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Aims Mutation type, location, dominant-negative I Ks reduction, and possibly loss of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent I Ks stimulation via protein kinase A (PKA) influence the clinical severity of long QT syndrome type 1 (LQT1). Given the malignancy of KCNQ1-p.A341V, we assessed whether mutations neighbouring p.A341V in the S6 channel segment could also increase arrhythmic risk. Methods and results Clinical and genetic data were obtained from 1316 LQT1 patients [450 families, 166 unique KCNQ1 mutations, including 277 p.A341V-positive subjects, 139 patients with p.A341-neighbouring mutations (91 missense, 48 non-missense), and 900 other LQT1 subjects]. A first cardiac event represented the primary endpoint. S6 segment missense variant characteristics, particularly cAMP stimulation responses, were analysed by cellular electrophysiology. p.A341-neighbouring mutation carriers had a QTc shorter than p.A341V carriers (477 ± 33 vs. 490 ± 44 ms) but longer than the remaining LQT1 patient population (467 ± 41 ms) (P Conclusion KCNQ1 S6 segment mutations surrounding p.A341 increase arrhythmic risk. p.A341V-specific loss of PKA-dependent I Ks enhancement correlates with its phenotypic severity. Cellular studies providing further insights into I Ks-channel regulation and knowledge of structure-function relationships could improve risk stratification. These findings impact on clinical management.

Three-cycle acupuncture is a new acupuncture practice. This application is an objective patient-oriented application instead of subjective methods used in diagnosing acupuncture. Thus, the diagnosis and treatment of acupuncture are enlightened and made easier. The proper flow and quality of Chi are fundamental to treatment and optimal health in Chinese medicine.In the body, the channels of energy known asmeridiansconnect to the internal organs so that the qi of the organs flows to its associated body parts. In Chinese Traditional Medicine, energy flows through our 12 main meridians or energetic pathways, in two-hour blocks. Chi begins its daily flow in the Lungs and traverses to the Large Intestine before continuing to its next destination. It finally stops at the Liver, before it begins again. If the chi is blocked in a certain organ, it will not be able to completely activate that organ or continue its journey with enough intensity to fully benefit the next organ system. If we provide the flow of Chi in the pathological cycle, the cycle starts and the complaints disappear. With this acceptance, we introduced the concept of three-cycle acupuncture. Thus, we can only perform treatment without the need for another diagnosis method. We used the Yuan points of the organs belonging to the pathological cycle to remove the obstruction. The method was very effective and we got very good answers. We have been using the method in our polyclinics for five years.

In the process of evolution to the next generation network, wireless is an indispensable technology. Because of its Multi-Hop characteristics, the application value of Wireless Mesh Network in the next generation Internet has been proved. Because of Mesh peer-to-peer network topology, if a node fails, it will not affect the operation of the whole network, and can effectively avoid single point of failure. As a solution to provide high-speed internet services, Wireless Mesh Network can provide network access for mobile users in its coverage area, and it has evolved into an effective solution for broadband home networks, community networks, enterprise networks and other wireless access networks.

This paper presents a novel technique for estimating the path loss parameters of radio channels using monostatic radar. To this end, a two-way path loss model for a scenario using monostatic radar for a sub-terahertz (sub-THz) band channel measurement is expressed as a function of a parameter of a one-way path loss model, and then the path loss parameters are estimated using the maximum-likelihood estimation algorithm based on linear regression models, which is based on single reference distance and dual reference distances. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, a path loss measurement experiment is conducted in an indoor environment using a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system with the base frequency of 119.5 GHz and the bandwidth of 5 GHz, and then the estimation results based on the proposed method are analyzed.

Constant raising the requirements for logistics service of end-consumer expand sales markets and economic relationships that are formed under conditions of uncertainty and instability of the environment, leading to the need to consider not only the logistics system of internal factors but also external. This issue is especially important for Commonwealth of Independent States that rebuilt to a market economy. Nowadays, the grocery logistics network distribution system that would fit for end-consumer and logistics systems owner simultaneously have not fully developed. On the one hand, consumers are looking for minimal cost, which can be provided by direct logistic channels, but minimal cost do not give flexibility in quantity and volumes or other services. On the other hand, the multilevel system provides high level of service and diversity in channel, but products are more expensive in it. Finding the balance between rational price and level of service for end-consumer and logistics system profits in period is been up-today issue in consumer-oriented logistics. The development of mechanisms makes it possible to assess the scale of the rational use of direct and multi-level logistics for the distribution of material flows, which was demonstrated with the numbering of participants in the logistics system in the current situation (external and internal factors). The paper considers the functioning of the system for delivering goods on a direct and multilevel distribution channel. An integrated approach to evaluate the efficiency of the functioning of the logistics system and the consumer had been used.

The implementation of Wi-Fi on campuses brings huge benefits for campus users in communications and education development. Some campuses face existing poor Quality of Service (QoS) on the Wi-Fi performance which is also unjustified and issues on unsatisfied connections. This research aims to analyses the Wi-Fi performance of the campus network for three indoor access points. Signal strength, usage percentage, channel utilization, and the number of clients count per access points are measured. Results show that 56% is the highest signal percentage and the lowest signal percentage is at 1%. Access point of Ustudent is the highest at 53% and lowest at 38%. The highest signal strength of -45dBm is found and the other two are below by -2 dBm. The lowest signal strength is at -95 dBm. SSID CCNA_1 is identified has the best signal strength compared to other SSIDs because it runs on 5 GHz frequency. The most channels used are channels 1, 4, and 6. Respectively 151, 67, and 57 users are connected to Ustudent, UHotspot, and CCNA_1. This study is significant for the QoS in a campus network in providing good network services. Thus, the QoS on Wi-Fi performance is improvised, monitored and analyzed for continues supports users in the campus network successfully

The basic conceptual idea of logistics is the need to adapt the company to an ever-changing market situation, while spending a minimum of funds in these conditions. The concept of logistics is a system of views on the rationalization of economic activity by optimizing material flows. The paper investigates the change of the main indicators of the functioning of the supply chain, depending on the organization of distribution of the material flow. The supply systems of food products that form the consumer basket at the stage of distribution is considered. The conceptual schemes of freight flow distribution with and without distribution center is presented. The field research was conducted to determine and initial data were collected. The paper investigate the functioning of the supply chain in two cases: in a situation "proposed scenario" and in a situation "without a project". The situation "existing scenario" implies that no action to change the parameters of the supply chain during the period specified for the research does not take place. In this case, it is necessary to assess the effectiveness of the logistics chain under existing conditions. An integrated approach to evaluate the efficiency of the functioning of the logistics system and the consumer had been used. The efficiency of existing of the supply chain functioning were analysed. Also, certain measures will be implemented to improve the chain through investments and by bringing logistics infrastructure with the needs. A modelling of the supply chain was made. The effect of parameters of participants on the supply chain efficiency was analysed. The planned effect from the reorganization of distribution channels is calculated. The technological and economic feasibility of introducing a distribution center into the existing distribution channel based on modeling is calculated. The object of the research is the process of food products distribution in the supply chain. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the food supply chain scheme.

Underwater collaborative work between small mobile platforms (SMP) such as divers, litter submarine or AUV, requires a high data rate communication system which is compact, reliable, affordable and eye-safe. The high bandwidth of LED-based underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) is an advantage. Artificial, emulated as well as simulated, turbid underwater channel has been studied recently, but no practical nature water. To fully meet the requirements of challenging turbid underwater channel scenarios for SMP, we demonstrated a green LED-based UWOC system up to a bandwidth of 3.4 MHz in a highly-turbid nature lake water. Through a contrast wireless optical communication (WOC) experiment in air, turbid water channel is observed to compensates the receiving signal amplitude attenuates after propagating a longer attenuation length due to multiple-scattered light caused diffusion, and thus to be more like a single-input multi-output (SIMO) system. From our experimental observation, the SIMO channel model could be employed not only in turbulent UWOC, but also in highly turbid UWOC. Moreover, turbid water channel is observed a “frequency selection” effect, thus LED with lower threshold voltage at higher frequency would optimize bandwidth and link range, and a robust pre-code for interference cancellation would be a well-direct choice to constructing different UWOC system in highly turbid water for SMP. Our finding will provide a new reference complementing the current LED-based UWOC systems in realistic water environment.

Automated systems based on wearable sensors for livestock monitoring are becoming increasingly popular. Specifically, wireless in-body sensors could yield relevant data, such as ruminal temperature. The collection of such data requires an accurate characterization of the in-to-out body wireless channel between the in-body sensor and the gateway. The aim of this study is to experimentally characterize the in-to-out-body propagation loss for cows and horses at 433, 868, and 1400 MHz. Measurements were conducted in vivo on five different fistulated cows and five horse cadavers using specialized robust in-body capsule antennas inside the animals' abdomen. Next, the in-body antenna gain was deembedded from the wireless channel, and the in-to-out body propagation loss was obtained as the difference between measured unobstructed line-of-sight path losses and in-to-out-body path losses. The measurements showed a body propagation loss of (mean +/- standard deviation) 30.8 +/- 4.1 dB, 44.5 +/- 4.8 dB, and 54.2 +/- 4.7 dB for cows at 433, 868, and 1400 MHz, respectively. For horses, the body propagation losses were 23.2 +/- 3.8 dB, 31.0 +/- 4.7 dB, and 44.4 +/- 3.2 dB at 433, 868, and 1400 MHz, respectively. These results are important to determine the wireless range of WBANs to optimize the network topology and estimate the associated network cost for large-scale monitoring systems.

Background User engagement is a key performance variable for eHealth websites. However, most existing studies on user engagement either focus on a single website or depend on survey data. To date, we still lack an overview of user engagement on multiple eHealth websites derived from objective data. Therefore, it is relevant to provide a holistic view of user engagement on multiple eHealth websites based on cross-site clickstream data. Objective This study aims to describe the patterns of user engagement on eHealth websites and investigate how platforms, channels, sex, and income influence user engagement on eHealth websites. Methods The data used in this study were the clickstream data of 1095 mobile users, which were obtained from a large telecom company in Shanghai, China. The observation period covered 8 months (January 2017 to August 2017). Descriptive statistics, two-tailed t tests, and an analysis of variance were used for data analysis. Results The medical category accounted for most of the market share of eHealth website visits (134,009/184,826, 72.51%), followed by the lifestyle category (46,870/184,826, 25.36%). The e-pharmacy category had the smallest market share, accounting for only 2.14% (3947/184,826) of the total visits. eHealth websites were characterized by very low visit penetration and relatively high user penetration. The distribution of engagement intensity followed a power law distribution. Visits to eHealth websites were highly concentrated. User engagement was generally high on weekdays but low on weekends. Furthermore, user engagement gradually increased from morning to noon. After noon, user engagement declined until it reached its lowest level at midnight. Lifestyle websites, followed by medical websites, had the highest customer loyalty. e-Pharmacy websites had the lowest customer loyalty. Popular eHealth websites, such as medical websites, can effectively provide referral traffic for lifestyle and e-pharmacy websites. However, the opposite is also true. Android users were more engaged in eHealth websites than iOS users. The engagement volume of app users was 4.85 times that of browser users, and the engagement intensity of app users was 4.22 times that of browser users. Male users had a higher engagement intensity than female users. Income negatively moderated the influence that platforms (Android vs iOS) had on user engagement. Low-income Android users were the most engaged in eHealth websites. Conversely, low-income iOS users were the least engaged in eHealth websites. Conclusions Clickstream data provide a new way to derive an overview of user engagement patterns on eHealth websites and investigate the influence that various factors (eg, platform, channel, sex, and income) have on engagement behavior. Compared with self-reported data from a questionnaire, cross-site clickstream data are more objective, accurate, and appropriate for pattern discovery. Many user engagement patterns and findings regarding the influential factors revealed by cross-site clickstream data have not been previously reported.

Background Public sector strategies to promote insecticide-treated net (ITN) access have resulted in increased ITN ownership across sub-Saharan Africa. However, the current status of the private sector distribution channel for nets has not been fully explored. This multi-country study explored the prevalence of net purchases and the characteristics of households that had purchased nets and used such nets in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Data from recent Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS) or Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) in 16 countries were analysed to explore the prevalence of purchased nets. Purchased nets were defined as nets obtained from shops/markets or pharmacies. Additional sub-analysis of factors associated with ownership and use of purchased nets was conducted in seven countries with over 10% of nets reported as purchased. Key outcomes included: prevalence of purchased nets out of all nets, household ownership of a purchased net, and whether a purchased net was used the previous night. Analytical methods included country level tests of association and multivariable logistic regressions. Results Among all nets, the proportion of purchased nets in the study countries ranged from 0.8 to 32.7% and most (median = 77%) of these purchased nets were ITNs. Although the private nets are presumed to be from the retail, non-public sector, the prevalence of treated purchased nets suggests that some purchased nets may be “leaked” ITNs from public sector distributions, and thus, may be an informal sector rather than part of the formal “private sector”. Urban, wealthier households as well as those with educated heads were more likely to own purchased nets. Use of such nets was, however, lower in wealthier households. In addition, net use was higher in households owning insufficient nets for their family size, and when the nets were newer than 24 months. Conclusion The formal and informal private sector have played a role in bolstering net access rates in some settings. Study findings can help relevant malaria control stakeholders gain insight on the contribution of purchased nets on their overall ITN strategy, identify potential target populations for private sector nets as well as inform the design and distribution of private sector insecticide-treated nets that appeal to their target groups.

A key question for retailers who already offer a mobile website is, whether they should add an app as an additional purchase channel. We address this issue by exploring whether consumers' app adoption stimulates additional purchases and how this change in purchase behavior differs across customers with different levels of spending share for different product categories and customer loyalty. By using transactional data from a Chinese online retailer, we show that app adopters have higher purchase incidence, buy more frequently, and spend more in each order than non-adopters. We also find that app adoption has a stronger positive effect on the order size of customers who have a lower spending share of high-price products and customers who are less loyal to the focal retailer. Hereby, we contribute to multichannel and mobile marketing literature by empirically examining the effects of adding a similar (mobile) purchase channel to an already established (mobile) purchase channel. Managerially, our results suggest that apps are worth investing in despite their similarity to mobile websites and can induce non-loyal customers to purchase more and thus potentially foster these customers' loyalty.

This paper evaluates the feasibility of applying massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) to tackle the uplink mixed-service communication problem. Under the assumption of an available physical narrowband shared channel, devised to exclusively consume data traffic from machine type communications (MTC) devices, the capacity (i.e., number of connected devices) of MTC networks and, in turn, that of the whole system, can be increased by clustering such devices and letting each cluster share the same time–frequency physical resource blocks. Following this research line, we study the possibility of employing sub-optimal linear detectors to the problem and present a simple and practical channel estimator that works without the previous knowledge of the large-scale channel coefficients. Our simulation results suggest that the proposed channel estimator performs asymptotically, as well as the MMSE estimator, with respect to the number of antennas and the uplink transmission power. Furthermore, the results also indicate that, as the number of antennas is made progressively larger, the performance of the sub-optimal linear detection methods approaches the perfect interference-cancellation bound. The findings presented in this paper shed light on and motivate for new and exciting research lines toward a better understanding of the use of massive MIMO in MTC networks.

Background: Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) is a key regulator of cellular homeostasis. In neurons, GSK3β contributes to the control of neuronal transmission and plasticity, but its role in epilepsy remains to be defined. Methods: Biochemical and electrophysiological methods were used to assess the role of GSK3β in regulating neuronal transmission and epileptogenesis. GSK3β activity was increased genetically in GSK3β[S9A] mice. Its effects on neuronal transmission and epileptogenesis induced by kainic acid were assessed by field potential recordings in mice brain slices and video electroencephalography in vivo. The ion channel expression was measured in brain samples from mice and followed by analysis in samples from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy or focal cortical dysplasia in correlation to GSK3β phosphorylation. Findings: Higher GSK3β activity decreased the susceptibility to kainic acid-induced epileptiform discharges and the progression of epileptogenesis. At the biochemical level, higher GSK3β activity increased the expression of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel 4 and decreased phosphorylation of the glutamate α±-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor subunit GluA1. The phosphorylation of GluA1 at Serine 831 and Serine 845 was lower in GSK3β[S9A] mice than in wildtype controls, under basal conditions and in the epileptic mouse brain, respectively. Moreover, we found a significant correlation between higher inhibitory GSK3β phosphorylation at Serine 9 and higher activating GluA1 phosphorylation at Serine 845 in brain samples from epileptic patients. Interpretation: Our data imply GSK3β activity in the protection of neuronal networks from hyper-activation and indicate that the anti-epileptogenic function of GSK3I² involves decreasing the synaptic AMPA receptors pool. Funding: Research was supported by the Polish National Science Centre (no. 2011/01/N/NZ3/05409 to MU; no. 2017/26/D/NZ4/00159 to PK-G) and FP7 European Union grants (no. 223276, “NeuroGSK3” to FvL and JJ; no. 229676, “HealthProt” to JJ; no. 602102, “Epitarget” to EV and EA.). This study was also co-financed by European Union funds from the European Social Fund (MU). The work of MU was partially financed by IUVENTUS IP2012 037872. The work of MU, KKotulska, SJ, EA and JJ was partly supported by 7FP grant “EPISTOP” (grant agreement no. 602391), and the Polish Ministerial funds for science (years 2014-2019) for the implementation of international co-financed projects. The work of AG was financed by the Polish National Science Centre (grant no. 2011/01/B/NZ3/05397). KKotulska, SJ and JJ were partly financed by the Polish National Center for Research and Development (grant EPIMARKER, no. STRATEGMED3/306306/4/2017). MU was a recipient of a L’OrealUNESCO for Women and Science Fellowship in Poland and EMBO Short Term Fellowship. JJ and MU were also recipients of a Foundation for Polish Science "Mistrz" Professorial Subsidy and Fellowship, respectively. Declaration of Interest: SJ received Advisory Board honoraria from Novartis Oncology. The other authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the local Ethics Board in Warsaw (approval no. 223/KBE/2015).

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a disruptive technology that is changing production systems globally. In addition, microfluidic devices are increasingly being used for chemical analysis and continuous production of chemicals. Printing of materials such as polymers and metals is already a reality, but additive manufacturing of glass for microfluidic systems has received minor attention. We characterize microfluidic devices (channel cross-section dimensions down to a scale of 100 mm) that have been produced by additive manufacturing of molten soda-lime glass in tens of minutes and report their mass spectrometric and Raman spectroscopic analysis examples. The functionality of a microfluidic glass microreactor is shown with online mass spectrometric analysis of linezolid synthesis. Additionally, the performance of a direct infusion device is demonstrated by mass spectrometric analysis of drugs. Finally, the excellent optical quality of the glass structures is demonstrated with in-line Raman spectroscopic measurements. Our results promise a bright future for additively manufactured glass microdevices in diverse fields of science.

International audience; This paper deals with a general and complete analysis of the frame error rate in LoRa system, not only considering the payload error rate, but also the sync word (carrying network information) and the header (carrying control information) error rates. It is proved that, in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range, it is more likely to reject a LoRa frame due to an erroneous sync word estimation rather than an erroneous header or payload decoding, due to the fact that it is not coded. The theoretical results are then verified through simulations.

This research was based on a survey conducted in Bangladesh in three major seed-producing divisions, viz., Dhaka, Mymensingh, and Chittagong. Descriptive data was gathered by randomly selecting 100 peasants and 100 rural retailers for in-depth interviews. The general accounting approach was also used to assess profit and loss. The objective of the study was to analyze the marketing tendencies of vegetable seed farmers and sellers. The results showed a lack of market information, poor institutions and arrangements, poor marketing infrastructures, transportation system, and high and unfair profit margin distribution among the value chain actors with little share to the farmers in the vegetable seed market. These findings are indicators of poor marketing efficiency and thereby suboptimal operation of the seed marketing system. The significant determinants of market supply of vegetable seeds were found to be the average current price, age, the total size of land, farmers’ experience, sex, number of oxen, and access to market information. The determinants of demand for vegetable seeds—family size, purchase frequency, the average current price, income level, average expenditure on food and purchasing, profit or loss of vegetable seed farming—were found to be significant in the study. According to the findings of this report, vegetable seed sector in Bangladesh needs more government support, especially in terms of marketing policies in order to improve the current state of vegetable seed farming. Vegetable seed farming was not profitable due to a lack of technology and knowledge, as well as a lack of funding. With the existing status of infrastructure, the presence of middlemen is unavoidable. As a result, farmers have no alternative but to follow the orders of the middlemen, resulting in seed quality problems. Hence, the results are indicative of the measures that should be taken for production, market infrastructure, arrangements, and institutions to improve the functioning of the seed marketing system. It also proposes a vegetable seed distribution channel through which a cooperative community would serve as a collecting hub for a more efficient marketing scheme.

Sleep scoring is an important step for the detection of sleep disorders and usually performed by visual analysis. Since manual sleep scoring is time consuming, machine-learning based approaches have been proposed. Though efficient, these algorithms are black-box in nature and difficult to interpret by clinicians. In this paper, we propose a deep learning architecture for multi-modal sleep scoring, investigate the model?s decision making process, and compare the model?s reasoning with the annotation guidelines in the AASM manual. Our archi-tecture, called STQS, uses convolutional neural networks (CNN) to automatically extract spatio-temporal features from 3 modalities (EEG, EOG and EMG), a bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) to extract sequential information, and residual connections to combine spatio-temporal and sequential features. We evaluated our model on two large datasets, obtaining an accuracy of 85% and 77% and a macro F1 score of 79% and 73% on SHHS and an in-house dataset, respectively. We further quantify the contribution of various architectural components and conclude that adding LSTM layers improves performance over a spatio-temporal CNN, while adding residual connections does not. Our interpretability results show that the output of the model is well aligned with AASM guidelines, and therefore, the model?s decisions correspond to domain knowledge. We also compare multi-modal models and single-channel models and suggest that future research should focus on improving multi-modal models.

Background Heart rate follows a diurnal variation, and slow heart rhythms occur primarily at night. Objective The lower heart rate during sleep is assumed to be neural in origin, but here we tested whether a day-night difference in intrinsic pacemaking is involved. Methods In vivo and in vitro electrocardiographic recordings, vagotomy, transgenics, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, patch clamp, reporter bioluminescence recordings, and chromatin immunoprecipitation were used. Results The day-night difference in the average heart rate of mice was independent of fluctuations in average locomotor activity and persisted under pharmacological, surgical, and transgenic interruption of autonomic input to the heart. Spontaneous beating rate of isolated (ie, denervated) sinus node (SN) preparations exhibited a day-night rhythm concomitant with rhythmic messenger RNA expression of ion channels including hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated potassium channel 4 (HCN4). In vitro studies demonstrated 24-hour rhythms in the human HCN4 promoter and the corresponding funny current. The day-night heart rate difference in mice was abolished by HCN block, both in vivo and in the isolated SN. Rhythmic expression of canonical circadian clock transcription factors, for example, Brain and muscle ARNT-Like 1 (BMAL1) and Cryptochrome (CRY) was identified in the SN and disruption of the local clock (by cardiomyocyte-specific knockout of Bmal1) abolished the day-night difference in Hcn4 and intrinsic heart rate. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed specific BMAL1 binding sites on Hcn4, linking the local clock with intrinsic rate control. Conclusion The circadian variation in heart rate involves SN local clock–dependent Hcn4 rhythmicity. Data reveal a novel regulator of heart rate and mechanistic insight into bradycardia during sleep.

The application of closed-loop approaches in systems neuroscience and therapeutic stimulation holds great promise for revolutionizing our understanding of the brain and for developing novel neuromodulation therapies to restore lost functions. Neural prostheses capable of multi-channel neural recording, on-site signal processing, rapid symptom detection, and closed-loop stimulation are critical to enabling such novel treatments. However, the existing closed-loop neuromodulation devices are too simplistic and lack sufficient on-chip processing and intelligence. In this paper, we first discuss both commercial and investigational closed-loop neuromodulation devices for brain disorders. Next, we review state-of-the-art neural prostheses with on-chip machine learning, focusing on application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC). System requirements, performance and hardware comparisons, design trade-offs, and hardware optimization techniques are discussed. To facilitate a fair comparison and guide design choices among various on-chip classifiers, we propose a new energy-area (E-A) efficiency figure of merit that evaluates hardware efficiency and multi-channel scalability. Finally, we present several techniques to improve the key design metrics of tree-based on-chip classifiers, both in the context of ensemble methods and oblique structures. A novel Depth-Variant Tree Ensemble (DVTE) is proposed to reduce processing latency (e.g., by 2.5x on seizure detection task). We further develop a cost-aware learning approach to jointly optimize the power and latency metrics. We show that algorithm-hardware co-design enables the energy- and memory-optimized design of tree-based models, while preserving a high accuracy and low latency. Furthermore, we show that our proposed tree-based models feature a highly interpretable decision process that is essential for safety-critical applications such as closed-loop stimulation.

Large bandwidths are needed to meet the high-throughput requirements of future wireless communication systems. These larger bandwidths are available at mmWave and sub-THz frequencies, such as the V-band ranging from 50 to 75 GHz and the D-band ranging from 110 to 170 GHz. In this paper, we present channel measurements in an office environment, covering the full D-band. Line-of-Sight (LOS) path loss (PL) is modeled as a function of frequency and distance. Both a single-frequency floating-intercept and multi-frequency alpha-beta-gamma model provide a good fit to the measured LOS PL data. Attenuation due to blockage of the LOS path by various desk objects, such as computer peripherals and cables, is determined, as well as attenuation due to plant obstructions. Attenuation due to an obstructed LOS path ranges from 3 dB for a single universal serial bus (USB) cable, and up to 25 dB for a laptop power supply, computer mouse, computer monitor, or plant. Because of a higher diffraction angle, the measured attenuation is higher when the distance between the antennas decreases. We measure diffraction around a computer monitor for dual polarization and verify whether communication via the reflected non Line-of-Sight path makes high-throughput wireless communication possible when the LOS path is blocked.

Indoor areas, such as offices and shopping malls, are a natural environment for initial millimeter-wave (mmWave) deployments. While we already have the technology that enables us to realize indoor mmWave deployments, there are many remaining challenges associated with system-level design and planning for such. The objective of this article is to bring together multiple strands of research to provide a comprehensive and integrated framework for the design and performance evaluation of indoor mmWave systems. The paper introduces the framework with a status update on mmWave technology, including ongoing fifth generation (5G) wireless standardization efforts, and then moves on to experimentally-validated channel models that inform performance evaluation and deployment planning. Together these yield insights on indoor mmWave deployment strategies and system configurations, from feasible deployment densities to beam management strategies and necessary capacity extensions., Comment: Proceedings of the IEEE

Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs), which are used for thermal heat storage and power generation, are often subject to severe pressure and temperature differences between primary and secondary channels, which causes mechanical integrity problems. PCHE operation may result in discontinuity, such as channel misalignment, due to non-uniform thermal fields in the diffusion bonding process. The present paper analyzes the mechanical integrity, including the utilization factors of stress and deformation under various channel misalignment conditions. The pressure difference of the target PCHE is 19.5 MPa due to the high pressure (19.7 MPa) of the steam channel in the Rankine cycle and the low pressure (0.5 MPa) of molten salt or liquid metal in the primary channel. Additionally, the temperature difference between channels is around 25 &deg, C, however the average temperature is around 500 &deg, C. The PCHE has a relatively large primary channel measuring approximately 3 x 3 mm, and a steam channel measuring 2 x 1.5 mm. The finite element method (FEM) is applied to determine the stress by changing the misalignment to below 30% of the primary channel width. It was found that the current PCHE is operable up to 700 &deg, C in terms of the ASME code under these design conditions. Additionally, the change of utilization factor due to the misalignment increases, but is still under the ASME acceptance criteria of 700 &deg, C, however, it violates the criteria at 725 &deg, C, which is the allowable temperature condition. Therefore, the mechanical integrity of the PCHE with low-pressure molten salt or liquid metal and a high-pressure steam channel is acceptable in terms of utilization factor.

This paper presents a &mu, Coriolis mass flow sensor with resistive readout. Instead of measuring a net displacement such as in a capacitive readout, a resistive readout detects the deformation of the suspended micro-fluidic channel. It allows for actuation at much higher amplitudes than for a capacitive readout, resulting in correspondingly larger Coriolis forces in response to fluid flow. A resistive readout can be operated in two actuation vibrational modes. A capacitive readout can only be operated in one of these two modes, which is more sensitive to external disturbances. Three types of devices have been realized. We present measurement results for all three devices. One device clearly outperforms the other two, with a flow sensitivity of 2.22 ∘ / ( g / h ) and a zero-flow stability of 0.02 g / h over 30 min. Optimization of the metal strain gauges and/or implementation of poly-Silicon strain gauges could further improve performance.

In this letter, a polarization diversity technique applied to massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) in an industrial environment is proposed. The main idea is to use dual-polarized elements at the fixed array and to adequately choose their polarization for each communication channel between this array and a given user. For the same number of antenna ports, such a configuration allows decreasing, by a factor of 2, the geometrical size of the array and, thus, minimizing the spatial nonstationarity over the array. Performance of this approach is evaluated in terms of the sum-rate capacity assuming either a maximum ratio transmitter or a zero-forcing precoding and is based on channel matrices measured at 3.5 GHz in an industrial hall.

Providing therapies tailored to each patient is the vision of precision medicine, enabled by the increasing ability to capture extensive data about individual patients. In this position paper, we argue that the second enabling pillar towards this vision is the increasing power of computers and algorithms to learn, reason, and build the 'digital twin' of a patient. Computational models are boosting the capacity to draw diagnosis and prognosis, and future treatments will be tailored not only to current health status and data, but also to an accurate projection of the pathways to restore health by model predictions. The early steps of the digital twin in the area of cardiovascular medicine are reviewed in this article, together with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities ahead. We emphasize the synergies between mechanistic and statistical models in accelerating cardiovascular research and enabling the vision of precision medicine. ispartof: EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL vol:41 issue:48 pages:4556-+ ispartof: location:England status: published

Several studies support, both in vitro and in vivo, the anti-cancer effects of cannabidiol (CBD), a transient receptor potential vanilloid 2 (TRPV2) ligand. TRPV2, often dysregulated in tumors, is associated with altered cell proliferation and aggressiveness. Endometrial cancer (EC) is historically divided in type I endometrioid EC and type II non-endometrioid EC, associated with poor prognosis. Treatment options with chemotherapy and combinations with radiation showed only limited efficacy. Since no data are reported concerning TRPV2 expression as well as CBD potential effects in EC, the aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of TRPV2 in biopsies and cell lines as well as the effects of CBD in in vitro models. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), cell viability, migration, and chemo-resistance have been evaluated. Results show that TRPV2 expression increased with the malignancy of the cancer tissue and correlated with shorter PFS (p = 0.0224). Moreover, in vitro TRPV2 over-expression in Ishikawa cell line increased migratory ability and response to cisplatin. CBD reduced cell viability, activating predominantly apoptosis in type I cells and autophagy in mixed type EC cells. The CBD improved chemotherapeutic drugs cytotoxic effects, enhanced by TRPV2 over-expression. Hence, TRPV2 could be considered as a marker for optimizing the therapy and CBD might be a useful therapeutic option as adjuvant therapy. ispartof: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES vol:21 issue:15 ispartof: location:Switzerland status: published

Many applications in water management rely on keeping the water levels of an open water channel within given bounds, e.g. irrigation canals, drainage systems, and hydropower systems. These are all open water channels where the water level is influenced by several known and unknown factors like precipitation, operation of structures, etc. Water levels can be efficiently controlled by model predictive control (MPC). In MPC the optimization algorithms give advice at every time step based on the current state of the system as well as on the expected future state. These algorithms need a model to predict the response of the system to the control inputs. In most cases, the need to guarantee convexity of the optimization problem leads to the requirement that these models should be linear. To date, several such linear models are available in literature, which are suited for control purposes. However, the choice between these models is not straightforward. In this work, we extend a categorization of open channels, based on which the choice of a simple model can be advised.

The quality of the drawing tool depends on the quality of the channel. Channel processing is carried out in order to obtain the desired geometric shape, required size and limit deviations in accordance with the size and quality of the wire stretched, as well as to obtain the required purity of the surface of the channel drawing. The determination of the surface roughness in the die channel is not possible due to the design of the die, so the quality control of the channel polishing is carried out by a visual method using a stereoscopic microscope.In the laboratories at the Central laboratory of OJSC «BSW – Management Company of Holding «BMC» the experience was undertaken for the determination of the roughness parameter in the channel of the dies by the method of destructive testing. The results obtained show that the visual method of quality control of the working channel polishing of the carbide drawing tool with the help of a stereoscopic microscope provides sufficient accuracy of assessing the quality of the roughness of the surface of the working channel when monitoring the draw die intended for coarse-medium and thin drawing.

The cognitive radio relay plays a vital role in cognitive radio networking (CRN), as it can improve the cognitive sum rate, extend the coverage, and improve the spectral efficiency. However, cognitive relay aided CRNs cannot obtain a maximal sum rate, when the existing sensing approach is applied to a CRN. In this paper, we present an enhanced sum rate in the cluster based cognitive radio relay network utilizing a reporting framework in the sequential approach. In this approach a secondary user (SU) extends its sensing time until right before the beginning of its reporting time slot by utilizing the reporting framework. Secondly all the individual measurement results from each relay aided SU are passed on to the corresponding cluster head (CH) through a noisy reporting channel, while the CH with a soft-fusion report is forwarded to the fusion center that provides the final decision using the n-out-of-k-rule. With such extended sensing intervals and amplified reporting, a better sensing performance can be obtained than with a conventional non-sequential approach, therefore making it applicable for the future Internet of Things. In addition, the sum rate of the primary network and CCRRN are also investigated for the utilization reporting framework in the sequential approach with a relay using the n-out-of-k rule. By simulation, we show that the proposed sequential approach with a relay (Lemma 2) provides a significant sum rate gain compared to the conventional non-sequential approach with no relay (Lemma 1) under any condition.

Global financial institutions play an important role in channeling funds across countries and, therefore, transmitting monetary policy from one country to another. In this paper, we study whether such international transmission depends on financial institutions' business models. In particular, we use Dutch, Spanish, and U.S. confidential supervisory data to test whether the transmission operates differently through banks, insurance companies, and pension funds. We find marked heterogeneity in the transmission of monetary policy across the three types of institutions, across the three banking systems, and across banks within each banking system. While insurance companies and pension funds do not transmit home-country monetary policy internationally, banks do, with the direction and strength of the transmission determined by their business models and balance sheet characteristics. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This study aims to solve time-space uncertainties due to the narrow network channel bandwidth and long transmission delay of an underwater acoustic sensor network when a node is using a channel. This study proposes a MAC protocol (BSPMDP-MAC) for an underwater acoustic sensor network based on the belief state space. This protocol can averagely divide the time axis of a sensor’s receiving nodes into n slots. The action state information of a sensor’s transmission node was divided by the grades of link quality and the residual energy of each node. The receiving nodes would obtain the decision strategy sequence of the usage rights of the competitive channels of the sensor’s transmission nodes according to the joint probability distributions of historical observations and action information of channel occupancy. The transmission nodes will transmit data packets to the receiving nodes in turns in allocated slots, according to the decision strategy sequence, and the receiving nodes will predict the channel occupancy and perceive the belief states and access actions in the next cycle, according to the present belief states and actions. These experimental simulation results show that this protocol can reduce the collision rate of data packets, improve the network throughput and transmission success rate of data packets, and reduce the energy overhead of the network.

International audience; In this paper, we propose an agent-based architecture for remote collaboration support systems that enables the exchange of synchronous and asynchronous multimedia streams at remote sites using an Internet of Multimedia Things (IoMT) approach. First, we design and implement Internet of Things (IoT) applications that contain simple sensors and actuators. These applications are modularized into agent based subsystems that can be incorporated into an IoT application with agent operations. Our aim is to develop remote collaboration support applications composed of video, data, and document channels. Because the applications will exchange enormous multimedia streams between remote sites, we propose a novel IoMT system architecture composed of several channel types that consist of various resource and network components. Users can dynamically incorporate these channels into applications to update the IoMT system's effects. Finally, we demonstrate and discuss the experimental results of our application to validate its ability to rapidly supply multimedia resources via multi-agent collaboration. Adding to its novelty, the developed system is in practical use for collaboration between France and Japan.

Background: Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a major cause of sudden cardiac death. In some cases clinical investigations fail to identify the underlying cause and the event is classified as idiopathic (IVF). Since mutations in arrhythmia-associated genes frequently determine arrhythmia susceptibility, screening for disease-predisposing variants could improve IVF diagnostics. Methods and results: The study included 76 Finnish and Italian patients with a mean age of 31.2 years at the time of the VF event, collected between the years 1996-2016 and diagnosed with idiopathic, out-of-hospital VF. Using whole-exome sequencing (WES) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches, we aimed to identify genetic variants potentially contributing to the life-threatening arrhythmias of these patients. Combining the results from the two study populations, we identified pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants residing in the RYR2, CACNA1C and DSP genes in 7 patients (9%). Most of them(5, 71%) were found in the RYR2 gene, associated with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). These genetic findings prompted clinical investigations leading to disease reclassification. Additionally, in 9 patients (11.8%) we detected 10 novel or extremely rare (MAF

The quest for high device density in advanced technology nodes makes strain engineering increasingly difficult in the last few decades. The mechanical strain and performance gain has also started to diminish due to aggressive transistor pitch scaling. In order to continue Moore’s law of scaling, it is necessary to find an effective way to enhance carrier transport in scaled dimensions. In this regard, the use of alternative nanomaterials that have superior transport properties for metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) channel would be advantageous. Because of the extraordinary electron transport properties of certain III–V compound semiconductors, III–Vs are considered a promising candidate as a channel material for future channel metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. In this review, the importance of the III–V semiconductor nanostructured channel in MOSFET is highlighted with a proposed III–V GaN nanostructured channel (thickness of 10 nm); Al2O3dielectric gate oxide based MOSFET is reported with a very low threshold voltage of 0.1 V and faster switching of the device.

Pyroelectrification (PE) has been proposed as a low-cost electrode-free tool for orienting and aligning dipole molecules in polymer layers, by means of the electric field produced by a pyroelectric crystal under appropriate thermal stimulations. Probing and assessing the coherent polarization arrangement is of fundamental importance for the process control and optimization but is also a challenging task. In fact, the probing operation must be noninvasive and avoid any disarrangement the dipoles and thus without interfering with the resulting surface charges. Here we show that the PE-induced polar ordering can be probed in situ by an electrode-free analysis based on the measurement of the intensity of the second-harmonic optical wave generated by the polymer film. In fact, the results show a substantial enhancement of the second-order susceptibility of the polymer layer, caused by the PE-induced dipoles alignment. Moreover, thanks to this approach, it is demonstrated the ability of PE process to polarize polymer layers even in the "noncontact configuration", i.e., when a dielectric spacer (glass substrate) is placed between the pyroelectric crystal and the polymer film.

Wireless communications or navigation is heavily influenced by electromagnetic wave propagation. The power-delay profile (PDP) characterizes the propagation channel by simple statistics. In this communication, we propose a channel model to simulate a given wideband averaged PDP obtained by measurements or theoretical considerations, enabling to test, develop, and design radio links. The channel model is based on a geometrical stochastic approach, allowing to simulate the space-variant channel impulse response for a moving receiver. Furthermore, the appearance and disappearance of multipath components are geometrically taken into account by an angular pattern. We verify the proposed methodology by simulations.

Time-dependent channel variations in wireless systems have been modeled using autoregressive (AR), moving average, and AR moving average (ARMA) approaches, which in certain conditions fail to provide the most suitable description of the scenarios. It lowers the quality of service, increases the dependence on the traditional tapped delay line model, and requires more reference symbols as fading in the channel increases. Non-linear attributes in channels are best described by non-linear AR (NAR) and non-linear ARMA (NARMA) models, which capture the channel state information (CSI) better. Learning-based systems like artificial neural networks (ANN) are better equipped to deal with NAR and NARMA approximations of channels, recover CSI, and provide proper channel estimation due to their natural association with non-linear computing. Though decision feedback equalizers (DFE) are the traditional and preferred approaches to reduce the ill effects of channel-induced variations, these are unable to mitigate noise-triggered responses that ANNs can. Here, DFEs and special forms of ANNs are combined to recover CSI from NAR and NARMA approximations of time-varying channels. We especially configure a class of fully focused time delay neural network designed in split form in unitary and composite modes with a DFE to track real and imaginary components of signals. Experimental results establish the effectiveness of such hybrid tools in tracking time-varying non-linear channels covering International Telecommunication Union pedestrian to vehicular conditions.

This study described errors of the dubbers in the infotaiment issues in the INSERT program presented by Trans TV channel, focusing on diction and sentence variations used by the host. Problem addressed in this study was to what extents accuracy and accuratness in the words and sentences used by the host met criteria of good and correct Bahasa Indonesia. This study used content analysis with qualitative approach. Data were derived from document analysis obtained from the records of the INSERT program from 1-8 December 2016. This study concluded that some language errors occured in the selection of words, phrases and sentences, implying meanings in the news was bias, misinterpreted even misled for the audiences. Instead of giving negative impact as an issue or rumor, the news was perceived as propaganda or black campaign.

Optimal relay selection is investigated for secure cooperative communications against an adaptive eavesdropper that can perform eavesdropping if the eavesdropping link has good channel quality or perform jamming otherwise. A number of decode-and-forward relays are available for legitimate communications, among which one relay can be selected to help. For legitimate communications, three cases for availability of the eavesdropping channel information are considered: full channel knowledge, partial channel knowledge, and statistical channel knowledge. An optimal relay selection scheme is proposed for each case. For the first and third cases, exact secrecy outage probability expressions in closed form are derived, and for the second case, an approximate secrecy outage probability is derived, which is tight in the high main-to-eavesdropper ratio regime. Moreover, secrecy diversity order for the proposed relay selection scheme in each case is also derived, which is shown to be a full secrecy diversity. Finally, numerical results are given to verify the theoretical analysis derived in this paper.

Protein tunnels and channels are attractive targets for drug design. Drug molecules that block the access of substrates or release of products can be efficient modulators of biological activity. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of a newly developed software tool CaverDock for screening databases of drugs against pharmacologically relevant targets. First, we evaluated the effect of rigid and flexible side chains on sets of substrates and inhibitors of seven different proteins. In order to assess the accuracy of our software, we compared the results obtained from CaverDock calculation with experimental data previously collected with heat shock protein 90α. Finally, we tested the virtual screening capabilities of CaverDock with a set of oncological and anti-inflammatory FDA-approved drugs with two molecular targets—cytochrome P450 17A1 and leukotriene A4 hydrolase/aminopeptidase. Calculation of rigid trajectories using four processors took on average 53 min per molecule with 90% successfully calculated cases. The screening identified functional tunnels based on the profile of potential energies of binding and unbinding trajectories. We concluded that CaverDock is a sufficiently fast, robust, and accurate tool for screening binding/unbinding processes of pharmacologically important targets with buried functional sites. The standalone version of CaverDock is available freely at https://loschmidt.chemi.muni.cz/caverdock/ and the web version at https://loschmidt.chemi.muni.cz/caverweb/.

Fine-grained image classification is a challenging problem because of its large intra-class differences and low inter-class variance. Bilinear pooling based models have been shown to be effective at fine-grained classification, while most previous approaches neglect the fact that distinctive features or modeling distinguishing regions usually have an important role in solving the fine-grained problem. In this paper, we propose a novel convolutional neural network framework, i.e., attention bilinear pooling, for fine-grained classification with attention. This framework can learn the distinctive feature information from the channel or spatial attention. Specifically, the channel and spatial attention allows the network to better focus on where the key targets are in the image. This paper embeds spatial attention and channel attention in the underlying network architecture to better represent image features. To further explore the differences between channels and spatial attention, we propose channel attention bilinear pooling (CAB), spatial attention bilinear pooling (SAB), channel spatial attention bilinear pooling (CSAB), and spatial channel attention bilinear pooling (SCAB) as four alternative frames. A variety of experiments on several datasets show that our proposed method has a very impressive performance compared to other methods based on bilinear pooling.

This paper describes an experimental program carried out at the University of Sheffield to investigate the interaction of local and distortional buckling in cold-formed steel lipped channel beams. The channels were arranged in a back-to-back configuration and a total of six tests, including three different cross-sectional geometries, were completed. The specimens were tested in a four-point bending configuration with simply supported boundary conditions while being laterally braced at the loading points. The beams failed in the constant moment span by interaction of local and distortional buckling. The geometric imperfections of the channels were recorded before the test using a specially designed measuring rig employing laser sensors. Tensile coupons were also extracted from the flat portions and the corner regions of the cross sections in order to determine the material properties. Comparisons showed good agreement between the experimental results and the predictions of European design guidelines and current North American provisions, whereas other DSM formulations based on the NLD and NDL concepts resulted in rather conservative predictions.

EgeUn###, Nowadays, the gradually worsening working life and living conditions of Turkey are channeling consumers towards simple and pointless purchasing experiences. Therefore, the omni-channel strategy, which presents a continuous purchasing experience to consumers and provides full integration of different channels (physical store, online store, mobile application, social media etc.), appears to be a significant factor. At this point, it can be clearly and explicitly seen that the omni-channel strategy must be used during the transmission of clothing products, which are essential for living, to consumers. In this context, this study aims to analyse the omni-channel strategies of the Turkish clothing sector; which is a significant player of the global clothing market. In accordance with the aim of the research, omni-channel strategies of successful Turkish clothing enterprises, which possess their own brands and retail chains, are analysed. According to the results obtained, Turkish clothing enterprises have not been able to provide a full integration of their current channels at this time. However; they have actualised successful implementations with regard to channel integration and continue to work on this issue.

Background We aimed to determine the mutation yield and clinical applicability of “molecular autopsy” following sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) by validating and utilizing low-cost high-throughput technologies: Fluidigm Access Array PCR-enrichment with Illumina HiSeq 2000 next generation sequencing (NGS). Methods We validated and optimized the NGS platform with a subset of 46 patients by comparison with Sanger sequencing of coding exons of major arrhythmia risk-genes (KCNQ1, KCNH2, SCN5A, KCNE1, KCNE2, RYR2). A combined large multi-ethnic international SADS cohort was sequenced utilizing the NGS platform to determine overall molecular yield; rare variants identified by NGS were subsequently reconfirmed by Sanger sequencing. Results The NGS platform demonstrated 100% sensitivity for pathogenic variants as well as 87.20% sensitivity and 99.99% specificity for all substitutions (optimization subset, n = 46). The positive predictive value (PPV) for NGS for rare substitutions was 16.0% (27 confirmed rare variants of 169 positive NGS calls in 151 additional cases). The overall molecular yield in 197 multi-ethnic SADS cases (mean age 22.6 ± 14.4 years, 68% male) was 5.1% (95% confidence interval 2.0–8.1%), representing 10 cases carrying pathogenic or likely pathogenic risk-mutations. Conclusions Molecular autopsy with Fluidigm Access Array and Illumina HiSeq NGS utilizing a selected panel of LQTS/BrS and CPVT risk-genes offers moderate diagnostic yield, albeit requiring confirmatory Sanger-sequencing of mutational variants. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-019-1154-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Human body communication (HBC), which uses the human body as a propagation medium, is a promising communication technology in brain-controlled functional electrical stimulation (FES). In order to study the propagation characteristics of HBC channel between intra-brain and body implant, a 45kg pig was employed as an experimental subject in this paper. The channel characteristics of amplitude and group delay were investigated by vector network analyzer (VNA) over different frequencies (from 0.3MHz to 200MHz). A battery powered transmitter and receiver were adopted to study the influence of electrode size and type. Experimental results show that the optimal HBC frequency for brain-controlled FES applications is from 5MHz to 50MHz. Electrode size have little impact on signal transmission in body channel. In addition, signal transmission is insensitive with the electrode type.

In this letter, we show how cross-technology interference can be exploited to set up a low-rate bidirectional communication channel between heterogeneous WiFi and ZigBee networks. Because of the environment noise and receivers' implementation, the cross-technology channel can be severely affected by insertions and deletions of symbols, whose effects need to be taken into account by the coding scheme and communication protocol.