Experimental evaluation of the performance of 2×2 MIMO-OFDM for vehicle-to-infrastructure communications

In this paper, a novel 2×2 multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) testbed based on an Analog Devices AD9361 highly integrated radio frequency (RF) agile transceiver was specifically implemented for the purpose of estimating and analyzing MIMO-OFDM channel capacity in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) environments using the 920 MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. We implemented two-dimensional discrete cosine transform-based filtering to reduce the channel estimation errors and show its effectiveness on our measurement results. We have also analyzed the effects of channel estimation error on the MIMO channel capacity by simulation. Three different scenarios of subcarrier spacing were investigated which correspond to IEEE 802.11p, Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial (DVB-T)(2k) standards. An extensive MIMO-OFDM V2I channel measurement campaign was performed in a suburban environment. Analysis of the measured MIMO channel capacity results as a function of the transmitter-to-receiver (TX-RX) separation distance up to 250 m shows that the variance of the MIMO channel capacity is larger for the near-range line-of-sight (LOS) scenarios than for the long-range non-LOS cases, using a fixed receiver signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) criterion. We observed that the largest capacity values were achieved at LOS propagation despite the common assumption of a degenerated MIMO channel in LOS. We consider that this is due to the large angular spacing between MIMO subchannels which occurs when the receiver vehicle rooftop antennas pass by the fixed transmitter antennas at close range, causing MIMO subchannels to be orthogonal. In addition, analysis on the effects of different subcarrier spacings on MIMO-OFDM channel capacity showed negligible differences in mean channel capacity for the subcarrier spacing range investigated. Measured channels described in this paper are available on request.

Mauve: How one man invented the colour that changed the world

In an essay, "The Books of Last Things", Delia Falconer discusses the emergence of a new genre in publishing - microhistories. She cites a number of recent titles in non-fiction and fiction - Longitude, Cod, Tulips, Pushkin's Button, Nathaniel's Nutmeg, Zarafa, The Surgeon of Crowthorne, The Potato, The Perfect Storm. Delia Falconer observes of this tradition: "One has the sense, reading these books, of a surprising weight, of pleasant shock. In part, it is because we are looking at things which are generally present around us, but modestly out of sight and mind - historical nitty gritty like cod, potatoes, longitudinal clocks - which the authors have thrust suddenly, like a Biblical visitation of frogs or locusts, in our face. Things like spice and buttons and clocks are generally seen to enable history on the large scale, but are not often viewed as its worthy subjects. And by the same grand logic of history, more unusual phenomena like cabinets of curiosities or glass-making or farm lore or sailors' knots are simply odd blips on its radar screen, interesting footnotes. These new books, microhistories, reverse the usual order of history, which argues from the general to the particular, in order to prove its inevitable progress. They start from the footnotes. But by reversing the process, and walking through the back door of history, you don't necessarily end up at the front of the same house." Delia Falconer speculates about the reasons for the popularity of microhistories. She concludes: "I would like to think that reading them is not simply an exercise in nostalgia, but a challenge to the present". In Mauve, Simon Garfield provides a new way of thinking and writing about the history of intellectual property. Instead of providing a grand historical narrative of intellectual property, he tells the story of a particular invention, and its exploitation. Simon Garfield relates how English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce colour mauve in a factory. Working on a treatment for malaria in his London home laboratory, Perkin failed to produce artificial quinine. Instead he created a dark oily sludge that turned silk a beautiful light purple. The colour was unique and became the most desirable shade in the fashion houses of Paris and London. ... The book Mauve will have a number of contemporary resonances for intellectual property lawyers and academics. Simon Garfield emphasizes the difficulties inherent in commercialising an invention and managing intellectual property. He investigates the uneasy collaboration between industry and science. Simon Garfield suggests that complaints about the efficacy of patent offices are perennial. He also highlights the problems faced by courts and law-makers in accommodating new technologies within the logic of patent law. In his elegant microhistory of the colour mauve, Simon Garfield confirms the conclusion of Brad Sherman and Lionel Bently that many aspects of modern intellectual property law can only be understood through an understanding of the past: "The image of intellectual property law that developed during the 19th century and the narrative of identity which this engendered played and continue to play an important role in the way we think about and understand intellectual property law".

Ionized Gas towards Galactic Centre-Constraints from Low-Frequency Recombination Lines

Observations of the H272α recombination line towards the galactic centre show features near VLSR= 0, -50 and + 36 kms-1 . We have combined the parameters of these features with the available -166 measurements to obtain the properties of the ionized gas present along the line of sight and also in the -3 kpc arm-. For the line-of-sight ionized gas we get an electron density around 7 cm-3 and a pathlength through it 10-60 pc. The emission measure and the electron temperature are in the range 500-2900 pc cm-6 and 2000-6000 - respectively. The ionized gas in the 3 kpc arm has an electron density of 30 cm-3 and extends over 9 pc along the line of sight if we assume an electron temperature of 104 K. Using the available upper limit to the intensity of the H351α recombination line, we show that the distributed ionized gas responsible for the dispersion of pulsar signals should have a temperature > 4500 - and a minimum filling factor of 20 per cent. We also show that recombination lines from the -warm ionized- gas proposed by McKee & Ostriker (1977) should be detectable in the frequency range 100-150 MHz towards the galactic centre with the sensitivity available at present.

Propagating waves in polar coronal holes as seen by SUMER and EIS

Context. To study the dynamics of coronal holes and the role of waves in the acceleration of the solar wind, spectral observations were performed over polar coronal hole regions with the SUMER spectrometer on SoHO and the EIS spectrometer on Hinode. Aims. Using these observations, we aim to detect the presence of propagating waves in the corona and to study their properties. Methods. The observations analysed here consist of SUMER spectra of the Ne VIII 770 angstrom line (T = 0.6 MK) and EIS slot images in the Fe XII 195 angstrom line (T = 1.3 MK). Using the wavelet technique, we study line radiance oscillations at different heights from the limb in the polar coronal hole regions. Results. We detect the presence of long period oscillations with periods of 10 to 30 min in polar coronal holes. The oscillations have an amplitude of a few percent in radiance and are not detectable in line-of-sight velocity. From the time distance maps we find evidence for propagating velocities from 75 km s(-1) (Ne VIII) to 125 km s(-1)(Fe XII). These velocities are subsonic and roughly in the same ratio as the respective sound speeds. Conclusions. We interpret the observed propagating oscillations in terms of slow magneto-acoustic waves. These waves can be important for the acceleration of the fast solar wind.

Distributed Robotic Vision as a service

The vision sense of standalone robots is limited by line of sight and onboard camera capabilities, but processing video from remote cameras puts a high computational burden on robots. This paper describes the Distributed Robotic Vision Service, DRVS, which implements an on-demand distributed visual object detection service. Robots specify visual information requirements in terms of regions of interest and object detection algorithms. DRVS dynamically distributes the object detection computation to remote vision systems with processing capabilities, and the robots receive high-level object detection information. DRVS relieves robots of managing sensor discovery and reduces data transmission compared to image sharing models of distributed vision. Navigating a sensorless robot from remote vision systems is demonstrated in simulation as a proof of concept.

Potential of VIS-NIR Spectroscopy to predict perceived ‘muddy’ taint in australian farmed barramundi

Sensory analysis of food involves the measurement, interpretation and understanding of human responses to the properties of food perceived by the senses such as sight, smell, and taste (Cozzolino et al. 2005). It is important to have a quantitative means for assessing sensory properties in a reasonable way, to enable the food industry to rapidly respond to the changing demands of both consumers and the market. Aroma and flavour are among the most important properties for the consumer, and numerous studies have been performed in attempts to find correlations between sensory qualities and objective instrumental measurements. Rapid instrumental methods such as near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) might be advantageous to predict quality of different foods and agricultural products due to the speed of analysis, minimum sample preparation and low cost. The advantages of such technologies is not only to assess chemical structures but also to build an spectrum, characteristic of the sample, which behaves as a “finger print” of the sample.

Exploring the potential of VIS-NIR spectroscopy to predict sensory properties of foods

Sensory analysis of food involves the measurement, interpretation and understanding of human responses to the properties of food perceived by the senses such as sight, smell, and taste (Cozzolino et al. 2005). It is important to have a quantitative means for assessing sensory properties in a reasonable way, to enable the food industry to rapidly respond to the changing demands of both consumers and the market. Aroma and flavour are among the most important properties for the consumer and numerous studies have been performed in attempts to find correlations between sensory qualities and objective instrumental measurements. Rapid, non-destructive instrumental methods such as near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) might be advantageous to predict quality of food and agricultural products due to the speed of analysis, minimum sample preparation and low cost. The advantages of such technologies are not only to assess chemical structures but also to build a spectrum, characteristic of the sample, which behaves as a “finger print”.

The Eligibility Definition Used in the Social Security Administration’s Disability Programs Needs to be Changed

In its October 2003 report on the definition of disability used by the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) disability programs [i.e., Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for people with disabilities], the Social Security Advisory Board raises the issue of whether this definition is at odds with the concept of disability embodied in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and, more importantly, with the aspirations of people with disabilities to be full participants in mainstream social activities and lead fulfilling, productive lives. The Board declares that “the Nation must face up to the contradictions created by the existing definition of disability.” I wholeheartedly agree. Further, I have concluded that we have to make fundamental, conceptual changes to both how we define eligibility for economic security benefits, and how we provide those benefits, if we are ever to fulfill the promise of the ADA. To convince you of that proposition, I will begin by relating a number of facts that paint a very bleak picture – a picture of deterioration in the economic security of the population that the disability programs are intended to serve; a picture of programs that purport to provide economic security, but are themselves financially insecure and subject to cycles of expansion and cuts that undermine their purpose; a picture of programs that are facing their biggest expenditure crisis ever; and a picture of an eligibility determination process that is inefficient and inequitable -- one that rations benefits by imposing high application costs on applicants in an arbitrary fashion. I will then argue that the fundamental reason for this bleak picture is the conceptual definition of eligibility that these programs use – one rooted in a disability paradigm that social scientists, people with disabilities, and, to a substantial extent, the public have rejected as being flawed, most emphatically through the passage of the ADA. Current law requires eligibility rules to be based on the premise that disability is medically determinable. That’s wrong because, as the ADA recognizes, a person’s environment matters. I will further argue that programs relying on this eligibility definition must inevitably: reward people if they do not try to help themselves, but not if they do; push the people they serve out of society’s mainstream, fostering a culture of isolation and dependency; relegate many to a lifetime of poverty; and undermine their promise of economic security because of the periodic “reforms” that are necessary to maintain taxpayer support. I conclude by pointing out that to change the conceptual definition for program eligibility, we also must change our whole approach to providing for the economic security of people with disabilities. We need to replace our current “caretaker” approach with one that emphasizes helping people with disabilities help themselves. I will briefly describe features that such a program might require, and point out the most significant challenges we would face in making the transition.

State Estimates of Employment Rates for Persons with Disabilities: Report Summary

Statistics on the states’ employment rates for persons with disabilities relative to their non-disabled peers may be of assistance to providers of employment services for persons with disabilities. Such information can help service providers, policy makers, and disability advocacy leaders to assess whether the employment rate of people with disabilities is improving over time, given policy, regulatory, and service intervention strategies. A recent report from the Cornell University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) for Economic Research on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities uses data from the March Current Population Survey to estimate employment rates for persons with and without a disability in the non-institutionalized working-age (aged 25 through 61) civilian population in the United States, and for each state and the District of Columbia for the years 1980 through 1998. The employment rate of persons with a disability relative to that of persons without disabilities are found to vary greatly across states. Over the last 20 years the relative employment rate of those with a disability dramatically declined overall and in most states.

Policy and Practice Brief: Representative Payment

This brief provides an overview of the Representative Payee program administered by Social Security. Discussed are the many provisions of the programs as well as practice tips and implications for BPA&O and PABSS personnel.

Universal Access-NY User’s Guide

What is Universal Access-NY? Universal Access-NY is a complete online planning toolkit, www.UniversalAccessNY.org, where a One-Stop Delivery System can assess its practices, and develop work plans to improve physical and programmatic accessibility for all One-Stop customers. This web site and manual was developed by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute, through the support and guidance of the New York State Department of Labor, with funding from two U.S. Department of Labor Work Incentive Grants (WIG 1 and 2). This web site was designed for use in a collaborative manner, bringing together One-Stop personnel, agency partners, business leaders and customers with disabilities. Universal Access-NY supports continuous improvement, with features that encourage multiple uses and incremental systems change.

Discovering an Untapped Resource: Recruiting, Hiring, and Promoting People with Cognitive Disabilities.

Sections to the Paper include the following: America's Shrinking Labor Force, People with Cognitive Disabilities: an Untapped Labor Source, Focus, Initiative, Understand, Enhance.

When are SSDI/SSI Benefits Paid Pending Appeal?

This Just the Facts Series details when SSDI/SSI benefits are paid pending appeal.

A Comparison of the Implementation of the Employment Provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) in the United States and the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 in the United Kingdom

This summarizes the results of recently conducted surveys in the United States and Britain to assess employer response in each of these countries to their respective employment disability nondiscrimination legislation.

Promising Practices: Ensuring Choice Under the Ticket to Work Program - The Indiana PABSS Approach

The Ticket to Work program offered disabled and blind social security beneficiaries the promise of greater choice when selecting a vocational rehabilitation provider. With the issuance of Transmittal #17, much of the opportunity to choose a provider was removed. The Protection and Advocacy agency in Indiana took steps to protect the rights of disabled and blind beneficiaries to choose providers in the face of this significant policy change. Learn what was done to protect the rights and ability of beneficiaries to seek and choose vocational rehabilitation providers.