Universal Properties at the Quantum Superconductor-to-Insulator Transition of Cuprates

We sketch the universal critical properties of a quantum superconductor to insulator transition in two spatial dimensions, using the scaling theory of quantum critical phenomena. Comparison with experimental data reveals that the resulting universal relations among transition temperature, zero temperature penetration depth, and residual resistivity, as well as for the asymptotic linear temperature dependence of the penetration depth, appear to apply in a rather extended doping regime, ranging from the underdoped limit up to the nearly optimum dopant concentration. This behavior uncovers the dominant role of quantum fluctuations in this doping regime.     

On a new method of investigating large technological systems—II Program structure of the network procedure

The present study deals with a digital computer version of the method described in the previous theoretical part. The study describes program structure of the so-called procedure and provides guidance for its practical use. As illustration a problem associated with a chemical plant is disclosed, the size of which demonstrates vividly its performance.     

A simple continuous-flow toxicity test system for microscopic life stages of aquatic organisms

This paper describes a flow-through toxicity testing system utilizing a new exposure chamber designed for microscopic organisms. Typically, flow-through testing is conducted with either a serial or proportional diluting system. While generally relying on gravity to drive water flow, as different amounts of toxicant and diluent are combined in glass or plexiglass mixing cells, they are almost always open to the surrounding atmosphere. In contrast, the system described here is based on a simple exposure design utilizing premixed stocks representing each exposure concentration. While the system is entirely closed to the surrounding atmosphere, for testing of volatile organic mixtures in addition to nonvolatile inorganic toxicants, the delivery manifold may be aerated for toxicants of low volatility and high BOD. The system incorporates flexible Teflon gas sampling bags for stock preparation and storage (thus avoiding need for a headspace), and digital unified-drive peristaltic pumps for controlled toxicant delivery. To reduce surface partitioning of toxicants, all system components are constructed of chemically inert materials (Teflon, glass and silicone).     

Gyrators Application in Power Processing Circuits

The gyrator is a lossless two-port network which transforms one-port networks into its dual with respect to its gyration conductance. For example, capacitance at the gyrator output is viewed as inductance at the input and a voltage source is transformed to a current source.     

Mass transfer across wind-sheared interfaces

A predictive analogy of turbulent mass transfer across wavy, sheared air-water interface, in deep water bodies is proposed. The theory is based on the formulation of a theoretical eddy diffusivity profile in the surface region, and it applies to the non-breaking wave regime. The predictions for a water-side friction velocity range of 0.5–6 cm/s are in excellent agreement with laboratory data from wind-wave facilities with an average error of 15.4%.     

Automating the modeling and optimization of the performance ofsignal transforms

Fast implementations of discrete signal transforms, such as the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), the Walsh-Hadamard transform (WHT), and the discrete trigonometric transforms (DTTs), can be viewed as factorizations of their corresponding transformation matrices. A given signal transform can have many different factorizations, with each factorization represented by a unique but mathematically equivalent formula. When implemented in code, these formulas can have significantly different running times on the same processor, sometimes differing by an order of magnitude. Further, the optimal implementations on various processors are often different. Given this complexity, a crucial problem is automating the modeling and optimization of the performance of signal transform implementations. To enable computer modeling of signal processing performance, we have developed and analyzed more than 15 feature sets to describe formulas representing specific transforms. Using some of these features and a limited set of training data, we have successfully trained neural networks to learn to accurately predict performance of formulas with error rates less than 5%. In the direction of optimization, we have developed a new stochastic evolutionary algorithm known as STEER that finds fast implementations of a variety of signal transforms. STEER is able to optimize completely new transforms specified by a user. We present results that show that STEER can find discrete cosine transform formulas that are 10-20% faster than what a dynamic programming search finds     

Minimum mean squared error equalization using a priori information

A number of important advances have been made in the area of joint equalization and decoding of data transmitted over intersymbol interference (ISI) channels. Turbo equalization is an iterative approach to this problem, in which a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) equalizer and a MAP decoder exchange soft information in the form of prior probabilities over the transmitted symbols. A number of reduced-complexity methods for turbo equalization have been introduced in which MAP equalization is replaced with suboptimal, low-complexity approaches. We explore a number of low-complexity soft-input/soft-output (SISO) equalization algorithms based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. This includes the extension of existing approaches to general signal constellations and the derivation of a novel approach requiring less complexity than the MMSE-optimal solution. All approaches are qualitatively analyzed by observing the mean-square error averaged over a sequence of equalized data. We show that for the turbo equalization application, the MMSE-based SISO equalizers perform well compared with a MAP equalizer while providing a tremendous complexity reduction