Mobile data traffic is currently growing exponentially and these rapid increases have caused the backhaul data rate requirements to become the major bottleneck to reducing costs and raising revenue for operators. To address this problem, caching techniques have attracted significant attention since they can effectively reduce the backhaul traffic by eliminating duplicate data transmissions that carry popular content. In addition, other system performance metrics can also be improved though caching techniques, e.g., spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency, and transmission delay. In this paper, we provide a systematical review of the state-of-the-art caching techniques that were recently developed in different wireless communication networks, including cellular networks, heterogeneous networks (HetNets), device-to-device (D2D) networks, cloud-radio access networks (C-RANs), and fog-radio access networks (C-RANs). We discuss content placement, content delivery, and joint placement and delivery algorithms.We also compare the different proposed approaches in terms of different performance metrics, including throughput, backhaul cost, power consumption, and network delay. In addition, we summarize the main research achievements in different networks, and highlight some challenges and promising potential research topics.

As one of the three main scenarios in the fifth generation (5G) cellular networks, ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) can be served as an enabler for real-time wireless control systems. In such a system, the communication resource consumption in URLLC and the control subsystem performance are mutually dependent. To optimize the overall system performance, it is critical to integrate URLLC and control subsystems together by formulating a co-design problem. In this paper, based on uplink transmission, we study the resource allocation problem for URLLC in real-time wireless control systems. The problem is conducted by optimizing bandwidth and transmission power allocation in URLLC and control convergence rate subject to the constraints on communication and control. To formulate and solve the problem, we first convert the control convergence rate requirement into a communication reliability constraint. Then, the co-design problem can be replaced by a regular wireless resource allocation problem. By proving the converted problem is concave, an iteration algorithm is proposed to find the optimal communication resource allocation. Based on that, the optimal control convergence rate can be obtained to optimize overall system performance. Simulation results show remarkable performance gain in terms of spectral efficiency and control cost. Compared with the scheme of satisfying fixed quality-of-service in traditional URLLC design, our method can adjust optimal spectrum allocation to maximize the communication spectral efficiency and maintain the actual control requirement.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are key signaling molecules required for normal development of bones and other tissues. Previous studies have shown that null mutations in the mouse Bmp5 gene alter the size, shape and number of multiple bone and cartilage structures during development. Bmp5 mutations also delay healing of rib fractures in adult mutants, suggesting that the same signals used to pattern embryonic bone and cartilage are also reused during skeletal regeneration and repair. Despite intense interest in BMPs as agents for stimulating bone formation in clinical applications, little is known about the regulatory elements that control developmental or injury-induced BMP expression. To compare the DNA sequences that activate gene expression during embryonic bone formation and following acute injuries in adult animals, we assayed regions surrounding the Bmp5 gene for their ability to stimulate lacZ reporter gene expression in transgenic mice. Multiple genomic fragments, distributed across the Bmp5 locus, collectively coordinate expression in discrete anatomic domains during normal development, including in embryonic ribs. In contrast, a distinct regulatory region activated expression following rib fracture in adult animals. The same injury control region triggered gene expression in mesenchymal cells following tibia fracture, in migrating keratinocytes following dorsal skin wounding, and in regenerating epithelial cells following lung injury. The Bmp5 gene thus contains an “injury response” control region that is distinct from embryonic enhancers, and that is activated by multiple types of injury in adult animals.

In order to visualize the relationship between bacterial phylogeny and specialized metabolite production of bacterial colonies growing on nutrient agar, we developed IDBac-a low-cost and high-throughput matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) bioinformatics pipeline. IDBac software is designed for non-experts, is freely available, and capable of analyzing a few to thousands of bacterial colonies. Here, we present procedures for the preparation of bacterial colonies for MALDI-TOF MS analysis, MS instrument operation, and data processing and visualization in IDBac. In particular, we instruct users how to cluster bacteria into dendrograms based on protein MS fingerprints and interactively create Metabolite Association Networks (MANs) from specialized metabolite data.