Quantum Space-Time and Noncommutative Gauge Field Theories

Arguments arising from quantum mechanics and gravitation theory as well as from string theory, indicate that the description of space-time as a continuous manifold is not adequate at very short distances. An important candidate for the description of space-time at such scales is provided by noncommutative space-time where the coordinates are promoted to noncommuting operators. Thus, the study of quantum field theory in noncommutative space-time provides an interesting interface where ordinary field theoretic tools can be used to study the properties of quantum spacetime. The three original publications in this thesis encompass various aspects in the still developing area of noncommutative quantum field theory, ranging from fundamental concepts to model building. One of the key features of noncommutative space-time is the apparent loss of Lorentz invariance that has been addressed in different ways in the literature. One recently developed approach is to eliminate the Lorentz violating effects by integrating over the parameter of noncommutativity. Fundamental properties of such theories are investigated in this thesis. Another issue addressed is model building, which is difficult in the noncommutative setting due to severe restrictions on the possible gauge symmetries imposed by the noncommutativity of the space-time. Possible ways to relieve these restrictions are investigated and applied and a noncommutative version of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is presented. While putting the results obtained in the three original publications into their proper context, the introductory part of this thesis aims to provide an overview of the present situation in the field.

Traversing the space between threats and violence: A review of threat assessment guidelines

While the majority of violent threats – defined as an expression of intent to do harm or act out violently against someone or something – do not progress to actual violence, a small proportion of threateners do go on to enact violence. Most researchers argue that violence risk assessments are inadequate for assessing threats of violence, which raises the question: how should a threat assessment (TA) be conducted? To begin to understand available frameworks for assessing threats, a systematic review of TA research literature was conducted. Most TA literature pertains to a specific domain (schools, public figure threats, workplaces) and target audience (clinicians, school personnel, law enforcement). TA guidelines are typically based on literature reviews with some based on empirical measures and others having no strong evidential basis. The most common concepts in TA are exploration of the threatener's mental health, the motivation for the threat and the presence of any plans. Rather than advocating for the development of a protocol for conducting TA, this article outlines the common areas of inquiry in assessing threats and highlights the limitations of current TA guidelines.

Diverse bodies-space politics: Towards a critique of social (in)justice of built environment

Writing has long played an important role in the progression of architecture and the built environment. Histories of architecture are written, manifestoes that form the basis for a designer’s work are written and most importantly, the built environment advances itself through the act of critical writing. Not unlike the visual arts, literature and poetry, the tradition of written criticism has been crucial to the progression of architecture and its allied professions (Franz 2003). This article contributes to architecture and the built environment through the act of a written essay that critiques the problem of bodily diversity to architecture. In particular, the article explores the implications of body-space politics and abstracted body thinking on diverse bodies and their spatial justice. Using Soja’s Spatial Justice theory (2008), we seek to point out the underlying conceptions and power differentials assigned to different bodies spatially and how this leads to spatial injustices and contested spaces. The article also critically analyses the historical emergence of ‘the standardised body’ in architecture and its application in design theory and practice , and looks at how bodies often found on the outside of architecture highlight how such thinking creates in justices. Different theories are drawn on to help point to how design through the use of the upright, forward facing, male bod willingly and unwillingly denies access to resources and spatialities of everyday life. We also suggest ways to re-conceptualise the body in design practice and teaching.

A rate-one full-diversity low-complexity space-time-frequency block code (STFBC) for 4-Tx MIMO-OFDM

It is known that by employing space-time-frequency codes (STFCs) to frequency selective MIMO-OFDM systems, all the three diversity viz spatial, temporal and multipath can be exploited. There exists space-time-frequency block codes (STFBCs) designed using orthogonal designs with constellation precoder to get full diversity (Z.Liu, Y.Xin and G.Giannakis IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, Oct. 2002). Since orthogonal designs of rate one exists only for two transmit antennas, for more than two transmit antennas STFBCs of rate-one and full-diversity cannot be constructed using orthogonal designs. This paper presents a STFBC scheme of rate one for four transmit antennas designed using quasi-orthogonal designs along with co-ordinate interleaved orthogonal designs (Zafar Ali Khan and B. Sundar Rajan Proc: ISIT 2002). Conditions on the signal sets that give full-diversity are identified. Simulation results are presented to show the superiority of our codes over the existing ones.

A systematic design of high-rate full-diversity space-frequency codes for MIMO-OFDM systems

This paper presents a systematic construction of high-rate and full-diversity space-frequency block codes for MIMO-OFDM systems. While all prior constructions offer only a maximum rate of one complex symbol per channel use, our construction yields rate equal to the number of transmit antennas and simultaneously achieves full-diversity. The proposed construction works for arbitrary number of transmit antennas and arbitrary channel power delay profile. A key step in this construction is the generalization of the stacked matrix code design criteria given by Bolcskei et.al., (IEEE WCNC 2000). Explicit equivalence of our generalized code design criteria with the Hadamard-product based criteria of W. Su et.al., (lEEE Trans. Sig. Proc. Nov 2003) is established and new high-rate codes are constructed using our criteria.

A unified construction of space-time codes with optimal rate-diversity tradeoff

The problem of constructing space-time (ST) block codes over a fixed, desired signal constellation is considered. In this situation, there is a tradeoff between the transmission rate as measured in constellation symbols per channel use and the transmit diversity gain achieved by the code. The transmit diversity is a measure of the rate of polynomial decay of pairwise error probability of the code with increase in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In the setting of a quasi-static channel model, let n(t) denote the number of transmit antennas and T the block interval. For any n(t) <= T, a unified construction of (n(t) x T) ST codes is provided here, for a class of signal constellations that includes the familiar pulse-amplitude (PAM), quadrature-amplitude (QAM), and 2(K)-ary phase-shift-keying (PSK) modulations as special cases. The construction is optimal as measured by the rate-diversity tradeoff and can achieve any given integer point on the rate-diversity tradeoff curve. An estimate of the coding gain realized is given. Other results presented here include i) an extension of the optimal unified construction to the multiple fading block case, ii) a version of the optimal unified construction in which the underlying binary block codes are replaced by trellis codes, iii) the providing of a linear dispersion form for the underlying binary block codes, iv) a Gray-mapped version of the unified construction, and v) a generalization of construction of the S-ary case corresponding to constellations of size S-K. Items ii) and iii) are aimed at simplifying the decoding of this class of ST codes.

BER analysis of space-time block codes from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK

In this paper, we present an analysis for the bit error rate (BER) performance of space-time block codes (STBC) from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK modulation. In STBCs from complex orthogonal designs (COD), the norms of the column vectors are the same (e.g., Alamouti code). However, in generalized COD (GCOD), the norms of the column vectors may not necessarily be the same (e.g., the rate-3/5 and rate-7/11 codes by Su and Xia in [1]). STBCs from GCOD are of interest because of the high rates that they can achieve (in [2], it has been shown that the maximum achievable rate for STBCs from GCOD is bounded by 4/5). While the BER performance of STBCs: from COD (e.g., Alamouti code) can be simply obtained from existing analytical expressions for receive diversity with the same diversity order by appropriately scaling the SNR, this can not be done for STBCs from GCOD (because of the unequal norms of the column vectors). Our contribution in this paper is that we derive analytical expressions for the BER performance of any STBC from GCOD. Our BER analysis for the GCOD captures the performance of STBCs from COD as special cases. We validate our results with two STBCs from GCOD reported by Su and Xia in [1], for 5 and 6 transmit antennas (G(5) and G(6) in [1]) with rates 7/11 and 3/5, respectively.

Space-Vector-Based Hybrid Pulsewidth Modulation Techniques for Reduced Harmonic Distortion and Switching Loss

Novel switching sequences can be employed in spacevector-based pulsewidth modulation (PWM) of voltage source inverters. Differentswitching sequences are evaluated and compared in terms of inverter switching loss. A hybrid PWM technique named minimum switching loss PWM is proposed, which reduces the inverter switching loss compared to conventional space vector PWM (CSVPWM) and discontinuous PWM techniques at a given average switching frequency. Further, four space-vector-based hybrid PWM techniques are proposed that reduce line current distortion as well as switching loss in motor drives, compared to CSVPWM. Theoretical and experimental results are presented.

Improved switching frequency variation control of hysteresis controlled voltage source inverter-fed IM drives using current error space vector

A constant switching frequency current error space vector-based hysteresis controller for two-level voltage source inverter-fed induction motor (IM) drives is proposed in this study. The proposed controller is capable of driving the IM in the entire speed range extending to the six-step mode. The proposed controller uses the parabolic boundary, reported earlier, for vector selection in a sector, but uses simple, fast and self-adaptive sector identification logic for sector change detection in the entire modulation range. This new scheme detects the sector change using the change in direction of current error along the axes jA, jB and jC. Most of the previous schemes use an outer boundary for sector change detection. So the current error goes outside the boundary six times during sector change, in one cycle,, introducing additional fifth and seventh harmonic components in phase current. This may cause sixth harmonic torque pulsations in the motor and spread in the harmonic spectrum of phase voltage. The proposed new scheme detects the sector change fast and accurately eliminating the chance of introducing additional fifth and seventh harmonic components in phase current and provides harmonic spectrum of phase voltage, which exactly matches with that of constant switching frequency voltage-controlled space vector pulse width modulation (VC-SVPWM)-based two-level inverter-fed drives.

Velocity-Space Contours of Collision Integrals

Based on the recently found closed-form expressions of the Boltzmann collision integrals in a rigid-sphere gas for multi-Maxwellian distributions, a few typical sets of contour surfaces of the integrals in the space of molecular velocities are presented. These show graphically the tendency toward equilibrium under the influence of collisions. A brief preliminary comparison with Monte Carlo results is also given.

Low PAPR full-diversity space-frequency codes for MIMO-OFDM systems

Use of precoding transforms such as Hadamard Transforms and Phase Alteration for Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR) reduction in OFDM systems are well known. In this paper we propose use of Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) and Hadamard transform as precoding transforms in MIMO-OFDM systems to achieve low peak to average power ratio (PAPR). We show that while our approach using IDFT does not disturb the diversity gains of the MIMO-OFDM systems (spatial, temporal and frequency diversity gains), it offers a better trade-off between PAPR reduction and ML decoding complexity compared to that of the Hadamard transform precoding. We study in detail the amount of PAPR reduction achieved for the following two recently proposed full-diversity Space-Frequency coded MIMO-OFDM systems using both the IDFT and the Hadamard transform: (i) W. Su. Z. Safar, M. Olfat, K. J. R. Liu (IEEE Trans. on Signal Processing, Nov. 2003), and (ii) W. Su, Z. Safar, K. J. R. Liu (IEEE Trans. on Information Theory, Jan. 2005).

BER analysis of space-time block codes from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK

In this paper, we present an analysis for the bit error rate (BER) performance of space-time block codes (STBC) from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK modulation. In STBCs from complex orthogonal designs (COD), the norms of the column vectors are the same (e.g., Alamouti code). However, in generalized COD (GCOD), the norms of the column vectors may not necessarily be the same (e.g., the rate-3/5 and rate-7/11 codes by Su and Xia in [1]). STBCs from GCOD are of interest because of the high rates that they can achieve (in [2], it has been shown that the maximum achievable rate for STBCs from GCOD is bounded by 4/5). While the BER performance of STBCs: from COD (e.g., Alamouti code) can be simply obtained from existing analytical expressions for receive diversity with the same diversity order by appropriately scaling the SNR, this can not be done for STBCs from GCOD (because of the unequal norms of the column vectors). Our contribution in this paper is that we derive analytical expressions for the BER performance of any STBC from GCOD. Our BER analysis for the GCOD captures the performance of STBCs from COD as special cases. We validate our results with two STBCs from GCOD reported by Su and Xia in [1], for 5 and 6 transmit antennas (G(5) and G(6) in [1]) with rates 7/11 and 3/5, respectively.

BER analysis of space-time block codes from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK

In this paper, we present an analysis for the bit error rate (BER) performance of space-time block codes (STBC) from generalized complex orthogonal designs for M-PSK modulation. In STBCs from complex orthogonal designs (COD), the norms of the column vectors are the same (e.g., Alamouti code). However, in generalized COD (GCOD), the norms of the column vectors may not necessarily be the same (e.g., the rate-3/5 and rate-7/11 codes by Su and Xia in [1]). STBCs from GCOD are of interest because of the high rates that they can achieve (in [2], it has been shown that the maximum achievable rate for STBCs from GCOD is bounded by 4/5). While the BER performance of STBCs: from COD (e.g., Alamouti code) can be simply obtained from existing analytical expressions for receive diversity with the same diversity order by appropriately scaling the SNR, this can not be done for STBCs from GCOD (because of the unequal norms of the column vectors). Our contribution in this paper is that we derive analytical expressions for the BER performance of any STBC from GCOD. Our BER analysis for the GCOD captures the performance of STBCs from COD as special cases. We validate our results with two STBCs from GCOD reported by Su and Xia in [1], for 5 and 6 transmit antennas (G(5) and G(6) in [1]) with rates 7/11 and 3/5, respectively.

Space-charge limited conduction in doped polypyrrole devices

Doping dependent current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements were carried out on polypyrrole devices in metal-polymer-metal sandwich structure. Temperature dependent I-V measurements infer that space-charge limited conduction (SCLC) with exponential trap distribution is appropriate for the moderately doped samples, whereas trap-free SCLC is observed in lightly doped samples. Trap densities and energies are estimated, the effective mobility is calculated using the Poole-Frenkel model, and the mobility exhibits thermally activated behavior. Frequency dependent capacitance-voltage characteristics show a peak near zero bias voltage, which implies that these devices are symmetric with a negligible barrier height at the metal-polymer interface. Low frequency capacitance measurements have revealed a negative capacitance at higher voltages due to the processes associated with the injection and redistribution of space-charges. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics.