23,810 research outputs found
Lossless and near-lossless source coding for multiple access networks
A multiple access source code (MASC) is a source code designed for the following network configuration: a pair of correlated information sequences {X-i}(i=1)(infinity), and {Y-i}(i=1)(infinity) is drawn independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) according to joint probability mass function (p.m.f.) p(x, y); the encoder for each source operates without knowledge of the other source; the decoder jointly decodes the encoded bit streams from both sources. The work of Slepian and Wolf describes all rates achievable by MASCs of infinite coding dimension (n --> infinity) and asymptotically negligible error probabilities (P-e((n)) --> 0). In this paper, we consider the properties of optimal instantaneous MASCs with finite coding dimension (n 0) performance. The interest in near-lossless codes is inspired by the discontinuity in the limiting rate region at P-e((n)) = 0 and the resulting performance benefits achievable by using near-lossless MASCs as entropy codes within lossy MASCs. Our central results include generalizations of Huffman and arithmetic codes to the MASC framework for arbitrary p(x, y), n, and P-e((n)) and polynomial-time design algorithms that approximate these optimal solutions
How Supervisors Influence Performance: A Multilevel Study of Coaching and Group Management in Technology-Mediated Services
This multilevel study examines the role of supervisors in improving employee performance through the use of coaching and group management practices. It examines the individual and synergistic effects of these management practices. The research subjects are call center agents in highly standardized jobs, and the organizational context is one in which calls, or task assignments, are randomly distributed via automated technology, providing a quasi-experimental approach in a real-world context. Results show that the amount of coaching that an employee received each month predicted objective performance improvements over time. Moreover, workers exhibited higher performance where their supervisor emphasized group assignments and group incentives and where technology was more automated. Finally, the positive relationship between coaching and performance was stronger where supervisors made greater use of group incentives, where technology was less automated, and where technological changes were less frequent. Implications and potential limitations of the present study are discussed
Distributed control of a fault tolerant modular multilevel inverter for direct-drive wind turbine grid interfacing
Modular generator and converter topologies are being pursued for large offshore wind turbines to achieve fault tolerance and high reliability. A centralized controller presents a single critical point of failure which has prevented a truly modular and fault tolerant system from being obtained. This study analyses the inverter circuit control requirements during normal operation and grid fault ride-through, and proposes a distributed controller design to allow inverter modules to operate independently of each other. All the modules independently estimate the grid voltage magnitude and position, and the modules are synchronised together over a CAN bus. The CAN bus is also used to interleave the PWM switching of the modules and synchronise the ADC sampling. The controller structure and algorithms are tested by laboratory experiments with respect to normal operation, initial synchronization to the grid, module fault tolerance and grid fault ride-through
CosmoSpec: Fast and detailed computation of the cosmological recombination radiation from hydrogen and helium
We present the first fast and detailed computation of the cosmological
recombination radiation released during the hydrogen (redshift z ~ 1300) and
helium (z ~ 2500 and z ~ 6000) recombination epochs, introducing the code
CosmoSpec. Our computations include important radiative transfer effects,
500-shell bound-bound and free-bound emission for all three species, the
effects of electron scattering and free-free absorption as well as interspecies
(HeII --> HeI --> HI) photon feedback. The latter effect modifies the shape and
amplitude of the recombination radiation and CosmoSpec improves significantly
over previous treatments of it. Utilizing effective multilevel atom and
conductance approaches, one calculation takes only ~ 15 seconds on a standard
laptop as opposed to days for previous computations. This is an important step
towards detailed forecasts and feasibility studies considering the detection of
the cosmological recombination lines and what one may hope to learn from the ~
6.1 photons emitted per hydrogen atom in the three recombination eras. We
briefly illustrate some of the parameter dependencies and discuss remaining
uncertainties in particular related to collisional processes and the neutral
helium atom model.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, submitted to MNRA
A new generation 99 line Matlab code for compliance Topology Optimization and its extension to 3D
Compact and efficient Matlab implementations of compliance Topology
Optimization (TO) for 2D and 3D continua are given, consisting of 99 and 125
lines respectively. On discretizations ranging from to
elements, the 2D version, named top99neo, shows speedups from
2.55 to 5.5 times compared to the well-known top88 code (Andreassen-etal 2011).
The 3D version, named top3D125, is the most compact and efficient Matlab
implementation for 3D TO to date, showing a speedup of 1.9 times compared to
the code of Amir-etal 2014, on a discretization with elements.
For both codes, improvements are due to much more efficient procedures for the
assembly and implementation of filters and shortcuts in the design update step.
The use of an acceleration strategy, yielding major cuts in the overall
computational time, is also discussed, stressing its easy integration within
the basic codes.Comment: 17 pages, 8 Figures, 4 Table
Outline of a multilevel approach of the network society
Social and media networks, the Internet in particular, increasingly link interpersonal, organizational and mass communication. It is argued that this gives a cause for an interdisciplinary and multilevel approach of the network society. This will have to link traditional micro- and meso-level research of social and communication ties (Rogers, Granovetter a.o.) to the macro-level research of the network society at large (Castells a.o.).\ud
Systems theory linked to a theory of communicative action establishes a potential basis for a multilevel theory. The systems theory described uses elements of a biologically inspired analysis of networks as complex adaptive systems and the mathematically inspired theory of random and scale-free networks recently elaborated by Barabási, Strogatz and Watts. The outline of the multilevel theory is summarized in ten statements about changing relationships in the network society: an information society with structures and modes of organization primarily shaped by social and media networks. \ud
In the last section an inventory is made of the theoretical and methodological changes communication science will have to make to develop a general theory of the information and the network society in the perspective of communication
Relationship between hospital volume and short-term outcomes: A nationwide population-based study including 75,280 rectal cancer surgical procedures
There is growing interest on the potential relationship between hospital volume (HV) and outcomes as it might justify the centralization of care for rectal cancer surgery. From the National Italian Hospital Discharge Dataset, data on 75,280 rectal cancer patients who underwent elective major surgery between 2002 and 2014 were retrieved and analyzed. HV was grouped into tertiles: low-volume performed 1-12, while high-volume hospitals performed 33+ procedures/year. The impact of HV on in-hospital mortality, abdominoperineal resection (APR), 30-day readmission, and length of stay (LOS) was assessed. Risk factors were calculated using multivariate logistic regression. The proportion of procedures performed in low-volume hospitals decreased by 6.7 percent (p<0.001). The rate of in-hospital mortality, APR and 30-day readmission was 1.3%, 16.3%, and 7.2%, respectively, and the median LOS was 13 days. The adjusted risk of in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.25-1.78), APR (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.02-1.19), 30-day readmission (OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.38-1.61), and prolonged LOS (OR 2.29, 95%CI 2.05-2.55) were greater for low-volume hospitals than for high-volume hospitals. This study shows an independent impact of HV procedures on all short-term outcome measures, justifying a policy of centralization for rectal cancer surgery, a process which is underwa
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