Differential temporal beta‐diversity patterns of native and non‐native arthropod species in a fragmented native forest landscape

An important factor that hinders the management of non‐native species is a general lack of information regarding the biogeography of non‐natives, and, in particular, their rates of turnover. Here, we address this research gap by analysing differences in temporal beta‐diversity (using both pairwise and multiple‐time dissimilarity metrics) between native and non‐native species, using a novel time‐series dataset of arthropods sampled in native forest fragments in the Azores. We use a null model approach to determine whether temporal beta‐diversity was due to deterministic processes or stochastic colonisation and extinction events, and linear modelling selection to assess the factors driving variation in temporal beta‐diversity between plots. In accordance with our predictions, we found that the temporal beta‐diversity was much greater for non‐native species than for native species, and the null model analyses indicated that the turnover of non‐native species was due to stochastic events. No predictor variables were found to explain the turnover of native or non‐native species. We attribute the greater turnover of non‐native species to source‐sink processes and the close proximity of anthropogenic habitats to the fragmented native forest plots sampled in our study. Thus, our findings point to ways in which the study of turnover can be adapted for future applications in habitat island systems. The implications of this for biodiversity conservation and management are significant. The high rate of stochastic turnover of non‐native species indicates that attempts to simply reduce the populations of non‐native species in situ within native habitats may not be successful. A more efficient management strategy would be to interrupt source‐sink dynamics by improving the harsh boundaries between native and adjacent anthropogenic habitats.Portuguese FCT‐NETBIOME – ISLANDBIODIV grant 0003/2011.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Scordator: A digital map of all scordature

Scordatura is often used in stringed instruments to overcome constraints posed by their tuning. Finding the right scordatura for a particular situation may be a time-consuming task, especially for non-guitarist composers. In this contribution, we present a web application designed to show a tuning chart for any chordophone equipped with a maximum of eight strings, each tunable to a pitch in the range of a full keyboard. The application also provides visualization of the available positions for live MIDI notes within a given scordatura

On the Use of 1-bit DACs in Massive MIMO Systems

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are being proposed for next generation broadband wireless systems. However, as the complexity of implementation grows with the number of antenna elements, their feasibility is a challenging task. Consider very low complexity, 1-bit digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) for the downlink of massive MIMO systems. The impact of the resultant severe non-linear distortion effects is analysed when a low-complexity maximum ratio transmission technique is employed for user separation. The non-linear distortion levels decrease with the number of transmit antennas allowing good performance, even with 1-bit DACs are shown

SC-FDE for Offset Modulations: An Efficient Transmission Technique for Broadband Wireless Systems

It is widely accepted that SC-FDE (Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization) is an excellent candidate for broadband wireless systems, especially when an efficient power amplification is intended. If grossly nonlinear power amplifiers are employed, conventional QPSK (Quaternary Phase Shift Keying) or QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) modulations should be replaced by offset modulations such as OQPSK (Offset QPSK) and OQAM (Offset QAM). In fact, offset signals have much lower dynamic range than non-offset signals, with OQPSK signals being able to have an almost constant envelope. This paper considers frequency-domain receiver design for OQPSK and OQAM schemes. It is shown that FDE (Frequency Domain Equalization) designed for non-offset modulations are not suitable for offset modulations due to the residual IQI (In-phase/Quadrature Interference), i.e. the interference between in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components at the sampling instants. Therefore, we propose several FDE designs where there is no IQI in the sampling instants as well as iterative FDE receivers with IQI cancellation. Our receivers have excellent performance, with the linear designs significantly outperforming linear FDE for non-offset modulations and the iterative designs with performance close to the MFB (Matched Filter Bound)

On the Detection of CE-OFDM Signals

In this letter, we study the optimum performance of constant envelope orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CE-OFDM) signals in both ideal additive white Gaussian noise channels and frequency-selective channels, and we compare it to the performance of conventional CE-OFDM receivers based on a phase detector. It is shown that the phase detector can achieve optimum performance, but only in scenarios where the power efficiency is very low. For this reason, the use of CE-OFDM schemes in power-constrained scenarios may demand other type of receivers, such as optimum-based receiver

A MIMO optimization for physical layer security

The use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver aims to improve performance or to increase symbol rate of systems, but it usually requires higher implementation complexity. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) architectures can be used for combined transmit and receive diversity, for the parallel transmission of data or spatial multiplexing. When used for spatial multiplexing, MIMO technology promises high bit rates in a narrow bandwidth. Therefore, it is of high significance to spectrum users. In this case, MIMO system considers the transmission of different signals from each transmit element so that the receiving antenna array receives a superposition of all transmitted signals. Mobile communication systems must support multiple users achieving at the same time privacy of users contents. Security common solutions are based on encrypted algorithms from higher layers, such as private and public encrypted keys. Other possibility is to implement physical layer security schemes. One advantage of physical layer security relies on their ability to be combined with other security schemes from higher layers. Due to the broadcast nature of MIMO systems, security is a critical issue. However, the constellation shaping on the desired direction introduced by a new proposed transmitter means that we have directivity at the transmitted constellation that can be employed to assure security at physical layer. Privacy is achieved since each user must know the set of coefficients associated to each BPSK component as well as the array configuration; otherwise receives useless data. Therefore, the inherent security lies on the constellation directivity, i.e., the direction in which the constellation is optimized, which can be improved by changes on coefficients’ phases or using constellations that are decomposed with a higher number of BPSK components. The several cases analyzed in this speech show effectiveness of the proposed approach to implement a security scheme at physical layer level

Multiple Input Multiple Output System with Multi User Support Based on Directive Information Transmission

Low interference and privacy are crucial requirements for system reliability and security. Present and further mobile communication systems must support multiple users achieving at same time low interference levels. Several solutions can be adopted to reduce interference between users, such as spreading codes or beam forming. For very high bit rates ¯rst solution must be discarded. On the other hand, in environments with a very high number of users beamforming can impose demanding hardware requirements in mobile devices, which is undesirable. Transmitters with directivity introduced at information level where the transmitted constellation is only optimized in the desired direction can also be used to assure low interference. Under this approach, power e±ciency on ampli¯cation can be also improved, due to the fact that constellations are decomposed into several BPSK (Bi Phase Shift Keying) or QPSK components (Quadri-Phase Shift Keying), being each one separately ampli¯ed and transmitted independently by an antenna. Therefore, several users can coexist since each user must know the con¯guration parameters associated to the constellation con¯guration, i.e., the direction in which the constellation is optimized, otherwise receives a degenerated constellation with useless data. The simulation results show the e®ectiveness in user data stream separation of the proposed approach

Physical layer security scheme based on power efficient multi-antenna transmitter

Security is a demanding challenge in wireless systems due to the broadcast nature of the channel. One the other hand security at physical layer can increase overall system’s security since it can be combined with other security schemes from higher layers. High throughput required by modern wireless networks can be assured by MIMO (Multiple-input multiple-output), but when high spectral efficiencies are needed multilevel modulations with high peak-to-average power ratios should be used, which may affect efficiency of power amplification. This problem can be avoided by the MISO (Multi input Single Output) transmitter considered here, where transmitted multilevel constellations are the result of the combination of several uncorrelated BPSK (Bi-Phase Shift Keying) components, that are amplified and transmitted independently by an antenna. The constellation shaping done by this transmitter means directivity in the transmitted constellation that can be used to assure security at physical layer. Security as well complexity are assured since any eavesdropper must know the set of coefficients associated to each BPSK component as well as the antenna array configuration. It is shown that the inherent security assured by this transmitter allows secrecy at physical layer. Several examples are analyzed and the corresponding results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach to implement a security scheme at physical layer level

Distributed Algorithm for Target Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks Using RSS and AoA Measurements

This paper addresses target localization problem in a cooperative 3-D wireless sensor network (WSN). We employ a hybrid system that fuses distance and angle measurements, extracted from the received signal strength (RSS) and angle-of-arrival (AoA) information, respectively. Based on range measurement model and simple geometry, we derive a novel non-convex estimator based on the least squares (LS) criterion. The derived non-convex estimator tightly approximates the maximum likelihood (ML) one for small noise levels. We show that the developed non-convex estimator is suitable for distributed implementation, and that it can be transformed into a convex one by applying a second-order cone programming (SOCP) relaxation technique. We also show that the developed non-convex estimator can be transformed into a generalized trust region sub-problem (GTRS) framework, by following the squared range (SR) approach. The proposed SOCP algorithm for known transmit powers is then generalized to the case where the transmit powers are different and not known. Furthermore, we provide a detailed analysis of the computational complexity of the proposed algorithms. Our simulation results show that the new estimators have excellent performance in terms of the estimation accuracy and convergence, and they confirm the effectiveness of combining two radio measurements

Iterative FDE Receivers for UWB Systems with Strong Interference Levels

Since UWB (Ultra Wideband) signals usually share the spectrum with other transmissions, they tend to be subject to strong interference levels. The proposed iterative receiver combined with SC-FDE (Single-Carrier with Frequency-Domain Equalization) block transmission technique is an effective mechanism to mitigate such impairment of UWB signals. In order to further improve the performance through the exploitation of diversity, the proposed receiver implements an ARQ (Automatic Repeat ReQuest) error control technique. The combined technique results in a system able to face strong interference levels as well as deep fadings, even for fixed channels conditions