Le codeur mpeg-2 AAC expliqué aux traiteurs de signaux

The MPEG- 2 Advanced Audio Coder is the latest issue of the MPEG audio encoders/decoders family, whose most popular version is known as MP3. It gathers many of the latest highly efficient sound compression techniques in a quite classically structured coder. The main part is based on a Discrete Cosine Transform with variable resolution. The output from this filterbank is compressed by the combination of an adaptive bit allocation module, according to frequency subbands, and a set of noiseless Huffman codebooks. Bit allocation is controlled by a psychoa-coustic model which determines an audibility threshold for signal distortion in the frequency domain. This article intends to explain the ISO standard without replacing it, and also to be a general introduction to perceptual audio coding.     

Valence electronic structure of a thin film of polyacrylonitrile and its pyrolized derivatives

The electronic structure of a very thin film (≈100 Å) of electropolymerized polyacrylonitrile is studied by metastable de-excitation spectroscopy and UPS. The study is made before and after pyrolysis of the sample at 200 °C under high vacuum. Before the pyrolysis the electronic structure is dominated by the localized levels of the nitrile group, while after pyrolysis it is graphite-like. We conclude that this thin film is ordered enough to undergo graphitization at only 200 °C and propose to correlate the increase of the conductivity due to pyrolysis, observed by many authors, with the denitrogenation of the film.     

New cross-Layer design approach to ad hoc networks under Rayleigh fading

We propose a new cross-layer design employing the predictability of Rayleigh channels to improve the performance of ad hoc networks. In addition, we propose a Markov model for Rayleigh channels and an innovative Markov model for IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function. By combining these two models, we derive the theoretical expressions for network throughput, packet processing rate, packet loss probability, and average packet delay under Rayleigh channels. The simulation of the proposed cross-layer design is also carried out. It is shown that the new approach improves the network throughput, reduces unnecessary packet transmissions and therefore reduces packets lost. We also show that there is a close match between the analytical and the simulation results which confirms the validity of the analytical models.     

MMSE multiuser downlink multiple antenna transmission for CDMA systems

In this paper, we propose a new downlink transmit antenna processing (TAP) technique for code division multiple access (CDMA) equipped with multiple transmit antennas. In order to find the weight vectors for downlink signals, a minimum mean square error (MMSE) performance criterion is used. Since the multiuser interference is taken into account in the calculation of the weighting vectors for TAP, the proposed method is a multiuser downlink TAP method. It is assumed that the downlink channels are known by the downlink TAP. For given channel conditions, the optimal weight vectors are found with a closed-form expression under both flat and frequency-selective fading channel assumptions.     

A multiagent network for peer norm enforcement

In a multiagent system where norms are used to regulate the actions agents ought to execute, some agents may decide not to abide by the norms if this can benefit them. Norm enforcement mechanisms are designed to counteract these benefits and thus the motives for not abiding by the norms. In this work we propose a distributed mechanism through which agents in the multiagent system that do not abide by the norms can be ostracised by their peers. An ostracised agent cannot interact anymore and looses all benefits from future interactions. We describe a model for multiagent systems structured as networks of agents, and a behavioural model for the agents in such systems. Furthermore, we provide analytical results which show that there exists an upper bound to the number of potential norm violations when all the agents exhibit certain behaviours. We also provide experimental results showing that both stricter enforcement behaviours and larger percentage of agents exhibiting these behaviours reduce the number of norm violations, and that the network topology influences the number of norm violations. These experiments have been executed under varying scenarios with different values for the number of agents, percentage of enforcers, percentage of violators, network topology, and agent behaviours. Finally, we give examples of applications where the enforcement techniques we provide could be used.     

Transfer RNA structural change is a key element in the reassignment of the CUG codon in Candida albicans

The human pathogenic yeast Candida albicans and a number of other Candida species translate the standard leucine CUG codon as serine. This is the latest addition to an increasing number of alterations to the standard genetic code which invalidate the theory that the code is frozen and universal. The unexpected finding that some organisms evolved alternative genetic codes raises two important questions: how have these alternative codes evolved and what evolutionary advantages could they create to allow for their selection? To address these questions in the context of serine CUG translation in C.albicans, we have searched for unique structural features in seryl-tRNA(CAG), which translates the leucine CUG codon as serine, and attempted to reconstruct the early stages of this genetic code switch in the closely related yeast species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that a purine at position 33 (G33) in the C.albicans Ser-tRNA(CAG) anticodon loop, which replaces a conserved pyrimidine found in all other tRNAs, is a key structural element in the reassignment of the CUG codon from leucine to serine in that it decreases the decoding efficiency of the tRNA, thereby allowing cells to survive low level serine CUG translation. Expression of this tRNA in S.cerevisiae induces the stress response which allows cells to acquire thermotolerance. We argue that acquisition of thermotolerance may represent a positive selection for this genetic code change by allowing yeasts to adapt to sudden changes in environmental conditions and therefore colonize new ecological niches.     

Multichannel blind identification: from subspace to maximumlikelihood methods

A review of blind channel estimation algorithms is presented. From the (second-order) moment-based methods to the maximum likelihood approaches, under both statistical and deterministic signal models. We outline basic ideas behind several new developments, the assumptions and identifiability conditions required by these approaches, and the algorithm characteristics and their performance. This review serves as an introductory reference for this currently active research area     

Single-trial classification of MEG recordings

While magnetoencephalography (MEG) is widely used to identify spatial locations of brain activations associated with various tasks, classification of single trials in stimulus-locked experiments remains an open subject. Very significant single-trial classification results have been published using electroencephalogram (EEG) data, but in the MEG case, the weakness of the magnetic fields originating from the relevant sources relative to external noise, and the high dimensionality of the data are difficult obstacles to overcome. We present here very significant MEG single-trial mean classification rates of words. The number of words classified varied from seven to nine and both visual and auditory modalities were studied. These results were obtained by using a variety of blind sources separation methods: spatial principal components analysis (PCA), Infomax independent components analysis (Infomax ICA) and second-order blind identification (SOBI). The sources obtained were classified using two methods, linear discriminant classification (LDC) and v-support vector machine (v-SVM). The data used here, auditory and visual presentations of words, presented nontrivial classification problems, but with Infomax ICA associated with LDC we obtained high classification rates. Our best single-trial mean classification rate was 60.1% for classification of 900 single trials of nine auditory words. On two-class problems rates were as high as 97.5%.