Minimum Distortion Variance Concatenated Block Codes for Embedded Source Transmission

Some state-of-art multimedia source encoders produce embedded source bit streams that upon the reliable reception of only a fraction of the total bit stream, the decoder is able reconstruct the source up to a basic quality. Reliable reception of later source bits gradually improve the reconstruction quality. Examples include scalable extensions of H.264/AVC and progressive image coders such as JPEG2000. To provide an efficient protection for embedded source bit streams, a concatenated block coding scheme using a minimum mean distortion criterion was considered in the past. Although, the original design was shown to achieve better mean distortion characteristics than previous studies, the proposed coding structure was leading to dramatic quality fluctuations. In this paper, a modification of the original design is first presented and then the second order statistics of the distortion is taken into account in the optimization. More specifically, an extension scheme is proposed using a minimum distortion variance optimization criterion. This robust system design is tested for an image transmission scenario. Numerical results show that the proposed extension achieves significantly lower variance than the original design, while showing similar mean distortion performance using both convolutional codes and low density parity check codes.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, In Proc. of International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications, ICNC 2014, Hawaii, US

Asymptotically MDS Array BP-XOR Codes

Belief propagation or message passing on binary erasure channels (BEC) is a low complexity decoding algorithm that allows the recovery of message symbols based on bipartite graph prunning process. Recently, array XOR codes have attracted attention for storage systems due to their burst error recovery performance and easy arithmetic based on Exclusive OR (XOR)-only logic operations. Array BP-XOR codes are a subclass of array XOR codes that can be decoded using BP under BEC. Requiring the capability of BP-decodability in addition to Maximum Distance Separability (MDS) constraint on the code construction process is observed to put an upper bound on the maximum achievable code block length, which leads to the code construction process to become a harder problem. In this study, we introduce asymptotically MDS array BP-XOR codes that are alternative to exact MDS array BP-XOR codes to pave the way for easier code constructions while keeping the decoding complexity low with an asymptotically vanishing coding overhead. We finally provide and analyze a simple code construction method that is based on discrete geometry to fulfill the requirements of the class of asymptotically MDS array BP-XOR codes.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, to be submitte

Redundancy and Aging of Efficient Multidimensional MDS-Parity Protected Distributed Storage Systems

The effect of redundancy on the aging of an efficient Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) parity--protected distributed storage system that consists of multidimensional arrays of storage units is explored. In light of the experimental evidences and survey data, this paper develops generalized expressions for the reliability of array storage systems based on more realistic time to failure distributions such as Weibull. For instance, a distributed disk array system is considered in which the array components are disseminated across the network and are subject to independent failure rates. Based on such, generalized closed form hazard rate expressions are derived. These expressions are extended to estimate the asymptotical reliability behavior of large scale storage networks equipped with MDS parity-based protection. Unlike previous studies, a generic hazard rate function is assumed, a generic MDS code for parity generation is used, and an evaluation of the implications of adjustable redundancy level for an efficient distributed storage system is presented. Results of this study are applicable to any erasure correction code as long as it is accompanied with a suitable structure and an appropriate encoding/decoding algorithm such that the MDS property is maintained.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability (TDMR), Nov. 201

Results of a long-term performance and follow-up of Endovenous Laser Ablatıon procedures performed for treating great saphenous vein incompetence

Objective: To assess the value of endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) for treating great saphenous vein (GSV) incompetence. Methods: We reviewed the overall results of EVLA procedures performed on 554 patients in our clinic between March 2011 and December 2015. Evaluations were made concerning the situations of the great saphenous vein (GSV), the energy used in the treatments, and the results obtained. We also investigated if there was a possibility to detect failure of EVLA treatment at an early stage. Results: From a total of 657 GSVs that were subjected to EVLA treatment, the procedure was found to be successful for 611 GSVs and unsuccessful for 46 GSVs (success rate: 93%). In 38 of the 46 GSVs, a thrombus formation was detected by color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) at the postoperative first month (82.6%). Conclusion: EVLA is a reliable and successful method utilized for the treatment of GSV incompetence. It is concluded that the detection of a thrombus in the GSV tract during the first postoperative follow-up month is an indicator for revascularization. © 2018, Professional Medical Publications. All rights reserved

Some Weyl modules of the algebraic groups of type E6E_6

Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of type $E_6$ over an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. We determine the submodule structure of the Weyl modul es with highest weight $r\omega_1$ for $0\leq r\leq p-1$, where $\omega_1$ is the fundamental weight of the standard $27$-dimensional module. In the process, the structures of other Weyl modules with highest weights linked to $r\omega_1$ are also found. %We also give some computations for the Weyl modules with highest weights %of the form $r(\omega_1+\omega_6)$, which arise in the study of %the graph automorphism and associated twisted finite groups.Comment: 25 page

Cooperative Control and Potential Games

We present a view of cooperative control using the language of learning in games. We review the game-theoretic concepts of potential and weakly acyclic games, and demonstrate how several cooperative control problems, such as consensus and dynamic sensor coverage, can be formulated in these settings. Motivated by this connection, we build upon game-theoretic concepts to better accommodate a broader class of cooperative control problems. In particular, we extend existing learning algorithms to accommodate restricted action sets caused by the limitations of agent capabilities and group based decision making. Furthermore, we also introduce a new class of games called sometimes weakly acyclic games for time-varying objective functions and action sets, and provide distributed algorithms for convergence to an equilibrium

Joint strategy fictitious play with inertia for potential games

We consider multi-player repeated games involving a large number of players with large strategy spaces and enmeshed utility structures. In these ldquolarge-scalerdquo games, players are inherently faced with limitations in both their observational and computational capabilities. Accordingly, players in large-scale games need to make their decisions using algorithms that accommodate limitations in information gathering and processing. This disqualifies some of the well known decision making models such as ldquoFictitious Playrdquo (FP), in which each player must monitor the individual actions of every other player and must optimize over a high dimensional probability space. We will show that Joint Strategy Fictitious Play (JSFP), a close variant of FP, alleviates both the informational and computational burden of FP. Furthermore, we introduce JSFP with inertia, i.e., a probabilistic reluctance to change strategies, and establish the convergence to a pure Nash equilibrium in all generalized ordinal potential games in both cases of averaged or exponentially discounted historical data. We illustrate JSFP with inertia on the specific class of congestion games, a subset of generalized ordinal potential games. In particular, we illustrate the main results on a distributed traffic routing problem and derive tolling procedures that can lead to optimized total traffic congestion