Power-trading in wireless communications: a cooperative networking business model

Managing the power resource in battery operated wireless devices is very crucial for extending the lifetime, here we propose the concept of power trading in wireless communications. We present a business model using sealed bid procurement auction based game theory for power-trading in cooperative wireless communication with quality of service (QoS) constraints. We formulate the problem as an auction in a buyer's market sequentially/repeatedly played with a single source and a multiple relay network. The source, in-need of cooperation of a relay due to lack of battery power to communicate with the destination, broadcasts a cooperation-request specifying its QoS requirements. The QoS that we consider here are the bit error rate and the total delay associated with relaying the source data. The relays respond with their bids in terms of Euros/bit, and the source selects the best relay based on the bids. The relays compete with each other to win the game and profit from power trading. Each relay updates its pricing index via reinforcement learning to win the game during successive bidding intervals of the repeated game. Based on this model our results show that the relay node with the best features such as a better wireless channel and a better geographical position with respect to the source and destination nodes has a better chance of winning the game, and hence giving rise to a dominant strategy. More importantly, we show that the gains from the wireless channels can be converted into economic profits which is an attractive feature of the proposed business model for power trading

An LP-based inconsistency monitoring of pairwise comparison matrices

A distance-based inconsistency indicator, defined by the third author for the consistency-driven pairwise comparisons method, is extended to the incomplete case. The corresponding optimization problem is transformed into an equivalent linear programming problem. The results can be applied in the process of filling in the matrix as the decision maker gets automatic feedback. As soon as a serious error occurs among the matrix elements, even due to a misprint, a significant increase in the inconsistency index is reported. The high inconsistency may be alarmed not only at the end of the process of filling in the matrix but also during the completion process. Numerical examples are also provided

Experimental test of nonlocal realistic theories without the rotational symmetry assumption

We analyze the class of nonlocal realistic theories that was originally considered by Leggett [Found. Phys. 33, 1469 (2003)] and tested by us in a recent experiment [Nature (London) 446, 871 (2007)]. We derive an incompatibility theorem that works for finite numbers of polarizer settings and that does not require the previously assumed rotational symmetry of the two-particle correlation functions. The experimentally measured case involves seven different measurement settings. Using polarization-entangled photon pairs, we exclude this broader class of nonlocal realistic models by experimentally violating a new Leggett-type inequality by 80 standard deviations.Comment: Published versio

Trace elements in home-processed food obtained from unconventional animals

Wild animals have been used as food since ancient times and, currently, the consumption of unconventional animals is increasing worldwide. The process of cooking meat using traditional recipes includes a variety of ingredients, which can influence the total metal intake from the diet. In this study, the concentrations of eight essential (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Se, Ni, Mo, and Co) and six non-essential (Pb, Cd, Hg, Al, As, and Cr) trace elements were determined in home-processed food obtained from snails and from three common species of game animals (woodcock, pheasant, and hare), seasoned with anchovies, mushrooms, and different vegetables using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In general, Fe was the most abundant trace element, ranging from 18 \ub1 8 \u3bcg/g in pheasant to 99 \ub1 76 \u3bcg/g in snail, and Co was the least abundant, ranging from 0.007 \ub1 0.003 \u3bcg/g in hare to 0.093 \ub1 0.048 \u3bcg/g in snail. Regarding the non-essential trace elements, Pb concentrations showed wide variations, reaching a concentration of 17.30 \u3bcg/g in hare, while Cd concentrations were higher in snail, ranging from 0.18 to 0.46 \u3bcg/g. These alternative food sources can offer an important contribution to the human nutritional requirements of essential trace elements, in particular of Fe. The high concentrations of Pb and Cd present in some samples should be considered as potentially dangerous for the consumers

Cerium, gallium and zinc containing mesoporous bioactive glasscoating deposited on titanium alloy

Surface modification is one of the methods for improving the performance of medical implants inbiological environment. In this study, cerium, gallium and zinc substituted 80%SiO2-15%CaO-5%P2O5mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) in combination with polycaprolactone (PCL) were coated over Ti6Al4 Vsubstrates by dip-coating method in order to obtain an inorganic\u2014organic hybrid coating (MBG-PCL).Structural characterization was performed using XRD, nitrogen adsorption, SEM-EDXS, FTIR. The MBG-PCL coating uniformly covered the substrate with the thickness found to be more than 1 m. Glass andpolymer phases were detected in the coating along with the presence of biologically potent elementscerium, gallium and zinc. In addition, in vitro bioactivity was investigated by soaking the coated samplesin simulated body fluid (SBF) for up to 30 days at 37\u25e6C. The apatite-like layer was monitored by FTIR, SEM-EDXS and ICP measurements and it formed in all the samples within 15 days except zinc samples. In thisway, an attempt was made to develop a new biomaterial with improved in vitro bioactive response dueto bioactive glass coating and good mechanical strength of Ti6Al4 V alloy along with inherent biologicalproperties of cerium, gallium and zinc

The Effect of the P/Si Ratio on the Preparation and Properties of Phosphoric Acid-Metakaolin Geopolymers

The present research deals with the production and characterization of geopolymers prepared by mixing metakaolin, different amounts of phosphoric acid solution and water. Hardening was performed by aging the geopolymeric pastes in a climatic chamber. The workability of the pastes has been improved while the H2O/total solid content has been kept constant and the P/Si ratio increased. However, such a benefit implies considerable heat output, which must be controlled in order to limit the formation of extended fractures. The compressive strength of the hardened materials increases with increasing P/Si ratio at a constant H2O/total solid content, whereas their strength decreases with increasing H2O/ total solid content at a constant P/Si ratio. The open macroporosity, which is directly dependent on the total amount of water added to the geopolymeric pastes, may explain the above results better than the nano/microporosity and/or chemical bonds that contribute to building up the materials\u2019 textural features

Matchgate quantum computing and non-local process analysis

In the circuit model, quantum computers rely on the availability of a universal quantum gate set. A particularly intriguing example is a set of two-qubit only gates: matchgates, along with SWAP (the exchange of two qubits). In this paper, we show a simple decomposition of arbitrary matchgates into better known elementary gates, and implement a matchgate in a linear-optics experiment using single photons. The gate performance was fully characterized via quantum process tomography. Moreover, we represent the resulting reconstructed quantum process in a novel way, as a fidelity map in the space of all possible nonlocal two-qubit unitaries. We propose the non-local distance - which is independent of local imperfections like uncorrelated noise or uncompensated local rotations - as a new diagnostic process measure for the non-local properties of the implemented gate.Comment: * published version * extended title reflecting the additions on non-local process analyis in the manuscrip

Characterization of an antioxidant and antimicrobial extract from cool climate, white grape marc

Valorization of agricultural waste has become increasingly important. Wastes generated by wineries are high in phenolic compounds with antioxidant and antibacterial properties, which contribute to phytotoxicity, making their immediate use for agricultural means limited. Utilizing a water-based extraction method, the phenolic compounds from winery waste were extracted and purified. The resulting extract was characterized for phenolic composition using high-pressure liquid chromatography-ultraviolet/visible and electrochemical detectors (HPLC-UV/Vis, ECD) for monomers, and spectral assessment of the tannins present using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), FT-Raman, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) spectroscopies. The extract\u2019s antioxidant activity was assessed by the scavenging of the 2,2-diphenyl-1\u2013picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and Folin-Ciocalteu total phenolic assay, and was found to be as effective as a commercially obtained grape extract. The extract\u2019s antimicrobial efficacy was tested for minimum bactericidal concentration using Candida albicans, Escherichia coli 25922, and Staphylococcus aureus 6538, which resulted in greater efficacy against gram-positive bacteria as shown over gram-negative bacteria, which can be linked to both monomeric and tannin polyphenols, which have multiple modes of bactericidal action

A single-crystal source of path-polarization entangled photons at non-degenerate wavelengths

We demonstrate a bright, narrowband, compact, quasi-phase-matched single-crystal source generating path-polarization-entangled photon pairs at 810 nm and 1550 nm at a maximum rate of 3 Mcounts/(s THz mW) after coupling to single-mode fiber, and with two-photon interference visibility above 90%. While the source can already be used to implement quantum communication protocols such as quantum key distribution, this work is also instrumental for narrowband applications such as entanglement transfer from photonic to atomic qubits, or entanglement of photons from independent sources.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published in Optics Express (2008