Differential Relay Strategies Over Downlink Channel in Two-User Cooperative Communication System

In this paper, we propose two differential relaying strategies; Active User Strategy (AUS) and Passive Users Relaying Strategy (PURS), which could be used by the base-station to transmit data of two users over downlink channels in a two-user cooperative communication network. Differential schemes are used so the users do not require the knowledge of channel gains for decoding of their data. The performance of both schemes is evaluated for the decode-and-forward, selection relaying, and incremental relaying protocols. For the decode-and-forward protocol, the performance heavily depends upon the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the link between source and relay. We propose a conditional probability of error based approach, which can be used to regulate the erroneous relaying of data. Both AUS and PURS are able to achieve performance gains as compared to the direct transmission differential scheme in the case of selection relaying and incremental relaying protocols at high SNRs. The proposed schemes perform better than their counterpart of the amplify-and-forward differential relaying proposed previously.     

Evaluation of physico‐chemical properties,trace metal content and antioxidant activity of Indian honeys

In this study, effect of plant sources viz. Gossypium hirsutum, Coriander sativum, Murraya koenigii and Dalbergia sisso on twelve physico‐chemical properties, phenolic content, flavonoids content as well as on trace mineral (Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn, Cd and Pb) contents of honey were investigated and compared. All the physico‐chemical values were in the range of approved limits of European Commission Regulation and the source of honey had a significant (P < 0.05) effect on physico‐chemical properties, phenol content, flavonoid content and trace mineral content. The results of positive correlations between physico‐chemical properties (colour and antioxidant properties) and compositional components (phenols and flavonoids content) established that antioxidant properties were dependent on source of honey rather than on colour of honey. Pattern recognition methods such as principal component analysis and linear discriminate analysis were performed to classify honey on the basis of physico‐chemical properties, phenolic content, flavonoids content and trace metal content. The variables proline and lead exhibited higher discrimination power.     

Efficacy of a one-step hydrogen peroxide system for disinfection of soft contact lenses

Ten N/cm torque has been proposed as the optimum level for the tightening of implant retaining gold screws in order to preload the implant components to limit loosening and fracture. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of instrumentation and operator experience on the torque generated during manual tightening of slotted gold screws. Sixteen subjects, divided into four groups based on experience, were instructed to tighten five screws into implant analogs with 20-mm and 37-mm slotted screwdrivers. The screws were then removed with a torque gauge. All of the groups of subjects were able to generate significantly greater torque with the 37-mm screwdriver. Dentists with no implant treatment experience generated significantly less torque than the other three groups. Of the 12 dentist subjects, only 3 generated the optimal amount of torque when using the 20-mm screwdriver. Operators who had little experience dealing with implant prostheses were not able to provide the recommended torque and experienced operators tended to generate more than the recommended amount. None of the subjects were able to generate consistent torque values.     

Oscillatory response of an idealized two-dimensional diffusion flame: Analytical and numerical study

The heat release response of a two-dimensional (2-D) co-flow diffusion flame is theoretically investigated for the mass fraction fluctuations of reactant concentration at the inlet boundary and for time-varying spatially uniform flow velocity field in the domain. The present work is an extension of the Burke-Schumann steady flame model to an oscillatory situation, but in a 2-D framework. The governing equation of the problem is the scalar advection equation for the Schwab-Zel'dovich variable. An exact solution is found in terms of an infinite series for the case of mixture fraction fluctuations at the inlet boundary. The cases of time-varying uniform flow velocity field and a combination of velocity and mixture fraction fluctuations are investigated numerically. The temperature and heat release rate of the flame are thermodynamically calculated utilizing the mixed-is-burnt approach. The main results of the paper are the response functions. The nonlinearity in the calculation of the heat release rate and the convective nonlinearity due to velocity fluctuations result in the generation of higher harmonics in the response function for a given sinusoidal excitation. Therefore, the response function is decomposed and obtained for each of the significant harmonics. The results show that, in general, the response function decreases with increase in the excitation frequency as reported with premixed flames in the literature. However, in the present case, the decrease occurs when the excitation time-scale is less than the diffusion time-scale. Interesting flame shape variations such as flame clip-off, flipping between overexpanded and underexpanded conditions, and flame wrinkling are observed in the case of mixture fraction oscillations.     

Carbon nano-onions for imaging the life cycle of Drosophila melanogaster

Real-time X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging are known methods used for biomedical diagnosis. By the oral administration of barium meal, X-ray imaging can be extended for use in soft tissue imaging. The oral ingestion of a fluorescent probe is a new approach to imaging a living species. Here, water-soluble carbon nano-onions are introduced as a nontoxic, fluorescent reagent enabling Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) to be imaged alive. It is demonstrated that these water-soluble carbon nano-onions, synthesized from wood waste, colorfully image all the development phases of Drosophila melanogaster from its egg to adulthood. Oral ingestion of up to 4 ppm of soluble carbon nano-onions allows the optical fluorescence microscopy imaging of all the stages of the fruit fly life cycle without showing any toxic effects. The fluorescent Drosophila melanogaster excretes this fluorescing material upon the withdrawal of carbon nano-onions from its food.     

Artificial Muscles Powered by Glucose

Untethered actuation is important for robotic devices to achieve autonomous motion, which is typically enabled by using batteries. Using enzymes to provide the required electrical charge is particularly interesting as it will enable direct harvesting of fuel components from a surrounding fluid. Here, a soft artificial muscle is presented, which uses the biofuel glucose in the presence of oxygen. Glucose oxidase and laccase enzymes integrated in the actuator catalytically convert glucose and oxygen into electrical power that in turn is converted into movement by the electroactive polymer polypyrrole causing the actuator to bend. The integrated bioelectrode pair shows a maximum open‐circuit voltage of 0.70 ± 0.04 V at room temperature and a maximum power density of 0.27 µW cm^?2 at 0.50 V, sufficient to drive an external polypyrrole‐based trilayer artificial muscle. Next, the enzymes are fully integrated into the artificial muscle, resulting in an autonomously powered actuator that can bend reversibly in both directions driven by glucose and O₂ only. This autonomously powered artificial muscle can be of great interest for soft (micro‐)robotics and implantable or ingestible medical devices manoeuvring throughout the body, for devices in regenerative medicine, wearables, and environmental monitoring devices operating autonomously in aqueous environments.     

A novel method for assessing the chromatic integration of architecture in the Ksourian landscape of M'zab Valley,Algeria

Ksour are original architectural models of fortified villages located in the north of Africa. They offer, through their urban and natural visual sceneries, specific visible features that we name them Ksourian Landscapes. The present research, accordingly, addresses an investigation; relying on a new methodic perspective, of the chromatic character of the Ksourian landscape of M'zab valley in Algeria which is listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Using the Natural Color System (NCS), a natural palette (NP) has been conducted; encapsulating 12 representative colors from the natural landscape of the site in congruence with a second palette (human settlements palette), which includes around 16 colors from the urban landscape of the Mozabite Ksour. The primary purpose of this research article aims at identifying perceptual similarities between the two palettes after comparison; which relies upon the NCS nominal identities (blackness [s], whiteness [w], chromaticness [c], yellowness [y], and redness [r]); and the NCS relation identities (hue [φ], saturation [m], delta [δ], and beta [β]). Graphical representations of these comparisons are demonstrated in the NCS triangle and the NCS 3D color space. We have demonstrated through our experimental outcomes the strong chromatic integration of the urban settlements in their natural landscape, the original chromatic character as being a constituent of the heritage values of the Mozabite Ksourian landscape, as well as its possible use in the urban restoration processes.     

Color‐emotion associations,designing color schemes for urban environment‐architectural settings

Color in urban design has become an important issue, each city may present different colors which help to define and describe its architectural features. In the study, color in urban design with architectural setting is studied, façade colors are analyzed with a specific emphasis on the following research questions; “Can color schemes be designed in respect to color‐emotion associations? ” and “Are color‐emotion associations affective while designing architectural setting‐urban environment?.” Non‐color experts, 170 people, from different European and non‐European countries were asked to match the most appropriate adjectives with the given street views in accordance to their color schemes. In the first step, the effect of color is identified in relation to architectural environment‐urban setting, second the relative effect of color is studied as a component of the material. A categorical specification on color cognition and linguistic level of representation is attempted. The results can be a starting point to highlight the importance of preparing color schemes in regard to color‐emotion associations. Abstract color schemes may also provide us an idea about image setting, especially at design process stage. In the study, keywords are linked as environment‐response pairs; such as quiet, calming, lively, exclusive, reserved, and natural. Human psychophysical structure such as “warm‐cool,” “heavy‐light” in regard to visualizing certain colors are evaluated and described in terms of building materials.     

Experimental assessment of RED in wired/wireless networks

The Internet is a heterogeneous environment comprising wired and wireless components, and transport protocols with different error recovery strategies. We use simulations to study the behaviour of random early detection (RED) gateways in such heterogeneous environments. We investigate two issues: (i) the performance trade‐offs of the dropping policy of RED over Drop‐Tail's, and (ii) the impact of RED's active queue management on more sophisticated protocols such as TCP‐SACK. Some of our results indicate that RED does not deal adequately with heterogeneity. In particular, it may happen that RED applies congestion avoidance techniques even when wireless errors force some senders to back off prior to actual congestion. Our scenarios involve a non‐monotonic transmission behaviour of transport protocols within one and the same congestion epoch; RED may escalate further bandwidth under‐utilization by applying false congestion avoidance tactics. Furthermore, our results indicate that RED's dropping policy of ‘proportional’ fairness, which is realized through a Send‐more/Drop‐more scheme, can also penalize sophisticated protocols like TCP‐SACK, which attempt to recover more aggressively from wireless losses. In summary, our results call for further investigation of RED's efficiency in heterogeneous networks and naturally raise the concern of RED's compliance with the end‐to‐end argument. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimum Linear Constellation Precoding for Space Time Wireless Systems

Space Time Constellation Rotating Codes (STCRs) achieve a rate of 1 symbol/s/Hz and enjoy a diversity N _tN_r for arbitrary number of transmit and receive antennas N _t and N _r over quasi static fading channels. Optimum Unitary STCRs based on Algebraic design tools, which achieve the upper bound on coding gain for all linear precoders over Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), are known only when the number of transmit antennas is power of two. In this paper we design optimum unitary LCPs for even number of transmit antennas. We also present some unitary precoders for odd number of transmit antennas which clearly out-perform the existing unitary non-optimum precoders. Performance results corroborate our analysis. Manav R. Bhatnagar was born in Moradabad, India in 1976. He did his B.E. in Electronics in 1997 and Master of Technology in Communications Engineering in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. He has worked as lecturer in Moradabad Institute of Technology, Moradabad, India from 1998--2003. He is currently pursuing PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. His research interests include Routing in Optical Networks, Signal Processing in Wireless Communications and Image Processing. He is a member of the IEEE. R Vishwanath was born in Hyderabad, India in 1982. He did his B.E. in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, India in 2002 and Master of Technology in Communications Engineering in 2005 from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. Currently he is pursuing PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. His research interests include Routing in Optical Networks, Signal Processing, Wireless Communications and Image Processing. He is a member of the IEEE.