Cognitive Radio Communications for Vehicular Technology – Wavelet Applications

Wireless communications are nowadays a dominant part of our lives: from domotics, through industrial applications and up to infomobility services. The key to the co-existence of wireless systems operating in closely located or even overlapping areas, is sharing of the spectral resource. The optimization of this resource is the main driving force behind the emerging changes in the policies for radio resources allocation. The current approach in spectrum usage specifies fixed frequency bands and transmission power limits for each radio transmitting system. This approach leads to a very low medium utilization factor for some frequency bands, caused by inefficient service allocation over vast geographical areas (radiomobile, radio and TV broadcasting, WiMAX) and also by the usage of large guard bands, obsolete now due to technological progress. A more flexible use of the spectral resource implies that the radio transceivers have the ability to monitor their radio environment and to adapt at specific transmission conditions. If this concept is supplemented with learning and decision capabilities, we refer to the Cognitive Radio (CR) paradigm. Some of the characteristics of a CR include localization, monitoring of the spectrum usage, frequency changing, transmission power control and, finally, the capacity of dynamically altering all these parameters (Haykin, 2005). This new cognitive approach is expected to have an important impact on the future regulations and spectrum policies. The dynamic access at the spectral resource is of extreme interest both for the scientific community as, considering the continuous request for wideband services, for the development of wireless technologies. From this point of view, a fundamental role is played by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) which in 2007 formed the Standards Coordinating Committee (SCC) 41 on Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN) having as main objective a standard for dynamic access wireless networks. Still within the IEEE frame, the 802.22 initiative defines a new WRAN (Wireless Regional Area Network) interface for wideband access based on cognitive radio techniques in the TV guard bands (the so-called “white spaces”). Coupled with the advantages and flexibility of CR systems and technologies, there is an ever-growing interest around the world in exploiting CR-enabled communications in vehicular and transportation environments. The integration of CR devices and cognitive radio networks into vehicles and associated infrastructures can lead to intelligent interactions with the transportation system, among vehicles, and even among radios within vehicles. Thus, improvements can be achieved in radio resource management and energy efficiency, road traffic management, network management, vehicular diagnostics, road traffic awareness for applications such as route planning, mobile commerce, and much more. Still open within the framework of dynamic and distributed access to the radio resource are the methods for monitoring the radio environment (the so-called “spectrum sensing”) and the transceiver technology to be used on the radio channels. A CR system works on a opportunistic basis searching for unused frequency bands called “white spaces” within the radio frequency spectrum with the intent to operate invisibly and without disturbing the primary users (PU) holding a license for one or more frequency bands. Spectrum sensing, that is, the fast and reliable detection of the PU’s even in the presence of in-band noise, is still a very complex problem with a decisive impact on the functionalities and capabilities of the CRs. The spectrum sensing techniques can be classified in two types: local and cooperative (distributed). The local techniques are performed by single devices exploiting the spectrum occupancy information in their spatial neighbourhood and can be divided into three categories (Budiarjo et al., 2008): "matched filter" (detection of pilot signals, preambles, etc.), "energy detection” (signal strength analysis) and “feature detection" (classification of signals according to their characteristics). Also, a combination of local techniques in a multi-stage design can be used to improve the sensing accuracy (Maleki et al., 2010). Nevertheless, the above-mentioned techniques are mostly inefficient for signals with reduced power or affected by phenomena typical for vehicular technology applications, such as shadowing and multi-path fading. To overcome such problems, cooperatives techniques can be used. Cooperative sensing is based on the aggregation of the spectrum data detected by multiple nodes using cognitive convergence algorithms in order to avoid the channel impairment problems that can lead to false detections. (Sanna et al., 2009). Within the energy detection method, a particular attention needs to be paid to the properties of the packets wavelet transformation for subband analysis, which, according to the literature, seems to be a feasible alternative to the classical FFT-based energy detection. Vehicular applications are in most cases characterized by the need of coping with fast changes in the radio environment, which lead, in this specific case of cognitive communication, to constrains in terms of short execution time of the spectrum sensing operations. From this point of view, the computational complexity of the wavelet packets method is of the same order of the state-of-the-art FFT algorithms, but the number of mathematical operations is lower using IIR polyphase filters (Murroni et al., 2010). In our work we are investigating the use of the wavelet packets for energy detection spectrum sensing operations based on the consideration that they have a finite duration and are self- and mutually-orthogonal at integer multiples of dyadic intervals. Hence, they are suitable for subband division and analysis: a generic signal can be then decomposed on the wavelet packet basis and represented as a collection of coefficients belonging to orthogonal subbands. Therefore, the total power of the signal can be evaluated as sum of the contributions of each subband, which can be separately computed in the wavelet domain. Furthermore, the wavelet packets can be used also for the feature detection spectrum sensing, using statistical parameters such as moments and medians. We concentrate in our research on both applications of the wavelet packets to the spectrum sensing operations, investigating their efficiency in terms of reliability and execution time, applied specifically to the needs of vehicular technology and transportation environments. The other key issue for the development of the previously mentioned standard is the choice of an adaptive/multicarrier modulation as basic candidate for data transmission, having as the most known representative the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. OFDM-like schemes are mature enough to be chosen as a core technology for dynamic access wireless networks. At the same time, the potentialities in terms of optimization for this specific purpose are not yet thoroughly investigated. Particularly, the Wavelet Packet Division Multiplexing (WPDM) modulation method, already known for about ten years to the scientific community, is a suitable candidate to satisfy the requirements on physical level for a dynamic access network (Wong et al., 1997): WPDM has already proven to be able to overcome some of the OFDM limits (limited spectral efficiency, problems with temporal synchronization especially in channels affected by fading) and is at the same time based on use of the same wavelet packets employed for subband analysis used for spectrum sensing operations . Our research investigates the use of the WPDM for cognitive radio purposes, combined with the wavelet approach for spectrum sensing, for offering a complete, wavelet-based solution for cognitive application focused on the problematic of vehicular communication (channel impairments, high relative velocity of the communication peers etc.)

Interpolation property of shallow neural networks

We study the geometry of global minima of the loss landscape of overparametrized neural networks. In most optimization problems, the loss function is convex, in which case we only have a global minima, or nonconvex, with a discrete number of global minima. In this paper, we prove that in the overparametrized regime, a shallow neural network can interpolate any data set, i.e. the loss function has a global minimum value equal to zero as long as the activation function is not a polynomial of small degree. Additionally, if such a global minimum exists, then the locus of global minima has infinitely many points. Furthermore, we give a characterization of the Hessian of the loss function evaluated at the global minima, and in the last section, we provide a practical probabilistic method of finding the interpolation point

Hirnfunktionelle Korrelate bei Zwangsstörungen: Untersuchung mit ereigniskorrelierten Potentialen

Die Zwangsstörung wurde lange Zeit als eine relativ seltene Krankheit angesehen. Erst durch neuere epidemiologische Untersuchungen zeigte sich, dass sie die vierthäufigste neuro-psychiatrische Erkrankung darstellt. Das Besondere an ihr ist, dass sie im Gegensatz zu anderen neuro-psychiatrischen Erkrankungen, mit einer hirnelektrischen Überaktivität assoziiert sein soll. Vor allem dem überaktivierten orbito-frontalen Kortex wird in zahlreichen Studien eine wichtige Rolle bei der Ätiopathogenese der Zwangsstörung beigemessen. Da die Literatur dazu hauptsächlich auf bildgebende Untersuchungsverfahren mit mangelhafter zeitlicher Auflösung basiert, erscheint es wichtig, die Validität der Erklärungsmodelle zur Entstehung der Zwangsstörung mit einem Analyseverfahren zu überprüfen, das diesen Nachteil nicht hat. Unabhängig davon existieren Befunde, dass bei der Zwangssymptomatik im Ableitungskanal Pz, verkürzte Latenzen bei akustischen P300-Oddball-Paradigmen vorzufinden sind, welche ebenfalls Ausdruck dieser gesteigerten zerebralen Aktivität sein sollen. Die Ergebnisse zu den analogen P300-Amplituden sind dagegen weit weniger konsistent, was auf die recht kleinen Untersuchungskollektive bisheriger Studien zurückzuführen ist. Vorteilhaft an unserem Analyseverfahren ist, dass zu den zerebralen Generatoren der P300 auch Hirnareale zählen, die für die Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung der Zwangssymptomatik verantwortlich gemacht werden. Dazu gehört insbesondere der orbito-frontale Kortex. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war somit die Klärung, ob nicht nur die P300-Latenz bei Zwangsstörungen eine Veränderung, im Sinne einer Verkürzung, zeigt, sondern ob auch die P300-Amplitude sich anders darstellt. Erhöhte Amplituden bei Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen wären besser mit der in der Literatur beschriebenen Hyperaktivität vereinbar. Weiterhin gingen wir der Frage nach, in welchen Hirnregionen diese Veränderungen lokalisiert seien und ob eine Hypo- oder Hyperaktivität damit verbunden wäre. Wir erwarteten eine Bestätigung der postulierten Überaktivierung im orbito-frontalen Kortex. Als nächstes wollten wir mögliche Therapieeffekte auf die P300 bzw. auf die zerebrale Hyperaktivität prüfen. Eine Angleichung der hirnfunktionellen Veränderungen an den gesunden Normalzustand nach einer Kombinationstherapie aus Sertralin und multimodaler Verhaltenstherapie wurde angenommen. Letztendlich sollte noch die Frage geklärt werden, ob diese hirnfunktionellen Abnormitäten bei Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen mit der Schwere der Erkrankung korrelieren. Wir untersuchten 71 unbehandelte Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen und 71 gesunden Personen mit einem akustischen P300-Oddball-Paradigma und zeichneten dabei die ereigniskorrelierten Potentiale mit 31 Elektroden auf. Wie bereits angenommen, konnte bei den Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen eine erhöhte P300-Amplitude beobachtet werde. Die P300-Latenz zeigte im Vergleich zu den gesunden Kontrollen nur eine deskriptive Verkürzung. Die Stromdichteverteilung im Talairach-Raum wurde mit der Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) durchgeführt. Wir konnten im Zeitintervall der P300 (240 - 580 ms) vier Hirnareale, alle in der linken Hirnhälfte lokalisiert, mit einer signifikant erhöhten Überaktivität bei Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen identifizieren. So zeigten neben dem inferio-temporalen Kortex des Temporallappens, dem inferio-parietalen Kortex des Parietallappens und dem mittleren Gyrus frontalis, vor allem der orbito-frontale Kortex des Frontallappens, signifikant höhere elektrische Aktivierung. Die von uns aufgestellte Hypothese einer orbito-frontalen Hyperaktivität erwies sich also als richtig. Der Einfluss der 10-wöchigen Kombinationstherapie wurde bei 43 von den ursprünglichen 71 Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen untersucht. Nach der Kombinationstherapie normalisierte sich die Überaktivität lediglich im mittleren Gyrus frontalis. Auf der Potentialbasis wiesen hingegen die P300-Amplituden und -Latenzen keine signifikanten Veränderungen auf. In der abschließenden Untersuchung ließ sich kein Zusammenhang zwischen der Psychopathologie (Y-BOCS) und den hirnfunktionellen Abnormitäten bei Zwangsstörungen festgestellen. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Studie sind größtenteils konsistent mit der aktuellen Literatur zur Zwangssymptomatik. Es ist die einzige Arbeit zur Untersuchung der zerebralen Aktivität bei Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen, die dafür einen linearen Lösungsansatz für das inverse EEG-Problems verwendete. Auch existieren nur wenige Studien, die eine vergleichbar große Anzahl an Patienten mit Zwangsstörungen analysiert haben. Dies gilt insbesondere für die Erkenntnisse aus der funktionelle Bildgebung (PET, fMRT, SPECT), die letztendlich den Hauptbeitrag zur Bildung der Hypothese einer zerebralen Hyperaktivität bei Zwangsstörungen leisteten. So wiesen PET- bzw. fMRT-Studien selten mehr 25 zu untersuchende Patienten auf. Die hier verwendete Stromdichte-Analyse bestätigt somit die Befunde aus der funktionellen Bildgebung (fMRT, SPECT, PET) mit ihrem mangelhaften zeitlichen Auflösungsvermögen, dass vor allem eine orbito-frontale Überaktivität die Zwangsstörung charakterisiert. Darüber hinaus konnte zum ersten Mal eine Verbindung zwischen den abnormen P300-Potentialwerten und der zerebralen Hyperaktivität bei Zwangsstörungen hergestellt worden. Auch konnte erstmalig eine Normalisierung der Überaktivität im Gyrus frontalis medius nach Therapie beobachtet werden

Using NI-USB Data Acquisition Systems to Study the Switching Phenomena of Reactive Loads

The chapter presents a new and modern method to study the transient phenomena that occur when connecting the reactive charges to an AC power source using the MATLAB-Simulink software package. It is known that NI-USB data acquisition systems manufactured by National Instruments are not recognized by the Simulink software package in 64-bit systems. That is why a 32-bit system is obligatory. From this point of view, the article presents a method by which this disadvantage is eliminated, making the data acquisition process possible in the Simulink software package

Neuroendocrine tumours of the ampulla of Vater: clinico-pathological features, surgical approach and assessment of prognosis

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Neuroendocrine tumours occur very rarely in the ampulla of Vater and their clinical behaviour is unknown. The aim of this study is to assess the clinico-pathological features, surgical approach and prognosis of these patients. METHODS: Six patients with neuroendocrine tumours of the ampulla of Vater treated with curative intent surgery at a single centre were retrospectively analysed. A univariate analysis of potential prognostic factors was also performed (data provided from the present study and literature review). RESULTS: Pancreaticoduodenectomy was curative in all the patients. Overall and disease-free survival rates were significantly better for G1/G2 tumours (p = 0.006 and p = 0.004, respectively). Although frequent, lymph node metastases did not influenced both overall (p = 0.760) and disease-free survival rates (p = 0.745). No significant differences of survival were observed in patients with ENETS stage I/II disease, as compared to ENETS stage III disease (p = 0.169 and p = 0.137, respectively). No differences were observed according to UICC staging system (p = 0.073 and p = 0.177, respectively). Tumours that are less than 2 cm or limited to the ampulla appear to have a better prognosis. CONCLUSION: The WHO 2010 classification appear to accurately predict patient prognosis, while the ENETS or UICC staging systems have a limited value (especially in regard to lymph node metastases). Radical surgery (i.e. pancreaticoduodenectomy with lymphadenectomy) should be the standard approach in most patients with NET of the ampulla of Vater because this procedure removes all the potential tumour-bearing tissue

Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges in Nonparasitic Liver Cysts

Nonparasitic hepatic cysts constitute a heterogeneous group of disorders. A proper diagnosis of hepatic cyst is necessary in order to adopt the best treatment. The term hepatic cyst usually refers to simple hepatic cysts. Nonparasitic hepatic cysts are also linked to genetic disorders such as polycystic liver disease (PLD) with/without autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) or Caroli disease. Generally, patients with nonparasitic hepatic cysts less than 3 cm are asymptomatic. These cysts become symptomatic when are large, multiple, or complicated. Percutaneous abdominal ultrasound is the best imaging modality to diagnose hepatic cysts but must be completed by other imaging and serological tests. It is important to differentiate simple hepatic cyst from hydatid cyst, cystadenoma, and cystadenocarcinoma before proceeding with the treatment. Sometimes the diagnosis is very challenging. Asymptomatic single liver cysts need only surveillance, but symptomatic and complicated ones require therapeutic intervention. Percutaneous aspiration of the cyst under ultrasound guidance is a mini-invasive procedure generally associated with sclerotherapy. The highest success rates were reported for laparoscopic or open cyst fenestration. Liver transplantation is indicated for patients with severe PLD

Reducing Aggressive Responses to TCAS: Evaluation of a TCAS Training Program

The Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is an aircraft collision avoidance system designed to prevent mid-air collisions. While responding to a TCAS advisory is generally the safe course of action, instances of overly aggressive responses have resulted in injuries to crew members and passengers as well as disruptions in air traffic operations. However, current training standards do not address the need to mitigate overly aggressive responses. This paper details the design and evaluation of a training program for TCAS which incorporated a learning objective related to mitigating aggressive responses to advisories. The impact of the training program was evaluated by comparing the results of two flight simulator experiments. These experiments examined “trained” and “untrained” pilot responses to TCAS advisories in an integrated flight deck-Air Traffic Control simulator. Overall, the training program had a significant impact on the pilots’ behavior and aggressive responses to TCAS advisories were decreased