Decode and Forward

In this paper, an exact closed-form bit error rate expression for M-PSK is presented for multi-hop Decode-and-Forward Relaying (MDFR) scheme, in which selection combining technique is employed at each node. We have shown that the proposed protocol offers remarkable diversity advantage over direct transmission as well as the conventional decode-and-forward relaying (CDFR) scheme. Simulations are performed to confirm our theoretical analysis.

Reaction path modelling, coupled with preparatory inverse modelling, was applied to test this model's ability to reproduce the wide compositional range of ground waters circulating in a restricted area in Piedmont, Italy. This approach is based on the assumption that the chemistry of groundwater evolves through a series of partial equilibria with secondary minerals until it reaches its final composition. PHREEQC [Parkhurst, D.L., Appelo, C.A.J., 1999. User's guide to PHREEQC-A computer program for speciation, reaction-path, 1D-transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report, pp. 99-4259] and EQ3/6 [Wolery, T.J., Daveler, S.A., 1992. EQ6, A Computer Program for Reaction Path Modeling of Aqueous Geochemical Systems: Theoretical Manual, User's Guide and Related Documentation (version 7.0). Report UCRl-MA-110662 PT IV. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California] software packages were used to effect simulations. Reaction-path modelling was performed in time mode, taking into account the different rates of dissolution of each dissolving mineral.Data from literature regarding the kinetic parameters of dissolving minerals and the mineralogical composition of the host-rock were used. The results of the reaction-path modelling show that the composition of the analysed water samples was adequately reproduced, notwithstanding the hydrogeological complexity of the studied area. Modelling results provided very different water compositions as an effect of the chemical maturity, the physico-chemical parameters (fCO2, fO2, and temperature) and the variable amounts of gypsum among dissolving rock-forming minerals, which occur in Miocene levels of the sedimentary sequence. Further variability is related to the occasional contribution of brackish waters trapped in euxinic marly sediments, locally sealed by overlying clays, that have assumed an artesian character. The composition of some of the water samples can only be predicted by simulation runs performed at a temperature higher than that of the outlet (40 °C). These warm waters probably circulate in a restricted area near the town of Nizza Monferrato. The same area has recently been affected by moderate seismicity, which has been accompanied by changes in either the temperature or chemistry, or both, of the ground waters. The changes recorded, interpreted as having been triggered by variations in the local/regional stress load and/or seismic activity, have to be ascribed to the vertical heterogeneity of the aquifers, where waters of different temperature, salinity and chemical composition circulate and occasionally mix.

The aim of this study was to compare match performance in professional soccer players across two major European championships: Spanish La Liga and English FA Premier League (FAPL). Data were collected using a computerized match analysis system. A total of 5938 analyses were recorded during the 2006–2007 season. The players were classified into six positional roles: central defenders, full backs,

Teledermatology refers to the use of information and communication technologies (such as videoconferencing or transmission of digital images) to enable the practice of diagnostic dermatology between participants separated by geographic distance. The objective of this study was to critically review the quality of evidence about patient satisfaction with teledermatology applications. Sample size, reporting of validity and reliability, used instrument and its underlying constructs were determined for all studies where information was available. Fourteen studies were identified, five refer to store-and-forward applications, the remaining ones describe video-based systems. The systematic review demonstrated that methodological deficiencies in the published research impact the generalizability of findings. The two types of teledermatology (video-based and store-and-forward) require different satisfaction instruments as they are based on different contexts of care delivery, with video-mediated communication being key in the former and patients' absence from the diagnostic process in the latter mode of care delivery.

We derive the outage capacity of a bursty version of the amplify-and-forward (BAF) protocol for small signal-to-noise ratios when incremental relaying is used. We show that the ratio between the outage capacities of BAF and the cut-set bound is independent of the relay position and that BAF is outage optimal for certain conditions on the target rate R. This is in contrast to decode-and-forward with incremental relaying, where the relay location strongly determines the performance of the cooperative protocol. We further derive the outage capacity for a network consisting of an arbitrary number of relay nodes. In this case the relays transmit in subsequent partitions of the overall transmission block and the destination accumulates signal-to-noise ratio until it is able to decode.

We develop and analyze low-complexity cooperative diversity protocols that combat fading induced by multipath propagation in wireless networks. The underlying techniques exploit space diversity available through cooperating terminals' relaying signals for one another. We outline several strategies employed by the cooperating radios, including fixed relaying schemes such as amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward, selection relaying schemes that adapt based upon channel measurements between the cooperating terminals, and incremental relaying schemes that adapt based upon limited feedback from the destination terminal. We develop performance characterizations in terms of outage events and associated outage probabilities, which measure robustness of the transmissions to fading, focusing on the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. Except for fixed decode-and-forward, all of our cooperative diversity protocols are efficient in the sense that they achieve full diversity (i.e., second-order diversity in the case of two terminals), and, moreover, are close to optimum (within 1.5 dB) in certain regimes. Thus, using distributed antennas, we can provide the powerful benefits of space diversity without need for physical arrays, though at a loss of spectral efficiency due to half-duplex operation and possibly at the cost of additional receive hardware. Applicable to any wireless setting, including cellular or ad hoc networks-wherever space constraints preclude the use of physical arrays-the performance characterizations reveal that large power or energy savings result from the use of these protocols.

To obtain a comprehensive assessment of metabolite levels from extracts of leukocytes, we have recorded ultrahigh-resolution 1H-13C HSQC NMR spectra of cell extracts, which exhibit spectral signatures of numerous small molecules. However, conventional acquisition of such spectra is time-consuming and hampers measurements on multiple samples, which would be needed for statistical analysis of metabolite concentrations. Here we show that the measurement time can be dramatically reduced without loss of spectral quality when using nonlinear sampling (NLS) and a new high-fidelity forward maximum-entropy (FM) reconstruction algorithm. This FM reconstruction conserves all measured time-domain data points and guesses the missing data points by an iterative process. This consists of discrete Fourier transformation of the sparse time-domain data set, computation of the spectral entropy, determination of a multidimensional entropy gradient, and calculation of new values for the missing time-dom...

In this paper, we extend the decode-and-forward cooperative diversity scheme to the context of impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB). We develop coherent and non-coherent schemes that exploit the spatial diversity in a distributed manner among the different terminals of a wireless network. These schemes are specific to IR-UWB and they take advantage of the pulse repetitions used to convey each information symbol. If Nf is the number of pulses per symbol, the coherent scheme is based on joint symbol and pulse coding and it achieves full diversity with any number of relays for Nf>1. The non-coherent scheme is based on pulse coding and it achieves full diversity with a maximum number of Nf-1 relays