The Road to Next-Generation Broadband

Next-generation broadband promises to usher in a digital future in which it will be possible, for instance, to have a high-definition videoconference examination with your doctor from the comfort of your own home. Japan and Korea in particular are much closer to this sort of digital future than most countries, including the US. Public policy must play an important role in making tomorrow's broadband a reality in America.     

朴素的认识

2月20日，“中国国际建筑艺术实践展”项目开工典礼在南京珍珠泉佛手湖工地现场举行。此时距这个项目正式启动已经过了一年半了。从主办方提供的资料看．参展建筑师的设计方案可谓各具特色，但也许正是这种有意为之的特色使得建筑真的成了一件展品。如果说迪斯尼乐园里那些城堡和尖塔是孩子们的大玩具的话，那么佛手湖畔这将要建成的24栋建筑就是成人们的大玩具。     

The dynamic effects and compensation of load transitions in robotic systems

The problem of a robot handling a payload typically involves pre-load, load, and post-load stages, and payload transitions between these stages. Although considerable work has focused on the control of robots carrying payloads, few consider the problem of load transitions—one of the most important effects on system performance. This article studies these transitions and presents a compensation method. It is shown that load transitions lead to abrupt (jump) parameters and uncertain transition times in the robot/payload model. A control strategy is proposed that takes the load transitions into account and guarantees the stable path tracking of robots in the face of these transitions. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified via simulation. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A simplified dispersion limit formula for IM/DD systems and itscomparison with experimental results

A simplified formula for the dispersion limit of single-mode-fiber intensity modulation/direct detection (IM/DD) systems is derived for arbitrary given normalized pulse width U, eye opening penalty X and source linewidth enhancement factor α. From the comparison with published theoretical analyses, computer simulation and experimental data, its validity and the limits of existing formulae are shown. Using this simple and general formula, one can easily obtain the dispersion limit of various fiber types under different working conditions in IM/DD systems     

Isolation of single yeast cells by optical trapping

Individual yeast cells can be successfully isolated and recultured on plates with a new isolation method making use of optical trapping with infrared laser light. The cells can be selected on morphological criteria by high resolution microscopy. The isolation device is constructed from two coverslips separated by spacers, in which selected cells are transferred to a plastic capillary, using the optical trap. To test the procedure, selection experiments were done with a mixture of two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, distinguishable both in fluorescence microscopy and on agar plates. These experiments showed that only selected cells were isolated, and close to 100% of the isolated stationary-phase cells formed colonies on agar plates, indicating a high recovery. A lower recovery was obtained with exponential-phase cells, possibly because of a higher sensitivity to laser irradiation. Applications for this method may include the isolation of mutants with altered morphology and the isolation of subpopulations of yeast cultures, for their separate investigation or for the initiation of pure cultures.     

Invasiveness of LiTaO/sub 3/ and GaAs probes in external E-O sampling

Disturbances of signals on a coplanar waveguide (CPW) induced by the presence of LiTaO/sub 3/ and GaAs electrooptic probes in external electrooptic (EO) sampling have been simulated and compared quantitatively. The finite-difference-time-domain method is used to simulate the full wave field around a coplanar waveguide on a GaAs substrate in an external EO sampling configuration. The results indicate that the induced signal disturbance, or invasiveness, of a LiTaO/sub 3/ probe is almost ten times that of a GaAs probe in terms of the magnitude of S/sub 11/, but that LiTaO/sub 3/ yields about two times the EO response for a given S/sub 11/ and optical probing wavelength. The transparency of LiTaO/sub 3/ to shorter wavelengths, however, allows an even higher sensitivity for this material relative to GaAs. The results suggest that these probes do not exhibit significant invasiveness (magnitude of S/sub 11/ smaller than -40 dB), if they are removed from contact by the distance of CPWs center conductor width.<>     

Effect of silver addition on superconductivity in the Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr1.6Ca2Cu3O10−y system

Silver/superconductor composites containing 0 to 80 vol% silver have been prepared and their properties determined. Optimum heat treatment at sintering temperatures ( 800° C) under low oxygen pressures produces material with high critical current density and improves physical properties. Magnetic susceptibility measurements have been found to be consistent with resistivity results. In order to retain a single high-T _c phase with increasing silver content, decreased oxygen partial pressures are required. Using the normal-state resistivity of these composites, a percolation threshold at a silver volume fraction of 43% was observed, while zero resistivity measurements show that a continuous superconducting network can be obtained with up to 80 vol% silver. The critical current density of 21 vol% silver-doped samples was found to be 1520 A cm^–2 at 77.3 K, compared to 260 A cm^–2 for an undoped sample.     

中国观赏石文化与收藏

以推动人类文明进步发展的观念为先导,以详实的地质学、岩石学、石文化史料为切入点,介绍了我国观赏石文化的起源、发展及现状;阐述了赏石审美的本质、形式、石体标准、传统性、现代性等理论要点及其以小见大、以丑为美的审美理念。对赏石修身养性、以石陶情及赏石文化与道教情结的学术价值进行了评述;对从古至今的中华文化名人为赏石理论的创立、鉴赏、收藏和发展作出的不可磨灭的历史贡献进行了评价。