Factor Graph Based LMMSE Filtering for Colored Gaussian Processes

We propose a low complexity, graph based linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) filter in which the non-white characteristics of a random process are taken into account. Our method corresponds to block LMMSE filtering, and has the advantage of complexity linearly increasing with the block length and the ease of incorporating the a priori information of the input signals whenever possible. The proposed method can be used with any random process with a known autocorrelation function with the help of an approximation to an autoregressive (AR) process. We show through extensive simulations that our method performs very close to the optimal block LMMSE filtering for Gaussian input signals.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Generalizing the Sampling Property of the Q-function for Error Rate Analysis of Cooperative Communication in Fading Channels

This paper extends some approximation methods that are used to identify closed form Bit Error Rate (BER) expressions which are frequently utilized in investigation and comparison of performance for wireless communication systems in the literature. By using this group of approximation methods, some expectation integrals, which are complicated to analyze and have high computational complexity to evaluate through Monte Carlo simulations, are computed. For these integrals, by using the sampling property of the integrand functions of one or more arguments, reliable BER expressions revealing the diversity and coding gains are derived. Although the methods we present are valid for a larger class of integration problems, in this work we show the step by step derivation of the BER expressions for a canonical cooperative communication scenario in addition to a network coded system starting from basic building blocks. The derived expressions agree with the simulation results for a very wide range of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, ISIT 2013, Istanbul, Turke

Teacher Perceptions of Administrative Support in Urban Charter Schools

National teacher survey results indicate that lack of administrative support is the most frequently cited reason as to why teachers leave charter schools. This non-experimental quantitative study explored what types of administrative support are more valuable to urban charter school teachers and the extent of that support in their current schools. This study also investigated if perceived needs of urban charter school teachers for administrative support change as they gain more teaching experience. In this study, a 41-item survey titled Dimensions of Administrative Support Survey was validated, and used to measure perceived support needs of 1,945 teachers from 127 different urban charter schools across the nation. Data analysis involved various quantitative methods including factor analysis, descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Three themes emerged from the analysis of data: Perceived Importance of Administrative Support: (a) except for emotional support, all dimensions of administrative support are more important to first year teachers in urban charter schools than teachers with more experience, and the importance of administrative support gradually decreases as teachers gain more teaching experience; (b) urban charter school teachers in career stage-I and career stage-II have significantly higher perceived need for appraisal and informational support compared to teachers in career stage-III; (c) instrumental and emotional support are more important to urban charter school teachers than other dimensions of support, where informational support ranks last in importance. Perceived Administrative Support Gap (PASG): (a) there is a statistically significant difference between teachers’ perceived need for administrative support and the extent of such support in their current schools, confirming that urban charter school teachers are not satisfied with the level of support that they receive; (b) urban charter school teachers in their first to fourth years of teaching are more concerned about the extent of administrative support than teachers with more experience. Level of Experience and Teacher Turnover: (a) urban charter school teachers are considerably younger and with less teaching experience than teachers in traditional public schools and charter schools at large; and (b) the average teacher turnover rate in urban charter schools is about 39%

Search for the limits on anomalous neutral triple gauge couplings via ZZZZ production in the ℓℓνν\ell \ell \nu \nu channel at FCC-hh

This paper presents the projections on the anomalous neutral triple gauge couplings ($aNTGC$) via $pp \rightarrow ZZ$ production in the 2$\ell$2$\nu$ final state at a 100 TeV proton-proton collider, \verb"FCC-hh". %100 TeV center of mass energy of The realistic \verb"FCC-hh" detector environments and its effects taken into account in the analysis. The study is carried out in the mode where one Z boson decays into a pair of same-flavor, opposite-sign leptons (electrons or muons) and the other one decays to the two neutrinos. The new bounds on the charge-parity (CP)-conserving couplings $C_{\widetilde{B}W} / \Lambda^{4}$ and CP-violating couplings $C_{WW} / \Lambda^{4}$, $C_{BW} / \Lambda^{4}$ and $C_{BB} / \Lambda^{4}$ achived at 95\% Confidence Level (C.L.) using the transverse momentum of the dilepton system ($p_{T}^{\ell \ell}$) are $[-\, 0.042, \,\, +\,0.042]$, $[-\,0.050, \,\, +\,0.050]$, $[-\,0.050, \,\, +\,0.050]$, and $[-\,0.048, \,\, +\,0.048]$ in units of TeV$^{-4}$, respectively.Comment: 7 page

Income Inequality and Its Measures: Evidence from OECD and European Countries

This paper is by nature an exploration study aimed to examine the measures of income inequality and is integrated with an empirical investigation of possible factors affecting the level of inequality. Recent data shows that the gap between poor and rich has been widening on an international scale. The way to solve this “sharing of created economic value” problem begins with the problem of how to measure inequality. Our literature review revealed different ways of measurement and how the concept of inequality was approached as well as it determines possible candidates for factors in empirical analysis. By making reference to De Maio’s findings (2007), most widely used methods of measurement are mentioned. A description of current situation in developed and developing economies based on most popular measure, which is Gini coefficient, is also provided.  Our empirical setting, to define factors influencing Gini coefficient, is employing data for 32 developed and developing OECD and EU countries in 2011 and 2012. We estimated an OLS model to the relation between Gini coefficients and several pre-identified regressors. We have found a linear relation with average income tax rate (taxrate) and with labor force participation rate (laborrate). The fact that public policies in taxation and labor force participation should be altered to cope with inequality is stressed in the paper