In vitro micropropagation of scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L. Her. ex Ait: syn P. roseum willd)

The objective of this study was to develop a rapid and efficient system for regenerating shoots from nodal explants of scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L. Her. ex Ait: syn. P. roseum willd). Single node stem explants were inoculated in MS media containing different combinations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) or naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 mg/l) in a 4x4 factorial experiment. Multiple shoots were induced in media supplemented with BAP and IAA, Maximum number of shoots (56 per explant) were observed in the medium containing BAP and IAA at 1 mg/l each, 30 days after inoculation. Micro shoots were subcultured once in every four weeks. Adventitious shoots were induced from in vitro grown leaves and petioles. Several regenerated shoots were rooted on MS half-strength medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and the plantlets were hardened in the growth chamber. This micropropagation system could be used for rapid and large-scale production of scented geranium.

Sidewall inclined slot in a rectangular waveguide: Theory and experiment

A novel analysis to compute the admittance characteristics of the slots cut in the narrow wall of a rectangular waveguide, which includes the corner diffraction effects and the finite waveguide wall thickness, is presented. A coupled magnetic field integral equation is formulated at the slot aperture which is solved by the Galerkin approach of the method of moments using entire domain sinusoidal basis functions. The externally scattered fields are computed using the finite difference method (FDM) coupled with the measured equation of invariance (MEI). The guide wall thickness forms a closed cavity and the fields inside it are evaluated using the standard FDM. The fields scattered inside the waveguide are formulated in the spectral domain for faster convergence compared to the traditional spatial domain expansions. The computed results have been compared with the experimental results and also with the measured data published in previous literature. Good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results is obtained to demonstrate the validity of the present analysis.

Low PAPR Square STBCs from Complex Partial-Orthogonal Designs (CPODs)

Space-time codes from complex orthogonal designs (CODs) with no zero entries offer low Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and avoid the problem of switching off antennas. But square CODs for 2(a) antennas with a + 1. complex variables, with no zero entries were discovered only for a <= 3 and if a + 1 = 2(k), for k >= 4. In this paper, a method of obtaining no zero entry (NZE) square designs, called Complex Partial-Orthogonal Designs (CPODs), for 2(a+1) antennas whenever a certain type of NZE code exists for 2(a) antennas is presented. Then, starting from a so constructed NZE CPOD for n = 2(a+1) antennas, a construction procedure is given to obtain NZE CPODs for 2n antennas, successively. Compared to the CODs, CPODs have slightly more ML decoding complexity for rectangular QAM constellations and the same ML decoding complexity for other complex constellations. Using the recently constructed NZE CODs for 8 antennas our method leads to NZE CPODs for 16 antennas. The class of CPODs do not offer full-diversity for all complex constellations. For the NZE CPODs presented in the paper, conditions on the signal sets which will guarantee full-diversity are identified. Simulation results show that bit error performance of our codes is same as that of the CODs under average power constraint and superior to CODs under peak power constraint.

Robust THP Transceiver Designs for Multiuser MIMO Downlink with Imperfect CSIT

We present robust joint nonlinear transceiver designs for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, and each user terminal is equipped with one or more receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for interuser interference precancellation at the transmitter. We consider robust transceiver designs that jointly optimize the transmit THP filters and receive filter for two models of CSIT errors. The first model is a stochastic error (SE) model, where the CSIT error is Gaussian-distributed. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by channel estimation error. In this case, the proposed robust transceiver design seeks to minimize a stochastic function of the sum mean square error (SMSE) under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We propose an iterative algorithm to solve this problem. The other model we consider is a norm-bounded error (NBE) model, where the CSIT error can be specified by an uncertainty set. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by quantization errors. In this case, we consider a worst-case design. For this model, we consider robust (i) minimum SMSE, (ii) MSE-constrained, and (iii) MSE-balancing transceiver designs. We propose iterative algorithms to solve these problems, wherein each iteration involves a pair of semidefinite programs (SDPs). Further, we consider an extension of the proposed algorithm to the case with per-antenna power constraints. We evaluate the robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT through simulation, and show that the proposed robust designs outperform nonrobust designs as well as robust linear transceiver designs reported in the recent literature.

Non-linear Transceiver Designs with Imperfect CSIT Using Convex Optimization

In this paper, we consider non-linear transceiver designs for multiuser multi-input multi-output (MIMO) down-link in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas and each user terminal is equipped with multiple receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for inter-user interference pre-cancellation at the transmitter. We investigate robust THP transceiver designs based on the minimization of BS transmit power with mean square error (MSE) constraints, and balancing of MSE among users with a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We show that these design problems can be solved by iterative algorithms, wherein each iteration involves a pair of convex optimization problems. The robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT is illustrated through simulations.

Application of z-COSY experiment and its variant for accurate chiral discrimination by H-1 NMR

We report the application of z-COSY experiment and a band selected version of it by employing a selective 90 degrees pulse entitled BASE-z-COSY for precise chiral discrimination, quantification of enantiomeric excess and the analyses of the H-1 NMR spectra of chiral molecules aligned in the chiral liquid crystalline solvent poly-gamma-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG). We have demonstrated their applicability for obtaining very high resolution in the H-1 NMR spectra of small organic molecules. It is well known that the commonly employed z-COSY experiment disentangles the spectral complexity, provides pure phase spectra with high resolution, aids in the complete spectral analyses, in addition to yielding information on relative signs of the Couplings. The BASE-z-COSY experiment possesses all these properties, permits the measure of enantiomeric excess, in addition to large saving of instrument time.

Binding of nucleobases with single-walled carbon nanotubes: Theory and experiment

We report the binding energy of various nucleobases (guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T) and cytosine (C)) with (5,5) single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) calculated using first-principle Hartre–Fock method (HF) together with classical force field. The binding energy without including the solvation effects of water decreases in the order G>A>T>C. The inclusion of solvation energy changes the order of binding preference to be G>T>A>C. Using isothermal titration (micro) calorimetry experiments, we also show the relative binding affinity to be T>A>C, in agreement with our calculations.

Low PAPR STBCs from Complex Partial-Orthogonal Designs (CPODs)

Space-time codes from complex orthogonal designs (CODs) with no zero entries offer low Peak to Average power ratio (PAPR) and avoid the problem of turning off antennas. But CODs for 2(a) antennas with a + 1 complex variables, with no zero entries are not known in the literature for a >= 4. In this paper, a method of obtaining no zero entry (NZE) codes, called Complex Partial-Orthogonal Designs (CPODs), for 2(a+1) antennas whenever a certain type of NZE code exists for 2(a) antennas is presented. This is achieved with slight increase in the ML decoding complexity for regular QAM constellations and no increase for other complex constellations. Since NZE CODs have been constructed recently for 8 antennas our method leads to NZE CPODs for 16 antennas. Moreover, starting from certain NZE CPODs for n antennas, a construction procedure is given to obtain NZE CPODs for 2n antennas. The class of CPODs do not offer full-diversity for all complex constellations. For the NZE CPODs presented in the paper, conditions on the signal sets which will guarantee full-diversity are identified. Simulations results show that bit error performance of our codes under average power constraint is same as that of the CODs and superior to CODs under peak power constraint.

Complex near-orthogonal designs with no zero entry

Zero entries in complex orthogonal designs (CODs) impede their practical implementation. In this paper, a method of obtaining a no zero entry (NZE) code for 2(k+1) antennas whenever a NZE code exists for 2(k) antennas is presented. This is achieved with slight increase in the ML decoding complexity for regular QAM constellations and no increase for other complex constellations. Since NZE CODs have been constructed recently for 8 antennas our method leads to NZE codes for 16 antennas. Simulation results show good performance of our new codes compared to the well known constructions for 16 and 32 antennas under peak power constraints.

Low-delay, high-rate, non-square STBCs from scaled complex orthogonal designs

Space-time block codes (STBCs) obtained from non-square complex orthogonal designs are bandwidth efficient compared to those from square real/complex orthogonal designs for colocated coherent MIMO systems and has other applications in (i) non-coherent MIMO systems with non-differential detection, (ii) Space-Time-Frequency codes for MIMO-OFDM systems and (iii) distributed space-time coding for relay channels. Liang (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 2003) has constructed maximal rate non-square designs for any number of antennas, with rates given by [(a+1)/(2a)] when number of transmit antennas is 2a-1 or 2a. However, these designs have large delays. When large number of antennas are considered this rate is close to 1/2. Tarokh et al (IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 1999) have constructed rate 1/2 non-square CODs using the rate-1 real orthogonal designs for any number of antennas, where the decoding delay of these codes is less compared to the codes constructed by Liang for number of transmit antennas more than 5. In this paper, we construct a class of rate-1/2 codes for arbitrary number of antennas where the decoding delay is reduced by 50% when compared with the rate-1/2 codes given by Tarokh et al. It is also shown that even though scaling the variables helps to lower the delay it can not be used to increase the rate.

Robust joint precoder/receive filter designs for multiuser MIMO downlink

In this paper, we consider robust joint linear precoder/receive filter designs for multiuser multi-input multi-output (MIMO) downlink that minimize the sum mean square error (SMSE) in the presence of imperfect channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, and each user terminal is equipped with one or more receive antennas. We consider a stochastic error (SE) model and a norm-bounded error (NBE) model for the CSIT error. In the case of CSIT error following SE model, we compute the desired downlink precoder/receive filter matrices by solving the simpler uplink problem by exploiting the uplink-downlink duality for the MSE region. In the case of the CSIT error following the NBE model, we consider the worst-case SMSE as the objective function, and propose an iterative algorithm for the robust transceiver design. The robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT is illustrated through simulations.

Process variability-aware statistical hybrid modeling of dynamic power dissipation in 65 nm CMOS designs

A generalized technique is proposed for modeling the effects of process variations on dynamic power by directly relating the variations in process parameters to variations in dynamic power of a digital circuit. The dynamic power of a 2-input NAND gate is characterized by mixed-mode simulations, to be used as a library element for 65mn gate length technology. The proposed methodology is demonstrated with a multiplier circuit built using the NAND gate library, by characterizing its dynamic power through Monte Carlo analysis. The statistical technique of Response. Surface Methodology (RSM) using Design of Experiments (DOE) and Least Squares Method (LSM), are employed to generate a "hybrid model" for gate power to account for simultaneous variations in multiple process parameters. We demonstrate that our hybrid model based statistical design approach results in considerable savings in the power budget of low power CMOS designs with an error of less than 1%, with significant reductions in uncertainty by atleast 6X on a normalized basis, against worst case design.

On the maximal rate of non-square STBCs from complex orthogonal designs

A Linear Processing Complex Orthogonal Design (LPCOD) is a p x n matrix epsilon, (p >= n) in k complex indeterminates x(1), x(2),..., x(k) such that (i) the entries of epsilon are complex linear combinations of 0, +/- x(i), i = 1,..., k and their conjugates, (ii) epsilon(H)epsilon = D, where epsilon(H) is the Hermitian (conjugate transpose) of epsilon and D is a diagonal matrix with the (i, i)-th diagonal element of the form l(1)((i))vertical bar x(1)vertical bar(2) + l(2)((i))vertical bar x(2)vertical bar(2)+...+ l(k)((i))vertical bar x(k)vertical bar(2) where l(j)((i)), i = 1, 2,..., n, j = 1, 2,...,k are strictly positive real numbers and the condition l(1)((i)) = l(2)((i)) = ... = l(k)((i)), called the equal-weights condition, holds for all values of i. For square designs it is known. that whenever a LPCOD exists without the equal-weights condition satisfied then there exists another LPCOD with identical parameters with l(1)((i)) = l(2)((i)) = ... = l(k)((i)) = 1. This implies that the maximum possible rate for square LPCODs without the equal-weights condition is the same as that or square LPCODs with equal-weights condition. In this paper, this result is extended to a subclass of non-square LPCODs. It is shown that, a set of sufficient conditions is identified such that whenever a non-square (p > n) LPCOD satisfies these sufficient conditions and do not satisfy the equal-weights condition, then there exists another LPCOD with the same parameters n, k and p in the same complex indeterminates with l(1)((i)) = l(2)((i)) = ... = l(k)((i)) = 1.

Warm pool thermodynamics from the Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment (ARMEX)

Before the onset of the south Asian summer monsoon, sea surface temperature (SST) of the north Indian Ocean warms to 30–32°C. Climatological mean mixed layer depth in spring (March–May) is 10–20 m, and net surface heat flux (Q net ) is 80–100 W m−2 into the ocean. Previous work suggests that observed spring SST warming is small mainly because of (1) penetrative flux of solar radiation through the base of the mixed layer (Q pen ) and (2) advective cooling by upper ocean currents. We estimate the role of these two processes in SST evolution from a two-week Arabian Sea Monsoon Experiment process experiment in April–May 2005 in the southeastern Arabian Sea. The upper ocean is stratified by salinity and temperature, and mixed layer depth is shallow (6 to 12 m). Current speed at 2 m depth is high even under light winds. Currents within the mixed layer are quite distinct from those at 25 m. On subseasonal scales, SST warming is followed by rapid cooling, although the ocean gains heat at the surface: Q net is about 105 W m−2 in the warming phase and 25 W m−2 in the cooling phase; penetrative loss Q pen is 80 W m−2 and 70 W m−2. In the warming phase, SST rises mainly because of heat absorbed within the mixed layer, i.e., Q net minus Q pen ; Q pen reduces the rate of SST warming by a factor of 3. In the second phase, SST cools rapidly because (1) Q pen is larger than Q net and (2) advective cooling is ∼85 W m−2. A calculation using time-averaged heat fluxes and mixed layer depth suggests that diurnal variability of fluxes and upper ocean stratification tends to warm SST on subseasonal timescale. Buoy and satellite data suggest that a typical premonsoon intraseasonal cooling event occurs under clear skies when the ocean is gaining heat through the surface. In this respect, premonsoon SST cooling in the north Indian Ocean is different from that due to the Madden-Julian oscillation or monsoon intraseasonal oscillation.