A Rate \text{ M }_{\mathrm{T}} Full Diversity STF Block Coded 4\times 4 MIMO-OFDM System with Reduced Complexity

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication systems with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has a great role to play for 4G broadband wireless communications. In this paper, a space time frequency (STF) code is presented with reduced decoder complexity and to achieve code rate $\text{ M }_\mathrm{T}$ with full diversity of $\text{ M }_{\mathrm{T}} \text{ M }_{\mathrm{R}} \text{ N }_{\mathrm{b}}$ L i.e., product of number of transmit antennas ( $\text{ M }_\mathrm{T}$ ), receive antennas $(\text{ M }_{\mathrm{R}})$ , fading blocks $(\text{ N }_{\mathrm{b}})$ and channel taps (L). The maximum achievable diversity with high rate of STF block coded MIMO-OFDM is analyzed and verified by simulation results. The decoder complexity is resolved by employing several approaches like maximum likelihood (ML), sphere decoder (SD) and array processing. The performance of STF code is compared with existing layered algebraic STF code in terms of decoder complexity and bit error rate (BER). Further, the closed form expressions for BER performance of STFBC MIMO-OFDM systems are derived and evaluated for frequency selective block fading channels with MPSK constellations.     

Dynamic estimation of local mean power in GSM-R networks

The dynamic estimation algorithm for Rician fading channels in GSM-R networks is proposed, which is an expansion of local mean power estimation of Rayleigh fading channels. The proper length of statistical interval and required number of averaging samples are determined which are adaptive to different propagation environments. It takes advantage of signal samples and Rician fading parameters of last estimation to reduce measurement overhead. The performance of this method was evaluated by measurement experiments along Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. When it is NLOS propagation, the required sampling intervals can be increased from $1.1{\lambda}$ in Lee’s method to $3.7{\lambda}$ of the dynamic algorithm. The sampling intervals can be set up to $12{\lambda}$ although the length of statistical intervals decrease when there is LOS signal, which can reduce the measurement overhead significantly. The algorithm can be applied in coverage assessment with lower measurement overhead, and in dynamic and adaptive allocation of wireless resource.     

Extended Robust \mathcal{H}_{2} and \mathcal{H}_{\infty} Filter Design for Discrete Time-Invariant Linear Systems with Polytopic Uncertainty

This paper is concerned with the problem of robust $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ and $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ filter design for discrete-time linear time-invariant systems with polytopic parameter uncertainties. Less conservative robust $\mathcal{H}_{2}$ and $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ filter design procedures are proposed in terms of single-parameter minimization problems with linear matrix inequality constraints. To this end, we generalize the filter structures available in the literature to date in such a way that the filter’s next state is built by summing the filter’s states over several samples from the past to the present. For stability of the filtering error system, the homogeneous polynomial parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions are employed. Finally, illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the merits of the proposed methods.     

WCDMA Multiclass Downlink Capacity and Interference Statistics of Cigar-Shaped Microcells in Highways

In this paper, the multiclass downlink capacity and the interference statistics of the sectors of a cigar-shaped microcells using wideband code-division multiple-access with soft handover mode are analyzed. The two-slope propagation model with log-normal shadowing is used in the analysis where a model of 8 cigar-shaped microcells is utilized. The performance of the downlink is studied for different [sector range R, standard deviation of the shadowing ( $\sigma _{1}$ and $\sigma _{2})$ and propagation exponents ( $\text{ s}_{1}$ and $\text{ s}_{2})$ ]. It is found that increasing the sector range from 500 to 1,000 m will increase the sector downlink capacity. Also, it is found that increasing the value of the propagation parameters ( $\sigma _{1}$ and $\sigma _{2})$ will reduce the downlink sector capacity. It is noticed that, the effect of changing the propagation exponent $\text{ s}_{1}$ is null while increasing the propagation exponent $\text{ s}_{2}$ will increase the downlink capacity.     

Decentralized \mathcal{L}_{2}–\mathcal{L}_{\infty} Filtering for Interconnected Markovian Jump Systems with Delays

This paper deals with the problem of decentralized $\mathcal{L}_{2}$ – $\mathcal{L}_{\infty}$ filtering for a class of interconnected (or large-scale) Markovian jump systems with constant time delays. The purpose is to present delay-dependent conditions for the existence of mode-dependent decentralized filters, which guarantees that the filtering error system is stochastically stable with a prescribed $\mathcal{L}_{2}$ – $\mathcal{L}_{\infty}$ disturbance attenuation level. Such a purpose is achieved by using a mode-dependent centralized Lyapunov functional together with the so-called Jensen’s inequality. The obtained synthesis conditions are expressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which leads to a convex design method for the concerned filters. An example including numerical and simulation results is provided finally to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design method.     

A 4-bit CMOS phase shifter for millimeter-wave phased arrays

A 4-bit active phase shifter for millimeter-wave phased arrays is presented in this brief. The proposed phase shifter has achieved a phase-shifting range of $360^{\circ }$ with a $22.5^{\circ }$ resolution over 40 to 50-GHz. Thanks to the careful dimension designs of digitally controlled gain stage in the programmable weighted combiner, the active phase shifter achieves root-mean-square phase and gain errors of $5^{\circ }$ and 1.25-dB at 45-GHz, respectively. The measurement results also show that the input and output return losses are better than 7-dB from 40 to 50-GHz. The whole chip dissipates only 10.7-mA from 1.2-V supply excluding output driven buffer.     

Effect of the stoichiometric composition of the Si(111)\sqrt {21} × \sqrt {21} -(Au, Ag) surface phase on substrate conductivity

The conductivity of a silicon substrate with a Si(111) $\sqrt {21} $ × $\sqrt {21} $ -(Au, Ag) surface phase is studied. It is found that the surface conductivity of such a substrate varies depending on the ratio of the amounts of gold and silver in the given structure. An analysis of the behavior of the Si(111) $\sqrt {21} $ × $\sqrt {21} $ -(Au, Ag) surface conductivity during silver adsorption indicates the effect of a space-charge layer in the surface region of the substrate on the measurement results.     

Robust H_{\infty } filtering for uncertain two-dimensional continuous systems with time-varying delays

This paper deals with the problem of delay-dependent robust $H_{\infty }$ H ∞ filtering for uncertain two-dimensional (2-D) continuous systems described by Roesser state space model with time-varying delays, with the uncertain parameters assumed to be of polytopic type. A sufficient condition for $H_{\infty }$ H ∞ noise attenuation is derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities, so a robust $H_{\infty }$ H ∞ filter can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem. Finally, some examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

A Statistical Model for the Influence of Body Dynamics on the Gain Pattern of Wearable Antennas in Off-Body Radio Channels

The goal of this paper is to address a statistical approach for modelling the influence of body dynamics on the gain pattern of wearable antennas in Body Area Networks, particularly in off-body radio channels. A dynamic model was developed based on Motion Capture data, describing a realistic human body movement. Antennas are located on 4 typical positions (i.e., Head, Chest, Arm and Leg), for which statistics of antenna orientation (i.e., average and standard deviation of elevation and azimuth angles) were calculated for 2 dynamic scenarios, i.e., Walk and Run. Based on the rotation of the antenna, the statistics of gain patterns of a wearable patch antenna operating at 2.45 GHz were calculated. The standard deviation of the change in the antenna orientation is the highest for the Arm location, reaching $19^{\circ }$ and $37^{\circ }$ for the Run scenario, for elevation and azimuth angles, respectively. For most of the scenarios, the distribution of the change in antenna orientation fits well to a Kumaraswamy distribution (using the $\chi ^2_{95\,\%}$ test). For all antenna positions and the Walk scenario, the standard deviation is $<4^{\circ }$ .     

A novel image segmentation model with an edge weighting function

A variational model for image segmentation consists of a data term and a regularization term. Usually, the data term is chosen as squared $\text{ L }_{2}$ norm, and the regularization term is determined by the prior assumption. In this paper, we present a novel model in the framework of MAP (maximum a posteriori). A new iteratively reweighted $\text{ L }_{2}$ norm is used in the data term, which shares the advantages of $\text{ L }_{2}$ and mixed $\text{ L }_{21}$ norm. An edge weighting function is addressed in the regularization term, which enforces the ability to reduce the outlier effects and preserve edges. An improved region-based graph cuts algorithm is proposed to solve this model efficiently. Numerical experiments show our method can get better segmentation results, especially in terms of removing outliers and preserving edges.     

Soft X-ray Absorption and Photoemission Spectroscopy Study of Cobalt-Based Thermoelectric Oxides: \hbox{Ca}_3\hbox{Co}_4\hbox{O}_9, \hbox{Ca}_3\hbox{Co}_2\hbox{O}_6, and \hbox{Bi}_{2}\hbox{Sr}_{2}\hbox{Co}_2\hbox{O}_{y}

The electronic structures of Co-based potential thermoelectric (TE) oxides, including $\hbox{Ca}_3\hbox{Co}_4\hbox{O}_9$ and $\hbox{Bi}_{2}\hbox{Sr}_{2}\hbox{Co}_2\hbox{O}_{y}$ (y = 8 + δ) single crystals and polycrystalline $\hbox{Ca}_3\hbox{Co}_2\hbox{O}_6$ , have been investigated by employing soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and photoemission spectroscopy (PES). Co 2p XAS measurements show that Co ions are nearly trivalent ( $\hbox{Co}^{3+}$ ) in all of these Co-based TE oxides with a small mixture of $\hbox{Co}^{4+}$ ions in $\hbox{Bi}_{2}\hbox{Sr}_{2}\hbox{Co}_2\hbox{O}_{y}$ . Valence-band PES and O 1s XAS measurements show that the occupied Co 3d states are located at the top of the valence bands and that the lowest unoccupied states have the primarily Co 3d character, respectively. These findings suggest the importance of the Co 3d electronic structures in determining TE properties of these Co-based oxides.     

The First Year Nursing Students’ Achievement and Critical Thinking in Local Wisdom Course Using Problem Based Learning Process

The purpose of this one group—pre test post test design classroom research was to examine learning achievement, critical thinking and satisfaction of first year nurse students at school of nursing during academic year 2011. In the research activity, 94 students participated in three weeks for each scenario in Local Wisdom and Health Care which composed of 4 scenarios. Problem based learning process were included the preparation of facilitators, preparation of learners, and problem/scenario based assignments. The instruments composed of 1) 135 items, 4 multiple choices test which were covered behavioral objectives and blue print of test and validated by course lecturers 2) opinion evaluation form, open ended questionnaire and 3) the critical thinking questionnaire, 80 items in five domains which are Inference, Recognition of Assumption, Deduction, Interpretation, and Evaluation of Argument with internal consistency of .73. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, percentile, t test and $\chi ^{2}$ test. It was found that the highest score of learning achievement was 88.79 % while the lowest score was 70.33 %, average learning achievement score was 80.60 $(\pm 3.47)\%$ . The highest grade levels were B+ and B equally (41.49 %). Students demonstrated higher overall critical thinking $(49.62 \pm 5.78)$ after undergone problem based learning process than before the problem based learning process $(46.69 \pm 6.00)$ statistically significance $(\text{ t}\,=\,4.443, p\,<\,.05)$ . Inference and Recognition of Assumption domain after PBL process were better than their own thoughts before PBL process significantly (t = 2.288, $p\,<\,.05$ ; t = 6.287, $p\,<\,.05$ , respectively). The ability of critical thinking was found that the high, moderate and low level (percentile $>75, 25-75$ and $<25$ ) after PBL were difference from the ability before the process significantly $(\chi ^{2}=12.219, p\,<\,.05)$ .     

Design and modeling of high-resolution multibit log-domain \Delta \Sigma modulators

Log-domain Delta-Sigma ( $\Delta \Sigma$ ) modulators are attractive for implementing analog-to-digital (A/D) converters (ADCs) targeting low-power low-voltage applications. Previously reported log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulators were limited to 1-bit quantization and, hence, could not benefit from the advantages associated with multibit quantization (namely, reduced in-band quantization noise, and increased modulator stability). Unlike classical $\Delta \Sigma$ modulators, directly extending a log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulator with a 1-bit quantizer to a log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulator with a multibit quantizer is challenging, in terms of CMOS circuit implementation. Additionally, the realization of log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulators targeting high-resolution applications necessitates minimization of distortion and noise in the log-domain loop-filter. This paper discusses the challenges of multibit quantization and digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion in the log-domain, and presents a novel multibit log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulator, practical for CMOS implementation. SIMULINK models of log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ modulator circuits are proposed, and the effects of various circuit non-idealities are investigated, including the effects of log-domain compression–expansion mismatch. Furthermore, this paper proposes novel low-distortion log-domain analog blocks suitable for high-resolution analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion applications. Circuit simulation results of a proposed third-order 3-bit class AB log-domain $\Delta \Sigma$ loop-filter demonstrate 10.4-bit signal-to-noise-and-distortion-ratio (SNDR) over a 10 kHz bandwidth with a $0.84\,V_{pp}$ differential signal input, while operating from a 0.8 V supply and consuming a total power of $35.5\,\upmu \hbox {W}.$      

The Electrical Conductivity of Strontium-Barium Niobate

We propose an explanation for the high electrical conductivity of the ferroelectric strontium-barium niobate. As the temperature T approaches the ferroelectric transition T _c, the static dielectric constant $\varepsilon(0)$ diverges when a soft mode occurs. This divergence of $\varepsilon(0)$ reduces the donor binding energy, and increases the effective Bohr radius of the donor. The electrons bound to the donors become unbound, and the material becomes conductive.     

A Novel Haar Wavelet-Based BPSK OFDM System Robust to Spectral Null Channels and with Reduced PAPR

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has lately gained a great deal of attention and is considered as a strong candidate for many next-generation wireless communication systems. However, OFDM is very sensitive to nonlinear effects due to the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) owned by the transmitted signals and does not show robustness to spectral null channels. This paper proposes a novel BPSK OFDM system based on Haar wavelet transformation. The Haar wavelet transformation operates decomposition over the data symbol sequence after binary-to-complex mapping shows that half of the data symbols are zeros and the rest are either ${\sqrt{2}}$ or ${-\sqrt{2}}$ . Then, we have the PAPR reduced by ${10\log_{10} 2\approx 3}$ ?dB at most, compared with the conventional OFDM system. We also propose a novel decoding algorithm for the proposed OFDM system to show robustness to spectral null channels, and derive the bit error rate (BER) performance in theory from unbalanced QPSK modulation. Finally, we compare BER performance of our proposed OFDM with the conventional OFDM over different channels to show the excellent performance of our proposed OFDM system.     

Formation of a Buffer Layer for Graphene on C-Face SiC{0001}

Graphene films prepared by heating the SiC $ (000\bar{1}) $ surface (the C-face of the {0001} surface) in a Si-rich environment have been studied using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and low-energy electron microscopy. Upon graphitization, an interface with $ \sqrt {43} \times \sqrt {43} - R \pm 7.6^\circ $ symmetry is observed by in situ LEED. After oxidation, the interface displays $ \sqrt 3 \times \sqrt 3 - R 30^\circ $ symmetry. Electron reflectivity measurements indicate that these interface structures arise from a graphene-like “buffer layer” that forms between the graphene and the SiC, similar to that observed on Si-face SiC. From a dynamical LEED structure calculation for the oxidized C-face surface, it is found to consist of a graphene layer sitting on top of a silicate (Si₂O₃) layer, with the silicate layer having the well-known structure as previously studied on bare SiC $ (000\bar{1}) $ surfaces. Based on this result, the structure of the interface prior to oxidation is discussed.     

Demonstration of using multi-band 16-QAM OFDM modulation with direct-detection in 10 GHz bandwidth for 37.3-Gb/s PON

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a 37.3 Gb/s passive optical network using four-band orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) channels within 10 GHz bandwidth. Here, the required sampling rate and resolution of digital-to-analog/analog-to-digital (DA/AD) converter are only 5 GS/s and 8 bits to accomplish the 40 Gb/s OFDM downstream rate. Moreover, to reduce the power fading and fiber chromatic dispersion issues, a $-$ 0.7 chirp parameter Mach-Zehnder modulator is used for the four-band OFDM modulation scheme. Downstream negative power penalty of $-$ 0.37 dB can be obtained at the bit error rate of $3.8\times 10^{-3}$ after 20 km standard single mode fiber transmission without dispersion compensation.     

A Soft Demodulation Algorithm with Low Complexity for One-dimensional DPC System

Based on the one-dimensional dirty paper coding (DPC) system, a low complexity algorithm is proposed to calculate log likelihood ratios (LLRs) for multi-level quadrature amplitude modulation (M ? QAM). The M ? QAM constellation is split into the in-phase and quadrature ${\sqrt{M}-PAM}$ signal of mutual independence, and the LLR value of each bit is calculated on the expanded ${\sqrt{M}-PAM}$ constellation. For both the complete interference pre-subtraction and partial interference pre-subtraction schemes, accurate LLR values can be obtained using the proposed simplified algorithm. The proposed algorithm is applied to the one-dimensional DPC system using convolutional code and low density parity check code respectively. Simulation results indicate that the bit error rate performance is almost not lost with the simplified algorithm while the computational complexity is reduced significantly.     

Performance Comparison Analyses of the Nth Best Relay Selection Schemes Over Independent and Non-identically Distributed Nakagami-m Fading Channels

In this work, we study the $N$ th best relay selection schemes with the consideration that in some case the best relay is unavailable due to the restriction of practical implementation. With amplify-and-forward relaying protocols, the interested $N$ th best relay schemes are investigated over independent and non-identically distributed (i.ni.d) Nakagami- $m$ fading channels. For such opportunistic relaying schemes, we first obtain the closed-form expressions to the probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the instantaneous end-to-end signal-to-noise ratio with appropriate mathematical proof. Then, with the obtained CDF and PDF, three main measurements are investigated as well as the corresponding explicit solutions, $i.e.$ , outage probability, average symbol error ratio (SER), and ergodic capacity. At the same time, as a byproduct, the corresponding performance metrics over Rayleigh fading are also derived. Finally, the detailed performance comparison analyses are presented under different values of $N$ and different Nakagami- $m$ channel fading severity parameters. The numerical results show that the increase of $N$ incurs the very severe loss in performance such outage probability, SER, and ergodic capacity. However, the loss in performance can be decreased greatly when the $N$ th systems have bigger fading severity factors. The derivations are of significance because the Nakagami- $m$ fading spans via the fading severity parameters a wide range of fading scenarios that are typical in realistic wireless relay networks.