Analysis of flow transfer times in IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs

In this paper we present an integrated packet/flow level modelling approach for analysing flow throughputs and transfer times inieee 802.11wlans. It captures the statistical characteristics of the transmission of individual packets at themac layer and takes into account the system dynamics due to the initiation and completion of data flow transfers. In particular, at the flow level the system is modelled by a processor sharing type of queue, reflecting theieee 802.11mac design principle of distributing the transmission capacity fairly among the active flows. The integrated packet/flow level model is analytically tractable and yields a simple approximation for the throughput and flow transfer time. Extensive simulations show that the approximation is very accurate for a wide range of parameter settings. In addition, the simulation study confirms the attractive property following from our approximation that the expected flow transfer delay is insensitive to the flow size distribution (apart from its mean).     

An alternative definition of splicing

In this paper, we propose a new definition of the language generated by a splicing system, motivated by both biochemical and mathematical considerations. The main feature of the new definition is that by applying a splicing rule, we not only create new strings, but also allow for the removal of the strings entering the rule. This behaviour seems to correspond better to biochemical reality and is in fact used as a tool in several experimental DNA computations. We show that using this new definition, finite extended H$H$ systems can generate all recursively enumerable languages. Even a weaker version of these H$H$ systems, defined using the new notion of delay, is shown to be strictly more powerful than H$H$ systems defined in the traditional way.     

Alleviating the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem within Probe‐Based Geospatial Analyses

We present a probe‐based interface for the exploration of the results of a geospatial simulation of urban growth. Because our interface allows the user great freedom in how they choose to define regions‐of‐interest to examine and compare, the classic geospatial analytic issue known as the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) quickly arises. The user may delineate regions with unseen differences that can affect the fairness of the comparisons made between them. To alleviate this problem, our interface first alerts the user if it detects any potential unfairness between regions when they are selected for comparison. It then presents the dimensions with potential problematic outliers to the user for evaluation. Finally, it provides a number of semi‐automated tools to assist the user in correcting their regions' boundaries to minimize the inequalities they feel could significantly impact their comparisons.     

Brownian-Bridge-Based Statistical Analysis of the DAC INL Caused by Current Mismatch

This brief analytically investigates the digital-analog converter (DAC) integrated nonlinearity (INL) with respect to the accuracy of the DAC unit elements. The main novelty of the presented approach is in the application of the Brownian Bridge (BB) process to precisely describe the INL. This method analyzes the thermometer and binary DAC architectures and is the first to prove that their statistical INL properties are different. The INL of the thermometer DAC is represented as a one-dimensional BB process. For the binary case, the INL is represented as combinations of random variables, the increments of which coincide with a BB process. For both architectures, this brief derives formulas for the INL main statistical properties, e.g., probability density function, mean, deviation, and chip yield. These properties are compared with previous analytical attempts and conclusions are drawn. The results of this brief fill a gap in the general understanding of the most quoted DAC specification- the INL. In particular, for a high-volume chip production, the derived formulas will help engineers to choose the DAC architecture and the allowed mismatch of the DAC unit elements     

Self-reflection and the psychosis-prone brain: An fMRI study.

Objective: The Cortical Midline Structures (CMS) play a critical role in self-reflection, together with the insula. Abnormalities in self-referential processing and its neural underpinnings have been reported in schizophrenia and at-risk populations, suggesting they might be markers of psychotic vulnerability. Psychometric measures of schizotypal traits may be used to index psychosis proneness (PP) in nonclinical samples. It remains an unresolved question whether differences in self-reflective processing are associated with PP. Method: Six hundred students completed the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences Questionnaire, positive subscale. Two groups were formed from the extremes of the distribution (total N = 36). fMRI was used to examine CMS/insula function during a self-reflection task. Participants judged personality trait sentences about self and about an acquaintance. Results: High PP subjects attributed less positive traits to others (i.e., acquaintances) than subjects with low PP. Across groups, the contrasts self > semantic and self > other induced activation in CMS and insula, whereas other > semantic did not produce insula activation. Other > self induced posterior cingulate cortex activation in low PP but not in high PP. In addition, high PP subjects showed stronger activation than low PP in left insula during self > semantic. Examining valence effects revealed that high PP individuals showed increased activation in left insula, right dMPFC, and left vMPFC for positive self-related traits, and in bilateral insula, ACC, and right dMPFC for negative self-related traits. Conclusions: The findings suggest that aspects of self-referential processing and underlying brain mechanisms are similar in clinical and subclinical (high PP) forms of psychosis, suggesting that these may be associated with vulnerability to psychosis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance Analysis of Fair Channel Sharing Policies in an Integrated Cellular Voice/Data Network

We study channel sharing in an integrated cellular voice/data network with a finite queue for data call requests that cannot be served immediately upon arrival. Using analytical techniques, a comparison of different fair channel sharing policies is made. As a main result, a closed-form expression is derived for the expected sojourn time (waiting time plus transfer time) of a data call, conditional on its size, indicating that the sojourn time is proportional to the call size. This attractive proportionality result establishes an additional fairness property for the channel sharing policies proposed in the paper. Additionally, as a valuable intermediate result, the conditional expected sojourn time of an admitted data call is obtained, given the system state at arrival, which may serve as an appreciated feedback information service to the data source. An extensive numerical study is included to compare the proposed policies and to obtain insight in the performance effects of the various system and policy parameters.