Efficient Resource Allocation and Paving the Way Towards Highly Efficient IMT-Advanced Systems

Recently, new network topologies including relays and meshed networks have emerged as a key technology receiving a lot of attention due to the increasing need for additional resources such as spectrum, and required high data-rates specified by the International Mobile Telecommunication-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) systems (Report ITU-R M.1645, Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT-2000 and systems beyond IMT-2000). These systems are designed to provide diverse services sustaining low to high mobility applications and yielding a significant improvement in terms of Quality-of-Service (QoS). In this paper, we identify and describe the novel network topologies that will be able to accommodate the high data rates demanded within the spectrum scarcity paradigm. By efficiently integrating mesh networks and flexible resource sharing, the overall network efficiency is shown to increase. In addition, direct terminal-to-terminal (T2T) communication both with and without the use of relays is presented, where terminals communicate without the use of base stations (BSs) as it is done in conventional systems. The results show significant gains in terms of throughput, average frame delays and power consumption compared to conventional networks. Finally, open issues and potential challenges are addressed.

Simultaneous oxidation of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide with ozone and hydrogen peroxide

The use of ozone and hydrogen peroxide for the simultaneous oxidation of nitrogen and sulfur oxides was studied in experiments carried out in a stirred cell. It was found that in a gas mixture, containing both nitrogen and sulfur oxides, only the nitrogen oxides are oxidized by ozone. Contrary to earlier results, sulfur dioxide does not disturb the oxidation of nitrogen oxides under dry conditions. The consumption of ozone in the oxidation of nitric oxide was slightly below the stoichiometric level because the ozone was introduced into the reactor in the oxygen flow. When the molar ratio between ozone and nitric oxide was more than 0.4, some of the nitric oxide was oxidized to higher oxides of nitrogen, the final product being a solid mixture of N₂O₅ and (NO)₂S₂O₇. Some nitrosyl sulfuric acid was formed in the aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide in addition to sulfuric acid under wet conditions. Some white solid was found on the walls of the reactor. This solid is said it the literature to consist of H₂SO₄, HNOSO₄ and (NO)₂S₂O₇.     

Influence of erroneous learning samples on adaptation in on-line handwriting recognition

We have considered problems involved in the self-supervised learning process of an on-line handwriting recognition system. Our system is able to recognize isolated characters by comparing them to prototype characters with a method based on the Dynamic Time Warping algorithm. The recognition system is adapted by adding new prototypes, inactivating confusing or erroneous ones, and reshaping existing prototypes with a method based on the Learning Vector Quantization. We have analyzed the sources of erroneous learning samples and studied the influence of such samples on the performance of the recognizer via simulations. In these simulations, two adaptation strategies combined with four methods for inactivating prototypes were applied. The results of the simulations showed that the adaptation strategies are able to improve the system's recognition rate and the prototype inactivation methods do reduce the harmful effects of erroneous learning samples.     

Solid-State Reactions between Cu(Ni) Alloys and Sn

Solid-state interfacial reactions between Sn and Cu(Ni) alloys have been investigated at the temperature of 125°C. The following results were obtained. Firstly, the addition of 0.1 at.% Ni to Cu decreased the total thickness of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer to about half of that observed in the␣binary Cu/Sn diffusion couple; the Ni addition decreased especially the thickness of Cu₃Sn. Secondly, the addition of 1 to 2.5 at.% Ni to Cu further decreased the thickness of Cu₃Sn, increased that of Cu₆Sn₅ (compared to that in the binary Cu/Sn couple) and produced significant amount of voids at the Cu/Cu₃Sn interface. Thirdly, the addition of 5 at.% Ni to Cu increased the total thickness of the IMC layer to about two times that observed in the binary Cu/Sn diffusion couple and made the Cu₃Sn disappear. Fourthly, in contrast to the previous case, the addition of 10 at.% Ni to Cu decreased the total IMC (Cu₆Sn₅) thickness again close to that of the Cu/Sn couple. With this Ni content no voids were detected. The results are rationalized with the help of␣the thermodynamics of the Sn-Cu-Ni system as well as with kinetic considerations.     

Encapsulated Cobalt Oxide on Carbon Nanotube Support as Catalyst for Selective Continuous Hydrogenation of the Showcase Substrate 1‐Iodo‐4‐nitrobenzene

A carbon nanotube supported catalyst containing cobalt/cobalt oxide (Co/Co₃O₄) nanoparticles encapsulated within a shell of nitrogen‐doped graphene layers (Co₃O₄/NGr@CNT) was prepared. It shows excellent chemoselectivity in the hydrogenation of 1‐iodo‐4‐nitrobenzene, which contains an iodine substituent highly sensitive against hydrodehalogenation. In contrast to traditional activated charcoal‐supported catalysts such as Pt‐V/C or the closely related Vulcan carbon black supported Co₃O₄/NGr@C, the advantageous morphological properties of the CNT support allow for the application of the new Co₃O₄/NGr@CNT as a fixed bed catalyst in a continuous flow reactor. Under optimized conditions, no dehalogenation side products could be detected. This remarkable selectivity in combination with its mechanical stability under operation conditions render Co₃O₄/NGr@CNT a catalyst particularly relevant for application in continuous processes based on a packed bed reactor.

     

Effects of chlorine and sulphur on particle formation in wood combustion performed in a laboratory scale reactor

Fine particle formation in wood combustion was studied in a laboratory scale laminar flow reactor at various flue gas chlorine and sulphur concentrations. Aerosol samples were quenched at around 850 °C using a porous tube diluter. Fine particle number concentrations, mass concentrations, size distributions and chemical compositions were measured. In addition, flue gas composition, including SO₂ and HCl, was monitored. Experimental results were interpreted by thermodynamic equilibrium calculations.Addition of HCl clearly raised fine particle mass concentration (PM1.0) which was because of increased release of ash-forming material to fine particles. Especially the release of K, Na, Zn and Cd to fine particles increased. These species form chlorides which apparently increases their volatilization from the fuel. When a sufficient amount of SO₂ was supplied in a chlorine rich combustion (S/Cl molar ratio from 4.7 to 7.5), most of the HCl stayed in the gas phase, release of ash-forming elements decreased and also fine particle concentrations dropped significantly. The sulphation of alkali metals is suggested to play a key role in the observed decrease in the fine particle concentration. It seems that the formation of sulphates leads to alkali metal retention in the coarse particle fraction.     

Cold temperature PM emissions measurement: method evaluation and application to light duty vehicles

This work examines the methodology to sample and measure the number and size of motor vehicle particulate emissions (PM) at subambient temperatures. The study has two principal objectives. The first is to address the following question: which aspects of the particle sampling, dilution, and size measurement process must be made at the vehicle test temperature to obtain an accurate representation of the PM emissions? The second is to perform a preliminary overview of how subambient temperature operation affects PM emissions from the major classes of current model light duty vehicles. The principal findings are the following: (1) The temperature of the particle size instruments, test cell versus room temperature, has little effect on the measurements. (2) Once the engine has warmed, solid particle (soot) mode emissions in the cold test cell are similar to those at room temperature. The first finding simplifies cold temperature emissionstesting because it allows particle sizing instruments to be placed outside the cold test cell and operated at room temperature. The latter is consistent with the expectation that solid particles are formed in the engine and are therefore relatively unaffected by ambient conditions after engine warm-up. Use of cold dilution air in the room-temperature test cell increases the number and size of nuclei particles; however, the effect of dilution airtemperature was inconclusive in the cold test cell.     

Distinguishing fuel and lubricating oil combustion products in diesel engine exhaust particles

The main sources of particulate emissions from engines are fuel and lubricating oil. In this study, particles emitted by a medium speed diesel engine for locomotive use were characterized chemically by using a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS). Additionally, positive matrix factorization (PMF) was applied to the SP-AMS data for the separation of fuel from lubricating oil and/or oil additives in diesel engine emissions. The mass spectra of refractory species, i.e., metals and rBC, were included in the PMF input matrix in addition to organics in order to utilize the benefit of the SP-AMS to measure non-refractory and refractory species. In general, particulate matter emitted by the diesel engine was dominated by organics (51%) followed by refractory black carbon (rBC; 48%), trace metals and inorganic species (1%). Regarding the sources of particles, PMF indicated four factors for particle mass of which two were related to lubricating oil-like aerosol (LOA1, 29% and LOA2, 24%) and two others to diesel-like fuel aerosol (DFA1, 35% and DFA2, 12%). The main difference between LOA1 and LOA2 was the presence of soot in LOA1 and metals in LOA2 factors. DFA factors represented burned (DFA1) and unburned fuel (DFA2). The results from the PMF analysis were completed with particle size distributions, volatility measurements and particle morphology analyses.

Copyright © 2019 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Technology beats algorithms (in exact string matching)

More than 120 algorithms have been developed for exact string matching within the last 40 years. We show by experiments that the naïve algorithm exploiting SIMD instructions of modern CPUs (with symbols compared in a special order) is the fastest one for patterns of length up to about 50 symbols and extremely good for longer patterns and small alphabets. The algorithm compares 16 or 32 characters in parallel by applying SSE2 or AVX2 instructions, respectively. Moreover, it uses loop peeling to further speed up the searching phase. We tried several orders for comparisons of pattern symbols, and the increasing order of their probabilities in the text was the best.