON provides detailed comparison of gene function annotations of prokaryotic genomes obtained by different AMs and generates extended annotations through combination of individual ones. For the illustration of BEACON’s utility, we provide a comparison analysis of multiple different annotations generated for four genomes and show on these examples that the extended annotation can increase the number of genes annotated by putative functions up to 27 %, while the number of genes without any function assignment is reduced. Conclusions We developed BEACON, a fast tool for an automated and a systematic comparison of different annotations of single genomes. The extended annotation assigns putative functions to many genes with unknown functions. BEACON is available under GNU General Public License version 3.0 and is accessible at: http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/BEACON/

  9. Comparison of BEACON and COMPARE reactor cavity subcompartment analyses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burkett, M.W.; Idar, E.S.; Gido, R.G.; Lime, J.F.; Koestel, A.

    1984-04-01

    In this study, a more advanced best-estimate containment code, BEACON-MOD3A, was ued to calculate force and moment loads resulting from a high-energy blowdown for two reactor cavity geometries previously analyzed with the licensing computer code COMPARE-MOD1A. The BEACON force and moment loads were compared with the COMPARE results to determine the safety margins provided by the COMPARE code. The forces and moments calculated by the codes were found to be different, although not in any consistent manner, for the two reactor cavity geometries studied. Therefore, generic summary statements regarding margins cannot be made because of the effects of the detailed physical configuration. However, differences in the BEACON and COMPARE calculated forces and moments can be attributed to differences in the modeling assumptions used in the codes and the analyses

  10. Detection of DNA damage by using hairpin molecular beacon probes and graphene oxide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Jie; Lu, Qian; Tong, Ying; Wei, Wei; Liu, Songqin

    2012-09-15

    A hairpin molecular beacon tagged with carboxyfluorescein in combination with graphene oxide as a quencher reagent was used to detect the DNA damage by chemical reagents. The fluorescence of molecular beacon was quenched sharply by graphene oxide; while in the presence of its complementary DNA the quenching efficiency decreased because their hybridization prevented the strong adsorbability of molecular beacon on graphene oxide. If the complementary DNA was damaged by a chemical reagent and could not form intact duplex structure with molecular beacon, more molecular beacon would adsorb on graphene oxide increasing the quenching efficiency. Thus, damaged DNA could be detected based on different quenching efficiencies afforded by damaged and intact complementary DNA. The damage effects of chlorpyrifos-methyl and three metabolites of styrene such as mandelieaeids, phenylglyoxylieaeids and epoxystyrene on DNA were studied as models. The method for detection of DNA damage was reliable, rapid and simple compared to the biological methods. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. An Analysis of the Optimal Placement of Beacon in Bluetooth-INS Indoor Localization

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao, Xinyu; Ruan, Ling; Zhang, Ling; Long, Yi; Cheng, Fei

    2018-01-01

    The placement of Bluetooth beacon has immediate impact on the accuracy and stability of indoor positioning. Affected by the shelter of building and human, Bluetooth shows uncertain spatial transmission characteristics. Therefore, the scientific deployment of the beacon nodes is closely related to the indoor space environment. In the study of positioning technology using Bluetooth, some scholars have discussed the deployment of Bluetooth beacon in different scenarios. In the principle of avoid...

  12. Q-Band (37 to 41 GHz) Satellite Beacon Architecture for RF Propagation Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, the design of a beacon transmitter that will be flown as a hosted payload on a geostationary satellite to enable propagation experiments at Q-band (37 to 41 GHz) frequencies is presented. The beacon uses a phased locked loop stabilized dielectric resonator oscillator and a solid-state power amplifier to achieve the desired output power. The satellite beacon antenna is configured as an offset-fed cutparaboloidal reflector.

  13. A heuristic evaluation of the Facebook's advertising tool beacon

    OpenAIRE

    Jamal, A; Cole, M

    2009-01-01

    Interface usability is critical to the successful adoption of information systems. The aim of this study is to evaluate interface of Facebook's advertising tool Beacon by using privacy heuristics [4]. Beacon represents an interesting case study because of the negative media and user backlash it received. The findings of heuristic evaluation suggest violation of privacy heuristics [4]. Here, analysis identified concerns about user choice and consent, integrity and security of data, and awarene...

  14. A spiral wave front beacon for underwater navigation: transducer prototypes and testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dzikowicz, Benjamin R; Hefner, Brian T

    2012-05-01

    Transducers for acoustic beacons which can produce outgoing signals with wave fronts whose horizontal cross sections are circular or spiral are studied experimentally. A remote hydrophone is used to determine its aspect relative to the transducers by comparing the phase of the circular signal to the phase of the spiral signal. The transducers for a "physical-spiral" beacon are made by forming a strip of 1-3 piezocomposite transducer material around either a circular or spiral backing. A "phased-spiral" beacon is made from an array of transducer elements which can be driven either in phase or staggered out of phase so as to produce signals with either a circular or spiral wave front. Measurements are made to study outgoing signals and their usefulness in determining aspect angle. Vertical beam width is also examined and phase corrections applied when the hydrophone is out of the horizontal plane of the beacon. While numerical simulations indicate that the discontinuity in the physical-spiral beacon introduces errors into the measured phase, damping observed at the ends of the piezocomposite material is a more significant source of error. This damping is also reflected in laser Doppler vibrometer measurements of the transducer's surface velocity.

  15. DNA aptamer beacon assay for C-telopeptide and handheld fluorometer to monitor bone resorption.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruno, John Gordon; Carrillo, Maria P; Phillips, Taylor; Hanson, Douglas; Bohmann, Jonathan A

    2011-09-01

    A novel DNA aptamer beacon is described for quantification of a 26-amino acid C-telopeptide (CTx) of human type I bone collagen. One aptamer sequence and its reverse complement dominated the aptamer pool (31.6% of sequenced clones). Secondary structures of these aptamers were examined for potential binding pockets. Three-dimensional computer models which analyzed docking topologies and binding energies were in agreement with empirical fluorescence experiments used to select one candidate loop for beacon assay development. All loop structures from the aptamer finalists were end-labeled with TYE 665 and Iowa Black quencher for comparison of beacon fluorescence levels as a function of CTx concentration. The optimal beacon, designated CTx 2R-2h yielded a low ng/ml limit of detection using a commercially available handheld fluorometer. The CTx aptamer beacon bound full-length 26-amino acid CTx peptide, but not a shorter 8-amino acid segment of CTx peptide which is a common target for commercial CTx ELISA kits. The prototype assay was shown to detect CTx peptide from human urine after creatinine and urea were removed by size-exclusion chromatography to prevent nonspecific denaturing of the aptamer beacon. This work demonstrates the potential of aptamer beacons to be utilized for rapid and sensitive bone health monitoring in a handheld or point-of-care format.

  16. Easy-to-Build Satellite Beacon Receiver for Propagation Experimentation at Millimeter Bands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Machado

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the design and development of a digital satellite beacon receiver for propagation experimentation. Satellite beacons are frequently available for pointing large antennas, but such signals can be used for measuring rain attenuation and other phenomena as, for example, tropospheric scintillation. A fairly inexpensive beacon receiver has been built using off-the-shelf parts. This instrument is not at all bulky making it suitable for easy transportation. This article analyzes the receiver specifications, describes in detail its structure and presents some operational test results.

  17. What Happened to the Beacon Schools? Policy Reform and Educational Equity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Emma

    2015-01-01

    This paper considers the impact of the Beacon schools initiative on the social and academic characteristics of secondary schools in England. The Beacon schools programme ran from 1998 to 2004 and epitomised the (then) Labour government's focus on school improvement through diversity, collaboration and partnership. This paper looks at variation in…

  18. Smartphone-Based Indoor Localization with Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhuang, Yuan; Yang, Jun; Li, You; Qi, Longning; El-Sheimy, Naser

    2016-04-26

    Indoor wireless localization using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons has attracted considerable attention after the release of the BLE protocol. In this paper, we propose an algorithm that uses the combination of channel-separate polynomial regression model (PRM), channel-separate fingerprinting (FP), outlier detection and extended Kalman filtering (EKF) for smartphone-based indoor localization with BLE beacons. The proposed algorithm uses FP and PRM to estimate the target's location and the distances between the target and BLE beacons respectively. We compare the performance of distance estimation that uses separate PRM for three advertisement channels (i.e., the separate strategy) with that use an aggregate PRM generated through the combination of information from all channels (i.e., the aggregate strategy). The performance of FP-based location estimation results of the separate strategy and the aggregate strategy are also compared. It was found that the separate strategy can provide higher accuracy; thus, it is preferred to adopt PRM and FP for each BLE advertisement channel separately. Furthermore, to enhance the robustness of the algorithm, a two-level outlier detection mechanism is designed. Distance and location estimates obtained from PRM and FP are passed to the first outlier detection to generate improved distance estimates for the EKF. After the EKF process, the second outlier detection algorithm based on statistical testing is further performed to remove the outliers. The proposed algorithm was evaluated by various field experiments. Results show that the proposed algorithm achieved the accuracy of EKF algorithm and 15.77% more accurate than EKF algorithm. With sparse deployment (1 beacon per 18 m), the proposed algorithm achieves the accuracies of EKF algorithm and 21.41% better than EKF algorithm. Therefore, the proposed algorithm is especially useful to improve the localization accuracy in environments with sparse beacon deployment.

  19. Supporting Beacon and Event-Driven Messages in Vehicular Platoons through Token-Based Strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balador, Ali; Uhlemann, Elisabeth; Calafate, Carlos T; Cano, Juan-Carlos

    2018-03-23

    Timely and reliable inter-vehicle communications is a critical requirement to support traffic safety applications, such as vehicle platooning. Furthermore, low-delay communications allow the platoon to react quickly to unexpected events. In this scope, having a predictable and highly effective medium access control (MAC) method is of utmost importance. However, the currently available IEEE 802.11p technology is unable to adequately address these challenges. In this paper, we propose a MAC method especially adapted to platoons, able to transmit beacons within the required time constraints, but with a higher reliability level than IEEE 802.11p, while concurrently enabling efficient dissemination of event-driven messages. The protocol circulates the token within the platoon not in a round-robin fashion, but based on beacon data age, i.e., the time that has passed since the previous collection of status information, thereby automatically offering repeated beacon transmission opportunities for increased reliability. In addition, we propose three different methods for supporting event-driven messages co-existing with beacons. Analysis and simulation results in single and multi-hop scenarios showed that, by providing non-competitive channel access and frequent retransmission opportunities, our protocol can offer beacon delivery within one beacon generation interval while fulfilling the requirements on low-delay dissemination of event-driven messages for traffic safety applications.

  20. Supporting Beacon and Event-Driven Messages in Vehicular Platoons through Token-Based Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Balador

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Timely and reliable inter-vehicle communications is a critical requirement to support traffic safety applications, such as vehicle platooning. Furthermore, low-delay communications allow the platoon to react quickly to unexpected events. In this scope, having a predictable and highly effective medium access control (MAC method is of utmost importance. However, the currently available IEEE 802.11p technology is unable to adequately address these challenges. In this paper, we propose a MAC method especially adapted to platoons, able to transmit beacons within the required time constraints, but with a higher reliability level than IEEE 802.11p, while concurrently enabling efficient dissemination of event-driven messages. The protocol circulates the token within the platoon not in a round-robin fashion, but based on beacon data age, i.e., the time that has passed since the previous collection of status information, thereby automatically offering repeated beacon transmission opportunities for increased reliability. In addition, we propose three different methods for supporting event-driven messages co-existing with beacons. Analysis and simulation results in single and multi-hop scenarios showed that, by providing non-competitive channel access and frequent retransmission opportunities, our protocol can offer beacon delivery within one beacon generation interval while fulfilling the requirements on low-delay dissemination of event-driven messages for traffic safety applications.

  1. Adapting Mobile Beacon-Assisted Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Dong

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available The ability to automatically locate sensor nodes is essential in many Wireless Sensor Network (WSN applications. To reduce the number of beacons, many mobile-assisted approaches have been proposed. Current mobile-assisted approaches for localization require special hardware or belong to centralized localization algorithms involving some deterministic approaches due to the fact that they explicitly consider the impreciseness of location estimates. In this paper, we first propose a range-free, distributed and probabilistic Mobile Beacon-assisted Localization (MBL approach for static WSNs. Then, we propose another approach based on MBL, called Adapting MBL (A-MBL, to increase the efficiency and accuracy of MBL by adapting the size of sample sets and the parameter of the dynamic model during the estimation process. Evaluation results show that the accuracy of MBL and A-MBL outperform both Mobile and Static sensor network Localization (MSL and Arrival and Departure Overlap (ADO when both of them use only a single mobile beacon for localization in static WSNs.

  2. Adapting mobile beacon-assisted localization in wireless sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teng, Guodong; Zheng, Kougen; Dong, Wei

    2009-01-01

    The ability to automatically locate sensor nodes is essential in many Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. To reduce the number of beacons, many mobile-assisted approaches have been proposed. Current mobile-assisted approaches for localization require special hardware or belong to centralized localization algorithms involving some deterministic approaches due to the fact that they explicitly consider the impreciseness of location estimates. In this paper, we first propose a range-free, distributed and probabilistic Mobile Beacon-assisted Localization (MBL) approach for static WSNs. Then, we propose another approach based on MBL, called Adapting MBL (A-MBL), to increase the efficiency and accuracy of MBL by adapting the size of sample sets and the parameter of the dynamic model during the estimation process. Evaluation results show that the accuracy of MBL and A-MBL outperform both Mobile and Static sensor network Localization (MSL) and Arrival and Departure Overlap (ADO) when both of them use only a single mobile beacon for localization in static WSNs.

  3. An adaptive scheme for robot localization and mapping with dynamically configurable inter-beacon range measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-González, Arturo; Martinez-de Dios, Jose Ramiro; Ollero, Anibal

    2014-04-25

    This work is motivated by robot-sensor network cooperation techniques where sensor nodes (beacons) are used as landmarks for range-only (RO) simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). This paper presents a RO-SLAM scheme that actuates over the measurement gathering process using mechanisms that dynamically modify the rate and variety of measurements that are integrated in the SLAM filter. It includes a measurement gathering module that can be configured to collect direct robot-beacon and inter-beacon measurements with different inter-beacon depth levels and at different rates. It also includes a supervision module that monitors the SLAM performance and dynamically selects the measurement gathering configuration balancing SLAM accuracy and resource consumption. The proposed scheme has been applied to an extended Kalman filter SLAM with auxiliary particle filters for beacon initialization (PF-EKF SLAM) and validated with experiments performed in the CONET Integrated Testbed. It achieved lower map and robot errors (34% and 14%, respectively) than traditional methods with a lower computational burden (16%) and similar beacon energy consumption.

  4. Quencher-free molecular beacon tethering 7-hydroxycoumarin detects targets through protonation/deprotonation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kashida, Hiromu; Yamaguchi, Kyohei; Hara, Yuichi; Asanuma, Hiroyuki

    2012-07-15

    In this study, we synthesized a simple but efficient quencher-free molecular beacon tethering 7-hydroxycoumarin on D-threoninol based on its pK(a) change. The pK(a) of 7-hydroxycoumarin in a single strand was determined as 8.8, whereas that intercalated in the duplex was over 10. This large pK(a) shift (more than 1.2) upon hybridization could be attributed to the anionic and hydrophobic microenvironment inside the DNA duplex. Because 7-hydroxycoumarin quenches its fluorescence upon protonation, the emission intensity of the duplex at pH 8.5 was 1/15 that of the single strand. We applied this quenching mechanism to the preparation of a quencher-free molecular beacon by introducing the dye into the middle of the stem part. In the absence of the target, the stem region formed a duplex and fluorescence was quenched. However, when the target was added, the molecular beacon opened and the dye was deprotonated. As a result, the emission intensity of the molecular beacon with the target was 10 times higher than that without the target. Accordingly, a quencher-free molecular beacon utilizing the pK(a) change was successfully developed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Highly sensitive and rapid bacteria detection using molecular beacon-Au nanoparticles hybrid nanoprobes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, Jing; Feng, Chao; Liu, Yan; Wang, Shouyu; Liu, Fei

    2014-07-15

    Since many diseases are caused by pathogenic bacterial infections, accurate and rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria is in urgent need to timely apply appropriate treatments and to reduce economic costs. To end this, we designed molecular beacon-Au nanoparticle hybrid nanoprobes to improve the bacterial detection efficiency and sensitivity. Here, we show that the designed molecular beacon modified Au nanoparticles could specifically recognize synthetic DNAs targets and can readily detect targets in clinical samples. Moreover, the hybrid nanoprobes can recognize Escherichia coli within an hour at a concentration of 10(2) cfu/ml, which is 1000-folds sensitive than using molecular beacon directly. Our results show that the molecular beacon-Au nanoparticle hybrid nanoprobes have great potential in medical and biological applications. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Beacon- and Schema-Based Method for Recognizing Algorithms from Students' Source Code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taherkhani, Ahmad; Malmi, Lauri

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method for recognizing algorithms from students programming submissions coded in Java. The method is based on the concept of "programming schemas" and "beacons". Schemas are high-level programming knowledge with detailed knowledge abstracted out, and beacons are statements that imply specific…

  7. Beacon-Based Service Publishing Framework in Multiservice Wi-Fi Hotspots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Sorte Dario

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In an expected future multiaccess and multiservice IEEE 802.11 environment, the problem of providing users with useful service-related information to support a correct rapid network selection is expected to become a very important issue. A feasible short-term 802.11-tailored working solution, compliant with existing equipment, is to publish service information encoded within the SSID information element within beacon frames. This makes it possible for an operator to implement service publishing in 802.11 networks while waiting for a standardized mechanism. Also, this straightforward approach has allowed us to evaluate experimentally the performance of a beacon-based service publishing solution. In fact, the main focus of the paper is indeed to present a quantitative comparison of service discovery times between the legacy scenario, where the user is forced to associate and authenticate with a network point of access to check its service offer, and the enhanced scenario where the set of service-related information is broadcasted within beacons. These discovery times are obtained by processing the results of a measurement campaign performed in a multiaccess/service 802.11 environment. This analysis confirms the effectiveness of the beacon-based approach. We also show that the cost in terms of wireless bandwidth consumption of such solution is low.

  8. Information Dissemination in VANETS by Piggybacking on Beacons -- An Analysis of the Impact of Network Parameters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klein Wolterink, W.; Heijenk, Geert; Karagiannis, Georgios

    2011-01-01

    Piggybacking on beacons is a forwarding technique that is regularly used in vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) research as a means to disseminate data. With this technique data is attached to and transmitted along with scheduled beacons, without changing the timing of the beacons. In this paper we

  9. Impact of beacon wavelength on phase-compensation performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enterline, Allison A.; Spencer, Mark F.; Burrell, Derek J.; Brennan, Terry J.

    2017-09-01

    This study evaluates the effects of beacon-wavelength mismatch on phase-compensation performance. In general, beacon-wavelength mismatch occurs at the system level because the beacon-illuminator laser (BIL) and high-energy laser (HEL) are often at different wavelengths. Such is the case, for example, when using an aperture sharing element to isolate the beam-control sensor suite from the blinding nature of the HEL. With that said, this study uses the WavePlex Toolbox in MATLAB® to model ideal spherical wave propagation through various atmospheric-turbulence conditions. To quantify phase-compensation performance, we also model a nominal adaptive-optics (AO) system. We achieve correction from a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and continuous-face-sheet deformable mirror using a least-squares phase reconstruction algorithm in the Fried geometry and a leaky integrator control law. To this end, we plot the power in the bucket metric as a function of BIL-HEL wavelength difference. Our initial results show that positive BIL-HEL wavelength differences achieve better phase compensation performance compared to negative BIL-HEL wavelength differences (i.e., red BILs outperform blue BILs). This outcome is consistent with past results.

  10. Frequency Estimator Performance for a Software-Based Beacon Receiver

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zemba, Michael J.; Morse, Jacquelynne Rose; Nessel, James A.; Miranda, Felix

    2014-01-01

    As propagation terminals have evolved, their design has trended more toward a software-based approach that facilitates convenient adjustment and customization of the receiver algorithms. One potential improvement is the implementation of a frequency estimation algorithm, through which the primary frequency component of the received signal can be estimated with a much greater resolution than with a simple peak search of the FFT spectrum. To select an estimator for usage in a QV-band beacon receiver, analysis of six frequency estimators was conducted to characterize their effectiveness as they relate to beacon receiver design.

  11. Exploring the transformative potential of Bluetooth beacons in higher education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kieran McDonald

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The growing ubiquity of smartphones and tablet devices integrated into personal, social and professional life, facilitated by expansive communication networks globally, has the potential to disrupt higher education. Academics and students are considering the future possibilities of exploiting these tools and utilising networks to consolidate and expand knowledge, enhancing learning gain. Bluetooth beacon technology has been developed by both Apple and Google as a way to situate digital information within physical spaces, and this paper reflects on a beacon intervention in a contemporary art school in higher education conducted by the authors intended to develop a situated community of practice in Art & Design. The paper describes the project, including relevant theoretical foundations and background to the beacon technology, with regards to the potential of using these devices to create a connected learning community by enhancing learning and facilitating knowledge creation in a borderless learning space.

  12. Some early results from the ATS-6 radio beacon experiment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, K.; Fritz, R.B.; Grubb, R.N.; Jones, J.E.

    1975-01-01

    The multifrequency satellite radio beacon enables the measurement of the columnar electron content of the ionosphere and plasmasphere along the ray path and its spatial and temporal structure. Measurements include modulation phase, Faraday rotation, and amplitude. The characteristics of the beacon transmitter and its design are presented together with the design of the Boulder receiver and antennas and the calibration procedures. A shape factor F is defined which depends on the electron density and geomagnetic field distributions. It is found that F varies by about 30 percent from day to night. It is shown that the ratio of the plasmaspheric content to total content varies from about 0.08 during the day to about 0.35 at night. Other examples which are presented to illustrate the uses of the radio beacon include sunrise effects, solar flare enhancements of total content, and the ionospheric storms of early July 1974

  13. A Measurement Study of BLE iBeacon and Geometric Adjustment Scheme for Indoor Location-Based Mobile Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeongyeup Paek

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE and the iBeacons have recently gained large interest for enabling various proximity-based application services. Given the ubiquitously deployed nature of Bluetooth devices including mobile smartphones, using BLE and iBeacon technologies seemed to be a promising future to come. This work started off with the belief that this was true: iBeacons could provide us with the accuracy in proximity and distance estimation to enable and simplify the development of many previously difficult applications. However, our empirical studies with three different iBeacon devices from various vendors and two types of smartphone platforms prove that this is not the case. Signal strength readings vary significantly over different iBeacon vendors, mobile platforms, environmental or deployment factors, and usage scenarios. This variability in signal strength naturally complicates the process of extracting an accurate location/proximity estimation in real environments. Our lessons on the limitations of iBeacon technique lead us to design a simple class attendance checking application by performing a simple form of geometric adjustments to compensate for the natural variations in beacon signal strength readings. We believe that the negative observations made in this work can provide future researchers with a reference on how well of a performance to expect from iBeacon devices as they enter their system design phases.

  14. Aftermath of bustamante attack on genomic beacon service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aziz, Md Momin Al; Ghasemi, Reza; Waliullah, Md; Mohammed, Noman

    2017-07-26

    With the enormous need for federated eco-system for holding global genomic and clinical data, Global Alliance for Genomic and Health (GA4GH) has created an international website called beacon service which allows a researcher to find out whether a specific dataset can be utilized to his or her research beforehand. This simple webservice is quite useful as it allows queries like whether a certain position of a target chromosome has a specific nucleotide. However, the increased integration of individuals genomic data into clinical practice and research raised serious privacy concern. Though the answer of such queries are yes or no in Bacon network, it results in serious privacy implication as demonstrated in a recent work from Shringarpure and Bustamante. In their attack model, the authors demonstrated that with a limited number of queries, presence of an individual in any dataset can be determined. We propose two lightweight algorithms (based on randomized response) which captures the efficacy while preserving the privacy of the participants in a genomic beacon service. We also elaborate the strength and weakness of the attack by explaining some of their statistical and mathematical models using real world genomic database. We extend their experimental simulations for different adversarial assumptions and parameters. We experimentally evaluated the solutions on the original attack model with different parameters for better understanding of the privacy and utility tradeoffs provided by these two methods. Also, the statistical analysis further elaborates the different aspects of the prior attack which leads to a better risk management for the participants in a beacon service. The differentially private and lightweight solutions discussed here will make the attack much difficult to succeed while maintaining the fundamental motivation of beacon database network.

  15. Het effect van beacons in de ByAmfi Store gemeten, geanalyseerd en ontmaskerd

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moes, Anne; van Vliet, Harry

    2015-01-01

    Volgens meerdere marketeers zijn beacons ‘the next big thing’; en grote retailers als de Bijenkorf zetten beacons al in. Klanten kopen namelijk steeds meer via internet, en winkels zoeken daarom naar manieren om een beleving te bieden, zodat klanten naar de winkel blijven komen.

  16. The ANTARES optical beacon system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ageron, M.; Aguilar, J. A.; Albert, A.; Ameli, F.; Anghinolfi, M.; Anton, G.; Anvar, S.; Ardellier-Desages, F.; Aslanides, E.; Aubert, J.-J.; Auer, R.; Barbarito, E.; Basa, S.; Battaglieri, M.; Becherini, Y.; Beltramelli, J.; Bertin, V.; Bigi, A.; Billault, M.; Blaes, R.; de Botton, N.; Bouwhuis, M. C.; Bradbury, S. M.; Bruijn, R.; Brunner, J.; Burgio, G. F.; Busto, J.; Cafagna, F.; Caillat, L.; Calzas, A.; Capone, A.; Caponetto, L.; Carmona, E.; Carr, J.; Cartwright, S. L.; Castel, D.; Castorina, E.; Cavasinni, V.; Cecchini, S.; Ceres, A.; Charvis, P.; Chauchot, P.; Chiarusi, T.; Circella, M.; Colnard, C.; Compère, C.; Coniglione, R.; Cottini, N.; Coyle, P.; Cuneo, S.; Cussatlegras, A.-S.; Damy, G.; van Dantzig, R.; de Bonis, G.; de Marzo, C.; de Vita, R.; Dekeyser, I.; Delagnes, E.; Denans, D.; Deschamps, A.; Destelle, J.-J.; Dinkespieler, B.; Distefano, C.; Donzaud, C.; Drogou, J.-F.; Druillole, F.; Durand, D.; Ernenwein, J.-P.; Escoffier, S.; Falchini, E.; Favard, S.; Fehr, F.; Feinstein, F.; Ferry, S.; Fiorello, C.; Flaminio, V.; Fratini, K.; Fuda, J.-L.; Galeotti, S.; Gallone, J.-M.; Giacomelli, G.; Girard, N.; Gojak, C.; Goret, Ph.; Graf, K.; Hallewell, G.; Harakeh, M. N.; Hartmann, B.; Heijboer, A.; Heine, E.; Hello, Y.; Hernández-Rey, J. J.; Hößl, J.; Hoffman, C.; Hogenbirk, J.; Hubbard, J. R.; Jaquet, M.; Jaspers, M.; de Jong, M.; Jouvenot, F.; Kalantar-Nayestanaki, N.; Kappes, A.; Karg, T.; Katz, U.; Keller, P.; Kok, E.; Kok, H.; Kooijman, P.; Kopper, C.; Korolkova, E. V.; Kouchner, A.; Kretschmer, W.; Kruijer, A.; Kuch, S.; Kudryavstev, V. A.; Lagier, P.; Lahmann, R.; Lamanna, G.; Lamare, P.; Lambard, G.; Languillat, J.-C.; Laschinsky, H.; Lavalle, J.; Le Guen, Y.; Le Provost, H.; Le van Suu, A.; Lefèvre, D.; Legou, T.; Lelaizant, G.; Lim, G.; Lo Presti, D.; Loehner, H.; Loucatos, S.; Louis, F.; Lucarelli, F.; Lyashuk, V.; Marcelin, M.; Margiotta, A.; Masullo, R.; Mazéas, F.; Mazure, A.; McMillan, J. E.; Megna, R.; Melissas, M.; Migneco, E.; Milovanovic, A.; Mongelli, M.; Montaruli, T.; Morganti, M.; Moscoso, L.; Musumeci, M.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Naumann, C.; Niess, V.; Noble, T.; Olivetto, C.; Ostasch, R.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Payre, P.; Peek, H.; Perez, A.; Petta, C.; Piattelli, P.; Pillet, R.; Pineau, J.-P.; Poinsignon, J.; Popa, V.; Pradier, T.; Racca, C.; Randazzo, N.; van Randwijk, J.; Real, D.; van Rens, B.; Réthoré, F.; Rewiersma, P.; Riccobene, G.; Rigaud, V.; Ripani, M.; Roca, V.; Roda, C.; Rolin, J. F.; Rose, H. J.; Rostovtsev, A.; Roux, J.; Ruppi, M.; Russo, G. V.; Rusydi, G.; Salesa, F.; Salomon, K.; Sapienza, P.; Schmitt, F.; Schuller, J.-P.; Shanidze, R.; Sokalski, I.; Spona, T.; Spurio, M.; van der Steenhoven, G.; Stolarczyk, T.; Streeb, K.; Sulak, L.; Taiuti, M.; Tamburini, C.; Tao, C.; Terreni, G.; Thompson, L. F.; Urbano, F.; Valdy, P.; Valente, V.; Vallage, B.; Vaudaine, G.; Venekamp, G.; Verlaat, B.; Vernin, P.; de Vries-Uiterweerd, G.; van Wijk, R.; Wijnker, G.; de Witt Huberts, P.; Wobbe, G.; de Wolf, E.; Yao, A.-F.; Zaborov, D.; Zaccone, H.; Zornoza, J. D.; Zúñiga, J.

    2007-08-01

    ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three-dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular, when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons, a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented.

  17. The ANTARES optical beacon system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ageron, M.; Aguilar, J.A.; Albert, A.

    2007-01-01

    ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three-dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular, when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons, a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented

  18. The ANTARES optical beacon system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ageron, M. [CPPM - Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, CNRS/IN2P3 et Universite de la Mediterranee, 163 Avenue de Luminy, Case 902, 13288 Marseille Cedex 9 (France); Aguilar, J.A. [IFIC - Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular, Edificios de Investigacion de Paterna, CSIC - Universitat de Valencia, Apdo. de Correos 22085, 46071 Valencia (Spain)]. E-mail: J.A.Aguilar@ific.uv.es; Albert, A. [GRPHE - Groupe de Recherche en Physique des Hautes Energies, Universite de Haute Alsace, 61 Rue Albert Camus, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex (France)) (and others)

    2007-08-11

    ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three-dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular, when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons, a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented.

  19. Optimal placement of range-only beacons for mobile robot localisation

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Burke, Michael G

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available of the Euclidean distance between the position estimate (x; y; z) and the largest orthogo- nal standard deviations in 3D space, and is an improvement on the GDOP metric as it considers both off-diagonal covariance terms and individual beacon noise. The beacon... is the Euclidean distance between an accessed node and a goal. This results in the shortest route to a goal being determined. The cost of traversing to a node is typically the distance between nodes. However, by replacing this cost with the uncertainty metric...

  20. Solar powered aviation beacon/landing light

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2001-07-01

    The objective of the work was to design, develop and test Solar Powered Aviation Landing Lights/Obstruction Beacons. The entire lighting units were to be stand alone devices capable of producing their own individual power supply. The whole process was to be documented to provide insight into the processes and decisions involved. (author)

  1. Early Detection of Breast Cancer Using Molecular Beacons

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Yang, Lily

    2008-01-01

    .... We proposed to use molecular beacon technology to detect the level of expression of several biomarker genes that are highly expressed in breast cancer cells but not in normal breast epithelial cells...

  2. Building and strengthening infrastructure for data exchange: lessons from the beacon communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Gretchen W; Swietek, Karen; Ubri, Petry S; Singer, Rachel F; Lowell, Kristina H; Miller, Wilhelmine

    2014-01-01

    The Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program supports interventions, including care-delivery innovations, provider performance measurement and feedback initiatives, and tools for providers and consumers to enhance care. Using a learning health system framework, we examine the Beacon Communities' processes in building and strengthening health IT (HIT) infrastructures, specifically successes and challenges in sharing patient information to improve clinical care. In 2010, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) launched the three-year program, which provided $250 million to 17 Beacon Communities to invest in HIT and health information exchange (HIE) infrastructure. Beacon Communities used this funding to develop and disseminate HIT-enabled quality improvement practices found effective in particular community and practice environments. NORC conducted 7 site visits, November 2012-March 2013, selecting Communities to represent diverse program features. From August-October 2013, NORC held discussions with the remaining 10 Communities. Following each visit or discussion, NORC summarized the information gathered, including transcripts, team observations, and other documents the Community provided, to facilitate a within-Community analysis of context and stakeholders, intervention strategies, enabling factors, and challenges. Although each Community designed and implemented data-sharing strategies in a unique environment, similar challenges and enabling factors emerged across the Beacons. From a learning health system perspective, their strategies to build and strengthen data-sharing infrastructures address the following crosscutting priorities: promoting technical advances and innovations by helping providers adapt EHRs for data exchange and performance measurement with customizable IT and offering technical support to smaller, independent providers; engaging key stakeholders; and fostering transparent governance and stewardship

  3. Magnetic resonance beacon to detect intracellular microRNA during neurogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jonghwan; Jin, Yeon A; Ko, Hae Young; Lee, Yong Seung; Heo, Hyejung; Cho, Sujeong; Kim, Soonhag

    2015-02-01

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers great spatial resolution for viewing deep tissues and anatomy. We developed a self-assembling signal-on magnetic fluorescence nanoparticle to visualize intracellular microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) during neurogenesis using MRI. The self-assembling nanoparticle (miR124a MR beacon) was aggregated by the incubation of three different oligonucleotides: a 3' adaptor, a 5' adaptor, and a linker containing miR124a-binding sequences. The T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) signal of the self-assembled nanoparticle was quenched when miR124a was absent from test tubes or was minimally expressed in cells and tissues. When miR124a was present in test tubes or highly expressed in vitro and in vivo during P19 cell neurogenesis, it hybridized with the miR124a MR beacon, causing the linker to detach, resulting in increased signal-on MRI intensity. This MR beacon can be used as a new imaging probe to monitor the miRNA-mediated regulation of cellular processes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. BEACON/MOD: a computer program for thermal-hydraulic analysis of nuclear reactor containments - user's manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Broadus, C.R.; Doyle, R.J.; James, S.W.; Lime, J.F.; Mings, W.J.

    1980-04-01

    The BEACON code is a best-estimate, advanced containment code designed to perform a best-estimate analysis of the flow of a mixture of air, water, and steam in a nuclear reactor containment system under loss-of-coolant accident conditions. The code can simulate two-component, two-phase fluid flow in complex geometries using a combination of two-dimensional, one-dimensional, and lumped-parameter representations for the various parts of the system. The current version of BEACON, which is designated BEACON/MOD3, contains mass and heat transfer models for wall film and wall conduction. It is suitable for the evaluation of short-term transients in dry-containment systems. This manual describes the models employed in BEACON/MOD3 and specifies code implementation requirements. It provides application information for input data preparation and for output data interpretation

  5. Improved margin utilization through the use of beacon power distribution surveillance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, R. Wade; Boyd, William A.

    2002-01-01

    Core Operations, including fuel cycle costs, can be significantly improved when state of the art surveillance techniques are employed for core power distribution monitoring. Core power distribution monitoring and Technical Specification surveillance are major operational issues at PWR's, particularly in plants with movable in core detectors. Even plants with fixed in core detectors do not always make use of the continuous data that is available. The BEACON TM system (Best Estimate Analysis of Core Operations - Nuclear) is a core monitoring and operational support package developed by Westinghouse for use in PWR plants with fixed or movable in core detectors. BEACON is a real time core monitoring system, which uses existing core instrumentation data and an on-line neutronics model to provide continuous monitored of the core power distribution information. With this information available the BEACON system can be used to continuously monitor core power margin for the plant Tech Spec surveillance requirements and for plant operational guidance

  6. Supplementary Material for: BEACON: automated tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON

    KAUST Repository

    Kalkatawi, Manal M.; Alam, Intikhab; Bajic, Vladimir B.

    2015-01-01

    Abstract Background Genome annotation is one way of summarizing the existing knowledge about genomic characteristics of an organism. There has been an increased interest during the last several decades in computer-based structural and functional genome annotation. Many methods for this purpose have been developed for eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Our study focuses on comparison of functional annotations of prokaryotic genomes. To the best of our knowledge there is no fully automated system for detailed comparison of functional genome annotations generated by different annotation methods (AMs). Results The presence of many AMs and development of new ones introduce needs to: a/ compare different annotations for a single genome, and b/ generate annotation by combining individual ones. To address these issues we developed an Automated Tool for Bacterial GEnome Annotation ComparisON (BEACON) that benefits both AM developers and annotation analysers. BEACON provides detailed comparison of gene function annotations of prokaryotic genomes obtained by different AMs and generates extended annotations through combination of individual ones. For the illustration of BEACONâ s utility, we provide a comparison analysis of multiple different annotations generated for four genomes and show on these examples that the extended annotation can increase the number of genes annotated by putative functions up to 27 %, while the number of genes without any function assignment is reduced. Conclusions We developed BEACON, a fast tool for an automated and a systematic comparison of different annotations of single genomes. The extended annotation assigns putative functions to many genes with unknown functions. BEACON is available under GNU General Public License version 3.0 and is accessible at: http://www.cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/BEACON/ .

  7. An analytical model for beaconing in VANETs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Eenennaam, Martijn; Remke, Anne Katharina Ingrid; Heijenk, Geert

    2012-01-01

    IEEE 802.11 CSMA/CA is generally considered to be well-understood, and many detailed models are available. However, most models focus on Unicast in small-scale W-LAN scenarios. When modelling beaconing in VANETs, the Broadcast nature and the (potentially) large number of nodes cause phenomena

  8. Development of satellite position location system for aircraft and boat distress beacons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahle, D. R.

    1982-01-01

    An international satellite system for the detection and location of distress beacons carried on aircraft and vessels is in its technical checkout phase. User demonstration and evaluation (D&E) will start in early 1983 and continue for two years. The D&E phase and a subsequent transition period will form the basis for improved search and rescue operations for the 1980's and beyond. The system, called COSPAS/SARSAT, has international participation involving the U.S., Canada, and France as SARSAT members and joint participation with the Soviet Union's COSPAS Project. Norway and the U.K. have recently joined as investigators. Average position location error of the satellite aided processing is expected to be from 10-20KM for the existing 121.5/243 MHz distress beacons and from 2-5KM for experimental beacons transmitting in the 406 MHz band.

  9. Evaluation of light-emitting diode beacon light fixtures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-12-01

    Rotating beacons containing filament light sources have long been used on highway maintenance trucks : to indicate the presence of the truck to other drivers. Because of advances in light-emitting diode (LED) : technologies, flashing lights containin...

  10. a Search for New Physics with the Beacon Mission

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turyshev, Slava G.; Shao, Michael; Girerd, André; Lane, Benjamin

    The primary objective of the Beyond Einstein Advanced Coherent Optical Network (BEACON) mission is a search for new physics beyond general relativity by measuring the curvature of relativistic space-time around the Earth. This curvature is characterized by the Eddington parameter γ — the most fundamental relativistic gravity parameter and a direct measure for the presence of new physical interactions. BEACON will achieve an accuracy of 1 × 10-9 in measuring the parameter γ, thereby going a factor of 30,000 beyond the present best result involving the Cassini spacecraft. Secondary mission objectives include: (i) a direct measurement of the "frame-dragging" and geodetic precessions in the Earth's rotational gravitomagnetic field, to 0.05% and 0.03% accuracy respectively, (ii) the first measurement of gravity's nonlinear effects on light and the corresponding second order spatial metric's effects to 0.01% accuracy. BEACON will lead to robust advances in tests of fundamental physics — this mission could discover a violation or extension of general relativity and/or reveal the presence of an additional long range interaction in physics. It will provide crucial information to separate modern scalar-tensor theories of gravity from general relativity, probe possible ways for gravity quantization, and test modern theories of cosmological evolution.

  11. Cleavable DNA-protein hybrid molecular beacon: A novel efficient signal translator for sensitive fluorescence anisotropy bioassay.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Pan; Yang, Bin

    2016-01-15

    Due to its unique features such as high sensitivity, homogeneous format, and independence on fluorescent intensity, fluorescence anisotropy (FA) assay has become a hotspot of study in oligonucleotide-based bioassays. However, until now most FA probes require carefully customized structure designs, and thus are neither generalizable for different sensing systems nor effective to obtain sufficient signal response. To address this issue, a cleavable DNA-protein hybrid molecular beacon was successfully engineered for signal amplified FA bioassay, via combining the unique stable structure of molecular beacon and the large molecular mass of streptavidin. Compared with single DNA strand probe or conventional molecular beacon, the DNA-protein hybrid molecular beacon exhibited a much higher FA value, which was potential to obtain high signal-background ratio in sensing process. As proof-of-principle, this novel DNA-protein hybrid molecular beacon was further applied for FA bioassay using DNAzyme-Pb(2+) as a model sensing system. This FA assay approach could selectively detect as low as 0.5nM Pb(2+) in buffer solution, and also be successful for real samples analysis with good recovery values. Compatible with most of oligonucleotide probes' designs and enzyme-based signal amplification strategies, the molecular beacon can serve as a novel signal translator to expand the application prospect of FA technology in various bioassays. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Serum inverts and improves the fluorescence response of an aptamer beacon to various vitamin D analytes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruno, John G; Carrillo, Maria P; Phillips, Taylor; Edge, Allison

    2012-01-01

    A dominant aptamer loop structure from a library of nearly 100 candidate aptamer sequences developed against immobilized 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) (calcidiol) was converted into a 5'-TYE 665 and 3'-Iowa black-labelled aptamer beacon. The aptamer beacon exhibited a mild 'lights on' reaction in buffer as a function of increasing concentrations of several vitamin D analogues and metabolites, with a limit of detection of approximately 200 ng/mL, and was not specific for any particular congener. In 10% or 50% human serum, the same aptamer beacon inverted its fluorescence behaviour to become a more intense 'lights off' reaction with an improved limit of detection in the range 4-16 ng/mL. We hypothesized that this drastic change in fluorescence behaviour was due to the presence of creatinine and urea in serum, which might destabilize the quenched beacon, causing an increase in fluorescence followed by decreasing fluorescence as a function of vitamin D concentrations that may bind and quench increasingly greater fractions of the denatured beacons. However, the results of several control experiments in the presence of physiological or greater concentrations of creatinine and urea, alone or combined in buffer, failed to produce the beacon fluorescence inversion. Other possible mechanistic hypotheses are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. Improved fixation quality provided by a Bessel beacon in an adaptive optics system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, Andrew J; Daly, Elizabeth M; Dainty, Christopher J

    2013-07-01

    We investigate whether a structured probe beam that creates the beacon for use in a retinal imaging adaptive optics system can provide useful side effects. In particular we investigate whether a Bessel beam that is seen by the subject as a set of concentric rings has a dampening effect on fixation variations of the subject under observation. This calming effect would allow longer periods of observation, particularly for patients with abnormal fixation. An experimental adaptive optics system developed for retinal imaging is used to monitor the fluctuations in aberrations for artificial and human subjects. The probe beam is alternated between a traditional beacon and one provided by a Bessel beam created by SLM. Time-frequency analysis is used to indicate the differences in power and time variation during fixation depending on whether the Bessel beam or the traditional beacon is employed. Comparison is made with the response for an artificial eye to discount systemic variations. Significant evidence is accrued to indicate the reduced fluctuations in fixation when the Bessel beam is employed to create the beacon. © 2013 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2013 The College of Optometrists.

  14. Analysis and Enhancement of IEEE 802.15.4e DSME Beacon Scheduling Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kwang-il Hwang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to construct a successful Internet of things (IoT, reliable network construction and maintenance in a sensor domain should be supported. However, IEEE 802.15.4, which is the most representative wireless standard for IoT, still has problems in constructing a large-scale sensor network, such as beacon collision. To overcome some problems in IEEE 802.15.4, the 15.4e task group proposed various different modes of operation. Particularly, the IEEE 802.15.4e deterministic and synchronous multichannel extension (DSME mode presents a novel scheduling model to solve beacon collision problems. However, the DSME model specified in the 15.4e draft does not present a concrete design model but a conceptual abstract model. Therefore, in this paper we introduce a DSME beacon scheduling model and present a concrete design model. Furthermore, validity and performance of DSME are evaluated through experiments. Based on experiment results, we analyze the problems and limitations of DSME, present solutions step by step, and finally propose an enhanced DSME beacon scheduling model. Through additional experiments, we prove the performance superiority of enhanced DSME.

  15. Pedestrian hybrid beacon guide : recommendations and case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    A pedestrian hybrid beacon (PHB) is a traffic control : device similar to a European pedestrian signal : (PELICAN) that was imported to the US and adapted by : engineers in Arizona to increase motorists awareness of : pedestrian crossings at uncon...

  16. Detecting and Preventing Beacon Replay Attacks in Receiver-Initiated MAC Protocols for Energy Efficient WSNs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Di Mauro, Alessio; Fafoutis, Xenofon; Mödersheim, Sebastian Alexander

    2013-01-01

    In receiver-initiated MAC protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), communication is initiated by the receiver of the data through beacons containing the receiver's identity. In this paper, we consider the case of a network intruder that captures and replays such beacons towards legitimate...

  17. Adaptive Beaconing in Mobility Aware Clustering Based MAC Protocol for Safety Message Dissemination in VANET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nishu Gupta

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Majority of research contributions in wireless access in vehicular environment (WAVE/IEEE 802.11p standard focus on life critical safety-related applications. These applications require regular status update of vehicle’s position referred to as beaconing. Periodic beaconing in vehicle to vehicle communication leads to severe network congestion in the communication channel. The condition worsens under high vehicular density where it impacts reliability and upper bound latency of safety messages. In this paper, WAVE compliant enhancement to the existing IEEE 802.11p protocol is presented which targets prioritized delivery of safety messages while simultaneously provisioning the dissemination of nonsafety messages. Proposed scheme relies on dynamic generation of beacons to mitigate channel congestion and inefficient bandwidth utilization by reducing transmission frequency of beacons. Through the use of clustering mechanism, different beaconing frequencies and different data transmission rates are assigned to prioritize vehicular mobility. Through extensive simulation results, the performance of the proposed approach is evaluated in terms of a wide range of quality of service (QoS parameters for two different transmission ranges. Results show that the proposed protocol provides significant enhancement and stability of the clustered topology in vehicular ad hoc network over existing standard and other protocols with similar applications.

  18. Time-Resolved Nucleic Acid Hybridization Beacons Utilizing Unimolecular and Toehold-Mediated Strand Displacement Designs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massey, Melissa; Ancona, Mario G; Medintz, Igor L; Algar, W Russ

    2015-12-01

    Nucleic acid hybridization probes are sought after for numerous assay and imaging applications. These probes are often limited by the properties of fluorescent dyes, prompting the development of new probes where dyes are paired with novel or nontraditional luminescent materials. Luminescent terbium complexes are an example of such a material, and these complexes offer several unique spectroscopic advantages. Here, we demonstrate two nonstem-loop designs for light-up nucleic acid hybridization beacons that utilize time-resolved Förster resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) between a luminescent Lumi4-Tb cryptate (Tb) donor and a fluorescent reporter dye, where time-resolved emission from the dye provides an analytical signal. Both designs are based on probe oligonucleotides that are labeled at their opposite termini with Tb and a fluorescent reporter dye. In one design, a probe is partially blocked with a quencher dye-labeled oligonucleotide, and target hybridization is signaled through toehold-mediated strand displacement and loss of a competitive FRET pathway. In the other design, the intrinsic folding properties of an unblocked probe are utilized in combination with a temporal mechanism for signaling target hybridization. This temporal mechanism is based on a recently elucidated "sweet spot" for TR-FRET measurements and exploits distance control over FRET efficiencies to shift the Tb lifetime within or outside the time-gated detection window for measurements. Both the blocked and unblocked beacons offer nanomolar (femtomole) detection limits, response times on the order of minutes, multiplexing through the use of different reporter dyes, and detection in complex matrices such as serum and blood. The blocked beacons offer better mismatch selectivity, whereas the unblocked beacons are simpler in design. The temporal mechanism of signaling utilized with the unblocked beacons also plays a significant role with the blocked beacons and represents a new and effective

  19. MO-FG-BRA-06: Electromagnetic Beacon Insertion in Lung Cancer Patients and Resultant Surrogacy Errors for Dynamic MLC Tumour Tracking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hardcastle, N; Booth, J; Caillet, V; Haddad, C; Crasta, C [Royal North Shore Hospital, St. Leonards, NSW (Australia); O’Brien, R; Keall, P [University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW (Australia); Szymura, K [Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW (Australia)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: To assess endo-bronchial electromagnetic beacon insertion and to quantify the geometric accuracy of using beacons as a surrogate for tumour motion in real-time multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking of lung tumours. Methods: The LIGHT SABR trial is a world-first clinical trial in which the MLC leaves move with lung tumours in real time on a standard linear accelerator. Tracking is performed based on implanted electromagnetic beacons (CalypsoTM, Varian Medical Systems, USA) as a surrogate for tumour motion. Five patients have been treated and have each had three beacons implanted endo-bronchially under fluoroscopic guidance. The centre of mass (C.O.M) has been used to adapt the MLC in real-time. The geometric error in using the beacon C.O.M as a surrogate for tumour motion was measured by measuring the tumour and beacon C.O.M in all phases of the respiratory cycle of a 4DCT. The surrogacy error was defined as the difference in beacon and tumour C.O.M relative to the reference phase (maximum exhale). Results: All five patients have had three beacons successfully implanted with no migration between simulation and end of treatment. Beacon placement relative to tumour C.O.M varied from 14 to 74 mm and in one patient spanned two lobes. Surrogacy error was measured in each patient on the simulation 4DCT and ranged from 0 to 3 mm. Surrogacy error as measured on 4DCT was subject to artefacts in mid-ventilation phases. Surrogacy error was a function of breathing phase and was typically larger at maximum inhale. Conclusion: Beacon placement and thus surrogacy error is a major component of geometric uncertainty in MLC tracking of lung tumours. Surrogacy error must be measured on each patient and incorporated into margin calculation. Reduction of surrogacy error is limited by airway anatomy, however should be taken into consideration when performing beacon insertion and planning. This research is funded by Varian Medical Systems via a collaborative research agreement.

  20. MO-FG-BRA-06: Electromagnetic Beacon Insertion in Lung Cancer Patients and Resultant Surrogacy Errors for Dynamic MLC Tumour Tracking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardcastle, N; Booth, J; Caillet, V; Haddad, C; Crasta, C; O’Brien, R; Keall, P; Szymura, K

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: To assess endo-bronchial electromagnetic beacon insertion and to quantify the geometric accuracy of using beacons as a surrogate for tumour motion in real-time multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking of lung tumours. Methods: The LIGHT SABR trial is a world-first clinical trial in which the MLC leaves move with lung tumours in real time on a standard linear accelerator. Tracking is performed based on implanted electromagnetic beacons (CalypsoTM, Varian Medical Systems, USA) as a surrogate for tumour motion. Five patients have been treated and have each had three beacons implanted endo-bronchially under fluoroscopic guidance. The centre of mass (C.O.M) has been used to adapt the MLC in real-time. The geometric error in using the beacon C.O.M as a surrogate for tumour motion was measured by measuring the tumour and beacon C.O.M in all phases of the respiratory cycle of a 4DCT. The surrogacy error was defined as the difference in beacon and tumour C.O.M relative to the reference phase (maximum exhale). Results: All five patients have had three beacons successfully implanted with no migration between simulation and end of treatment. Beacon placement relative to tumour C.O.M varied from 14 to 74 mm and in one patient spanned two lobes. Surrogacy error was measured in each patient on the simulation 4DCT and ranged from 0 to 3 mm. Surrogacy error as measured on 4DCT was subject to artefacts in mid-ventilation phases. Surrogacy error was a function of breathing phase and was typically larger at maximum inhale. Conclusion: Beacon placement and thus surrogacy error is a major component of geometric uncertainty in MLC tracking of lung tumours. Surrogacy error must be measured on each patient and incorporated into margin calculation. Reduction of surrogacy error is limited by airway anatomy, however should be taken into consideration when performing beacon insertion and planning. This research is funded by Varian Medical Systems via a collaborative research agreement.

  1. A beacon interval shifting scheme for interference mitigation in body area networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Seungku; Kim, Seokhwan; Kim, Jin-Woo; Eom, Doo-Seop

    2012-01-01

    This paper investigates the issue of interference avoidance in body area networks (BANs). IEEE 802.15 Task Group 6 presented several schemes to reduce such interference, but these schemes are still not proper solutions for BANs. We present a novel distributed TDMA-based beacon interval shifting scheme that reduces interference in the BANs. A design goal of the scheme is to avoid the wakeup period of each BAN coinciding with other networks by employing carrier sensing before a beacon transmission. We analyze the beacon interval shifting scheme and investigate the proper back-off length when the channel is busy. We compare the performance of the proposed scheme with the schemes presented in IEEE 802.15 Task Group 6 using an OMNeT++ simulation. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme has a lower packet loss, energy consumption, and delivery-latency than the schemes of IEEE 802.15 Task Group 6.

  2. Remote sensing of the ionosphere using satellite radio beacons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, Kenneth

    1991-01-01

    Since the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, satellite radio beacons have been used to measure the total electron content of the ionosphere. A review of the role of satellite beacons in studies of the vertical and spatial structure of the total electron content and on the occurrence of plasma irregularities, both of which affect transionospheric radio signals, is presented. Measurements of Faraday rotation and time of flight give information on the topside of the ionosphere and on the protonosphere. Morphological studies show that the slab thickness of the ionosphere depends on the solar index but is approximately independent of geographical location. Scintillation of amplitude, phase, polarization, and angle provide information on plasma irregularity occurrence in space and time. (author). 23 refs., 16 figs ., 4 tabs

  3. On the Efficiency of Secure Beaconing in VANETs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schoch, Elmar; Kargl, Frank

    Direct inter-vehicle communication enables numerous safety applications like intersection collision warning. Beacons - periodic one-hop link-layer broadcast messages containing, e.g., location, heading, and speed - are the basis for many such applications. For security, current work often requires

  4. BEACON/MOD2A analysis of the Arkansas-1 reactor cavity during a hypothetical hot leg break

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramsthaler, J.A.

    1979-01-01

    As part of the evaluation of the new MOD2A version of the BEACON code, the Arkansas-1 reactor cavity was modeled during a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident. Results of the BEACON analysis were compared with results obtained previously with the COMPARE containment code. Studies were also made investigating some of the BEACON interphasic, timestep control, and wall heat transfer options to assure that these models were working properly and to observe their effects on the results. Descriptions of the Arkansas-1 reactor cavity, initial assumptions during the hypothetical LOCA, and methods of modeling with BEACON are presented. Some of the problems encountered in accurately modeling the penetrations surrounding the hot and cold leg pipes are also discussed

  5. Beacon Editor: Capturing Signal Transduction Pathways Using the Systems Biology Graphical Notation Activity Flow Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elmarakeby, Haitham; Arefiyan, Mostafa; Myers, Elijah; Li, Song; Grene, Ruth; Heath, Lenwood S

    2017-12-01

    The Beacon Editor is a cross-platform desktop application for the creation and modification of signal transduction pathways using the Systems Biology Graphical Notation Activity Flow (SBGN-AF) language. Prompted by biologists' requests for enhancements, the Beacon Editor includes numerous powerful features for the benefit of creation and presentation.

  6. Sequential strand displacement beacon for detection of DNA coverage on functionalized gold nanoparticles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paliwoda, Rebecca E; Li, Feng; Reid, Michael S; Lin, Yanwen; Le, X Chris

    2014-06-17

    Functionalizing nanomaterials for diverse analytical, biomedical, and therapeutic applications requires determination of surface coverage (or density) of DNA on nanomaterials. We describe a sequential strand displacement beacon assay that is able to quantify specific DNA sequences conjugated or coconjugated onto gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Unlike the conventional fluorescence assay that requires the target DNA to be fluorescently labeled, the sequential strand displacement beacon method is able to quantify multiple unlabeled DNA oligonucleotides using a single (universal) strand displacement beacon. This unique feature is achieved by introducing two short unlabeled DNA probes for each specific DNA sequence and by performing sequential DNA strand displacement reactions. Varying the relative amounts of the specific DNA sequences and spacing DNA sequences during their coconjugation onto AuNPs results in different densities of the specific DNA on AuNP, ranging from 90 to 230 DNA molecules per AuNP. Results obtained from our sequential strand displacement beacon assay are consistent with those obtained from the conventional fluorescence assays. However, labeling of DNA with some fluorescent dyes, e.g., tetramethylrhodamine, alters DNA density on AuNP. The strand displacement strategy overcomes this problem by obviating direct labeling of the target DNA. This method has broad potential to facilitate more efficient design and characterization of novel multifunctional materials for diverse applications.

  7. Perancangan Prototipe Receiver Beacon Black Box Locator Acoustic 37,5 kHz Pingers

    OpenAIRE

    RUSTAMAJI RUSTAMAJI; PAULINE RAHMIATI; SARAH PERMATASARI

    2016-01-01

    ABSTRAK Ketika suatu pesawat terbang mengalami kecelakaan terjatuh ke dalam air, maka lokasi keberadaannya dapat dideteksi oleh alat yang disebut receiver beacon black box locator acoustic (pingers receiver). Pingers receiver berfungsi untuk menerima sinyal dengan frekuensi 37,5 kHz ± 1 kHz dari pingers transmitter atau Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) yang berada pada black box pesawat. Dalam penelitian ini dibuat perancangan pingers receiver yang tersusun dari rangkaian Band Pass Filter (BPF...

  8. Visual detection of STAT5B gene expression in living cell using the hairpin DNA modified gold nanoparticle beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Jianpeng; Shan, Lingling; Chen, Haiyan; Li, Yang; Zhu, Hongyan; Deng, Dawei; Qian, Zhiyu; Achilefu, Samuel; Gu, Yueqing

    2013-03-15

    Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5B (STAT5B) is an important protein in JAK-STAT signaling pathway that is responsible for the metastasis and proliferation of tumor cells. Determination of the STAT5B messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) relating to the STAT5B expression provides insight into the mechanism of tumor progression. In this study, we designed and used a special hairpin deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) for human STAT5B mRNA to functionalize gold nanoparticles, which served as a beacon for detecting human STAT5B expression. Up to 90% quenching efficiency was achieved. Upon hybridizing with the target mRNA, the hairpin DNA modified gold nanoparticle beacons (hDAuNP beacons) release the fluorophores attached at 5' end of the oligonucleotide sequence. The fluorescence properties of the beacon before and after the hybridization with the complementary DNA were confirmed in vitro. The stability of hDAuNP beacons against degradation by DNase I and GSH indicated that the prepared beacon is stable inside cells. The detected fluorescence in MCF-7 cancer cells correlates with the specific STAT5B mRNA expression, which is consistent with the result from PCR measurement. Fluorescence microscopy showed that the hDAuNP beacons internalized in cells without using transfection agents, with intracellular distribution in the cytoplasm rather than the nucleus. The results demonstrated that this beacon could directly provide quantitative measurement of the intracellular STAT5B mRNA in living cells. Compared to the previous approaches, this beacon has advantages of higher target to background ratio of detection and an increased resistance to nuclease degradation. The strategy reported in this study is a promising approach for the intracellular measurement of RNA or protein expression in living cells, and has great potential in the study of drug screening and discovery. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Efficient Beacon Collision Resolution Procedure for IEEE 802.15.4 /Zigbee Wireless Personal Area Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bassam A. Zafar

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available While IEEE 802.15.4/Zigbee is a promising technology for Wireless Personal Area Networks, several transmission problems are not yet resolved. In particular, the problem of beacon transmission interferences is causing the device connection loss to the network. In order to resolve this problem, we present a new distributed and reactive procedure for beacon collision resolution. It is an extension of the alignment procedure to reorganize randomly the beacon transmission time when a collision has occurred. The detail of the proposed procedure will be fully described and analyzed. The performance of our approach is performed by simulations. The results show that our approach reduces the collision probability and the device disconnections consequently.

  10. Analyte-Triggered DNA-Probe Release from a Triplex Molecular Beacon for Nanopore Sensing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Bingyuan; Sheng, Yingying; Zhou, Ke; Liu, Quansheng; Liu, Lei; Wu, Hai-Chen

    2018-03-26

    A new nanopore sensing strategy based on triplex molecular beacon was developed for the detection of specific DNA or multivalent proteins. The sensor is composed of a triplex-forming molecular beacon and a stem-forming DNA component that is modified with a host-guest complex. Upon target DNA hybridizing with the molecular beacon loop or multivalent proteins binding to the recognition elements on the stem, the DNA probe is released and produces highly characteristic current signals when translocated through α-hemolysin. The frequency of current signatures can be used to quantify the concentrations of the target molecules. This sensing approach provides a simple, quick, and modular tool for the detection of specific macromolecules with high sensitivity and excellent selectivity. It may find useful applications in point-of-care diagnostics with a portable nanopore kit in the future. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. Increased dose near the skin due to electromagnetic surface beacon transponder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Kang-Hyun; Manger, Ryan; Halpern, Howard J; Aydogan, Bulent

    2015-05-08

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate the increased dose near the skin from an electromagnetic surface beacon transponder, which is used for localization and tracking organ motion. The bolus effect due to the copper coil surface beacon was evaluated with radiographic film measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. Various beam incidence angles were evaluated for both 6 MV and 18 MV experimentally. We performed simulations using a general-purpose Monte Carlo code MCNPX (Monte Carlo N-Particle) to supplement the experimental data. We modeled the surface beacon geometry using the actual mass of the glass vial and copper coil placed in its L-shaped polyethylene terephthalate tubing casing. Film dosimetry measured factors of 2.2 and 3.0 enhancement in the surface dose for normally incident 6 MV and 18 MV beams, respectively. Although surface dose further increased with incidence angle, the relative contribution from the bolus effect was reduced at the oblique incidence. The enhancement factors were 1.5 and 1.8 for 6 MV and 18 MV, respectively, at an incidence angle of 60°. Monte Carlo simulation confirmed the experimental results and indicated that the epidermal skin dose can reach approximately 50% of the dose at dmax at normal incidence. The overall effect could be acceptable considering the skin dose enhancement is confined to a small area (~ 1 cm2), and can be further reduced by using an opposite beam technique. Further clinical studies are justified in order to study the dosimetric benefit versus possible cosmetic effects of the surface beacon. One such clinical situation would be intact breast radiation therapy, especially large-breasted women.

  12. Design and Practical Evaluation of a Family of Lightweight Protocols for Heterogeneous Sensing through BLE Beacons in IoT Telemetry Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    The Internet of Things (IoT) involves a wide variety of heterogeneous technologies and resource-constrained devices that interact with each other. Due to such constraints, IoT devices usually require lightweight protocols that optimize the use of resources and energy consumption. Among the different commercial IoT devices, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based beacons, which broadcast periodically certain data packets to notify their presence, have experienced a remarkable growth, specially due to their application in indoor positioning systems. This article proposes a family of protocols named Lightweight Protocol for Sensors (LP4S) that provides fast responses and enables plug-and-play mechanisms that allow IoT telemetry systems to discover new nodes and to describe and auto-register the sensors and actuators connected to a beacon. Thus, three protocols are defined depending on the beacon hardware characteristics: LP4S-6 (for resource-constraint beacons), LP4S-X (for more powerful beacons) and LP4S-J (for beacons able to run complex firmware). In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the designed protocols, the most restrictive (LP4S-6) is tested after implementing it for a telemetry application in a beacon based on Eddystone (Google’s open beacon format). Thus, the beacon specification is extended in order to increase its ability to manage unlimited sensors in a telemetry system without interfering in its normal operation with Eddystone frames. The performed experiments show the feasibility of the proposed solution and its superiority, in terms of latency and energy consumption, with respect to approaches based on Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) when multiple users connect to a mote or in scenarios where latency is not a restriction, but where low-energy consumption is essential. PMID:29280975

  13. Design and Practical Evaluation of a Family of Lightweight Protocols for Heterogeneous Sensing through BLE Beacons in IoT Telemetry Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández-Rojas, Dixys L; Fernández-Caramés, Tiago M; Fraga-Lamas, Paula; Escudero, Carlos J

    2017-12-27

    The Internet of Things (IoT) involves a wide variety of heterogeneous technologies and resource-constrained devices that interact with each other. Due to such constraints, IoT devices usually require lightweight protocols that optimize the use of resources and energy consumption. Among the different commercial IoT devices, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based beacons, which broadcast periodically certain data packets to notify their presence, have experienced a remarkable growth, specially due to their application in indoor positioning systems. This article proposes a family of protocols named Lightweight Protocol for Sensors (LP4S) that provides fast responses and enables plug-and-play mechanisms that allow IoT telemetry systems to discover new nodes and to describe and auto-register the sensors and actuators connected to a beacon. Thus, three protocols are defined depending on the beacon hardware characteristics: LP4S-6 (for resource-constraint beacons), LP4S-X (for more powerful beacons) and LP4S-J (for beacons able to run complex firmware). In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the designed protocols, the most restrictive (LP4S-6) is tested after implementing it for a telemetry application in a beacon based on Eddystone (Google's open beacon format). Thus, the beacon specification is extended in order to increase its ability to manage unlimited sensors in a telemetry system without interfering in its normal operation with Eddystone frames. The performed experiments show the feasibility of the proposed solution and its superiority, in terms of latency and energy consumption, with respect to approaches based on Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) when multiple users connect to a mote or in scenarios where latency is not a restriction, but where low-energy consumption is essential.

  14. Design and Practical Evaluation of a Family of Lightweight Protocols for Heterogeneous Sensing through BLE Beacons in IoT Telemetry Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dixys L. Hernández-Rojas

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Internet of Things (IoT involves a wide variety of heterogeneous technologies and resource-constrained devices that interact with each other. Due to such constraints, IoT devices usually require lightweight protocols that optimize the use of resources and energy consumption. Among the different commercial IoT devices, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE-based beacons, which broadcast periodically certain data packets to notify their presence, have experienced a remarkable growth, specially due to their application in indoor positioning systems. This article proposes a family of protocols named Lightweight Protocol for Sensors (LP4S that provides fast responses and enables plug-and-play mechanisms that allow IoT telemetry systems to discover new nodes and to describe and auto-register the sensors and actuators connected to a beacon. Thus, three protocols are defined depending on the beacon hardware characteristics: LP4S-6 (for resource-constraint beacons, LP4S-X (for more powerful beacons and LP4S-J (for beacons able to run complex firmware. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the designed protocols, the most restrictive (LP4S-6 is tested after implementing it for a telemetry application in a beacon based on Eddystone (Google’s open beacon format. Thus, the beacon specification is extended in order to increase its ability to manage unlimited sensors in a telemetry system without interfering in its normal operation with Eddystone frames. The performed experiments show the feasibility of the proposed solution and its superiority, in terms of latency and energy consumption, with respect to approaches based on Generic Attribute Profile (GATT when multiple users connect to a mote or in scenarios where latency is not a restriction, but where low-energy consumption is essential.

  15. Molecular beacon – tool for real time studying gene activity in stem cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ilieva, Mirolyuba; Dufva, Martin

    Cells respond to their internal genetic programs and external stimuli by modulating the synthesis of specific mRNAs. Direct observation of mRNA expression in living cells can provide valuable information with regards to understanding fundamental processes such cell differentiation, regeneration...... and cancerogenesis. Molecular beacon technology is based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and the complementary pairing principles. These fluorescent molecular probes are highly specific and sensitive and are one important tool in in vitro diagnostics. Here molecular beacons are used to follow...

  16. Traveling-Wave Tube Amplifier Second Harmonic as Millimeter-Wave Beacon Source for Atmospheric Propagation Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents the design and test results of a CW millimeter-wave satellite beacon source, based on the second harmonic from a traveling-wave tube amplifier and utilizes a novel waveguide multimode directional coupler. A potential application of the beacon source is for investigating the atmospheric effects on Q-band (37-42 GHz) and V/W-band (71- 76 GHz) satellite-to-ground signals.

  17. BEACON/MOD2A: a computer program for subcompartment analysis of nuclear reactor containment. A user's manual

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wells, R.A.

    1979-03-01

    The BEACON code is a Best Estimate Advanced Containment code which being developed by EG and G, Idaho, Inc., at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The program is designed to perform a best estimate analysis of the flow of a mixture of air, water, and steam in a nuclear reactor containment system under loss-of-coolant accident conditions. The code can simulate two-component, two-phase fluid flow in complex geometries using a combination of two-dimensional, one-dimensional, and lumped-parameter representations for the various parts of the system. The current version of BEACON, which is designated BEACON/MOD2A, contains mass and heat transfer models for wall film and for wall conduction. It is suitable for the evaluation of short term transients in PWR dry containment systems. This manual describes the models employed in BEACON/MOD2A and specifies code implementation requirements. It provides application information for input data preparation and for output data interpretation

  18. Remarks on the observability of single beacon underwater navigation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jouffroy, Jerome; Ross, Andrew

    This paper contributes a simple and intuitive result in the analysis of underwater navigation using a single ranging beacon. This analysis should help with the design of small and lightweight underwater vehicles by reducing the amount of instrumentation required for accurate navigation. The concept...

  19. Overview of on-line core monitoring system BEACON

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dai Qing; Chen Xiaosong

    2013-01-01

    After more than 20 years of development, key technologies embedded with such system have reached a certain degree of maturity among some foreign countries. However, domestically, there is no comparable system yet. Through in-depth research and analysis on the most widely used core monitoring system in the world, BEACON, it's hope that this will provide guidance on our independent development of the first core monitoring system in China. Excore detectors, core outlet thermocouples and incore movable detectors are used to provide measure data on the status of the core for BEACON. Under the assumption of nodal homogeneity, an effective fast group model is used to solve the diffusion equation, followed by core-wise interpolation by Green's function. Finally, reconstruction of a calculated core is fitted with measured data using the surface spline function. The most significant technological advances are core monitoring during unstable core conditions, the use of nodal expansion method to improve accuracy and the adoption of single point calibration to increase the period of recalibration for the whole core. (authors)

  20. NPP Grassland: Beacon Hill, U.K., 1972-1993, R1

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains two ASCII text files, one providing productivity measurements for a chalk grassland on Beacon Hill, West Sussex, U.K. (50.92 N, -0.85 W) and...

  1. Evaluation of light-emitting diode beacon light fixtures : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-12-01

    Rotating beacons containing filament light sources have long been used on highway maintenance trucks : to indicate the presence of the truck to other drivers. Because of advances in light-emitting diode (LED) : technologies, flashing lights containin...

  2. A quantum dot-aptamer beacon using a DNA intercalating dye as the FRET reporter: application to label-free thrombin detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Chun-Wei; Lao, Yeh-Hsing; Li, Yi-Shan; Chen, Lin-Chi

    2011-03-15

    A new quantum dot (QD)-aptamer (apt) beacon that acts by folding-induced dissociation of a DNA intercalating dye, BOBO-3(B), is demonstrated with label-free thrombin detection. The beacon, denoted as QD-apt:B, is constructed by (1) coupling of a single-stranded thrombin aptamer to Qdot 565 via EDC/Sulfo-NHS chemistry and (2) staining the duplex regions of the aptamer on QD with excess BOBO-3 before thrombin binding. When mixing a thrombin sample with QD-apt:B, BOBO-3 is competed away from the beacon due to target-induced aptamer folding, which then causes a decrease in QD fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-mediated BOBO-3 emission and achieves thrombin quantitation. In this work, the effects of Mg(2+), coupling time, and aptamer type on the beacon's performances are investigated and discussed thoroughly with various methods, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and two-color differential gel electrophoresis. Using the best aptamer beacon (HTQ37), we attain highly specific and wide-range detection (from nM to μM) of thrombin in buffer, and the beacon can sense nM-range thrombin in 15% diluted serum. Compared to the reported QD aptamer assays, our method is advantageous from the aspect of using a simple sensory unit design without losing the detection sensitivity. Therefore, we consider the QD-apt:B beacon a potential alternative to immuno-reagents and an effective tool to study nucleic acid folding on QD as well. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. High-throughput SNP genotyping: combining tag SNPs and molecular beacons

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Barreiro, LB

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade, molecular beacons have emerged to become a widely used tool in the multiplex typing of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Improvements in detection technologies in instrumentation and chemistries to label these probes have...

  4. Diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Using Molecular Beacon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patel, Achchhe Lal; Sonkar, Subash Chandra; Kumari, Indu; Saluja, Daman

    2015-01-01

    Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an important sexually transmitted diseases (STD) causing pathogen worldwide. Due to absence of an affordable diagnostic assay, routine screening of gonococcal infection becomes impossible in developing countries where infection rates are maximum. Treatment is given on the basis of symptoms alone which leads to spread of infection. Thus, development of a rapid, sensitive, specific, and PCR based visual diagnostic assay suitable for developing countries, required for better disease management, is aimed at in present study. Endocervical swabs were collected from patients visiting gynecology department of various hospitals in Delhi. In-house PCR based assay was developed and modified to visual assay using molecular beacon for end-point detection. It was evaluated against Roche AMPLICOR NG kit and rmp gene. Specificity of beacon was confirmed by competition experiments. Diagnostic test was 98.21% specific and 99.59% sensitive whereas negative and positive predicted value were 99.40% and 98.78%, respectively. We also observed that twice the concentration (2X) of premix was stable at 4°C for 4 months and dry swab samples gave concordant results with that of wet swabs. These features make the test best suitable for routine diagnosis of genital infections in developing countries. PMID:25802857

  5. Development of Aptamer Beacons for Antemortem Diagnosis of Chronic Wasting Disease

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Clinkenbeard, Kenneth D

    2005-01-01

    .... Once selected, the CWD aptamers will be configured as aptamer beacons that can act as molecular switches to turn "on" a novel and highly sensitive diagnostic technology termed amplifying fluorescing polymer...

  6. Development of Aptamer Beacons for Antemortem Diagnosis of Chronic Wasting Disease

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Clinkenbeard, Kenneth

    2004-01-01

    .... Once selected, the CWD aptamers will be configured as aptamer beacons that can act as molecular switches to turn on a novel and highly sensitive diagnostic technology termed amplifying fluorescing polymer. Objective...

  7. A Beacon Transmission Power Control Algorithm Based on Wireless Channel Load Forecasting in VANETs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mo, Yuanfu; Yu, Dexin; Song, Jun; Zheng, Kun; Guo, Yajuan

    2015-01-01

    In a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), the periodic exchange of single-hop status information broadcasts (beacon frames) produces channel loading, which causes channel congestion and induces information conflict problems. To guarantee fairness in beacon transmissions from each node and maximum network connectivity, adjustment of the beacon transmission power is an effective method for reducing and preventing channel congestion. In this study, the primary factors that influence wireless channel loading are selected to construct the KF-BCLF, which is a channel load forecasting algorithm based on a recursive Kalman filter and employs multiple regression equation. By pre-adjusting the transmission power based on the forecasted channel load, the channel load was kept within a predefined range; therefore, channel congestion was prevented. Based on this method, the CLF-BTPC, which is a transmission power control algorithm, is proposed. To verify KF-BCLF algorithm, a traffic survey method that involved the collection of floating car data along a major traffic road in Changchun City is employed. By comparing this forecast with the measured channel loads, the proposed KF-BCLF algorithm was proven to be effective. In addition, the CLF-BTPC algorithm is verified by simulating a section of eight-lane highway and a signal-controlled urban intersection. The results of the two verification process indicate that this distributed CLF-BTPC algorithm can effectively control channel load, prevent channel congestion, and enhance the stability and robustness of wireless beacon transmission in a vehicular network.

  8. A Beacon Transmission Power Control Algorithm Based on Wireless Channel Load Forecasting in VANETs.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuanfu Mo

    Full Text Available In a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET, the periodic exchange of single-hop status information broadcasts (beacon frames produces channel loading, which causes channel congestion and induces information conflict problems. To guarantee fairness in beacon transmissions from each node and maximum network connectivity, adjustment of the beacon transmission power is an effective method for reducing and preventing channel congestion. In this study, the primary factors that influence wireless channel loading are selected to construct the KF-BCLF, which is a channel load forecasting algorithm based on a recursive Kalman filter and employs multiple regression equation. By pre-adjusting the transmission power based on the forecasted channel load, the channel load was kept within a predefined range; therefore, channel congestion was prevented. Based on this method, the CLF-BTPC, which is a transmission power control algorithm, is proposed. To verify KF-BCLF algorithm, a traffic survey method that involved the collection of floating car data along a major traffic road in Changchun City is employed. By comparing this forecast with the measured channel loads, the proposed KF-BCLF algorithm was proven to be effective. In addition, the CLF-BTPC algorithm is verified by simulating a section of eight-lane highway and a signal-controlled urban intersection. The results of the two verification process indicate that this distributed CLF-BTPC algorithm can effectively control channel load, prevent channel congestion, and enhance the stability and robustness of wireless beacon transmission in a vehicular network.

  9. Experience and evaluation of advanced on-line core monitoring system 'BEACON' at IKATA site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujitsuka, Nobumichi; Tanouchi, Hideyuki; Imamura, Yasuhiro; Mizobuchil, Daisuke

    1997-01-01

    Shikoku Electric Power Company installed BEACON core monitoring system into IKATA unit 3 in May 1994. During its first cycle of core operation, various operational data were obtained including data of some anomalous reactor conditions introduced for the test objective of the plant start-up. This paper presents the evaluation of the BEACON system capability based on this experience. The system functions such as core monitoring and anomaly detection, prediction of future reactor conditions and increased efficiency of core management activities are discussed. Our future plan to utilize the system is also presented. (authors)

  10. Aircraft Position Measurement Using Laser Beacon Optics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-01-01

    8217Comparison of Solar Concentrators .’ Solar Energy, Vol. 10, p. 93, 1976. 7. Winston , R., ’Light Collection Within the Framework of Goemetrical Optics ...8217 J. Optical Society of Am., Vol. 60, p. 245, 1970. 8. Welford, W. T., tics of Nonimaging Concentrators . New York, Academic Press, T978. 9. Bracewell...helicopter pilot and the flight engineer on board the YO-3A. This thesis will concentrate on the development of the laser beacon, the detector optics

  11. [Molecular beacon based PNA-FISH method combined with fluorescence scanning for rapid detection of Listeria monocytogenes].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shan; Zhang, Xiaofeng; Shuai, Jiangbing; Li, Ke; Yu, Huizhen; Jin, Chenchen

    2016-07-04

    To simplify the PNA-FISH (Peptide nucleic acid-fluorescence in situ hybridization) test, molecular beacon based PNA probe combined with fluorescence scanning detection technology was applied to replace the original microscope observation to detect Listeria monocytogenes The 5′ end and 3′ end of the L. monocytogenes specific PNA probes were labeled with the fluorescent group and the quenching group respectively, to form a molecular beacon based PNA probe. When PNA probe used for fluorescence scanning and N1 treatment as the control, the false positive rate was 11.4%, and the false negative rate was 0; when N2 treatment as the control, the false positive rate decreased to 4.3%, but the false negative rate rose to 18.6%. When beacon based PNA probe used for fluorescence scanning, taken N1 treatment as blank control, the false positive rate was 8.6%, and the false negative rate was 1.4%; taken N2 treatment as blank control, the false positive rate was 5.7%, and the false negative rate was 1.4%. Compared with PNA probe, molecular beacon based PNA probe can effectively reduce false positives and false negatives. The success rates of hybridization of the two PNA probes were 83.3% and 95.2% respectively; and the rates of the two beacon based PNA probes were 91.7% and 90.5% respectively, which indicated that labeling the both ends of the PNA probe dose not decrease the hybridization rate with the target bacteria. The combination of liquid phase PNA-FISH and fluorescence scanning method, can significantly improve the detection efficiency.

  12. Sparse Localization with a Mobile Beacon Based on LU Decomposition in Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunhui Zhao

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Node localization is the core in wireless sensor network. It can be solved by powerful beacons, which are equipped with global positioning system devices to know their location information. In this article, we present a novel sparse localization approach with a mobile beacon based on LU decomposition. Our scheme firstly translates node localization problem into a 1-sparse vector recovery problem by establishing sparse localization model. Then, LU decomposition pre-processing is adopted to solve the problem that measurement matrix does not meet the re¬stricted isometry property. Later, the 1-sparse vector can be exactly recovered by compressive sensing. Finally, as the 1-sparse vector is approximate sparse, weighted Cen¬troid scheme is introduced to accurately locate the node. Simulation and analysis show that our scheme has better localization performance and lower requirement for the mobile beacon than MAP+GC, MAP-M, and MAP-MN schemes. In addition, the obstacles and DOI have little effect on the novel scheme, and it has great localization performance under low SNR, thus, the scheme proposed is robust.

  13. Molecular beacon probes-base multiplex NASBA Real-time for detection of HIV-1 and HCV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi-Yeganeh, S; Paryan, M; Mirab Samiee, S; Kia, V; Rezvan, H

    2012-06-01

    Developed in 1991, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) has been introduced as a rapid molecular diagnostic technique, where it has been shown to give quicker results than PCR, and it can also be more sensitive. This paper describes the development of a molecular beacon-based multiplex NASBA assay for simultaneous detection of HIV-1 and HCV in plasma samples. A well-conserved region in the HIV-1 pol gene and 5'-NCR of HCV genome were used for primers and molecular beacon design. The performance features of HCV/HIV-1 multiplex NASBA assay including analytical sensitivity and specificity, clinical sensitivity and clinical specificity were evaluated. The analysis of scalar concentrations of the samples indicated that the limit of quantification of the assay was beacon probes detected all HCV genotypes and all major variants of HIV-1. This method may represent a relatively inexpensive isothermal method for detection of HIV-1/HCV co-infection in monitoring of patients.

  14. Topical MMP beacon enabled fluorescence-guided resection of oral carcinoma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burgess, Laura; Chen, Juan; Wolter, Nikolaus E.; Wilson, Brian; Zheng, Gang

    2016-01-01

    Each year almost 300,000 individuals worldwide are diagnosed with oral cancer, more than 90% of these being oral carcinoma [N. Engl. J. Med. 328, 184 19938417385]. Surgical resection is the standard of care, but accurate delineation of the tumor boundaries is challenging, resulting in either under-resection with risk of local recurrence or over-resection with increased functional loss and negative impact on quality of life. This study evaluates, in two pre-clinical in vivo tumor models, the potential of fluorescence-guided resection using molecular beacons activated by metalloproteinases, which are frequently upregulated in human oral cancer. In both models there was rapid (beacon activation upon local application, allowing clear fluoresecence imaging in vivo and confirmed by ex vivo fluorescence microscopy and HPLC, with minimal activation in normal oral tissues. Although the tissue penetration was limited using topical application, these findings support further development of this approach towards translation to first-in-human trials. PMID:27231609

  15. Code Development and Analysis Program: developmental checkout of the BEACON/MOD2A code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramsthaler, J.A.; Lime, J.F.; Sahota, M.S.

    1978-12-01

    A best-estimate transient containment code, BEACON, is being developed by EG and G Idaho, Inc. for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's reactor safety research program. This is an advanced, two-dimensional fluid flow code designed to predict temperatures and pressures in a dry PWR containment during a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident. The most recent version of the code, MOD2A, is presently in the final stages of production prior to being released to the National Energy Software Center. As part of the final code checkout, seven sample problems were selected to be run with BEACON/MOD2A

  16. Developing children’s palliative care in Africa through beacon centres: lessons learnt

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Much progress has been made in the provision of palliative care across sub-Saharan Africa, however much still remains to be done, particularly in the area of children’s palliative care (CPC). The Beacon Centres programme was set up in 2009, aimed at improving access to CPC in South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania through more and better-trained health professionals and CPC clinical services of a high standard. Having identified sites in each country to develop into CPC Beacon Centres, Navigators were identified who would be the ‘champions’ for CPC in those sites and lead a programme of training, mentorship and support. Five navigators (2 in Uganda and Tanzania and 1 in South Africa) were trained between September and December 2009. Following this they undertook CPC needs assessments at the 3 centres and set up and delivered a six-month CPC training programme, providing mentorship and support to students to enable them to integrate CPC into their workplaces. To date, 188 participants have commenced the six-month course, with 80 having completed it. CPC has been integrated into the activities of the centres and a CPC virtual resource centre set up in South Africa. The achievements from the Beacon project have been great and the work of the navigators immense, but as in all projects it has not been without its challenges. Lessons learnt include issues around: the focus of the project; the length and nature of the training; assessment; accreditation; the choice of navigators; mentoring; administrative support; co-ordination; the choice of project sites; and the integration of CPC into services. The need for CPC is not going to go away and it is therefore important that models of scaling-up are found that are not only practical, feasible, affordable and sustainable, but that focus on the outcome of improved CPC for all those who need it. It is hoped that the lessons shared from the Beacon Project will help in developing and implementing such models. PMID:23419095

  17. Beacon of Hope? Lessons Learned from Efforts to Reduce Civilian Deaths from Police Shootings in an Australian State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saligari, Jessica; Evans, Richard

    2016-04-01

    In the 1990s, the police service in Victoria, Australia, faced a crisis of community confidence due to a spate of civilian deaths from police shootings. In that decade, twice as many civilians died at the hands of the police in Victoria than in every other Australian state combined. Most of those killed were mentally ill and affected by drugs and alcohol, and were rarely a serious threat except to themselves. The problem was also almost entirely an urban phenomenon. Shootings in rural communities, where mentally ill people were more likely to be personally known to local police, were (and remain) almost unknown. The large number of fatalities was recognised as a serious threat to public confidence, and Victoria Police introduced a ground-breaking training programme, Operation Beacon. Operating procedures and weapons training were fundamentally changed, to focus on de-escalation of conflict and avoiding or minimising police use of force. In the short term, Operation Beacon was successful. Shooting incidents were dramatically reduced. However, during the first decade of the new century, the number of civilians being killed again increased. This article examines Operation Beacon, both as a successful model for reducing civilian deaths at the hand of police and as a cautionary tale for police reform. We argue that the lessons of Operation Beacon have been gradually forgotten and that old habits and attitudes resurfaced. Fatal shootings of mentally ill civilians can be prevented, but if success is to be other than temporary, the Beacon philosophy must be continually reemphasised by police management.

  18. Nanosecond-level time synchronization of AERA using a beacon reference transmitter and commercial airplanes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huege, Tim

    2017-03-01

    Radio detection of cosmic-ray air showers requires time synchronization of detectors on a nanosecond level, especially for advanced reconstruction algorithms based on the wavefront curvature and for interferometric analysis approaches. At the Auger Engineering Radio Array, the distributed, autonomous detector stations are time-synchronized via the Global Positioning System which, however, does not provide sufficient timing accuracy. We thus employ a dedicated beacon reference transmitter to correct for eventby-event clock drifts in our offline data analysis. In an independent cross-check of this "beacon correction" using radio pulses emitted by commercial airplanes, we have shown that the combined timing accuracy of the two methods is better than 2 nanoseconds.

  19. Caged molecular beacons: controlling nucleic acid hybridization with light.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chunming; Zhu, Zhi; Song, Yanling; Lin, Hui; Yang, Chaoyong James; Tan, Weihong

    2011-05-28

    We have constructed a novel class of light-activatable caged molecular beacons (cMBs) that are caged by locking two stems with a photo-labile biomolecular interaction or covalent bond. With the cMBs, the nucleic acid hybridization process can be easily controlled with light, which offers the possibility for a high spatiotemporal resolution study of intracellular mRNAs. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

  20. Surface-attached molecular beacons light the way for DNA sequencing

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Paleček, Emil

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 22, č. 2 (2004), s. 55-58 ISSN 0167-7799 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IBS5004355; GA ČR GA204/03/0566 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5004920 Keywords : molecular beacon * DNA stem-loop structure * DNA sensors Subject RIV: BO - Biophysics Impact factor: 8.606, year: 2004

  1. Multi-Band Multi-Tone Tunable Millimeter-Wave Frequency Synthesizer For Satellite Beacon Transmitter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simons, Rainee N.; Wintucky, Edwin G.

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents the design and test results of a multi-band multi-tone tunable millimeter-wave frequency synthesizer, based on a solid-state frequency comb generator. The intended application of the synthesizer is in a satellite beacon transmitter for radio wave propagation studies at K-band (18 to 26.5 GHz), Q-band (37 to 42 GHz), and E-band (71 to 76 GHz). In addition, the architecture for a compact beacon transmitter, which includes the multi-tone synthesizer, polarizer, horn antenna, and power/control electronics, has been investigated for a notional space-to-ground radio wave propagation experiment payload on a small satellite. The above studies would enable the design of robust high throughput multi-Gbps data rate future space-to-ground satellite communication links.

  2. Design and implementation of Bluetooth beacon in mobile payment system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Tiantian; Ding, Lei

    2017-08-01

    The current line of payment means, mainly in the following ways, cash payment, credit card payment, WeChat Alipay sweep payment. There are many inconvenience in Cash payment, large amounts of cash inconvenience to carry, count the money to spend time and effort, true and false banknotes difficult to distinguish, ticket settlement easy to go wrong. Credit card payment is relatively time-consuming, and WeChat Alipay sweep payment need to sweep. Therefore, the design of a convenient, fast payment to meet the line to pay the demand is particularly important. Based on the characteristics of BLE Bluetooth wireless communication technology, this paper designs a kind of payment method based on Bluetooth beacon. Through the Bluetooth beacon broadcast consumption, consumers only need to open the relevant APP in the Android client, and you can get Bluetooth via mobile phone Bluetooth the amount of consumption of the standard broadcast, in accordance with the corresponding payment platform to complete the payment process, which pay less time to improve the efficiency of payment.

  3. Water absorption length measurement with the ANTARES optical beacon system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yepes-Ramirez, Harold

    2011-01-01

    ANTARES is a neutrino telescope located in the Mediterranean Sea with the aim of detecting high energy neutrinos of extra-terrestrial origin. It consists of a three dimensional array on 12 detection lines of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) able to detect the Cherenkov light induced by muons produced in the interaction of neutrinos with the surrounding water and seabed. To reach the best angular resolution, good time and positioning calibrations are required. The propagation of Cherenkov photons strongly depends on the optical properties of the sea water, which has an impact on the reconstruction efficiency. The determination of the optical parameters, as the absorption and scattering lengths, is crucial to calculate properly the effective area and the angular resolution of the detector. The ANTARES optical beacon system consists of pulsed and fast, well controlled light sources distributed throughout the detector to carry out in situ the relative time calibration of the detector components. In this contribution we show some results on the sea water optical properties and their stability measured with the optical beacon system.

  4. Multi-kW Uplink Fiber-Laser Beacon with Agile Signal Format, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration —  Laser beacons with scalable powers are needed for ground to deep-space optical communication uplinks. They serve as absolute reference for tracking of spacecraft...

  5. Multi-kW Uplink Fiber-Laser Beacon with Agile Signal Format, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Uplink Laser Beacons for deep-space communication, can benefit greatly from migration to the 1010-1030nm wavelengths, via use of Silicon-APDs on the spacecraft...

  6. Distributed Beacon Requirements for Branch Point Tolerant Laser Beam Compensation in Extended Atmospheric Turbulence

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Zetterlind, Virgil

    2002-01-01

    .... A least squares reconstructor is implemented for comparison. System performance is presented for various scenarios, including correction time-delays, wave-front sensor noise, and extended beacons...

  7. Nanosecond-level time synchronization of AERA using a beacon reference transmitter and commercial airplanes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huege Tim

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Radio detection of cosmic-ray air showers requires time synchronization of detectors on a nanosecond level, especially for advanced reconstruction algorithms based on the wavefront curvature and for interferometric analysis approaches. At the Auger Engineering Radio Array, the distributed, autonomous detector stations are time-synchronized via the Global Positioning System which, however, does not provide sufficient timing accuracy. We thus employ a dedicated beacon reference transmitter to correct for eventby-event clock drifts in our offline data analysis. In an independent cross-check of this “beacon correction” using radio pulses emitted by commercial airplanes, we have shown that the combined timing accuracy of the two methods is better than 2 nanoseconds.

  8. ClassBeacons: designing distributed visualization of teachers’ physical proximity in the classroom.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    An, P.; Bakker, S.; Ordanovski, S.; Taconis, R.; Eggen, J.H.

    2018-01-01

    Pengcheng An, Saskia Bakker, Sara Ordanovski, Ruurd Taconis, Berry Eggen. 2018 (accepted at Oct 2017). ClassBeacons: designing distributed visualization of teachers’ physical proximity in the classroom. In Proceedings of Tangible and Embodied Interaction, TEI 2018, Mar 18-21, 2018,

  9. Pedestrian hybrid beacon crosswalk system (PHB) or high-intensity activated crosswalk (HAWK).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-11-01

    The Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Crosswalk (PHB) is a type of traffic control system, used to aid : pedestrians safely crossing the street and to regulate traffic flow. This study examines the : success of the first PHB installed in the state of Vermont....

  10. A Microfluidic Love-Wave Biosensing Device for PSA Detection Based on an Aptamer Beacon Probe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Feng; Li, Shuangming; Cao, Kang; Wang, Pengjuan; Su, Yan; Zhu, Xinhua; Wan, Ying

    2015-06-11

    A label-free and selective aptamer beacon-based Love-wave biosensing device was developed for prostate specific antigen (PSA) detection. The device consists of the following parts: LiTaO3 substrate with SiO2 film as wave guide layer, two set of inter-digital transducers (IDT), gold film for immobilization of the biorecongniton layer and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channels. DNA aptamer, or "artificial antibody", was used as the specific biorecognition probe for PSA capture. Some nucleotides were added to the 3'-end of the aptamer to form a duplex with the 3'-end, turning the aptamer into an aptamer-beacon. Taking advantage of the selective target-induced assembly changes arising from the "aptamer beacon", highly selective and specific detection of PSA was achieved. Furthermore, PDMS microfluidic channels were designed and fabricated to realize automated quantitative sample injection. After optimization of the experimental conditions, the established device showed good performance for PSA detection between 10 ng/mL to 1 μg/mL, with a detection limit of 10 ng/mL. The proposed sensor might be a promising alternative for point of care diagnostics.

  11. The Effects of a Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon on Vehicle Speed

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanWagner, Michelle; Van Houten, Ron; Betts, Brian

    2011-01-01

    In 2008, nearly 31% of vehicle fatalities were related to failure to adhere to safe vehicle speeds (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2009). The current study evaluated the effect of a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) triggered by excessive speed on vehicle speed using a combined alternating treatments and reversal…

  12. Gold nanoparticle-based beacon to detect STAT5b mRNA expression in living cells: a case optimized by bioinformatics screen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deng D

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Dawei Deng,* Yang Li,* Jianpeng Xue, Jie Wang, Guanhua Ai, Xin Li, Yueqing GuDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workAbstract: Messenger RNA (mRNA, a single-strand ribonucleic acid with functional gene information is usually abnormally expressed in cancer cells and has become a promising biomarker for the study of tumor progress. Hairpin DNA-coated gold nanoparticle (hDAuNP beacon containing a bare gold nanoparticle (AuNP as fluorescence quencher and thiol-terminated fluorescently labeled stem–loop–stem oligonucleotide sequences attached by Au–S bond is currently a new nanoscale biodiagnostic platform capable of mRNA detection, in which the design of the loop region sequence is crucial for hybridizing with the target mRNA. Hence, in this study, to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of hDAuNP beacon simultaneously, the loop region of hairpin DNA was screened by bioinformatics strategy. Here, signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b (STAT5b mRNA was selected and used as a practical example. The results from the combined characterizations using optical techniques, flow cytometry assay, and cell microscopic imaging showed that after optimization, the as-prepared hDAuNP beacon had higher selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of STAT5b mRNA in living cells, as compared with our previous beacon. Thus, the bioinformatics method may be a promising new strategy for assisting in the designing of the hDAuNP beacon, extending its application in the detection of mRNA expression and the resultant mRNA-based biological processes and disease pathogenesis.Keywords: molecular beacon, bioinformatics, gold nanoparticle, STAT5b mRNA, visual detection

  13. A molecular-beacon-based asymmetric PCR assay for easy visualization of amplicons in the diagnosis of trichomoniasis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonkar, Subash C; Sachdev, Divya; Mishra, Prashant K; Kumar, Anita; Mittal, Pratima; Saluja, Daman

    2016-12-15

    The currently available nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for trichomoniasis are accurate, quick and confirmative with superior sensitivity than traditional culture-based microbiology assays. However, these assays are associated with problems of carry over contamination, false positive results, requirement of technical expertise for performance and detection of end product. Hence, a diagnostic assay with easy visualization of the amplified product will be profitable. An in-house, rapid, sensitive, specific molecular-beacon-based PCR assay, using primers against pfoB gene of Trichomonas vaginalis, was developed and evaluated using dry ectocervical swabs (n=392) from symptomatic females with vaginal discharge. Total DNA was isolated and used as template for the PCR assays. The performance and reproducibility of PCR assay was evaluated by composite reference standard (CRS). For easy visualization of the amplified product, molecular-beacon was designed and amplicons were visualized directly using fluorescent handheld dark reader or by Micro-Plate Reader. Molecular-beacons are single-stranded hairpin shaped nucleic acid probes composed of a stem, with fluorophore/quencher pair and a loop region complementary to the desired DNA. The beacon-based PCR assay designed in the present study is highly specific as confirmed by competition experiments and extremely sensitive with detection limit of 20fg of genomic DNA (3-4 pathogens). The minimum infrastructure requirement and ease to perform the assay makes this method highly useful for resource poor countries for better disease management. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Beacon signal in transcranial color coded ultrasound: A sign for brain death

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehmet Akif Topçuoğlu

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available A widely under-recognized brain-death confirming transcranial ultrasonography pattern resembling the red-blue beacon signal was demonstrated. Familiarity to this distinct and characteristic ultrasonic pattern seems to be important in the perspective of point-of-care neurological ultrasound use and knobology.

  15. Data governance and data sharing agreements for community-wide health information exchange: lessons from the beacon communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Claudia; Des Jardins, Terrisca R; Heider, Arvela; Lyman, Kristin A; McWilliams, Lee; Rein, Alison L; Schachter, Abigail A; Singh, Ranjit; Sorondo, Barbara; Topper, Joan; Turske, Scott A

    2014-01-01

    Unprecedented efforts are underway across the United States to electronically capture and exchange health information to improve health care and population health, and reduce costs. This increased collection and sharing of electronic patient data raises several governance issues, including privacy, security, liability, and market competition. Those engaged in such efforts have had to develop data sharing agreements (DSAs) among entities involved in information exchange, many of whom are "nontraditional" health care entities and/or new partners. This paper shares lessons learned based on the experiences of six federally funded communities participating in the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program, and offers guidance for navigating data governance issues and developing DSAs to facilitate community-wide health information exchange. While all entities involved in electronic data sharing must address governance issues and create DSAs accordingly, until recently little formal guidance existed for doing so - particularly for community-based initiatives. Despite this lack of guidance, together the Beacon Communities' experiences highlight promising strategies for navigating complex governance issues, which may be useful to other entities or communities initiating information exchange efforts to support delivery system transformation. For the past three years, AcademyHealth has provided technical assistance to most of the 17 Beacon Communities, 6 of whom contributed to this collaborative writing effort. Though these communities varied widely in terms of their demographics, resources, and Beacon-driven priorities, common themes emerged as they described their approaches to data governance and DSA development. The 6 Beacon Communities confirmed that DSAs are necessary to satisfy legal and market-based concerns, and they identified several specific issues, many of which have been noted by others involved in network data sharing initiatives. More importantly, these

  16. Gold nanoparticle-based beacon to detect STAT5b mRNA expression in living cells: a case optimized by bioinformatics screen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Dawei; Li, Yang; Xue, Jianpeng; Wang, Jie; Ai, Guanhua; Li, Xin; Gu, Yueqing

    2015-01-01

    Messenger RNA (mRNA), a single-strand ribonucleic acid with functional gene information is usually abnormally expressed in cancer cells and has become a promising biomarker for the study of tumor progress. Hairpin DNA-coated gold nanoparticle (hDAuNP) beacon containing a bare gold nanoparticle (AuNP) as fluorescence quencher and thiol-terminated fluorescently labeled stem-loop-stem oligonucleotide sequences attached by Au-S bond is currently a new nanoscale biodiagnostic platform capable of mRNA detection, in which the design of the loop region sequence is crucial for hybridizing with the target mRNA. Hence, in this study, to improve the sensitivity and selectivity of hDAuNP beacon simultaneously, the loop region of hairpin DNA was screened by bioinformatics strategy. Here, signal transducer and activator of transcription 5b (STAT5b) mRNA was selected and used as a practical example. The results from the combined characterizations using optical techniques, flow cytometry assay, and cell microscopic imaging showed that after optimization, the as-prepared hDAuNP beacon had higher selectivity and sensitivity for the detection of STAT5b mRNA in living cells, as compared with our previous beacon. Thus, the bioinformatics method may be a promising new strategy for assisting in the designing of the hDAuNP beacon, extending its application in the detection of mRNA expression and the resultant mRNA-based biological processes and disease pathogenesis.

  17. Preliminary Statistics from the NASA Alphasat Beacon Receiver in Milan, Italy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nessel, James; Zemba, Michael; Morse, Jacquelynne; Luini, Lorenzo; Riva, Carlo

    2015-01-01

    NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have initiated a joint propagation campaign within the framework of the Alphasat propagation experiment to characterize rain attenuation, scintillation, and gaseous absorption effects of the atmosphere in the 40 gigahertz band. NASA GRC has developed and installed a K/Q-band (20/40 gigahertz) beacon receiver at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy, which receives the 20/40 gigahertz signals broadcast from the Alphasat Aldo Paraboni TDP no. 5 beacon payload. The primary goal of these measurements is to develop a physical model to improve predictions of communications systems performance within the Q-band. Herein, we provide an overview of the design and data calibration procedure, and present 6 months of preliminary statistics of the NASA propagation terminal, which has been installed and operating in Milan since May 2014. The Q-band receiver has demonstrated a dynamic range of 40 decibels at an 8-hertz sampling rate. A weather station with an optical disdrometer is also installed to characterize rain drop size distribution for correlation with physical based models.

  18. Radio beacon synchronization in coherent receivers for nanosatellite applications

    OpenAIRE

    Camps Llorente, Daniel; Piera González, Joan

    2017-01-01

    This document presents a study about the Radio beacon synchronization in coherent receivers for nanosatellite applications. First of all, it is studied the history of these nanosatellites and their actual role in the Aerospace industry, considering their low cost compared to bigger satellites and also because of their availability for all types of companies and people (as universities). These nanosatellites have a wide range of applications, and lots of them depend on the imagination of the u...

  19. Beacon: A three-dimensional structural analysis code for bowing history of fast breeder reactor cores

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miki, K.

    1979-01-01

    The core elements of an LMFBR are bowed due to radial gradients of both temperature and neutron flux in the core. Since all hexagonal elements are multiply supported by adjacent elements or the restraint system, restraint forces and bending stresses are induced. In turn, these forces and stresses are relaxed by irradiation enhanced creep of the material. The analysis of the core bowing behavior requires a three-dimensional consideration of the mechanical interactions among the core elements, because the core consists of different kinds of elements and of fuel assemblies with various burnup histories. A new computational code BEACON has been developed for analyzing the bowing behavior of an LMFBR's core in three dimensions. To evaluate mechanical interactions among core elements, the code uses the analytical method of the earlier SHADOW code. BEACON analyzes the mechanical interactions in three directions, which form angles of 60 0 with one another. BEACON is applied to the 60 0 sector of a typical LMFBR's core for analyzing the bowing history during one equilibrium cycle. 120 core elements are treated, assuming the boundary condition of rotational symmetry. The application confirms that the code can be an effective tool for parametric studies as well as for detailed structural analysis of LMFBR's core. (orig.)

  20. Beacon satellite studies and modelling of total electron contents of the ionosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyagi, T.R.

    1990-01-01

    An attempt is made to highlight some of the beacon satellite studies, particularly those relating to total electron content (TEC) and scintillations, with special attention to Indian subcontinent observations. The modelling of TEC is described. The scope of new experiments for specific problem is indicated. (author). 78 refs., 12 figs

  1. Scheduled MAC in Beacon Overlay Networks for Underwater Localization and Time-Synchronization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kleunen, W.A.P.; Meratnia, Nirvana; Havinga, Paul J.M.

    2011-01-01

    In this article we introduce a MAC protocol designed for underwater localization and time-synchronisation. The MAC protocol assumes a network of static reference nodes and allows blind nodes to be localized by listening-only to the beacon messages. Such a system is known to be very scalable. We show

  2. Beta aerosols beacon, a truly portable continuous air monitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prince, R.P.; Garber, F.W.

    1987-01-01

    The Beta Aerosols Beacon (BAB) is a portable (57 lbs) continuous air monitor designed to detect airborne radiation. Utilizing solid state detectors has eliminated the use of lead shielding usually necessary for achieving accurate readings in high background areas, making the monitor lightweight as well as portable. The size of a small suitcase, it can be carried into confined work areas, eliminating the requirement for workers to wear respirators for many maintenance tasks. This paper describes the operation and applications of the BAB

  3. Making it local: Beacon Communities use health information technology to optimize care management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Amy; Des Jardins, Terrisca R; Heider, Arvela; Kanger, Chatrian R; Lobach, David F; McWilliams, Lee; Polello, Jennifer M; Rein, Alison L; Schachter, Abigail A; Singh, Ranjit; Sorondo, Barbara; Tulikangas, Megan C; Turske, Scott A

    2014-06-01

    Care management aims to provide cost-effective, coordinated, non-duplicative care to improve care quality, population health, and reduce costs. The 17 communities receiving funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology through the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program are leaders in building and strengthening their health information technology (health IT) infrastructure to provide more effective and efficient care management. This article profiles 6 Beacon Communities' health IT-enabled care management programs, highlighting the influence of local context on program strategy and design, and describing challenges, lessons learned, and policy implications for care delivery and payment reform. The unique needs (eg, disease burden, demographics), community partnerships, and existing resources and infrastructure all exerted significant influence on the overall priorities and design of each community's care management program. Though each Beacon Community needed to engage in a similar set of care management tasks--including patient identification, stratification, and prioritization; intervention; patient engagement; and evaluation--the contextual factors helped shape the specific strategies and tools used to carry out these tasks and achieve their objectives. Although providers across the country are striving to deliver standardized, high-quality care, the diverse contexts in which this care is delivered significantly influence the priorities, strategies, and design of community-based care management interventions. Gaps and challenges in implementing effective community-based care management programs include: optimizing allocation of care management services; lack of available technology tailored to care management needs; lack of standards and interoperability; integrating care management into care settings; evaluating impact; and funding and sustainability.

  4. A distance-dependent metal-enhanced fluorescence sensing platform based on molecular beacon design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhenpeng; Huang, Hongduan; Chen, Yang; Liu, Feng; Huang, Cheng Zhi; Li, Na

    2014-02-15

    A new metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) based platform was developed on the basis of distance-dependent fluorescence quenching-enhancement effect, which combined the easiness of Ag-thiol chemistry with the MEF property of noble-metal structures as well as the molecular beacon design. For the given sized AgNPs, the fluorescence enhancement factor was found to increase with a d(6) dependency in agreement with fluorescence resonance energy transfer mechanism at shorter distance and decrease with a d(-3) dependency in agreement with plasmonic enhancement mechanism at longer distance between the fluorophore and the AgNP surface. As a proof of concept, the platform was demonstrated by a sensitive detection of mercuric ions, using thymine-containing molecular beacon to tune silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-enhanced fluorescence. Mercuric ions were detected via formation of a thymine-mercuric-thymine structure to open the hairpin, facilitating fluorescence recovery and AgNP enhancement to yield a limit of detection of 1 nM, which is well below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation of the Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (10nM) in drinking water. Since the AgNP functioned as not only a quencher to reduce the reagent blank signal but also an enhancement substrate to increase fluorescence of the open hairpin when target mercuric ions were present, the quenching-enhancement strategy can greatly improve the detection sensitivity and can in principle be a universal approach for various targets when combined with molecular beacon design. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Surveillance technology for HIV-1 subtype C in Ethiopia: an env-based NASBA molecular beacon assay to discriminate between subcluster C and C'

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ayele, Workenesh; Baar, Michel P. de; Goudsmit, Jaap; Kliphuis, Aletta; Tilahun, Tesfaye; Dorigo-Zetsma, Wendelien; Wolday, Dawit; Abebe, Almaz; Mengistu, Yohannes; Pollakis, Georgios

    2005-01-01

    Forty-nine samples with known C2V3 sequences were used for the evaluation of an env-based molecular beacon assay to distinguish between the two genetic subclusters C and C' which characterize the HIV-1 epidemic in Ethiopia. Two subcluster C and two subcluster C' beacons targeting two different loci

  6. Improving adherence to the Epic Beacon ambulatory workflow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chackunkal, Ellen; Dhanapal Vogel, Vishnuprabha; Grycki, Meredith; Kostoff, Diana

    2017-06-01

    Computerized physician order entry has been shown to significantly improve chemotherapy safety by reducing the number of prescribing errors. Epic's Beacon Oncology Information System of computerized physician order entry and electronic medication administration was implemented in Henry Ford Health System's ambulatory oncology infusion centers on 9 November 2013. Since that time, compliance to the infusion workflow had not been assessed. The objective of this study was to optimize the current workflow and improve the compliance to this workflow in the ambulatory oncology setting. This study was a retrospective, quasi-experimental study which analyzed the composite workflow compliance rate of patient encounters from 9 to 23 November 2014. Based on this analysis, an intervention was identified and implemented in February 2015 to improve workflow compliance. The primary endpoint was to compare the composite compliance rate to the Beacon workflow before and after a pharmacy-initiated intervention. The intervention, which was education of infusion center staff, was initiated by ambulatory-based, oncology pharmacists and implemented by a multi-disciplinary team of pharmacists and nurses. The composite compliance rate was then reassessed for patient encounters from 2 to 13 March 2015 in order to analyze the effects of the determined intervention on compliance. The initial analysis in November 2014 revealed a composite compliance rate of 38%, and data analysis after the intervention revealed a statistically significant increase in the composite compliance rate to 83% ( p < 0.001). This study supports a pharmacist-initiated educational intervention can improve compliance to an ambulatory, oncology infusion workflow.

  7. Deep sea AUV navigation using multiple acoustic beacons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Da-xiong; Song, Wei; Zhao, Hong-yu; Liu, Jian

    2016-04-01

    Navigation is a critical requirement for the operation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). To estimate the vehicle position, we present an algorithm using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to integrate dead-reckoning position with acoustic ranges from multiple beacons pre-deployed in the operating environment. Owing to high latency, variable sound speed multipath transmissions and unreliability in acoustic measurements, outlier recognition techniques are proposed as well. The navigation algorithm has been tested by the recorded data of deep sea AUV during field operations in a variety of environments. Our results show the improved performance over prior techniques based on position computation.

  8. Visually Detecting the Variation of miR-301a Expression Using Gold Nanoparticle Beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ying; Li, Kai; Li, Dandan; Li, Changfeng; Zhang, Bin

    2018-02-01

    It is well known that microRNA-301a plays an important role in many diseases, as well as is overexpressed in human colon cancer and affects the process of tumorigenesis. Determination of the miR-301a expression provides insight into the mechanism of tumor progression. In this study, we designed a special hairpin deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) for miR-301a to functionalize gold nanoparticles, which served as a beacon for detecting miR-301a expression. A-quenching efficiency up to 90% was achieved. The beacon we designed in this study can monitor the precise variation of miR-301a expression in vivo. The strategy reported in this study is a promising approach for the measurement of miRNA in living cells. Moreover, it has a great potential in the study of drug screening and discovery.

  9. Design of a K/Q-Band Beacon Receiver for the Alphasat TDP#5 Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morse, Jacquelynne R.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the design and performance of a coherent KQ-band (2040 GHz) beacon receiver developed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) that will be installed at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) for use in the Alphasat Technology Demonstration Payload 5 (TDP5) beacon experiment. The goal of this experiment is to characterize rain fade attenuation at 40 GHz to improve the performance of existing statistical rain attenuation models in the Q-band. The ground terminal developed by NASA GRC utilizes an FFT-based frequency estimation receiver capable of characterizing total path attenuation effects due to gaseous absorption, clouds, rain, and scintillation. The receiver system has been characterized in the lab and demonstrates a system dynamic range performance of better than 58 dB at 1 Hz and better than 48 dB at 10 Hz rates.

  10. Performance of MAC protocols in beaconing Mobile Adhoc Multibroadcast Networks

    OpenAIRE

    Rico García, Cristina; Lehner, Andreas; Robertson, Patrick; Strang, Thomas

    2010-01-01

    The investigation of infrastructureless safety applications in dierent transportation systems is a hot research topic. The nodes in thevnetwork are designed to advertise to the rest of the nodes informationabout the current traffic situation by means of short beacon messages containing speed, direction, positions and other relevant safety information. The scheduling should be organized by the MAC layer so that the transmitted messages arrive successfully as soon as possible at the recei...

  11. Application of the BEACON-TSM system to the operation of PWR reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lozano, J. A.; Mildrum, C.; Serrano, J. F.

    2011-01-01

    BEACON-TSM is an advanced system of the operation support of PWR reactors that combines the capabilities of an advanced nodal neutronic model and the measures of the instrumentation available in plant to determine, accurately and continuously, the distribution of power in the core and the available margins to the limits of the beak factors.

  12. Application of a molecular beacon based real-time isothermal amplification (MBRTIA) technology for simultaneous detection of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mandappa, I M; Joglekar, Prasanna; Manonmani, H K

    2015-07-01

    A multiplex real-time isothermal amplification assay was developed using molecular beacons for the detection of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus by targeting four important virulence genes. A correlation between targeting highly accessible DNA sequences and isothermal amplification based molecular beacon efficiency and sensitivity was demonstrated using phi(Φ)29 DNA polymerase at a constant isothermal temperature of 30 °C. It was very selective and consistently detected down to 10(1) copies of DNA. The specificity and sensitivity of this assay, when tested with pure culture were high, surpassing those of currently used PCR assays for the detection of these organisms. The molecular beacon based real-time isothermal amplification (MBRTIA) assay could be carried out entirely in 96 well plates or well strips, enabling a rapid and high-throughput detection of food borne pathogens.

  13. Some measurements of total electron content made with the ATS-6 radio beacon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davies, K.; Degenhardt, W.; Hartmann, G.K.

    1978-01-01

    The paper deals with some measurements made with the radio beacon on board the ATS-6 satellite in the American and European sectors. Measurements of the slant electron content, the Faraday content, and the plasmaspheric (or residual) content, made under different geographic and geomagnetic conditions, are discussed and compared

  14. Observability analysis of 2D single-beacon navigation in the presence of constant currents for two classes of maneuvers

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Crasta, N.; Bayat, M.; Aguiar, A.P.; Pascoal, A.M.

    . In particular, xc = 0 represents a circular motion about the beacon with radius v ω−1. The following result characterizes set of indistinguishable states for the system (5.1)-(5.2) subject to input class Ucir. Proposition 5.6. Consider the system (5...) = npi + 0.5 (−1)n pi, n ∈ Z. Notice also that under this condition the motion is a circular motion around the beacon. The following corollary follows from propositions 5.3 and 5.6. Corollary 5.8. Consider x0 ∈ M. Then (4.1)-(4.2) is observable...

  15. Creating a Connected Community: Lessons Learned from the Western New York Beacon Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maloney, Nancy; Heider, Arvela R.; Rockwood, Amy; Singh, Ranjit

    2014-01-01

    Introduction: Secure exchange of clinical data among providers has the potential to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce duplication. Many communities are experiencing challenges in building effective health information exchanges (HIEs). Previous studies have focused on financial and technical issues regarding HIE development. This paper describes the Western New York (WNY) HIE growth and lessons learned about accelerating progress to become a highly connected community. Methods: HEALTHeLINK, with funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) under the Beacon Community Program, expanded HIE usage in eight counties. The communitywide transformation process used three main drivers: (1) a communitywide Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption program; (2) clinical transformation partners; and (3) HIE outreach and infrastructure development. Results: ONC Beacon Community funding allowed WNY to achieve a new level in the use of interoperable HIE. Electronic delivery of results into the EHR expanded from 23 practices in 2010 to 222 practices in 2013, a tenfold increase. There were more than 12.5 million results delivered electronically (HL7 messages) to 222 practices’ EHRs via the HIE in 2013. Use of a secure portal and Virtual Health Record (VHR) to access reports (those not delivered directly to the EHR) also increased significantly, from 13,344 report views in 2010 to over 600,000 in 2013. Discussion and Conclusion: The WNY Beacon successfully expanded the sharing of clinical information among different sources of data and providers, creating a highly connected community to improve the quality and continuity of care. Technical, organizational, and community lessons described in this paper should prove beneficial to others as they pursue efforts to create connected communities. PMID:25848618

  16. Beacon-teknologi - fremtidens kundebehandling eller en trussel for personvernet?

    OpenAIRE

    Jyrkinen, Anna; Kamås, Kamilla

    2016-01-01

    Smarttelefoner har blitt en naturlig del av våre liv. Alt man gjør på smarttelefonen, blir lagret som såkalte “big data”. Dette er verdifull informasjon for bedrifter, da de får mer detaljert bilde av hva forbrukere ser, eller holder på med i det virkelige liv. Det kan oppstå et dilemma ved hvor langt selskapene er villige til å strekke seg, for å samle inn informasjon om sine kunder. Beacons er en ny teknologiform og fungerer via små apparater som kommuniserer med kunder gjenn...

  17. Electroactive crown ester-Cu2+ complex with in-situ modification at molecular beacon probe serving as a facile electrochemical DNA biosensor for the detection of CaMV 35s.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, Fengping; Liao, Xiaolei; Gao, Feng; Qiu, Weiwei; Wang, Qingxiang

    2017-06-15

    A novel electrochemical DNA biosensor has been facilely constructed by in-situ assembly of electroactive 4'-aminobenzo-18-crown-6-copper(II) complex (AbC-Cu 2+ ) on the free terminal of the hairpin-structured molecule beacon. The 3'-SH modified molecule beacon probe was first immobilized on the gold electrode (AuE) surface through self-assembly chemistry of Au-S bond. Then the crow ester of AbC was covalently coupled with 5'-COOH on the molecule beacon, and served as a platform to attach the Cu 2+ by coordination with ether bond (-O-) of the crown cycle. Thus, an electroactive molecule beacon-based biosensing interface was constructed. In comparison with conventional methods for preparation of electroactive molecule beacon, the approach presented in this work is much simpler, reagent- and labor-saving. Selectivity study shows that the in-situ fabricated electroactive molecule beacon remains excellent recognition ability of pristine molecule beacon probe to well differentiate various DNA fragments. The target DNA can be quantatively determined over the range from 0.10pM to 0.50nM. The detection limit of 0.060pM was estimated based on signal-to-noise ratio of 3. When the biosensor was applied for the detection cauliflower mosaic virus 35s (CaMV 35s) in soybean extraction samples, satisfactory results are achieved. This work opens a new strategy for facilely fabricating electrochemical sensing interface, which also shows great potential in aptasensor and immurosensor fabrication. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Controlling the signal: Practical privacy protection of genomic data sharing through Beacon services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wan, Zhiyu; Vorobeychik, Yevgeniy; Kantarcioglu, Murat; Malin, Bradley

    2017-07-26

    Genomic data is increasingly collected by a wide array of organizations. As such, there is a growing demand to make summary information about such collections available more widely. However, over the past decade, a series of investigations have shown that attacks, rooted in statistical inference methods, can be applied to discern the presence of a known individual's DNA sequence in the pool of subjects. Recently, it was shown that the Beacon Project of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, a web service for querying about the presence (or absence) of a specific allele, was vulnerable. The Integrating Data for Analysis, Anonymization, and Sharing (iDASH) Center modeled a track in their third Privacy Protection Challenge on how to mitigate the Beacon vulnerability. We developed the winning solution for this track. This paper describes our computational method to optimize the tradeoff between the utility and the privacy of the Beacon service. We generalize the genomic data sharing problem beyond that which was introduced in the iDASH Challenge to be more representative of real world scenarios to allow for a more comprehensive evaluation. We then conduct a sensitivity analysis of our method with respect to several state-of-the-art methods using a dataset of 400,000 positions in Chromosome 10 for 500 individuals from Phase 3 of the 1000 Genomes Project. All methods are evaluated for utility, privacy and efficiency. Our method achieves better performance than all state-of-the-art methods, irrespective of how key factors (e.g., the allele frequency in the population, the size of the pool and utility weights) change from the original parameters of the problem. We further illustrate that it is possible for our method to exhibit subpar performance under special cases of allele query sequences. However, we show our method can be extended to address this issue when the query sequence is fixed and known a priori to the data custodian, so that they may plan stage their

  19. Performance of the NASA Beacon Receiver for the Alphasat Aldo Paraboni TDP5 Propagation Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nessel, James; Morse, Jacquelynne; Zemba, Michael; Riva, Carlo; Luini, Lorenzo

    2015-01-01

    NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have initiated a joint propagation campaign within the framework of the Alphasat propagation experiment to characterize rain attenuation, scintillation, and gaseous absorption effects of the atmosphere in the 40 gigahertz band. NASA GRC has developed and installed a K/Q-band (20/40 gigahertz) beacon receiver at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy, which receives the 20/40 gigahertz signals broadcast from the Alphasat Aldo Paraboni Technology Demonstration Payload (TDP) no. 5 beacon payload. The primary goal of these measurements is to develop a physical model to improve predictions of communications systems performance within the Q-band. Herein, we describe the design and preliminary performance of the NASA propagation terminal, which has been installed and operating in Milan since June 2014. The receiver is based upon a validated Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) I/Q digital design approach utilized in other operational NASA propagation terminals, but has been modified to employ power measurement via a frequency estimation technique and to coherently track and measure the amplitude of the 20/40 gigahertz beacon signals. The system consists of a 1.2-meter K-band and a 0.6-meter Q-band Cassegrain reflector employing synchronous open-loop tracking to track the inclined orbit of the Alphasat satellite. An 8 hertz sampling rate is implemented to characterize scintillation effects, with a 1-hertz measurement bandwidth dynamic range of 45 decibels. A weather station with an optical disdrometer is also installed to characterize rain drop size distribution for correlation with physical based models.

  20. Preliminary Results of the NASA Beacon Receiver for Alphasat Aldo Paraboni TDP5 Propagation Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nessel, James; Morse, Jacquelynne; Zemba, Michael; Riva, Carlo; Luini, Lorenzo

    2014-01-01

    NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) have initiated a joint propagation campaign within the framework of the Alphasat propagation experiment to characterize rain attenuation, scintillation, and gaseous absorption effects of the atmosphere in the 40 GHz band. NASA GRC has developed and installed a K/Q-band (20/40 GHz) beacon receiver at the POLIMI campus in Milan, Italy, which receives the 20/40 GHz signals broadcast from the Alphasat Aldo Paraboni TDP#5 beacon payload. The primary goal of these measurements is to develop a physical model to improve predictions of communications systems performance within the Q-band. Herein, we describe the design and preliminary performance of the NASA propagation terminal, which has been installed and operating in Milan since May 2014. The receiver is based upon a validated Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) I/Q digital design approach utilized in other operational NASA propagation terminals, but has been modified to employ power measurement via a frequency estimation technique and to coherently track and measure the amplitude of the 20/40 GHz beacon signals. The system consists of a 1.2-m K-band and a 0.6-m Qband Cassegrain reflector employing synchronous open-loop tracking to track the inclined orbit of the Alphasat satellite. An 8 Hz sampling rate is implemented to characterize scintillation effects, with a 1-Hz measurement bandwidth dynamic range of 45 dB. A weather station with an optical disdrometer is also installed to characterize rain drop size distribution for correlation with physical based models.

  1. BEACON: A Summary Framework to Overcome Potential Reimbursement Hurdles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlop, William C N; Mullins, C Daniel; Pirk, Olaf; Goeree, Ron; Postma, Maarten J; Enstone, Ashley; Heron, Louise

    2016-10-01

    To provide a framework for addressing payers' criteria during the development of pharmaceuticals. A conceptual framework was presented to an international health economic expert panel for discussion. A structured literature search (from 2010 to May 2015), using the following databases in Ovid: Medline(®) and Medline(®) In-Process (PubMed), Embase (Ovid), EconLit (EBSCOhost) and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED), and a 'grey literature' search, were conducted to identify existing criteria from the payer perspective. The criteria assessed by existing frameworks and guidelines were collated; the most commonly reported criteria were considered for inclusion in the framework. A mnemonic was conceived as a memory aide to summarise these criteria. Overall, 41 publications were identified as potentially relevant to the objective. Following further screening, 26 were excluded upon full-text review on the basis of no framework presented (n = 13), redundancy (n = 11) or abstract only (n = 2). Frameworks that captured criteria developed for or utilised by the pharmaceutical industry (n = 5) and reimbursement guidance (n = 10) were reviewed. The most commonly identified criteria-unmet need/patient burden, safety, efficacy, quality-of-life outcomes, environment, evidence quality, budget impact and comparator-were incorporated into the summary framework. For ease of communication, the following mnemonic was developed: BEACON (Burden/target population, Environment, Affordability/value, Comparator, Outcomes, Number of studies/quality of evidence). The BEACON framework aims to capture the 'essence' of payer requirements by addressing the most commonly described criteria requested by payers regarding the introduction of a new pharmaceutical.

  2. Performance Evaluation of Beacon-Enabled Mode for IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Udin Harun Al Rasyid

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available IEEE 802.15.5 standard support structure of star and peer-to-peer network formation. Strating from these, the cluster tree network can be built as a special case of peer-to-peer network to increse coverage area. In this paper, we provide an performance evaluation of beacon- enabled mode for IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor network on star and cluster topology in order to get the maximum result to apply the appropriate topology model as needed. We conduct analysis on each topology model by using the numbers of nodes from 10 nodes to 100 nodes to analyze throughput, delay, energy consumption, and probability success packet by using NS2 simulator. The simulation results show that the throughput and the probability of success packet of cluster topology are higher than that of star topology, and the energy consumption of cluster topology is lesser than that of star topology. However, cluster topology increases the delay more than star topology. Keywords: IEEE 802.15.4, wireless sensor network, beacon-enabled mode, topology, csma/ca

  3. Perancangan Prototipe Receiver Beacon Black Box Locator Acoustic 37,5 kHz Pingers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    RUSTAMAJI RUSTAMAJI

    2016-01-01

    When an aircraft caught in an accident and crashes into the water, its location can be detected using a device called a receiver beacon black box locator acoustic (pingers receiver. The pingers receiver functioned as a reciever signal with 37,5 kHz ± 1 kHz frequency from trnasmitter pingers or Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB which is on air plane black blox. In this research made design pingers receiver composed of a series of  Band Pass Filter (BPF, envelope detector, audio amplifier, and loud speaker. The signal of 37,5 kHz ± 1 kHz  frequency sent by pingers transmitter will bereceived by pingers receiver, after which the signal will be processed by the Band Pass Filter (BPF circuit before being detected by envelope detector for take back the signal information which like pulse signal with 10ms width and 1 second interval as pingers signal tha can  be to  be heard by human ear. Based on the  design that  was made, the signal ouput generated by the prototype has a 14 ms width with 1 second interval. Keywords: pingers receiver, band pass filter (BPF, envelope detector, loud speaker.

  4. Remote tracking of a magnetic receiver using low frequency beacons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sheinker, Arie; Ginzburg, Boris; Salomonski, Nizan; Frumkis, Lev; Kaplan, Ben-Zion

    2014-01-01

    Low frequency magnetic fields feature high penetration ability, which allows communication, localization, and tracking in environments where radio or acoustic waves are blocked or distorted by multipath interferences. In the present work, we propose a method for tracking a magnetic receiver using beacons of low frequency magnetic field, where the receiver includes a tri-axial search-coil magnetometer. Measuring the beacons’ magnetic fields and calculating the total-field signals enables localization without restrictions on magnetometer orientation, allowing on-the-move tracking. The total-field signals are used by a global search method, e.g., simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, to localize the receiver. The magnetic field produced by each beacon has a dipole structure and is governed by the beacon’s position and magnetic moment. We have investigated two different methods for estimating beacons’ magnetic moments prior to localization. The first method requires directional measurements, whereas for the second method the total-field signal is used. Effectiveness of these methods has been proved in numerous field tests. In the present work, we introduce a method for tracking a moving receiver by successive localizations. Using previous localization as a starting point of the search method for the next localization can reduce execution time and chances for divergence. The proposed method has been tested using numerous computer simulations. Successful system operation has been verified in field conditions. The good tracking capability together with simple implementation makes the proposed method attractive for real-time, low power field applications, such as mobile robots navigation. (paper)

  5. The Southeastern Minnesota Beacon Project for Community-driven Health Information Technology: Origins, Achievements, and Legacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chute, Christopher G; Hart, Lacey A; Alexander, Alex K; Jensen, Daniel W

    2014-01-01

    The Southeastern (SE) Minnesota Beacon organized all the health care providers, county public health organizations, and school districts in the deployment and integration of health information exchange (HIE) and targeted health communication around childhood asthma and diabetes. The community cooperated to establish a clinical data repository for all residents in the 11-county region. Through this community of practice approach that involved traditional and nontraditional providers, the SE Minnesota Beacon was able to realize unique applications of this technology. This manuscript overviews the associated organization and infrastructure of this community collaboration. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus, established 17 projects throughout the United States targeting the introduction and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT). These 17 communities were intended to serve as an example of what could be accomplished. The SE Minnesota Beacon is one of these communities. The community ultimately opted for peer-to-peer HIE, using Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) Connect software. The clinical data repository was established using the infrastructure developed by the Regenstrief Institute, which operated as a trusted third party. As an extension to HIE, the consortium of county public health departments created a patient data portal for use by school nurses and parents. Childhood asthma was addressed by creating, exchanging, and maintaining an "asthma action plan" for each affected child, shared throughout the community, including through the patient portal. Diabetes management introduced patient treatment decision tools and patient quality of life measures, facilitating care. Influenza vaccination was enhanced by large-scale community reporting in partnership with the state vaccination registry. The methodology and

  6. Determination of BEACON Coupling Coefficients using data from Xenon transient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bozic, M.; Kurincic, B.

    2007-01-01

    NEK uses BEACO TM code (BEACO TM - Westinghouse Best Estimate Analyzer for Core Operating Nuclear) for core monitoring, analysis and core behaviour prediction. Coupling Coefficients determine relationship between core response and excore instrumentation. Measured power distribution using incore moveable detectors during Xenon transient with sufficient power axial offset change is the most important data for further analysis. Classic methodology and BEACO TM Conservative methodology using established Coupling Coefficients are compared on NPP Krsko case. BEACON TM Conservative methodology with predefined Coupling Coefficients is used as a surveillance tool for verification of relationship between core and excore instrumentation during power operation. (author)

  7. Design of a K/Q-Band Beacon Receiver for the Alphasat Technology Demonstration Payload (TDP) #5 Experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morse, Jacquelynne R.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the design and performance of a coherent KQ-band (2040 GHz) beacon receiver developed at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) that will be installed at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) for use in the Alphasat Technology Demonstration Payload 5 (TDP5) beacon experiment. The goal of this experiment is to characterize rain fade attenuation at 40 GHz to improve the performance of existing statistical rain attenuation models in the Q-band. The ground terminal developed by NASA GRC utilizes an FFT-based frequency estimation receiver capable of characterizing total path attenuation effects due to gaseous absorption, clouds, rain, and scintillation. The receiver system has been characterized in the lab and demonstrates a system dynamic range performance of better than 58 dB at 1 Hz and better than 48 dB at 10 Hz rates.

  8. Palindromic Molecule Beacon-Based Cascade Amplification for Colorimetric Detection of Cancer Genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Zhi-Fa; Li, Feng; Jiang, Yi-Fan; Chen, Chang; Xu, Huo; Li, Cong-Cong; Yang, Zhe; Wu, Zai-Sheng

    2018-03-06

    A highly sensitive and selective colorimetric assay based on a multifunctional molecular beacon with palindromic tail (PMB) was proposed for the detection of target p53 gene. The PMB probe can serve as recognition element, primer, and polymerization template and contains a nicking site and a C-rich region complementary to a DNAzyme. In the presence of target DNA, the hairpin of PMB is opened, and the released palindromic tails intermolecularly hybridize with each other, triggering the autonomous polymerization/nicking/displacement cycles. Although only one type of probe is involved, the system can execute triple and continuous polymerization strand displacement amplifications, generating large amounts of G-quadruplex fragments. These G-rich fragments can bind to hemin and form the DNAzymes that possess the catalytic activity similar to horseradish peroxidase, catalyzing the oxidation of ABTS by H 2 O 2 and producing the colorimetric signal. Utilizing the newly proposed sensing system, target DNA can be detected down to 10 pM with a linear response range from 10 pM to 200 nM, and mutant target DNAs are able to be distinguished even by the naked eye. The desirable detection sensitivity, high specificity, and operation convenience without any separation step and chemical modification demonstrate that the palindromic molecular beacon holds the potential for detecting and monitoring a variety of nucleic acid-related biomarkers.

  9. A Two-Layer Method for Sedentary Behaviors Classification Using Smartphone and Bluetooth Beacons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerón, Jesús D; López, Diego M; Hofmann, Christian

    2017-01-01

    Among the factors that outline the health of populations, person's lifestyle is the more important one. This work focuses on the caracterization and prevention of sedentary lifestyles. A sedentary behavior is defined as "any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure of 1.5 METs (Metabolic Equivalent) or less while in a sitting or reclining posture". To propose a method for sedentary behaviors classification using a smartphone and Bluetooth beacons considering different types of classification models: personal, hybrid or impersonal. Following the CRISP-DM methodology, a method based on a two-layer approach for the classification of sedentary behaviors is proposed. Using data collected from a smartphones' accelerometer, gyroscope and barometer; the first layer classifies between performing a sedentary behavior and not. The second layer of the method classifies the specific sedentary activity performed using only the smartphone's accelerometer and barometer data, but adding indoor location data, using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. To improve the precision of the classification, both layers implemented the Random Forest algorithm and the personal model. This study presents the first available method for the automatic classification of specific sedentary behaviors. The layered classification approach has the potential to improve processing, memory and energy consumption of mobile devices and wearables used.

  10. Secure Utilization of Beacons and UAVs in Emergency Response Systems for Building Fire Hazard.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seo, Seung-Hyun; Choi, Jung-In; Song, Jinseok

    2017-09-25

    An intelligent emergency system for hazard monitoring and building evacuation is a very important application area in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Through the use of smart sensors, such a system can provide more vital and reliable information to first-responders and also reduce the incidents of false alarms. Several smart monitoring and warning systems do already exist, though they exhibit key weaknesses such as a limited monitoring coverage and security, which have not yet been sufficiently addressed. In this paper, we propose a monitoring and emergency response method for buildings by utilizing beacons and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on an IoT security platform. In order to demonstrate the practicability of our method, we also implement a proof of concept prototype, which we call the UAV-EMOR (UAV-assisted Emergency Monitoring and Response) system. Our UAV-EMOR system provides the following novel features: (1) secure communications between UAVs, smart sensors, the control server and a smartphone app for security managers; (2) enhanced coordination between smart sensors and indoor/outdoor UAVs to expand real-time monitoring coverage; and (3) beacon-aided rescue and building evacuation.

  11. In situ exposure to non-directional beacons for air traffic control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph, Wout; Goeminne, Francis; Vermeeren, Günter; Verloock, Leen; Martens, Luc

    2012-04-01

    In situ electromagnetic field exposure of workers and the general public due to non-directional beacons (NDB) for air traffic control is assessed and characterized. For occupational exposure, the maximal measured electric field value is 881.6 V/m and the maximal magnetic field value is 9.1 A/m. The maximum electric fields exceed the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) reference levels at all seven NDB sites, and the magnetic fields at two of the seven NDB sites (occupational exposure). Recommendations and compliance distances for workers and the general public are provided. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Molecular beacon based biosensor for the sequence-specific detection of DNA using DNA-capped gold nanoparticles-streptavidin conjugates for signal amplification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fang, Xian; Jiang, Wei; Han, Xiaowei; Zhang, Yuzhong

    2013-01-01

    We describe a highly sensitive and selective molecular beacon-based electrochemical impedance biosensor for the sequence-specific detection of DNA. DNA-capped conjugates between gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) and streptavidin are used for signal amplification. The molecular beacon was labeled with a thiol at its 5′ end and with biotin at its 3′ end, and then immobilized on the surface of a bare gold electrode through the formation of Au-S bonds. Initially, the molecular beacon is present in the “closed” state, and this shields the biotin from being approached by streptavidin due to steric hindrance. In the presence of the target DNA, the target DNA molecules hybridize with the loop and cause a conformational change that moves the biotin away from the surface of the electrode. The biotin thereby becomes accessible for the reporter (the DNA-streptavidin capped Au-NPs), and this results in a distinct increase in electron transfer resistance. Under optimal conditions, the increase in resistance is linearly related to the logarithm of the concentration of complementary target DNA in the range from 1.0 fM to 0.1 μM, with a detection limit of 0.35 fM (at an S/N of 3). This biosensor exhibits good selectivity, and acceptable stability and reproducibility. (author)

  13. A quencher-free molecular beacon design based on pyrene excimer fluorescence using pyrene-labeled UNA (unlocked nucleic acid)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karlsen, Kasper Kannegård; Okholm, Anders Hauge; Kjems, Jørgen

    2013-01-01

    A quencher-free molecular beacon capable of generating pyrene excimer fluorescence has been constructed using strategically positioned pyrene-UNA monomers. Hybridization of a fully complementary RNA target was accompanied by a pyrene excimer emission increase of more than 900%, and detection of RNA...

  14. Studying the influence of stem composition in pH-sensitive molecular beacons onto their sensing properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dembska, Anna; Kierzek, Elzbieta; Juskowiak, Bernard

    2017-10-16

    Intracellular sensing using fluorescent molecular beacons is a potentially useful strategy for real-time, in vivo monitoring of important cellular events. This work is focused on evaluation of pyrene excimer signaling molecular beacons (MBs) for the monitoring of pH changes in vitro as well as inside living cells. The recognition element in our MB called pHSO (pH-sensitive oligonucleotide) is the loop enclosing cytosine-rich fragment that is able to form i-motif structure in a specific pH range. However, alteration of a sequence of the 6 base pairs containing stem of MB allowed the design of pHSO probes that exhibited different dynamic pH range and possessed slightly different transition midpoint between i-motif and open loop configuration. Moreover, this conformational transition was accompanied by spectral changes showing developed probes different pyrene excimer-monomer emission ratio triggered by pH changes. The potential of these MBs for intracellular pH sensing is demonstrated on the example of HeLa cells line. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Temporal change of EIA asymmetry revealed by a beacon receiver network in Southeast Asia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watthanasangmechai, Kornyanat; Yamamoto, Mamoru; Saito, Akinori; Maruyama, Takashi; Yokoyama, Tatsuhiro; Nishioka, Michi; Ishii, Mamoru

    2015-05-01

    To reveal the temporal change of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) asymmetry, a multipoint satellite-ground beacon experiment was conducted along the meridional plane of the Thailand-Indonesia sector. The observation includes one station near the magnetic equator and four stations at off-equator latitudes. This is the first EIA asymmetry study with high spatial resolution using GNU Radio Beacon Receiver (GRBR) observations in Southeast Asia. GRBR-total electron contents (TECs) from 97 polar-orbit satellite passes in March 2012 were analyzed in this study. Successive passes captured rapid evolution of EIA asymmetry, especially during geomagnetic disturbances. The penetrating electric fields that occur during geomagnetic disturbed days are not the cause of the asymmetry. Instead, high background TEC associated with an intense electric field empowers the neutral wind to produce severe asymmetry of the EIA. Such rapid evolution of EIA asymmetry was not seen during nighttime, when meridional wind mainly controlled the asymmetric structures. Additional data are necessary to identify the source of the variations, i.e., atmospheric waves. Precisely capturing the locations of the crests and the evolution of the asymmetry enhances understanding of the temporal change of EIA asymmetry at the local scale and leads to a future local modeling for TEC prediction in Southeast Asia.

  16. In-cell protease assay systems based on trans-localizing molecular beacon proteins using HCV protease as a model system.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeong Hee Kim

    Full Text Available This study describes a sensitive in-cell protease detection system that enables direct fluorescence detection of a target protease and its inhibition inside living cells. This live-cell imaging system provides a fluorescent molecular beacon protein comprised of an intracellular translocation signal sequence, a protease-specific cleavage sequence, and a fluorescent tag sequence(s. The molecular beacon protein is designed to change its intracellular localization upon cleavage by a target protease, i.e., from the cytosol to a subcellular organelle or from a subcellular organelle to the cytosol. Protease activity can be monitored at the single cell level, and accordingly the entire cell population expressing the protease can be accurately enumerated. The clear cellular change in fluorescence pattern makes this system an ideal tool for various life science and drug discovery research, including high throughput and high content screening applications.

  17. Guiding Math Students to Campus Services: An Impact Evaluation of the Beacon Program at South Texas College

    Science.gov (United States)

    Visher, Mary; Butcher, Kristin F.; Cerna, Oscar S.

    2011-01-01

    This research rigorously evaluates whether a low-cost intervention can improve students' performance in developmental math. The "Beacon Mentoring Program" was developed at South Texas College by professors, administrators, and staff at the college. Surveys of students revealed that many did not have someone on campus whom they felt they…

  18. A molecular beacon based on DNA-templated silver nanoclusters for the highly sensitive and selective multiplexed detection of virulence genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Dan; Wei, Chunying

    2018-05-01

    In this work, we develop a fluorescent molecular beacon based on the DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-Ag NCs). The skillfully designed molecular beacon can be conveniently used for detection of diverse virulence genes as long as the corresponding recognition sequences are embedded. Importantly, the constructed detection system allows simultaneous detection of multiple nucleic acids, which is attributed to non-overlapping emission spectra of the as-synthesized silver nanoclusters. Based on the target-induced fluorescence enhancement, three infectious disease-related genes HIV, H1N1, and H5N1 are detected, and the corresponding detection limits are 3.53, 0.12 and 3.95nM, respectively. This design allows specific, versatile and simultaneous detection of diverse targets with easy operation and low cost. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Beacons of discovery the worldwide science of particle physics

    CERN Document Server

    International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA)

    2011-01-01

    To discover what our world is made of and how it works at the most fundamental level is the challenge of particle physics. The tools of particle physics—experiments at particle accelerators and underground laboratories, together with observations of space—bring opportunities for discovery never before within reach. Thousands of scientists from universities and laboratories around the world collaborate to design, build and use unique detectors and accelerators to explore the fundamental physics of matter, energy, space and time. Together, in a common world-wide program of discovery, they provide a deep understanding of the world around us and countless benefits to society. Beacons of Discovery presents a vision of the global science of particle physics at the dawn of a new light on the mystery and beauty of the universe.

  20. Hardware Implementation of A Non-RLL Soft-decoding Beacon-based Visible Light Communication Receiver

    OpenAIRE

    Nguyen, Duc-Phuc; Le, Dinh-Dung; Tran, Thi-Hong; Huynh, Huu-Thuan; Nakashima, Yasuhiko

    2018-01-01

    Visible light communication (VLC)-based beacon systems, which usually transmit identification (ID) information in small-size data frames are applied widely in indoor localization applications. There is one fact that flicker of LED light should be avoid in any VLC systems. Current flicker mitigation solutions based on run-length limited (RLL) codes suffer from reduced code rates, or are limited to hard-decoding forward error correction (FEC) decoders. Recently, soft-decoding techniques of RLL-...

  1. 75 FR 20364 - Public Buildings Service; Key Largo Beacon Annex Site; Key Largo, FL; Transfer of Property

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-19

    ... GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION [Wildlife Order 187; 4-D-FL-1218] Public Buildings Service; Key Largo Beacon Annex Site; Key Largo, FL; Transfer of Property Pursuant to section 2 of Public Law 537, 80th Congress, approved May 19, 1948 (16 U.S.C. 667c), notice is hereby given that: 1. The General...

  2. Beacon Charter School Needs a School: A Case of Capital Outlay of Charters in a Public District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wronowski, Meredith L.

    2017-01-01

    The case study presented below is a representation of a real-world, ongoing situation involving a public school district's capital outlay for charter schools within its boundaries. One particular charter, Beacon Charter School, was promised a permanent building by the public school district that also acts as its authorizer. However, recent events…

  3. The use of low frequency HF beacons to derive layer shape

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heron, M.L.; Davies, K.

    1978-01-01

    The ATS-6 with its coherent multifrequency channels and various calibrations has brought the technology of beacon experiments to the point where the experimental accuracy exceeds that of some of the approximations used to derive total electron content. For example, the magnetic field term in the Faraday rotation experiment used to be given a mean value corresponding to about 50 km above the F layer peak. Another quantity that depends on profile shape is also available with present experiment, namely the refraction or second order term for carrier phase, modulation phase, or Faraday rotation. Some theoretical and experimental results are presented on these problems

  4. Enzymatic Amplification of DNA/RNA Hybrid Molecular Beacon Signaling in Nucleic Acid Detection

    OpenAIRE

    Jacroux, Thomas; Rieck, Daniel C.; Cui, Rong; Ouyang, Yexin; Dong, Wen-Ji

    2012-01-01

    A rapid assay operable under isothermal or non-isothermal conditions is described wherein the sensitivity of a typical molecular beacon (MB) system is improved by utilizing thermostable RNase H to enzymatically cleave an MB comprised of a DNA stem and RNA loop (R/D-MB). Upon hybridization of the R/D-MB to target DNA, there was a modest increase in fluorescence intensity (~5.7x above background) due to an opening of the probe and concomitant reduction in the Förster resonance energy transfer e...

  5. A case study of pediatric asthma alerts from the beacon community program in cincinnati: technology is just the first step.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trudnak, Tara; Mansour, Mona; Mandel, Keith; Sauers, Hadley; Pandzik, Gerry; Donisi, Carl; Fairbrother, Gerry

    2014-01-01

    The Beacon Community in Cincinnati, Ohio was an innovative, community-wide initiative to use technology to transform care. One important feature was the development of regional alerts to notify practices when patients were hospitalized or seen in the emergency department. The purpose of this paper is to describe the way in which technology engages the improvement process, and to describe the early stages of learning how to use technology to enhance quality improvement. We interviewed key Beacon leaders as well as providers and office staff in selected practices. We also collected preliminary data from practices that reflected handling of alerts, including the number of asthma related alerts received and followed up. Regional alerts, supplied by the community-wide health information exchange, were a significant addition to the quality improvement effort in that they enabled practices to identify and follow up with additional children at risk. An important finding was the substantial effort at the practice level to integrate technology into ongoing patient care. Developing the technology for community wide alerts represented a significant endeavor in the Cincinnati Beacon Community. However, the technology was just the first step. Despite extra effort and time required on the part of individual practices, they reported that the value of having alerts was high. Hospital and ED visits represent some of the most costly aspects of care, and an efficient process for intervening with children using these costly services was seen as of significant value.

  6. Low and Mid-Latitude Ionospheric Irregularities Studies Using TEC and Radio Scintillation Data from the CITRIS Radio Beacon Receiver in Low-Earth-Orbit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siefring, C. L.; Bernhardt, P. A.; Huba, J.; Krall, J.; Roddy, P. A.

    2009-12-01

    Unique data on ionospheric plasma irregularities from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) CITRIS (Scintillation and TEC Receiver in Space) instrument will be presented. CITRIS is a multi-band receiver that recorded TEC (Total Electron Content) and radio scintillations from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) on STPSat1. The 555+/5 km altitude 35° inclination orbit covers low and mid-latitudes. The measurements require propagation from a transmitter to a receiver through the F-region plasma. CITRIS used both 1) satellite beacons in LEO, such as the NRL CERTO (Coherent Electromagnetic Radio TOmography) beacons and 2) the global network of ground-based DORIS (Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite) beacons. The TEC measurements allow for tracking of ionospheric disturbances and irregularities while the measurements of scintillations can simultaneously characterize their effects. CITRIS was operated in a complementary fashion with the C/NOFS (Communication/Navigations Outages Forecasting System) satellite during most of its first year of operations. C/NOFS carries a three-frequency 150/400/1067 MHz CERTO beacon and is dedicated to the study of Spread-F. In the case of Spread-F, ionospheric irregularities start with large scale size density gradients (100s of km) and cascade through complex processes to short scale sizes (10s of meters). It is typically the 100m-1km scale features that harm communication and navigation systems through scintillations. A multi-sensor approach is needed to completely understand this complex system, such as, the combination of CITRIS remote radio sensing and C/NOFS in-situ data. Several types of irregularities have been studied including Spread-F and the newly discovered dawn-side depletions. Comparisons with the physics based SAMI3 model are being performed to help our understanding of the morphology of the irregularities.

  7. BEACON: An application of nodal methods for operational support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, W.A.; Nguyen, T.Q.

    1992-01-01

    A practical application of nodal methods is on-line plant operational support. However, to enable plant personnel to take full advantage of a nodal model to support plant operations, (a) a core nodal model must always be up to date with the current core history and conditions, (b) the nodal methods must be fast enough to allow numerous core calculations to be performed in minutes to support engineering decisions, and (c) the system must be easily accessible to engineering personnel at the reactor, their offices, or any other location considered appropriate. A core operational support package developed by Westinghouse called BEACON (best estimate analysis of core operations - nuclear) has been installed at several plants. Results from these plants and numerous in-core flux maps analyzed have demonstrated the accuracy of the model and the effectiveness of the methodology

  8. Evaluation of a rectangular rapid flashing beacon system at the Belmont Ridge Road and W&OD Trail mid-block crosswalk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-01

    On April 8, 2013, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) installed a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon : (RRFB) system at Belmont Ridge Road in Loudoun County that included two units at the Washington and Old Dominion : (W&OD) Trail crossin...

  9. Beaconing Performance in IEEE 802.11p Vehicular Networks: the Effect of Radio Channel Congestion

    OpenAIRE

    Librino, Francesco; Renda, Maria Elena; Santi, Paolo

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we study the performance of the beaconing mechanism underlying active safety vehicular applications in presence of different levels of channel congestion. The importance of this study lies in the fact that channel congestion is considered a major factor influencing communication performance in vehicular networks, and that ours is the first investigation of the effects of congestion based on extensive, real-world measurements. The results of our study reveal that congestion has ...

  10. The utah beacon experience: integrating quality improvement, health information technology, and practice facilitation to improve diabetes outcomes in small health care facilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tennison, Janet; Rajeev, Deepthi; Woolsey, Sarah; Black, Jeff; Oostema, Steven J; North, Christie

    2014-01-01

    The Utah Improving Care through Connectivity and Collaboration (IC3) Beacon community (2010-2013) was spearheaded by HealthInsight, a nonprofit, community-based organization. One of the main objectives of IC(3) was to improve health care provided to patients with diabetes in three Utah counties, collaborating with 21 independent smaller clinics and two large health care enterprises. This paper will focus on the use of health information technology (HIT) and practice facilitation to develop and implement new care processes to improve clinic workflow and ultimately improve patients' diabetes outcomes at 21 participating smaller, independent clinics. Early in the project, we learned that most of the 21 clinics did not have the resources needed to successfully implement quality improvement (QI) initiatives. IC(3) helped clinics effectively use data generated from their electronic health records (EHRs) to design and implement interventions to improve patients' diabetes outcomes. This close coupling of HIT, expert practice facilitation, and Learning Collaboratives was found to be especially valuable in clinics with limited resources. Through this process we learned that (1) an extensive readiness assessment improved clinic retention, (2) clinic champions were important for a successful collaboration, and (3) current EHR systems have limited functionality to assist in QI initiatives. In general, smaller, independent clinics lack knowledge and experience with QI and have limited HIT experience to improve patient care using electronic clinical data. Additionally, future projects like IC(3) Beacon will be instrumental in changing clinic culture so that QI is integrated into routine workflow. Our efforts led to significant changes in how practice staff optimized their EHRs to manage and improve diabetes care, while establishing the framework for sustainability. Some of the IC(3) Beacon practices are currently smoothly transitioning to new models of care such as Patient

  11. Development of a high-precision selenodetic coordinate system for the physical surface of the Moon based on LED beacons on its surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirenin, A. M.; Mazurova, E. M.; Bagrov, A. V.

    2016-11-01

    The paper presents a mathematical algorithm for processing an array of angular measurements of light beacons on images of the lunar surface onboard a polar artificial lunar satellite (PALS) during the Luna-Glob mission and coordinate-time referencing of the PALS for the development of reference selenocentric coordinate systems. The algorithm makes it possible to obtain angular positions of point light beacons located on the surface of the Moon in selenocentric celestial coordinates. The operation of measurement systems that determine the position and orientation of the PALS during its active existence have been numerically simulated. Recommendations have been made for the optimal use of different types of measurements, including ground radio trajectory measurements, navigational star sensors based on the onboard star catalog, gyroscopic orientation systems, and space videos of the lunar surface.

  12. Design and Implementation of Distress Prevention System using a Beacon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Imsu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available It was proven that human accidents due to mountain climbing occupy large proportion of recently occurred man-made disasters. This paper designed and implemented an application that tells users about a variety of accidents that frequently occur in mountain and shows dynamic information about mountain climbing. It designed ‘distress prevention system using beacon’. When using beacon, it can dynamically express information without using GPS. It has advantage of supporting BLE and has little Smartphone battery consumption. The application was developed based on Android as a prototype. We expect that the application developed in this paper can contribute to the protection of precious lives by helping quick rescue in case of emergency such as distress. Manager of mountain can control data regarding the mountain climbing accident where the related functions are provided through view and user authority setup in DBMS.

  13. Molecular Beacon Enables Combination of Highly Processive and Highly Sensitive Rolling Circle Amplification Readouts for Detection of DNA-Modifying Enzymes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristoffersen, Emil Laust; Gonzales, Maria; Stougaard, Magnus

    2015-01-01

    is separated, giving rise to a fluorescent signal, measurable in pseudo real-time using a qPCR machine or in a fluorimeter. The RCA products in complex with the molecular beacon can subsequently be moved to microscopic slides and analyzed in a fluorescence microscope. We describe the proof of the principle...

  14. Detection of Candida species in pregnant Chinese women with a molecular beacon method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhai, Yanhong; Liu, Jing; Zhou, Li; Ji, Tongzhen; Meng, Lingxin; Gao, Yang; Liu, Ran; Wang, Xiao; Li, Lin; Lu, Binghuai; Cao, Zheng

    2018-04-20

    Candida pathogens are commonly found in women and can cause vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), whose infection rate is further increased during pregnancy. We aimed to study the Candida prevalence and strain distribution in pregnant Chinese women with a molecular beacon assay. From March 2016 to February 2017, a total of 993 pregnant women attending routine antenatal visits at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital were enrolled. For Candida detection and identification, a unique molecular beacon assay was presented and compared with a traditional phenotypic method. Antifungal susceptibility was tested with the following agents: 5-flucytosine, amphotericin B, fluconazole, itraconazole and voriconazole. The prevalence of Candida was found to be 21.8 % when using the molecular method and 15.0 % when using the phenotypic method. The distribution of the Candida spp. was listed in order of decreasing prevalence: Candida albicans (79.8 %), Candida glabrata (13.5 %), Candida parapsilosis (3.7 %), Candida krusei (2.2 %) and Candida tropicalis (1.1 %). We found that 90.7 % of the Candida detection results were consistent between the molecular and the phenotypic methods. In the cases where the sequencing analyses for the Candida isolates resulted in inconsistent identification, the molecular method showed higher sensitivity than the phenotypic method (96.0 vs 64.6 %). C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis were essentially susceptible to all five antifungal agents tested, whereas C. tropicalis and C. krusei were susceptible to voriconazole and amphotericin B. By exhibiting good sensitivity and specificity, the molecular assay may offer a fast and accurate Candida screening platform for pregnant women.

  15. Facile conversion of ATP-binding RNA aptamer to quencher-free molecular aptamer beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Yoojin; Nim-Anussornkul, Duangrat; Vilaivan, Tirayut; Morii, Takashi; Kim, Byeang Hyean

    2018-01-15

    We have developed RNA-based quencher-free molecular aptamer beacons (RNA-based QF-MABs) for the detection of ATP, taking advantage of the conformational changes associated with ATP binding to the ATP-binding RNA aptamer. The RNA aptamer, with its well-defined structure, was readily converted to the fluorescence sensors by incorporating a fluorophore into the loop region of the hairpin structure. These RNA-based QF-MABs exhibited fluorescence signals in the presence of ATP relative to their low background signals in the absence of ATP. The fluorescence emission intensity increased upon formation of a RNA-based QF-MAB·ATP complex. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Seamless Guidance System Combining GPS, BLE Beacon, and NFC Technologies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rung-Shiang Cheng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Users rely increasingly on Location-Based Services (LBS and automated navigation/guidance systems nowadays. However, while such services are easily implemented in outdoor environments using Global Positioning System (GPS technology, a requirement still exists for accurate localization and guidance schemes in indoor settings. Accordingly, the present study proposes a system based on GPS, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE beacons, and Near Field Communication (NFC technology. Through establishing graphic information and the design of algorithm, this study develops a guidance system for indoors and outdoors on smart phones, wishing to give user perfect smart life through this system. The proposed system is implemented on a smart phone and evaluated on a student campus environment. The experimental results confirm the ability of the proposed app to switch automatically from an outdoor mode to an indoor mode and to guide the user to requested target destination via the shortest possible route.

  17. SOX2 and OCT4 mRNA-Expressing Cells, Detected by Molecular Beacons, Localize to the Center of Neurospheres during Differentiation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ilieva, Mirolyuba; Dufva, Martin

    2013-01-01

    Neurospheres are used as in vitro assay to measure the properties of neural stem cells. To investigate the molecular and phenotypic heterogeneity of neurospheres, molecular beacons (MBs) targeted against the stem cell markers OCT4 and SOX2 were designed, and synthesized with a 2'-O-methyl RNA...

  18. Baseline characteristics in the Bardoxolone methyl EvAluation in patients with Chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Occurrence of renal eveNts (BEACON) trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambers Heerspink, Hiddo J; Chertow, Glenn M; Akizawa, Tadao; Audhya, Paul; Bakris, George L; Goldsberry, Angie; Krauth, Melissa; Linde, Peter; McMurray, John J; Meyer, Colin J; Parving, Hans-Henrik; Remuzzi, Giuseppe; Christ-Schmidt, Heidi; Toto, Robert D; Vaziri, Nosratola D; Wanner, Christoph; Wittes, Janet; Wrolstad, Danielle; de Zeeuw, Dick

    2013-11-01

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most important contributing cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide. Bardoxolone methyl, a nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 activator, augments estimated glomerular filtration. The Bardoxolone methyl EvAluation in patients with Chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Occurrence of renal eveNts (BEACON) trial was designed to establish whether bardoxolone methyl slows or prevents progression to ESRD. Herein, we describe baseline characteristics of the BEACON population. BEACON is a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in 2185 patients with T2DM and chronic kidney disease stage 4 (eGFR between 15 and 30 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) designed to test the hypothesis that bardoxolone methyl added to guideline-recommended treatment including inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system slows or prevents progression to ESRD or cardiovascular death compared with placebo. Baseline characteristics (mean or percentage) of the population include age 68.5 years, female 43%, Caucasian 78%, eGFR 22.5 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and systolic/diastolic blood pressure 140/70 mmHg. The median urinary albumin:creatinine ratio was 320 mg/g and the frequency of micro- and macroalbuminuria was 30 and 51%, respectively. Anemia, abnormalities in markers of bone metabolism and elevations in cardiovascular biomarkers were frequently observed. A history of cardiovascular disease was present in 56%, neuropathy in 47% and retinopathy in 41% of patients. The BEACON trial enrolled a population heretofore unstudied in an international randomized controlled trial. Enrolled patients suffered with numerous co-morbid conditions and exhibited multiple laboratory abnormalities, highlighting the critical need for new therapies to optimize management of these conditions.

  19. Isothermal amplification detection of nucleic acids by a double-nicked beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Chao; Zhou, Meiling; Pan, Mei; Zhong, Guilin; Ma, Cuiping

    2016-03-01

    Isothermal and rapid amplification detection of nucleic acids is an important technology in environmental monitoring, foodborne pathogen detection, and point-of-care clinical diagnostics. Here we have developed a novel method of isothermal signal amplification for single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) detection. The ssDNA target could be used as an initiator, coupled with a double-nicked molecular beacon, to originate amplification cycles, achieving cascade signal amplification. In addition, the method showed good specificity and strong anti-jamming capability. Overall, it is a one-pot and isothermal strand displacement amplification method without the requirement of a stepwise procedure, which greatly simplifies the experimental procedure and decreases the probability of contamination of samples. With its advantages, the method would be very useful to detect nucleic acids in point-of-care or field use. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Energy optimization for upstream data transfer in 802.15.4 beacon-enabled star formulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Hua; Krishnamachari, Bhaskar

    2008-08-01

    Energy saving is one of the major concerns for low rate personal area networks. This paper models energy consumption for beacon-enabled time-slotted media accessing control cooperated with sleeping scheduling in a star network formulation for IEEE 802.15.4 standard. We investigate two different upstream (data transfer from devices to a network coordinator) strategies: a) tracking strategy: the devices wake up and check status (track the beacon) in each time slot; b) non-tracking strategy: nodes only wake-up upon data arriving and stay awake till data transmitted to the coordinator. We consider the tradeoff between energy cost and average data transmission delay for both strategies. Both scenarios are formulated as optimization problems and the optimal solutions are discussed. Our results show that different data arrival rate and system parameters (such as contention access period interval, upstream speed etc.) result in different strategies in terms of energy optimization with maximum delay constraints. Hence, according to different applications and system settings, different strategies might be chosen by each node to achieve energy optimization for both self-interested view and system view. We give the relation among the tunable parameters by formulas and plots to illustrate which strategy is better under corresponding parameters. There are two main points emphasized in our results with delay constraints: on one hand, when the system setting is fixed by coordinator, nodes in the network can intelligently change their strategies according to corresponding application data arrival rate; on the other hand, when the nodes' applications are known by the coordinator, the coordinator can tune the system parameters to achieve optimal system energy consumption.

  1. Prolonged survival in patients with breast cancer and a history of brain metastases: results of a preplanned subgroup analysis from the randomized phase III BEACON trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cortés, Javier; Rugo, Hope S; Awada, Ahmad; Twelves, Chris; Perez, Edith A; Im, Seock-Ah; Gómez-Pardo, Patricia; Schwartzberg, Lee S; Diéras, Veronique; Yardley, Denise A; Potter, David A; Mailliez, Audrey; Moreno-Aspitia, Alvaro; Ahn, Jin-Seok; Zhao, Carol; Hoch, Ute; Tagliaferri, Mary; Hannah, Alison L; O'Shaughnessy, Joyce

    2017-09-01

    Conventional chemotherapy has limited activity in patients with breast cancer and brain metastases (BCBM). Etirinotecan pegol (EP), a novel long-acting topoisomerase-1 inhibitor, was designed using advanced polymer technology to preferentially accumulate in tumor tissue including brain metastases, providing sustained cytotoxic SN38 levels. The phase 3 BEACON trial enrolled 852 women with heavily pretreated locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer between 2011 and 2013. BEACON compared EP with treatment of physician's choice (TPC; eribulin, vinorelbine, gemcitabine, nab-paclitaxel, paclitaxel, ixabepilone, or docetaxel) in patients previously treated with anthracycline, taxane, and capecitabine, including those with treated, stable brain metastases. The primary endpoint, overall survival (OS), was assessed in a pre-defined subgroup of BCBM patients; an exploratory post hoc analysis adjusting for the diagnosis-specific graded prognostic assessment (GPA) index was also conducted. In the trial, 67 BCBM patients were randomized (EP, n = 36; TPC, n = 31). Treatment subgroups were balanced for baseline characteristics and GPA indices. EP was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of death (HR 0.51; P BEACON population, fewer patients on EP experienced grade ≥3 toxicity (50 vs. 70%). The significant improvement in survival in BCBM patients provides encouraging data for EP in this difficult-to-treat subgroup of patients. A phase three trial of EP in BCBM patients is underway (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02915744).

  2. Design of a Combined Beacon Receiver and Digital Radiometer for 40 GHz Propagation Measurements at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zemba, Michael; Nessel, James; Morabito, David

    2017-01-01

    NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have jointly developed an atmospheric propagation terminal to measure and characterize propagation phenomena at 40 GHz at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) in Robledo de Chavela, Spain. The hybrid Q-band system utilizes a novel design which combines a 40 GHz beacon receiver and digital radiometer into the same RF front-end and observes the 39.402 GHz beacon of the European Space Agencys Alphasat Aldo Paraboni TDP5 experiment. Atmospheric measurements include gaseous absorption, rain fade, and scintillation. The radiometric measurement is calibrated by means of an included noise diode as well as tipping calibration. The goals of these measurements are to assist MDSCC mission operations as the facility increasingly supports Ka-band missions, as well as to contribute to the development and improvement of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) models for prediction of communications systems performance within the Q-band through the Aldo Paraboni Experiment. Herein, we provide an overview of the system design, characterization, and plan of operations which commenced at the MDSCC beginning in March 2017.

  3. Considerations for community-based mHealth initiatives: insights from three Beacon Communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abebe, Nebeyou A; Capozza, Korey L; Des Jardins, Terrisca R; Kulick, David A; Rein, Alison L; Schachter, Abigail A; Turske, Scott A

    2013-10-15

    Mobile health (mHealth) is gaining widespread attention for its potential to engage patients in their health and health care in their daily lives. Emerging evidence suggests that mHealth interventions can be used effectively to support behavior change, but numerous challenges remain when implementing these programs at the community level. This paper provides an overview of considerations when implementing community-based mHealth initiatives, based on the experiences of three Beacon Communities across the United States that have launched text messaging (short message service, SMS) pilot programs aimed at diabetes risk reduction and disease management. The paper addresses lessons learned and suggests strategies to overcome challenges related to developing text message content, conducting marketing and outreach, enrolling participants, engaging providers, evaluating program effectiveness, and sustaining and scaling the programs.

  4. Considerations for Community-Based mHealth Initiatives: Insights From Three Beacon Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Mobile health (mHealth) is gaining widespread attention for its potential to engage patients in their health and health care in their daily lives. Emerging evidence suggests that mHealth interventions can be used effectively to support behavior change, but numerous challenges remain when implementing these programs at the community level. This paper provides an overview of considerations when implementing community-based mHealth initiatives, based on the experiences of three Beacon Communities across the United States that have launched text messaging (short message service, SMS) pilot programs aimed at diabetes risk reduction and disease management. The paper addresses lessons learned and suggests strategies to overcome challenges related to developing text message content, conducting marketing and outreach, enrolling participants, engaging providers, evaluating program effectiveness, and sustaining and scaling the programs. PMID:24128406

  5. Practical Fingerprinting Localization for Indoor Positioning System by Using Beacons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santosh Subedi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent developments in the fields of smartphones and wireless communication technologies such as beacons, Wi-Fi, and ultra-wideband have made it possible to realize indoor positioning system (IPS with a few meters of accuracy. In this paper, an improvement over traditional fingerprinting localization is proposed by combining it with weighted centroid localization (WCL. The proposed localization method reduces the total number of fingerprint reference points over the localization space, thus minimizing both the time required for reading radio frequency signals and the number of reference points needed during the fingerprinting learning process, which eventually makes the process less time-consuming. The proposed positioning has two major steps of operation. In the first step, we have realized fingerprinting that utilizes lightly populated reference points (RPs and WCL individually. Using the location estimated at the first step, WCL is run again for the final location estimation. The proposed localization technique reduces the number of required fingerprint RPs by more than 40% compared to normal fingerprinting localization method with a similar localization estimation error.

  6. Optical Fiber Nanotips Coated with Molecular Beacons for DNA Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ambra Giannetti

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Optical fiber sensors, thanks to their compactness, fast response and real-time measurements, have a large impact in the fields of life science research, drug discovery and medical diagnostics. In recent years, advances in nanotechnology have resulted in the development of nanotools, capable of entering the single cell, resulting in new nanobiosensors useful for the detection of biomolecules inside living cells. In this paper, we provide an application of a nanotip coupled with molecular beacons (MBs for the detection of DNA. The MBs were characterized by hybridization studies with a complementary target to prove their functionality both free in solution and immobilized onto a solid support. The solid support chosen as substrate for the immobilization of the MBs was a 30 nm tapered tip of an optical fiber, fabricated by chemical etching. With this set-up promising results were obtained and a limit of detection (LOD of 0.57 nM was reached, opening up the possibility of using the proposed nanotip to detect mRNAs inside the cytoplasm of living cells.

  7. VLC-beacon detection with an under-sampled ambient light sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, Jacob; Pérez-Olivas, Huetzin; Martínez-Díaz, Saúl; García-Márquez, Jorge; Domínguez-González, Carlos; Santiago-Montero, Raúl; Guan, Hongyu; Rozenblat, Marc; Topsu, Suat

    2017-08-01

    LEDs will replace in a near future the current worldwide lighting mainly due to their low production-cost and energy-saving assets. Visible light communications (VLC) will turn gradually the existing lighting network into a communication network. Nowadays VLC transceivers can be found in some commercial centres in Europe; some of them broadcast continuously an identification tag that contains its coordinate position. In such a case, the transceiver acts as a geolocation beacon. Nevertheless, mobile transceivers represent a challenge in the VLC communication chain, as smartphones have not integrated yet a VLC customized detection stage. In order to make current smartphones capable to detect VLC broadcasted signals, their Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) is adapted as a VLC detector. For this to be achieved, lighting transceivers need to adapt their modulation scheme. For instance, frequencies representing start bit, 1, and 0 logic values can be set to avoid flicker from illumination and to permit detecting the under-sampled signal. Decoding the signal requires a multiple steps real-time signal processing as shown here.

  8. BEACON/MOD3, 1-D and 2-D 2 Phase Flow and Heat Transfer in Containment, LWR LOCA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Broadus, C.R.; Doyle, R.J.; James, S.W.; Lime, J.F.; Mings, W.J.; Ramsthaler, J.A.; Sahota, M.S.

    1982-01-01

    1 - Description of problem or function: The BEACON series of programs is designed to perform a best-estimate analysis of the flow of a mixture of air, water, and steam in a nuclear reactor containment system under loss-of-coolant accident conditions. The code can simulate two-component, two-phase fluid flow in complex geometries using a combination of two-dimensional, one-dimensional, and lumped- parameter representations for the various parts of the system. BEACON/MOD3 contains mass and heat transfer models for wall film and for wall conduction, and is suitable for the evaluation of short- term transients in PWR dry containment systems. The capability to examine the details of a two-components, two-phase flow field in one or two dimensions under nonhomogeneous, nonequilibrium conditions (unequal velocities, unequal temperatures between the two phases) allows analysis of such problems as the calculation of jet impact forces of a fluid leaving a pipe break, the motion of a large pressure wave across a compartment, the variation in flow properties as air is displaced from a compartment by steam and water, the water entrainment or de-entrainment by a high-speed vapor flow, the flow of a flashing liquid, and many other complex nonequilibrium problems of containment system analyses. 2 - Method of solution: The basic Eulerian flow solution procedure is based on the K-FIX two-dimensional two-phase numerical method. Each phase is described by its own density, velocity, and temperature as determined by separate sets of mass, momentum, and energy equations. The two phases are coupled by exchange parameters which model the exchange of mass, momentum, and energy between the two phases. The two sets of field equations are solved with a Eulerian finite- difference technique that implicitly treats the phase transitions and inter-phasic heat transfer in the pressure iteration. The implicit solution is accomplished iteratively without linearization and allows both phases to be

  9. Simple fluorescence-based detection of protein kinase A activity using a molecular beacon probe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Changbei; Lv, Xiaoyuan; Wang, Kemin; Jin, Shunxin; Liu, Haisheng; Wu, Kefeng; Zeng, Weimin

    2017-11-02

    Protein kinase A was detected by quantifying the amount of ATP used after a protein kinase reaction. The ATP assay was performed using the T4 DNA ligase and a molecular beacon (MB). In the presence of ATP, DNA ligase catalyzed the ligation of short DNA. The ligation product then hybridized to MB, resulting in a fluorescence enhancement of the MB. This assay was capable of determining protein kinase A in the range of 12.5∼150 nM, with a detection limit of 1.25 nM. Furthermore, this assay could also be used to investigate the effect of genistein on protein kinase A. It was a universal, non-radioisotopic, and homogeneous method for assaying protein kinase A.

  10. Pyrene functionalized molecular beacon with pH-sensitive i-motif in a loop.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dembska, Anna; Juskowiak, Bernard

    2015-01-01

    In this work, we present a spectral characterization of pH-sensitive system, which combines the i-motif properties with the spatially sensitive fluorescence signal of pyrene molecules attached to hairpin ends. The excimer production (fluorescence max. ∼480 nm) by pyrene labels at the ends of the molecular beacon is driven by pH-dependent i-motif formation in the loop. To illustrate the performance and reversible work of our systems, we performed the experiments with repeatedly pH cycling between pH values of 7.5±0.3 and 6.5±0.3. The sensor gives analytical response in excimer-monomer switching mode in narrow pH range (1.5 pH units) and exhibits high pH resolution (0.1 pH unit). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Nanomechanical DNA origami 'single-molecule beacons' directly imaged by atomic force microscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuzuya, Akinori; Sakai, Yusuke; Yamazaki, Takahiro; Xu, Yan; Komiyama, Makoto

    2011-01-01

    DNA origami involves the folding of long single-stranded DNA into designed structures with the aid of short staple strands; such structures may enable the development of useful nanomechanical DNA devices. Here we develop versatile sensing systems for a variety of chemical and biological targets at molecular resolution. We have designed functional nanomechanical DNA origami devices that can be used as 'single-molecule beacons', and function as pinching devices. Using 'DNA origami pliers' and 'DNA origami forceps', which consist of two levers ~170 nm long connected at a fulcrum, various single-molecule inorganic and organic targets ranging from metal ions to proteins can be visually detected using atomic force microscopy by a shape transition of the origami devices. Any detection mechanism suitable for the target of interest, pinching, zipping or unzipping, can be chosen and used orthogonally with differently shaped origami devices in the same mixture using a single platform. PMID:21863016

  12. The Inversion of Ionospheric/plasmaspheric Electron Density From GPS Beacon Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Y. H.; Xu, J. S.; Ma, S. Y.

    It is a space-time 4-D tomography to reconstruct ionospheric/ plasmaspheric elec- tron density, Ne, from ground-based GPS beacon measurements. The mathematical foundation of such inversion is studied in this paper and some simulation results of reconstruction for GPS network observation are presented. Assuming reasonably a power law dependence of NE on time with an index number of 1-3 during one ob- servational time of GPS (60-90min.), 4-D inversion in consideration is reduced to a 3-D cone-beam tomography with incomplete projections. To see clearly the effects of the incompleteness on the quality of reconstruction for 3-D condition, we deduced theoretically the formulae of 3-D parallel-beam tomography. After establishing the mathematical basis, we adopt linear temporal dependence of NE and voxel elemental functions to perform simulation of NE reconstruction with the help of IRI90 model. Reasonable time-dependent 3-D images of ionosphere/ plasmasphere electron density distributions are obtained when taking proper layout of the GPS network and allowing variable resolutions in vertical.

  13. ATS-6 radio beacon electron content measurements at Ootacamund, India, October 1975-July 1976

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouwer, S.D.; Davies, K.; Donnelly, R.F.; Grubb, R.N.; Jones, J.E.

    1980-03-01

    An atlas of total slant-path columnar electron content data measured between the ATS-6 satellite and Ootacamund, India, a site near the magnetic Equator is presented. Although these measurements were taken during a solar minimum, the general level of flare and geomagnetic activity that occurred during the observation period is summarized. These total content (N(T)) data were derived from the modulation phase (group delay) of a carrier signal transmitted from the geostationary satellite's Radio Beacon Experiment. This atlas contains two data sets: (1) N(T) as 2-min subsamples digitally recorded between 2 October 1975 and 28 January 1976 corrected for ATS-6 pitch maneuvers and (2) N(T) as 15-min subsamples chart recorded between 21 October 1975 and 22 July 1976 but uncorrected for changes in satellite orientation

  14. Performance Evaluation of Energy-Autonomous Sensors Using Power-Harvesting Beacons for Environmental Monitoring in Internet of Things (IoT).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moiş, George Dan; Sanislav, Teodora; Folea, Silviu Corneliu; Zeadally, Sherali

    2018-05-25

    Environmental conditions and air quality monitoring have become crucial today due to the undeniable changes of the climate and accelerated urbanization. To efficiently monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and the levels of pollutants, such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air, and to collect data covering vast geographical areas, the development of cheap energy-autonomous sensors for large scale deployment and fine-grained data acquisition is required. Rapid advances in electronics and communication technologies along with the emergence of paradigms such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) and the Internet of Things (IoT) have led to the development of low-cost sensor devices that can operate unattended for long periods of time and communicate using wired or wireless connections through the Internet. We investigate the energy efficiency of an environmental monitoring system based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that operate in the IoT environment. The beacons developed measure the temperature, the relative humidity, the light intensity, and the CO₂ and VOC levels in the air. Based on our analysis we have developed efficient sleep scheduling algorithms that allow the sensor nodes developed to operate autonomously without requiring the replacement of the power supply. The experimental results show that low-power sensors communicating using BLE technology can operate autonomously (from the energy perspective) in applications that monitor the environment or the air quality in indoor or outdoor settings.

  15. Performance Evaluation of Energy-Autonomous Sensors Using Power-Harvesting Beacons for Environmental Monitoring in Internet of Things (IoT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Dan Moiş

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Environmental conditions and air quality monitoring have become crucial today due to the undeniable changes of the climate and accelerated urbanization. To efficiently monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, and the levels of pollutants, such as fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs in the air, and to collect data covering vast geographical areas, the development of cheap energy-autonomous sensors for large scale deployment and fine-grained data acquisition is required. Rapid advances in electronics and communication technologies along with the emergence of paradigms such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs and the Internet of Things (IoT have led to the development of low-cost sensor devices that can operate unattended for long periods of time and communicate using wired or wireless connections through the Internet. We investigate the energy efficiency of an environmental monitoring system based on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE beacons that operate in the IoT environment. The beacons developed measure the temperature, the relative humidity, the light intensity, and the CO2 and VOC levels in the air. Based on our analysis we have developed efficient sleep scheduling algorithms that allow the sensor nodes developed to operate autonomously without requiring the replacement of the power supply. The experimental results show that low-power sensors communicating using BLE technology can operate autonomously (from the energy perspective in applications that monitor the environment or the air quality in indoor or outdoor settings.

  16. Mapping plasma structures in the high-latitude ionosphere using beacon satellite, incoherent scatter radar and ground-based magnetometer observations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Neubert

    2002-06-01

    Full Text Available In the autumn of the year 2000, four radio receivers capable of tracking various beacon satellites were set up along the southwestern coast of Greenland. They are used to reconstruct images of the ionospheric plasma density distribution via the tomographic method. In order to test and validate tomographic imaging under the highly variable conditions often prevailing in the high-latitude ionosphere, a time interval was selected when the Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar conducted measurements of the ionospheric plasma density while the radio receivers tracked a number of beacon satellites. A comparison between two-dimensional images of the plasma density distribution obtained from the radar and the satellite receivers revealed generally good agreement between radar measurements and tomographic images. Observed discrepancies can be attributed to F region plasma patches moving through the field of view with a speed of several hundred meters per second, thereby smearing out the tomographic image. A notable mismatch occurred around local magnetic midnight when a magnetospheric substorm breakup occurred in the vicinity of southwest Greenland (identified from ground-based magnetometer observations. The breakup was associated with a sudden intensification of the westward auroral electrojet which was centered at about 69 and extended up to some 73 corrected geomagnetic latitude. Ground-based magnetometer data may thus have the potential of indicating when the tomographic method is at risk and may fail. We finally outline the application of tomographic imaging, when combined with magnetic field data, to estimate ionospheric Joule heating rates.

  17. Novel Molecular Beacon Probe-Based Real-Time RT-PCR Assay for Diagnosis of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Encountered in India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aman Kamboj

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF is an emerging zoonotic disease in India and requires immediate detection of infection both for preventing further transmission and for controlling the infection. The present study describes development, optimization, and evaluation of a novel molecular beacon-based real-time RT-PCR assay for rapid, sensitive, and specific diagnosis of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV. The developed assay was found to be a better alternative to the reported TaqMan assay for routine diagnosis of CCHF.

  18. Long-stem shaped multifunctional molecular beacon for highly sensitive nucleic acids determination via intramolecular and intermolecular interactions based strand displacement amplification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Jianguo; Zheng, Tingting; Le, Jingqing; Jia, Lee

    2017-11-20

    Occurrence and application of oligonucleotide probes have promoted great progress in the biochemical analysis field due to their unique biological and chemical properties. In this work, a long-stem shaped multifunctional molecular beacon (LS-MMB) that is responsive to a cancer-related gene, p53, is well-prepared. By designing the probe with long-paired bases at its two ends and short-paired bases between the middle region and the 3' end, the LS-MMB is intelligently endowed with the ability to recognize the target analyte, serve as the polymerization primer/template, and signal the hybridization event synchronously, which is distinctly advantageous over the traditional molecular beacons (MBs). Moreover, it is excitingly found that the LS-MMB can be employed to exert intramolecular and intermolecular interactions for strand displacement amplification (SDA) without the involvement of any assistant probes; this therapy results in a really easy and rapid sensing system that provides an extremely low background noise and high target output signal. In this case, an excellent sensitivity and specificity to detect target gene down to picomolar level and resolution to even one nucleotide variation are achieved, respectively. In addition, the application potential for real genomic DNA analysis is realized. We envision that the probe of LS-MMB can act as a universal platform for biosensing and biomedical research.

  19. Real-time monitoring of disintegration activity of catalytic core domain of HIV-1 integrase using molecular beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Da-wei; Zhao, Ming-ming; He, Hong-qiu; Guo, Shun-xing

    2013-09-15

    HIV-1 integrase, an essential enzyme for retroviral replication, is a validated target for anti-HIV therapy development. The catalytic core domain of integrase (IN-CCD) is capable of catalyzing disintegration reaction. In this work, a hairpin-shaped disintegration substrate was designed and validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; a molecular beacon-based assay was developed for disintegration reaction of IN-CCD. Results showed that the disintegration substrate could be recognized and catalyzed by IN-CCD, and the disintegration reaction can be monitored according to the increase of fluorescent signal. The assay can be applied to real-time detection of disintegration with advantages of simplicity, high sensitivity, and excellent specificity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Molecular beacon anchored onto a graphene oxide substrate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darbandi, Arash; Datta, Debopam; Patel, Krunal; Lin, Gary; Stroscio, Michael A.; Dutta, Mitra

    2017-09-01

    In this article, we report a graphene oxide-based nanosensor incorporating semiconductor quantum dots linked to DNA-aptamers that functions as a ‘turn-off’ fluorescent nanosensor for detection of low concentrations of analytes. A specific demonstration of this turn-off aptasensor is presented for the case of the detection of mercury (II) ions. In this system, ensembles of aptamer-based quantum-dot sensors are anchored onto graphene oxide (GO) flakes which provide a platform for analyte detection in the vicinity of GO. Herein, the operation of this ensemble-based nanosensor is demonstrated for mercury ions, which upon addition of mercury, quenching of the emission intensity from the quantum dots is observed due to resonance energy transfer between quantum dots and the gold nanoparticle connected via a mercury target aptamer. A key result is that the usually dominant effect of quenching of the quantum dot due to close proximity to the GO can be reduced to negligible levels by using a linker molecule in conjunctions with the aptamer-based nanosensor. The effect of ionic concentration of the background matrix on the emission intensity was also investigated. The sensor system is found to be highly selective towards mercury and exhibits a linear behavior (r 2 > 0.99) in the nanomolar concentration range. The detection limit of the sensor towards mercury with no GO present was found to be 16.5 nM. With GO attached to molecular beacon via 14 base, 35 base, and 51 base long linker DNA, the detection limit was found to be 38.4 nM, 9.45 nM, and 11.38 nM; respectively.

  1. How a Beacon Community Program in New Orleans Helped Create a Better Health Care System by Building Relationships before Technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khurshid, Anjum; Brown, Lisanne

    2014-01-01

    In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, much of New Orleans' healthcare infrastructure was destroyed. Initial federal funding after the storm expanded primary care services and helped set up medical homes for New Orleans' large uninsured and underinsured population. Following that, the Beacon Community in New Orleans, charged with improving health care through the use of technology, decided the best way to accomplish those goals was to build community partnerships and introduce technology improvements based on their input and on their terms. The purpose of this paper is to describe how those partnerships were wrought, including the innovative use of a conceptual framework, and how they are being sustained; how different technologies were and are being introduced; and what the results have been so far. Past successful community experiences, as well as a proven conceptual framework, were used to help establish community partnerships and governance structures, as well as to demonstrate their linkages. This paper represents a compilation of reports and information from key Beacon leaders, staff and providers and their firsthand experiences in setting up those structures, as well as their conclusions. The community partnerships proved extremely successful in not only devising successful ways to introduce new technology into healthcare settings, but in sustaining those changes by creating a governance structure that has enough fluidity to adapt to changing circumstances. Building and developing community partnerships takes time and effort; however, these relationships are necessary and essential to introducing and sustaining new technologies in a healthcare setting and should be a first step for any organization looking to accomplish such goals.

  2. Space Weather Operation at KASI With Van Allen Probes Beacon Signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jongkil; Kim, Kyung-Chan; Giuseppe, Romeo; Ukhorskiy, Sasha; Sibeck, David; Kessel, Ramona; Mauk, Barry; Giles, Barbara; Gu, Bon-Jun; Lee, Hyesook; Park, Young-Deuk; Lee, Jaejin

    2018-02-01

    The Van Allen Probes (VAPs) are the only modern National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft broadcasting real-time data on the Earth's radiation belts for space weather operations. Since 2012, the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) has contributed to the receipt of these data via a 7 m satellite-tracking antenna and used these beacon data for space weather operations. An approximately 15 min period is required from measurement to acquisition of Level-1 data. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of VAP data for monitoring space weather conditions at geostationary orbit (GEO) by highlighting the Saint Patrick's Day storm of 2015. During that storm, Probe-A observed a significant increase in the relativistic electron flux at 3 RE. Those electrons diffused outward resulting in a large increase of the electron flux >2 MeV at GEO, which potentially threatened satellite operations. Based on this study, we conclude that the combination of VAP data and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA-GOES) data can provide improved space environment information to geostationary satellite operators. In addition, the findings obtained indicate that more data-receiving sites would be necessary and data connections improved if this or a similar system were to be used as an operational data service.

  3. Outage Probability Analysis in Power-Beacon Assisted Energy Harvesting Cognitive Relay Wireless Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ngoc Phuc Le

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the performance of the secondary relay system in a power-beacon (PB assisted energy harvesting cognitive relay wireless network. In our system model, a secondary source node and a relay node first harvest energy from distributed PBs. Then, the source node transmits its data to the destination node with the help of the relay node. Also, fading coefficients of the links from the PBs to the source node and relay node are assumed independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d Nakagami-m random variables. We derive exact expressions for the power outage probability and the channel outage probability. Based on that, we analyze the total outage probability of the secondary relay system. Asymptotic analysis is also performed, which provides insights into the system behavior. Moreover, we evaluate impacts of the primary network on the performance of the secondary network with respect to the tolerant interference threshold at the primary receiver as well as the interference introduced by the primary transmitter at the secondary source and relay nodes. Simulation results are provided to validate the analysis.

  4. Detection of DNA damage based on metal-mediated molecular beacon and DNA strands displacement reaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiong, Yanxiang; Wei, Min; Wei, Wei; Yin, Lihong; Pu, Yuepu; Liu, Songqin

    2014-01-01

    DNA hairpin structure probes are usually designed by forming intra-molecular duplex based on Watson-Crick hydrogen bonds. In this paper, a molecular beacon based on silver ions-mediated cytosine-Ag+-cytosine base pairs was used to detect DNA. The inherent characteristic of the metal ligation facilitated the design of functional probe and the adjustment of its binding strength compared to traditional DNA hairpin structure probes, which make it be used to detect DNA in a simple, rapid and easy way with the help of DNA strands displacement reaction. The method was sensitive and also possesses the good specificity to differentiate the single base mismatched DNA from the complementary DNA. It was also successfully applied to study the damage effect of classic genotoxicity chemicals such as styrene oxide and sodium arsenite on DNA, which was significant in food science, environmental science and pharmaceutical science.

  5. "Molecular beacon"-hosted thioflavin T: Applications for label-free fluorescent detection of iodide and logic operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yan-Yun; Jiang, Xiao-Qin; Lu, Ling-Fei; Zhang, Min; Shi, Guoyue

    2016-04-01

    In this work, we presented a simple, label-free and rapid-responsive fluorescence assay for iodide (I(-)) detection based on "molecular beacon (MB)"-hosted thioflavin T (ThT), achieving a limit of detection as low as 158 nM. The proposed method exhibited very good selectivity to I(-) ions over other anions interference due to the strong binding force between I(-) ions with Hg(2+). Upon the addition of I(-) ions, it would capture Hg(2+) from a T-Hg(2+)-T complex belonging to the MB-like DNA hairpin structure, which eventually quenched the initial fluorescence as output. In addition, it was successfully applied for operation of an integrated DNA logic gate system and to the determination of I(-) in real samples such as human urine. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Gastroesophageal reflux in relation to adenocarcinomas of the esophagus: a pooled analysis from the Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael B Cook

    Full Text Available Previous studies have evidenced an association between gastroesophageal reflux and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA. It is unknown to what extent these associations vary by population, age, sex, body mass index, and cigarette smoking, or whether duration and frequency of symptoms interact in predicting risk. The Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON allowed an in-depth assessment of these issues.Detailed information on heartburn and regurgitation symptoms and covariates were available from five BEACON case-control studies of EA and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma (EGJA. We conducted single-study multivariable logistic regressions followed by random-effects meta-analysis. Stratified analyses, meta-regressions, and sensitivity analyses were also conducted.Five studies provided 1,128 EA cases, 1,229 EGJA cases, and 4,057 controls for analysis. All summary estimates indicated positive, significant associations between heartburn/regurgitation symptoms and EA. Increasing heartburn duration was associated with increasing EA risk; odds ratios were 2.80, 3.85, and 6.24 for symptom durations of <10 years, 10 to <20 years, and ≥20 years. Associations with EGJA were slighter weaker, but still statistically significant for those with the highest exposure. Both frequency and duration of heartburn/regurgitation symptoms were independently associated with higher risk. We observed similar strengths of associations when stratified by age, sex, cigarette smoking, and body mass index.This analysis indicates that the association between heartburn/regurgitation symptoms and EA is strong, increases with increased duration and/or frequency, and is consistent across major risk factors. Weaker associations for EGJA suggest that this cancer site has a dissimilar pathogenesis or represents a mixed population of patients.

  7. Potential effects of the introduction of the discrete address beacon system data link on air/ground information transfer problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grayson, R. L.

    1981-01-01

    This study of Aviation Safety Reporting System reports suggests that benefits should accure from implementation of discrete address beacon system data link. The phase enhanced terminal information system service is expected to provide better terminal information than present systems by improving currency and accuracy. In the exchange of air traffic control messages, discrete address insures that only the intended recipient receives and acts on a specific message. Visual displays and printer copy of messages should mitigate many of the reported problems associated with voice communications. The problems that remain unaffected include error in addressing the intended recipient and messages whose content is wrong but are otherwise correct as to format and reasonableness.

  8. A molecular beacon microarray based on a quantum dot label for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Qingsheng; Bai, Zhixiong; Liu, Yuqian; Sun, Qingjiang

    2016-03-15

    In this work, we report the application of streptavidin-coated quantum dot (strAV-QD) in molecular beacon (MB) microarray assays by using the strAV-QD to label the immobilized MB, avoiding target labeling and meanwhile obviating the use of amplification. The MBs are stem-loop structured oligodeoxynucleotides, modified with a thiol and a biotin at two terminals of the stem. With the strAV-QD labeling an "opened" MB rather than a "closed" MB via streptavidin-biotin reaction, a sensitive and specific detection of label-free target DNA sequence is demonstrated by the MB microarray, with a signal-to-background ratio of 8. The immobilized MBs can be perfectly regenerated, allowing the reuse of the microarray. The MB microarray also is able to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms, exhibiting genotype-dependent fluorescence signals. It is demonstrated that the MB microarray can perform as a 4-to-2 encoder, compressing the genotype information into two outputs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Modified beacon probe assisted dual signal amplification for visual detection of microRNA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Xiuwei; Ying, Na; Ju, Chuanjing; Li, Zhongyi; Xu, Na; Qu, Guijuan; Liu, Wensen; Wan, Jiayu

    2018-04-21

    In a recent study, we reported a novel assay for the detection of microRNA-21 based on duplex-specific nuclease (DSN)-assisted isothermal cleavage and hybridization chain reaction (HCR) dual signal amplification. The Fam modified double-stranded DNA products were generated after the HCR, another biotin modified probe was digested by DSN and released from the magnetic beads after the addition of the target miRNA. The released sequence was then combined with HCR products to form a double-tagging dsDNA, which can be recognized by the lateral flow strips. In this study, we introduced a 2-OMethyl-RNA modified beacon probe (2-OMe-MB) to make some improvements based on the previous study. Firstly, the substitution of modified probe combined on magnetic beads avoids the fussy washing steps for the separation of un-reacted probes. Furthermore, the modification of 2-OMe on the stem of the probe avoided the unnecessary cleavage by DSN, which greatly reduce the background signal. Compared to the previous work, these improvements save us a lot of steps but possess the comparable sensitivity and selectivity. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Detection of Naja atra Cardiotoxin Using Adenosine-Based Molecular Beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yi-Jun; Chen, Ying-Jung; Hu, Wan-Ping; Chang, Long-Sen

    2017-01-07

    This study presents an adenosine (A)-based molecular beacon (MB) for selective detection of Naja atra cardiotoxin (CTX) that functions by utilizing the competitive binding between CTX and the poly(A) stem of MB to coralyne. The 5'- and 3'-end of MB were labeled with a reporter fluorophore and a non-fluorescent quencher, respectively. Coralyne induced formation of the stem-loop MB structure through A₂-coralyne-A₂ coordination, causing fluorescence signal turn-off due to fluorescence resonance energy transfer between the fluorophore and quencher. CTX3 could bind to coralyne. Moreover, CTX3 alone induced the folding of MB structure and quenching of MB fluorescence. Unlike that of snake venom α-neurotoxins, the fluorescence signal of coralyne-MB complexes produced a bell-shaped concentration-dependent curve in the presence of CTX3 and CTX isotoxins; a turn-on fluorescence signal was noted when CTX concentration was ≤80 nM, while a turn-off fluorescence signal was noted with a further increase in toxin concentrations. The fluorescence signal of coralyne-MB complexes yielded a bell-shaped curve in response to varying concentrations of N. atra crude venom but not those of Bungarus multicinctus and Protobothrops mucrosquamatus venoms. Moreover, N. nigricollis venom also functioned as N. atra venom to yield a bell-shaped concentration-dependent curve of MB fluorescence signal, again supporting that the hairpin-shaped MB could detect crude venoms containing CTXs. Taken together, our data validate that a platform composed of coralyne-induced stem-loop MB structure selectively detects CTXs.

  11. Experimental study of the evanescent-wave photonic sensors response in presence of molecular beacon conformational changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruiz-Tórtola, Ángela; Prats-Quílez, Francisco; Gónzalez-Lucas, Daniel; Bañuls, María-José; Maquieira, Ángel; Wheeler, Guy; Dalmay, Tamas; Griol, Amadeu; Hurtado, Juan; Bohlmann, Helge; Götzen, Reiner; García-Rupérez, Jaime

    2018-04-17

    An experimental study of the influence of the conformational change suffered by molecular beacon (MB) probes -upon the biorecognition of nucleic acid target oligonucleotides over evanescent wave photonic sensors- is reported. To this end, high sensitivity photonic sensors based on silicon photonic bandgap (PBG) structures were used, where the MB probes were immobilized via their 5' termination. Those MBs incorporate a biotin moiety close to their 3' termination in order to selectively bind a streptavidin molecule to them. The different photonic sensing responses obtained towards the target oligonucleotide detection, when the streptavidin molecule was bound to the MB probes or not, demonstrate the conformational change suffered by the MB upon hybridization, which promotes the displacement of the streptavidin molecule away from the surface of the photonic sensing structure. Schematic diagram of the PBG sensing structure on which the streptavidin-labeled MB probes were immobilized. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  12. A Novel Algorithm for Determining the Contextual Characteristics of Movement Behaviors by Combining Accelerometer Features and Wireless Beacons: Development and Implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magistro, Daniele; Sessa, Salvatore; Kingsnorth, Andrew P; Loveday, Adam; Simeone, Alessandro; Zecca, Massimiliano; Esliger, Dale W

    2018-04-20

    Unfortunately, global efforts to promote "how much" physical activity people should be undertaking have been largely unsuccessful. Given the difficulty of achieving a sustained lifestyle behavior change, many scientists are reexamining their approaches. One such approach is to focus on understanding the context of the lifestyle behavior (ie, where, when, and with whom) with a view to identifying promising intervention targets. The aim of this study was to develop and implement an innovative algorithm to determine "where" physical activity occurs using proximity sensors coupled with a widely used physical activity monitor. A total of 19 Bluetooth beacons were placed in fixed locations within a multilevel, mixed-use building. In addition, 4 receiver-mode sensors were fitted to the wrists of a roving technician who moved throughout the building. The experiment was divided into 4 trials with different walking speeds and dwelling times. The data were analyzed using an original and innovative algorithm based on graph generation and Bayesian filters. Linear regression models revealed significant correlations between beacon-derived location and ground-truth tracking time, with intraclass correlations suggesting a high goodness of fit (R 2 =.9780). The algorithm reliably predicted indoor location, and the robustness of the algorithm improved with a longer dwelling time (>100 s; error location of an individual within an indoor environment. This novel implementation of "context sensing" will facilitate a wealth of new research questions on promoting healthy behavior change, the optimization of patient care, and efficient health care planning (eg, patient-clinician flow, patient-clinician interaction). ©Daniele Magistro, Salvatore Sessa, Andrew P Kingsnorth, Adam Loveday, Alessandro Simeone, Massimiliano Zecca, Dale W Esliger. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 20.04.2018.

  13. Observations of inner plasmasphere irregularities with a satellite-beacon radio-interferometer array

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacobson, A.R.; Hoogeveen, G.; Carlos, R.C.; Wu, G.; Fejer, B.G.; Kelley, M.C.

    1996-01-01

    A radio-interferometer array illuminated by 136-MHz beacons of several geosynchronous satellites has been used to study small (≥10 13 m -2 ) transient disturbances in the total electron content along the lines of sight to the satellites. High-frequency (f>3 mHz) electron content oscillations are persistently observed, particularly during night and particularly during geomagnetically disturbed periods. The oscillations move across the array plane at speeds in the range 200 endash 2000 m/s, with propagation azimuths that are strongly peaked in lobes toward the western half-plane. Detailed analysis of this azimuth behavior, involving comparison between observations on various satellite positions, indicates compellingly that the phase oscillations originate in radio refraction due to geomagnetically aligned plasma density perturbations in the inner plasmasphere. The motion of the phase perturbations across the array plane is caused by EXB drift of the plasma medium in which the irregularities are embedded. We review the statistics of 2.5 years of around-the-clock data on the local time, magnetic disturbance, seasonal, and line-of-sight variations of these observed irregularities. We compare the irregularities close-quote inferred electrodynamic drifts to what is known about midlatitude plasma drift from incoherent scatter. Finally, we show in detail how the observation of these irregularities provides a unique and complementary monitor of inner plasmasphere irregularity incidence and zonal drift.copyright 1996 American Geophysical Union

  14. Learning from health information exchange technical architecture and implementation in seven beacon communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Douglas B; Propp, Karen; Cohen, Alexander; Sabharwal, Raj; Schachter, Abigail A; Rein, Alison L

    2014-01-01

    As health care providers adopt and make "meaningful use" of health information technology (health IT), communities and delivery systems must set up the infrastructure to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) between providers and numerous other stakeholders who have a role in supporting health and care. By facilitating better communication and coordination between providers, HIE has the potential to improve clinical decision-making and continuity of care, while reducing unnecessary use of services. When implemented as part of a broader strategy for health care delivery system and payment reform, HIE capability also can enable the use of analytic tools needed for population health management, patient engagement in care, and continuous learning and improvement. The diverse experiences of seven communities that participated in the three-year federal Beacon Community Program offer practical insight into factors influencing the technical architecture of exchange infrastructure and its role in supporting improved care, reduced cost, and a healthier population. The case studies also document challenges faced by the communities, such as significant time and resources required to harmonize variations in the interpretation of data standards. Findings indicate that their progress developing community-based HIE strategies, while driven by local needs and objectives, is also influenced by broader legal, policy, and market conditions.

  15. Learning from Health Information Exchange Technical Architecture and Implementation in Seven Beacon Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, Douglas B.; Propp, Karen; Cohen, Alexander; Sabharwal, Raj; Schachter, Abigail A.; Rein, Alison L.

    2014-01-01

    As health care providers adopt and make “meaningful use” of health information technology (health IT), communities and delivery systems must set up the infrastructure to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) between providers and numerous other stakeholders who have a role in supporting health and care. By facilitating better communication and coordination between providers, HIE has the potential to improve clinical decision-making and continuity of care, while reducing unnecessary use of services. When implemented as part of a broader strategy for health care delivery system and payment reform, HIE capability also can enable the use of analytic tools needed for population health management, patient engagement in care, and continuous learning and improvement. The diverse experiences of seven communities that participated in the three-year federal Beacon Community Program offer practical insight into factors influencing the technical architecture of exchange infrastructure and its role in supporting improved care, reduced cost, and a healthier population. The case studies also document challenges faced by the communities, such as significant time and resources required to harmonize variations in the interpretation of data standards. Findings indicate that their progress developing community-based HIE strategies, while driven by local needs and objectives, is also influenced by broader legal, policy, and market conditions. PMID:25848591

  16. Location-Enhanced Activity Recognition in Indoor Environments Using Off the Shelf Smart Watch Technology and BLE Beacons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Filippoupolitis, Avgoustinos; Oliff, William; Takand, Babak; Loukas, George

    2017-05-27

    Activity recognition in indoor spaces benefits context awareness and improves the efficiency of applications related to personalised health monitoring, building energy management, security and safety. The majority of activity recognition frameworks, however, employ a network of specialised building sensors or a network of body-worn sensors. As this approach suffers with respect to practicality, we propose the use of commercial off-the-shelf devices. In this work, we design and evaluate an activity recognition system composed of a smart watch, which is enhanced with location information coming from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. We evaluate the performance of this approach for a variety of activities performed in an indoor laboratory environment, using four supervised machine learning algorithms. Our experimental results indicate that our location-enhanced activity recognition system is able to reach a classification accuracy ranging from 92% to 100%, while without location information classification accuracy it can drop to as low as 50% in some cases, depending on the window size chosen for data segmentation.

  17. Basic Investigations of Dynamic Travel Time Estimation Model for Traffic Signals Control Using Information from Optical Beacons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okutani, Iwao; Mitsui, Tatsuro; Nakada, Yusuke

    In this paper put forward are neuron-type models, i.e., neural network model, wavelet neuron model and three layered wavelet neuron model(WV3), for estimating traveling time between signalized intersections in order to facilitate adaptive setting of traffic signal parameters such as green time and offset. Model validation tests using simulated data reveal that compared to other models, WV3 model works very fast in learning process and can produce more accurate estimates of travel time. Also, it is exhibited that up-link information obtainable from optical beacons, i.e., travel time observed during the former cycle time in this case, makes a crucial input variable to the models in that there isn't any substantial difference between the change of estimated and simulated travel time with the change of green time or offset when up-link information is employed as input while there appears big discrepancy between them when not employed.

  18. BErkeley Atmospheric CO2 Network (BEACON) - Bringing Measurements of CO2 Emissions to a School Near You

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teige, V. E.; Havel, E.; Patt, C.; Heber, E.; Cohen, R. C.

    2011-12-01

    The University of California at Berkeley in collaboration with the Chabot Space and Science Center describe a set of educational programs, workshops, and exhibits based on a multi-node greenhouse gas and air quality monitoring network being deployed over Oakland, California. Examining raw numerical data using highly engaging and effective geo-data visualization tools like Google Earth can make the science come alive for students, and provide a hook for drawing them into deeper investigations. The Climate Science Investigations teacher workshop at the Chabot Space and Science Center will make use of Google Earth, Excel, and other geo-data visualization tools to step students through the process from data acquisition to discovery. Using multiple data sources, including output from the BErkeley Atmospheric CO2 Network (BEACON) project, participants will be encouraged to explore a variety of different modes of data display toward producing a unique, and ideally insightful, illumination of the data.

  19. Voltammetric determination of attomolar levels of a sequence derived from the genom of hepatitis B virus by using molecular beacon mediated circular strand displacement and rolling circle amplification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Shan; Feng, Mengmeng; Li, Jiawen; Liu, Yi; Xiao, Qi

    2018-03-03

    The authors describe an electrochemical method for the determination of the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) oligonucleotide with a sequence derived from the genom of hepatitis B virus (HBV). It is making use of circular strand displacement (CSD) and rolling circle amplification (RCA) strategies mediated by a molecular beacon (MB). This ssDNA hybridizes with the loop portion of the MB immobilized on the surface of a gold electrode, while primer DNA also hybridizes with the rest of partial DNA sequences of MB. This triggers the MB-mediated CSD. The RCA is then initiated to produce a long DNA strand with multiple tandem-repeat sequences, and this results in a significant increase of the differential pulse voltammetric response of the electrochemical probe Methylene Blue at a rather low working potential of -0.24 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Under optimal experimental conditions, the assay displays an ultrahigh sensitivity (with a 2.6 aM detection limit) and excellent selectivity. Response is linear in the 10 to 700 aM DNA concentration range. Graphical abstract Schematic of a voltammetric method for the determination of attomolar levels of target DNA. It is based on molecular beacon mediated circular strand displacement and rolling circle amplification strategies. Under optimal experimental conditions, the assay displays an ultrahigh sensitivity with a 2.6 aM detection limit and excellent selectivity.

  20. Theranostic properties of a survivin-directed molecular beacon in human melanoma cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Carpi

    Full Text Available Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis overexpressed in different types of tumors and undetectable in most terminally differentiated normal tissues. In the current study, we sought to evaluate the in vitro theranostic properties of a molecular beacon-oligodeoxynucleotide (MB that targets survivin mRNA. We used laser scanning confocal microscopy to study MB delivery in living cells and real-time PCR and western blot to assess selective survivin-targeting in human malignant melanoma cells. We further assess the pro-apoptotic effect of MB by measuring internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP and changes in nuclear morphology. Transfection of MB into A375 and 501 Mel cells generated high signal intensity from the cytoplasm, while no signal was detected in the extracellular environment and in survivin-negative cells (i.e., human melanocytes and monocytes. MB time dependently decreased survivin mRNA and protein expression in melanoma cells with the maximum effect reached at 72 h. Treatment of melanoma cells with MB induced apoptosis by significant changes in MMP, accumulation of histone-complexed DNA fragments in the cytoplasm and nuclear condensation. MB also enhanced the pro-apoptotic effect of standard chemotherapeutic drugs tested at clinically relevant concentrations. The MB tested in the current study conjugates the ability of imaging with the pharmacological silencing activity against survivin mRNA in human melanoma cells and may represent an innovative approach for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

  1. The keys to governance and stakeholder engagement: the southeast michigan beacon community case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Des Jardins, Terrisca R

    2014-01-01

    Community-based health information exchanges (HIEs) and efforts to consolidate and house data are growing, given the advent of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Affordable Care Act and other similar population health focused initiatives. The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community (SEMBC) can be looked to as one case study that offers lessons learned, insights on challenges faced and accompanying workarounds related to governance and stakeholder engagement. The SEMBC case study employs an established Data Warehouse Governance Framework to identify and explain the necessary governance and stakeholder engagement components, particularly as they relate to community-wide data sharing and data warehouses or repositories. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned through the SEMBC experience is that community-based work is hard. It requires a great deal of community leadership, collaboration and resources. SEMBC found that organizational structure and guiding principles needed to be continually revisited and nurtured in order to build the relationships and trust needed among stakeholder organizations. SEMBC also found that risks and risk mitigation tactics presented challenges and opportunities at the outset and through the duration of the three year pilot period. Other communities across the country embarking on similar efforts need to consider realistic expectations about community data sharing infrastructures and the accompanying and necessary governance and stakeholder engagement fundamentals.

  2. The Keys to Governance and Stakeholder Engagement: The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Des Jardins, Terrisca R.

    2014-01-01

    Community-based health information exchanges (HIEs) and efforts to consolidate and house data are growing, given the advent of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Affordable Care Act and other similar population health focused initiatives. The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community (SEMBC) can be looked to as one case study that offers lessons learned, insights on challenges faced and accompanying workarounds related to governance and stakeholder engagement. The SEMBC case study employs an established Data Warehouse Governance Framework to identify and explain the necessary governance and stakeholder engagement components, particularly as they relate to community-wide data sharing and data warehouses or repositories. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned through the SEMBC experience is that community-based work is hard. It requires a great deal of community leadership, collaboration and resources. SEMBC found that organizational structure and guiding principles needed to be continually revisited and nurtured in order to build the relationships and trust needed among stakeholder organizations. SEMBC also found that risks and risk mitigation tactics presented challenges and opportunities at the outset and through the duration of the three year pilot period. Other communities across the country embarking on similar efforts need to consider realistic expectations about community data sharing infrastructures and the accompanying and necessary governance and stakeholder engagement fundamentals. PMID:25848612

  3. Location-Enhanced Activity Recognition in Indoor Environments Using Off the Shelf Smart Watch Technology and BLE Beacons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avgoustinos Filippoupolitis

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Activity recognition in indoor spaces benefits context awareness and improves the efficiency of applications related to personalised health monitoring, building energy management, security and safety. The majority of activity recognition frameworks, however, employ a network of specialised building sensors or a network of body-worn sensors. As this approach suffers with respect to practicality, we propose the use of commercial off-the-shelf devices. In this work, we design and evaluate an activity recognition system composed of a smart watch, which is enhanced with location information coming from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE beacons. We evaluate the performance of this approach for a variety of activities performed in an indoor laboratory environment, using four supervised machine learning algorithms. Our experimental results indicate that our location-enhanced activity recognition system is able to reach a classification accuracy ranging from 92% to 100%, while without location information classification accuracy it can drop to as low as 50% in some cases, depending on the window size chosen for data segmentation.

  4. G-Quadruplex DNAzyme Molecular Beacon for Amplified Colorimetric Biosensing of Pseudostellaria heterophylla

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Hu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available With an internal transcribed spacer of 18 S, 5.8 S and 26 S nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA ITS as DNA marker, we report a colorimetric approach for authentication of Pseudostellaria heterophylla (PH and its counterfeit species based on the differentiation of the nrDNA ITS sequence. The assay possesses an unlabelled G-quadruplex DNAzyme molecular beacon (MB probe, employing complementary sequence as biorecognition element and 1:1:1:1 split G-quadruplex halves as reporter. In the absence of target DNA (T-DNA, the probe can shape intermolecular G-quadruplex structures capable of binding hemin to form G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme and catalyze the oxidation of ABTS2− to blue-green ABTS•− by H2O2. In the presence of T-DNA, T-DNA can hybridize with the complementary sequence to form a duplex structure, hindering the formation of the G-quadruplex structure and resulting in the loss of the catalytic activity. Consequently, a UV-Vis absorption signal decrease is observed in the ABTS2−-H2O2 system. The “turn-off” assay allows the detection of T-DNA from 1.0 × 10−9 to 3.0 × 10−7 mol·L−1 (R2 = 0.9906, with a low detection limit of 3.1 × 10−10 mol·L−1. The present study provides a sensitive and selective method and may serve as a foundation of utilizing the DNAzyme MB sensor for identifying traditional Chinese medicines.

  5. Use of Faraday-rotation data from beacon satellites to determine ionospheric corrections for interplanetary spacecraft navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Royden, H. N.; Green, D. W.; Walson, G. R.

    1981-01-01

    Faraday-rotation data from the linearly polarized 137-MHz beacons of the ATS-1, SIRIO, and Kiku-2 geosynchronous satellites are used to determine the ionospheric corrections to the range and Doppler data for interplanetary spacecraft navigation. The JPL operates the Deep Space Network of tracking stations for NASA; these stations monitor Faraday rotation with dual orthogonal, linearly polarized antennas, Teledyne polarization tracking receivers, analog-to-digital converter/scanners, and other support equipment. Computer software examines the Faraday data, resolves the pi ambiguities, constructs a continuous Faraday-rotation profile and converts the profile to columnar zenith total electron content at the ionospheric reference point; a second program computes the line-of-sight ionospheric correction for each pass of the spacecraft over each tracking complex. Line-of-sight ionospheric electron content using mapped Faraday-rotation data is compared with that using dispersive Doppler data from the Voyager spacecraft; a difference of about 0.4 meters, or 5 x 10 to the 16th electrons/sq m is obtained. The technique of determining the electron content of interplanetary plasma by subtraction of the ionospheric contribution is demonstrated on the plasma torus surrounding the orbit of Io.

  6. Quantum Dot-Fullerene Based Molecular Beacon Nanosensors for Rapid, Highly Sensitive Nucleic Acid Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ye; Kannegulla, Akash; Wu, Bo; Cheng, Li-Jing

    2018-05-15

    Spherical fullerene (C 60 ) can quench the fluorescence of a quantum dot (QD) through energy transfer and charge transfer processes, with the quenching efficiency regulated by the number of proximate C 60 on each QD. With the quenching property and its small size compared with other nanoparticle-based quenchers, it is advantageous to group a QD reporter and multiple C 60 -labeled oligonucleotide probes to construct a molecular beacon (MB) probe for sensitive, robust nucleic acid detection. We demonstrated a rapid, high-sensitivity DNA detection method using the nanosensors composed of QD-C 60 based MBs carried by magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). The assay was accelerated by first dispersing the nanosensors in analytes for highly efficient DNA capture resulting from short-distance 3-dimensional diffusion of targets to the sensor surface and then concentrating the nanosensors to a substrate by magnetic force to amplify the fluorescence signal for target quantification. The enhanced mass transport enabled a rapid detection (< 10 min) with a small sample volume (1-10 µl). The high signal-to-noise ratio produced by the QD-C 60 pairs and magnetic concentration yielded a detection limit of 100 fM (~106 target DNA copies for a 10 µl analyte). The rapid, sensitive, label-free detection method will benefit the applications in point-of-care molecular diagnostic technologies.

  7. Recognition of dual targets by a molecular beacon-based sensor: subtyping of influenza A virus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chun-Ching; Liao, Yu-Chieh; Lai, Yu-Hsuan; Lee, Chang-Chun David; Chuang, Min-Chieh

    2015-01-01

    A molecular beacon (MB)-based sensor to offer a decisive answer in combination with information originated from dual-target inputs is designed. The system harnesses an assistant strand and thermodynamically favored designation of unpaired nucleotides (UNs) to process the binary targets in "AND-gate" format and report fluorescence in "off-on" mechanism via a formation of a DNA four-way junction (4WJ). By manipulating composition of the UNs, the dynamic fluorescence difference between the binary targets-coexisting circumstance and any other scenario was maximized. Characteristic equilibrium constant (K), change of entropy (ΔS), and association rate constant (k) between the association ("on") and dissociation ("off") states of the 4WJ were evaluated to understand unfolding behavior of MB in connection to its sensing capability. Favorable MB and UNs were furthermore designed toward analysis of genuine genetic sequences of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) in an influenza A H5N2 isolate. The MB-based sensor was demonstrated to yield a linear calibration range from 1.2 to 240 nM and detection limit of 120 pM. Furthermore, high-fidelity subtyping of influenza virus was implemented in a sample of unpurified amplicons. The strategy opens an alternative avenue of MB-based sensors for dual targets toward applications in clinical diagnosis.

  8. A Biofunctional Molecular Beacon for Detecting Single Base Mutations in Cancer Cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiyan Dong

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The development of a convenient and sensitive biosensing system to detect specific DNA sequences is an important issue in the field of genetic disease therapy. As a classic DNA detection technique, molecular beacon (MB is often used in the biosensing system. However, it has intrinsic drawbacks, including high assay cost, complicated chemical modification, and operational complexity. In this study, we developed a simple and cost-effective label-free multifunctional MB (LMMB by integrating elements of polymerization primer, template, target recognition, and G-quadruplex into one entity to detect target DNA. The core technique was accomplished by introducing a G-hairpin that features fragments of both G-quadruplex and target DNA recognition in the G-hairpin stem. Hybridization between LMMB and target DNA triggered conformational change between the G-hairpin and the common C-hairpin, resulting in significant SYBR-green signal amplification. The hybridization continues to the isothermal circular strand-displacement polymerization and accumulation of the double-stranded fragments, causing the uninterrupted extension of the LMMB without a need of chemical modification and other assistant DNA sequences. The novel and programmable LMMB could detect target DNA with sensitivity at 250 pmol/l with a linear range from 2 to 100 nmol/l and the relative standard deviation of 7.98%. The LMMB could sense a single base mutation from the normal DNA, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR amplicons of the mutant-type cell line from the wild-type one. The total time required for preparation and assaying was only 25 minutes. Apparently, the LMMB shows great potential for detecting DNA and its mutations in biosamples, and therefore it opens up a new prospect for genetic disease therapy.

  9. Comparison of mapped and measured total ionospheric electron content using global positioning system and beacon satellite observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lanyi, G.E.; Roth, T.

    1988-01-01

    Total ionospheric electron contents (TEC) were measured by global positioning system (GPS) dual-frequency receivers developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The measurements included P-code (precise ranging code) and carrier phase data for six GPS satellites during multiple five-hour observing sessions. A set of these GPS TEC measurements were mapped from the GPS lines of sight to the line of sight of a Faraday beacon satellite by statistically fitting the TEC data to a simple model of the ionosphere. The mapped GPS TEC values were compared with the Faraday rotation measurements. Because GPS transmitter offsets are different for each satellite and because some GPS receiver offsets were uncalibrated, the sums of the satellite and receiver offsets were estimated simultaneously with the TEC in a least squares procedure. The accuracy of this estimation procedure is evaluated indicating that the error of the GPS-determined line of sight TEC can be at or below 1 x 10 to the 16th el/sq cm. Consequently, the current level of accuracy is comparable to the Faraday rotation technique; however, GPS provides superior sky coverage. 15 references

  10. Selective amyloid β oligomer assay based on abasic site-containing molecular beacon and enzyme-free amplification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Linling; Zhang, Junying; Wang, Fengyang; Wang, Ya; Lu, Linlin; Feng, Chongchong; Xu, Zhiai; Zhang, Wen

    2016-04-15

    Amyloid-beta (Aβ) oligomers are highly toxic species in the process of Aβ aggregation and are regarded as potent therapeutic targets and diagnostic markers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Herein, a label-free molecular beacon (MB) system integrated with enzyme-free amplification strategy was developed for simple and highly selective assay of Aβ oligomers. The MB system was constructed with abasic site (AP site)-containing stem-loop DNA and a fluorescent ligand 2-amino-5,6,7-trimethyl-1,8-naphyridine (ATMND), of which the fluorescence was quenched upon binding to the AP site in DNA stem. Enzyme-free amplification was realized by target-triggered continuous opening of two delicately designed MBs (MB1 and MB2). Target DNA hybridization with MB1 and then MB2 resulted in the release of two ATMND molecules in one binding event. Subsequent target recycling could greatly amplify the detection sensitivity due to the greatly enhanced turn-on emission of ATMND fluorescence. Combining with Aβ oligomers aptamers, the strategy was applied to analyze Aβ oligomers and the results showed that it could quantify Aβ oligomers with high selectivity and monitor the Aβ aggregation process. This novel method may be conducive to improve the diagnosis and pathogenic study of Alzheimer's disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Geologic map of the Beacon Rock quadrangle, Skamania County, Washington

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evarts, Russell C.; Fleck, Robert J.

    2017-06-06

    The Beacon Rock 7.5′ quadrangle is located approximately 50 km east of Portland, Oregon, on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, a scenic canyon carved through the axis of the Cascade Range by the Columbia River. Although approximately 75,000 people live within the gorge, much of the region remains little developed and is encompassed by the 292,500-acre Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, managed by a consortium of government agencies “to pro­tect and provide for the enhancement of the scenic, cultural, recreational and natural resources of the Gorge and to protect and support the economy of the Columbia River Gorge area.” As the only low-elevation corridor through the Cascade Range, the gorge is a critical regional transportation and utilities corridor (Wang and Chaker, 2004). Major state and national highways and rail lines run along both shores of the Columbia River, which also provides important water access to ports in the agricultural interior of the Pacific Northwest. Transmission lines carry power from hydroelectric facilities in the gorge and farther east to the growing urban areas of western Oregon and Washington, and natural-gas pipelines transect the corridor (Wang and Chaker, 2004). These lifelines are highly vulnerable to disruption by earthquakes, landslides, and floods. A major purpose of the work described here is to identify and map geologic hazards, such as faults and landslide-prone areas, to provide more accurate assessments of the risks associated with these features.The steep canyon walls of the map area reveal exten­sive outcrops of Miocene flood-basalt flows of the Columbia River Basalt Group capped by fluvial deposits of the ances­tral Columbia River, Pliocene lavas erupted from the axis of the Cascade arc to the east, and volcanic rocks erupted from numerous local vents. The Columbia River Basalt Group unconformably rests on a sequence of late Oligocene and early Miocene rocks of the ancestral Cascade volcanic arc

  12. Performance Evaluation of Relay Selection Schemes in Beacon-Assisted Dual-Hop Cognitive Radio Wireless Sensor Networks under Impact of Hardware Noises.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hieu, Tran Dinh; Duy, Tran Trung; Dung, Le The; Choi, Seong Gon

    2018-06-05

    To solve the problem of energy constraints and spectrum scarcity for cognitive radio wireless sensor networks (CR-WSNs), an underlay decode-and-forward relaying scheme is considered, where the energy constrained secondary source and relay nodes are capable of harvesting energy from a multi-antenna power beacon (PB) and using that harvested energy to forward the source information to the destination. Based on the time switching receiver architecture, three relaying protocols, namely, hybrid partial relay selection (H-PRS), conventional opportunistic relay selection (C-ORS), and best opportunistic relay selection (B-ORS) protocols are considered to enhance the end-to-end performance under the joint impact of maximal interference constraint and transceiver hardware impairments. For performance evaluation and comparison, we derive the exact and asymptotic closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP) and throughput (TP) to provide significant insights into the impact of our proposed protocols on the system performance over Rayleigh fading channel. Finally, simulation results validate the theoretical results.

  13. A NASBA on microgel-tethered molecular-beacon microarray for real-time microbial molecular diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Y; Dai, X; Hong, T; Munk, G B; Libera, M

    2016-12-19

    Despite their many advantages and successes, molecular beacon (MB) hybridization probes have not been extensively used in microarray formats because of the complicating probe-substrate interactions that increase the background intensity. We have previously shown that tethering to surface-patterned microgels is an effective means for localizing MB probes to specific surface locations in a microarray format while simultaneously maintaining them in as water-like an environment as possible and minimizing probe-surface interactions. Here we extend this approach to include both real-time detection together with integrated NASBA amplification. We fabricate small (∼250 μm × 250 μm) simplex, duplex, and five-plex assays with microarray spots of controllable size (∼20 μm diameter), position, and shape to detect bacteria and fungi in a bloodstream-infection model. The targets, primers, and microgel-tethered probes can be combined in a single isothermal reaction chamber with no post-amplification labelling. We extract total RNA from clinical blood samples and differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bloodstream infection in a duplex assay to detect RNA- amplicons. The sensitivity based on our current protocols in a simplex assay to detect specific ribosomal RNA sequences within total RNA extracted from S. aureus and E. coli cultures corresponds to tens of bacteria per ml. We furthermore show that the platform can detect RNA- amplicons from synthetic target DNA with 1 fM sensitivity in sample volumes that contain about 12 000 DNA molecules. These experiments demonstrate an alternative approach that can enable rapid and real-time microarray-based molecular diagnostics.

  14. Theragnosis-based combined cancer therapy using doxorubicin-conjugated microRNA-221 molecular beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jonghwan; Choi, Kyung-Ju; Moon, Sung Ung; Kim, Soonhag

    2016-01-01

    Recently, microRNA (miRNA or miR) has emerged as a new cancer biomarker because of its high expression level in various cancer types and its role in the control of tumor suppressor genes. In cancer studies, molecular imaging and treatment based on target cancer markers have been combined to facilitate simultaneous cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this study, for combined therapy with diagnosis of cancer, we developed a doxorubicin-conjugated miR-221 molecular beacon (miR-221 DOXO MB) in a single platform composed of three different nucleotides: miR-221 binding sequence, black hole quencher 1 (BHQ1), and doxorubicin binding site. Imaging of endogenous miR-221 was achieved by specific hybridization between miR-221 and the miR-221 binding site in miR-221 DOXO MB. The presence of miR-221 triggered detachment of the quencher oligo and subsequent activation of a fluorescent signal of miR-221 DOXO MB. Simultaneous cancer therapy in C6 astrocytoma cells and nude mice was achieved by inhibition of miRNA-221 function that downregulates tumor suppressor genes. The detection of miR-221 expression and inhibition of miR-221 function by miR-221 DOXO MB provide the feasibility as a cancer theragnostic probe. Furthermore, a cytotoxic effect was induced by unloading of doxorubicin intercalated into miR-221 DOXO MB inside cells. Loss of miR-221 function and cytotoxicity induced by the miR-221 DOXO MB provides combined therapeutic efficacy against cancers. This method could be used as a new theragnostic probe with enhanced therapy to detect and inhibit many cancer-related miRNAs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Efficacy and safety of QVA149 compared to the concurrent administration of its monocomponents indacaterol and glycopyrronium: the BEACON study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dahl R

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Ronald Dahl,1 Dalal Jadayel,2 Vijay KT Alagappan,3 Hungta Chen,3 Donald Banerji31Department of Dermatology, Allergy Centre, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; 2Novartis Horsham Research Centre, Horsham, UK; 3Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, NJ, USAIntroduction: The BEACON study evaluated the efficacy and safety of QVA149, a once-daily dual bronchodilator containing a fixed-dose combination of the long-acting β2-agonist (LABA indacaterol and long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA glycopyrronium (NVA237, in development for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, compared with the free-dose concurrent administration of indacaterol plus glycopyrronium (IND+GLY.Methods: In this multicenter, double-blind, parallel group study, patients with stage II or stage III COPD (Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease [GOLD] 2010 were randomized (1:1 to once-daily QVA149 (110 µg indacaterol/50 µg glycopyrronium or concurrent administration of indacaterol (150 µg and glycopyrronium (50 µg via the Breezhaler® device (Novartis AG, Basel, Switzerland for 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the noninferiority of QVA149 as compared with concurrent administration of IND+GLY, for trough forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 after 4 weeks of treatment. The other assessments included FEV1 area under the curve from 0 to 4 hours (AUC0–4 hours at day 1 and week 4, symptom scores, rescue medication use, safety, and tolerability over the 4-week study period.Results: Of 193 patients randomized, 187 (96.9% completed the study. Trough FEV1 at week 4 for QVA149 and IND+GLY was 1.46 L ± 0.02 and 1.46 L ± 0.18, respectively. The FEV1 AUC0–4 hours at day 1 and week 4 were similar between the two treatment groups. Both treatment groups had a similar reduction in symptom scores and rescue medication use for the 4-week treatment period. Overall, 25.6% of patients in QVA149 group

  16. Super-resolution imaging of a 2.5 kb non-repetitive DNA in situ in the nuclear genome using molecular beacon probes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Yanxiang; Cao, Bo; Ma, Tszshan; Niu, Gang; Huo, Yingdong; Huang, Jiandong; Chen, Danni; Liu, Yi; Yu, Bin; Zhang, Michael Q; Niu, Hanben

    2017-01-01

    High-resolution visualization of short non-repetitive DNA in situ in the nuclear genome is essential for studying looping interactions and chromatin organization in single cells. Recent advances in fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using Oligopaint probes have enabled super-resolution imaging of genomic domains with a resolution limit of 4.9 kb. To target shorter elements, we developed a simple FISH method that uses molecular beacon (MB) probes to facilitate the probe-target binding, while minimizing non-specific fluorescence. We used three-dimensional stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (3D-STORM) with optimized imaging conditions to efficiently distinguish sparsely distributed Alexa-647 from background cellular autofluorescence. Utilizing 3D-STORM and only 29–34 individual MB probes, we observed 3D fine-scale nanostructures of 2.5 kb integrated or endogenous unique DNA in situ in human or mouse genome, respectively. We demonstrated our MB-based FISH method was capable of visualizing the so far shortest non-repetitive genomic sequence in 3D at super-resolution. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21660.001 PMID:28485713

  17. Experimental Analysis of Sublimation Dynamics for Buried Glacier Ice in Beacon Valley, Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ehrenfeucht, S.; Dennis, D. P.; Marchant, D. R.

    2017-12-01

    The age of the oldest known buried ice in Beacon Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) Antarctica is a topic of active debate due to its implications for the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Published age estimates range from as young as 300 ka to as old as 8.1 Ma. In the upland MDV, ablation occurs predominantly via sublimation. The relict ice in question (ancient ice from Taylor Glacier) lies buried beneath a thin ( 30-70 cm) layer of sublimation till, which forms as a lag deposit as underlying debris-rich ice sublimes. As the ice sublimates, the debris held within the ice accumulates slowly on the surface, creating a porous boundary between the buried-ice surface and the atmosphere, which in turn influences gas exchange between the ice and the atmosphere. Additionally, englacial debris adds several salt species that are ultimately concentrated on the ice surface. It is well documented the rate of ice sublimation varies as a function of overlying till thickness. However, the rate-limiting dynamics under varying environmental conditions, including the threshold thicknesses at which sublimation is strongly retarded, are not yet defined. To better understand the relationships between sublimation rate, till thickness, and long-term surface evolution, we build on previous studies by Lamp and Marchant (2017) and evaluate the role of till thickness as a control on ice loss in an environmental chamber capable of replicating the extreme cold desert conditions observed in the MDV. Previous work has shown that this relationship exhibits exponential decay behavior, with sublimation rate significantly dampened under less than 10 cm of till. In our experiments we pay particular attention to the effect of the first several cm of till in order to quantify the dynamics that govern the transition from bare ice to debris-covered ice. We also examine this transition for various forms of glacier ice, including ice with various salt species.

  18. Hairpin DNA-Templated Silver Nanoclusters as Novel Beacons in Strand Displacement Amplification for MicroRNA Detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jingpu; Li, Chao; Zhi, Xiao; Ramón, Gabriel Alfranca; Liu, Yanlei; Zhang, Chunlei; Pan, Fei; Cui, Daxiang

    2016-01-19

    MicroRNA (miRNA) biomarkers display great potential for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. The development of rapid and specific methods for miRNA detection has become a hotspot. Herein, hairpin DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (AgNCs/HpDNA) were prepared and integrated into strand-displacement amplification (SDA) as a novel beacon for miRNA detection. The light-up platform was established based on guanine (G)-rich fluorescence enhancement that essentially converted the excitation/emission pair of AgNCs/HpDNAs from a shorter wavelength to a longer wavelength, and then achieved fluorescent enhancement at longer wavelength. On the basis of the validation of the method, the single and duplex detection were conducted in two plasma biomarkers (miR-16-5p and miR-19b-3p) for the diagnosis of gastric cancer. The probe (AgNCs/RED 16(7s)C) utilized for miR-16-5p detection adopted a better conformation with high specificity to recognize single-base mismatches by producing dramatically opposite signals (increase or decrease at 580 nm ex/640 nm em) while the probe (AgNCs/GRE 19b(5s)C) for miR-19b-3p generated dual signals (increase at 490 nm ex/570 nm em and decrease at 430 nm ex/530 nm em) with bright fluorescence in one reaction during the amplification, but unexpectedly was partially digested. This is for the first time to allow the generation of enhanced fluorescent AgNCs and the target recognition integrated into a single process, which offers great opportunity for specific miRNA detection in an easy and rapid way.

  19. Design of two and three input molecular logic gates using non-Watson-Crick base pairing-based molecular beacons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Jia-Hui; Tseng, Wei-Lung

    2014-03-21

    This study presents a single, resettable, and sensitive molecular beacon (MB) used to operate molecular-scale logic gates. The MB consists of a random DNA sequence, a fluorophore at the 5'-end, and a quencher at the 3'-end. The presence of Hg(2+), Ag(+), and coralyne promoted the formation of stable T-Hg(2+)-T, C-Ag(+)-C, and A2-coralyne-A2 coordination in the MB probe, respectively, thereby driving its conformational change. The metal ion or small molecule-mediated coordination of mismatched DNA brought the fluorophore and the quencher into close proximity, resulting in collisional quenching of fluorescence between the two organic dyes. Because thiol can bind Hg(2+) and remove it from the T-Hg(2+)-T-based MB, adding thiol to a solution of the T-Hg(2+)-T-based MB allowed the fluorophore and the quencher to be widely separated. A similar phenomenon was observed when replacing Hg(2+) with Ag(+). Because Ag(+) strongly binds to iodide, cyanide, and cysteine, they were capable of removing Ag(+) from the C-Ag(+)-C-based MB, restoring the fluorescence of the MB. Moreover, the fluorescence of the A2-coralyne-A2-based MB could be switched on by adding polyadenosine. Using these analytes as inputs and the MB as a signal transducer, we successfully developed a series of two-input, three-input, and set-reset logic gates at the molecular level.

  20. Polarization tracking system for free-space optical communication, including quantum communication

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordholt, Jane Elizabeth; Newell, Raymond Thorson; Peterson, Charles Glen; Hughes, Richard John

    2018-01-09

    Quantum communication transmitters include beacon lasers that transmit a beacon optical signal in a predetermined state of polarization such as one of the states of polarization of a quantum communication basis. Changes in the beacon polarization are detected at a receiver, and a retarder is adjusted so that the states of polarization in a received quantum communication optical signal are matched to basis polarizations. The beacon and QC signals can be at different wavelengths so that the beacon does not interfere with detection and decoding of the QC optical signal.

  1. The journey of primary care practices to meaningful use: a Colorado Beacon Consortium study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernald, Douglas H; Wearner, Robyn; Dickinson, W Perry

    2013-01-01

    The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 provides for incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid for clinicians who implement electronic health records (EHRs) and use this technology meaningfully to improve patient care. There are few comprehensive descriptions of how primary care practices achieve the meaningful use of clinical data, including the formal stage 1 meaningful use requirements. Evaluation of the Colorado Beacon Consortium project included iterative qualitative analysis of practice narratives, provider and staff interviews, and separate focus groups with quality improvement (QI) advisors and staff from the regional health information exchange (HIE). Most practices described significant realignment of practice priorities and aims, which often required substantial education and training of physicians and staff. Re-engineering office processes, data collection protocols, EHRs, staff roles, and practice culture comprised the primary effort and commitment to attest to stage 1 meaningful use and subsequent meaningful use of clinical data. While realizing important benefits, practices bore a significant burden in learning the true capabilities of their EHRs with little effective support from vendors. Attestation was an important initial milestone in the process, but practices faced substantial ongoing work to use their data meaningfully for patient care and QI. Key resources were instrumental to these practices: local technical EHR expertise; collaborative learning mechanisms; and regular contact and support from QI advisors. Meeting the stage 1 requirements for incentives under Medicare and Medicaid meaningful use criteria is the first waypoint in a longer journey by primary care practices to the meaningful use of electronic data to continuously improve the care and health of their patients. The intensive re-engineering effort for stage 1 yielded practice changes consistent with larger practice aims and goals

  2. Nicking endonuclease-assisted signal amplification of a split molecular aptamer beacon for biomolecule detection using graphene oxide as a sensing platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xiang; Ding, Xuelian; Fan, Jing

    2015-12-07

    Sensitive and selective detection of ultralow concentrations of specific biomolecules is important in early clinical diagnoses and biomedical applications. Many types of aptasensors have been developed for the detection of various biomolecules, but usually suffer from false positive signals and high background signals. In this work, we have developed an amplified fluorescence aptasensor platform for ultrasensitive biomolecule detection based on enzyme-assisted target-recycling signal amplification and graphene oxide. By using a split molecular aptamer beacon and a nicking enzyme, the typical problem of false positive signals can be effectively resolved. Only in the presence of a target biomolecule, the sensor system is able to generate a positive signal, which significantly improves the selectivity of the aptasensor. Moreover, using graphene oxide as a super-quencher can effectively reduce the high background signal of a sensing platform. We select vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as model analytes in the current proof-of-concept experiments. It is shown that under optimized conditions, our strategy exhibits high sensitivity and selectivity for the quantification of VEGF and ATP with a low detection limit (1 pM and 4 nM, respectively). In addition, this biosensor has been successfully utilized in the analysis of real biological samples.

  3. Modeling ground thermal regime of an ancient buried ice body in Beacon Valley, Antarctica using a 1-D heat equation with latent heat effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, L.; Sletten, R. S.; Hallet, B.; Waddington, E. D.; Wood, S. E.

    2013-12-01

    An ancient massive ice body buried under several decimeters of debris in Beacon Valley, Antarctica is believed to be over one million years old, making it older than any known glacier or ice cap. It is fundamentally important as a reservoir of water, proxy for climatic information, and an expression of the periglacial landscape. It is also one of Earth's closest analog for widespread, near-surface ice found in Martian soils and ice-cored landforms. We are interested in understanding controls on how long this ice may persist since our physical model of sublimation suggests it should not be stable. In these models, the soil temperatures and the gradient are important because it determines the direction and magnitude of the vapor flux, and thus sublimation rates. To better understand the heat transfer processes and constrain the rates of processes governing ground ice stability, a model of the thermal behavior of the permafrost is applied to Beacon Valley, Antarctica. It calculates soil temperatures based on a 1-D thermal diffusion equation using a fully implicit finite volume method (FVM). This model is constrained by soil physical properties and boundary conditions of in-situ ground surface temperature measurements (with an average of -23.6oC, a maximum of 20.5oC and a minimum of -54.3oC) and ice-core temperature record at ~30 m. Model results are compared to in-situ temperature measurements at depths of 0.10 m, 0.20 m, 0.30 m, and 0.45 m to assess the model's ability to reproduce the temperature profile for given thermal properties of the debris cover and ice. The model's sensitivity to the thermal diffusivity of the permafrost and the overlaying debris is also examined. Furthermore, we incorporate the role of ice condensation/sublimation which is calculated using our vapor diffusion model in the 1-D thermal diffusion model to assess potential latent heat effects that in turn affect ground ice sublimation rates. In general, the model simulates the ground thermal

  4. Molecular beacon-based real-time PCR method for detection of porcine DNA in gelatin and gelatin capsules.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohamad, Nurhidayatul Asma; Mustafa, Shuhaimi; Khairil Mokhtar, Nur Fadhilah; El Sheikha, Aly Farag

    2018-03-05

    The pharmaceutical industry has boosted gelatin consumption worldwide. This is supported by the availability of cost-effective gelatin production from porcine by-products. However, cross-contamination of gelatin materials, where porcine gelatin was unintentionally included in the other animal sources of gelatin, has caused significant concerns about halal authenticity. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has enabled a highly specific and sensitive animal species detection method in various food products. Hence, such a technique was employed in the present study to detect and quantify porcine DNA in gelatin using a molecular beacon probe, with differences in performance between mitochondrial (cytochrome b gene) and chromosomal DNA-(MPRE42 repetitive element) based porcine-specific PCR assays being compared. A higher sensitivity was observed in chromosomal DNA (MPRE-PCR assay), where this assay allows the detection of gelatin DNA at amounts as as low as 1 pg, whereas mitochondrial DNA (CBH-PCR assay) can only detect at levels down to 10 pg of gelatin DNA. When an analysis with commercial gelatin and gelatin capsule samples was conducted, the same result was observed, with a significantly more sensitive detection being provided by the repetitive element of chromosomal DNA. The present study has established highly sensitive DNA-based porcine detection systems derived from chromosomal DNA that are feasible for highly processed products such as gelatin and gelatin capsules containing a minute amount of DNA. This sensitive detection method can also be implemented to assist the halal authentication process of various food products available on the market. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

  5. Rapid, High-Throughput, and Direct Molecular Beacon Delivery to Human Cancer Cells Using a Nanowire-Incorporated and Pneumatic Pressure-Driven Microdevice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Kyung Hoon; Kim, Jung; Choi, Jong Seob; Bae, Sunwoong; Kwon, Donguk; Park, Inkyu; Kim, Do Hyun; Seo, Tae Seok

    2015-12-01

    Tracking and monitoring the intracellular behavior of mRNA is of paramount importance for understanding real-time gene expression in cell biology. To detect specific mRNA sequences, molecular beacons (MBs) have been widely employed as sensing probes. Although numerous strategies for MB delivery into the target cells have been reported, many issues such as the cytotoxicity of the carriers, dependence on the random probability of MB transfer, and critical cellular damage still need to be overcome. Herein, we have developed a nanowire-incorporated and pneumatic pressure-driven microdevice for rapid, high-throughput, and direct MB delivery to human breast cancer MCF-7 cells to monitor survivin mRNA expression. The proposed microdevice is composed of three layers: a pump-associated glass manifold layer, a monolithic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane, and a ZnO nanowire-patterned microchannel layer. The MB is immobilized on the ZnO nanowires by disulfide bonding, and the glass manifold and PDMS membrane serve as a microvalve, so that the cellular attachment and detachment on the MB-coated nanowire array can be manipulated. The combination of the nanowire-mediated MB delivery and the microvalve function enable the transfer of MB into the cells in a controllable way with high cell viability and to detect survivin mRNA expression quantitatively after docetaxel treatment. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  6. State Regulation of Heliport Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-05-01

    Arpt Lgt Sked: Dusk-Dawn 81. Schedule for beacon; if lights on different from beacon list as a remark. If no beacon list light schedule. 82. Unicorn ...continued importance of hospital heliports and the rapidly growing use of instrument approach/departure procedures at such sites, is it appropriate

  7. Molecular beacon-decorated polymethylmethacrylate core-shell fluorescent nanoparticles for the detection of survivin mRNA in human cancer cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adinolfi, Barbara; Pellegrino, Mario; Giannetti, Ambra; Tombelli, Sara; Trono, Cosimo; Sotgiu, Giovanna; Varchi, Greta; Ballestri, Marco; Posati, Tamara; Carpi, Sara; Nieri, Paola; Baldini, Francesco

    2017-02-15

    One of the main goals of nanomedicine in cancer is the development of effective drug delivery systems, primarily nanoparticles. Survivin, an overexpressed anti-apoptotic protein in cancer, represents a pharmacological target for therapy and a Molecular Beacon (MB) specific for survivin mRNA is available. In this study, the ability of polymethylmethacrylate nanoparticles (PMMA-NPs) to promote survivin MB uptake in human A549 cells was investigated. Fluorescent and positively charged core PMMA-NPs of nearly 60nm, obtained through an emulsion co-polymerization reaction, and the MB alone were evaluated in solution, for their analytical characterization; then, the MB specificity and functionality were verified after adsorption onto the PMMA-NPs. The carrier ability of PMMA-NPs in A549 was examined by confocal microscopy. With the optimized protocol, a hardly detectable fluorescent signal was obtained after incubation of the cells with the MB alone (fluorescent spots per cell of 1.90±0.40 with a mean area of 1.04±0.20µm 2 ), while bright fluorescent spots inside the cells were evident by using the MB loaded onto the PMMA-NPs. (27.50±2.30 fluorescent spots per cell with a mean area of 2.35±0.16µm 2 ). These results demonstrate the ability of the PMMA-NPs to promote the survivin-MB internalization, suggesting that this complex might represent a promising strategy for intracellular sensing and for the reduction of cancer cell proliferation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. Adaptive optics without altering visual perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koenig, D E; Hart, N W; Hofer, H J

    2014-04-01

    Adaptive optics combined with visual psychophysics creates the potential to study the relationship between visual function and the retina at the cellular scale. This potential is hampered, however, by visual interference from the wavefront-sensing beacon used during correction. For example, we have previously shown that even a dim, visible beacon can alter stimulus perception (Hofer et al., 2012). Here we describe a simple strategy employing a longer wavelength (980nm) beacon that, in conjunction with appropriate restriction on timing and placement, allowed us to perform psychophysics when dark adapted without altering visual perception. The method was verified by comparing detection and color appearance of foveally presented small spot stimuli with and without the wavefront beacon present in 5 subjects. As an important caution, we found that significant perceptual interference can occur even with a subliminal beacon when additional measures are not taken to limit exposure. Consequently, the lack of perceptual interference should be verified for a given system, and not assumed based on invisibility of the beacon. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Hairpin-Hairpin Molecular Beacon Interactions for Detection of Survivin mRNA in Malignant SW480 Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratajczak, Katarzyna; Krazinski, Bartlomiej E; Kowalczyk, Anna E; Dworakowska, Beata; Jakiela, Slawomir; Stobiecka, Magdalena

    2018-05-07

    Cancer biomarkers offer unique prospects for the development of cancer diagnostics and therapy. One of such biomarkers, protein survivin (Sur), exhibits strong antiapoptotic and proliferation-enhancing properties and is heavily expressed in multiple cancers. Thus, it can be utilized to provide new modalities for modulating the cell-growth rate, essential for effective cancer treatment. Herein, we have focused on the development of a new survivin-based cancer detection platform for colorectal cancer cells SW480 using a turn-on fluorescence oligonucleotide molecular beacon (MB) probe, encoded to recognize Sur messenger RNA (mRNA). Contrary to the expectations, we have found that both the complementary target oligonucleotide strands as well as the single- and double-mismatch targets, instead of exhibiting the anticipated simple random conformations, preferentially formed secondary structure motifs by folding into small-loop hairpin structures. Such a conformation may interfere with, or even undermine, the biorecognition process. To gain better understanding of the interactions involved, we have replaced the classical Tyagi-Kramer model of interactions between a straight target oligonucleotide strand and a hairpin MB with a new model to account for the hairpin-hairpin interactions as the biorecognition principle. A detailed mechanism of these interactions has been proposed. Furthermore, in experimental work, we have demonstrated an efficient transfection of malignant SW480 cells with SurMB probes containing a fluorophore Joe (SurMB-Joe) using liposomal nanocarriers. The green emission from SurMB-Joe in transfected cancer cells, due to the hybridization of the SurMB-Joe loop with Sur mRNA hairpin target, corroborates Sur overexpression. On the other hand, healthy human-colon epithelial cells CCD 841 CoN show only negligible expression of survivin mRNA. These experiments provide the proof-of-concept for distinguishing between the cancer and normal cells by the proposed

  10. SOX2 and OCT4 mRNA-expressing cells, detected by molecular beacons, localize to the center of neurospheres during differentiation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirolyuba Ilieva

    Full Text Available Neurospheres are used as in vitro assay to measure the properties of neural stem cells. To investigate the molecular and phenotypic heterogeneity of neurospheres, molecular beacons (MBs targeted against the stem cell markers OCT4 and SOX2 were designed, and synthesized with a 2'-O-methyl RNA backbone. OCT4 and SOX2 MBs were transfected into human embryonic mesencephalon derived cells, which spontaneously form neurospheres when grown on poly-L-ornitine/fibronectin matrix and medium complemented with bFGF. OCT4 and SOX2 gene expression were tracked in individual cell using the MBs. Quantitative image analysis every day for seven days showed that the OCT4 and SOX2 mRNA-expressing cells clustered in the centre of the neurospheres cultured in differentiation medium. By contrast, cells at the periphery of the differentiating spheres developed neurite outgrowths and expressed the tyrosine hydroxylase protein, indicating terminal differentiation. Neurospheres cultured in growth medium contained OCT4 and SOX2-positive cells distributed throughout the entire sphere, and no differentiating neurones. Gene expression of SOX2 and OCT4 mRNA detected by MBs correlated well with gene and protein expression measured by qRT-PCR and immunostaining, respectively. These experimental data support the theoretical model that stem cells cluster in the centre of neurospheres, and demonstrate the use of MBs for the spatial localization of specific gene-expressing cells within heterogeneous cell populations.

  11. MiRNA-Related SNPs and Risk of Esophageal Adenocarcinoma and Barrett's Esophagus: Post Genome-Wide Association Analysis in the BEACON Consortium.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew F Buas

    Full Text Available Incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA has increased substantially in recent decades. Multiple risk factors have been identified for EA and its precursor, Barrett's esophagus (BE, such as reflux, European ancestry, male sex, obesity, and tobacco smoking, and several germline genetic variants were recently associated with disease risk. Using data from the Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON genome-wide association study (GWAS of 2,515 EA cases, 3,295 BE cases, and 3,207 controls, we examined single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs that potentially affect the biogenesis or biological activity of microRNAs (miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs implicated in post-transcriptional gene regulation, and deregulated in many cancers, including EA. Polymorphisms in three classes of genes were examined for association with risk of EA or BE: miRNA biogenesis genes (157 SNPs, 21 genes; miRNA gene loci (234 SNPs, 210 genes; and miRNA-targeted mRNAs (177 SNPs, 158 genes. Nominal associations (P0.50, and we did not find evidence for interactions between variants analyzed and two risk factors for EA/BE (smoking and obesity. This analysis provides the most extensive assessment to date of miRNA-related SNPs in relation to risk of EA and BE. While common genetic variants within components of the miRNA biogenesis core pathway appear unlikely to modulate susceptibility to EA or BE, further studies may be warranted to examine potential associations between unassessed variants in miRNA genes and targets with disease risk.

  12. BlueDetect: An iBeacon-Enabled Scheme for Accurate and Energy-Efficient Indoor-Outdoor Detection and Seamless Location-Based Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Han; Jiang, Hao; Luo, Yiwen; Zhu, Jianjie; Lu, Xiaoxuan; Xie, Lihua

    2016-02-22

    The location and contextual status (indoor or outdoor) is fundamental and critical information for upper-layer applications, such as activity recognition and location-based services (LBS) for individuals. In addition, optimizations of building management systems (BMS), such as the pre-cooling or heating process of the air-conditioning system according to the human traffic entering or exiting a building, can utilize the information, as well. The emerging mobile devices, which are equipped with various sensors, become a feasible and flexible platform to perform indoor-outdoor (IO) detection. However, power-hungry sensors, such as GPS and WiFi, should be used with caution due to the constrained battery storage on mobile device. We propose BlueDetect: an accurate, fast response and energy-efficient scheme for IO detection and seamless LBS running on the mobile device based on the emerging low-power iBeacon technology. By leveraging the on-broad Bluetooth module and our proposed algorithms, BlueDetect provides a precise IO detection service that can turn on/off on-board power-hungry sensors smartly and automatically, optimize their performances and reduce the power consumption of mobile devices simultaneously. Moreover, seamless positioning and navigation services can be realized by it, especially in a semi-outdoor environment, which cannot be achieved by GPS or an indoor positioning system (IPS) easily. We prototype BlueDetect on Android mobile devices and evaluate its performance comprehensively. The experimental results have validated the superiority of BlueDetect in terms of IO detection accuracy, localization accuracy and energy consumption.

  13. BlueDetect: An iBeacon-Enabled Scheme for Accurate and Energy-Efficient Indoor-Outdoor Detection and Seamless Location-Based Service

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Zou

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The location and contextual status (indoor or outdoor is fundamental and critical information for upper-layer applications, such as activity recognition and location-based services (LBS for individuals. In addition, optimizations of building management systems (BMS, such as the pre-cooling or heating process of the air-conditioning system according to the human traffic entering or exiting a building, can utilize the information, as well. The emerging mobile devices, which are equipped with various sensors, become a feasible and flexible platform to perform indoor-outdoor (IO detection. However, power-hungry sensors, such as GPS and WiFi, should be used with caution due to the constrained battery storage on mobile device. We propose BlueDetect: an accurate, fast response and energy-efficient scheme for IO detection and seamless LBS running on the mobile device based on the emerging low-power iBeacon technology. By leveraging the on-broad Bluetooth module and our proposed algorithms, BlueDetect provides a precise IO detection service that can turn on/off on-board power-hungry sensors smartly and automatically, optimize their performances and reduce the power consumption of mobile devices simultaneously. Moreover, seamless positioning and navigation services can be realized by it, especially in a semi-outdoor environment, which cannot be achieved by GPS or an indoor positioning system (IPS easily. We prototype BlueDetect on Android mobile devices and evaluate its performance comprehensively. The experimental results have validated the superiority of BlueDetect in terms of IO detection accuracy, localization accuracy and energy consumption.

  14. Method for Improving Indoor Positioning Accuracy Using Extended Kalman Filter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seoung-Hyeon Lee

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Beacons using bluetooth low-energy (BLE technology have emerged as a new paradigm of indoor positioning service (IPS because of their advantages such as low power consumption, miniaturization, wide signal range, and low cost. However, the beacon performance is poor in terms of the indoor positioning accuracy because of noise, motion, and fading, all of which are characteristics of a bluetooth signal and depend on the installation location. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of beacon-based indoor positioning technology by fusing it with existing indoor positioning technology, which uses Wi-Fi, ZigBee, and so forth. This study proposes a beacon-based indoor positioning method using an extended Kalman filter that recursively processes input data including noise. After defining the movement of a smartphone on a flat two-dimensional surface, it was assumed that the beacon signal is nonlinear. Then, the standard deviation and properties of the beacon signal were analyzed. According to the analysis results, an extended Kalman filter was designed and the accuracy of the smartphone’s indoor position was analyzed through simulations and tests. The proposed technique achieved good indoor positioning accuracy, with errors of 0.26 m and 0.28 m from the average x- and y-coordinates, respectively, based solely on the beacon signal.

  15. SU-F-J-142: Proposed Method to Broaden Inclusion Potential of Patients Able to Use the Calypso Tracking System in Prostate Radiotherapy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fiedler, D; Kuo, H; Bodner, W; Tome, W [Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY (United States)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: To introduce a non-standard method of patient setup, using BellyBoard immobilization, to better utilize the localization and tracking potential of an RF-beacon system with EBRT for prostate cancer. Methods: An RF-beacon phantom was imaged using a wide bore CT scanner, both in a standard level position and with a known rotation (4° pitch and 7.5° yaw). A commercial treatment planning system (TPS) was used to determine positional coordinates of each beacon, and the centroid of the three beacons for both setups. For each setup at the Linac, kV AP and Rt Lateral images were obtained. A full characterization of the RF-beacon system in clinical mode was completed for various beacons’ array-to-centroid distances, which includes vertical, lateral, and longitudinal offset data, as well as pitch and yaw offset measurements for the tilted phantom. For the single patient who has been setup using the proposed BellyBoard method, a supine simulation was first obtained. When abdominal protrusion was found to be exceeding the limits of the RF-Beacon system through distance-based analysis in the TPS, the patient is re-simulated prone with the BellyBoard. Array to centroid distance is measured again in the TPS, and if found to be within the localization or tracking region it is applied. Results: Characterization of limitations for the RF-beacon system in clinical mode showed acceptable consistency of offset determination for phantom setup accuracy. The nonstandard patient setup method reduced the beacons’ centroid-to-array distance by 8.32cm, from 25.13cm to 16.81cm; completely out of tracking range (greater than 20cm) to within setup tracking range (less than 20cm). Conclusion: Using the RF-beacon system in combination with this novel patient setup can allow patients who would otherwise not be candidates for beacon enhanced EBRT to now be able to benefit from the reduced PTV margins of this treatment method.

  16. SU-F-J-142: Proposed Method to Broaden Inclusion Potential of Patients Able to Use the Calypso Tracking System in Prostate Radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fiedler, D; Kuo, H; Bodner, W; Tome, W

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: To introduce a non-standard method of patient setup, using BellyBoard immobilization, to better utilize the localization and tracking potential of an RF-beacon system with EBRT for prostate cancer. Methods: An RF-beacon phantom was imaged using a wide bore CT scanner, both in a standard level position and with a known rotation (4° pitch and 7.5° yaw). A commercial treatment planning system (TPS) was used to determine positional coordinates of each beacon, and the centroid of the three beacons for both setups. For each setup at the Linac, kV AP and Rt Lateral images were obtained. A full characterization of the RF-beacon system in clinical mode was completed for various beacons’ array-to-centroid distances, which includes vertical, lateral, and longitudinal offset data, as well as pitch and yaw offset measurements for the tilted phantom. For the single patient who has been setup using the proposed BellyBoard method, a supine simulation was first obtained. When abdominal protrusion was found to be exceeding the limits of the RF-Beacon system through distance-based analysis in the TPS, the patient is re-simulated prone with the BellyBoard. Array to centroid distance is measured again in the TPS, and if found to be within the localization or tracking region it is applied. Results: Characterization of limitations for the RF-beacon system in clinical mode showed acceptable consistency of offset determination for phantom setup accuracy. The nonstandard patient setup method reduced the beacons’ centroid-to-array distance by 8.32cm, from 25.13cm to 16.81cm; completely out of tracking range (greater than 20cm) to within setup tracking range (less than 20cm). Conclusion: Using the RF-beacon system in combination with this novel patient setup can allow patients who would otherwise not be candidates for beacon enhanced EBRT to now be able to benefit from the reduced PTV margins of this treatment method.

  17. Effect of a Dual Charge on the DNA-Conjugated Redox Probe on DNA Sensing by Short Hairpin Beacons Tethered to Gold Electrodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kékedy-Nagy, László; Shipovskov, Stepan; Ferapontova, Elena E

    2016-08-16

    Charges of redox species can critically affect both the interfacial state of DNA and electrochemistry of DNA-conjugated redox labels and, as a result, the electroanalytical performance of those systems. Here, we show that the kinetics of electron transfer (ET) between the gold electrode and methylene blue (MB) label conjugated to a double-stranded (ds) DNA tethered to gold strongly depend on the charge of the MB molecule, and that affects the performance of genosensors exploiting MB-labeled hairpin DNA beacons. Positively charged MB binds to dsDNA via electrostatic and intercalative/groove binding, and this binding allows the DNA-mediated electrochemistry of MB intercalated into the duplex and, as a result, a complex mode of the electrochemical signal change upon hairpin hybridization to the target DNA, dominated by the "on-off" signal change mode at nanomolar levels of the analyzed DNA. When MB bears an additional carboxylic group, the negative charge provided by this group prevents intimate interactions between MB and DNA, and then the ET in duplexes is limited by the diffusion of the MB-conjugated dsDNA (the phenomenon first shown in Farjami , E. ; Clima , L. ; Gothelf , K. ; Ferapontova , E. E. Anal. Chem. 2011 , 83 , 1594 ) providing the robust "off-on" nanomolar DNA sensing. Those results can be extended to other intercalating redox probes and are of strategic importance for design and development of electrochemical hybridization sensors exploiting DNA nanoswitchable architectures.

  18. Radio tomographic imaging of sporadic-E layers during SEEK-2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. A. Bernhardt

    2005-10-01

    Full Text Available During the SEEK-2 Rocket Campaign in August 2002, a Dual Band Beacon (DBB transmitting to Ground Receivers provided unique data on E-Region electron densities. Information from two rocket beacons and four ground receivers yielded multiple samples of E-region horizontal and vertical variations. The radio beacon measurements were made at four sites (Uchinoura, Tarumizu, Tanegashima, Takazaki in Japan for two rockets (S310-31 and S310-32 launched by the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS. Analysis was completed for four sets of beacon data to provide electron density images of sporadic-E layers. Signals from the two-frequency beacons on the SEEK-2 rockets were processed to yield total electron content (TEC data that was converted into electron density measurements. Wide variations in layer structures were detected. These included horizontal sporadic-E variations, vertical profiles of double, single, and weak layers. The radio beacon measurements were shown to be in agreement with the in-situ SEEK-2 sensors. The first tomographic image of a sporadic-E layer was produced from the data. The rocket beacon technique was shown to be an excellent tool to study sporadic-E layers because absolute TEC accuracy of 0.01 TEC Units can be easily obtained and, with proper receiver placement, electron density images can be produced using computerized ionospheric tomography with better than 1km horizontal and vertical resolution. Keywords. Ionospheric irregularities – Instruments and techniques – Mid-latitude ionosphere

  19. Measuring time-of-flight in an ultrasonic LPS system using generalized cross-correlation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villladangos, José Manuel; Ureña, Jesús; García, Juan Jesús; Mazo, Manuel; Hernández, Alvaro; Jiménez, Ana; Ruíz, Daniel; De Marziani, Carlos

    2011-01-01

    In this article, a time-of-flight detection technique in the frequency domain is described for an ultrasonic local positioning system (LPS) based on encoded beacons. Beacon transmissions have been synchronized and become simultaneous by means of the DS-CDMA (direct-sequence code Division multiple access) technique. Every beacon has been associated to a 255-bit Kasami code. The detection of signal arrival instant at the receiver, from which the distance to each beacon can be obtained, is based on the application of the generalized cross-correlation (GCC), by using the cross-spectral density between the received signal and the sequence to be detected. Prior filtering to enhance the frequency components around the carrier frequency (40 kHz) has improved estimations when obtaining the correlation function maximum, which implies an improvement in distance measurement precision. Positioning has been achieved by using hyperbolic trilateration, based on the time differences of arrival (TDOA) between a reference beacon and the others.

  20. Altruistic Backoff: Collision Avoidance for Receiver-Initiated MAC Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fafoutis, Xenofon; Orfanidis, Charalampos; Dragoni, Nicola

    2014-01-01

    In receiver-initiated medium access control (MAC) protocols for wireless sensor networks, communication is initiated by the receiver node which transmits beacons indicating its availability to receive data. In the case of multiple senders having traffic for a given receiver, such beacons form...... points where collisions are likely to happen. In this paper, we present altruistic backoff (AB), a novel collision avoidance mechanism that aims to avoid collisions before the transmission of a beacon. As a result of an early backoff, senders spend less time in idle listening waiting for a beacon, thus...... saving significant amounts of energy. We present an implementation of AB for Texas Instruments' eZ430-rf2500 sensor nodes and we evaluate its performance with simulations and experiments....

  1. A Turn-on Fluorescence Sensor for Heparin Detection Based on a Release of Taiwan Cobra Cardiotoxin from a DNA Aptamer or Adenosine-Based Molecular Beacon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Yi-Jun; Wang, Liang-Jun; Lee, Yuan-Chin; Huang, Chia-Hui; Hu, Wan-Ping; Chang, Long-Sen

    2018-02-19

    This study presents two sensitive fluorescent assays for sensing heparin on the basis of the electrostatic interaction between heparin and Naja naja atra cardiotoxin 3 (CTX3). Owing to CTX3-induced folded structure of an adenosine-based molecular beacon (MB) or a DNA aptamer against CTX3, a reduction in the fluorescent signal of the aptamer or MB 5'-end labeled with carboxyfluorescein (FAM) and 3'-end labeled with 4-([4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]azo)-benzoic acid (DABCYL) was observed upon the addition of CTX3. The presence of heparin and formation of the CTX3-heparin complex caused CTX3 detachment from the MB or aptamer, and restoration of FAM fluorescence of the 5'-FAM-and-3'-DABCYL-labeled MB and aptamer was subsequently noted. Moreover, the detection of heparin with these CTX3-aptamer and CTX3-MB sensors showed high sensitivity and selectivity toward heparin over chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid regardless of the presence of plasma. The limit of detection for heparin in plasma was determined to be 16 ng/mL and 15 ng/mL, respectively, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. This study validates the practical utility of the CTX3-aptamer and CTX3-MB systems for determining the concentration of heparin in a biological matrix.

  2. Mobile means for the monitoring of atmospheric contamination in a reactor building

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marques, S.; Lestang, M.

    2009-01-01

    After having evoked the context and challenges of contamination monitoring when exploiting nuclear reactors, the authors discuss the representativeness of the atmospheric contamination measurement as it depends on the different physicochemical forms of radionuclides present in the circuits. They indicate the different gaseous or aerosol radioactive elements which are monitored within EDF installations. They discuss the incorporation of monitoring means at the installation design level, briefly present the use of beacons inside and outside the reactor building. They describe how monitoring is organized on the basis of alert threshold adjustments: an investigation threshold and an evacuation threshold. They discuss the beacon (or sensor) selection and indicate recommendations for their implementation for optimization purposes. They indicate where these beacons are installed and evoke the experimentation of networked mobile beacons with data remote transmission

  3. Evaluation of alternative pedestrian control devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-03-01

    A literature review, field study of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) installations in Oregon, and a static survey : on the sequencing of the Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (PHB) were completed. : The field study conducted in this project was design...

  4. Adaptive Source Localization Based Station Keeping of Autonomous Vehicles

    KAUST Repository

    Guler, Samet; Fidan, Baris; Dasgupta, Soura; Anderson, Brian D.O.; Shames, Iman

    2016-01-01

    We study the problem of driving a mobile sensory agent to a target whose location is specied only in terms of the distances to a set of sensor stations or beacons. The beacon positions are unknown, but the agent can continuously measure its distances to them as well as its own position. This problem has two particular applications: (1) capturing a target signal source whose distances to the beacons are measured by these beacons and broadcasted to a surveillance agent, (2) merging a single agent to an autonomous multi-agent system so that the new agent is positioned at desired distances from the existing agents. The problem is solved using an adaptive control framework integrating a parameter estimator producing beacon location estimates, and an adaptive motion control law fed by these estimates to steer the agent toward the target. For location estimation, a least-squares adaptive law is used. The motion control law aims to minimize a convex cost function with unique minimizer at the target location, and is further augmented for persistence of excitation. Stability and convergence analysis is provided, as well as simulation results demonstrating performance and transient behavior.

  5. Adaptive Source Localization Based Station Keeping of Autonomous Vehicles

    KAUST Repository

    Guler, Samet

    2016-10-26

    We study the problem of driving a mobile sensory agent to a target whose location is specied only in terms of the distances to a set of sensor stations or beacons. The beacon positions are unknown, but the agent can continuously measure its distances to them as well as its own position. This problem has two particular applications: (1) capturing a target signal source whose distances to the beacons are measured by these beacons and broadcasted to a surveillance agent, (2) merging a single agent to an autonomous multi-agent system so that the new agent is positioned at desired distances from the existing agents. The problem is solved using an adaptive control framework integrating a parameter estimator producing beacon location estimates, and an adaptive motion control law fed by these estimates to steer the agent toward the target. For location estimation, a least-squares adaptive law is used. The motion control law aims to minimize a convex cost function with unique minimizer at the target location, and is further augmented for persistence of excitation. Stability and convergence analysis is provided, as well as simulation results demonstrating performance and transient behavior.

  6. Reputation-based secure sensor localization in wireless sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Jingsha; Xu, Jing; Zhu, Xingye; Zhang, Yuqiang; Zhang, Ting; Fu, Wanqing

    2014-01-01

    Location information of sensor nodes in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is very important, for it makes information that is collected and reported by the sensor nodes spatially meaningful for applications. Since most current sensor localization schemes rely on location information that is provided by beacon nodes for the regular sensor nodes to locate themselves, the accuracy of localization depends on the accuracy of location information from the beacon nodes. Therefore, the security and reliability of the beacon nodes become critical in the localization of regular sensor nodes. In this paper, we propose a reputation-based security scheme for sensor localization to improve the security and the accuracy of sensor localization in hostile or untrusted environments. In our proposed scheme, the reputation of each beacon node is evaluated based on a reputation evaluation model so that regular sensor nodes can get credible location information from highly reputable beacon nodes to accomplish localization. We also perform a set of simulation experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed reputation-based security scheme. And our simulation results show that the proposed security scheme can enhance the security and, hence, improve the accuracy of sensor localization in hostile or untrusted environments.

  7. Distributed magnetic field positioning system using code division multiple access

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prigge, Eric A. (Inventor)

    2003-01-01

    An apparatus and methods for a magnetic field positioning system use a fundamentally different, and advantageous, signal structure and multiple access method, known as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). This signal architecture, when combined with processing methods, leads to advantages over the existing technologies, especially when applied to a system with a large number of magnetic field generators (beacons). Beacons at known positions generate coded magnetic fields, and a magnetic sensor measures a sum field and decomposes it into component fields to determine the sensor position and orientation. The apparatus and methods can have a large `building-sized` coverage area. The system allows for numerous beacons to be distributed throughout an area at a number of different locations. A method to estimate position and attitude, with no prior knowledge, uses dipole fields produced by these beacons in different locations.

  8. Dynamic Signal Strength Mapping and Analysis by Means of Mobile Geographic Information System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kulawiak Marcin

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Bluetooth beacons are becoming increasingly popular for various applications such as marketing or indoor navigation. However, designing a proper beacon installation requires knowledge of the possible sources of interference in the target environment. While theoretically beacon signal strength should decay linearly with log distance, on-site measurements usually reveal that noise from objects such as Wi-Fi networks operating in the vicinity significantly alters the expected signal range. The paper presents a novel mobile Geographic Information System for measurement, mapping and local as well as online storage of Bluetooth beacon signal strength in semireal time. For the purpose of on-site geovisual analysis of the signal, the application integrates a dedicated interpolation algorithm optimized for low-power devices. The paper discusses the performance and quality of the mapping algorithms in several different test environments.

  9. Error Estimation for the Linearized Auto-Localization Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Seco

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The Linearized Auto-Localization (LAL algorithm estimates the position of beacon nodes in Local Positioning Systems (LPSs, using only the distance measurements to a mobile node whose position is also unknown. The LAL algorithm calculates the inter-beacon distances, used for the estimation of the beacons’ positions, from the linearized trilateration equations. In this paper we propose a method to estimate the propagation of the errors of the inter-beacon distances obtained with the LAL algorithm, based on a first order Taylor approximation of the equations. Since the method depends on such approximation, a confidence parameter τ is defined to measure the reliability of the estimated error. Field evaluations showed that by applying this information to an improved weighted-based auto-localization algorithm (WLAL, the standard deviation of the inter-beacon distances can be improved by more than 30% on average with respect to the original LAL method.

  10. The G-BHQ synergistic effect: Improved double quenching molecular beacons based on guanine and Black Hole Quencher for sensitive simultaneous detection of two DNAs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiang, Dongshan; Li, Fengquan; Wu, Chenyi; Shi, Boan; Zhai, Kun

    2017-11-01

    We designed two double quenching molecular beacons (MBs) with simple structure based on guanine (G base) and Black Hole Quencher (BHQ), and developed a new analytical method for sensitive simultaneous detection of two DNAs by synchronous fluorescence analysis. In this analytical method, carboxyl fluorescein (FAM) and tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine (TAMRA) were respectively selected as fluorophore of two MBs, Black Hole Quencher 1 (BHQ-1) and Black Hole Quencher 2 (BHQ-2) were respectively selected as organic quencher, and three continuous nucleotides with G base were connected to organic quencher (BHQ-1 and BHQ-2). In the presence of target DNAs, the two MBs hybridize with the corresponding target DNAs, the fluorophores are separated from organic quenchers and G bases, leading to recovery of fluorescence of FAM and TAMRA. Under a certain conditions, the fluorescence intensities of FAM and TAMRA all exhibited good linear dependence on their concentration of target DNAs (T1 and T2) in the range from 4 × 10 -10 to 4 × 10 -8 molL -1 (M). The detection limit (3σ, n = 13) of T1 was 3 × 10 -10 M and that of T2 was 2×10 -10 M, respectively. Compared with the existing analysis methods for multiplex DNA with MBs, this proposed method based on double quenching MBs is not only low fluorescence background, short analytical time and low detection cost, but also easy synthesis and good stability of MB probes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. a Statistical Analysis on the System Performance of a Bluetooth Low Energy Indoor Positioning System in a 3d Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haagmans, G. G.; Verhagen, S.; Voûte, R. L.; Verbree, E.

    2017-09-01

    Since GPS tends to fail for indoor positioning purposes, alternative methods like indoor positioning systems (IPS) based on Bluetooth low energy (BLE) are developing rapidly. Generally, IPS are deployed in environments covered with obstacles such as furniture, walls, people and electronics influencing the signal propagation. The major factor influencing the system performance and to acquire optimal positioning results is the geometry of the beacons. The geometry of the beacons is limited to the available infrastructure that can be deployed (number of beacons, basestations and tags), which leads to the following challenge: Given a limited number of beacons, where should they be placed in a specified indoor environment, such that the geometry contributes to optimal positioning results? This paper aims to propose a statistical model that is able to select the optimal configuration that satisfies the user requirements in terms of precision. The model requires the definition of a chosen 3D space (in our case 7 × 10 × 6 meter), number of beacons, possible user tag locations and a performance threshold (e.g. required precision). For any given set of beacon and receiver locations, the precision, internal- and external reliability can be determined on forehand. As validation, the modeled precision has been compared with observed precision results. The measurements have been performed with an IPS of BlooLoc at a chosen set of user tag locations for a given geometric configuration. Eventually, the model is able to select the optimal geometric configuration out of millions of possible configurations based on a performance threshold (e.g. required precision).

  12. Action Research on Development and Application of Internet of Things Services in Hospital.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Arum; Chang, Hyejung; Lee, Kyoung Jun

    2017-01-01

    Services based on the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have emerged in various business environments. To enhance health service quality and maximize benefits, this study applied an IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon as an omni-channel service for patient care in hospitals. Application of the IoT technology based on NFC and iBeacon was conducted in a general hospital during August 2015 through June 2016, and the development and evaluation results were aligned to an action research framework. The five phases in the action research included diagnosing, planning action, taking action, evaluating action, and specifying learning phases. During the first two phases, problems of functional operations in a hospital were diagnosed and eight service models were designed by using iBeacon and NFC to solve the problems. Service models were applied to the hospital by installing beacons, wearable beacons, beacon scanners, and NFC tags during the third phase. During the fourth and fifth phases, the roles and benefits of stakeholders participating in the service models were evaluated, and issues and knowledge of the whole application process were derived and summarized from technological, economic, social and legal perspectives, respectively. From an action research perspective, IoT-based healthcare services were developed and verified. IoT-based services enable the hospital to acquire lifelog data for precision medicine and ultimately be able to go one step closer to precision medical care. The derived service models could provide patients more enhanced healthcare services and improve the work efficiency and effectiveness of the hospital.

  13. Gold Nanoparticle-Based Sensors Activated by External Radio Frequency Fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Della Vedova, Paolo; Ilieva, Mirolyuba; Zhurbenko, Vitaliy

    2015-01-01

    A novel molecular beacon (a nanomachine) is constructed that can be actuated by a radio frequency (RF) field. The nanomachine consists of the following elements arranged in molecular beacon configuration: a gold nanoparticle that acts both as quencher for fluorescence and a localized heat source;...

  14. First observations of large-scale wave structure and equatorial spread F using CERTO radio beacon on the C/NOFS satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thampi, S.; Yamamoto, M.; Tsunoda, R. T.; Otsuka, Y.; Tsugawa, T.; Uemoto, J.; Ishii, M.

    2009-12-01

    Equatorial spread F (ESF) is a generic name, which refers to the presence of a wide spectrum of field-aligned irregularities in the equatorial nighttime F-region that can extend over nearly seven orders of magnitude. Recently, a large-scale wave structure (LSWS) in the F-layer electron density is identified as a reliable precursor to ESF. The LSWS can be identified as a quasi-periodic modulation in the altitude of isoelectron density contours in the bottomside F-region, superimposed on a mean slope that increases in altitude from west to east. First observations of large-scale wave structure (LSWS) and the subsequent development of equatorial spread F (ESF), using total electron content (TEC) derived from the ground based reception of Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography (CETRO) radio beacon signals on board the C/NOFS (Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System) satellite will be presented. For this study the TEC observations from Bac Lieu, Vietnam (9.2°N, 105.6°E geographic, 1.7°N magnetic dip latitude), Phukhet (7.8°N, 98.38°E, 0.4°S dip lat) and Kototabang, Indonesia (0.20°S, 100.32°E, 10.36°S dip lat) are analyzed along with ionosonde observations from Bac Lieu, Chumphon (10.7°N, 99.4°E, 3.3° dip lat) and 30.8 MHz VHF radar observations from Kototabang. It should also be mentioned here that LSWS is not easily detectable with overhead measurements using a sensor at a fixed location, at least not during its early growth phase, mainly because initially it grows in amplitude without significant zonal drift. The results indicate (1) LSWS appears to play a more important role in the development of ESF than the post-sunset rise (PSSR) of the F-layer, and (2) LSWS can appear well before E-region sunset. Other findings, that LSWS does not have significant zonal drift in the initial stages of growth, and can have zonal wavelengths of several hundred kilometers, corroborate earlier reports.

  15. 77 FR 39988 - Notice of Request for Approval of a New Information Collection

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-06

    ...), this notice announces the intention of the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to request approval for a new..., Product Analysis & Accounting Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, Beacon... & Accounting Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, Beacon Facility-Mail Stop 0811, P...

  16. 75 FR 38156 - Notice of Applications for Deregistration Under Section 8(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... investment company. On February 27, 2010, applicant transferred its assets to American Beacon Global Real Estate Fund, a newly created series of American Beacon Funds (the ``successor fund''), and shares of... request, and the issues contested. Persons who wish to be notified of a hearing may request notification...

  17. Advanced core monitoring technology for WWER reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nguyen, T.Q.; Casadei, A.L.; Doshi, P.K.

    1993-01-01

    The Westinghouse BEACON online monitoring system has been developed to provide continuous core monitoring and operational support for pressurized water reactor using movable detectors (fission chamber) and core thermocouples. The basic BEACON core monitoring methodology is described. Traditional WWER reactors use rhodium fixed in-core detectors as the means to provide detailed core power distribution for surveillance purposes. An adapted version of the BEACON advanced core monitoring and support system is described which seems to be, due to the different demand/response requirements, the optimal solution (for routine surveillance and anomaly detection) for WWER reactors with existing fixed in-core detectors. (Z.S.) 4 refs

  18. Simultaneous detection of mRNA and protein stem cell markers in live cells

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bao Gang

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Biological studies and medical application of stem cells often require the isolation of stem cells from a mixed cell population, including the detection of cancer stem cells in tumor tissue, and isolation of induced pluripotent stem cells after eliciting the expression of specific genes in adult cells. Here we report the detection of Oct-4 mRNA and SSEA-1 protein in live carcinoma stem cells using respectively molecular beacon and dye-labeled antibody, aiming to establish a new method for stem cells detection and isolation. Results Quantification of Oct-4 mRNA and protein in P19 mouse carcinoma stem cells using respectively RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry confirmed that their levels drastically decreased after differentiation. To visualize Oct-4 mRNA in live stem cells, molecular beacons were designed, synthesized and validated, and the detection specificity was confirmed using control studies. We found that the fluorescence signal from Oct-4-targeting molecular beacons provides a clear discrimination between undifferentiated and retinoic acid-induced differentiated cells. Using deconvolution fluorescence microscopy, Oct-4 mRNAs were found to reside on one side of the cytosol. We demonstrated that, using a combination of Oct-4 mRNA-targeting molecular beacon with SSEA-1 antibody in flow cytometric analysis, undifferentiated stem cells can be clearly distinguished from differentiated cells. We revealed that Oct-4 targeting molecular beacons do not seem to affect stem cell biology. Conclusion Molecular beacons have the potential to provide a powerful tool for highly specific detection and isolation of stem cells, including cancer stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS cells without disturbing cell physiology. It is advantageous to perform simultaneous detection of intracellular (mRNA and cell-surface (protein stem cell markers in flow cytometric analysis, which may lead to high detection sensitivity and efficiency.

  19. Vibration control for the ARGOS laser launch path

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter, Diethard; Gässler, Wolfgang; Borelli, Jose; Barl, Lothar; Rabien, S.

    2012-07-01

    Present and future adaptive optics systems aim for the correction of the atmospheric turbulence over a large field of view combined with large sky coverage. To achieve this goal the telescope is equipped with multiple laser beacons. Still, to measure tip-tilt aberrations a natural guide star is used. For some fields such a tilt-star is not available and a correction on the laser beacons alone is applied. For this method to work well the laser beacons must not be affected by telescope vibrations on their up-link path. For the ARGOS system the jitter of the beacons is specified to be below 0.05. To achieve this goal a vibration compensation system is necessary to mitigate the mechanical disturbances. The ARGOS vibration compensation system is an accelerometer based feed forward system. The accelerometer measurements are fed into a real time controller. To achieve high performance the controller of the system is model based. The output is applied to a fast steering mirror. This paper presents the concept of the ARGOS vibration compensation, the hardware, and laboratory results.

  20. Experimental evaluation of open-loop UpLink Power Control using ACTS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dissanayake, Asoka

    1995-01-01

    The present investigation deals with the implementation of open-loop up-link power control using a beacon signal in the down-link frequency band as the control parameter. A power control system was developed and tested using the ACTS satellite. ACTS carries beacon signals in both up- and down-link bands with which the relationship between the up- and down-link fading can be established. A power controlled carrier was transmitted to the ACTS satellite from a NASA operated ground station and the transponded signal was received at COMSAT Laboratories using a terminal that was routinely used to monitor the two ACTS beacon signals. The experiment ran for a period of approximately six months and the collected data were used to evaluate the performance of the power control system. A brief review of propagation factors involved in estimating the up-link fade using a beacon signal in the down-link band are presented. The power controller design and the experiment configuration are discussed. Results of the experiment are discussed.

  1. An Efficient and Self-Adapting Localization in Static Wireless Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Dong

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Localization is one of the most important subjects in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs. To reduce the number of beacons and adopt probabilistic methods, some particle filter-based mobile beacon-assisted localization approaches have been proposed, such as Mobile Beacon-assisted Localization (MBL, Adapting MBL (A-MBL, and the method proposed by Hang et al. Some new significant problems arise in these approaches, however. The first question is which probability distribution should be selected as the dynamic model in the prediction stage. The second is whether the unknown node adopts neighbors’ observation in the update stage. The third is how to find a self-adapting mechanism to achieve more flexibility in the adapting stage. In this paper, we give the theoretical analysis and experimental evaluations to suggest which probability distribution in the dynamic model should be adopted to improve the efficiency in the prediction stage. We also give the condition for whether the unknown node should use the observations from its neighbors to improve the accuracy. Finally, we propose a Self-Adapting Mobile Beacon-assisted Localization (SA-MBL approach to achieve more flexibility and achieve almost the same performance with A-MBL.

  2. Sorting live stem cells based on Sox2 mRNA expression.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hans M Larsson

    Full Text Available While cell sorting usually relies on cell-surface protein markers, molecular beacons (MBs offer the potential to sort cells based on the presence of any expressed mRNA and in principle could be extremely useful to sort rare cell populations from primary isolates. We show here how stem cells can be purified from mixed cell populations by sorting based on MBs. Specifically, we designed molecular beacons targeting Sox2, a well-known stem cell marker for murine embryonic (mES and neural stem cells (NSC. One of our designed molecular beacons displayed an increase in fluorescence compared to a nonspecific molecular beacon both in vitro and in vivo when tested in mES and NSCs. We sorted Sox2-MB(+SSEA1(+ cells from a mixed population of 4-day retinoic acid-treated mES cells and effectively isolated live undifferentiated stem cells. Additionally, Sox2-MB(+ cells isolated from primary mouse brains were sorted and generated neurospheres with higher efficiency than Sox2-MB(- cells. These results demonstrate the utility of MBs for stem cell sorting in an mRNA-specific manner.

  3. Beacons of Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knakkergaard, Martin

    2018-01-01

    The chapter discusses expectations and imaginations vis-à-vis the concert hall of the twenty-first century. It outlines some of the central historical implications of western culture’s haven for sounding music. Based on the author’s study of the Icelandic concert-house Harpa, the chapter considers...... how these implications, together with the prime mover’s visions, have been transformed as private investors and politicians took over. The chapter furthermore investigates the objectives regarding musical sound and the far-reaching demands concerning acoustics that modern concert halls are required...

  4. Opportunistic Beacon Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Türkes, Okan

    2016-01-01

    Modern society is surrounded by an ample spectrum of personal mobile devices with short-range wireless communication support. This ubiquity creates an immense potential of new concepts for people-centric ad hoc networks that can be applied to every personal and social dimension of life. The last

  5. Irregularities and Forecast Studies of Equatorial Spread

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-07-13

    stations – one transmitting station at Ancon, two re- ceiving stations at Jicamarca, and one receiving station at Huancayo, Peru. The stations utilize two...ESF disrupts radio communication, navigation, and imaging systems including space- based synthetic aperture radars and over-the-horizon radars and...experimental capability. We designed, programmed, and deployed a network of HF beacons. The beacons employ software-defined transceivers and function as next

  6. Species detection using HyBeacon(®) probe technology: Working towards rapid onsite testing in non-human forensic and food authentication applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawnay, Nick; Hughes, Rebecca; Court, Denise Syndercombe; Duxbury, Nicola

    2016-01-01

    Identifying individual species or determining species' composition in an unknown sample is important for a variety of forensic applications. Food authentication, monitoring illegal trade in endangered species, forensic entomology, sexual assault case work and counter terrorism are just some of the fields that can require the detection of the biological species present. Traditional laboratory based approaches employ a wide variety of tools and technologies and exploit a number of different species specific traits including morphology, molecular differences and immuno-chemical analyses. A large number of these approaches require laboratory based apparatus and results can take a number of days to be returned to investigating authorities. Having a presumptive test for rapid identification could lead to savings in terms of cost and time and allow sample prioritisation if confirmatory testing in a laboratory is required later. This model study describes the development of an assay using a single HyBeacon(®) probe and melt curve analyses allowing rapid screening and authentication of food products labelled as Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Exploiting melt curve detection of species specific SNP sites on the COI gene the test allows detection of a target species (Atlantic cod) and closely related species which may be used as substitutes. The assay has been designed for use with the Field Portable ParaDNA system, a molecular detection platform for non-expert users. The entire process from sampling to result takes approximately 75min. Validation studies were performed on both single source genomic DNA, mixed genomic DNA and commercial samples. Data suggests the assay has a lower limit of detection of 31 pg DNA. The specificity of the assay to Atlantic cod was measured by testing highly processed food samples including frozen, defrosted and cooked fish fillets as well as fish fingers, battered fish fillet and fish pie. Ninety-six (92.7%) of all Atlantic cod food products

  7. Mobile robot trajectory tracking using noisy RSS measurements: an RFID approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miah, M Suruz; Gueaieb, Wail

    2014-03-01

    Most RF beacons-based mobile robot navigation techniques rely on approximating line-of-sight (LOS) distances between the beacons and the robot. This is mostly performed using the robot's received signal strength (RSS) measurements from the beacons. However, accurate mapping between the RSS measurements and the LOS distance is almost impossible to achieve in reverberant environments. This paper presents a partially-observed feedback controller for a wheeled mobile robot where the feedback signal is in the form of noisy RSS measurements emitted from radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The proposed controller requires neither an accurate mapping between the LOS distance and the RSS measurements, nor the linearization of the robot model. The controller performance is demonstrated through numerical simulations and real-time experiments. ©2013 Published by ISA. All rights reserved.

  8. One-trial spatial learning: wild hummingbirds relocate a reward after a single visit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flores-Abreu, I Nuri; Hurly, T Andrew; Healy, Susan D

    2012-07-01

    Beaconing to rewarded locations is typically achieved by visual recognition of the actual goal. Spatial recognition, on the other hand, can occur in the absence of the goal itself, relying instead on the landmarks surrounding the goal location. Although the duration or frequency of experiences that an animal needs to learn the landmarks surrounding a goal have been extensively studied with a variety of laboratory tasks, little is known about the way in which wild vertebrates use them in their natural environment. Here, we allowed hummingbirds to feed once only from a rewarding flower (goal) before it was removed. When we presented a similar flower at a different height in another location, birds frequently returned to the location the flower had previously occupied (spatial recognition) before flying to the flower itself (beaconing). After experiencing three rewarded flowers, each in a different location, they were more likely to beacon to the current visible flower than they were to return to previously rewarded locations (without a visible flower). These data show that hummingbirds can encode a rewarded location on the basis of the surrounding landmarks after a single visit. After multiple goal location manipulations, however, the birds changed their strategy to beaconing presumably because they had learned that the flower itself reliably signalled reward.

  9. Estimation of distributed Fermat-point location for wireless sensor networking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Po-Hsian; Chen, Jiann-Liang; Larosa, Yanuarius Teofilus; Chiang, Tsui-Lien

    2011-01-01

    This work presents a localization scheme for use in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that is based on a proposed connectivity-based RF localization strategy called the distributed Fermat-point location estimation algorithm (DFPLE). DFPLE applies triangle area of location estimation formed by intersections of three neighboring beacon nodes. The Fermat point is determined as the shortest path from three vertices of the triangle. The area of estimated location then refined using Fermat point to achieve minimum error in estimating sensor nodes location. DFPLE solves problems of large errors and poor performance encountered by localization schemes that are based on a bounding box algorithm. Performance analysis of a 200-node development environment reveals that, when the number of sensor nodes is below 150, the mean error decreases rapidly as the node density increases, and when the number of sensor nodes exceeds 170, the mean error remains below 1% as the node density increases. Second, when the number of beacon nodes is less than 60, normal nodes lack sufficient beacon nodes to enable their locations to be estimated. However, the mean error changes slightly as the number of beacon nodes increases above 60. Simulation results revealed that the proposed algorithm for estimating sensor positions is more accurate than existing algorithms, and improves upon conventional bounding box strategies.

  10. 2-Aminopurine hairpin probes for the detection of ultraviolet-induced DNA damage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Yazbi, Amira F.; Loppnow, Glen R.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Molecular beacon with 2AP bases detects DNA damage in a simple mix-and-read assay. ► Molecular beacons with 2AP bases detect damage at a 17.2 nM limit of detection. ► The 2AP molecular beacon is linear over a 0–3.5 μM concentration range for damage. - Abstract: Nucleic acid exposure to radiation and chemical insults leads to damage and disease. Thus, detection and understanding DNA damage is important for elucidating molecular mechanisms of disease. However, current methods of DNA damage detection are either time-consuming, destroy the sample, or are too specific to be used for generic detection of damage. In this paper, we develop a fluorescence sensor of 2-aminopurine (2AP), a fluorescent analogue of adenine, incorporated in the loop of a hairpin probe for the quantification of ultraviolet (UV) C-induced nucleic acid damage. Our results show that the selectivity of the 2AP hairpin probe to UV-induced nucleic acid damage is comparable to molecular beacon (MB) probes of DNA damage. The calibration curve for the 2AP hairpin probe shows good linearity (R 2 = 0.98) with a limit of detection of 17.2 nM. This probe is a simple, fast and economic fluorescence sensor for the quantification of UV-induced damage in DNA.

  11. Estimation of Distributed Fermat-Point Location for Wireless Sensor Networking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanuarius Teofilus Larosa

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available This work presents a localization scheme for use in wireless sensor networks (WSNs that is based on a proposed connectivity-based RF localization strategy called the distributed Fermat-point location estimation algorithm (DFPLE. DFPLE applies triangle area of location estimation formed by intersections of three neighboring beacon nodes. The Fermat point is determined as the shortest path from three vertices of the triangle. The area of estimated location then refined using Fermat point to achieve minimum error in estimating sensor nodes location. DFPLE solves problems of large errors and poor performance encountered by localization schemes that are based on a bounding box algorithm. Performance analysis of a 200-node development environment reveals that, when the number of sensor nodes is below 150, the mean error decreases rapidly as the node density increases, and when the number of sensor nodes exceeds 170, the mean error remains below 1% as the node density increases. Second, when the number of beacon nodes is less than 60, normal nodes lack sufficient beacon nodes to enable their locations to be estimated. However, the mean error changes slightly as the number of beacon nodes increases above 60. Simulation results revealed that the proposed algorithm for estimating sensor positions is more accurate than existing algorithms, and improves upon conventional bounding box strategies.

  12. Desenvolupament d'una plataforma d'anuncis geolocalitzats

    OpenAIRE

    Martin Alaminos, David

    2017-01-01

    Hem desenvolupat un sistema capaç de determinar el posicionament dels anuncis que emeten uns beacons. Es tracta d'un pipeline de dades compost per un algorisme de subhasta pels anunciants, un estimador del rendiment dels anuncis mitjançant machine learning i una agregació d'ambdós resultats. We developed a system capable of establishing the positioning of advertisements broadcast by a set of beacons. It is a data pipeline consisting in an auction algorithm for advertisers, a performance es...

  13. An Autonomous Distributed Fault-Tolerant Local Positioning System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malekpour, Mahyar R.

    2017-01-01

    We describe a fault-tolerant, GPS-independent (Global Positioning System) distributed autonomous positioning system for static/mobile objects and present solutions for providing highly-accurate geo-location data for the static/mobile objects in dynamic environments. The reliability and accuracy of a positioning system fundamentally depends on two factors; its timeliness in broadcasting signals and the knowledge of its geometry, i.e., locations and distances of the beacons. Existing distributed positioning systems either synchronize to a common external source like GPS or establish their own time synchrony using a scheme similar to a master-slave by designating a particular beacon as the master and other beacons synchronize to it, resulting in a single point of failure. Another drawback of existing positioning systems is their lack of addressing various fault manifestations, in particular, communication link failures, which, as in wireless networks, are increasingly dominating the process failures and are typically transient and mobile, in the sense that they typically affect different messages to/from different processes over time.

  14. BOB-RED queue management for IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Jean-Lien

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Multimedia services over resource constrained wireless sensor networks (WSNs face a performance bottleneck issue from the gateway node to the sink node. Therefore, the queue management at the gateway node is crucial for diversified messages conveyed from the front nodes to the sink node. In this article, beacon order-based random early detection (BOB-RED queue management is proposed. BOB-RED is a dynamic adaptation scheme based on adjusting beacon interval and superframe duration in the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC superframe accompanied with RED queue management scheme to increase the transmission efficiency of multimedia over WSNs. We focus on the performance improvement upon different traffic loads over WSNs. Evaluation metrics include end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio, and energy consumption in IEEE 802.15.4 beacon enabled mode. Simulation results show that BOB-RED can effectively decrease end-to-end delay and energy consumption compared to the DropTail scheme.

  15. Utilization of space technology for terrestrial solar power applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasui, R. K.; Patterson, R. E.

    1974-01-01

    A description is given of the evolution of photovoltaic power systems designed and built for terrestrial applications, giving attention to problem areas which are currently impeding the further development of such systems. The rooftop testing of surplus solar panels is considered along with solar powered seismic observatories, solar powered portable radio sets, and design considerations identified from past experience. Present activities discussed are related to a solar powered on-shore beacon flasher system, a solar powered buoy, and a solar powered beacon flasher buoy.

  16. On making radio contact with extraterrestrial civilizations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bates, D.R.

    1978-01-01

    The problem of attempting to make radio contact with other technological civilizations is examined. It is argued that there are few (perhaps indeed no) omnidirectional radio beacons in the Galaxy primarily because any such beacon, to be effective, would have to be designed for a call-response time of at least some 10 4 years, which is much too long to be likely to be acceptable to governments. A consequence is that any search program by us would have little chance of detecting incoming signals. (Auth.)

  17. Lateral Beacons - USACE IENC

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — These inland electronic Navigational charts (IENCs) were developed from available data used in maintenance of Navigation channels. Users of these IENCs should be...

  18. "Off-on" electrochemical hairpin-DNA-based genosensor for cancer diagnostics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farjami, Elaheh; Clima, Lilia; Gothelf, Kurt; Ferapontova, Elena E

    2011-03-01

    A simple and robust "off-on" signaling genosensor platform with improved selectivity for single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection based on the electronic DNA hairpin molecular beacons has been developed. The DNA beacons were immobilized onto gold electrodes in their folded states through the alkanethiol linker at the 3'-end, while the 5'-end was labeled with a methylene blue (MB) redox probe. A typical "on-off" change of the electrochemical signal was observed upon hybridization of the 27-33 nucleotide (nt) long hairpin DNA to the target DNA, in agreement with all the hitherto published data. Truncation of the DNA hairpin beacons down to 20 nts provided improved genosensor selectivity for SNP and allowed switching of the electrochemical genosensor response from the on-off to the off-on mode. Switching was consistent with the variation in the mechanism of the electron transfer reaction between the electrode and the MB redox label, for the folded beacon being characteristic of the electrochemistry of adsorbed species, while for the "open" duplex structure being formally controlled by the diffusion of the redox label within the adsorbate layer. The relative current intensities of both processes were governed by the length of the formed DNA duplex, potential scan rate, and apparent diffusion coefficient of the redox species. The off-on genosensor design used for detection of a cancer biomarker TP53 gene sequence favored discrimination between the healthy and SNP-containing DNA sequences, which was particularly pronounced at short hybridization times.

  19. A method for optical ground station reduce alignment error in satellite-ground quantum experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Dong; Wang, Qiang; Zhou, Jian-Wei; Song, Zhi-Jun; Zhong, Dai-Jun; Jiang, Yu; Liu, Wan-Sheng; Huang, Yong-Mei

    2018-03-01

    A satellite dedicated for quantum science experiments, has been developed and successfully launched from Jiuquan, China, on August 16, 2016. Two new optical ground stations (OGSs) were built to cooperate with the satellite to complete satellite-ground quantum experiments. OGS corrected its pointing direction by satellite trajectory error to coarse tracking system and uplink beacon sight, therefore fine tracking CCD and uplink beacon optical axis alignment accuracy was to ensure that beacon could cover the quantum satellite in all time when it passed the OGSs. Unfortunately, when we tested specifications of the OGSs, due to the coarse tracking optical system was commercial telescopes, the change of position of the target in the coarse CCD was up to 600μrad along with the change of elevation angle. In this paper, a method of reduce alignment error between beacon beam and fine tracking CCD is proposed. Firstly, OGS fitted the curve of target positions in coarse CCD along with the change of elevation angle. Secondly, OGS fitted the curve of hexapod secondary mirror positions along with the change of elevation angle. Thirdly, when tracking satellite, the fine tracking error unloaded on the real-time zero point position of coarse CCD which computed by the firstly calibration data. Simultaneously the positions of the hexapod secondary mirror were adjusted by the secondly calibration data. Finally the experiment result is proposed. Results show that the alignment error is less than 50μrad.

  20. Accuracy of a wireless localization system for radiotherapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balter, James M.; Wright, J. Nelson; Newell, Laurence J.; Friemel, Barry; Dimmer, Steven; Cheng, Yuki; Wong, John; Vertatschitsch, Edward; Mate, Timothy P.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: A system has been developed for patient positioning based on real-time localization of implanted electromagnetic transponders (beacons). This study demonstrated the accuracy of the system before clinical trials. Methods and materials: We describe the overall system. The localization component consists of beacons and a source array. A rigid phantom was constructed to place the beacons at known offsets from a localization array. Tests were performed at distances of 80 and 270 mm from the array and at positions in the array plane of up to 8 cm offset. Tests were performed in air and saline to assess the effect of tissue conductivity and with multiple transponders to evaluate crosstalk. Tracking was tested using a dynamic phantom creating a circular path at varying speeds. Results: Submillimeter accuracy was maintained throughout all experiments. Precision was greater proximal to the source plane (σx = 0.006 mm, σy = 0.01 mm, σz = 0.006 mm), but continued to be submillimeter at the end of the designed tracking range at 270 mm from the array (σx = 0.27 mm, σy = 0.36 mm, σz = 0.48 mm). The introduction of saline and the use of multiple beacons did not affect accuracy. Submillimeter accuracy was maintained using the dynamic phantom at speeds of up to 3 cm/s. Conclusion: This system has demonstrated the accuracy needed for localization and monitoring of position during treatment

  1. Nearly Cyclic Pursuit and its Hierarchical variant for Multi-agent Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iqbal, Muhammad; Leth, John-Josef; Ngo, Trung Dung

    2015-01-01

    The rendezvous problem for multiple agents under nearly cyclic pursuit and hierarchical nearly cyclic pursuit is discussed in this paper. The control law designed under nearly cyclic pursuit strategy enables the agents to converge at a point dictated by a beacon. A hierarchical version of the nea......The rendezvous problem for multiple agents under nearly cyclic pursuit and hierarchical nearly cyclic pursuit is discussed in this paper. The control law designed under nearly cyclic pursuit strategy enables the agents to converge at a point dictated by a beacon. A hierarchical version...

  2. Health-related quality of life in patients with locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer treated with etirinotecan pegol versus treatment of physician's choice: Results from the randomised phase III BEACON trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twelves, Chris; Cortés, Javier; O'Shaughnessy, Joyce; Awada, Ahmad; Perez, Edith A; Im, Seock-Ah; Gómez-Pardo, Patricia; Schwartzberg, Lee S; Diéras, Véronique; Yardley, Denise A; Potter, David A; Mailliez, Audrey; Moreno-Aspitia, Alvaro; Ahn, Jin-Seok; Zhao, Carol; Hoch, Ute; Tagliaferri, Mary; Hannah, Alison L; Rugo, Hope S

    2017-05-01

    Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) enhances understanding of treatment effects that impact clinical decision-making. Although the primary end-point was not achieved, the BEACON (BrEAst Cancer Outcomes with NKTR-102) trial established etirinotecan pegol, a long-acting topoisomerase-1 (TOP1) inhibitor, as a promising therapeutic for patients with advanced/metastatic breast cancer (MBC) achieving clinically meaningful benefits in median overall survival (OS) for patients with stable brain metastases, with liver metastases or ≥ 2 sites of metastatic disease compared to treatment of physician's choice (TPC). Reported herein are the findings from the preplanned secondary end-point of HRQoL. HRQoL, assessed by European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30) (version 3.0) supplemented by the breast cancer-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-BR23), was evaluated post randomisation in 733 of 852 patients with either anthracycline-, taxane- and capecitabine-pretreated locally recurrent or MBC randomised to etirinotecan pegol (n = 378; 145 mg/m 2 every 3 weeks (q3wk)) or single-agent TPC (n = 355). Patients completed assessments at screening, every 8 weeks (q8wk) during treatment, and end-of-treatment. Changes from baseline were analysed, and the proportions of patients achieving differences (≥5 points) in HRQoL scores were compared. Differences were seen favouring etirinotecan pegol up to 32 weeks for global health status (GHS) and physical functioning scales (P Patients in both arms had a decline in HRQoL at disease progression. NCT01492101. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  3. Two-Photon-Absorption Scheme for Optical Beam Tracking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Gerardo G.; Farr, William H.

    2011-01-01

    A new optical beam tracking approach for free-space optical communication links using two-photon absorption (TPA) in a high-bandgap detector material was demonstrated. This tracking scheme is part of the canonical architecture described in the preceding article. TPA is used to track a long-wavelength transmit laser while direct absorption on the same sensor simultaneously tracks a shorter-wavelength beacon. The TPA responsivity was measured for silicon using a PIN photodiode at a laser beacon wavelength of 1,550 nm. As expected, the responsivity shows a linear dependence with incident power level. The responsivity slope is 4.5 x 10(exp -7) A/W2. Also, optical beam spots from the 1,550-nm laser beacon were characterized on commercial charge coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imagers with as little as 13.7 microWatts of optical power (see figure). This new tracker technology offers an innovative solution to reduce system complexity, improve transmit/receive isolation, improve optical efficiency, improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and reduce cost for free-space optical communications transceivers.

  4. Navigation Architecture for a Space Mobile Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valdez, Jennifer E.; Ashman, Benjamin; Gramling, Cheryl; Heckler, Gregory W.; Carpenter, Russell

    2016-01-01

    The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Augmentation Service for Satellites (TASS) is a proposed beacon service to provide a global, space based GPS augmentation service based on the NASA Global Differential GPS (GDGPS) System. The TASS signal will be tied to the GPS time system and usable as an additional ranging and Doppler radiometric source. Additionally, it will provide data vital to autonomous navigation in the near Earth regime, including space weather information, TDRS ephemerides, Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), and forward commanding capability. TASS benefits include enhancing situational awareness, enabling increased autonomy, and providing near real-time command access for user platforms. As NASA Headquarters' Space Communication and Navigation Office (SCaN) begins to move away from a centralized network architecture and towards a Space Mobile Network (SMN) that allows for user initiated services, autonomous navigation will be a key part of such a system. This paper explores how a TASS beacon service enables the Space Mobile Networking paradigm, what a typical user platform would require, and provides an in-depth analysis of several navigation scenarios and operations concepts. This paper provides an overview of the TASS beacon and its role within the SMN and user community. Supporting navigation analysis is presented for two user mission scenarios: an Earth observing spacecraft in low earth orbit (LEO), and a highly elliptical spacecraft in a lunar resonance orbit. These diverse flight scenarios indicate the breadth of applicability of the TASS beacon for upcoming users within the current network architecture and in the SMN.

  5. Implications of directed energy for SETI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lubin, Philip

    2016-09-01

    We compute the detectability of directed-energy (DE) sources from distant civilizations that may exist. Recent advances in our own DE technology suggest that our eventual capabilities will radically enhance our capacity to broadcast our presence and hence allow us to ponder the reverse case of detection. We show that DE systems are detectable at vast distances, possibly across the entire horizon, which profoundly alters conceivable search strategies for extra-terrestrial, technologically-advanced civilizations. Even modest searches are extremely effective at detecting or constraining many civilization classes. A single civilization anywhere in our galaxy of comparable technological advancement to our own can be detected with near unity probability with a cluster of 0.1 m telescopes on Earth. A 1 m class telescope can detect a single civilization anywhere in the Andromeda galaxy. A search strategy is proposed using small Earth-based telescopes to observe 1012-1020 stellar and planetary systems. Such observations could address whether there exist other civilizations which are broadcasting with similar or more advanced DE capability. We show that such searches have near-unity probability of detecting comparably advanced civilizations anywhere in our galaxy within a few years, assuming the civilization: (1) adopts a simple "intelligent targeting" beacon strategy; (2) is beaconing at a wavelength we can detect; (3) broadcast the beacon long enough for the light to reach Earth now. In this blind-beacon, blind-search strategy, the civilization need not know where we are nor do we need to know where they are. The same basic strategy can be extended to extragalactic distances.

  6. Fluorometric determination of nucleic acids based on the use of polydopamine nanotubes and target-induced strand displacement amplification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Jia; Bai, Dong-Mei; -Geng, Xin; Hu, Ya-Lei; Cai, Qi-Yong; Xing, Ke; Zhang, Lin; Li, Zhao-Hui

    2018-01-10

    The authors describe a fluorometric method for the quantitation of nucleic acids by combining (a) cycled strand displacement amplification, (b) the unique features of the DNA probe SYBR Green, and (c) polydopamine nanotubes. SYBR Green undergoes strong fluorescence enhancement upon intercalation into double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). The polydopamine nanotubes selectively adsorb single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and molecular beacons. In the absence of target DNA, the molecular beacon, primer and SYBR Green are adsorbed on the surface of polydopamine nanotubes. This results in quenching of the fluorescence of SYBR Green, typically measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 488/518 nm. Upon addition of analyte (target DNA) and polymerase, the stem of the molecular beacon is opened so that it can bind to the primer. This triggers target strand displacement polymerization, during which dsDNA is synthesized. The hybridized target is then displaced due to the strand displacement activity of the polymerase. The displaced target hybridizes with another molecular beacon. This triggers the next round of polymerization. Consequently, a large amount of dsDNA is formed which is detected by addition of SYBR Green. Thus, sensitive and selective fluorometric detection is realized. The fluorescent sensing strategy shows very good analytical performances towards DNA detection, such as a wide linear range from 0.05 to 25 nM with a low limit of detection of 20 pM. Graphical abstract Schematic of a fluorometric strategy for highly sensitive and selective determination of nucleic acids by combining strand displacement amplification and the unique features of SYBR Green I (SG) and polydopamine nanotubes.

  7. SIMULATION OF WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK WITH HYBRID TOPOLOGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Jaslin Deva Gifty

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The design of low rate Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN by IEEE 802.15.4 standard has been developed to support lower data rates and low power consuming application. Zigbee Wireless Sensor Network (WSN works on the network and application layer in IEEE 802.15.4. Zigbee network can be configured in star, tree or mesh topology. The performance varies from topology to topology. The performance parameters such as network lifetime, energy consumption, throughput, delay in data delivery and sensor field coverage area varies depending on the network topology. In this paper, designing of hybrid topology by using two possible combinations such as star-tree and star-mesh is simulated to verify the communication reliability. This approach is to combine all the benefits of two network model. The parameters such as jitter, delay and throughput are measured for these scenarios. Further, MAC parameters impact such as beacon order (BO and super frame order (SO for low power consumption and high channel utilization, has been analysed for star, tree and mesh topology in beacon disable mode and beacon enable mode by varying CBR traffic loads.

  8. A BLE-Based Pedestrian Navigation System for Car Searching in Indoor Parking Garages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Sheng-Shih

    2018-05-05

    The continuous global increase in the number of cars has led to an increase in parking issues, particularly with respect to the search for available parking spaces and finding cars. In this paper, we propose a navigation system for car owners to find their cars in indoor parking garages. The proposed system comprises a car-searching mobile app and a positioning-assisting subsystem. The app guides car owners to their cars based on a “turn-by-turn” navigation strategy, and has the ability to correct the user’s heading orientation. The subsystem uses beacon technology for indoor positioning, supporting self-guidance of the car-searching mobile app. This study also designed a local coordinate system to support the identification of the locations of parking spaces and beacon devices. We used Android as the platform to implement the proposed car-searching mobile app, and used Bytereal HiBeacon devices to implement the proposed positioning-assisting subsystem. We also deployed the system in a parking lot in our campus for testing. The experimental results verified that the proposed system not only works well, but also provides the car owner with the correct route guidance information.

  9. The whiteStar development project: Westinghouse's next generation core design simulator and core monitoring software to power the nuclear renaissance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boyd, W. A.; Mayhue, L. T.; Penkrot, V. S.; Zhang, B.

    2009-01-01

    The WhiteStar project has undertaken the development of the next generation core analysis and monitoring system for Westinghouse Electric Company. This on-going project focuses on the development of the ANC core simulator, BEACON core monitoring system and NEXUS nuclear data generation system. This system contains many functional upgrades to the ANC core simulator and BEACON core monitoring products as well as the release of the NEXUS family of codes. The NEXUS family of codes is an automated once-through cross section generation system designed for use in both PWR and BWR applications. ANC is a multi-dimensional nodal code for all nuclear core design calculations at a given condition. ANC predicts core reactivity, assembly power, rod power, detector thimble flux, and other relevant core characteristics. BEACON is an advanced core monitoring and support system which uses existing instrumentation data in conjunction with an analytical methodology for on-line generation and evaluation of 3D core power distributions. This new system is needed to design and monitor the Westinghouse AP1000 PWR. This paper describes provides an overview of the software system, software development methodologies used as well some initial results. (authors)

  10. On Event Detection and Localization in Acyclic Flow Networks

    KAUST Repository

    Suresh, Mahima Agumbe

    2013-05-01

    Acyclic flow networks, present in many infrastructures of national importance (e.g., oil and gas and water distribution systems), have been attracting immense research interest. Existing solutions for detecting and locating attacks against these infrastructures have been proven costly and imprecise, particularly when dealing with large-scale distribution systems. In this article, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time, we investigate how mobile sensor networks can be used for optimal event detection and localization in acyclic flow networks. We propose the idea of using sensors that move along the edges of the network and detect events (i.e., attacks). To localize the events, sensors detect proximity to beacons, which are devices with known placement in the network. We formulate the problem of minimizing the cost of monitoring infrastructure (i.e., minimizing the number of sensors and beacons deployed) in a predetermined zone of interest, while ensuring a degree of coverage by sensors and a required accuracy in locating events using beacons. We propose algorithms for solving the aforementioned problem and demonstrate their effectiveness with results obtained from a realistic flow network simulator.

  11. Method to improve the survival of night-swarming mayflies near bridges in areas of distracting light pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Egri, Ádám; Száz, Dénes; Farkas, Alexandra; Pereszlényi, Ádám; Horváth, Gábor; Kriska, György

    2017-11-01

    Numerous negative ecological effects of urban lighting have been identified during the last decades. In spite of the development of lighting technologies, the detrimental effect of this form of light pollution has not declined. Several insect species are affected including the night-swarming mayfly Ephoron virgo : when encountering bridges during their mass swarming, these mayflies often fall victim to artificial lighting. We show a simple method for the conservation of these mayflies exploiting their positive phototaxis. With downstream-facing light-emitting diode beacon lights above two tributaries of the river Danube, we managed to guide egg-laying females to the water and prevent them from perishing outside the river near urban lights. By means of measuring the mayfly outflow from the river as a function of time and the on/off state of the beacons, we showed that the number of mayflies exiting the river's area was practically zero when our beacons were operating. Tributaries could be the sources of mayfly recolonization in case of water quality degradation of large rivers. The protection of mayfly populations in small rivers and safeguarding their aggregation and oviposition sites is therefore important.

  12. The primary care amplification model: taking the best of primary care forward

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholson Caroline

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Primary care internationally is approaching a new paradigm. The change agenda implicit in this threatens to de-stabilise and challenge established general practice and primary care. Discussion The Primary Care Amplification Model offers a means to harness the change agenda by 'amplifying' the strengths of established general practices around a 'beacon' practice. Conclusion Such 'beacon' practices can provide a mustering point for an expanded scope of practice for primary care, integrated primary/secondary service delivery, interprofessional learning, relevant local clinical research, and a focus on local service innovation, enhancing rather than fragmenting the collective capacity of existing primary care.

  13. Underwater Acoustic Beacon Location System

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-12-23

    frequency band is presented to the operator as a function of time and beam angle in a three dimensional “ waterfall ” display 210. [0046] As shown in FIG...and Down (zn) relative to the World Geodetic System (WGS 84) ellipsoid model [NIMA Technical Report TR8350.2, Chapter 3 “Department of Defense

  14. Beacons of the Experience Economy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Delica, Kristian Nagel

    2014-01-01

    This essay outlines the boundaries among various interests in the library sector; among positions that prioritize libraries as aesthetically appealing junctions of the experience economy versus positions that prioritize the library as a community forum. The main emphasis is placed on developments...

  15. Secure Borders and Open Doors: Preserving Our Welcome to the World in an Age of Terrorism

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    2008-01-01

    As an international beacon of freedom and economic opportunity, and offering unique and attractive opportunities for international businesspeople, students, researchers, and tourists, America has long...

  16. SU-G-JeP1-01: A Combination of Real Time Electromagnetic Localization and Tracking with Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Brain Tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muralidhar, K Raja; Pangam, Suresh; Ponaganti, Srinivas; Krishna, Jayarama; Sujana, Kolla V; Komanduri, Priya K

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: 1. online verification of patient position during treatment using calypso electromagnetic localization and tracking system. 2. Verification and comparison of positional accuracy between cone beam computed tomography and calypso system. 3. Presenting the advantage of continuation localization in Stereotactic radiosurgery treatments. Methods: Ten brain tumor cases were taken for this study. Patients with head mask were under gone Computed Tomography (CT). Before scanning, mask was cut on the fore head area to keep surface beacons on the skin. Slice thickness of 0.65 mm were taken for this study. x, y, z coordinates of these beacons in TPS were entered into tracking station. Varian True Beam accelerator, equipped with On Board Imager was used to take Cone beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) to localize the patient. Simultaneously Surface beacons were used to localize and track the patient throughout the treatment. The localization values were compared in both systems. For localization CBCT considered as reference. Tracking was done throughout the treatment using Calypso tracking system using electromagnetic array. This array was in tracking position during imaging and treatment. Flattening Filter free beams of 6MV photons along with Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy was used for the treatment. The patient movement was observed throughout the treatment ranging from 2 min to 4 min. Results: The average variation observed between calypso system and CBCT localization was less than 0.5 mm. These variations were due to manual errors while keeping beacon on the patient. Less than 0.05 cm intra-fraction motion was observed throughout the treatment with the help of continuous tracking. Conclusion: Calypso target localization system is one of the finest tools to perform radiosurgery in combination with CBCT. This non radiographic method of tracking is a real beneficial method to treat patients confidently while observing real-time motion information of the patient.

  17. SU-E-T-574: Fessiblity of Using the Calypso System for HDR Interstitial Catheter Reconstruction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, J S; Ma, C

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: It is always a challenge to reconstruct the interstitial catheter for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy on patient CT or MR images. This work aims to investigate the feasibility of using the Calypso system (Varian Medical, CA) for HDR catheter reconstruction utilizing its accuracy on tracking the electromagnetic transponder location. Methods: Experiment was done with a phantom that has a HDR interstitial catheter embedded inside. CT scan with a slice thickness of 1.25 mm was taken for this phantom with two Calypso beacon transponders in the catheter. The two transponders were connected with a wire. The Calypso system was used to record the beacon transponders’ location in real time when they were gently pulled out with the wire. The initial locations of the beacon transponders were used for registration with the CT image and the detected transponder locations were used for the catheter path reconstruction. The reconstructed catheter path was validated on the CT image. Results: The HDR interstitial catheter was successfully reconstructed based on the transponders’ coordinates recorded by the Calypso system in real time when the transponders were pulled in the catheter. After registration with the CT image, the shape and location of the reconstructed catheter are evaluated against the CT image and the result shows an accuracy of 2 mm anywhere in the Calypso detectable region which is within a 10 cm X 10 cm X 10 cm cubic box for the current system. Conclusion: It is feasible to use the Calypso system for HDR interstitial catheter reconstruction. The obstacle for its clinical usage is the size of the beacon transponder whose diameter is bigger than most of the interstitial catheters used in clinic. Developing smaller transponders and supporting software and hardware for this application is necessary before it can be adopted for clinical use

  18. SU-G-JeP1-01: A Combination of Real Time Electromagnetic Localization and Tracking with Cone Beam Computed Tomography in Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Brain Tumors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muralidhar, K Raja; Pangam, Suresh; Ponaganti, Srinivas; Krishna, Jayarama; Sujana, Kolla V; Komanduri, Priya K [American Oncology Institute, Hyderabad, Telangana (India)

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: 1. online verification of patient position during treatment using calypso electromagnetic localization and tracking system. 2. Verification and comparison of positional accuracy between cone beam computed tomography and calypso system. 3. Presenting the advantage of continuation localization in Stereotactic radiosurgery treatments. Methods: Ten brain tumor cases were taken for this study. Patients with head mask were under gone Computed Tomography (CT). Before scanning, mask was cut on the fore head area to keep surface beacons on the skin. Slice thickness of 0.65 mm were taken for this study. x, y, z coordinates of these beacons in TPS were entered into tracking station. Varian True Beam accelerator, equipped with On Board Imager was used to take Cone beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) to localize the patient. Simultaneously Surface beacons were used to localize and track the patient throughout the treatment. The localization values were compared in both systems. For localization CBCT considered as reference. Tracking was done throughout the treatment using Calypso tracking system using electromagnetic array. This array was in tracking position during imaging and treatment. Flattening Filter free beams of 6MV photons along with Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy was used for the treatment. The patient movement was observed throughout the treatment ranging from 2 min to 4 min. Results: The average variation observed between calypso system and CBCT localization was less than 0.5 mm. These variations were due to manual errors while keeping beacon on the patient. Less than 0.05 cm intra-fraction motion was observed throughout the treatment with the help of continuous tracking. Conclusion: Calypso target localization system is one of the finest tools to perform radiosurgery in combination with CBCT. This non radiographic method of tracking is a real beneficial method to treat patients confidently while observing real-time motion information of the patient.

  19. Fluorescence reporters for Hfq oligomerization and RNA annealing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panja, Subrata; Woodson, Sarah A.

    2015-01-01

    Fluorescence spectroscopy is a sensitive technique for detecting protein-protein, protein-RNA and RNA-RNA interactions, requiring only nanomolar concentrations of labeled components. Fluorescence anisotropy provides information about the assembly of multi-subunit proteins, while molecular beacons provide a sensitive and quantitative reporter for base pairing between complementary RNAs. Here we present a detailed protocol for labeling Hfq protein with cyanine 3-maleimide and dansyl chloride to study the protein oligomerization and RNA binding by semi-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and fluorescence anisotropy. We also present a detailed protocol for measuring the rate of annealing between a molecular beacon and a target RNA in the presence of Hfq using a stopped-flow spectrometer. PMID:25579597

  20. SIGNAL - Search for Intelligence in the Galactic Nucleus with the Array of the Lowlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shostak, G.S.; Tarter, J.

    1982-01-01

    In August, 1981, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope was used for 4 hours to search for narrow-band radio beacons in the direction of the Galactic Center. By using both the spatial discrimination and temporal stability available to an interferometric measurement, weak intermittent signals can be detected even in the face of the strong, naturally-caused radiation from this region. A radio beacon within the bandwidth used here, centered on the 21-cm neutral hydrogen line, would be recognizable if it had a repetition period between 40 sec and several hours. The rms sensitivity to point sources is approximately 20 mJy, or many orders of magnitude better than typical sensitivities achieved by scanning single-dish instruments

  1. Asymmetric Propagation Delay-Aware TDMA MAC Protocol for Mobile Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A-Ra Cho

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available The propagation delay in mobile underwater acoustic sensor network (MUASN is asymmetric because of its low sound propagation speed, and this asymmetry grows with the increase in packet travel time, which damages the collision avoidance mechanism of the spatial reuse medium access control (MAC protocols for MUASN. We propose an asymmetric propagation delay-aware time division multiple access (APD-TDMA for a MUASN in which periodic data packet transmission is required for a sink node (SN. Collisions at the SN are avoided by deferring data packet transmission after reception of a beacon packet from the SN, and data packets are arrived at the SN in a packet-train manner. The time-offset, which is the time for a node to wait before the transmission of a data packet after reception of a beacon packet, is determined by estimating the propagation delay over two consecutive cycles such that the idle interval at the SN is minimized, and this time-offset is announced by the beacon packet. Simulation results demonstrate that the APD-TDMA improves the channel access delay and the channel utilization by approximately 20% and 30%, respectively, compared with those of the block time bounded TDMA under the given network conditions.

  2. An Empirical Study of the Transmission Power Setting for Bluetooth-Based Indoor Localization Mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castillo-Cara, Manuel; Lovón-Melgarejo, Jesús; Bravo-Rocca, Gusseppe; Orozco-Barbosa, Luis; García-Varea, Ismael

    2017-06-07

    Nowadays, there is a great interest in developing accurate wireless indoor localization mechanisms enabling the implementation of many consumer-oriented services. Among the many proposals, wireless indoor localization mechanisms based on the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) are being widely explored. Most studies have focused on the evaluation of the capabilities of different mobile device brands and wireless network technologies. Furthermore, different parameters and algorithms have been proposed as a means of improving the accuracy of wireless-based localization mechanisms. In this paper, we focus on the tuning of the RSSI fingerprint to be used in the implementation of a Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 (BLE4.0) Bluetooth localization mechanism. Following a holistic approach, we start by assessing the capabilities of two Bluetooth sensor/receiver devices. We then evaluate the relevance of the RSSI fingerprint reported by each BLE4.0 beacon operating at various transmission power levels using feature selection techniques. Based on our findings, we use two classification algorithms in order to improve the setting of the transmission power levels of each of the BLE4.0 beacons. Our main findings show that our proposal can greatly improve the localization accuracy by setting a custom transmission power level for each BLE4.0 beacon.

  3. Study of electromagnetic wave scattering by periodic density irregularities in plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lyle, R.; Kuo, S.P.; Huang, J.

    1995-01-01

    A quasi-particle approach is used to formulate wave propagation and scattering in a periodically structured plasma. The theory is then applied to study the effect of bottomside sinusoidal (BSS) irregularities on the propagation of beacon satellites signals through the ionosphere. In this approach, the radio wave is treated as a distribution of quasi-particles described by a Wigner distribution function governed by a transport equation. The irregularities providing the collisional effect are modeled as a two dimensional density modulation on a uniform background plasma. The present work generalizes the previous work by including the spectral bandwidth (Δk/k) effect of the spatially periodic irregularities on the transionospheric signal propagation. The collision of quasi-particles with the irregularities modifies the quasi-particle distribution and give rise to the wave scattering phenomenon. The multiple scattering process is generally considered in this deterministic analysis of radio wave scattering off the ionospheric density irregularities. The analysis shows that this two dimensional density grating effectively modulates the intensity of the beacon satellite signals. This spatial modulation of the wave intensity is converted into time modulation due to the drift of the ionospheric irregularities, which then results in the scintillation of the beacon satellite signals

  4. An Empirical Study of the Transmission Power Setting for Bluetooth-Based Indoor Localization Mechanisms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Castillo-Cara

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, there is a great interest in developing accurate wireless indoor localization mechanisms enabling the implementation of many consumer-oriented services. Among the many proposals, wireless indoor localization mechanisms based on the Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI are being widely explored. Most studies have focused on the evaluation of the capabilities of different mobile device brands and wireless network technologies. Furthermore, different parameters and algorithms have been proposed as a means of improving the accuracy of wireless-based localization mechanisms. In this paper, we focus on the tuning of the RSSI fingerprint to be used in the implementation of a Bluetooth Low Energy 4.0 (BLE4.0 Bluetooth localization mechanism. Following a holistic approach, we start by assessing the capabilities of two Bluetooth sensor/receiver devices. We then evaluate the relevance of the RSSI fingerprint reported by each BLE4.0 beacon operating at various transmission power levels using feature selection techniques. Based on our findings, we use two classification algorithms in order to improve the setting of the transmission power levels of each of the BLE4.0 beacons. Our main findings show that our proposal can greatly improve the localization accuracy by setting a custom transmission power level for each BLE4.0 beacon.

  5. Santa Barbara Littoral Cell CRSMP Beaches 2009

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Natural Resource Agency — Several criteria were used for beach selection. BEACON 's Coastal Regional Sediment Management Plan included all of the most popular beaches in the two counties...

  6. Miniaturization of the atmospheric laser communication APT system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wei; Ai, Yong; Yang, Jinling; Huang, Haibo

    2003-09-01

    The paper presents a scheme of the miniaturization of APT system and the design of the system based on the investigation of status in quo. It deals with the infrared image of the other terminal's beacon from the Charge Coupled Device (CCD) by the Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). The result of the transaction is delivered to Single Chip Microcomputer (SCM), which controls the micro-servomotor. Subsequently, the precision drive system drives the optical system that uses only one light axis for signal beam and beacon to finish the acquisition, pointing, and tracking of the communication terminals. The anlayses of the APT system's error indicate that the tracking error limits in 70uRad with the weight of the system lighter than 8-kilogram.

  7. Radio/FADS/IMU integrated navigation for Mars entry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Xiuqiang; Li, Shuang; Huang, Xiangyu

    2018-03-01

    Supposing future orbiting and landing collaborative exploration mission as the potential project background, this paper addresses the issue of Mars entry integrated navigation using radio beacon, flush air data sensing system (FADS), and inertial measurement unit (IMU). The range and Doppler information sensed from an orbiting radio beacon, the dynamic pressure and heating data sensed from flush air data sensing system, and acceleration and attitude angular rate outputs from an inertial measurement unit are integrated in an unscented Kalman filter to perform state estimation and suppress the system and measurement noise. Computer simulations show that the proposed integrated navigation scheme can enhance the navigation accuracy, which enables precise entry guidance for the given Mars orbiting and landing collaborative exploration mission.

  8. Per-Pixel, Dual-Counter Scheme for Optical Communications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farr, William H.; Bimbaum, Kevin M.; Quirk, Kevin J.; Sburlan, Suzana; Sahasrabudhe, Adit

    2013-01-01

    Free space optical communications links from deep space are projected to fulfill future NASA communication requirements for 2020 and beyond. Accurate laser-beam pointing is required to achieve high data rates at low power levels.This innovation is a per-pixel processing scheme using a pair of three-state digital counters to implement acquisition and tracking of a dim laser beacon transmitted from Earth for pointing control of an interplanetary optical communications system using a focal plane array of single sensitive detectors. It shows how to implement dim beacon acquisition and tracking for an interplanetary optical transceiver with a method that is suitable for both achieving theoretical performance, as well as supporting additional functions of high data rate forward links and precision spacecraft ranging.

  9. RFID-Enabled Navigation and Communication Networks for Long-Duration Space Missions, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Virtual EM Inc. proposes a system that employs semi-passive RFID sensors with carbon nanotube inkjet-printed antenna and solar powered mesh-networked beacons. The...

  10. Santa Barbara Littoral Cell CRSMP Sensitive Habitat Sites 2009

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Natural Resource Agency — Ecological areas as identified and collected by BEACON and submitted to CSMW as part of the Central Coast (from Pt. Conception to Pt. Mugu) Coastal Regional Sediment...

  11. Santa Barbara Littoral Cell CRSMP Sensitive Habitat Areas 2009

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Natural Resource Agency — Ecological areas as identified and collected by BEACON and submitted to CSMW as part of the Central Coast (from Pt. Conception to Pt. Mugu) Coastal Regional Sediment...

  12. Santa Barbara Littoral Cell CRSMP Sensitive Habitat Areas 2009

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Department of Resources — Ecological areas as identified and collected by BEACON and submitted to CSMW as part of the Central Coast (from Pt. Conception to Pt. Mugu) Coastal Regional Sediment...

  13. Glomar challenger

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carroll, J P

    1969-01-01

    The Glomar Challenger has a length of 400 ft, a 65-ft beam, and a depth of 27 ft 6-in. She has a draft of 20 ft with a gross displacement of 10,500 long tons. The principal specifications of the vessel are tabulated. To achieve dynamic positioning, 4 fixed thrusters and the vessel's 2 propulsion screws are utilized. The ''fix'' is obtained by placing a sonar beacon, with self contained batteries, on the ocean floor at a selected site. The vessel is provided with 4 hydrophones installed in the hull at the 4 corners of a square. The sonar beacon radiates sound waves at a fixed pulse rate. If the vessel is directly over the beacon, the sound waves will arrive at all hydrophones simultaneously. A difference in time of arrival indicates the vessel is off location. The sound signals received by the hydrophones are fed into a computer. They are changed into coordinate information, which serves as the primary function of determining corrective action by the vessel's propulsion and thruster system. The computer feeds back information into a control system, which enables the propulsion and thrusters to automatically respond, in order to keep the vessel on the predetermined location. The major drilling components are listed. The deep-sea drilling project is described. A summary of the first leg is given in tabular form.

  14. A Localization Method for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Mobility Prediction and Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Zhang

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Due to their special environment, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs are usually deployed over a large sea area and the nodes are usually floating. This results in a lower beacon node distribution density, a longer time for localization, and more energy consumption. Currently most of the localization algorithms in this field do not pay enough consideration on the mobility of the nodes. In this paper, by analyzing the mobility patterns of water near the seashore, a localization method for UWSNs based on a Mobility Prediction and a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (MP-PSO is proposed. In this method, the range-based PSO algorithm is used to locate the beacon nodes, and their velocities can be calculated. The velocity of an unknown node is calculated by using the spatial correlation of underwater object’s mobility, and then their locations can be predicted. The range-based PSO algorithm may cause considerable energy consumption and its computation complexity is a little bit high, nevertheless the number of beacon nodes is relatively smaller, so the calculation for the large number of unknown nodes is succinct, and this method can obviously decrease the energy consumption and time cost of localizing these mobile nodes. The simulation results indicate that this method has higher localization accuracy and better localization coverage rate compared with some other widely used localization methods in this field.

  15. A Localization Method for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Mobility Prediction and Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ying; Liang, Jixing; Jiang, Shengming; Chen, Wei

    2016-02-06

    Due to their special environment, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) are usually deployed over a large sea area and the nodes are usually floating. This results in a lower beacon node distribution density, a longer time for localization, and more energy consumption. Currently most of the localization algorithms in this field do not pay enough consideration on the mobility of the nodes. In this paper, by analyzing the mobility patterns of water near the seashore, a localization method for UWSNs based on a Mobility Prediction and a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (MP-PSO) is proposed. In this method, the range-based PSO algorithm is used to locate the beacon nodes, and their velocities can be calculated. The velocity of an unknown node is calculated by using the spatial correlation of underwater object's mobility, and then their locations can be predicted. The range-based PSO algorithm may cause considerable energy consumption and its computation complexity is a little bit high, nevertheless the number of beacon nodes is relatively smaller, so the calculation for the large number of unknown nodes is succinct, and this method can obviously decrease the energy consumption and time cost of localizing these mobile nodes. The simulation results indicate that this method has higher localization accuracy and better localization coverage rate compared with some other widely used localization methods in this field.

  16. Multi-rover navigation on the lunar surface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dabrowski, Borys; Banaszkiewicz, Marek

    2008-07-01

    The paper presents a method of determination an accurate position of a target (rover, immobile sensor, astronaut) on surface of the Moon or other celestial body devoid of navigation infrastructure (like Global Positioning System), by using a group of self-calibrating rovers, which serves as mobile reference points. The rovers are equipped with low-precision clocks synchronized by external broadcasting signal, to measure the moments of receiving radio signals sent by localized target. Based on the registered times, distances between transmitter and receivers installed on beacons are calculated. Each rover determines and corrects its own absolute position and orientation by using odometry navigation and measurements of relative distances and angles to other mobile reference points. Accuracy of navigation has been improved by the use of a calibration algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter, which uses internal encoder readings as inputs and relative measurements of distances and orientations between beacons as feedback information. The key idea in obtaining reliable values of absolute position and orientation of beacons is to first calibrate one of the rovers, using the remaining ones as reference points and then allow the whole group to move together and calibrate all the rovers in-motion. We consider a number of cases, in which basic modeling parameters such as terrain roughness, formation size and shape as well as availability of distance and angle measurements are varied.

  17. Depths to Ice-cemented Soils in High-elevation Quartermain Mountains, Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Version 1

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set is comprised of four surveyed valleys focusing on the depth to ground ice in the high-elevation Quartermain Mountains in the Beacon Valley area:...

  18. The Radar Correlation and Interpolation (C&I) Algorithms Deployed in the ASR-9 Processor Augmentation Card (9PAC)

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Elkin, G

    2001-01-01

    .... The increased processing speed and memory size of the 9PAC hardware made it possible for new surveillance algorithms to be developed in software in order to provide improved primary radar and beacon...

  19. HiRLoc: High-resolution Robust Localization for Wireless Sensor Networks

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Lazos, Loukas; Poovendran, Radha

    2005-01-01

    ..., or the complexity of the hardware of each reference point. In HiRLoc, sensors determine their location based on the intersection of the areas covered by the beacons transmitted by multiple reference points...

  20. The planktonic communities of the Jamaican south-east coast; a comparison of harbor, shelf and oceanic areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugh Small

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Few studies have compared water quality and plankton along the eutrophication gradient from Kingston Harbour to oceanic waters around Jamaica. To compare the planktonic community along the expected nutrient gradient, we sampled every two weeks at four stations, from eutrophic Kingston Harbour to oceanic California Bank. Phytoplankton was assessed from whole water Niskin bottle casts and zooplankton by vertical hauls with plankton nets of three different mesh sizes: 64µm, 200µm, and 600µm. Total phytoplankton biomass declined sharply away from the harbour (1.0 μg L-1 at the Harbour Shoal Beacon to 0.2 μg L-1 at California Bank. Characteristic estuarine phytoplankton genera -such as Ceratium, Gonyaulax, Gyrodinium and Rhizosolenia- dominated harbour samples while genera characteristic of offshore locations -such as Asterionelliopsis, Navicula, Nitzschia, Rhizosolenia and Thalassionema- dominated California Bank. Highest phytoplankton densities (mean values of 34 174 cells L-1 were found at the harbor mouth. Mean zooplankton abundances ranged from maximum (5 858.5m-3 at Beacon to minimum (2 124.2 m-3 at California; 171 species of zooplankton were identified and copepods dominated with 76 species. Overall, 75 species of zooplankton were identified from Beacon, 107 from Port Royal Cays- South East Cay, 110 from the exposed shelf edge- Windward Edge, and 95 from the oceanic California Bank. Larval forms dominated; copepod nauplii, fish eggs and echinoderm larvae occurred at all sites. Lucifer faxoni and Penilia avirostris were indicative of harbor waters and Microsetella sp. and Farranula carinata of offshore waters. Some zooplankton taxa, like L. faxoni, Paracalanus parvus and copepod nauplii, despite showing gradual decline with distance from Beacon to the Edge, increased in abundance at the furthest station, California. California Bank clearly experiences enrichment which at times can be as high as near-shore areas, but the planktonic

  1. Emergency Location -- Delivering Portability & Precision

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Thrower, Barry

    2004-01-01

    .... The 406 MHz waveform was quite different from the traditional 121.5 MHz distress frequency not least because it was encoded with digital data which uniquely identified the beacon and its country of registration...

  2. Confidence range estimate of extended source imagery acquisition algorithms via computer simulations. [in optical communication systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, CHIEN-C.; Hui, Elliot; Okamoto, Garret

    1992-01-01

    Spatial acquisition using the sun-lit Earth as a beacon source provides several advantages over active beacon-based systems for deep-space optical communication systems. However, since the angular extend of the Earth image is large compared to the laser beam divergence, the acquisition subsystem must be capable of resolving the image to derive the proper pointing orientation. The algorithms used must be capable of deducing the receiver location given the blurring introduced by the imaging optics and the large Earth albedo fluctuation. Furthermore, because of the complexity of modelling the Earth and the tracking algorithms, an accurate estimate of the algorithm accuracy can only be made via simulation using realistic Earth images. An image simulator was constructed for this purpose, and the results of the simulation runs are reported.

  3. iBeacons: context awareness and microlocation

    OpenAIRE

    Jiménez Cancho, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    New technologies are developed and introduced to the market every day, shaping people's daily life. More powerful and efficient devices, richer services and high-speed connections are the key ingredients that make up an ecosystem that provides anything, anytime, anywhere. Bluetooth cannot be considered a brand-new technology - it has been around for some time wirelessly connecting nearby gadgets - but it has notably evolved and increased popularity due to a hot topic in rece...

  4. Passive Localization of Underwater Acoustic Beacons

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-09-01

    maxtime) TickCounto; aborto ; FSRead(gASerRefln,&numCharln,&addressBuf); TalkSail(’O); iistart the PTR’s data collecticn DrawString(w\\p: H) I display a...34); aborto ; EventLoopO; II main execution loop RAMSDClose(sPortA); HI must close the RAM Drivers before shutdown 193 free(gw); //must release the...kNumExp+l),sizeof(double)); if(wtrue ==NULL) DrawString("\\pCan’t allocate memory for data collection!!! ); aborto ; Nvmeas = calloc(3L*(kStep~kNumExp+l

  5. Faster than the Brighter-Light Beacon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baune, S.

    2009-01-01

    We analyse the motion of a spot of light projected onto a flat screen by a rotating source. We find that the motion of the spot has many interesting features such as spot splitting and superluminal effects. Our discussion is well suited for undergraduates and can be an interesting add-on in their curriculum, giving them new insights into the…

  6. Low-Frequency Beacon Signal Strength Determination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-01-01

    Radio Frequency List , RIS AF-6050-12 [141. Using this value and assum- ing performance for these facilities as indicatcd in FAA Handbook 6050.10, ERP...FAA Handbook 6050. 10 for facilities of appropriate transmitter power, determined from FAA Master Radio Frequency List 6050-12, April 1979...these facilities has not been directly measured and, therefore, values corresponding to transmitter powers given in FAA Master Radio Frequency List , RIS

  7. The young and the digital, by S. Craig Watkins [book review

    OpenAIRE

    Melanie E. S. Kohnen

    2011-01-01

    Review of S. Craig Watkins, The young and the digital: What migration to social-networking sites, games, and anytime, anywhere media means for our future. Boston: Beacon Press, 2009, paperback, $18 (272p) ISBN 978-0807006160.

  8. Benefits from flywheel energy storage for area regulation in California - demonstration results : a study for the DOE Energy Storage Systems program.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eyer, James M. (Distributed Utility Associates, Livermore, CA)

    2009-10-01

    This report documents a high-level analysis of the benefit and cost for flywheel energy storage used to provide area regulation for the electricity supply and transmission system in California. Area regulation is an 'ancillary service' needed for a reliable and stable regional electricity grid. The analysis was based on results from a demonstration, in California, of flywheel energy storage developed by Beacon Power Corporation (the system's manufacturer). Demonstrated was flywheel storage systems ability to provide 'rapid-response' regulation. Flywheel storage output can be varied much more rapidly than the output from conventional regulation sources, making flywheels more attractive than conventional regulation resources. The performance of the flywheel storage system demonstrated was generally consistent with requirements for a possible new class of regulation resources - 'rapid-response' energy-storage-based regulation - in California. In short, it was demonstrated that Beacon Power Corporation's flywheel system follows a rapidly changing control signal (the ACE, which changes every four seconds). Based on the results and on expected plant cost and performance, the Beacon Power flywheel storage system has a good chance of being a financially viable regulation resource. Results indicate a benefit/cost ratio of 1.5 to 1.8 using what may be somewhat conservative assumptions. A benefit/cost ratio of one indicates that, based on the financial assumptions used, the investment's financial returns just meet the investors target.

  9. A Working Library on Riots and Hunger

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bronfenbrenner, Martin

    1969-01-01

    An economist's review of "Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (New York: Bantam Books, 1968), "Hunger U.S.A." (Boston: Beacon Press, 1968), and Hunger & Malnutrition in the U.S. "(Washington: U.S. GPO, 1968).

  10. Analysis of short-term reactor cavity transient

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheng, T.C.; Fischer, S.R.

    1981-01-01

    Following the transient of a hypothetical loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) in a nuclear reactor, peak pressures are reached within the first 0.03 s at different locations inside the reactor cavity. Due to the complicated multidimensional nature of the reactor cavity, the short-term analysis of the LOCA transient cannot be performed by using traditional containment codes, such as CONTEMPT. The advanced containment code, BEACON/MOD3, developed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), can be adapted for such analysis. This code provides Eulerian, one and two-dimensional, nonhomogeneous, nonequilibrium flow modeling as well as lumped parameter, homogeneous, equilibrium flow modeling for the solution of two-component, two-phase flow problems. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the capability of the BEACON code to analyze complex containment geometry such as a reactor cavity

  11. Research on Improved DV-HOP Algorithm against Wormhole Attacks in WSN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Xue-Wen

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The secure location of node is significant in the WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks of the troop frontier defence system. The wormhole attack is a big threat in the secure location. The credibility of the beacon node was used to determine the malicious nodes produced by wormhole attack in the WSN. The estimated method of multibeacon nodes was adopted to improve DV-HOP algorithm after excluding the malicious nodes. In this paper, we compared the basic DV-HOP algorithm and the improved DV-HOP algorithm in the coverage percentage and the error of network localization by simulating. The simulation results indicate that the improved DV-HOP algorithm makes the localization coverage percentage can reach 90% on a certain scale of the network, and it makes the error percentage lower when the number of beacons is different.

  12. Data Link Test and Analysis System/ATCRBS Transponder Test System Technical Reference

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-05-01

    This document references material for personnel using or making software changes : to the Data Link Test and Analysis System (DATAS) for Air Traffic Control Radar : Beacon System (ATCRBS) transponder testing and data collection. This is one of : a se...

  13. 3 CFR 8418 - Proclamation 8418 of September 16, 2009. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... as “Constitution Week.” NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America... beacon of hope for Americans and those who seek new lives in the United States. Every day, we welcome new....BARACK OBAMA ...

  14. The young and the digital, by S. Craig Watkins [book review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie E. S. Kohnen

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Review of S. Craig Watkins, The young and the digital: What migration to social-networking sites, games, and anytime, anywhere media means for our future. Boston: Beacon Press, 2009, paperback, $18 (272p ISBN 978-0807006160.

  15. Cities spearhead climate action

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watts, Mark

    2017-08-01

    Following President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, cities worldwide have pledged support to combat climate change. Along with a growing coalition of businesses and institutions, cities represent a beacon of hope for carbon reduction in politically tumultuous times.

  16. 40 CFR 262.10 - Purpose, scope, and applicability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... (CONTINUED) STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO GENERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE General § 262.10 Purpose, scope, and..., Geology, Physics, Psychology Merkert Chemistry Building, 2609 Beacon St., Boston, MA, Higgins Building..., Biology, Psychology, Anthropology, Geology and Earth Sciences, and Environmental, Coastal and Ocean...

  17. Evaluating ALWadHA for providing secure localisation for wireless sensor networks

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Abu-Mahfouz, Adnan M

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available secure localisation algorithms that are able to work in a hostile environment. An attacker could compromise, or masquerade as, a beacon node and send incorrect location information. Localisation in a hostile environment is a critical problem in wireless...

  18. Towards Optimal Event Detection and Localization in Acyclic Flow Networks

    KAUST Repository

    Agumbe Suresh, Mahima; Stoleru, Radu; Denton, Ron; Zechman, Emily; Shihada, Basem

    2012-01-01

    infrastructure (i.e., minimizing the number of sensor and beacon nodes deployed), while ensuring a degree of sensing coverage in a zone of interest and a required accuracy in locating events. We propose algorithms for solving these problems and demonstrate

  19. Proceedings of the STRESS Data Review Meeting, 29-30 November 1977

    Science.gov (United States)

    1978-06-01

    INSULATORS MAGNETOMETER BEACON ANTENNA fe?^ S-BAND ANTENNA- -DC PROBE SENSING ELEMENT PLASMA FREQUENCY PROBE MONOPOLE -GUARD ELECTRODE PLASMA...have demonstrated, using calculational results from MICE and MRHYDE (MHD computer codes), that the gradient-drift instability is the one primarily

  20. A Corrida por Terras

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paula Simas de Andrade

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available PEARCE, Fred. The Land Grabbers - The New Fight over Who Owns the World. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012. 326 p. [Uso da terra rural, Propriedade real terras estrangeiras, propriedade Rural, investimento estrangeiro]. ISBN 978-0-8070-0324-4.

  1. 75 FR 12165 - Class E Airspace; Batesville, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-15

    ...-1177; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-34] Class E Airspace; Batesville, AR AGENCY: Federal Aviation... Class E airspace at Batesville, AR. Decommissioning of the Independence County non-directional beacon... for standard instrument approach procedures at Batesville Regional Airport, Batesville, AR. Airspace...

  2. Use of a text message program to raise type 2 diabetes risk awareness and promote health behavior change (part II): assessment of participants' perceptions on efficacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buis, Lorraine R; Hirzel, Lindsey; Turske, Scott A; Des Jardins, Terrisca R; Yarandi, Hossein; Bondurant, Patricia

    2013-12-19

    Although there is great enthusiasm in both the public and private sector for the further development and use of large-scale consumer-facing public health applications for mobile platforms, little is known about user experience and satisfaction with this type of approach. As a part of the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program, txt4health, a public-facing, mobile phone-based health information service targeting type 2 diabetes, was launched in 3 Beacon Communities: the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community in Detroit, MI, the Greater Cincinnati Beacon Community in Cincinnati, OH, and the Crescent City Beacon Community in New Orleans, LA. This program was marketed via large public health campaigns and drew many users within the respective communities. The purpose of this investigation was to use the RE-AIM framework to document txt4health efficacy by focusing on perceptions of satisfaction, usage, and behavior change among individuals who used txt4health in pilot studies in Southeast Michigan and Greater Cincinnati. We conducted a multimodal user survey with txt4health users recruited via text message through the program to understand participant perceptions of program use and satisfaction, as well as self-reported perceptions of behavior change as a result of using txt4health. Txt4health users reported very high levels of program satisfaction, with 67.1% (108/161) reporting satisfaction scores of ≥8 on a 10-point scale, with 10 equivalent to most satisfied (mean 8.2, SD 1.6). All survey participants agreed/strongly agreed that the messages included in txt4health were clear and easy to understand (100.0%, 160/160), and most found txt4health made them knowledgeable about their risk for type 2 diabetes (88.1%, 140/159) and made them conscious of their diet and physical activity (88.8%, 142/160). Most participants reported that txt4health helped them to make behavior changes related to diet; after having completed txt4health, most agreed/strongly agreed that

  3. 77 FR 4459 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Greenfield, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-30

    ...-0846; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-18] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Greenfield, IA AGENCY: Federal... Greenfield, IA. Decommissioning of the Greenfield non-directional beacon (NDB) at Greenfield Municipal... rulemaking to amend Class E airspace for Greenfield, IA, reconfiguring controlled airspace at Greenfield...

  4. 77 FR 3400 - Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Peach Crop Insurance Provisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-24

    ...: Director, Product Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, United States Department... Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, Beacon... required to submit a notice of loss and production information to determine the amount of an indemnity...

  5. The Life and Times of Kamala Bhagvat Sohonie

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    IAS Admin

    likely that Kamala's liberal heart was stirred by it all. Still, to sacrifice a ... makes Kamala a beacon for future generations – one who strives to strike an optimum .... had once again stepped beyond the confines of her academic world, and was ...

  6. Congestion-based Certificate Omission in VANETs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Feiri, Michael; Petit, Jonathan; Kargl, Frank

    Telematic awareness of nearby vehicles is a basic foundation of electronic safety applications in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs). This awareness is achieved by frequently broadcasting beacon messages to nearby vehicles that announce a vehicle's location and other data like heading and speed.

  7. An IBeacon-Based Location System for Smart Home Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qinghe; Yang, Xinshuang; Deng, Lizhen

    2018-06-11

    Indoor location and intelligent control system can bring convenience to people’s daily life. In this paper, an indoor control system is designed to achieve equipment remote control by using low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) beacon and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The proposed system consists of five parts: web server, home gateway, smart terminal, smartphone app and BLE beacons. In the web server, fingerprint matching based on RSSI stochastic characteristic and posture recognition model based on geomagnetic sensing are used to establish a more efficient equipment control system, combined with Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) technology to improve the accuracy of location. A personalized menu of remote “one-click” control is finally offered to users in a smartphone app. This smart home control system has been implemented by hardware, and precision and stability tests have been conducted, which proved the practicability and good user experience of this solution.

  8. Integration and Evaluation of a Position Sensor with Continuous Read-Out for use with the Environmental Measurement-While-Drilling Gamma Ray Spectrometer System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lockwood, G.J.; Normann, R.A.; Selph, M.M.; Williams, C.V.

    1999-01-01

    The Environmental Measurement-While-Drilling-Gamma Ray Spectrometer (EMWD-GRS) system represents an innovative blend of new and existing technology that provides real-time environmental and drill bit data during drilling operations. The EMWD-GRS technology was demonstrated at Savannah River Site (SRS) F-Area Retention Basin. The EMWD-GRS technology demonstration consisted of continuously monitoring for gamma-radiation-producing contamination while drilling two horizontal boreholes below the backfilled waste retention basin. These boreholes passed near previously sampled locations where concentrations of contaminant levels of cesium had been measured. Contaminant levels continuously recorded by the EMWD-GRS system during drilling were compared to contaminant levels previously determined through quantitative laboratory analysis of soil samples. The demonstration of the EMWD-GRS was a complete success. The results show general agreement between the soil sampling and EMWD-GRS techniques for CS-137. It was recognized that the EMWD-GRS tool would better satisfy our customers' needs if the instrument location could be continuously monitored. During the demonstration at SRS, an electromagnetic beacon with a walkover monitor (Subsitereg s ign) was used to measure bit location at depth. To use a beacon locator drilling must be stopped, thus it is normally only used when a new section of pipe was added. The location of contamination could only be estimated based on the position of the EMED-GRS package and the distance between locator beacon readings. A continuous location system that would allow us to know the location of each spectrum as it is obtained is needed

  9. Ultrasound user-identification for wireless sensor networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahid, Bilal; Kannan, Anushiya A; Lovell, Nigel H; Redmond, Stephen J

    2010-01-01

    Indoor localization and asset tracking is an area of research which is finding increasing application in monitoring the wellbeing of elderly subjects in hospital or residential care environments. Radio frequency (RF) based localization methods tend to show poor performance in indoor environments, due to multipath scatter, and simple room-level misassociations, resulting from the relative transparency of some walls to RF waves. Ultrasound (US) localization has shown excellent room-level accuracy, and as US will not easily penetrate walls, room-level misassociations do not often occur. For normal asset tracking systems, the association between an asset and a room is not of critical importance; for clinical applications, which make inferences based on a patient and carer occupying the same room, this association is paramount. This paper outlines a proof of concept for an US-based indoor localization system with sub-room-level accuracy. The proposed design uses a US-based technique, with transmitter beacons placed throughout the environment. The subject wears the receiver module and is free to move throughout the environment. Transmission collisions are alleviated by assigning a unique prime transmission interval to each beacon; meaning the beacons do not require synchronization or coordination and operate independently of one another. Preliminary results show accurate detection at a range of over 5 m at a 0° angle and at approximately 3.5 m at an angle of 30°. Testing of two collocated transmitters, transmitting in the same plane and separated by 2.5 m results in accurate reception of both signals, even within the region of overlap.

  10. Optical Aptamer Probes of Fluorescent Imaging to Rapid Monitoring of Circulating Tumor Cell

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ji Yeon Hwang

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Fluorescence detecting of exogenous EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule or muc1 (mucin1 expression correlated to cancer metastasis using nanoparticles provides pivotal information on CTC (circulating tumor cell occurrence in a noninvasive tool. In this study, we study a new skill to detect extracellular EpCAM/muc1 using quantum dot-based aptamer beacon (QD-EpCAM/muc1 ALB (aptamer linker beacon. The QD-EpCAM/muc1 ALB was designed using QDs (quantum dots and probe. The EpCAM/muc1-targeting aptamer contains a Ep-CAM/muc1 binding sequence and BHQ1 (black hole quencher 1 or BHQ2 (black hole quencher2. In the absence of target EpCAM/muc1, the QD-EpCAM/muc1 ALB forms a partial duplex loop-like aptamer beacon and remained in quenched state because the BHQ1/2 quenches the fluorescence signal-on of the QD-EpCAM/muc1 ALB. The binding of EpCAM/muc1 of CTC to the EpCAM/muc1 binding aptamer sequence of the EpCAM/muc1-targeting oligonucleotide triggered the dissociation of the BHQ1/2 quencher and subsequent signal-on of a green/red fluorescence signal. Furthermore, acute inflammation was stimulated by trigger such as caerulein in vivo, which resulted in increased fluorescent signal of the cy5.5-EpCAM/muc1 ALB during cancer metastasis due to exogenous expression of EpCAM/muc1 in Panc02-implanted mouse model.

  11. Software Reviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinnaman, Daniel E.; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Reviews four educational software packages for Apple, IBM, and Tandy computers. Includes "How the West was One + Three x Four,""Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing,""Math and Me," and "Write On." Reviews list hardware requirements, emphasis, levels, publisher, purchase agreements, and price. Discusses the strengths…

  12. 75 FR 12162 - Class E Airspace; Manila, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-15

    ...-1184; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-39] Class E Airspace; Manila, AR AGENCY: Federal Aviation... Class E airspace at Manila, AR. Decommissioning of the Manila non-directional beacon (NDB) at Manila... instrument approach procedures at Manila Municipal Airport, Manila, AR. Airspace reconfiguration is necessary...

  13. 75 FR 29655 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Batesville, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-27

    ...-1177; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-34] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Batesville, AR AGENCY: Federal... Batesville, AR. Decommissioning of the Independence County non-directional beacon (NDB) at Batesville Regional Airport, Batesville, AR, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of...

  14. Slope Monitoring using Total Station: What are the Challenges and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Afeni

    equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions, pillar beacons (for transfer and ... for example, a solar energy (as shown in figure 4a) or a standby generator. ... If the point is not too high for a hydraulic water hose to reach, the prism can be ...

  15. 75 FR 11216 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Relating...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-10

    ..., 2009) (SR-NYSEArca-2009-83) (order approving listing of Grail American Beacon International Equity ETF... appreciation above international benchmarks, such as the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index and the MSCI EAFE Index... process include demographics, global commerce, outsourcing, the growing global middle class and the...

  16. 75 FR 37498 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; NYSE Arca, Inc.; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-29

    ..., 2009) (SR-NYSEArca-2009-83) (order approving listing of Grail American Beacon International Equity ETF... international benchmarks such as the BNY Mellon Classic ADR Index, the Fund's primary benchmark, and the MSCI... incorporated in the Portfolio Managers' investment process include demographics, global commerce, outsourcing...

  17. Evaluation of Congestion-based Certificate Omission in VANETs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Feiri, Michael; Petit, Jonathan; Kargl, Frank

    2012-01-01

    Telematic awareness of nearby vehicles is a basic foundation of electronic safety applications in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs). This awareness is achieved by frequently broadcasting beacon messages to nearby vehicles that announce a vehicle’s location and other data like heading and speed.

  18. 78 FR 47047 - Proposed Policy for Discontinuance of Certain Instrument Approach Procedures

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-02

    ... the cancellation of certain Non-directional Beacon (NDB) and Very High Frequency (VHF) Omnidirectional... approach procedures. The FAA proposes specific criteria to guide the identification and selection of... selection of potential NDB and VOR procedures for cancellation. Once the criteria are established and the...

  19. Ultrasound-Aided Pedestrian Dead Reckoning for Indoor Navigation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fischer, C.; Kavitha Muthukrishnan, K.; Hazas, M.; Gellersen, H.

    2008-01-01

    Ad hoc solutions for tracking and providing navigation support to emergency response teams is an important and safety-critical challenge. We propose a navigation system based on a combination of foot-mounted inertial sensors and ultrasound beacons. We evaluate experimentally the performance of our

  20. Show me the way: proximity layered feedback services in smart cities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tabuenca, Bernardo; Börner, Dirk; Kalz, Marco; Specht, Marcus

    2014-01-01

    The advent of Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) technology and its native implementation within the main smartphone manufacturers is ac- celerating the integration of these sensors in smart cities. Bluetooth LE beacons are being novelty used to provide proximity-adapted feedback in the field of

  1. Show me the way: proximity layered feedback services in smart cities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tabuenca, Bernardo

    2014-01-01

    The advent of Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE) technology and its native implementation within the main smartphone manufacturers is accelerating the integration of these sensors in smart cities. Bluetooth LE beacons are being novelty used to provide proximity-adapted feedback in the field of

  2. Complementary terrain/single beacon-based AUV navigation

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Maurya, P.; Curado, T.F.; António, P.

    is not sufficiently "rich" in terms of topographic features. The key contribution of this paper is a formal analysis of the benefits of using complementary filtering, in opposition to TAN navigation only. To this effect, we exploit key tools of estimation theory...

  3. Infrared Beacons based Localization of Mobile Robot

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Krejsa, Jiří; Věchet, Stanislav

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 117, č. 1 (2012), s. 17-22 ISSN 1392-1215 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20760514 Keywords : mobile robot localization * extended Kalman filter * autonomous mobile robot Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robotics Impact factor: 0.411, year: 2012 http://www.eejournal.ktu.lt/index.php/elt/article/view/1046

  4. Dynamic Bluetooth beacons for people with disabilities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alapetite, Alexandre; Hansen, John Paulin

    2017-01-01

    This paper focuses on digital aids for sight impairment and motor disabilities. We propose an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for discovering nearby items, getting their status, and interacting with them by e.g. voice commands or gaze gestures. The technology is based on Bluetooth Low Energy...

  5. Faraday polarization fluctuations of satellite beacon signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, M. C.; Klobuchar, J. A.

    1988-01-01

    The anisotropic effects of random density irregularities in causing Faraday polarization fluctuations of VHF radio signals are examined, taking both rod-like and sheet-like irregularities into consideration. It is found that the variance of Faraday polarization fluctuations depends on the ratio of perpendicular to parallel correlation lengths. The anisotropic effect of rod-like ionospheric irregularities are shown to be most appreciable for longitudinal propagation. The anisotropic effect of sheet-like ionospheric irregularities, however, is not strongly dependent on the radio propagation angle. During transionospheric propagation at large angles with respect to the geomagnetic field, sheet-like irregularities may cause greater Faraday polarization fluctuations than rod-like irregularities.

  6. Scalable Beaconing for Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Eenennaam, Martijn

    2013-01-01

    Over the past two hundred years, automotive technology has evolved from mechanised horse carriage to high-tech systems which pack more computing power than the entire space program that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Hand-in-hand with this evolution came a proliferation of ownership and use of

  7. Total Station Survey Monitoring Through an Observation Window: A ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Windows User

    readings to the prism when testing glass thickness impact, as shown in Table 1, ..... with RTS from transfer beacon shelter is called refractive effects and it is based ... scenario. Figure A.1: Effect of plane glass on light beam θ' θg ng sdg tg. TB.

  8. 77 FR 68682 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Guthrie, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-11-16

    ...-1436; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-29] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Guthrie, IA AGENCY: Federal... Guthrie, IA. Decommissioning of the Guthrie Center non-directional radio beacon (NDB) at Guthrie County... proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend Class E airspace for the Guthrie, IA, area, creating additional...

  9. 76 FR 53356 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Greenfield, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-26

    ...-0846; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-18] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Greenfield, IA AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Greenfield, IA. Decommissioning of the Greenfield non-directional beacon (NDB) at Greenfield Municipal Airport, Greenfield, IA, has made this action necessary for...

  10. 77 FR 50650 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Boone, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-22

    ...-1432; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-25] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Boone, IA AGENCY: Federal... proposes to amend Class E airspace at Boone, IA. Decommissioning of the Boone non-directional beacon (NDB... instrument approach procedures at Boone Municipal Airport, Boone, IA. Airspace reconfiguration is necessary...

  11. 78 FR 76053 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Chariton, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-16

    ...-0255; Airspace Docket No. 13-ACE-4] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Chariton, IA AGENCY: Federal... Chariton, IA. Decommissioning of the Chariton non-directional beacon (NDB) at Chariton Municipal Airport... Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend Class E airspace for the Chariton, IA, area...

  12. 78 FR 48840 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hampton, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-12

    ...-0585; Airspace Docket No. 13-ACE-7] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hampton, IA AGENCY: Federal... proposes to amend Class E airspace at Hampton, IA. Decommissioning of the Hampton non-directional beacon... for standard instrument approach procedures at Hampton Municipal Airport, Hampton, IA. A segment would...

  13. 75 FR 37292 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Cherokee, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-29

    ...-0085; Airspace Docket No. 10-ACE-1] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Cherokee, IA AGENCY: Federal... Cherokee, IA. Decommissioning of the Pilot Rock non-directional beacon (NDB) at Cherokee County Regional Airport, Cherokee, IA has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of Instrument...

  14. 77 FR 50647 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Perry, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-22

    ...-1435; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-28] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Perry, IA AGENCY: Federal... proposes to amend Class E airspace at Perry, IA. Decommissioning of the Perry non-directional beacon (NDB) at Perry Municipal Airport, Perry, IA, has made reconfiguration necessary for standard instrument...

  15. 46 CFR 501.41 - Public requests for information and decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... Certification and Licensing; (vi) Bureau of Trade Analysis; (vii) Bureau of Enforcement; and (viii) Area... Representatives are as follows. Further information on Area Representatives, including Internet e-mail addresses... South Beacon Street, Room 320, San Pedro, CA 90733-0230. New Orleans Area Representative, P.O. Box 700...

  16. Assessing the Long-term Impact of Microcredit on Rural Poverty: Does the Timing and Length of Participation Matter?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berhane, G.; Gardebroek, C.

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, microfinance institutions are seen as beacons of hope to help eradicate poverty through, among others, providing credit to poor rural households. Availability of small but repeated loans is, in the long-term, expected to impact on poverty. However, decades after the introduction of

  17. 14 CFR 129.17 - Aircraft communication and navigation equipment for operations under IFR or over the top.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Aircraft communication and navigation....S.-REGISTERED AIRCRAFT ENGAGED IN COMMON CARRIAGE General § 129.17 Aircraft communication and... accuracy required for ATC; (ii) One marker beacon receiver providing visual and aural signals; and (iii...

  18. 75 FR 47141 - Review of Personal Radio Services Rules

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-04

    ... user-generated text messages on certain GMRS channels, and reviews the technical operating parameters..., and (3) preventing the marketing of ersatz devices using the term ``Personal Locator Beacon'', by... frequency by a channel number (para. 12); d. Express frequency tolerance requirements in terms of parts per...

  19. 14 CFR 125.203 - Communication and navigation equipment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... within the degree of accuracy required for ATC; (ii) One marker beacon receiver providing visual and... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Communication and navigation equipment. 125... Equipment Requirements § 125.203 Communication and navigation equipment. (a) Communication equipment—general...

  20. 75 FR 6320 - Proposed Amendment of Jet Route J-120; Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-09

    ... the eventual decommissioning of the Barter Island (BTI) Non-directional Beacon (NDB) at the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, ensuring the safe and efficient use of airspace within the National Airspace System... CONTACT: Ken McElroy, Airspace and Rules Group, Office of System Operations Airspace and AIM, Federal...

  1. EUS Needle Identification Comparison and Evaluation study (with videos)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tang, Shou-Jiang; Vilmann, Andreas S; Saftoiu, Adrian

    2016-01-01

    Control (Medi-Globe); Expect Slimline (Boston Scientific); EchoTip, EchoTip Ultra, EchoTip ProCore High Definition (Cook Medical); ClearView (Conmed); EZ Shot 2 (Olympus); and BNX (Beacon Endoscopic), and 2 new prototype needles, SonoCoat (Medi-Globe), coated by echogenic polymers made by Encapson...

  2. 76 FR 75446 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mercury, NV

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-02

    ...-0894; Airspace Docket No. 11-AWP-14] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mercury, NV AGENCY: Federal... Mercury, Desert Rock Airport, Mercury, NV. Decommissioning of the Mercury Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) at Mercury, Desert Rock Airport has made this action necessary for the safety and management of Instrument...

  3. 76 FR 56127 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mercury, NV

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-12

    ...-0894; Airspace Docket No. 11-AWP-14] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mercury, NV AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Mercury, Desert Rock Airport, Mercury, NV. Decommissioning of the Mercury Non- Directional Beacon (NDB) at Mercury, Desert Rock Airport has made this action...

  4. Molecular detection and variability of Strawberry vein banding virus

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hanzlíková-Vašková, Dana; Špak, Josef

    2004-01-01

    Roč. 656, - (2004), 33-38 ISSN 0567-7572 Grant - others:EU EU QLR5-1999-1553 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z5051902 Keywords : AmpliDet RNA * caulimovirus * molecular beacon * nucleic acid sequence based amplification * PCR, SVBV * CaM Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology

  5. 75 FR 5904 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Magnolia, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-05

    ...-1179; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-35] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Magnolia, AR AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Magnolia, AR. Decommissioning of the Magnolia non-directional beacon (NDB) at Magnolia Municipal Airport, Magnolia, AR, has made this action necessary for the...

  6. 75 FR 29656 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Magnolia, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-27

    ...-1179; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-35] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Magnolia, AR AGENCY: Federal... airspace for Magnolia, AR. Decommissioning of the Magnolia non-directional beacon (NDB) at Magnolia Municipal Airport, Magnolia, AR has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of...

  7. 75 FR 37291 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Osceola, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-29

    ...-1183; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-38] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Osceola, AR AGENCY: Federal... Osceola, AR. Decommissioning of the Osceola non-directional beacon (NDB) at Osceola Municipal Airport has... rulemaking to amend Class E airspace for Osceola, AR, reconfiguring controlled airspace at Osceola Municipal...

  8. 76 FR 43576 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hannibal, MO

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-21

    ...-0046; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-1] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hannibal, MO AGENCY: Federal... Hannibal, MO. Decommissioning of the Hannibal non-directional beacon (NDB) at Hannibal Regional Airport, Hannibal, MO, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule...

  9. 76 FR 28685 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hannibal, MO

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-18

    ...-0046; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-1] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Hannibal, MO AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Hannibal, MO. Decommissioning of the Hannibal non-directional beacon (NDB) at Hannibal Regional Airport, Hannibal, MO, has made this action necessary for the...

  10. Bergy Bit and Melt Water Trajectories in Godthåbsfjord (SW Greenland Observed by the Expendable Ice Tracker

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel F. Carlson

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Icebergs and bergy bits makes up a significant component of the total freshwater flux from the Greenland Ice Sheet to the ocean. Observations of iceberg trajectories are biased toward larger icebergs and, as a result, the drift characteristics of smaller icebergs and bergy bits are poorly understood. In an attempt to fill this critical knowledge gap, we developed the open-source EXpendable Ice TrackEr (EXITE. EXITE is a low-cost, satellite-tracked GPS beacon capable of high-resolution temporal measurements over extended deployment periods (30 days or more. Furthermore, EXITE can transform to a surface drifter when its host iceberg capsizes or fragments. Here we describe basic construction of an EXITE beacon and present results from a deployment in Godthåbsfjord (SW Greenland in August 2016. Overall, EXITE trajectories show out-fjord surface transport, in agreement with a simple estuarine circulation paradigm. However, eddies and abrupt wind-driven reversals reveal complex surface transport pathways at time scales of hours to days.

  11. Integrating Communication and Navigation: Next Generation Broadcast Service (NGBS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donaldson, Jennifer

    2017-01-01

    NASA Goddard has been investing in technology demonstrations of a beacon service, now called Next Generation Broadcast Services (NGBS). NGBS is a global, space-based, communications and navigation service for users of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). NGBS will provide an S-band beacon messaging source and radio navigation available to users at orbital altitudes 1400 km and below, increasing the autonomy and resiliency of onboard communication and navigation. NGBS will deliver both one-way radiometric (Doppler and pseudorange) and fast forward data transport services to users. Portions of the overall forward data volume will be allocated for fixed message types while the remaining data volume will be left for user forward command data. The NGBS signal will reside within the 2106.43 MHz spectrum currently allocated for the Space Networks multiple access forward (MAF) service and a live service demonstration is currently being planned via the 2nd and 3rd generation TDRS satellites.

  12. Towards Optimal Event Detection and Localization in Acyclic Flow Networks

    KAUST Repository

    Agumbe Suresh, Mahima

    2012-01-03

    Acyclic flow networks, present in many infrastructures of national importance (e.g., oil & gas and water distribution systems), have been attracting immense research interest. Existing solutions for detecting and locating attacks against these infrastructures, have been proven costly and imprecise, especially when dealing with large scale distribution systems. In this paper, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, we investigate how mobile sensor networks can be used for optimal event detection and localization in acyclic flow networks. Sensor nodes move along the edges of the network and detect events (i.e., attacks) and proximity to beacon nodes with known placement in the network. We formulate the problem of minimizing the cost of monitoring infrastructure (i.e., minimizing the number of sensor and beacon nodes deployed), while ensuring a degree of sensing coverage in a zone of interest and a required accuracy in locating events. We propose algorithms for solving these problems and demonstrate their effectiveness with results obtained from a high fidelity simulator.

  13. 76 FR 73501 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Carroll, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-29

    ...-0845; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-19] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Carroll, IA AGENCY: Federal... Carroll, IA. Decommissioning of the Carroll non-directional beacon (NDB) at Arthur N. Neu Airport, Carroll, IA, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule...

  14. 77 FR 45987 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Guthrie, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-08-02

    ...-1436; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-29] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Guthrie, IA AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Guthrie, IA. Decommissioning of the Guthrie Center non-directional radio beacon (NDB) at Guthrie County Regional Airport, Guthrie, IA, has made this action necessary...

  15. 76 FR 75447 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Centerville, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-02

    ...-0830; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-16] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Centerville, IA AGENCY: Federal... Centerville, IA. Decommissioning of the Centerville non-directional beacon (NDB) and cancellation of the NDB... Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend Class E airspace for the Centerville, IA, area...

  16. 78 FR 18800 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Decorah, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-28

    ...-1433; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-26] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Decorah, IA AGENCY: Federal... Decorah, IA. Decommissioning of the Decorah non-directional beacon (NDB) at Decorah Municipal Airport has... Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend Class E airspace for the Decorah, IA, area...

  17. 76 FR 30298 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Cocoa, FL

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-25

    ...-0070; Airspace Docket No. 10-ASO-43] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Cocoa, FL AGENCY: Federal... proposes to amend Class E Airspace at Cocoa, FL, as the Merritt Island Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) has... surface to support new standard instrument approach procedures developed at Merritt Island Airport, Cocoa...

  18. 77 FR 45239 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Bar Harbor, ME

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-07-31

    ...-1366; Airspace Docket No. 11-ANE-13] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Bar Harbor, ME AGENCY: Federal... area at Bar Harbor, ME, as the Surry Non-Directional Radio Beacon (NDB) has been decommissioned and new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures have been developed at Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport. This...

  19. 33 CFR 66.01-1 - Basic provisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... obviate the necessity of complying with any other Federal, State or local laws or regulations. (d) With the exception of radar beacons (racons) and shore based radar stations, operation of electronic aids... those operated by the Federal Government (part 62 of this subchapter) or those operated in State waters...

  20. 14 CFR 135.165 - Communication and navigation equipment: Extended over-water or IFR operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Communication and navigation equipment... PERSONS ON BOARD SUCH AIRCRAFT Aircraft and Equipment § 135.165 Communication and navigation equipment... aircraft used for IFR operations is equipped with at least— (i) One marker beacon receiver providing visual...

  1. 77 FR 4458 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Rugby, ND

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-30

    ...-0433; Airspace Docket No. 11-AGL-12] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Rugby, ND AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This action amends Class E airspace for Rugby, ND. Decommissioning of the Rugby non-directional beacon (NDB) at Rugby Municipal Airport has made this action...

  2. Randomization and Data-Analysis Items in Quality Standards for Single-Case Experimental Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyvaert, Mieke; Wendt, Oliver; Van den Noortgate, Wim; Onghena, Patrick

    2015-01-01

    Reporting standards and critical appraisal tools serve as beacons for researchers, reviewers, and research consumers. Parallel to existing guidelines for researchers to report and evaluate group-comparison studies, single-case experimental (SCE) researchers are in need of guidelines for reporting and evaluating SCE studies. A systematic search was…

  3. 75 FR 29656 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mountain View, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-27

    ...-1181; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-36] Amendment of Class E Airspace; Mountain View, AR AGENCY: Federal... Mountain View, AR. Decommissioning of the Wilcox non-directional beacon (NDB) at Mountain View Wilcox Memorial Field Airport, Mountain View, AR, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and...

  4. 75 FR 6594 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Osceola, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-02-10

    ...-1183; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-38] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Osceola, AR AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Osceola, AR. Decommissioning of the Osceola non-directional beacon (NDB) at Osceola Municipal Airport, Osceola, AR, has made this action necessary for the safety and...

  5. 75 FR 12163 - Class E Airspace; Mountain View, AR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-15

    ...-1181; Airspace Docket No. 09-ASW-36] Class E Airspace; Mountain View, AR AGENCY: Federal Aviation... Class E airspace at Mountain View, AR. Decommissioning of the Wilcox non-directional beacon (NDB) at... View, AR. Airspace reconfiguration is necessary due to the decommissioning of the Wilcox NDB and the...

  6. A Robust High-Accuracy Ultrasound Indoor Positioning System Based on a Wireless Sensor Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qi, Jun; Liu, Guo-Ping

    2017-11-06

    This paper describes the development and implementation of a robust high-accuracy ultrasonic indoor positioning system (UIPS). The UIPS consists of several wireless ultrasonic beacons in the indoor environment. Each of them has a fixed and known position coordinate and can collect all the transmissions from the target node or emit ultrasonic signals. Every wireless sensor network (WSN) node has two communication modules: one is WiFi, that transmits the data to the server, and the other is the radio frequency (RF) module, which is only used for time synchronization between different nodes, with accuracy up to 1 μ s. The distance between the beacon and the target node is calculated by measuring the time-of-flight (TOF) for the ultrasonic signal, and then the position of the target is computed by some distances and the coordinate of the beacons. TOF estimation is the most important technique in the UIPS. A new time domain method to extract the envelope of the ultrasonic signals is presented in order to estimate the TOF. This method, with the envelope detection filter, estimates the value with the sampled values on both sides based on the least squares method (LSM). The simulation results show that the method can achieve envelope detection with a good filtering effect by means of the LSM. The highest precision and variance can reach 0.61 mm and 0.23 mm, respectively, in pseudo-range measurements with UIPS. A maximum location error of 10.2 mm is achieved in the positioning experiments for a moving robot, when UIPS works on the line-of-sight (LOS) signal.

  7. Optimizing the MAC Protocol in Localization Systems Based on IEEE 802.15.4 Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Solano, Juan J; Claver, Jose M; Ezpeleta, Santiago

    2017-07-06

    Radio frequency signals are commonly used in the development of indoor localization systems. The infrastructure of these systems includes some beacons placed at known positions that exchange radio packets with users to be located. When the system is implemented using wireless sensor networks, the wireless transceivers integrated in the network motes are usually based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. But, the CSMA-CA, which is the basis for the medium access protocols in this category of communication systems, is not suitable when several users want to exchange bursts of radio packets with the same beacon to acquire the radio signal strength indicator (RSSI) values needed in the location process. Therefore, new protocols are necessary to avoid the packet collisions that appear when multiple users try to communicate with the same beacons. On the other hand, the RSSI sampling process should be carried out very quickly because some systems cannot tolerate a large delay in the location process. This is even more important when the RSSI sampling process includes measures with different signal power levels or frequency channels. The principal objective of this work is to speed up the RSSI sampling process in indoor localization systems. To achieve this objective, the main contribution is the proposal of a new MAC protocol that eliminates the medium access contention periods and decreases the number of packet collisions to accelerate the RSSI collection process. Moreover, the protocol increases the overall network throughput taking advantage of the frequency channel diversity. The presented results show the suitability of this protocol for reducing the RSSI gathering delay and increasing the network throughput in simulated and real environments.

  8. A Robust High-Accuracy Ultrasound Indoor Positioning System Based on a Wireless Sensor Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Qi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the development and implementation of a robust high-accuracy ultrasonic indoor positioning system (UIPS. The UIPS consists of several wireless ultrasonic beacons in the indoor environment. Each of them has a fixed and known position coordinate and can collect all the transmissions from the target node or emit ultrasonic signals. Every wireless sensor network (WSN node has two communication modules: one is WiFi, that transmits the data to the server, and the other is the radio frequency (RF module, which is only used for time synchronization between different nodes, with accuracy up to 1 μs. The distance between the beacon and the target node is calculated by measuring the time-of-flight (TOF for the ultrasonic signal, and then the position of the target is computed by some distances and the coordinate of the beacons. TOF estimation is the most important technique in the UIPS. A new time domain method to extract the envelope of the ultrasonic signals is presented in order to estimate the TOF. This method, with the envelope detection filter, estimates the value with the sampled values on both sides based on the least squares method (LSM. The simulation results show that the method can achieve envelope detection with a good filtering effect by means of the LSM. The highest precision and variance can reach 0.61 mm and 0.23 mm, respectively, in pseudo-range measurements with UIPS. A maximum location error of 10.2 mm is achieved in the positioning experiments for a moving robot, when UIPS works on the line-of-sight (LOS signal.

  9. Optimizing the MAC Protocol in Localization Systems Based on IEEE 802.15.4 Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan J. Pérez-Solano

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Radio frequency signals are commonly used in the development of indoor localization systems. The infrastructure of these systems includes some beacons placed at known positions that exchange radio packets with users to be located. When the system is implemented using wireless sensor networks, the wireless transceivers integrated in the network motes are usually based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. But, the CSMA-CA, which is the basis for the medium access protocols in this category of communication systems, is not suitable when several users want to exchange bursts of radio packets with the same beacon to acquire the radio signal strength indicator (RSSI values needed in the location process. Therefore, new protocols are necessary to avoid the packet collisions that appear when multiple users try to communicate with the same beacons. On the other hand, the RSSI sampling process should be carried out very quickly because some systems cannot tolerate a large delay in the location process. This is even more important when the RSSI sampling process includes measures with different signal power levels or frequency channels. The principal objective of this work is to speed up the RSSI sampling process in indoor localization systems. To achieve this objective, the main contribution is the proposal of a new MAC protocol that eliminates the medium access contention periods and decreases the number of packet collisions to accelerate the RSSI collection process. Moreover, the protocol increases the overall network throughput taking advantage of the frequency channel diversity. The presented results show the suitability of this protocol for reducing the RSSI gathering delay and increasing the network throughput in simulated and real environments.

  10. 76 FR 53353 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Carroll, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-26

    ...-0845; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-19] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Carroll, IA AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Carroll, IA. Decommissioning of the Carroll non-directional beacon (NDB) at Arthur N. Neu Airport, Carroll, IA, has made this action necessary for the safety and...

  11. 78 FR 18798 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; West Union, IA

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-28

    ...-1434; Airspace Docket No. 11-ACE-27] Amendment of Class E Airspace; West Union, IA AGENCY: Federal... West Union, IA. Decommissioning of the West Union non-directional beacon (NDB) at George L. Scott... Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend Class E airspace for the West Union, IA...

  12. 77 FR 27666 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Bar Harbor, ME

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-05-11

    ...-1366; Airspace Docket No. 11-ANE-13] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Bar Harbor, ME AGENCY... action proposes to amend Class E Airspace at Bar Harbor, ME, as the Surry Non-Directional Radio Beacon... Hancock County-Bar Harbor Airport. This action would enhance the safety and airspace management of...

  13. Estimating orientation with gyroscopes and accelerometers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Luinge, Hendrik J.; Veltink, Petrus H.; Baten, Christian T.M.

    1999-01-01

    Many systems for recording human movement need some reference from beacons near the subject, such as video cameras. Our goal is to measure human kinematics with sensors that are placed on the segments of interest. This way, experiments in which human movement is recorded are not restricted to a lab.

  14. "The Mind Has to Catch Up on Sex": Sexual Norms and Sex Education in the Hull House

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fair, Alexandra

    2018-01-01

    From its beginning in 1885, the Hull House was beacon for social progress and urban reform. Founders Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr recruited talented, passionate partners from diverse fields to address issues from street sanitation to education in Chicago's immigrant communities. Among residents' many projects, their involvement in the…

  15. A Global Need, a Global Resource Nuclear Power and the New Millennium: In Contrast to the 25 Billion Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emitted into the Atmosphere Each Year as Fossil Fuel Waste, the Spent Fuel Produced Yearly from All the World's Reactors Would Fit inside a Two-Story Structure Built on a Basketball Court

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baird, Stephen L.

    2004-01-01

    The technological literacy standards were developed to act as a beacon for educators to guide them in their quest to develop a population of technically literate citizens who possess the skills, abilities, and knowledge necessary to actively and constructively participate in the democratic, technologically dependent society of the United States.…

  16. 14 CFR 171.33 - Reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Reports. 171.33 Section 171.33 Aeronautics... FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES Nondirectional Radio Beacon Facilities § 171.33 Reports. The owner of each facility to which this subpart applies shall make the following reports, at the times...

  17. An Approach to Analysing the Quality of Menu Translations in Southern Spain Restaurants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuentes-Luque, Adrián

    2017-01-01

    Cuisine and restaurants are powerful tools for cultural, social and tourist image-building, and projection for tourist promotion, particularly in the case of major tourist places and destinations which boast a well-deserved, long-standing history and reputation for gastronomical beacons. When menus are not properly translated (or transcreated)…

  18. 14 CFR 171.213 - Reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Reports. 171.213 Section 171.213... FACILITIES NON-FEDERAL NAVIGATION FACILITIES VHF Marker Beacons § 171.213 Reports. The owner of each facility to which this subpart applies shall make the following reports, at the times indicated, to the...

  19. Advances in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping in Confined Underwater Environments Using Sonar and Optical Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-01-01

    Gaussian process (GP) to fit a implicit surface from few measurements using a covariance kernel equivalent to the thin plate spline regularizer introduced by...measured the plate thickness of the outer hull, and an acoustic beacon positioning system was used for navigation. Since the early 2000’s, some focus

  20. 76 FR 66870 - Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Rugby, ND

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-28

    ...-0433; Airspace Docket No. 11-AGL-12] Proposed Amendment of Class E Airspace; Rugby, ND AGENCY: Federal... proposes to amend Class E airspace at Rugby, ND. Decommissioning of the Rugby non-directional beacon (NDB) at Rugby Municipal Airport, Rugby, ND, has made this action necessary for the safety and management...