An alternative approach to decision-feedback equalization with finite impulse response feedforward and feedback filters is presented. Instead of the conventional design criterion of minimum mean-squared error (MMSE), a maximum signalto-noise ratio criterion is employed. After derivation of the optimum filters, the MMSE solution is reviewed. It is shown via matrix manipulations, that both soluti...

.............................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES....................................................

We present experimental data for an ankle exoskeleton that provides a metabolic benefit during running. Intuitively, there is an optimal level of power that any particular human can accept and use to benefit walking or running, which is a function of the particular human, the selected gait, and speed. We provide and discuss modeling optimization results to complement our recent data for the dev...

Negidal is a Northern Tungusic language closely related to Evenki with two recognized dialects, Upper and Lower Negidal. This nearly extinct language used to be spoken in the Lower Amur region of the Russian Far East by people whose traditional way of life was based on fishing and hunting. While the number of remaining active speakers of Upper Negidal was more or less known, the current state o...

Toward elucidating how a wavy porous sand bed perturbs a turbulent flow above its surface, we record pressure within a permeable material resembling the region just below desert ripples, contrasting these delicate measurements with earlier studies on similar impermeable surfaces. We run separate tests in a wind tunnel on two sinusoidal porous ripples with aspect ratio of half crest-to-trough am...

The evolution of body size in tetrapods is assessed using a database that includes 107 early stegocephalian species ranging in time from the Frasnian (Upper Devonian) to the Tatarian (Upper Permian). All analyses use methods that incorporate phylogenetic information (topology and branch lengths). In all tests, the impact of alternative topologies and branch lengths are assessed. Previous report...