Uplink–downlink duality with regard to constraints imposed in practice

The uplink–downlink duality is reviewed with regard to constraints imposed on the transmission schemes in practice. In particular, the effects of non-Gaussian signaling, the use of implementable precoding schemes, and the availability of only imperfect channel state information at the central base-station are analyzed and discussed. The sources for violating the uplink–downlink duality in practical schemes are identified, and it is shown under which setting still the same (but not optimum) performance of both transmission directions can be achieved. Besides treating signal-to-interference plus noise ratios, as usually done, the duality is studied with respect to bit error rate, a parameter more relevant in practical applications.     

Dissolution kinetics of dehydroxylated nickeliferous goethite from limonitic lateritic nickel ore

The dissolution kinetics in 2 M H₂SO₄ of variously dehydroxylated nickeliferous goethites was investigated for five oxide-type lateritic nickel deposits. Goethite was the main constituent with minor amounts of quartz, talc, kaolinite and Mn oxides. Dissolution of Fe from heated materials followed the Kabai equation. There was a 9–34-fold increase in the Kabai dissolution rate constant (k) for samples heated at 340–400 °C due to both the increased surface area (1.5–2.6 fold) and higher density of structural defects (5–10 fold) in the variously dehydroxylated products. The presence of structural Al and Cr in goethite appears to reduce dissolution rate possibly through the greater M³⁺–OH, O bond strength relative to Fe³⁺, Ni²⁺–OH, O. Nickel showed congruent dissolution with Fe indicating that Ni was uniformly incorporated in the goethite structure. Pre-heating goethite to 600–800 °C for 30 min resulted in incongruent dissolution of Fe and Ni. It is postulated that some Ni is ejected from the neo-formed hematite structure and resides on the crystal surface or in voids. These results may contribute to the development of more efficient procedures for Ni extraction including heap leaching of lateritic nickel ores.     

Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factor in longitudinal increases in youths' substance use.

The authors used a longitudinal, prospective design to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a genetic vulnerability factor, a variable nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of 5HTT (5-HTTLPR), and increases in youths' substance use. The primary study hypothesis predicted that involved-supportive parenting would attenuate the link between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and longitudinal increases in substance use. African American youths residing in rural Georgia (N = 253, mean age = 11.5 years) provided 4 waves of data on their own substance use; the mothers of the youths provided data on their own parenting practices. Genetic data were obtained from youths via saliva samples. Latent growth curve modeling indicated that 5-HTTLPR status (presence of 1 or 2 copies of the s allele) was linked with increases in substance use over time; however, this association was greatly reduced when youths received high levels of involved-supportive parenting. This study demonstrates that parenting processes have the potential to ameliorate genetic risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Porphyrin-grafted cellulose fabric: New photobactericidal material obtained by “Click-Chemistry” reaction

A new antibacterial material has been elaborated by grafting mesoarylporphyrin on cotton fabric by the means of cellulose azidation followed by “Click-Chemistry” reaction with acetylenic porphyrin. Azidation and functionalization have been checked by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Under irradiation with visible light, this material displayed an antibacterial activity against representative strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This new photobactericidal textile has potential for industrial, medical, and household applications.     

Evaluation of incremental learning algorithms for HMM in the recognition of alphanumeric characters

We present an evaluation of incremental learning algorithms for the estimation of hidden Markov model (HMM) parameters. The main goal is to investigate incremental learning algorithms that can provide as good performances as traditional batch learning techniques, but incorporating the advantages of incremental learning for designing complex pattern recognition systems. Experiments on handwritten characters have shown that a proposed variant of the ensemble training algorithm, employing ensembles of HMMs, can lead to very promising performances. Furthermore, the use of a validation dataset demonstrated that it is possible to reach better performances than the ones presented by batch learning.     

Characterization of CdTe and HgCdTe by Photo-Thermal Excitation Spectroscopy

We report an infrared photo-thermal excitation imaging and spectroscopy study of CdTe and CdZnTe substrates as well as HgCdTe/CdZnTe and HgCdTe/Si epilayers. The applicability, advantages, and limitations of the technique as a tool for both ex situ and in situ monitoring of bandgap, thickness, and growth temperature are discussed. We show that photo-thermal imaging allows for direct visual imaging of the bandgap region of CdTe and CdZnTe substrates. We also show that photo-thermal spectroscopy can provide epilayer thickness information independent of the dielectric function. The method is orthogonal to existing optical characterization techniques and could be combined with them for improved accuracy.