A new subspace identification algorithm for high-resolution DOA estimation

In this paper, we propose a new direction of arrival (DOA) estimator for sensor-array processing. The estimator is based on a linear algebraic connection between the standard subspace model of the array correlation matrix and a special signal-plus-interference model, which we develop in this paper. The estimator we propose is a signal subspace scaled MUSIC algorithm, which we call SSMUSIC. It is not a subspace weighted MUSIC, because the scaling depends on the eigenstructure of the estimated signal subspace. SSMUSIC has the advantage of simultaneously estimating the DOA and the power of each source. We employ a second-order perturbation analysis of the estimator and derive stochastic representations for its bias and squared-error. We compare the new DOA estimator with the MUSIC estimator, based on these representations. Numerical results demonstrate the superior performance of SSMUSIC relative to MUSIC and the validity of the perturbation results.     

Interference estimation with applications to blind multiple-accesscommunication over fading channels

We consider the detection of nonorthogonal multipulse signals on multiple-access fading channels. The generalized maximum-likelihood rule is employed to decode users whose complex fading gains are unknown. We develop geometrical interpretations for the resulting detectors and their corresponding asymptotic efficiencies. The generalized maximum-likelihood detection rule is then applied to find a matched subspace detector for the frequency-selective fading channel, under the assumption of a short coherence time (or long coherence time without the computational power to track the fading parameters). We propose blind implementations of these detectors for nonorthogonal multipulse signaling on both frequency-nonselective and frequency-selective multiple-access fading channels. These blind detectors extend the results of Wang and Poor (see ibid., vol.44, p.677-89, 1998) to multipulse modulation and fast frequency selective fading. For comparison, the minimum mean-squared error decision rules for these channels are derived and blind implementations of their corresponding detectors are developed     

Thermomagnetic duplication of chromium dioxide video tape

Video program material was duplicated thermomagnetically at copying speeds up to 165 cm/sec, which is 50 times real time for the VHS SP format. Blank chromium dioxide video tape was heated to above its Curie temperature and cooled while in close contact with a master tape bearing a mirror image video signal. The two tapes were held in close contact between a hard transparent polymethyl methacrylate wheel and a slightly deformable elastomeric roll, while heat was supplied by a neodymium YAG laser beam focused through the transparent wheel and the back of the copy tape onto the CrO2coating. The 1.06 μm beam was transmitted by the clear polyester base and efficiently absorbed by the opaque black chromium dioxide coating, raising the CrO2briefly above its 130° Curie temperature. On cooling, the CrO2layer was permanently magnetized in a mirror image of the master tape magnetic pattern. Heating and cooling took place in the 2.5 mm long nip between the two rolls in about two milliseconds, so the heat transferred to the polyester base was insufficient to deform it. The thermal copies had RF outputs approximately equal to real time copies.     

Beamforming, diversity, and interference rejection for multiuser communication over fading channels with a receive antenna array

We consider M-ary communication with K users over a space diversity channel, consisting of a single transmit antenna for each user and multiple receive antennas. We examine two different flat fading models, namely, phase coherent wavefront fading and noncoherent element-to-element fading. In the case of wavefront fading, the fade is constant across the face of the receive antenna and we can associate an angle of arrival to the signal. We present a variation of the MUSIC algorithm for estimating this parameter and use it to form a spatial beam. In the case of noncoherent element-to-element fading, the fading path to each sensor is different (although possibly correlated) and no angle of arrival can be exploited for conventional beamforming. For each channel model, we develop several detection strategies which assume various amounts of prior information about the fading. We then consider blind extensions of these detectors based on subspace tracking, which do not require a prior model for the interfering users' signals.     

Criteria for practical fusion power systems: Report from the EPRI fusion panel

Electric utilities are keenly interested in the promise of fusion: large-scale electricity production anywhere, with virtually no natural resource depletion or environmental pollution. To expedite development of commercially viable fusion systems, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)—the R&D wing of the U.S. electric utility industry—recently convened a panel of top utility R&D managers and executive officers to identify the key criteria that must be met by fusion plants in order to be acceptable to utilities. The panel's findings, summarized in this report, emphasize competitive economics, positive public perception, and regulatory simplicity.now Senior Vice President, General Atomics.     

Follicle-stimulating hormone induces dose-dependant stimulation of immunoreactive inhibin secretion during the follicular phase of the human menstrual cycle

To determine whether FSH is a physiological regulator of the serum immunoreactive inhibin (INH) concentration during the follicular phase of the normal menstrual cycle, purified FSH (Metrodin) was administered in doses of 100 IU (n = 6), 150 IU (n = 5), and 200 IU (n = 5) to normal, regularly cycling volunteers between days 3-7 of the menstrual cycle. A control group (n = 5) received normal saline. There was a linear dose-related increase in serum INH (and in serum FSH) in response to the three doses of FSH, with 200 IU leading to a 107% increase in INH and a 68% increase in FSH. Serum estradiol rose in response to the two higher doses of FSH. There was a significant correlation between the actual increases in INH and estradiol (r = 0.53; P < 0.01). It was concluded that FSH stimulates INH in the follicular phase of the normal menstrual cycle, consistent with a physiological role for FSH in the regulation of granulosa cell production of inhibin.     

Experimental and computational study of the effect of the system size on rough surfaces formed by sedimenting particles in quasi-two-dimensions

The roughness exponent of surfaces obtained by dispersing silica spheres through a viscous fluid in a quasi-two-dimensional cell is examined using experimental and computational methods. The cell consists of two glass plates separated by a gap which is comparable in size to the diameter of the beads. We have studied the effect of changing the gap between the plates to a limit of about twice the diameter of the beads. If a conventional scaling analysis is performed, the roughness exponent is found to be robust against changes in the gap between the plates. The surfaces formed have two roughness exponents in two length scales, which have a crossover length of about 1 cm.; however, the computational results do not show the same crossover behavior. The single exponent obtained from the simulations stays between the two roughness exponents obtained in the experiments.     

Phototoxicity ofCitrus jambhiri to fungi under enhanced UV-B radiation: Role of furanocoumarins

Extracts ofCitrus jambhiri foliage exposed to and shielded from UV-B radiation were assayed for phytochemical changes and phototoxicity against four fungal pathogens, two of which (Fusarium solani andF. oxysporum) are causative agents of root rots and two of which (Penicillium italicum andP. digitatum) are associated with fruit rots. Conidial pigment mutants of these four fungal species were assayed to determine whether pigments play a role in protecting fungi against plant photosensitizers. Exposure to 10.2 kJ/ day UV-B radiation for 95 days significantly reduced phototoxicity of leaf extracts to fungi. Although furanocoumarin levels were reduced by UV-B, analysis of covariance revealed that variation in phototoxicity of the extracts cannot be attributed entirely to variation in furanocoumarin content; thus, the possibility exists that nonfuranocoumarin phototoxic constituents, as yet unidentified, respond to UV-B exposure and contribute to overall phototoxic defense ofC. jambhiri against pathogens. Root rot fungi were substantially more sensitive to furanocoumarin phototoxicity than were fruit rot fungi, a pattern consistent with the amount of light exposure normally experienced by these fungi when associated with phototoxic plants. Although pigmented strains of all four species displayed greater resistance to phototoxicity of pure furanocoumarins, no strain differences were detected in assays of foliar extracts; this finding also suggests that nonfuranocoumarin constituents may be involved in the phototoxic defense ofC. jambhiri against pathogens.Deceased.     

Timing of mating, sperm dynamics, and ovulation in a wild population of agile Antechinus (Marsupialia: dasyuridae)

Timing of mating, sperm transport and storage, and ovulation were examined in a wild population of agile Antechinus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae) in order to ascertain the validity of direct comparisons between captive and field-based mating studies in this species. Mating commenced in early August, and all females had ovulated by the 27th of the month. Fifty-five percent of the mated females caught that had not yet ovulated were captured on 19-20 August. This corresponded with a peak (67%) in the ovulation date determined for pregnant females. Approximately 25.9 x 10(3) spermatozoa per side were recovered from the reproductive tract of each mated female captured (range: 1.7 x 10(3)-75.5 x 10(3) spermatozoa per side). Spermatozoa were consistently found in greater numbers in the lower isthmus (19.7 x 10(3) +/- 19.9 x 10(3) spermatozoa per side) of the oviduct ( approximately 67% of all sperm found in the female tract; range 17-94%) than elsewhere in the reproductive tract. Few spermatozoa were found in the upper isthmus, and none were detected in the ampulla. Sperm number in the female reproductive tract supports the hypothesis that females will mate several times within the one estrus. At the conclusion of the rut, approximately 80.0 x 10(3) spermatozoa remained in each testis and approximately 630 x 10(3) spermatozoa in each epididymis. Most epididymal spermatozoa were restricted to the distal corpus/proximal cauda regions of the duct. This study shows that both field and laboratory reproductive data correlate well in the agile Antechinus and that successful breeding is indeed an exercise in reproductive brinkmanship.     

Lag-windowing and multiple-data-windowing are roughly equivalent for smooth spectrum estimation

There is no fundamental difference between lag-windowing a correlation sequence and multiple-windowing a data sequence when the objective is to reduce the mean-squared error of a spectrum estimator. By analyzing the approximate low-rank factorization of a bandlimiting Toeplitz operator, we find that lag-windowed (or spectrally smoothed) spectrum estimators have multiple-data-windowed implementations. This makes the Blackman-Tukey-Grenander-Rosenblatt spectrogram equivalent to the Thomson spectrum estimator (and vice-versa), meaning BTGR spectrograms may be implemented in a multichannel filterbank version of the Thomson estimator.