A New Achievable Scheme for Interference Relay Channels

We establish an achievable rate region for discrete memoryless interference relay channels that consist of two source-destination pairs and one or more relays. We develop an achievable scheme combining Han-Kobayashi and noisy network coding schemes. We apply our achievability to two cases. First, we characterize the capacity region of a class of discrete memoryless interference relay channels. This class naturally generalizes the injective deterministic discrete memoryless interference channel by El Gamal and Costa and the deterministic discrete memoryless relay channel with orthogonal receiver components by Kim. Moreover, for the Gaussian interference relay channel with orthogonal receiver components, we show that our scheme achieves a better sum rate than that of noisy network coding.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

A narrative study on community practice through ESD (Education for sustainable development): A case study of high school teacher community

The purpose of this study is to create \u27ESD Community of Practice\u27 through the \u27ESD training experience\u27 in school and to narrate the \u27experience\u27 and the \u27story\u27 of the teachers who are teaching ESD classes in school

Chupa: Carving 3D Clothed Humans from Skinned Shape Priors using 2D Diffusion Probabilistic Models

We propose a 3D generation pipeline that uses diffusion models to generate realistic human digital avatars. Due to the wide variety of human identities, poses, and stochastic details, the generation of 3D human meshes has been a challenging problem. To address this, we decompose the problem into 2D normal map generation and normal map-based 3D reconstruction. Specifically, we first simultaneously generate realistic normal maps for the front and backside of a clothed human, dubbed dual normal maps, using a pose-conditional diffusion model. For 3D reconstruction, we ``carve'' the prior SMPL-X mesh to a detailed 3D mesh according to the normal maps through mesh optimization. To further enhance the high-frequency details, we present a diffusion resampling scheme on both body and facial regions, thus encouraging the generation of realistic digital avatars. We also seamlessly incorporate a recent text-to-image diffusion model to support text-based human identity control. Our method, namely, Chupa, is capable of generating realistic 3D clothed humans with better perceptual quality and identity variety

Comparison of Safety and Diagnostic Efficacy of Iohexol 240 mgI/mL, Iopamidol 250 mgI/mL, and Iodixanol 270 mgI/mL in Cerebral Angiography: A Prospective, Multicenter Study

Purpose This multicenter prospective study aimed to evaluate the quality and diagnostic effectiveness of cerebral angiography images obtained using low-concentration iodinated contrast agents (iohexol 240 mgI/mL, iopamidol 250 mgI/mL, and iodixanol 270 mgI/mL) and to assess the safety thereof. The study addresses the need for safer contrast agent alternatives without compromising the diagnostic quality of identifying cerebrovascular disease. Materials and Methods Conducted in 5 medical centers in South Korea, we enrolled patients aged 19 years or older who were referred for diagnostic cerebral angiography under non-emergency conditions, excluding those with specific health conditions and sensitivities. The study design included a prospective, observational approach with a 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for sample size calculation, aiming for a total sample of 231 participants for adequate power. Image quality was evaluated using a 4-level scale by 2 independent, blinded radiologists, and adverse reactions were monitored both immediately and up to 7 days post-procedure. Statistical analysis involved 1-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests to assess the image quality and safety profiles of the contrast agents. Results Among 266 patients screened, 243 were included in the final analysis. The evaluation revealed no statistically significant differences in image quality among the 3 types of low-concentration contrast agents. Adverse events were observed in 28.8% of patients, with 27.2% experiencing acute reactions, primarily mild reactions, and 3.3% experiencing delayed reactions. The overall safety profile showed no significant changes in vital signs or electrocardiogram readings before and after contrast agent injection. Conclusion Using low-concentration iodinated contrast agents for cerebral angiography provides image quality comparable to that of conventional high-concentration agents, with no significant increase in adverse events, suggesting a safer alternative for patients

Thin-Film III-V Devices for Low-Cost Detection and Energy Conversion

III-V compound semiconductors are excellent candidates for high-performance optoelectronic devices due to their superior optical and electrical properties compared to elemental semiconductors. However, their expensive manufacturing cost compared to silicon-based optoelectronics often hinders their widespread use in general applications. Separating thin-film III-V epitaxial active layer from its growth substrate allows for potential reuse of the remaining substrate, which can reduce the substrate cost by a factor of total number of recycling. Moreover, thin-film structures allow fabrication of lightweight, flexible devices with improved photon recycling or light trapping, which can enhance device performance compared to conventional substrate devices. In this thesis, we introduce various applications using thin-film III-V photovoltaics (PV) and photodetectors. With non-destructive epitaxial lift-off (ND-ELO) technique, we demonstrate a thin-film GaAs PV cell fabrication and substrate recycling on a 4” GaAs wafer. We then integrate the thin-film PV cells with a low-cost mini parabolic concentrator array, which can potentially maintain a low profile compared to conventional bulky concentrated PV (CPV) modules. We also demonstrate a GaAs p-n junction focal plane array that resembles the shape and size of the human eye. Moreover, we deploy thin-film In0.53Ga0.47As (InGaAs) p-n junction thermophotovoltaic (TPV) device with Au surface back reflector and demonstrate a near-field heat transfer, with nearly an order of magnitude enhanced power conversion efficiency. xviii In addition, we estimate manufacturing cost of single junction GaAs PV cells with potential cost reduction scenarios such as improved throughput or increased number of substrate recycling. Our study reassures that substrate recycling plays a critical role in reducing the final cost. We also find that past claims that enhanced throughput can bring down the cost of GaAs PV to levels comparable to Si in terrestrial applications may be misleading. Finally, we demonstrate a Si TPV cell using air-bridge back surface reflector, with low series-resistance and high out-of-band reflectance (~97%). We estimate ~10% power conversion efficiency even under 1500K blackbody radiation, a source temperature where Si is considered impractical due to its high bandgap. We expect this advance could expedite the widespread of TPV system via reduced cost compared to conventional TPV materials such as InGaAs or InSb.PhDElectrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171370/1/byungjun_1.pd

Stochastic Iterative Learning Model Predictive Control based on Stochastic Approximation

Iterative learning model predictive control (ILMPC) is an effective control technique for improving the performance of a batch process under model uncertainty and rejecting real-time disturbances. Industrial batch processes often have stochastic disturbance and noise and ILMPC cannot guarantee convergence for such systems. In this work, we propose a novel stochastic ILMPC that combines stochastic approximation with ILMPC algorithm. The proposed algorithm ensures the almost sure convergence property. In comparison with the ILMPC, the proposed control algorithm also shows better performance in terms of the tracking error. (C) 2019, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.N

Performance Evaluation of Channel Bonding in Dense Scenario

IEEE 802.11ac standard has extended channel bonding to improve network throughput. However, in an increasingly dense network environment, 802.11ac has not achieved desired performance. To solve the problem, the latest standard 802.11ax which aims to improve the average user performance has been proposed. In addition, TGax presents a scenario that reflects the dense network environment. In this paper, we analyze the performance of using channel bonding in dense scenario through ns-3 simulations. We also find how use of RTS/CTS affects spatial reuse in the scenario.N