2,672 research outputs found
Coding for Parallel Channels: Gallager Bounds for Binary Linear Codes with Applications to Repeat-Accumulate Codes and Variations
This paper is focused on the performance analysis of binary linear block
codes (or ensembles) whose transmission takes place over independent and
memoryless parallel channels. New upper bounds on the maximum-likelihood (ML)
decoding error probability are derived. These bounds are applied to various
ensembles of turbo-like codes, focusing especially on repeat-accumulate codes
and their recent variations which possess low encoding and decoding complexity
and exhibit remarkable performance under iterative decoding. The framework of
the second version of the Duman and Salehi (DS2) bounds is generalized to the
case of parallel channels, along with the derivation of their optimized tilting
measures. The connection between the generalized DS2 and the 1961 Gallager
bounds, addressed by Divsalar and by Sason and Shamai for a single channel, is
explored in the case of an arbitrary number of independent parallel channels.
The generalization of the DS2 bound for parallel channels enables to re-derive
specific bounds which were originally derived by Liu et al. as special cases of
the Gallager bound. In the asymptotic case where we let the block length tend
to infinity, the new bounds are used to obtain improved inner bounds on the
attainable channel regions under ML decoding. The tightness of the new bounds
for independent parallel channels is exemplified for structured ensembles of
turbo-like codes. The improved bounds with their optimized tilting measures
show, irrespectively of the block length of the codes, an improvement over the
union bound and other previously reported bounds for independent parallel
channels; this improvement is especially pronounced for moderate to large block
lengths.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, June 2006 (57 pages,
9 figures
On the Microscopic Foundations of Elasticity
The modeling of the elastic properties of disordered or nanoscale solids
requires the foundations of the theory of elasticity to be revisited, as one
explores scales at which this theory may no longer hold. The only cases for
which microscopically based derivations of elasticity are documented are
(nearly) uniformly strained lattices. A microscopic approach to elasticity is
proposed. As a first step, microscopically exact expressions for the
displacement, strain and stress fields are derived. Conditions under which
linear elastic constitutive relations hold are studied theoretically and
numerically. It turns out that standard continuum elasticity is not
self-evident, and applies only above certain spatial scales, which depend on
details of the considered system and boundary conditions. Possible relevance to
granular materials is briefly discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX2e with svjour.cls and svepj.clo, submitted
to EPJ E, minor error corrected in v
Particle displacements in the elastic deformation of amorphous materials: local fluctuations vs. non-affine field
We study the local disorder in the deformation of amorphous materials by
decomposing the particle displacements into a continuous, inhomogeneous field
and the corresponding fluctuations. We compare these fields to the commonly
used non-affine displacements in an elastically deformed 2D Lennard-Jones
glass. Unlike the non-affine field, the fluctuations are very localized, and
exhibit a much smaller (and system size independent) correlation length, on the
order of a particle diameter, supporting the applicability of the notion of
local "defects" to such materials. We propose a scalar "noise" field to
characterize the fluctuations, as an additional field for extended continuum
models, e.g., to describe the localized irreversible events observed during
plastic deformation.Comment: Minor corrections to match the published versio
Force Chains, Microelasticity and Macroelasticity
It has been claimed that quasistatic granular materials, as well as nanoscale
materials, exhibit departures from elasticity even at small loadings. It is
demonstrated, using 2D and 3D models with interparticle harmonic interactions,
that such departures are expected at small scales [below O(100) particle
diameters], at which continuum elasticity is invalid, and vanish at large
scales. The models exhibit force chains on small scales, and force and stress
distributions which agree with experimental findings. Effects of anisotropy,
disorder and boundary conditions are discussed as well.Comment: 4 pages, 11 figures, RevTeX 4, revised and resubmitted to Phys. Rev.
Let
Scale separation in granular packings: stress plateaus and fluctuations
It is demonstrated, by numerical simulations of a 2D assembly of polydisperse
disks, that there exists a range (plateau) of coarse graining scales for which
the stress tensor field in a granular solid is nearly resolution independent,
thereby enabling an `objective' definition of this field. Expectedly, it is not
the mere size of the the system but the (related) magnitudes of the gradients
that determine the widths of the plateaus. Ensemble averaging (even over
`small' ensembles) extends the widths of the plateaus to sub-particle scales.
The fluctuations within the ensemble are studied as well. Both the response to
homogeneous forcing and to an external compressive localized load (and gravity)
are studied. Implications to small solid systems and constitutive relations are
briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX 4, Minor corrections to match the
published versio
Thermal Stability of Filtered Vacuum Arc Deposited Er2O3 Coatings
Erbium oxide (Er2O3) coatings were deposited using filtered vacuum arc deposition (FVAD) and their structure and thermal stability were studied as a function of fabrication parameters. The coatings were deposited on silicon wafer and tantalum substrates with an arc current of 50 A and a deposition rate of 1.6 ± 0.4 nm/s. The arc was sustained on truncated cone Er cathodes. The influence of oxygen pressure (P= 0.40-0.93 Pa), bias voltage (Vb= -20, -40 or grounded) and substrate temperature (room temperature (RT) or 673K) on film properties was studied before and after post deposition annealing (1273K for 1 hour, at P~ 1.33 Pa). The coatings were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Knoop Hardness.
Optical microscope images indicated that the coatings had very low macroparticle concentration on their surface. The macroparticle diameters were less than 2.5 ÎĽm. The coatings were composed of only Er2O3 without any metallic phase under all deposition parameters tested. The coatings deposited on RT substrates were XRD amorphous and had a featureless cross-section microstructure. However, the coatings deposited on 673K heated substrates had a C-Er2O3 structure with (222) preferred orientation and weak columnar microstructure. The coating hardness varied with deposition pressure and substrate bias, and reached a maximum value of 10 GPa at P = 0.4 Pa and Vb = -40 V. The post-deposition annealing caused crystallization, and the coatings hardness dropped to 4 GPa with thermal treatment. However, after post-deposition annealing, no peeling or cracking appeared at the coating surface or the interface with the substrate
Colonoscopy Coverage Revisited: Identifying Scanning Gaps in Real-Time
Colonoscopy is the most widely used medical technique for preventing
Colorectal Cancer, by detecting and removing polyps before they become
malignant. Recent studies show that around one quarter of the existing polyps
are routinely missed. While some of these do appear in the endoscopist's field
of view, others are missed due to a partial coverage of the colon. The task of
detecting and marking unseen regions of the colon has been addressed in recent
work, where the common approach is based on dense 3D reconstruction, which
proves to be challenging due to lack of 3D ground truth and periods with poor
visual content. In this paper we propose a novel and complementary method to
detect deficient local coverage in real-time for video segments where a
reliable 3D reconstruction is impossible. Our method aims to identify skips
along the colon caused by a drifted position of the endoscope during poor
visibility time intervals. The proposed solution consists of two phases. During
the first, time segments with good visibility of the colon and gaps between
them are identified. During the second phase, a trained model operates on each
gap, answering the question: Do you observe the same scene before and after the
gap? If the answer is negative, the endoscopist is alerted and can be directed
to the appropriate area in real-time. The second phase model is trained using a
contrastive loss based on auto-generated examples. Our method evaluation on a
dataset of 250 procedures annotated by trained physicians provides sensitivity
of 0.75 with specificity of 0.9.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Stress response inside perturbed particle assemblies
The effect of structural disorder on the stress response inside three
dimensional particle assemblies is studied using computer simulations of
frictionless sphere packings. Upon applying a localised, perturbative force
within the packings, the resulting {\it Green's} function response is mapped
inside the different assemblies, thus providing an explicit view as to how the
imposed perturbation is transmitted through the packing. In weakly disordered
arrays, the resulting transmission of forces is of the double-peak variety, but
with peak widths scaling linearly with distance from the source of the
perturbation. This behaviour is consistent with an anisotropic elasticity
response profile. Increasing the disorder distorts the response function until
a single-peak response is obtained for fully disordered packings consistent
with an isotropic description.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure captions To appear in Granular Matte
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