No evidence for the evolution of mass density power-law index γ\gamma from strong gravitational lensing observation

In this paper, we consider the singular isothermal sphere lensing model that has a spherically symmetric power-law mass distribution $\rho_{tot}(r)\sim r^{-\gamma}$. We investigate whether the mass density power-law index $\gamma$ is cosmologically evolutionary by using the strong gravitational lensing (SGL) observation, in combination with other cosmological observations. We also check whether the constraint result of $\gamma$ is affected by the cosmological model, by considering several simple dynamical dark energy models. We find that the constraint on $\gamma$ is mainly decided by the SGL observation and independent of the cosmological model, and we find no evidence for the evolution of $\gamma$ from the SGL observation.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Design and optimization of joint iterative detection and decoding receiver for uplink polar coded SCMA system

SCMA and polar coding are possible candidates for 5G systems. In this paper, we firstly propose the joint iterative detection and decoding (JIDD) receiver for the uplink polar coded sparse code multiple access (PC-SCMA) system. Then, the EXIT chart is used to investigate the performance of the JIDD receiver. Additionally, we optimize the system design and polar code construction based on the EXIT chart analysis. The proposed receiver integrates the factor graph of SCMA detector and polar soft-output decoder into a joint factor graph, which enables the exchange of messages between SCMA detector and polar decoder iteratively. Simulation results demonstrate that the JIDD receiver has better BER performance and lower complexity than the separate scheme. Specifically, when polar code length N=256 and code rate R=1/2 , JIDD outperforms the separate scheme 4.8 and 6 dB over AWGN channel and Rayleigh fading channel, respectively. It also shows that, under 150% system loading, the JIDD receiver only has 0.3 dB performance loss compared to the single user uplink PC-SCMA over AWGN channel and 0.6 dB performance loss over Rayleigh fading channel

The 2010 spring drought reduced primary productivity in southwestern China

Many parts of the world experience frequent and severe droughts. Summer drought can significantly reduce primary productivity and carbon sequestration capacity. The impacts of spring droughts, however, have received much less attention. A severe and sustained spring drought occurred in southwestern China in 2010. Here we examine the influence of this spring drought on the primary productivity of terrestrial ecosystems using data on climate, vegetation greenness and productivity. We first assess the spatial extent, duration and severity of the drought using precipitation data and the Palmer drought severity index. We then examine the impacts of the drought on terrestrial ecosystems using satellite data for the period 2000–2010. Our results show that the spring drought substantially reduced the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and gross primary productivity (GPP) during spring 2010 (March–May). Both EVI and GPP also substantially declined in the summer and did not fully recover from the drought stress until August. The drought reduced regional annual GPP and net primary productivity (NPP) in 2010 by 65 and 46 Tg C yr−1, respectively. Both annual GPP and NPP in 2010 were the lowest over the period 2000–2010. The negative effects of the drought on annual primary productivity were partly offset by the remarkably high productivity in August and September caused by the exceptionally wet conditions in late summer and early fall and the farming practices adopted to mitigate drought effects. Our results show that, like summer droughts, spring droughts can also have significant impacts on vegetation productivity and terrestrial carbon cycling

4-Nitro-N-(8-quinol­yl)benzamide

In the title compound, C16H11N3O3, the amide group is twisted away from the plane of the quinoline benzene ring by 3.93 (5)°, but is twisted away from the nitro­benzene ring by 22.68 (4)°. A weak intra­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bond is observed. In the crystal structure, mol­ecules are linked into a chain along the a axis by inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds