The fifth solvatomorph of gallic acid with a supramolecular channel structure: Structural complexity and phase transitions

A new solvatomorph of gallic acid was generated using chiral additive technique and characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, C-13 NMR, IR spectroscopic techniques and thermal analysis. The supramolecular channels formed by hexameric motifs of gallic acid and solvent molecules contain highly disordered solvent molecules with fractional occupancies. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

PIV study on the dimple mid-plane of a narrow rectangular channel with dimples applied to one wall

This paper presents an investigation of the fluid flow in the fully developed portion of a rectangular channel (Aspect Ratio of 2) with dimples applied to one wall at channel Reynolds numbers of 20,000, 30,000, and 40,000. The dimples are applied in a staggered-row, racetrack configuration. Results for three different dimple geometries are presented: a large dimple, small dimple, and double dimple. Heat transfer and aerodynamic results from preceding works are presented in Nusselt number and friction factor augmentation plots as determined experimentally. Using particle image velocimetry, the region near the dimple feature is studied in detail in the location of the entrainment and ejection of vortical packets into and out of the dimple; the downstream wake region behind each dimple is also studied to examine the effects of the local flow phenomenon that result in improved heat transfer in the areas of the channel wall not occupied by a feature. The focus of the paper is to examine the secondary flows in these dimpled channels in order to support the previously presented heat transfer trends. The flow visualization is also intended to improve the understanding of the flow disturbances in a dimpled channel; a better understanding of these effects would lead the development of more effective channel cooling designs. Copyright © 2011 by ASME.

Two-User Gaussian Interference Channel with Finite Constellation Input and FDMA

In the two-user Gaussian Strong Interference Channel (GSIC) with finite constellation inputs, it is known that relative rotation between the constellations of the two users enlarges the Constellation Constrained (CC) capacity region. In this paper, a metric for finding the approximate angle of rotation to maximally enlarge the CC capacity is presented. It is shown that for some portion of the Strong Interference (SI) regime, with Gaussian input alphabets, the FDMA rate curve touches the capacity curve of the GSIC. Even as the Gaussian alphabet FDMA rate curve touches the capacity curve of the GSIC, at high powers, with both the users using the same finite constellation, we show that the CC FDMA rate curve lies strictly inside the CC capacity curve for the constellations BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK, 16-QAM and 64-QAM. It is known that, with Gaussian input alphabets, the FDMA inner-bound at the optimum sum-rate point is always better than the simultaneous-decoding inner-bound throughout the Weak Interference (WI) regime. For a portion of the WI regime, it is shown that, with identical finite constellation inputs for both the users, the simultaneous-decoding inner-bound enlarged by relative rotation between the constellations can be strictly better than the FDMA inner-bound.

Equal channel angular pressing processing routes and associated structure modification: a differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray line profile analysis

The effectiveness of different routes of equal channel angular pressing (A, B-c, and C) is studied for commercially pure copper. The stored energy and the activation energy of recrystallization for the deformed samples were quantified using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction line profile analysis. Results of the study revealed that the dislocation density and the stored energy are higher in the case of route B-c deformed sample. The activation energy for recrystallization is lower for route B-c. (C) 2012 International Centre for Diffraction Data doi:10.1017/S0885715612000310]

Completely random nanoporous Cu4O3-CuO-C composite thin films for potential application as multiple channel photonic band gap based filter in the telecommunication wavelengths

In 2003, Babin et al. theoretically predicted (J. Appl. Phys. 94:4244, 2003) that fabrication of organic-inorganic hybrid materials would probably be required to implement structures with multiple photonic band gaps. In tune with their prediction, we report synthesis of such an inorganic-organic nanocomposite, comprising Cu4O3-CuO-C thin films that experimentally exhibit the highest (of any known material) number (as many as eleven) of photonic band gaps in the near infrared. On contrary to the report by Wang et al. (Appl. Phys. Lett. 84:1629, 2004) that photonic crystals with multiple stop gaps require highly correlated structural arrangement such as multilayers of variable thicknesses, we demonstrate experimental realization of multiple stop gaps in completely randomized structures comprising inorganic oxide nanocrystals (Cu4O3 and CuO) randomly embedded in a randomly porous carbonaceous matrix. We report one step synthesis of such nanostructured films through the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition technique using a single source metalorganic precursor, Cu-4(deaH)(dea)(oAc)(5) a <...aEuro parts per thousand(CH3)(2)CO. The films displaying multiple (4/9/11) photonic band gaps with equal transmission losses in the infrared are promising materials to find applications as multiple channel photonic band gap based filter for WDM technology.

Asymmetric forced convection of nanofluids in a channel with symmetrically mounted rib heaters on opposite walls

Laminar forced convection of nanofluids in a vertical channel with symmetrically mounted rib heaters on surfaces of opposite walls is numerically studied. The fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics are examined for various Reynolds numbers and nanoparticles volume fractions of water-Al2O3 nanofluid. The flow exhibits various structures with varying Reynolds number. Even though the geometry and heating is symmetric with respect to a channel vertical mid-plane, asymmetric flow and heat transfer are found for Reynolds number greater than a critical value. Introduction of nanofluids in the base fluid delays the flow solution bifurcation point, and the critical Reynolds number increases with increasing nanoparticle volume fraction. A skin friction coefficient along the solid-fluid interfaces increases and decreases sharply along the bottom and top faces of the heaters, respectively, due to sudden acceleration and deceleration of the fluid at the respective faces. The skin friction coefficient, as well as Nusselt numbers in the channel, increase with increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles.

Power Controlled Reverse Channel Training Achieves an Infinite Diversity Order in a TDD-SIMO System with Perfect CSIR

In this letter, we analyze the Diversity Multiplexinggain Tradeoff (DMT) performance of a training-based reciprocal Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) system. Assuming Channel State Information (CSI) is available at the Receiver (CSIR), we propose a channel-dependent power-controlled Reverse Channel Training (RCT) scheme that enables the transmitter to directly estimate the power control parameter to be used for the forwardlink data transmission. We show that, with an RCT power of (P) over bar (gamma), gamma > 0 and a forward data transmission power of (P) over bar, our proposed scheme achieves an infinite diversity order for 0 <= g(m) < L-c-L-B,L-tau/L-c min(gamma, 1) and r > 2, where g(m) is the multiplexing gain, L-c is the channel coherence time, L-B,L-tau is the RCT duration and r is the number of receive antennas. We also derive an upper bound on the outage probability and show that it goes to zero asymptotically as exp(-(P) over bar (E)), where E (sic) (gamma - g(m)L(c)/L-c-L-B,L-tau), at high (P) over bar. Thus, the proposed scheme achieves a significantly better DMT performance compared to the finite diversity order achieved by channel-agnostic, fixed-power RCT schemes.

Identification of Active Sources in Single-Channel Convolutive Mixtures Using Known Source Models

We address the problem of identifying the constituent sources in a single-sensor mixture signal consisting of contributions from multiple simultaneously active sources. We propose a generic framework for mixture signal analysis based on a latent variable approach. The basic idea of the approach is to detect known sources represented as stochastic models, in a single-channel mixture signal without performing signal separation. A given mixture signal is modeled as a convex combination of known source models and the weights of the models are estimated using the mixture signal. We show experimentally that these weights indicate the presence/absence of the respective sources. The performance of the proposed approach is illustrated through mixture speech data in a reverberant enclosure. For the task of identifying the constituent speakers using data from a single microphone, the proposed approach is able to identify the dominant source with up to 8 simultaneously active background sources in a room with RT60 = 250 ms, using models obtained from clean speech data for a Source to Interference Ratio (SIR) greater than 2 dB.

Capacity of fading gaussian channel with an energy harvesting sensor node

Network life time maximization is becoming an important design goal in wireless sensor networks. Energy harvesting has recently become a preferred choice for achieving this goal as it provides near perpetual operation. We study such a sensor node with an energy harvesting source and compare various architectures by which the harvested energy is used. We find its Shannon capacity when it is transmitting its observations over a fading AWGN channel with perfect/no channel state information provided at the transmitter. We obtain an achievable rate when there are inefficiencies in energy storage and the capacity when energy is spent in activities other than transmission.

Performance analysis of fixed gain amplify-and-forward relaying with time-efficient cascaded channel estimation

In a cooperative system with an amplify-and-forward relay, the cascaded channel training protocol enables the destination to estimate the source-destination channel gain and the product of the source-relay (SR) and relay-destination (RD) channel gains using only two pilot transmissions from the source. Notably, the destination does not require a separate estimate of the SR channel. We develop a new expression for the symbol error probability (SEP) of AF relaying when imperfect channel state information (CSI) is acquired using the above training protocol. A tight SEP upper bound is also derived; it shows that full diversity is achieved, albeit at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Our analysis uses fewer simplifying assumptions, and leads to expressions that are accurate even at low SNRs and are different from those in the literature. For instance, it does not approximate the estimate of the product of SR and RD channel gains by the product of the estimates of the SR and RD channel gains. We show that cascaded channel estimation often outperforms a channel estimation protocol that incurs a greater training overhead by forwarding a quantized estimate of the SR channel gain to the destination. The extent of pilot power boosting, if allowed, that is required to improve performance is also quantified.

Low complexity adaptation for channel shortening equalizers

Since the days of Digital Subscriber Links(DSL), Time Domain Equalizers(TEQ's) have been used to combat time dispersive channels in Multicarrier Systems. In this paper, we propose computationally inexpensive techniques to recompute TEQ weights in the presence of changes in the channel, especially over fast fading channels. The techniques use no extra information except the perturbation itself, and provide excellent approximations to the new TEQ weights. The proposed adaptation techniques are shown to perform admirably well for small changes in channels for OFDM systems.

On the generalized degrees of freedom of the K-user symmetric MIMO Gaussian interference channel

This work derives inner and outer bounds on the generalized degrees of freedom (GDOF) of the K-user symmetric MIMO Gaussian interference channel. For the inner bound, an achievable GDOF is derived by employing a combination of treating interference as noise, zero-forcing at the receivers, interference alignment (IA), and extending the Han-Kobayashi (HK) scheme to K users, depending on the number of antennas and the INR/SNR level. An outer bound on the GDOF is derived, using a combination of the notion of cooperation and providing side information to the receivers. Several interesting conclusions are drawn from the bounds. For example, in terms of the achievable GDOF in the weak interference regime, when the number of transmit antennas (M) is equal to the number of receive antennas (N), treating interference as noise performs the same as the HK scheme and is GDOF optimal. For K >; N/M+1, a combination of the HK and IA schemes performs the best among the schemes considered. However, for N/M <; K ≤ N/M+1, the HK scheme is found to be GDOF optimal.

A channel-aware, fast sub-channel to user assignment algorithm in OFDMA systems

Channel-aware assignment of sub-channels to users in the downlink of an OFDMA system demands extensive feedback of channel state information (CSI) to the base station. Since the feedback bandwidth is often very scarce, schemes that limit feedback are necessary. We develop a novel, low feedback splitting-based algorithm for assigning each sub-channel to its best user, i.e., the user with the highest gain for that sub-channel among all users. The key idea behind the algorithm is that, at any time, each user contends for the sub-channel on which it has the largest channel gain among the unallocated sub-channels. Unlike other existing schemes, the algorithm explicitly handles multiple access control aspects associated with the feedback of CSI. A tractable asymptotic analysis of a system with a large number of users helps design the algorithm. It yields 50% to 65% throughput gains compared to an asymptotically optimal one-bit feedback scheme, when the number of users is as small as 10 or as large as 1000. The algorithm is fast and distributed, and scales with the number of users.

Channel estimation using minimum bit error rate framework for BPSK signals

We consider the design of a linear equalizer with a finite number of coefficients in the context of a classical linear intersymbol-interference channel with additive Gaussian noise for channel estimation. Previous literature has shown that Minimum Bit Error Rate(MBER) based detection has outperformed Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) based detection. We pose the channel estimation problem as a detection problem and propose a novel algorithm to estimate the channel based on the MBER framework for BPSK signals. It is shown that the proposed algorithm reduces BER compared to an MMSE based channel estimation when used in MMSE or MBER detection.

Sustainability of apparent slip in micro-channel flows

In the present work, we experimentally study the flow of water over textured hydrophobic surfaces in a micro-channel. Shear stress measurements are done along with direct visualization of trapped air pockets on the hydrophobic surface. The trapped air pockets on such surfaces are known to be responsible for apparent slip at these surfaces and hence in significant drag reduction. In typical circumstances, the apparent slip reduces over time as seen, for example, from our shear stress measurements. This implies that the drag reduction will not be sustained. We have performed extensive visualizations of the trapped air pockets while varying flow parameters like the flow rate and the pressure. We present here direct visualizations that show that under some conditions, the air pockets can grow with time. The variation of the air pocket size with time is found to change qualitatively and quantitatively as the flow rate is varied. These measured changes in the air pocket size with time have a direct bearing on the sustainability of apparent slip in micro-channel flows.