A transferable artificial neural network model for atomic forces in nanoparticles

We have designed a new method to fit the energy and atomic forces using a single artificial neural network (SANN) for any number of chemical species present in a molecular system. The traditional approach for fitting the potential energy surface (PES) for a multicomponent (MC) system using artificial neural network (ANN) is to consider n number of networks for n number of chemical species in the system. This shoots the computational cost and makes it difficult to apply to a system containing more number of species. We present a new strategy of using a SANN to compute energy and forces of a chemical system. Since, atomic forces are significant for geometry optimizations and molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) for any chemical system, their accurate prediction is of utmost importance. So, to predict the atomic forces, we have modified the traditional way of fitting forces from underlying energy expression. We have applied our strategy to study geometry optimizations and dynamics in gold-silver nanoalloys and thiol protected gold nanoclusters. Also, force fitting has made it possible to train smaller size systems and extrapolate the parameters to make accurate predictions for larger systems. This proposed strategy has definitely made the mapping and fitting of atomic forces easier and can be applied to a wide variety of molecular systems

Urban Air Mobility: Viability of Hub-Door and Door-Door Movement by Air

Owing to a century of innovation in connected and automated aircraft design, for the rst time in history, air transport presents a potential competitive alternative to road, for hub-to-door and door-to-door urban services. In this article, we study the viability of air transport, for moving people and goods in an urban area, based on three metrics - enroute travel time, fuel cost and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. We estimate the metrics from emission standards and operational assumptions on vehicles based on current market data and compare electric air travel to gasoline road travel. For passenger movement, air is faster than road for all distances. It fares better on fuel cost and emissions only for longer distances (specic transition distances are stated in the text). For consolidated movement of goods, air is at par with road. Finally, for movement of unconsolidated goods, air again fares better than road on all three metrics. It is also noteworthy that these results are based on a road friendly urban design. Changes in design that facilitate easier access to air based hub-to-door and door-to-door services, would only make the case stronger for Urban Air Mobility (UAM), especially with connected and automated aircraft, as the next revolution in urban transportation

Efficacy of Wii Fit Plus Strength Training in Older Adults Dwelling in an Assisted Living Facility

TACSM Abstract Efficacy of Wii Fit Plus Strength Training in Older Adults Dwelling in an Assisted Living Facility Chandrasekhar Bulusu MHS (PT), Sandor Dorgo Ph.D., C.S.C.S Ross Moore Fitness Center; Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences; University of Texas at El Paso; El Paso, TX Category: Doctoral ABSTRACT Wii fit plus strength training alone to assess physical fitness in older adults is not evident. The purpose of the study was to assess whether regular strength training utilizing the Wii Fit Plus device improves physical fitness in assisted living facility dwelling older adults compared to a non-exercising control group over a twelve-week period.17 volunteering older adults (mean ± SD age: 79.62±8.10; BMI: 32.3±7.65) were recruited from an assisted living facility and randomly assigned to the Wii exercise group (Wii) or the non-exercising control group (Control). Subjects in Wii performed three exercises with three sets of ten repetitions two times per week. Each exercise session was about 30 minutes. Control subjects were asked to continue their normal lifestyle. Pre-, Mid-, and Post-test sessions were conducted to assess potential changes in the subjects’ physical fitness. Assessments included dynamic handgrip strength, 30-second chair stand, 30-second arm curl, timed up and go (TUG), and gallon jug transfer tests. Data were analyzed using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p0.07). For the TUG test a significant group-by-time interaction was observed (p=0.005), as the Wii group showed a significant improvement from pre- to post-test (p=0.01) while the control group did not (p=0.08). Our results indicate that the Wii strength training did not improve physical fitness in older adults when compared to the non-exercising older adults, although fitness improvement trends point in that direction. The utilization of Wii Fit Plus exercises for 30-minutes twice weekly over a 12-week period were inadequate to elicit significant changes in fitness measures. Further research is necessary to evaluate if higher intensity or frequency of Wii exercises may be effective for assisted living facility dwelling older adults

Metabolic scavenging by cancer cells: when the going gets tough, the tough keep eating

Cancer is fundamentally a disease of uncontrolled cell proliferation. Tumour metabolism has emerged as an exciting new discipline studying how cancer cells obtain the necessary energy and cellular ‘building blocks’ to sustain growth. Glucose and glutamine have long been regarded as the key nutrients fuelling tumour growth. However, the inhospitable tumour microenvironment of certain cancers, like pancreatic cancer, causes the supply of these nutrients to be chronically insufficient for the demands of proliferating cancer cells. Recent work has shown that cancer cells are able to overcome this nutrient insufficiency by scavenging alternative substrates, particularly proteins and lipids. Here, we review recent work identifying the endocytic process of macropinocytosis and subsequent lysosomal processing as an important substrate-acquisition route. In addition, we discuss the impact of hypoxia on fatty acid metabolism and the relevance of exogenous lipids for supporting tumour growth as well as the routes by which tumour cells can access these lipids. Together, these cancer-specific scavenging pathways provide a promising opportunity for therapeutic intervention

Architecture and Implementation of a Trust Model for Pervasive Applications

Collaborative effort to share resources is a significant feature of pervasive computing environments. To achieve secure service discovery and sharing, and to distinguish between malevolent and benevolent entities, trust models must be defined. It is critical to estimate a device\u27s initial trust value because of the transient nature of pervasive smart space; however, most of the prior research work on trust models for pervasive applications used the notion of constant initial trust assignment. In this paper, we design and implement a trust model called DIRT. We categorize services in different security levels and depending on the service requester\u27s context information, we calculate the initial trust value. Our trust value is assigned for each device and for each service. Our overall trust estimation for a service depends on the recommendations of the neighbouring devices, inference from other service-trust values for that device, and direct trust experience. We provide an extensive survey of related work, and we demonstrate the distinguishing features of our proposed model with respect to the existing models. We implement a healthcare-monitoring application and a location-based service prototype over DIRT. We also provide a performance analysis of the model with respect to some of its important characteristics tested in various scenarios

inTrack: High Precision Tracking of Mobile Sensor Nodes

Radio-interferometric ranging is a novel technique that allows for fine-grained node localization in networks of inexpensive COTS nodes. In this paper, we show that the approach can also be applied to precision tracking of mobile sensor nodes. We introduce inTrack, a cooperative tracking system based on radio-interferometry that features high accuracy, long range and low-power operation. The system utilizes a set of nodes placed at known locations to track a mobile sensor. We analyze how target speed and measurement errors affect the accuracy of the computed locations. To demonstrate the feasibility of our approach, we describe our prototype implementation using Berkeley motes. We evaluate the system using data from both simulations and field tests

Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Dermatogenic Diseases in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India

An ethno-medicobotanical survey of plants used in the treatment of dermatogenic diseases in Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh was conducted. The information was collected on the basis of personal interviews with traditional healers, tribal doctors and old women of the society. The investigation revealed that 24 plant species belonging to 18 families and 21 genera are commonly used in the treatment of skin ailments

Physical and functional fitness changes in older adults in response to a traditional training program and a Wii enhanced training program

The Wii Fit Plus Balance program has been recommended as an alternative training tool for older adults to improve physical and functional fitness. However, the effectiveness of the Wii Fit Plus in combination with traditional training approaches in older adults is unclear. PURPOSE: To compare changes in physical fitness measures in older adults (OA) engaging in two different training programs: 1) traditional exercises performed by the control group (CG) and 2) traditional exercises complemented by Wii balance games performed by the experimental group (EG). METHODS: 35 untrained OA (mean ± SD Age: 68.86 ± 6.13; BMI: 28.89 ± 5.32) with no exercise history were recruited and randomly assigned to either the CG or EG group. CG and EG programs both included cardio, strength, flexibility, and balance training exercises. However, subjects in the EG group performed additional balance exercises using Wii fit plus program. Both CG and EG subjects exercised twice per week for twelve weeks. Fitness assessments were based on standard procedures including the chair stand, gallon jug transfer, 8 foot up-and-go tests, as well as a long ramp walk and medicine ball throw tests. Data were collected at weeks 1, 6, and 12. Data analysis was conducted using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p\u3c0.05. RESULTS: A significant time effect was found for all fitness measures in both groups from week 1 to 6 (p\u3c0.001) and week 1 to 12 (p\u3c0.001). In general CG and EG subjects made 5.5% to 31.7% improvement from Week 1 to 6 and 8.1% to 52.5% improvement from Week 1 to 12. No significant group effects were observed between the CG and EG groups (p\u3e0.370). Also, no significant group by time interactions were observed for any of the fitness measures (p\u3e0.290). CONCLUSION: It appears that the use of the Wii Fit Plus Balance in conjunction with a traditional exercise program does not provide added significant fitness benefits for older adults. While additional fitness benefits are not evident, it appears that both a traditional exercise program alone and a traditional exercise program combined with the Wii Fit Plus Balance training may elicit significant fitness improvements

Improved Photoelectrochemical Performance Of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Thin Films Prepared By Pulsed Electrodeposition

Solar cells based on polycrystalline Cu(In,Ga)Se2 absorber layers have yielded the highest conversion efficiency among all the thin-film technologies. CIGS thin-films possess large optical absorption coefficient (≈105 cm-1) and a suitable bandgap of ≈ 1.20 eV for an ideal stoichiometry of CuIn0.7Ga0.3Se2. In the present study, Direct Current (DC) and Pulsed Current (PC) electrodeposition techniques are employed to obtain the near ideal stoichiometric CIGS thin-films on a Mo foil using a two electrode system at a constant potential. Deposited films are annealed at 550 °C under Ar atmosphere. Characterization of the annealed CIGS films is performed using SEM-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and photoelectrochemistry to study the morphology, stoichiometry, phase constitution, and the photoelectrochemical response. PC deposition offered suitable manipulation of various parameters, which has helped in obtaining a better quality stoichiometric single phase chalcopyrite structured CIGS thin films with the elimination of unwanted secondary phases like Cu2-xSe. An improved photoelectrochemical performance, characteristic of a p-type semiconductor, is observed for the PC deposited CIGS film