We present a new class of irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes for moderate block lengths (up to a few thousand bits) that are well-suited for rate-compatible puncturing. The proposed codes show good performance under puncturing over a wide range of rates and are suitable for usage in incremental redundancy hybrid-automatic repeat request (ARQ) systems. In addition, these codes are l...

In a quasi-linear environment we characterize the boundaries of the set of transfers which implement a given allocation rule (extremal transfers). Doing so allows us to generalize and unify several existing results of the mechanism design literature. More specifically, our approach delivers a characterization result for the set of implementable allocation rules. Second, we obtain an exact chara...

Formulations of quantum mechanics (QM) can be characterized as realistic, operationalist, or a combination of the two. In this paper a realistic theory is defined as describing a closed system entirely by means of entities and concepts pertaining to the system. An operationalist theory, on the other hand, requires in addition entities external to the system. A realistic formulation comprises an...

E. L. Foster, M. Jekic, J. A. Bender, J. W. Arnold, S. V. Raman, and O. P. Simonetti Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States, Biomedical Engineering, The Ohio State University, Agricultural Technical Institute, The Ohio State University, Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Internal Medicine and Radiology, The Ohio Stat...

This paper studies power indices based on average representations of a weighted game. If restricted to account for the lack of power of dummy voters, average representations become coherent measures of voting power, with power distributions being proportional to the distribution of weights in the average representation. This makes these indices representationcompatible, a property not fulfilled...

Introduction: MR compatible spirometer is needed for (i) monitoring of anaesthetized patients and (ii) sequence synchronization and/or image reconstruction. Patient motion is likely to induce motion artifacts (ghosting) in image thus reducing its quality during MRI acquisitions. When breath-hold acquisitions are not possible, as for uncooperative children, an alternative technique is proposed, ...

Trading goods online has numerous advantages. One that is particularly compelling is that online merchants can offer their goods at lower prices compared to their offline counterparts. The physical distance between buyers and sellers, however, also leads to problems of trust. Consider the online auction site eBay as an example: its procedure is such that the winning bidder (henceforth the buyer...

Topically applied tretinoin (a retinoid) has been used for over 25 years to treat acne and disorders of keratinization. Now, tretinoin emollient cream, 0.05% (Renova®), may be prescribed for the treatment of photodamaged and chronologically aged skin, in conjunction with appropriate skin care and sun protection routines. Mild to moderate cutaneous side effects to topical tretinoin, such as xero...

A proper coarse variable set for Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) solvers can be constructed using Compatible Relaxation (CR). For a given coarse set, CR is a modified relaxation scheme that keeps the values of the coarse variables intact. Its convergence factor is a predictor of the potential AMG efficiency, similarly to the smoothing factor in geometric multigrid. A practical CR-based coarse set con...