Distributions of Upper PAPR and Lower PAPR of OFDM Signals in Visible Light Communications

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in visible light communications (VLC) inherits the disadvantage of high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) from OFDM in radio frequency (RF) communications. The upper peak power and lower peak power of real-valued VLC-OFDM signals are both limited by the dynamic constraints of light emitting diodes (LEDs). The efficiency and transmitted electrical power are directly related with the upper PAPR (UPAPR) and lower PAPR (LPAPR) of VLC-OFDM. In this paper, we will derive the complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) of UPAPR and LPAPR, and investigate the joint distribution of UPAPR and LPAPR.Comment: acceptted by IEEE ICASSP 2014. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1304.019

A Convex Polynomial Force-Motion Model for Planar Sliding: Identification and Application

We propose a polynomial force-motion model for planar sliding. The set of generalized friction loads is the 1-sublevel set of a polynomial whose gradient directions correspond to generalized velocities. Additionally, the polynomial is confined to be convex even-degree homogeneous in order to obey the maximum work inequality, symmetry, shape invariance in scale, and fast invertibility. We present a simple and statistically-efficient model identification procedure using a sum-of-squares convex relaxation. Simulation and robotic experiments validate the accuracy and efficiency of our approach. We also show practical applications of our model including stable pushing of objects and free sliding dynamic simulations.Comment: 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA

Pulvinar-Cortex Interactions in Vision and Attention

The ventro-lateral pulvinar is reciprocally connected with the visual areas of the ventral stream that are important for object recognition. To understand the mechanisms of attentive stimulus processing in this pulvinar-cortex loop, we investigated the interactions between the pulvinar, area V4, and IT cortex in a spatial-attention task. Sensory processing and the influence of attention in the pulvinar appeared to reflect its cortical inputs. However, pulvinar deactivation led to a reduction of attentional effects on firing rates and gamma synchrony in V4, a reduction of sensory-evoked responses and overall gamma coherence within V4, and severe behavioral deficits in the affected portion of the visual field. Conversely, pulvinar deactivation caused an increase in low-frequency cortical oscillations, often associated with inattention or sleep. Thus, cortical interactions with the ventro-lateral pulvinar are necessary for normal attention and sensory processing and for maintaining the cortex in an active state. The pulvinar is often proposed to modulate cortical processing with attention. Zhou et al. find that beyond any role in attention, the pulvinar input to cortex seems necessary to maintain the cortex in an active state.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 EY017292

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effect of prenatal omega-3 LCPUFA supplementation to reduce the incidence of preterm birth: The ORIP trial

Introduction: Preterm birth accounts for more than 85% of all perinatal complications and deaths. Seventy-five per cent of early preterm births (EPTBs) occur spontaneously and without identifiable risk factors. The need for a broadly applicable, effective strategy for primary prevention is paramount. Secondary outcomes from the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to Optimise Mother Infant Outcome trial showed that maternal supplementation until delivery with omega-3 (ω-3) long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA), predominantly as DHA, resulted in a 50% reduction in the incidence of EPTB and an increase in the incidence of post-term induction or post-term prelabour caesarean section due to extended gestation. We aim to determine the effectiveness of supplementing the maternal diet with ω-3 LCPUFA until 34 weeks’ gestation on the incidence of EPTB. Methods and analysis: This is a multicentre, parallel group, randomised, blinded and controlled trial. Women less than 20 weeks’ gestation with a singleton or multiple pregnancy and able to give informed consent are eligible to participate. Women will be randomised to receive high DHA fish oil capsules or control capsules without DHA. Capsules will be taken from enrolment until 34 weeks’ gestation. The primary outcome is the incidence of EPTB, defined as delivery before 34 completed weeks’ gestation. Key secondary outcomes include length of gestation, incidence of post-term induction or prelabour caesarean section and spontaneous EPTB. The target sample size is 5540 women (2770 per group), which will provide 85% power to detect an absolute reduction in the incidence of preterm birth of 1.16% (from 2.45% to 1.29%) between the DHA and control group (two sided α=0.05). The primary analysis will be based on the intention-to-treat principle. Trial registration number: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry Number: 2613001142729; Pre-results

The Entanglement Entropy of Solvable Lattice Models

We consider the spin k/2 analogue of the XXZ quantum spin chain. We compute the entanglement entropy S associated with splitting the infinite chain into two semi-infinite pieces. In the scaling limit, we find S ~ c_k/6 (ln(xi))+ln(g)+... . Here xi is the correlation length and c_k=3k/(k+2) is the central charge associated with the sl_2 WZW model at level k. ln(g) is the boundary entropy of the WZW model. Our result extends previous observations and suggests that this is a simple and perhaps rather general way both of extracting the central charge of the ultraviolet CFT associated with the scaling limit of a solvable lattice model, and of matching lattice and CFT boundary conditions.Comment: 6 pages; connection with boundary entropy of Affleck and Ludwig added in revised version and notation slightly change