Soft-Information Assisted Near-Optimum Nonlinear Detection for BLAST-type Space Division Multiplexing OFDM Systems
In this contribution, a nonlinear hybrid detection scheme based on a novel soft-information assisted genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed for a turbo convolutional (TC) coded space division multiplexing (SDM) aided orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system. Our numerical results show that the performance of the currently known GA-assisted system can be improved by about 2 dB with the aid of the GA's population-based soft solution, approaching the optimum performance of the soft-information assisted maximum likelihood (ML) detection, while exhibiting a lower complexity, especially in high-throughput scenarios. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is capable of achieving a good performance even in the so-called overloaded systems, where the number of transmit antennas is higher than the number of receiver antennas

title: Iterative Joint Channel Estimation and Symbol Detection for Multi-User MIMO OFDM
abstract: Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems have recently attracted substantial research interest. However, compared to single-input-single-output (SISO) systems, channel estimation in the MIMO scenario becomes more challenging, owing to the increased number of independent transmitter-receiver links to be estimated. In the context of the Bell layered space-time architecture (BLAST) or space division multiple access (SDMA) multi-user MIMO OFDM literature, no channel estimation technique allows the number of users to be higher than the number of receiver antennas, which is often referred to as an "overloaded" scenario. In this contribution we propose a new genetic algorithm (GA) assisted iterative joint channel estimation and multi-user detection approach for MIMO SDMA-OFDM systems, which exhibits a robust performance in the above-mentioned overloaded scenario. Furthermore, GA-aided multi-user detection (MUD) techniques found in the literature can only provide a hard-decision output, while the proposed GA is capable of providing "soft" outputs, hence achieving an improved performance with the aid of channel decoders. Finally, a range of simulation results are provided to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed scheme

title: Global Exponential Stability and Periodicity of CNNs with Time-Varying Discrete and Distributed Delays
abstract: In this paper, based on the Lyapunov stability analysis for functional differential equations, the problems of global exponential stability and periodic solutions for a class of cellular neural networks with time-varying delays and distributed delays are investigated. By constructing a new suitable Lyapunov functional, some simple sufficient conditions ensuring existence, uniqueness, global exponential stability of the equilibrium point and periodic oscillation of the networks are obtained, which are easy to check and apply in practice. In addition, an example is also given to illustrate the effectiveness of the theory.

title: Quantitative steganalysis of binary images
abstract: We propose a quantitative steganalysis method to detect hidden information embedded by flipping pixels along boundaries in binary images. We model steganographic embedding as an additive noise process and use compression rate as a distinguishing statistic that aids in discriminating between stego-images and cover-images. We specifically use the JBIG 2 binary image compression algorithm to derive a quantitative relation between compression rate and embedding rate. Based on this relationship, a practical steganalysis technique is proposed by examining the change of compression rate as embedding rate increases. Experiments conducted show that the proposed technique can reliably detect a steganographic embedding process that flips boundary pixels. Furthermore, it can estimate embedding rate with reasonable accuracy.

title: Convergence of the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART)
abstract: In 1984, the simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART) was developed as a major refinement of the algebraic construction technique (ART). Since then, the SART approach remains a powerful tool for iterative image reconstruction. However, the convergence of the SART has never been established. This long-standing conjecture is proven under the condition that coefficients of the linear imaging system are non-negative. It is shown that from any initial value the sequence generated by the SART converges to a weighted least square solution. The importance of the SART and several relevant issues are also discussed.

title: Convergence Studies on Iterative Algorithms for Image Reconstruction
abstract: We introduce a general iterative scheme for image reconstruction based on Landweber's method. In our configuration, a sequential block-iterative (SeqBI) version can be readily formulated from a simultaneous block-iterative (SimBI) version, and vice versa. This provides a mechanism to derive new algorithms from known ones. It is shown that some widely used iterative algorithms, such as the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), simultaneous ART (SART), Cimmino's, and the recently designed diagonal weighting and component averaging algorithms, are special examples of the general scheme. We prove convergence of the general scheme under conditions more general than assumed in earlier studies, for its SeqBI and SimBI versions in the consistent and inconsistent cases, respectively. Our results suggest automatic relaxation strategies for the SeqBI and SimBI versions and characterize the dependence of the limit image on the initial guess. It is found that in all cases the limit is the sum of the minimum norm solution of a weighted least-squares problem and an oblique projection of the initial image onto the null space of the system matrix.

title: Improved Results on Solving Quadratic Programming Problems with Delayed Neural Network
abstract: In this paper, in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI), using a delayed Lagrangian network to solve quadratic programming problems, sufficient conditions on delay-dependent and delay-independent are given to guarantee the globally exponential stability of the delayed neural network at the optimal solution. In addition, exponential convergence rate is estimated by the equation in the paper. Furthermore, the results in this paper improved the ones reported in the existing literatures and the proposed sufficient condition can be checked easily by solving LMI. Two simulation examples are provided to show the effectiveness of the approach and applicability of the proposed criteria.