Spatially-Coupled MacKay-Neal Codes and Hsu-Anastasopoulos Codes

Kudekar et al. recently proved that for transmission over the binary erasure channel (BEC), spatial coupling of LDPC codes increases the BP threshold of the coupled ensemble to the MAP threshold of the underlying LDPC codes. One major drawback of the capacity-achieving spatially-coupled LDPC codes is that one needs to increase the column and row weight of parity-check matrices of the underlying LDPC codes. It is proved, that Hsu-Anastasopoulos (HA) codes and MacKay-Neal (MN) codes achieve the capacity of memoryless binary-input symmetric-output channels under MAP decoding with bounded column and row weight of the parity-check matrices. The HA codes and the MN codes are dual codes each other. The aim of this paper is to present an empirical evidence that spatially-coupled MN (resp. HA) codes with bounded column and row weight achieve the capacity of the BEC. To this end, we introduce a spatial coupling scheme of MN (resp. HA) codes. By density evolution analysis, we will show that the resulting spatially-coupled MN (resp. HA) codes have the BP threshold close to the Shannon limit.Comment: Corrected typos in degree distributions \nu and \mu of MN and HA code

Spatially Coupled LDPC Codes for Decode-and-Forward in Erasure Relay Channel

We consider spatially-coupled protograph-based LDPC codes for the three terminal erasure relay channel. It is observed that BP threshold value, the maximal erasure probability of the channel for which decoding error probability converges to zero, of spatially-coupled codes, in particular spatially-coupled MacKay-Neal code, is close to the theoretical limit for the relay channel. Empirical results suggest that spatially-coupled protograph-based LDPC codes have great potential to achieve theoretical limit of a general relay channel.Comment: 7 pages, extended version of ISIT201

Imagining Vínland : George Mackay Brown and the literature of the New World

This essay looks at George Mackay Brown's novel of 1992, Vinland, in the context of nineteenth- and twentieth-century “foundation myth” literature inspired by the Viking discovery of North America as originally recounted in medieval Icelandic sagas. This body of writing ranges from the New England “Fireside Poets” to Ottilie Liljencrantz's Vinland trilogy (1902–1906) to Nevil Shute's An Old Captivity (1940). The overarching aim will be to assess Mackay Brown's Orcadian perspective on Vínland in the context of what can broadly be regarded as a literature of colonialism; that is to say, a literature that explores the unequal relationships and value differences between the colonizers and the indigenous population

Just Who Is the Orphan Boy? Or, How Jo Brought Empathy Back into the Middle Class

This paper won an honorable mention writing flag award in the critical/persuasive category. It was written for Carol MacKay's E 349S class, "Charles Dickens".MacKay, CarolUndergraduate Studie

LGBTQI+ allyship in academia

Come out, come out, wherever you are: the geosciences need LGBTQI+ allies, says Anson Mackay

The forgotten '45 : Donald Dubh's rebellion in an archipelagic context

The final rebellion of Donald Dubh, heir to the forfeited MacDonald lordship of the Isles, is usually examined within the context of Highland rebellions that occurred in the half century after forfeiture. However, the factors that motivated the Islesmen to rise in rebellion in 1545 are multi-faceted and can only be fully understood by placing the rising in a wider context, which considers national and archipelagic events. The discussion that follows explores the reasons why the Islesmen, almost unanimously, entered into agreement with Henry VIII to attack Scotland from the west and why this endeavour failed. At the same time, the article highlights Henry’s recognition of the strategic importance of the west which led him into alliance with Donald Dubh and his supporters

A Biography of Quintin Pooler

I, Quintin Pooler, arrived in the fair thirteenth colony from Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Friday, the 6th of December,1768, on board the ship Prince George, captained by Robert Beatty. Also on board the ship was Reverend Mr. David MacKay, appointed pastor or the Williamsburg congregation of South Carolina and 144 settlers or whom I was one. Obviously, they thought me quite the gentleman, for I signed in the name of them with David MacKay and Clothworthy Robson, in thanking Captain Beatty for their safe passage across the Atlantic.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sav-bios-lane/1153/thumbnail.jp

A Unified Spirit: Reincarnating Carl Jung's Syzygy in Wuthering Heights

MacKay, CarolEnglis

\u27Murderous coppers\u27: police, industrial disputes and the 1929 Rothbury shootings

Norman Brown, a coalminer engaged in picketing the Rothbury colliery, was shot dead by police in 1929. The Rothbury incident and the police suppression which followed became part of both union folklore and the personal legend of one police officer, William John MacKay, later New South Wales Police Commissioner. This article probes beneath the layers of myth that surround Rothbury and argues that the initial tragedy was largely the result of police incompetence, and that MacKay’s association with the shooting is deeply ironic. The more measured police actions that followed the shootings were Mackay’s responsibility, however, and they had damaging long-term consequences