Influence of uncertainties: A focus on block volume and shape assessment for rockfall analysis

Block size and shape depend on the state of fracturing of the rock mass and,consequently,on the geometrical features of the discontinuity sets(mainly orientation,spacing,and persistence).The development of non-contact surveying techniques applied to rock mass characterization offers significant advantages in terms of data numerosity,precision,and accuracy,allowing for performing a rigorous statistical analysis of the database.This fact is particularly evident when dealing with rockfall phenomena:uncertainties in spacing and orientation data could significantly amplify the uncertainties connected with in situ block size distribution(IBSD),which represents a relation between each possible value of the volume and its probability of not being exceeded.In addition to volume,block shape can be considered as a derived parameter that suffers from uncertainties.Many attempts to model the possible trajectories of blocks considering their actual shape have been proposed,aiming to reproduce the effect on motion.The authors proposed analytical equations for calculating the expected value and variance of volume distributions,based on the geometrically correct equation for block volume in the case of three discontinuity sets.They quantify and discuss the effect of both volume and shape variability through a synthetic case study.Firstly,a fictitious rock mass with three discontinuity sets is assumed as the source of rockfall.The IBSDs obtained considering different spacing datasets are quantitatively compared,and the overall uncertainty effect is assessed,proving the correctness of the proposed equations.Then,block shape distributions are obtained and compared,confirming the variability of shapes within the same IBSD.Finally,a comparison between trajectory simulations on the synthetic slope is reported,aiming to highlight the effects of the propagation of uncertainties to block volume and shape estimation.The benefits of an approach that can quantify the uncertainties are discussed from the perspective of improving the reliability of simulations.

Improved scheme with cooperative diversity based on distributed space-time block coding

An improved scheme with cooperative diversity based on distributed space-time block coding （WCD- DSTBC） is proposed, which effectively achieves diversity gains and improves the performance of the system by sharing some single-antenna users＇ antennas to form a virtual antenna array and combining with distributed spacetime block coding （DSTBC） mode. Then the relation between the system BER and the interuser BER for WCDDSTBC scheme is theoretically derived and the closed-form expression of BER for WCD-DSTBC system is obtained. The simulation results show that the proposed WCD-DSTBC scheme achieves distinct gains over the non-cooperative multi-carrier CDMA （MC-CDMA） system. When system BER is le-3 and interuser BER is le-3, about 2.5 dB gain can be gotten. When interuser channel state information （CSI） outgoes the users＇ individual CSI, about 3 dB gain is also achieved.

奇异随机微分方程的依分布几乎自守解

利用线性算子的块对角形式及几乎自守系数在合适空间上的分解技巧,给出奇异随机微分方程在可分的Hilbert空间上依分布几乎自守解的存在性和唯一性证明.

Characteristics and dynamics of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche triggered by a paleo-earthquake in the Northern Qinling Mountains

Analyzing large prehistoric rock avalanches provides significant data for evaluating the disaster posed by these relatively infrequent but destructive geological events. This paper attempts to study the characteristics and dynamics of the Ganqiuchi granitic rock avalanche, in the middle of the northern margin of Qinling Mountains, 30 km to the south of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China. In plane view, this rock avalanche is characterized by source area, accumulation area and dammed lake area. Based on previous studies, historical records and regional geological data, the major trigger of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche is considered to be a strong paleo-earthquake with tremendous energy. The in situ deposit block size distributions of the intact rock mass and the debris deposits are presented and analyzed by using a simple model for estimating the number of fragmentation cycles that the blocks underwent. The results show that the primary controlling factor of the fragmentation process is the pre-existing fractures, and there is a relationship between the potential energy and the fragmentation energy: the latter is approximately 20% of the former. Based on the dynamic discrete element technique, the study proposes a four-stage model for the dynamic course of the Ganqiuchi rock avalanche:(1) failing;(2) highspeed sliding;(3) collision with obstacles;(4) decelerated sliding, which has implication for hazard assessment of the potential rock avalanches in China and other countries with similar geological setting.

Interference cancellation technique under imperfect synchronization in cellular systems

In this paper, an asynchronous cooperative cellular system applied with space-time block coding (STBC) is investigated. A signal detector is proposed based on parallel interference cancellation (PIC), to cancel the inter-symbol interference (ISI) caused by the imperfect synchronization. Simulation results show that the proposed PIC detector can effiectively suppress the ISI, but there is still a comparatively high error floor, due to the co-channel interference (CCI) of the cellular system.

THE THEORETICAL BER PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF A COOPERATIVE DIVERSITY SCHEME IN FREQUENCY SELECTIVE FADING CHANNEL

A novel cooperative diversity scheme based on Distributed Space-Time Block Coding and Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (DSTBC-MC-CDMA) is proposed which works well in frequency selective fading channels with multiple single-antenna users. And an analytical error model is established to describe the symbol decoding errors between interusers, based on which a close form expression for theoretical Bit Error Rate (BER) performance of the scheme is derived to analyze the influence of the interuser decoding errors on the BER performance of the scheme. Then simulation is complimented to verify the analytic result above, which also shows that the BER performance of DSTBC-MC-CDMA outgoes that of non-cooperative MC-CDMA with considerable gains. Further- more, the simulations coincide with the theoretical results well.

Quality assessment for JPEG images based on difference of power spectrum distribution

No-reference quality assessment aims at designing objective assessment criteria consistent to subjective perceived quality without any knowledge about reference image. This paper proposes a no-reference quality assessment algorithm specific to JPEG images. Blocking artifact in JPEG images is caused by the block based quantization of frequency coefficients, which is equivalent to applying low pass filtering in each block. In view of this idea, the algorithm in this paper was used to realize the quality assessment of JPEG images by quantizing the difference of power spectrum distribution between inner-block and inter-block. The assessment method proposed in this paper owns low algorithm complexity, clear physical meanings, free from learning and training and other advantages. Compared with most presented algorithms, the assessment results of proposed algorithm demonstrate a higher correlation to the subjective perceived quality.

Spatial channel pairing based coherent combining for relay networks

In this paper, spatial channel pairing(SCP) is introduced to coherent combining at the relay in relay networks. Closed-form solution to optimal coherent combining is derived. Given coherent combining, the approximate SCP solution is presented. Finally, an alternating iterative structure is developed. Simulation results and analysis show that, given the symbol error rate and data rate, the proposed alternating iterative structure achieves signal-to-noise ratio gains over existing schemes in maximum ratio combining(MRC) plus matched filter,MRC plus antenna selection, and distributed space-time block coding due to the use of SCP and iterative structure.