Mathematical optimization and game theoretic techniques for multicell beamforming

The main challenge in mobile wireless communications is the incompatibility between limited wireless resources and increasing demand on wireless services. The employment of frequency reuse technique has effectively increased the capacity of the network and improved the efficiency of frequency utilization. However, with the emergence of smart phones and even more data hungry applications such as interactive multimedia, higher data rate is demanded by mobile users. On the other hand, the interference induced by spectrum sharing arrangement has severely degraded the quality of service for users and restricted further reduction of cell size and enhancement of frequency reuse factor. Beamforming technique has great potential to improve the network performance. With the employment of multiple antennas, a base station is capable of directionally transmitting signals to desired users through narrow beams rather than omnidirectional waves. This will result users suffer less interference from the signals transmitted to other co-channel users. In addition, with the combination of beamforming technique and appropriate power control schemes, the resources of the wireless networks can be used more efficiently. In this thesis, mathematical optimization and game theoretic techniques have been exploited for beamforming designs within the context of multicell wireless networks. Both the coordinated beamforming and the coalitional game theoretic based beamforming techniques have been proposed. Initially, coordinated multicell beamforming algorithms for mixed design criteria have been developed, in which some users are allowed to achieve target signal-to-interference- plus-noise ratios (SINRs) while the SINRs of rest of the users in all cells will be balanced to a maximum achievable SINR. An SINR balancing based coordinated multicell beamforming algorithm has then been proposed which is capable of balancing users in different cells to different SINR levels. Finally, a coalitional game based multicell beamforming has been considered, in which the proposed coalition formation algorithm can reach to stable coalition structures. The performances of all the proposed algorithms have been demonstrated using MATLAB based simulations

Coalitional games for downlink multicell beamforming

A coalitional game is proposed for multi-cell multiuser downlink beamforming. Each base station intends to minimize its transmission power while aiming to attain a set of target signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINRs) for its users. In order to reduce power consumption, base stations have incentive to cooperate with other base stations to mitigate intercell interference. The coalitional game is introduced where base stations are allowed to forge partial cooperation rather than full cooperation. The partition form coalitional game is formulated with the consideration that beamformer design of a coalition depends on the coalition structure outside the considered coalition. We first formulate the beamformer design for a given coalition structure, in which base stations in a coalition greedily minimize the total weighted transmit power without considering interference leakage to users in other coalitions. This can be considered as a non-cooperative game with each player as a distinct coalition. By introducing cost for cooperation, the coalition formation game is considered for the power minimization based beamforming. A merge-regret based sequential coalition formation algorithm has been developed that is capable of reaching a unique stable coalition structure. Finally, an α-Modification algorithm has been proposed to improve the performance of the coalition formation algorithm

Association between tumor necrosis factor alpha rs1800629 polymorphism and risk of osteoarthritis in a Chinese population

<div><p>Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative disease affecting articular cartilage. Some studies indicate that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) gene rs1800629 polymorphism was associated with OA risk among Caucasian populations. To examine the role of this candidate gene in Asian populations, we conducted a hospital-based case-control study involving 257 knee OA patients and 305 controls in a Chinese population. Genotyping was performed using a custom-by-design 48-Plex single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Scan™ kit. Our study indicated that the AA genotype of TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism was associated with increased risk of OA. Subsequently, we conducted a meta-analysis and found that rs1800629 polymorphism increased the risk of OA in the recessive and homozygous models. Stratification analysis of ethnicity also obtained a significant association among Asian populations. In conclusion, TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism confers susceptibility to OA, especially among Asians. Larger studies with more diverse ethnic populations are needed to confirm these results.</p></div

Photoinduced Clusteroluminescence Redshift of Poly(methyl acrylate) <i>via</i> Radicals

One-step photopolymerization and photochromism of clusteroluminescence (CL) polymers mean that the polymer materials can be prepared on a large scale and applied widely. Herein, we reported unique photochromic CL polymers prepared by one-step radical photopolymerization. Seven copolymerized films (PMAxBA) with methyl acrylate and butyl acrylate as monomers, a cross-linked PMA (PMA-CL) film, a double-network PMAPBA film based on the first network PMA-CL, and four PMA films with increasing content of photoinitiator ethoxy benzoin (BEE) were prepared to study CL formation and transition. Experimental results prove that increasing the ratio of the PMA chains in PMAxBA enhances the photochromic effect, which verifies the main role of PMA chains with the shorter branched alkanes. Surprisingly, cross-linking in PMA-CL strengthens interchain packing and interchain through-space interactions (TSIs), leading to the formation of larger clusters and further CL redshift from 410 to 491 nm, whereas the PBA chains filled in the cross-linked network weakens interchain TSIs among PMA chains and makes CL red shift from 410 to 472 nm. In addition, as the BEE content increases in the PMA films, a higher radical concentration also promotes the formation of TSIs and clusters, which benefits the photochromism. For applications, colorless, dissolvable, and thermoplastic PMA featuring photochromism in this case can be widely used in information loading, rewriting, and multifunctional coating. This work provides a new strategy to enrich the properties of CL polymers toward diverse applications

The firing rate map and its approximation.

<p>(A) The firing rate map derived from the leaky integrate-fire model (1) by simulating the differential equation (1) with fixed and on each trial. (B) The approximation of the firing rate map.</p

The stability of drinking water treatment residue with ozone treatment

<p>The best management of drinking water treatment residue (DWTR) in environmental remediation should be based on comprehensively understanding the effectiveness and risk of DWTR. In this study, the variation in physicochemical properties, metal lability, and adsorption capability of DWTR under oxidizing condition were investigated. The oxidizing condition was set up using ozone treatment, and the laboratory incubation test were performed within 50 d in association with thermogravimetry, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry, specific surface area and porosity analyzer, fractionation, and P adsorption test. The results showed that ozone treatment had limited effect on the properties of organic matter, the lability of Al, Cu, and Fe, the P adsorption capability, and the distributions of the adsorbed P in DWTR, but the treatment increased N₂ sorption/desorption, specific surface area, total pore volume of DWTR and led to the transformation of Mn from acid-soluble to reducible fractions. These findings demonstrated that DWTR generally kept stable under oxidizing environment; even oxidizing environment may induce a tendency of increasing the adsorption capability and decreasing the environmental risk of DWTR. Accordingly, the effectiveness and safety of DWTR can be maintained under natural aerobic environment, and DWTR is a reliable adsorbent that could be recycled in environmental remediation.</p

Nucleotide diversity (Pi) in the chloroplast genome of ten Myristicaceae species.

(A:Pi value (range from 0–0.00886) of protein coding genes; B:Pi value (0.00054–0.04744) of intergenic regions genes).</p

Transition between spiking and bursting in the ONN with Hz (left column) and in the SNN with Hz (right column).

<p>Both networks are composed of 48 neurons and 12 bundles. (A,B) Ratemeter records of 5 representative cells with time span of 600 s. (C,D) Records of the oxytocin store level of cell 1. (E,F) Voltage trace(blue) and spiking threshold(red) of cell 1. Note that bursting events are essentially attributed to the drop of the spiking threshold and store level.</p

Oxytocin network and its behavior at multi-time scales.

<p>(A) Schematic diagram illustrating the topology of the model network; for each cell, two yellow squares indicate which bundles are occupied by the cell dendrites. (B) A few clusters of cells are found in the network where neurons (circles) interact via both dendrites (lines). Such clusters may occasionally be connected through a common bundle. (C) Ratemeter records of three representative cells showing bursts in response to simulated suckling. A clear spike at the firing rate level is observed. (D) Raster plots of the activity of all 48 cells in the network through the first simulated milk-ejection burst. Note the approximately synchronous activation of all model cells during a burst. (E) Adding excitatory input to the network will paradoxically destroy the bursting activity. (F) Increasing inhibitory input can sometime induce bursting.</p

Phase portraits of the system (8) with and varied : (A) Hz; (B) Hz; (C) Hz; (D) Hz; (E) Hz; (F) Hz; (G) Hz; (H) Hz; (I) Hz.

<p>The -nullcline and -nullcline are colored in blue and green respectively. The red circles represent the unstable limit cycles, and the black curves stand for the orbits with the initial point .</p