Inter‐annual variability,risk and confidence intervals associated with propagation statistics. Part II: parameterization and applications

This set of two companion papers aims at providing a model for the inter‐annual variability of earth‐space propagation statistics and for the inherent risk and CIs. In part I, it was proposed to model the yearly variance σ² of empirical complementary CDFs so that where is the variance of estimation, the inter‐annual climatic variance and p the long‐term probability. Particularly, an analytical formulation of was derived and parameterized from synthetic rain attenuation data. Considering the statistical framework developed in part I, this part II is specifically devoted to the parameterization of the variance of estimation from experimental data of rain attenuation and rainfall rate. Then, a methodology to model and parameterize worldwide the inter‐annual climatic variance is presented. The model of yearly variance of the empirical complementary CDFs is finally compared against yearly experimental variances derived from data collected worldwide. The knowledge of this variability is very useful for system design as it allows the risk on a required availability and associated with a given propagation margin to be quantified. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermodiffusion‐Assisted Pyroelectrics—Enabling Rapid and Stable Heat and Radiation Sensing

Sensors for monitoring temperature, heat flux, and thermal radiation are essential for applications such as electronic skin. While pyroelectric and thermoelectric effects are suitable candidates as functional elements in such devices, both concepts show individual drawbacks in terms of zero equilibrium signals for pyroelectric materials and small or slow response of thermoelectric materials. Here, these drawbacks are overcome by introducing the concept of thermodiffusion‐assisted pyroelectrics, which combines and enhances the performance of pyroelectric and ionic thermoelectric materials. The presented integrated concept provides both rapid initial response upon heating and stable synergistically enhanced signals upon prolonged exposure to heat stimuli. Likewise, incorporation of plasmonic metasurfaces enables the concept to provide both rapid and stable signals for radiation‐induced heating. The performance of the concept and its working mechanism can be explained by ion–electron interactions at the interface between the pyroelectric and ionic thermoelectric materials.     

Multiobjective optimisation of integrated energy systems for remote communities considering economics and CO2 emissions

The methods for designing, planning and managing integrated energy systems, while holistically considering the major economic and environmental factors, are still embryonic. However, the first phase of the design is often crucial if we want to manage resources better and reduce energy consumption and pollution. Considering integrated energy systems implies dealing with complex systems in which the synergy between the various components is best exploited (for example the thermal energy of a diesel engine produced during the night is complimented by the Rankine organic cycle of a solar thermal plant). The context of isolated communities further increases the difficulties when considering the long distance of transport required to supply fossil fuels. These sites are often located in very precarious environments, with limited or nonexistent resources except for solar energy, and with frequent additional needs for desalination (in arid zones).This paper illustrates a holistic method to rationalize the design of energy integrated systems. It is based on a superstructure (collection of models of all envisaged technologies) and a multi-objective optimisation (resources, demand, energy, emission, costs) using an evolutionary algorithm. The approach proposed allows the identification of more complete and more coherent integrated configurations characterizing the most promising designs (also taking into account the time dependency aspects). It also allows to better structure the information in view of a participative decision approach. The study shows that the economic implementation of renewable energy (solar) is even more difficult, compared to diesel based solutions, in cases of isolated communities with high load variations. New infrastructure or retrofit cases are considered.     

Development of the transmission line matrix method in acoustics applications to higher modes in the vocal tract and other complex ducts

Most traditional theories of speech production are currently based on plane waves. However, it is well known that, for acoustic waveguides, higher acoustical modes start to propagate and can become predominant above cut-on frequencies. This paper thus presents the transmission line matrix method, a numerical method initially designed for electromagnetic waves, and its adaptation to acoustic waveguides. The method, and in particular the representation of boundary conditions, is validated by comparison with known analytical theories. It is then used to show the dramatic effect of higher order modes upon the radiation characteristics of uniform ducts, as well as the importance of source location. Finally, first applications to bent and bifurcating rectangular ducts are presented, and the transfer function of a vowel [a] is shown to display frequency patterns typical of those measured on human subjects and that cannot be explained by one-dimensional propagation only. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study of the effects of structural uncertainties on a fractional system of the first kind – application in vibration isolation with the CRONE suspension

In this paper, we deal with the effects of the uncertainties on a fractional system of the first kind, mainly on the frequency-domain and the time-domain responses. For the structural uncertainties, two main aspects are studied: the nonlinearities of the physical components used to realize the fractional system and the consideration of the previously neglected dynamics of the system. Both uncertainties are introduced for the hydropneumatic CRONE suspension, previously synthesized and realized without taking into consideration these uncertainties. So, the novel approach treated in this work is to find whether the uncertainties, which were previously neglected in the synthesis and the realization phases, alter the behaviour of the system or not. The results show that the fractional order system behaviour is not affected.     

Lethal effect of electric fields on isolated ventricular myocytes

Defibrillator-type shocks may cause electric and contractile dysfunction. In this study, we determined the relationship between probability of lethal injury and electric field intensity ($E$ ) in isolated rat ventricular myocytes, with emphasis on field orientation and stimulus waveform. This relationship was sigmoidal with irreversible injury for $E ≫ hbox{50 V/cm}$ . During both threshold and lethal stimulation, cells were twofold more sensitive to the field when it was applied longitudinally (versus transversally) to the cell major axis. For a given $E$, the estimated maximum variation of transmembrane potential ( $Delta V_{max }$) was greater for longitudinal stimuli, which might account for the greater sensitivity to the field. Cell death, however, occurred at lower maximum $Delta V_{max }$ values for transversal shocks. This might be explained by a less steep spatial decay of transmembrane potential predicted for transversal stimulation, which would possibly result in occurrence of electroporation in a larger membrane area. For the same stimulus duration, cells were less sensitive to field-induced injury when shocks were biphasic (versus monophasic). Ours results indicate that, although significant myocyte death may occur in the $E$ range expected during clinical defibrillation, biphasic shocks are less likely to produce irreversible cell injury.      

Prediction of the impact of substrate coupled switching noise on frequency synthesizers

This paper proposes a methodology to accurately predict the phase noise effects in frequency synthesizers as a consequence of switching noise coupled through the substrate. The method proposed is based on a phase model of a frequency synthesizer where each circuit block is characterized by complex noise sensitivity functions. Considering the phase information of the different contributors allows to evaluate the noise without overestimation, as well as identifying the main noise contributors. This information can then be used by designers to decide where to put the effort to mitigate the noise effects. The methodology is applied to a typical N-Integer frequency synthesizer based on a LC-VCO. Measurements on this frequency synthesizer implemented in a 0.35 μm CMOS technology have provided information of the relative importance of the noise aggressors, the effect of the loop on the phase noise, as well as comparison to the predictions obtained with the proposed methodology.     

Riverbed: a novel user-steered image segmentation method based on optimum boundary tracking

This paper presents an optimum user-steered boundary tracking approach for image segmentation, which simulates the behavior of water flowing through a riverbed. The riverbed approach was devised using the image foresting transform with a never-exploited connectivity function. We analyze its properties in the derived image graphs and discuss its theoretical relation with other popular methods such as live wire and graph cuts. Several experiments show that riverbed can significantly reduce the number of user interactions (anchor points), as compared to live wire for objects with complex shapes. This paper also includes a discussion about how to combine different methods in order to take advantage of their complementary strengths.     

Satellite image compression by concurrent representations of wavelet blocks

This paper proposes a complete compression and coding scheme for on-board satellite applications considering the main on-board constraints: low computational power and easy bit rate control. The proposed coding scheme improves the performance of the current Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) recommendation for a low additional complexity. We consider post-transforms in the wavelet domain, select the best representation for each block of wavelet coefficients, and encode it into an embedded bit stream. After applying a classical wavelet transform of the image, several concurrent representations of blocks of wavelet coefficients are generated. The best representations are then selected according to a rate-distortion criterion. Finally, a specific bit-plane encoder derived from the CCSDS recommendation produces an embedded bit stream ensuring the easy rate control required. In this article, both the post-transforms and the best representation selection have been adapted to the low complexity constraint, and the CCSDS coder has been modified to compress post-transformed representations.