Throughput Optimization in High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)

In this paper, we investigate throughput optimization in High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA). Specifically, we propose offline and online algorithms for adjusting the Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) used by the network to schedule data transmission. In the offline algorithm, a given target BLER is achieved by adjusting CQI based on ACK/NAK history. By sweeping through different target BLERs, we can find the throughput optimal BLER offline. This algorithm could be used not only to optimize throughput but also to enable fair resource allocation among mobile users in HSDPA. In the online algorithm, the CQI offset is adapted using an estimated short term throughput gradient without specifying a target BLER. An adaptive stepsize mechanism is proposed to track temporal variation of the environment. We investigate convergence behavior of both algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed offline algorithm can achieve the given target BLER with good accuracy. Both algorithms yield up to 30% HSDPA throughput improvement over that with 10% target BLER

Real-time Measurement of Stress and Damage Evolution During Initial Lithiation of Crystalline Silicon

Crystalline to amorphous phase transformation during initial lithiation in (100) silicon-wafers is studied in an electrochemical cell with lithium metal as the counter and reference electrode. It is demonstrated that severe stress jumps across the phase boundary lead to fracture and damage, which is an essential consideration in designing silicon based anodes for lithium ion batteries. During initial lithiation, a moving phase boundary advances into the wafer starting from the surface facing the lithium electrode, transforming crystalline silicon into amorphous LixSi. The resulting biaxial compressive stress in the amorphous layer is measured in situ and it was observed to be ca. 0.5 GPa. HRTEM images reveal that the crystalline-amorphous phase boundary is very sharp, with a thickness of ~ 1 nm. Upon delithiation, the stress rapidly reverses, becomes tensile and the amorphous layer begins to deform plastically at around 0.5 GPa. With continued delithiation, the yield stress increases in magnitude, culminating in sudden fracture of the amorphous layer into micro-fragments and the cracks extend into the underlying crystalline silicon.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Lift-and-Round to Improve Weighted Completion Time on Unrelated Machines

We consider the problem of scheduling jobs on unrelated machines so as to minimize the sum of weighted completion times. Our main result is a $(3/2-c)$-approximation algorithm for some fixed $c>0$, improving upon the long-standing bound of 3/2 (independently due to Skutella, Journal of the ACM, 2001, and Sethuraman & Squillante, SODA, 1999). To do this, we first introduce a new lift-and-project based SDP relaxation for the problem. This is necessary as the previous convex programming relaxations have an integrality gap of $3/2$. Second, we give a new general bipartite-rounding procedure that produces an assignment with certain strong negative correlation properties.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Sea cow Dugong dugon (Muller) washed ashore dead at Rameswaram

Sea cow Dugong dugon (Muller), is a highly endangered marine mammal, listed under Schedule-I, Part I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. On 6th April 2010 a sea cow washed ashore dead at Rameswaram fish landing center

Stress Evolution in Composite Silicon Electrodes during Lithiation/Delithiation

We report real-time average stress measurements on composite silicon electrodes made with two different binders [Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)] during electrochemical lithiation and delithiation. During galvanostatic lithiation at very slow rates, the stress in a CMC-based electrode becomes compressive and increases to 70 MPa, where it reaches a plateau and increases slowly thereafter with capacity. The PVDF-based electrode exhibits similar behavior, although with lower peak compressive stress of about 12 MPa. These initial experiments indicate that the stress evolution in a Si composite electrode depends strongly on the mechanical properties of the binder. Stress data obtained from a series of lithiation/delithiation cycles suggests plasticity induced irreversible shape changes in contacting Si particles, and as a result, the stress response of the system during any given lithiation/delithiation cycle depends on the cycling history of the electrode. While these results constitute the first in-situ stress measurements on composite Si electrodes during electrochemical cycling, the diagnostic technique described herein can be used to assess the mechanical response of a composite electrode made with other active material/binder combinations.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

Measurement of Volume Changes and Associated Stresses in Ge Electrodes Due to Na/Na+^+ Redox Reactions

In situ electrochemical cells were assembled with an amorphous germanium (a-Ge) film as working electrode and sodium foil as reference and counter electrode. The stresses generated in a-Ge electrodes due to electrochemical reaction with sodium were measured in real-time during the galvanostatic cycling. A specially designed patterned a-Ge electrode was cycled against sodium and the corresponding volume changes were measured using an AFM; it was observed that sodiation/desodiation of a-Ge results in more than 300% volume change, consistent with literature. The potential and stress response showed that the a-Ge film undergoes irreversible changes during the first sodiation process, but the subsequent desodiation/sodiation cycles are reversible. The stress response of the film reached steady-state after the initial sodiation and is qualitatively similar to the response of Ge during lithiation, i.e., initial linear elastic response followed by extensive plastic deformation of the film to accommodate large volume changes. However, despite being bigger ion, sodiation of Ge generated lower stress levels compared to lithiation. Consequently, the mechanical dissipation losses associated with plastic deformation are lower during sodiation process than it is for lithiation.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figure