Energy-Efficient Low-Complexity Algorithm in 5G Massive MIMO Systems

Energy efficiency (EE) is a critical design when taking into account circuit power consumption (CPC) in fifth-generation cellular networks. These problems arise because of the increasing number of antennas in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, attributable to inter-cell interference for channel state information. Apart from that, a higher number of radio frequency (RF) chains at the base station and active users consume more power due to the processing activities in digital-to-analogue converters and power amplifiers. Therefore, antenna selection, user selection, optimal transmission power, and pilot reuse power are important aspects in improving energy efficiency in massive MIMO systems. This work aims to investigate joint antenna selection, optimal transmit power and joint user selection based on deriving the closed-form of the maximal EE, with complete knowledge of large-scale fading with maximum ratio transmission. It also accounts for channel estimation and eliminating pilot contamination as antennasM→∞. This formulates the optimization problem of joint optimal antenna selection, transmits power allocation and joint user selection to mitigate inter-cellinterference in downlink multi-cell massiveMIMO systems under minimized reuse of pilot sequences based on a novel iterative low-complexity algorithm (LCA) for Newton’s methods and Lagrange multipliers. To analyze the precise power consumption, a novel power consumption scheme is proposed for each individual antenna, based on the transmit power amplifier and CPC. Simulation results demonstrate that the maximal EE was achieved using the iterative LCA based on reasonable maximum transmit power, in the case the noise power is less than the received power pilot. The maximum EE was achieved with the desired maximum transmit power threshold by minimizing pilot reuse, in the case the transmit power allocation ρd = 40 dBm, and the optimal EE=71.232 Mb/j

The global financial crisis :response of fourteen Islamic banks -

Project. M.A.F.E. American University of Beirut. Department of Economics, 2014. Pj:1803First Reader : Dr. Nisrine Salti, Assistant Professor and Chairperson, Economics ; Second Reader : Dr. Yassar Nasser, Lecturer, Economics.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-121)Islamic banking is one type of banking system that complies with Islamic regulations and abides by the principles of Sharia'. This sector has witnessed growth over the past few decades and had its own individual response to the Global Financial Crisis that hit the world in 2008. The aim of this project is to investigate the response of fourteen Islamic banks to the crisis. The choice of banks wasn't restricted to the Arab world, it extended to Malaysia and the United Kingdom in order to capture a more general picture. The project is divided into two parts. The theoretical part introduces the basic principles of Islamic banking, its history, and its financing tools and securities. It also covers Islamic corporate governance and risk management. This part also presents an overview of the Global Financial Crisis as well describing a number of its causes and consequences. The second part is empirical and includes two approaches are adopted. Following the collection of financial data of the fourteen Islamic banks under study, a weighted average is calculated for each of the profitability, liquidity, credit quality, and capital adequacy ratios based on the relative size of each bank. The variation in the trend of the average profitability ratios indicated that banks as a group responded negatively to the crisis, however, tended to catch up in terms of their Net Profit Margin and Return on Equity. Their average liquidity ratios revealed that these banks aimed to avoid liquidity risk, while their credit quality ratios revealed a deterioration in their portfolio over the years of the crisis. Capital adequacy ratio showed a decreasing trend as well. The second approach focused on the regression of a number of these ratios on a group of macroeconomic and financial indicators. Adopting the fixed effects method, the macroeconomic indicators had no effect on any of the ratio except the Capital adequacy, whereby the financial indicators did influence a number of ratios as discussed in the project. Finally, we discuss t

The distinctive managerial challenges of social hybrid ventures:a human capital perspective

Le imprese sociali sono caratterizzate dall'essere organizzazioni ibride, a causa delle due richieste concorrenti esistenti allo stesso tempo. Quelle richieste in competizione sono le richieste sociali e finanziarie. Le organizzazioni con richieste in competizione sperimentano una nuova serie di sfide diverse da quelle affrontate dalle organizzazioni tradizionali. Queste sfide non sono così chiare come appaiono nella pratica. Tuttavia, è stato sottolineato in letteratura che le nuove sfide richiederebbero un diverso insieme di competenze da abbracciare e gestire bene. La letteratura ha anche proposto due diversi modi per sviluppare quelle capacità manageriali per le organizzazioni ibride come le imprese sociali. Il primo modo è attraverso l'educazione all'imprenditorialità sociale presso la direzione e le scuole di business al fine di preparare i futuri manager a lavorare in imprese sociali ibride. Il secondo modo è quello di formare gruppi eterogenei in organizzazioni ibride sociali che idealmente funzionerebbero meglio di gruppi omogenei in tali organizzazioni. Questa tesi mira a far progredire la nostra comprensione delle sfide specifiche che affrontano organizzazioni ibride sociali e il capitale umano in tali organizzazioni. Per fare ciò, la tesi dapprima studia le sfide specifiche, come appaiono nella pratica presso le organizzazioni ibride sociali e quali abilità devono essere associate a tali sfide. In secondo luogo, valuta l'educazione all'imprenditorialità sociale per verificare se fornisce l'istruzione e la formazione necessarie per sviluppare le competenze richieste nelle organizzazioni ibride sociali. In terzo luogo, studia se un team eterogeneo avrebbe un impatto migliore sulle prestazioni dell'organizzazione rispetto a un team omogeneo. Per raggiungere gli obiettivi di cui sopra, sono state condotte interviste, sondaggi e ricerche basate sul web. Questa tesi contribuisce all'imprenditoria sociale, alle organizzazioni ibride e alle letterature sul capitale umano. Fornisce anche una serie di implicazioni gestionali che sono di beneficio per educatori, responsabili delle politiche e professionisti nel campo.Social ventures are characterized with being hybrid organizations, because of the two competing demands existing at the same time. Those competing demands are the social and financial demands. Organizations with competing demands experience a new set of challenges different from what traditional organizations face. Those challenges are not so clear how they appear in practice. However, it has been stressed in the literature that new challenges would require a different set of skills to be embraced and managed well. The literature also proposed two different ways to develop those managerial skills for hybrid organizations such as social ventures. The first way is through social entrepreneurship education at management and business schools in order to prepare future managers to work at hybrid social ventures. The second way is to form heterogeneous teams at social hybrid organizations which would ideally perform better than homogeneous teams at such organizations. This thesis aims to advance our understanding of the specific challenges that face social hybrid organizations and the human capital at such organizations. To do so, the thesis first studies the specific challenges, how they appear in practice at social hybrid organizations, and which skills to be associated with those challenges. Second, it evaluates the social entrepreneurship education to check if it provides the necessary education and training to develop the required skills at social hybrid organizations. Third, it studies if a heterogeneous team would have better impact on the organization’s performance than a homogenous team. To achieve the aforementioned objectives, interviews, survey, and web-based search were conducted. This thesis contributes to the social entrepreneurship, hybrid organizations, and human capital literatures. It also provides a number of managerial implications that is of benefit to educators, policy makers, and practitioners in the field.DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA GESTIONALE31LETTIERI, EMANUELETRUCCO, PAOL

Robust Predictive Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine Drives

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (PMSMs) are widely used in industry due to their high power density, high torque/current ratio, low power losses, and high efficiency. Model predictive control (MPC) is a popular control method for PMSMs, but conventional MPC methods have limitations in terms of unsatisfactory steady-state performance, variable switching frequency, and reliance on weighting factors. To overcome these drawbacks, two enhanced MPC methods based on current and torque control have been proposed. These approaches can eliminate weighting factors, generate two switching vectors per control cycle, and exhibit superior performance compared to the conventional MPC. However, model uncertainties and parameter mismatching are unavoidable in PMSM drives, significantly affecting the control performance. To evaluate the robustness of a control system and determine the robustness level, a novel and systemic robustness evaluation method based on the concept of Six-Sigma methodology has been proposed. This method is validated based on the conventional MPC and five other robust predictive control methods. Data-driven controls have emerged as a promising alternative to robust MPC, such as model-free predictive current control (MFPCC) for PMSM drives. However, inaccuracies in prediction and performance degradation can occur when the switching vectors remain unchanged for consecutive control cycles, causing unapplied switching to stagnate. To overcome this limitation, an adaptive MFPCC (A-MFPCC) has been proposed, which incorporates a modified current difference updating mechanism. By generating a reference vector based on current tracking error, the A-MFPCC method enforces the update of current differences, preventing stagnation and optimizing the current tracking performance. Reinforcement learning (RL) based control is another data-driven method, but standard RL-based control usually is trained over a single training task with specific operating conditions and a fixed parameter set. To address this challenge, multi-set robust RL (MSR-RL) based current control of PMSM drives has been proposed. MSR-RL aims to learn a single optimal policy that remains robust across multiple parameter sets or contexts. The proposed A-MFPCC and MSR-RL methods have been validated through numerical simulations, experimental tests, and robustness evaluations, demonstrating superior performance across various operating conditions compared to their conventional counterparts

Bridging the Gap in Personalized Oncology using Omics Data and Epidemiology

As Personalized Medicine tailored the field of precision oncology, many challenges have been arising to fulfill the dream of a full personalized health integrated system in cancer therapy. Personalized oncology has been addressed through the past decades in multiple disease and various stages using high throughput technology. This review gives hand on recent advances of personalized oncology in several cancer disease models including leukemia, melanoma, breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and prostate cancer. Moreover, the review enumerates technology-based assessment of personalized biomarkers, including chip micro-array, organ on chip, and next generation sequencing. Meanwhile addressing challenges faced in implementing true personalized health cancer in oncology setting, this review focuses on bridging the gap between omics data analytics and epidemiology to overcome the true challenge of direct application

African history of research ethics violations: lessons for the future

The history of colonialism, as well as the internationalisation of research over the past decades, have significantly influenced research ethics standards in African countries. (Kruger et al, 2014). Historically, developments of guidelines in research ethics, and ethics review processes, have often been reactive responses to critical events (i.e. ethics breaches) in medical research practice. According to Global Policy Forum - GPF (2014), Africa is a continent endowed with immense natural and human resources as well as great cultural, ecological and economic diversity but remains underdeveloped. World Population Review places Africa as the least- developed continent outside of Antarctica, with many of its countries still mired in issues including poverty, government corruption, and armed conflict (2022). Health is considered as a basis of development, therefore ‘‘good health is a cornerstone of economic progress, a multiplier of society’s human resources, and, ultimately, the primary objective of development’’ (Chen & Berlinguer, 2001), especially in developing countries. The capacity to develop local guidelines in developing countries may either not exist or be deemed unnecessary given the plethora of international guidelines. Despite such guidelines, there are limitations as to the extent to which they can be applied to research that involves human subjects. Research in developing countries creates a greater risk of exploitation as individuals or communities in developing countries assume the risks of research, whereas most of the benefits may accrue to people in developed countries (Wertheimer, 1999)

Strengthening Psychosocial Care for MSM in Senegal: Capacity-Building to Counter Stigma and Discrimination thorough Examination of Healthcare Providers´Perceptions, Attitudes, and Biases

Resumen: A nivel global, los desafíos de salud y socioculturales enfrentados por laspoblaciones marginadas, particularmente los Hombres que tienen Sexo con Hombres (HSH), hanrecibido una atención significativa. Esta preocupación surge de extensos informes que enfatizandisparidades graves en los resultados de salud debido a prejuicios socioculturales generalizados.Mientras que diversas regiones geográficas reflejan estos desafíos, el contexto senegalés,caracterizado por estigmas tradicionales, religiosos y políticos profundamente arraigados, siguesiendo especialmente complejo.Reconociendo este telón de fondo, el Observatorio de Investigación de Mujeres Africanas(AfWORO), en colaboración con IRESSEF en Senegal, inició el proyecto SENEKEYPOP-1 en 2018.Titulado "Experimentar el bienestar, la enfermedad y la atención sanitaria en Senegal: los HSH/F,una población clave, de alto riesgo para el VIH/SIDA", la iniciativa buscaba desentrañar lasexperiencias de salud, necesidades e interacciones de los HSH(/M) con el sistema de salud. Lainvestigación de teoría fundamentada realizada como parte de SENEKEYPOP-1 reveló narrativas dehomofobia internalizada, trauma emocional y complejas interacciones con el ecosistema de salud.Estos hallazgos subrayaron la necesidad del proyecto SENEKEYPOP-2, que forma la base de estainvestigación doctoral y fue liderada por el candidato a doctorado.Los HSH en Senegal enfrentan adversidades y disparidades sociales profundas, aún másamplificadas por tasas marcadas de enfermedades y trastornos de salud psicosocial. El paisajegeneral de homofobia arraigada, entrelazada en los tejidos culturales, religiosos y políticos,magnifica estos desafíos. Esta investigación doctoral ofrece una exploración holística de lasrelaciones y percepciones multifacéticas de los proveedores de atención médica con respecto a lapoblación HSH, encapsulada a través de cuatro publicaciones distintas ancladas en una basemetodológica sólida.Comenzando con una revisión de la literatura, la investigación establece una comprensiónintegral del contexto, considerando el género y la sexualidad africanos pre y postcoloniales,contextos legales homofóbicos y las disparidades de salud experimentadas por los HSH. Utilizandoun enfoque cualitativo, el estudio se basa en las experiencias vividas y percepciones de losproveedores de atención médica con respecto a los HSH, permitiendo una visión rica y narrativa. Elmarco teórico para esta investigación amalgama Bioética Queer, Salud Transcultural y unaPerspectiva de Género Interseccional, asegurando una lente analítica multifacética.La publicación inaugural, "Alcanzar la salud y el bienestar de una población HSH (/M) enun entorno desfavorable: obstáculos y soluciones potenciales" ofrece un examen intrincado de lasbarreras y posibles vías para la salud y el bienestar de los HSH en el peculiar entorno socioculturalde Senegal. Posteriormente, en "El único deseo que tengo es convencerlos de dejar lahomosexualidad", se diseccionan críticamente las perspectivas de los proveedores de atenciónmédica en Senegal. Alarmantemente, muchos proveedores exhibieron prejuicios homofóbicosdiscernibles, algunos incluso aconsejando a los HSH renunciar a su orientación sexual como unasupuesta medida preventiva contra el VIH y otras ITS. Notablemente, estos prejuicios coexistieroncon una aguda conciencia entre los proveedores de la opresiva homofobia social y las afliccionespsicosociales resultantes que soportan los HSH.Reconociendo el papel primordial de los proveedores de atención médica en salvar estasdisparidades identificadas, se conceptualizó un manual de capacitación dirigido, "Provisión deAtención Psicosocial Competente para HSH(/M)", para cultivar la sensibilización de losproveedores de atención médica en Senegal. Basándose en esto, la investigación detalló el diseño, laentrega y la evaluación de un programa de capacitación integral en "El diseño y evaluación de unprograma de capacitación en provisión de atención psicosocial culturalmente competente paraHombres que Tienen Sexo con Hombres en Senegal". Administrado virtualmente a 37 profesionalesde la salud en Senegal, las métricas evaluativas destacaron una mejora notable en el conocimientopost-formación (9.23%, valor p = 0.0021) y una reducción sustancial en la homofobia (6.39%, p =0.0376).En resumen, esta investigación doctoral ilumina la urgencia de abordar los prejuiciossociales y de atención médica profundamente arraigados contra los HSH en Senegal. Al fomentarun dominio de atención médica más ilustrado y empático, podemos vislumbrar una trayectoriahacia una auténtica inclusividad y equidad en la atención médica, abarcando incluso las demografíasmás marginadas.<br /

Behavior of steel reinforced concrete panels subjected to direct tension

Cracking of massive concrete structures like offshore and nuclear power plants structures is an important issue in designing and maintaining such structures. The low tensile strength of concrete can destroy the structural aesthetics and expose steel reinforcements to severe environmental conditions, leading to corrosion of reinforcement and other deterioration. -- The present research investigation ultimately aims to investigate the general behavior of steel-reinforced normal- and high-strength concrete panels subjected to uniaxial and biaxial direct tension loading taking into consideration the effect of the set of parameters that have the most significant effect on the cracking response. This investigation includes experimental, theoretical, and numerical modeling phases for the cracking response. -- The experimental study incorporates the effect of some important parameters such as the concrete strength, bar diameter, bar spacing, concrete cover, and reinforcement ratio on the cracking response of concrete panels. To conduct the current experimental investigation, a special test setup was designed and fabricated. The loading system was equipped to make it possible to simultaneously apply loads in both directions. Results of the experimental work will be presented in terms of cracking behavior (cracking load, crack spacing, crack width, and crack pattern and the mode of failure), stresses and strains in concrete and steel reinforcement before and after cracking. -- Compared with NSC panels, HSC panels showed lower strains and greater tension stiffening response at a given load level thanks to the corresponding improvement of the bond between the reinforcing steel bars and the high strength concrete matrix. The panels tested under biaxial loading conditions showed lower concrete tensile strength and tension stiffening response, compared with the panels subjected to uniaxial loading conditions. This reduction in the tensile strength of concrete panels subjected to biaxial loading was found to be equal to 5% - 15%. The reduction of the tension stiffening contribution of concrete between cracks due to applying the axial into biaxial direction became more significant as the reinforcing bar diameter was increased. -- An analytical study was conducted to study the bond characteristics between concrete and steel reinforcing bars. Also, a practical and new analytical model, which is capable of predicting the crack spacing of orthogonally reinforced concrete plate panels, was developed. Afterwards, this study developed a model for evaluating crack widths for thick reinforced concrete plates subjected to in-plane axial loading. The calculation procedure was supported by an evaluation of existing test data. -- Finally, the nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete plates using the damage plasticity model was performed. The tension stiffening model developed in this study was implemented to simulate the cracking response of the concrete. The numerical results show reasonable accuracy in predicting the behavior of steel-reinforced concrete panels

Self-Tuning Fuzzy Logic Speed Control Of Induction Motor Drives

Induction motor drives are commonly applicable in various industrial applications, such as traction system, electric vehicle and home appliances. This high performance drive require robust controller to obtain satisfactory performance in terms of speed demand change, load disturbance, inertia variation and non-linearity. Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) is suitable for controller design especially when the system is difficult to be modelled mathematically due to its complexity, nonlinearity and imprecision. However, FLC with fixed parameters may experience degradation when the system operates away from the design point, and encounters parameter variation or load disturbance. The purpose of this project is to design and implement Self-Tuning Fuzzy Logic Controller (ST-FLC) for Induction Motor (IM)drives. The proposed self-tuning mechanism is able to adjust the output scaling factor of the output controller for main FLC. This process enhances the accuracy of the crisp output. This research begins by designing Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC) method fed by Hysteresis Current Controller (HCC) induction motor drive system. The FLC with fixed parameters for the speed controller comprises 9-rules are tuned to achieve best performance. Then, a simple self-tuning mechanism is applied to the main fuzzy logic speed controller. All simulations are executed by using Simulink and fuzzy tools in MATLAB software. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is determined by conducting a comparative analysis between FLC with fixed parameters and ST-FLC over a wide range of operating conditions, either in forward and reverse operations, load disturbance or inertia variations. Finally, experimental investigation is carried out to validate the simulation results by the aid of digital signal controller board dSPACE DS1104 with the induction motor drives system. Based on the results, ST-FLC has shown superior performance in transient and steady state conditions in term of various performance measures such as overshoot, rise time, settling time and recovery time over wide speed range operation. In comparison to fixed parameter FLC, the proposed ST-FLC reduced the settling time by 40.5%, rise time by 47.3% and speed drop by 19.2%. The proposed self-tuning mechanism is relatively simpler and consumes less computational burden compared to other self-tuning methods. This is proved by measuring the computational burden of another Self-Tuning method which used fuzzy rules to tune the output scaling factor. The execution time of the proposed self-tuning found to be 0.5 x10−3 seconds compared to 1.2 x10−3 seconds for the other self-tuning