Performance analysis of a CDMA network with fixed overlapping sectors in nonuniform angular traffic

The problem of base station antenna assignment (BSAA) with minimum mobile transmit power (MTP) is studied for CDMA networks with fixed overlapping sector antenna architecture (FOSAA) where more than one co-located antenna is used to cover any space in the network. It is first noted that the non-FOSAA has limitations in switching users between in-cell sectors and also out-of-cell sectors in moderately-loaded networks. It is then shown that by employing overlapping sectors in FOSAA, we can exploit the flexibility of assigning a user to one of possibly many potential antenna to effectively support the nonuniform azimuthal traffic. It is also shown that the BSAA problem with minimum MTP is a special case of a general problem that was solved by Hanly and Yates. The process of dynamic cell sectoring is differentiated twofold as cell-breathing (CB) and cell-slicing (CS) and the latter can be viewed as being azimuthal discrete counterpart of the former radial scheme. The hybrid scheme, CB+CS, offers better performance in terms of minimum total MTP in a FOSAA system. Simulation results demonstrate the flexibility and effectiveness of the FOSAA system in nonuniform angular traffic.     

A reconfigurable high-frequency phase-locked loop

Reconfigurable phase-locked loops (PLLs) present the advantage of fast-frequency acquisition combined with narrow-noise bandwidth, since their parameters can be dynamically adjusted. High-frequency PLLs are generally implemented by means of analog circuits which are not easily reconfigured during operation. However, the five-port technique allows the discrimination of the phase difference between two microwave signals using a mixed circuit. In this paper the design of a PLL comprising a five-port based phase detector is presented. This system benefits from the phase-detector digital circuit to carry out the loop filtering. Simulation results for different conditions of noise and frequency acquisition are shown. We also present measurement results to confirm the simulations.     

A Mixed Closure-CSP Method for Solving Scheduling Problems

Scheduling problems can be viewed as a set of temporal metric and disjunctive constraints and so they can be formulated in terms of CSP techniques. In the literature, there are CSP-based methods which sequentially interleave search efforts with the application of consistency enforcing mechanisms and variable/ordering heuristics. Therefore, the number of backtrackings needed to obtain a solution is reduced. In this paper, we propose a new method that effectively integrates the CSP process into a limited closure process: not by interleaving them but rather as a part of the same process. Such an integration allows us to define more informed heuristics. These heuristics are used to limit the complete closure process to a maximum number of disjunctions, thereby reducing its complexity while at the same time reducing the search space. Some open disjunctive solutions can be maintained in the CSP process, limiting the number of backtrackings necessary, and avoiding having to know all the problem constraints in advance. Our experiments with flow-shop and job-shop instances show that this approach obtains a feasible solution/optimal solution without having to use backtracking in most cases. We also analyze the behaviour of our algorithm when some constraints are known dynamically and we demonstrate that it can provide better results than a pure CSP process.     

Effects of ozonized water and heat treatment on the papaya fruit epidermis

This study examined the effects of O₃ and hot water treatments on the epidermis of Golden papaya fruit. Heat treatments were applied in a hot water brushing (HWB) system. Papayas were brushed under a pressurized hot water rinse stage at 45, 55 and 65 °C for 60 s. In the HWB treatment, 4 ppm ozone was applied to the papayas for 1 or 2 min. The results show that ozone applications did not affect the fruit's cuticular surface, while heat treatments allowed natural fissures on the fruit epidermis to recover. Several crystalloid forms were identified on the epidermis of the papayas after the heat treatments. The predominant crystalloid forms on papayas are tubular and there is a positive response to temperature; the higher the temperature, the larger and more frequent the tubular crystalloids.     

Evaluation of thermal and mechanical properties of rubber compositions based on SBR extended with safe oils

The extender oil usually employed in compositions of rubbers based on styrene and butadiene (SBR) 1712 is the distilled aromatic extract (DAE). In this work, this oil was substituted by oils with low levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): treated residual aromatic extract (TRAE) and two naphthenic oils from different suppliers (HN1 and HN2). This substitution was performed in response to REACH Regulation (EC No. 1907/2006 European Parliament and the Council of December 18, 2006, Annex XVII), which state that the sum of individual PAHs should be below 10 mg/kg and the levels of benzo (a) pyrene (BaP) should not exceed 1 mg/kg. Infrared spectroscopy was employed to characterize the structure of crude oils and respective SBR compositions. Thermal properties of the materials were evaluated by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry. Mechanical properties as tension tests, hardness, abrasion resistance, and resilience were also determined. The final results showed that it is possible to replace the extender oil DAE for any of the oils tested, specially the naphthenic HN1, without any loss of the properties evaluated in this study for the SBR compositions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

An energy efficient middleware for an ad-hoc AAL wireless sensor network

DIA (Dispositivo Inteligente de Alarma, in Spanish) is an AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) system that allows to infer a potential dangerous action of an elderly person living alone at home. This inference is obtained by a specific sensorisation with sensor nodes (portables and fixes) and a reasoning layer embedded in a PC that learns of the users behaviour patterns and advices when actual one differs significantly of the normal patterns. In AAL systems, energy is a limited resource therefore sensor devices need to be properly managed to conserve energy. In this paper, we introduce the design and implementation of innovative and specific mechanisms at the sensory layer middleware which is capable of, first to discriminate spurious motion detections assuming that these signals do not resemble the patterns of real motion detections and, second to reduce the dynamics of messages by a sensor signal processing in order to compress the whole information in one single event. The middleware achieves power saving by modifying the raw information from sensors and adapting it to the predefined semantic of the reasoning layer. It manages the important task of data processing from sensors (raw information), and transfers the pre-processed information into the top layer of reasoning in a more energy efficient way. We also address the trade-off between reducing power consumption and reducing delay for incoming data. We present results from experiments using our implementation of these mechanisms at the middleware that comprises from node firmware to the PC driver. The number of messages of the proposed method with respect to the raw data is reduced by approximately 98.5%. The resources used in the PIR signal processing is reduced by approximately 85%. The resulting delay introduced is small (10–19 s) but system dynamics is slow enough to avoid contextualisation errors or reduction of system performance. We consider these results as very satisfactory.     

Characterization and properties of blended cement matrices containing activated bamboo leaf wastes

The worldwide production of bamboo generates large volumes of leaf wastes, which are deposited in landfills or burned in an uncontrolled manner, with negative effects in the environment. The ash obtained by calcining of the bamboo leaf waste, shows good qualities as supplementary cementing material for the production of blended cements.The current paper shows a detailed scientific study of a Brazilian bamboo leaf ash (BLA) calcined at 600 °C in small scale condition, by using different techniques (XRF, XRD, SEM/EDX, FT–IR, TG/DTG) and technical study in order to analyse the behaviour of this ash in blended cements elaborated with 10% and 20% by mass of BLA. The results stated that this ash shows a very high pozzolanic activity, with a reaction rate constant K of the order of 10^?1/h and type I CSH gel was the main hydrated phase obtained from pozzolanic reaction. The BLA blended cements (10% and 20%) complied with the physical and mechanical requirements of the existing European standards.     

Enzymatic synthesis of sugar esters and their potential as surface-active stabilizers of coconut milk emulsions

Sugar esters are compounds with surfactant properties (biosurfactants), i.e., capable of reducing the surface tension and promote the emulsification of immiscible liquids. On the other hand, as with all emulsions, coconut milk is not physically stable and is prone to phase separation. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the synthesis of fructose, sucrose and lactose esters from the corresponding sugars using Candida antarctica type B lipase immobilized in two different supports, namely acrylic resin and chitosan, and evaluate its application in the stabilization of coconut milk emulsions. The enzyme immobilized on chitosan showed the highest yield of lactose ester production (84.1%). Additionally, the production of fructose ester was found to be higher for the enzyme immobilized on the acrylic resin support (74.3%) as compared with the one immobilized on chitosan (70.1%). The same trend was observed for the sucrose ester, although with lower percentage yields. Sugar esters were then added to samples of fresh coconut milk and characterized according to their surface tension, emulsification index and particle size distribution. Although the microscopic analysis showed similar results for all sugar esters, results indicated lactose ester as the best biosurfactant, with a surface tension of 38.0 N/m and an emulsification index of 54.1%, when used in a ratio of 1:10 (biosurfactant:coconut milk, v/v) for 48 h experiments.