Survey of ICIC Techniques in LTE Networks under Various Mobile Environment Parameters

International audienc

EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF DRINKING WATER PRODUCED BY THE TREATMENT PLANT: CASE OF MAURITANIA

This study aims to evaluate the performance of treatment plants after three years of operation of the city of Nouakchott. It essentially aims to study the evolution of various raw water qualities during the different processing steps (T °, pH, EC, MES, Cl-, NO3-, NO2-, sulfate...). The water treatment in Béni Nadji pretreatment station has led to a significant removal of turbidity, organic matter, and a 99-100 % elimination of SS (Suspended Solids). For drinking water, the total hardness varies between 3.8 and 5.6 °fH. The value of turbidity in drinking water was between 0.2 and 0.3 NTU with turbidity varying between 21 and 330 NTU in the surface water. Aluminum surface concentration surface was between 0.1 and 0.7 mg·L-1. The nitrate concentration varies between 0.5 and 2 mg·L-1, which is lower than that suggested by The World Health Organization (50 mg·L-1). As a result of this study, we concluded that water clarification phases of Nouakchott must be improved

Classification and Comparative Analysis of Inter-Cell Interference Coordination Techniques in LTE Networks

International audienceFrequency reuse-1 model is required to satisfy the exponential increase of data demands in mobile networks , such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of Universal Mobile Terrestrial radio access System (UMTS). However, the simultaneous usage of the same frequency resources in adjacent LTE cells creates inter-cell interference problems, that mainly affect cell-edge users. Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) techniques are proposed to avoid the negative impact of interference on system performance. They establish restrictions on resource usage, such as Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR), and on power allocation such as Soft Frequency Reuse (SFR). In this paper, we classify the existing ICIC techniques, and investigate the performance of reuse-1, reuse-3, FFR, and SFR schemes under various user distributions, and for various network loads. Performance of cell-center and cell-edge users are inspected, as well as the overall spectral efficiency. System level simulations show the advantages and limitations of each of the examined techniques compared to frequency reuse-1 model under different network loads and user distributions, which helps us to determine the most suitable ICIC technique to be used

COVID-19 related risk factors and their association with non-syndromic orofacial clefts in five Arab countries: a case-control study

Abstract Background The environmental etiology of non-syndromic orofacial clefts (NSOFCs) is still under research. The aim of this case-control study is to assess COVID-19 associated factors that may be related to the risk of NSOFC in five Arab countries. These factors include COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 symptoms, family member or friends infected with COVID-19, stress, smoking, socioeconomic status and fear of COVID-19. Methods The study took place in governmental hospitals in five Arab countries from November 2020 to November 2021. Controls are matched in the month of delivery and site of recruitment. A clinical examination was carried out using LASHAL classification. Maternal exposure to medication, illnesses, supplementation, COVID-19 infection during their pregestation and 1st trimester periods were evaluated using a validated questionnaire. Maternal exposure to stress was assessed using the Life Events scale, fear of covid-19 scale, family member or friend affected with covid-19 infection, pregnancy planning and threatened abortion. Results The study recruited 1135 infants (386 NSOFC and 749 controls). Living in urban areas, maternal exposure to medications 3-months pregestation, maternal exposure to any of the prenatal life events and maternal fear of COVID-19 significantly increased the risk of having a child with NSOFC. On the other hand, mothers exposed to supplementation 3-months pregestation, mothers suspected of having COVID-19 infection, family members or friends testing positive with COVID-19 significantly decreased the risk of having a child with NSOFC. Conclusions This study suggests that NSOFC may be associated with maternal exposure to lifetime stress and COVID-19 fear in particular, with no direct effect of the COVID-19 infection itself. This highlights the importance of providing psychological support for expecting mothers during stressful events that affect populations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the usual antenatal care

Additional file 1 of COVID-19 related risk factors and their association with non-syndromic orofacial clefts in five Arab countries: a case-control study

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