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A symmetric semideterministic relay network is introduced, generalizing Aref networks. In the considered model, there is no interference at the relays, but the links from the source and the relays to the sink are interfering and nondeterministic. An achievable rate is determined for an arbitrary number of relays, based on symmetric relaying and simultaneous partial and backward decoding at the sink. The information expressions of the achievable rate match those of the standard cut-set bound, but the set of probability distributions is substantially different. We also study a wireless example of the defined network where nondeterministic links are replaced with fading AWGN channels, and... 

In this study, the authors extend the concept of relay channel with orthogonal components to define a class of symmetric relay networks with orthogonal components named symmetric orthogonal relay network. In the defined network, the channels diverge from each node sender use different frequency bands whereas the channels converge to each node receiver use the same frequency band. This structure is very well understood in half-duplex transmission systems where the relays cannot send and receive at the same time or over the same frequency band. The authors show that the unicast capacity of the defined network is equal to the cut-set bound. In the achievability proof, the authors take advantage... 

The authors present an improved achievable rate region for two-pair bidirectional Gaussian relay networks based on successive compute-and-forward method. In these networks, one relay helps in the communication between two pairs of users. In their proposed scheme, the authors use nested lattice codes for encoding the messages at the users, and Gaussian random codes for the encoding at the relay. They use the successive compute-and-forward strategy to decode two integer linear combinations of the lattice codewords in the uplink, and successive interference cancellation for decoding the Gaussian codewords in the downlink. The downlink channel can be considered as a broadcast channel with two... 

In this paper, we investigate the performance of two strategies: simultaneous sliding window decoding (SimSlide) and simultaneous backward decoding (SimBack) when generalizing partial decode-and-forward to the relay networks. We show that these two methods yield the same achievable rates for relay networks but in comparison with sequential decoding, they yield higher rates. This is due to the fact that simultaneously decoding the different parts of the source message yields fewer bounds and this ultimately results a comprehensive and higher rate. We also introduce a special class of semi-deterministic relay networks and obtain its capacity by the proposed achievable rate  

Symmetric relaying is a method of relaying in which the relays can decode the message of other relays in the network in addition to the source message. In this paper an achievable rate is presented for a symmetric two-relay network based on partial decoding. The strategy make use of familiar techniques such as product binning, regular encoding/sliding window decoding and regular encoding/backward decoding. The proposed rate is shown to subsume the previously proposed rate for feed-forward relay network based on decode-and-forward. This rate is also used to establish the capacity of a generalisation of Aref network called 'semi-deterministic relay network with no interference at the relays'... 

Partial decoding scheme is a scheme in which each relay decodes only part of the transmitted message. Obviously, the achievable rates proposed by the partial decoding scheme subsume the achievable rates proposed by the full decoding scheme. The other motivation of using partial decoding scheme is that there are some special classes of relay networks such as semi-deterministic and orthogonal relay networks such that their capacities are obtained via this scheme. The authors propose a comprehensive partial decoding scheme based on regular encoding/sliding window decoding analysis to propose a new achievable rate for two-level relay networks. In contrast with the previously proposed methods,... 

In this paper, we propose a new achievable rate for two-level relay networks by introducing a new strategy named simultaneous partial and backward decoding. In the proposed method, benefitting from regular encoding/backward decoding strategy, different message parts transmitted in the network are simultaneously decoded at the relays and the receiver. The proposed strategy is shown to achieve better rates than the previously proposed methods based on decode-and-forward and partial decode-and-forward. © 2009 IEEE  

A new achievable rate based on a partial decoding scheme is proposed for the multilevel relay network. A novel application of regular encoding and backward decoding is presented to implement the proposed rate. In our scheme, the relays are arranged in feed-forward structure from the source to the destination. Each relay in the network decodes only part of the transmitted message by the previous relay. The proposed scheme differs from general parity forwarding scheme in which each relay selects some relays in the network but decodes all messages of the selected relays. It is also shown that in some cases higher rates can be achieved by the proposed scheme than previously known by Xie and... 

In this paper, we propose an information-theoretic constructive scheme based on generalized block Markov encoding strategy for obtaining an achievable rate for multirelay networks. The coding scheme is based on partial decoding scheme where the relay decodes only part of the transmitted message. The proposed achievable rate is then used to establish the capacity of a class of semi-deterministic relay networks composed of semi-deterministic relay channels. It is shown that the proposed rate will include those of previously proposed rates based on decode-and-forward strategy in some special cases. ©2007 IEEE  

In this paper, we propose a concept of relaying named symetric relaying strategy for two relay network. In our strategy, we have two relays in the network and both relays can completely decode the message transmitted by the other relay. The proposed rate is shown to subsume the previously proposed rate for feed-forward relay network based on decodeand- forward. © 2008 IEEE  

In this paper, we propose a new concept of relaying named parallel relaying to obtain a new achievable rate for relay networks. The proposed encoding scheme is based on partial decoding, where the relay decodes only part of the transmitted message. The superiority of our proposed method to the previous ones is that, it can be applied to the relay networks with general structure, not necessarily with feed-forward structure. The proposed achievable rate is also used to establish the capacity of a class of semi-deterministic relay network which is a generalization of Aref network. © 2008 IEEE  

In this paper we consider the real, discrete time asymmetric Gaussian parallel relay network, the more realistic model than the symmetric one considered by Schein-Gallagar. We present achievable rates for this network that are superior rates to the Schein-Gallagar rates. The proposed methods are based on the superimposition technique used for the degraded broadcast channel and also cooperation of the relays to send as much as possible information to the receiver at the multiple access side  

The petroleum industry suffers from reservoir souring phenomena, which has negative impacts on production facilities, health, and environment. Injection of incompatible water into the reservoir (waterflooding), which is considered as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method, is one of the most common causes of reservoir souring. In general, injected brine, especially seawater, contains high amounts of sulfate ion (SO42−). A high concentration of sulfate in the presence of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) leads to the microbial reservoir souring. During this phenomenon, sulfide, specifically hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S) appears in the producing fluid of the reservoir. In this paper, a coupled... 

The liver plays a complex role in metabolism and detoxification, and better tools are needed to understand its function and to develop liver-targeted therapies. In this study, we establish a mechanobiological model of liver transport and hepatocyte biology to elucidate the metabolism of urea and albumin, the production/detoxification of ammonia, and consumption of oxygen and nutrients. Since hepatocellular shear stress (SS) can influence the enzymatic activities of liver, the effect of SS on the urea and albumin synthesis are empirically modeled through the mechanotransduction mechanisms. The results demonstrate that the rheology and dynamics of the sinusoid flow can significantly affect... 

A new efficient catalytic system was investigated for the epoxidation of various olefins by cis-dioxo-bis[2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl)-oxazolinato]molybdenum(VI), cis-[MoO2(phox)2], and TBHP as oxidizing agent. Using this system as catalyst for the oxidation of aliphatic substrates at 80 °C gives the epoxide as the sole product with yields up to 100% and turnover frequency up to 5000 h-1. The efficiency of the catalyst is strongly influenced by the nature of solvent, reaction time and temperature, and a significant increase in the epoxide yields is observed in higher temperatures and longer reaction times. © 2009 Elsevier B.V  

Implementation of effective cancer treatment strategies requires consideration of how the spatiotemporal heterogeneities within the tumor microenvironment (TME) influence tumor progression and treatment response. Here, we developed a multi-scale three-dimensional mathematical model of the TME to simulate tumor growth and angiogenesis and then employed the model to evaluate an array of single and combination therapy approaches. Treatments included maximum tolerated dose or metronomic (i.e., frequent low doses) scheduling of anti-cancer drugs combined with anti-angiogenic therapy. The results show that metronomic therapy normalizes the tumor vasculature to improve drug delivery, modulates... 

Ostracism has been recognized as conceptually and empirically distinct from harassment. Drawing from theory and research that suggests that employees have a strong need to belong in their organizations, we examine the comparative frequency and impact of ostracism and harassment in organizations across three field studies. Study 1 finds that a wide range of employees perceive ostracism, compared with harassment, to be more socially acceptable, less psychologically harmful, and less likely to be prohibited in their organization. Study 2 surveyed employees from a variety of organizations to test our theory that ostracism is actually a more harmful workplace experience than harassment.... 

This work presents an innovative design for a flow-through dielectrophoretic cell sorting based on silicon bulk microelectrodes featuring sidewall undercuts. The microelectrodes are configured into an interdigitated array with digits extending across the flow chamber at an oblique angle against the flow stream. Target cells under dielectrophoretic forces and hydrodynamic drag can slide along the digits to a dedicated outlet. The design has been showcased for continuous-flow sorting of viable and non-viable mammalian cells, achieving a throughput of 16,600 cells/min, an order of magnitude higher than those reported for existing continuous-flow cell sorting designs using thin-film or... 

The search for efficient chemotherapy drugs and other anti-cancer treatments would benefit from a deeper understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its role in tumor progression. Because in vivo experimental methods are unable to isolate or control individual factors of the TME and in vitro models often do not include all the contributing factors, some questions are best addressed with systems biology mathematical models. In this work, we present a new fully-coupled, agent-based, multi-scale mathematical model of tumor growth, angiogenesis and metabolism that includes important aspects of the TME spanning subcellular-, cellular- and tissue-level scales. The mathematical model is...