New combinations of the fern genus Tectaria (Tectariaceae) for the Flora of China.

For studies on the fern family Tectariaceae for the Flora of China, four species previously treated as Ctenitopsis need new combinations in Tectaria. The new combinations are proposed here and information on their types is provided.

Attitudes towards suicide among Master’s degree students: a cross-cultural comparison between China and Finland

Attitudes towards suicide among Master’s degree students in Chang Sha (China) and Helsinki (Finland) were compared in order to explore possible cross-cultural differences. The sample included 206 Master’s degree students, 101 Chinese and 105 Finnish. Data were collected using the 30-item Multi-Attitudes Suicide Tendency Scale (MAST) and a demographic information form. According to the results, both Chinese and Finnish students held positive attitudes towards life, they held contradictory attitudes towards suicide, with Finnish students having more permissive and liberal attitudes towards suicide than their Chinese counterparts. In addition, three socio-demographic characteristics, namely religion, family structure, and economic status, associated with attitudes towards suicide among the Chinese Master’s degree students; meanwhile, all socio-demographic characteristics, including gender, religion, major subject, family structure, economic status, and received social support related to attitudes towards suicide among the Finnish Master’s degree students. However, after examining the interaction effect between socio-demographics and cultural backgrounds on attitudes towards suicide, the attitudes of Chinese students were more related to gender, marital status, family economic status, and received social support, whereas Finnish students were more influenced by religion. These findings suggest that culture plays an important role in shaping country-specific differences in attitudes towards suicide and their association with socio-demographic characteristics. Understanding individual attitudes towards suicide could help in intervention to prevent the development of suicidal ideation and in providing appropriate psychological counseling to reduce mental problems. Therefore, these cross-cultural differences may provide indications on how to conduct suicide prevention programs while considering culture-specific contexts.

On Computation of Minimum Distance of Linear Block Codes Above 1/2 Rate Coding

The minimum distance of linear block codes is one of the important parameter that indicates the error performance of the code. When the code rate is less than 1/2, efficient algorithms are available for finding minimum distance using the concept of information sets. When the code rate is greater than 1/2, only one information set is available and efficiency suffers. In this paper, we investigate and propose a novel algorithm to find the minimum distance of linear block codes with the code rate greater than 1/2. We propose to reverse the roles of information set and parity set to get virtually another information set to improve the efficiency. This method is 67.7 times faster than the minimum distance algorithm implemented in MAGMA Computational Algebra System for a (80, 45) linear block code.

The role of sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource management in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks in China and India

This paper contains an analysis of the technical options in agriculture for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks, arising from three distinct mechanisms: (i) increasing carbon sinks in soil organic matter and above-ground biomass; (ii) avoiding carbon emissions from farms by reducing direct and indirect energy use; and (iii) increasing renewable-energy production from biomass that either substitutes for consumption of fossil fuels or replaces inefficient burning of fuelwood or crop residues, and so avoids carbon emissions, together with use of biogas digesters and improved cookstoves. We then review best-practice sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource-management projects and initiatives in China and India, and analyse the annual net sinks being created by these projects, and the potential market value of the carbon sequestered. We conclude with a summary of the policy and institutional conditions and reforms required for adoption of best sustainability practice in the agricultural sector to achieve the desired reductions in emissions and increases in sinks. A review of 40 sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource-management projects in China and India under the three mechanisms estimated a carbon mitigation potential of 64.8 MtC yr(-1) from 5.5 Mha. The potential income for carbon mitigation is $324 million at $5 per tonne of carbon. The potential exists to increase this by orders of magnitude, and so contribute significantly to greenhouse-gas abatement. Most agricultural mitigation options also provide several ancillary benefits. However, there are many technical, financial, policy, legal and institutional barriers to overcome.

Precoder Designs for MIMO Broadcast Channels with Imperfect CSI

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Best Node Selection Through Distributed Fast Variable Power Multiple Access

In many wireless applications, it is highly desirable to have a fast mechanism to resolve or select the packet from the user with the highest priority. Furthermore, individual priorities are often known only locally at the users. In this paper we introduce an extremely fast, local-information-based multiple access algorithm that selects the best node in 1.8 to 2.1 slots,which is much lower than the 2.43 slot average achieved by the best algorithm known to date. The algorithm, which we call Variable Power Multiple Access Selection (VP-MAS), uses the local channel state information from the accessing nodes to the receiver, and maps the priorities into the receive power.It is inherently distributed and scales well with the number of users. We show that mapping onto a discrete set of receive power levels is optimal, and provide a complete characterization for it. The power levels are chosen to exploit packet capture that inherently occurs in a wireless physical layer. The VP-MAS algorithm adjusts the expected number of users that contend in each step and their respective transmission powers, depending on whether previous transmission attempts resulted in capture,idle channel, or collision.

Antenna Selection for Next Generation IEEE 802.16 Mobile Stations

The IEEE 802.16/WiMAX standard has fully embraced multi-antenna technology and can, thus, deliver robust and high transmission rates and higher system capacity. Nevertheless,due to its inherent form-factor constraints and cost concerns, a WiMAX mobile station (MS) should preferably contain fewer radio frequency (RF) chains than antenna elements.This is because RF chains are often substantially more expensive than antenna elements. Thus, antenna selection, wherein a subset of antennas is dynamically selected to connect to the limited RF chains for transceiving, is a highly appealing performance enhancement technique for multi-antenna WiMAX terminals.In this paper, a novel antenna selection protocol tailored for next-generation IEEE 802.16 mobile stations is proposed. As demonstrated by the extensive OPNET simulations, the proposed protocol delivers a significant performance improvement over conventional 802.16 terminals that lack the antenna selection capability. Moreover, the new protocol leverages the existing signaling methods defined in 802.16, thereby incurring a negligible signaling overhead and requiring only diminutive modifications of the standard. To the best of our knowledge, this paper represents the first effort to support antenna selection capability in IEEE 802.16 mobile stations.

Consumerist Predators"? Emerging lifestyles between McDonaldization and sustainability perspectives: the case of highly qualified employees (HQEs) in India

In industrializing countries new groups of consumers with remarkable purchasing power are emerging. Representing a ?new middle class? they are seen as a carrier and promoter of a so-called ?western way of life? beyond the OECD countries. They are presented as having a consumerist predator lifestyle which stands in conflict with the requirements for a sustainable future. Furthermore, they are imputed a profound lack of a sense of responsibility towards society. However, such a ?civil society spirit? is a core prerequisite for coping with the challenge of changing existing lifestyles to insure a more sustainable future....