Blind estimation of OFDM carrier frequency offset via oversampling

Blind deterministic estimation of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frequency offset via oversampling is proposed in this paper. This method utilizes the intrinsic phase shift of neighboring sample points incurred by the frequency offset that is common among all subcarriers. The proposed method is data efficient - it requires only a single OFDM symbol to achieve reliable estimation, hence making it more suitable to systems with stringent delay requirement and mobility-induced channel variation. The proposed scheme is devised to perfectly retrieve frequency offset in the absence of noise. Quite remarkably, we show that in the presence of channel noise, this intuitive scheme is indeed the maximum likelihood estimate of the carrier frequency offset. The possible presence of virtual carriers are also accommodated in the system model, and some interesting observations are obtained. The Cramer-Rao lower bound is derived for the oversampling-based signal model, and we show through numerical simulation that the proposed algorithm is efficient. Practical issues such as identifiability, the front-end filter bandwidth, and the possible presence of correlated noises are also carefully addressed.     

Kinetic Characteristics of Amino Acid Salt Crystallization in Methanol‐Water System

Nucleation and growth mechanisms and kinetics of crystals of an amino acid salt were investigated in a methanol‐water system by measuring and evaluating the induction time as a function of the supersaturation ratio and temperature in batch salting out crystallization experiments. Discrimination between the possible crystallization mechanisms, and estimation of the kinetic parameters were carried out using nonlinear parameter identification. The results concerning the growth mechanism obtained were checked additionally by measuring the induction time as a function of number density of seed crystals.     

Synthesis and characterization of conducting copolymers from aniline and o‐anisidine in HCl solutions

Conducting poly(aniline‐co‐o‐anisidine) (PAS) films with different ratios of aniline units in the polymer chain were prepared by oxidative polymerization of different molar ratios of aniline and o‐anisidine in 1 M HCl using cyclic voltammetry. Due to the much higher reactivity of o‐anisidine, the structure and properties of PASs were found to be dominated by the o‐anisidine units. The polymerization of poly‐o‐anisidine and PASs followed zero‐order kinetics with respect to formation of the polymer (film thickness) and the autocatalytic polymerization of aniline was completely inhibited. In contrast to polyaniline, a decrease in the polymerization temperature was found to increase the amount of copolymer formed and its redox charge. The presence of aniline units in PASs led to a pronounced increase in the molecular weight and conductivity, and a decrease in the solubility in organic solvents. Repetitive charging/discharging cycles showed that PASs resist degradation more than polyaniline. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Graph-theoretic construction of low-density parity-check codes

This article presents a graph-theoretic method for constructing low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes from connected graphs without the requirement of large girth. This method is based on finding a set of paths in a connected graph, which satisfies the constraint that any two paths in the set are either disjoint or cross each other at one and only one vertex. Two trellis-based algorithms for finding these paths are devised. Good LDPC codes of practical lengths are constructed and they perform well with iterative decoding.     

Mining predecessor–successor rules from DAG data

Data mining extracts implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from databases. Many approaches have been proposed to extract information, and one of the most important ones is finding association rules. Although a large amount of research has been devoted to this subject, none of it finds association rules from directed acyclic graph (DAG) data. Without such a mining method, the hidden knowledge, if any, cannot be discovered from the databases storing DAG data such as family genealogy profiles, product structures, XML documents, task precedence relations, and course structures. In this article, we define a new kind of association rule in DAG databases called the predecessor–successor rule, where a node x is a predecessor of another node y if we can find a path in DAG where x appears before y. The predecessor–successor rules enable us to observe how the characteristics of the predecessors influence the successors. An approach containing four stages is proposed to discover the predecessor–successor rules. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 621–637, 2006.     

Kommunikationsoberfläche Membran‐ Vorbild für moderne Nanoanalytik

A central event in the life of a cellular system is the interaction between the exterior and the interior compartments. Biochemical signals arrive at the cellular surface, bind to their membrane bound receptor followed by a conformational change triggering the release of an internal chemical or electrical signal.This basic principle is followed by all our perceptive abilities like sense of smell or taste, but also by different signal transduction pathways involved in nerve conductivity, vision, sense of touch or hearing. To follow and mimic this principle of parallel registration is one of the aims of modern nanobiotechnology. If we are able to specifically biofunctionalize small arrays of a solid surface, which could be an electrode or a semiconductor, this approach will enable us to build up devices called “biochips” or “biosensors” that allow the determination of bioactive molecules with high specificity at lowest concentrations. Potential pharmacological active substrates might be screened as well as new receptors may be determined. Applications in genomics as well as proteomics are realistic. The major prerequisite for such a broad spectrum of applications is the fabrication of receptive surfaces. Biomolecules have to be surface‐adsorbed in a highly reproducible, oriented and well organised fashion, a task which in biology is taken by the cellular membranes as external or internal receptive surfaces. The physical principles like hydrogen bonds, electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions that lead to such an organized surface are well known. To synthesize molecular building blocks and to position them onto an otherwise unspecific surface is one of the challenges of nanobiotechnology combining biological knowledge and chemical skills with biophysical techniques that allow to handle or analyze even single molecules.     

An Analysis of Citation Counts of ETRI‐Invented US Patents

From its foundation until 2004, ETRI has registered over 1,000 US patents. This letter analyzes the characteristics of these patents and addresses the explanatory factors affecting their citation counts. For explanatory variables, research team related variables, invention specific variables, and geographical domain related variables are suggested. Zero‐altered count data models are used to test the impact of independent variables. A key finding is that technological cumulativeness, the scale of invention, outputs in the electronic field, and the degree of dependence on the US technology domain positively affect the citation counts of ETRI‐invented US patents. The magnitude of international presence appears to negatively affect the citation counts of ETRI‐invented US patents.     

提高托盘利用效率的重要手段——电子信息化管理

托盘能否有效运用对物流的畅通与否关系重大,这已经引起了国内外专家和学者们的重视,并就此制定了托盘电子信息化管理系统,旨在更合理地使用托盘,推进托盘一体化和共用系统的建立。而RFID技术在托盘的电子信息化管理的应用更将大大提高物流的效率与准确性,托盘电子信息化管理将成为今后托盘管理的趋势。     

身份诈骗日益猖獗主因: 当散兵游勇碰到黑道联盟

军队能够剿灭土匪,因为通常前者军纪严明,而后者为乌合之众;警察能打击歹徒,因为惩治单位比一般罪犯训练有素,如果上述情况反转过来,黑道人物组成联盟, 互通情报,而正义之师只是散兵游勇,那么必然会“道高一尺、魔高一丈”。现今商业活动高度依赖网络,而随之萌生的身份盗窃及诈骗罪行日益猖獗,上述“角色错配”是其中一个主因。