On the Convergence Speed of Turbo Demodulation with Turbo Decoding

Iterative processing is widely adopted nowadays in modern wireless receivers for advanced channel codes like turbo and LDPC codes. Extension of this principle with an additional iterative feedback loop to the demapping function has proven to provide substantial error performance gain. However, the adoption of iterative demodulation with turbo decoding is constrained by the additional implied implementation complexity, heavily impacting latency and power consumption. In this paper, we analyze the convergence speed of these combined two iterative processes in order to determine the exact required number of iterations at each level. Extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) charts are used for a thorough analysis at different modulation orders and code rates. An original iteration scheduling is proposed reducing two demapping iterations with reasonable performance loss of less than 0.15 dB. Analyzing and normalizing the computational and memory access complexity, which directly impact latency and power consumption, demonstrates the considerable gains of the proposed scheduling and the promising contributions of the proposed analysis.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing on April 27, 201

The management of financial risks: the possible failure of an important tool

The growth of the Internet has forced companies to invest in the field of risk management. Several risk management tools, such as creating a risk culture, participatory management, categorization system, and monitoring unit, have been developed. However, it is essential to understand how risk management has evolved in recent years and how to carry out effective risk management. This essay aims to answer important questions related to the nature of risks faced by firms, their analysis and measurement, the possibility of anticipating and preventing them, and the transformation of companies' management due to the evolution of risks. The advent of the Internet has had a profound impact on the business landscape, necessitating the adoption of robust risk management practices. To effectively manage risks, it is crucial to understand and analyze the various risks to which businesses are exposed. This involves developing a risk culture within the organization, implementing participatory management approaches, utilizing categorization systems, and establishing dedicated monitoring units. Anticipation and prevention play a crucial role in mitigating risks and ensuring the long-term sustainability of businesses. The transformation of business management is heavily influenced by the evolving nature of risks, calling for adaptability and proactive strategies. By integrating multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks into risk management practices, its effectiveness and comprehensiveness can be enhanced.   Paper Type: Theoretical Research JEL Classification: G32, D81, M10 Keywords: Risk management, Internet, risk culture, participatory management, categorization system, monitoring unit, risk governance.La croissance de l'Internet a obligé les entreprises à investir dans le domaine de la gestion des risques. Plusieurs outils de gestion des risques, tels que la culture du risque, la gestion participative, le système de catégorisation et l'unité de surveillance ont été développés. Cependant, il est essentiel de comprendre comment la gestion des risques a évolué ces dernières années et comment mener une gestion des risques efficace. Cet article vise à répondre à des questions majeures liées à la nature des risques auxquels les entreprises sont exposées, tout en les analysant, les mesurant et en examinant la possibilité de les anticiper et de les prévenir. Il sera également question d'appréhender la transformation de la gestion des entreprises en raison de l'évolution des risques. L'avènement d'Internet a eu un impact profond sur le paysage commercial, nécessitant l'adoption de pratiques solides de gestion des risques. Pour gérer efficacement les risques, il est essentiel de comprendre et d'analyser les différents risques auxquels les entreprises sont exposées. Cela implique de développer une culture du risque au sein de l'organisation, de mettre en œuvre des approches de gestion participative, d'utiliser des systèmes de catégorisation et de mettre en place des unités de contrôle spécialisées. L'anticipation et la prévention jouent un rôle crucial dans l'atténuation des risques et la viabilité à long terme des entreprises. La transformation de la gestion des entreprises est fortement influencée par la nature évolutive des risques, ce qui exige une capacité d'adaptation et des stratégies proactives. L'intégration de cadres théoriques pluridisciplinaires dans les pratiques de gestion des risques permet d'en améliorer l'efficacité et l'exhaustivité.   Type de papier : Article de recherche Classification JEL : G32, D81, M10 Mots-clés: Gestion des risques, Internet, culture du risque, gestion participative, système de catégorisation, cellule de veille, gouvernance des risques

Convergence and Complexity Analysis of Turbo Demodulation with Turbo Decoding

International audienceConvergence speed analysis is crucial in TBICM-ID-SSD systems in order to tune the number of iterations when considering the practical implementation perspectives.Conducted analysis has demonstrated that omitting two turbo demodulation iterations without decreasing the total number of turbo decoding iterations leads to promising complexity reductions while keeping error rate performance almost unaltered.In the same context, promising results have been recently obtained when considering a feedback loop to the SISO equalizer for MIMO systems. Future work targets the extension of this analysis to other base-band iterative applications and its integration into available hardware prototypes

COMMAND VOICES AND AGGRESSION IN A LEBANESE SAMPLE PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Background: The impact of command voices (CV) on violent behaviors in patients with schizophrenia remains unclear. The literature has produced mixed results, with no research existing on CV and violence among the Lebanese population. The study objecttives were to (1) evaluate the association between voice beliefs, psychosis severity, treatment, demographic factors and command voices, and (2) evaluate the association between command voices and violence among patients with schizophrenia in Lebanon. Methods: A cross-sectional study, conducted between April and August 2019, enrolled 280 patients with schizophrenia. Results: The results showed that 111 (39.6%) patients with schizophrenia had auditory hallucinations, among whom 93 (83.8%) patients had command voices; from these 93 patients, 53 (57.0%) were compliant with voices. Higher positive (ORa=1.09) and general psychopathology (ORa=1.04) PANSS subscales scores were significantly associated with higher compliance to voices. A higher resistance to beliefs about voices (ORa=0.91) was significantly associated with lower compliance to voices. Conclusions: The prevalence of CV in patients with schizophrenia that report auditory hallucinations, was high in our sample. The vast majority of violent acts committed by patients was in compliance to CV, with a significantly high rate of the violence committed being directed towards property. Our findings were able to connect positive symptoms to higher probability of compliance to CV

Power electronic converters without electrolytic capacitors

Power electronic converters may have a quite long lifetime, but some applications such as converters for automotive and photovoltaic could even desire a longer life. One of the elements to increase the lifetime of converters is to avoid electrolytic capacitors, They can be replaced by metalized film capacitors or ceramic capacitors. A lot of converter types can be re-designed to use them, but it influences the way of designing, as a lower capacitance value is used. Electrolytic capacitors are one of the elements that reduce the lifetime of power electronic converters gradually an adapted design can avoid that electrolytic capacitors have to be used in converters. A range of examples can be shown from fractions of watts up to Gigawatt. For example gate drive circuits, single and three-phase converters where film capacitors are used in the DC link, high voltage DC converters. These techniques are useful to prolong the life of converters and to allow higher ambient temperatures, typical application domains are PV and other grid connected converters, converters for battery charging and general electric vehicle applications

3,6-Diacetyl-1,4-diphenyl-1,4-dihydro-1,2,4,5-tetra­zine

In the title compound, C18H16N4O2, the central six-membered ring has a boat conformation

Assessment of knowledge of pharmacies and drug stores workers toward dengue and its management at Al-Mukalla district – Hadhramout-Yemen

Dengue fever (DF) is a mosquito borne disease that has spread rapidly in Al-Mukalla city in the last ten years, so a necessary requirement is to analyze the knowledge of healthcare providers, including pharmacists, toward dengue management and control in the country. This paper aims to assess the knowledge of pharmacies and drug store workers toward dengue management at Al-Mukalla district. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 pharmacies and drug store workers in Al-Mukalla district in 2020. A random sampling method was used to select the pharmacies and drug stores and data was collected by using pretest questionnaires. All statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS software, version 24. A total of 384 workers of pharmacies and drug stores, were enrolled. 361 were male (94%), and 23 were female (6%). The pharmacy diploma was the most qualified of the participants (58.1%). The majority of participants had 1–5 years’ experience (45.3%). The result showed that most workers of pharmacies and drug stores had knowledge of dengue fever disease (82.1%). Medical consultation was the most common choice of participation regarding dealing with warning signs of dengue fever (red spots or patches on the skin (59.1%) , nasal or gingival bleeding(66.9%), vaginal bleeding(74.2%), hematemesis (72.7%), and severe abdominal pain (46.4% ). The larger proportion of participants did not have knowledge of the WHO clinical management of dengue guideline (75.5%). This study showed that more than half of pharmacies and drug stores workers had knowledge toward management of dengue fever (57 %). This study revealed that the knowledge of pharmacy and drug store workers in Al-Mukalla district toward dengue fever management was not satisfactory. This result highlights the need for extensive scientific programs to increase the knowledge of pharmacies and drug store workers toward dengue management so this gap will be plugged

Vers un modèle théorique qui explique le mécanisme du système d’intelligence économique au sein des entreprises financières marocaines : Analyse descriptive à partir des données d’enquête

This work aims to propose a model that explains the mechanism of the evaluation of the economic intelligence system within Moroccan financial companies. This model is based on an "action research" paradigm that emphasizes the measurement of skills related to the economic intelligence system. In fact, three dimensions have been identified, in particular technological, organizational and decision-making skills. The context chosen to conduct this research is that of Moroccan financial companies. Indeed, the Moroccan financial system is known for its far-reaching reforms, structural changes linked to capital markets, and fundamental modernization inspired by prudential rules where it was essential to ensure a new model in terms of processing information specific to companies and those affecting the sector as a whole. In a completely random framework, a sample of 44 financial companies with equity securities was selected. The finding aid is based on a questionnaire survey. The first results show that the data collected is characterized by a certain uniformity compared to the model chosen. It turns out that the problem of data homogeneity is maintained and the statistics of dispersion and central tendency reflect characteristics common to all Moroccan financial companies. In addition, the research therefore concludes that the model chosen and fully adapted to the context of Moroccan financial companies.   Classification JEL: C10, C83, Y10 Paper type: Empirical researchCe travail a pour objectif de proposer un modèle qui explique le mécanisme de l’évaluation du système d’intelligence économique au sein des entreprises financières marocaines. Ce modèle est basé sur un paradigme « recherche-action » qui met l’accent sur la mesure des aptitudes liées au système d’intelligence économique. En effet, trois dimensions ont été identifiées notamment les aptitudes technologiques, organisationnelles et décisionnelles. Le contexte choisi pour mener cette recherche est celui des entreprises financières marocaines. En effet, le système financier marocain est connu par ses réformes profondes, par des changements structurels liés aux marchés de capitaux, et une modernisation fondamentale qui s’inspirent des règles prudentielles où il a été primordial d’assurer un nouveau modèle en matière de traitement des informations propres aux entreprises et celles qui touchent le secteur dans sa globalité. Dans un cadre totalement aléatoire, un échantillon de 44 entreprises financières possédant des titres de participations a été sélectionné. L’instrument de recherche est basé sur une enquête par questionnaire. Les premiers résultats montrent que les données collectées se caractérisent par une certaine uniformité par rapport au modèle choisi. Il se trouve que la problématique de l’homogénéité des données est maintenue et les statistiques de dispersion et de tendance centrale reflètent des caractéristiques communes à toutes les entreprises financières marocaines. En plus, la recherche conclue en conséquence que le modèle choisit et tout à fait adapté au contexte des entreprises financières marocaines.   Classification JEL: C10, C83, Y10 Type de l’article : Recherche appliqué

Analysis and optimisation of collective self-consumption in residential buildings in Spain

Studies on self-consumption in residential use are constantly evolving, and society claims new solutions in response to changes to new paradigms. This paper aims to optimise the sizing of a self-consumption installation for collective self-consumption in a residential building under the Spanish regulatory framework. The study considers the current price volatility in the retail electricity Spanish market and focuses on the techno-economic analysis of self-consumption in a building consisting of 12 dwellings using photovoltaic energy and the possible support of a storage system. The three aspects analysed are the sizing of the self-consumption facility, the use of smart appliances to shift their consumption to more cost-effective times and the sharing of the renewable energy generated by the facility among the consumers participating in the collective self-consumption. This study employs two models, an average-day model and a whole-year model. The techno-economic analysis yields that between the two self-consumption modalities for residential consumption, the modality with surplus simplified compensation is more profitable than the one without surpluses. Finally, the study focuses on sharing the total renewable energy generated among the participants. The results indicate that both ex-ante and ex-post dynamic sharing brings few benefits.Los estudios sobre autoconsumo en uso residencial están en constante evolución, y la sociedad reclama nuevas soluciones en respuesta a los cambios hacia nuevos paradigmas. Este trabajo pretende optimizar el dimensionamiento de una instalación de autoconsumo colectivo en un edificio residencial bajo el marco regulatorio español. El estudio considera la actual volatilidad de precios en el mercado minorista eléctrico español y se centra en el análisis tecno-económico del autoconsumo en un edificio formado por 12 viviendas empleando energía fotovoltaica y el posible apoyo de un sistema de almacenamiento. Los tres aspectos analizados son el dimensionamiento de la instalación de autoconsumo, el uso de electrodomésticos inteligentes para desplazar su consumo a periodos más rentables y el reparto de la energía renovable generada por la instalación entre los consumidores participantes en el autoconsumo colectivo. Este estudio emplea dos modelos, uno basado en datos promedios diarios y otro para todo el año. El análisis tecno-económico arroja que entre las dos modalidades de autoconsumo para consumo residencial, la modalidad con compensación simplificada de excedentes es más rentable que la modalidad sin excedentes. Por último, el estudio se centra en el reparto de la energía renovable total generada entre los participantes. Los resultados indican que tanto el reparto dinámico ex-ante como ex-post aportan pocos beneficios