Design of bidirectionally pumped fiber amplifiers generating doubleRayleigh backscattering

Optimum pumping schemes for bidirectionally pumped distributed fiber amplifiers are evaluated that simultaneously minimize the beat noise between signal and amplified spontaneous emission, as well as between signal and double Rayleigh backscattering. A way of adding a constraint on signal power to describe operation in a strong Kerr fiber nonlinearity regime is included. We show that one can find an optimum Raman net gain, as well as a percentage of forward to total Raman pumping maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio at the end of a transmission line using bidirectionally Raman-pumped transmission fibers     

Complexity‐Reduced Algorithms for LDPC Decoder for DVB‐S2 Systems

This paper proposes two kinds of complexity‐reduced algorithms for a low density parity check(LDPC) decoder. First, sequential decoding using a partial group is proposed. It has the same hardware complexity and requires a fewer number of iterations with little performance loss. The amount of performance loss can be determined by the designer, based on a tradeoff with the desired reduction in complexity. Second, an early detection method for reducing the computational complexity is proposed. Using a confidence criterion, some bit nodes and check node edges are detected early on during decoding. Once the edges are detected, no further iteration is required; thus early detection reduces the computational complexity.     

Packet Delay Analysis of Symmetric Gated Polling System for DBA Scheme in an EPON

In this paper, we analyze the mean packet delay of a dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) scheme in an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON). We propose the interleaved polling system with a gated service discipline and a two-stage queue in order to investigate the delay performance of DBA scheme in an EPON. We assume that input packets arrive at an optical network unit (ONU) according to a Poisson process from several types of users. We use a continuous time queueing model in order to find the mean packet delay and the mean cycle time of an arbitrary packet. We obtain the closed form solution for the mean packet delay of the proposed gated polling system with a two-stage queue. We obtain another result on the mean packet delay by solving a system of linear equations derived from the moments of the queue length distribution. We give some numerical results to investigate the delay performances for the symmetric polling system with statistically identical stations. In addition, we compare numerical results on the closed form solution with numerical results on a system of linear equations.     

Study on InGaAsP-InGaAs MQW-LD with symmetric and asymmetric separate confinement heterostructure

We studied symmetric and asymmetric InGaAsP-InGaAs 1.55-/spl mu/m multiquantum-well (MQW) laser diodes (LDs) with highly p-doped layers in the two-step separate confinement heterostructure (SCH). The p-doping in p-SCH suppresses the electron overflow from the MQWs to p-SCH, but it is an origin of free carrier absorption loss. An additional InGaAsP layer inserted inside n-SCH makes asymmetric field distribution and, therefore, reduces the portion of optical field distribution in highly p-doped regions with high optical loss. Compared with symmetric structure, asymmetric SCH LD has low threshold current density, low internal loss, and high and flat slope efficiency with respect to temperature.     

Separation of whey proteins by anion-exchange membranes

Three strong anion-exchange membranes (CIM QA, Q100 and HiTrap Q) were investigated for the separation of the major proteins, which were contained in whey, such as α-Lactalbumin, BSA and β-Lactoglobulin. Experiments were performed to determine the optimum mobile phase composition for separating the whey proteins using the standard chemicals of the proteins. The mobile phase was buffer A (20 mM piperazine-HCl pH 6.4) and buffer B (buffer A+1 M NaCl) and the linear gradient elution changes of salt concentration were applied. The standard chemicals of the proteins were used to investigate the optimal mobile phase compositions with the three anion-exchange membranes. From the experimental results, it was found that HiTrap Q was the most effective in separating whey proteins.     

Enhanced brightness and efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes with an LiF in the Alq/sub 3/

Highly efficient and bright organic light-emitting diodes have been realized by inserting a thin insulating lithium fluoride (LiF) layer in the tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq/sub 3/) with conventional organic layers. By comparing the performances of newly devised devices as a function of the position of the LiF in the Alq/sub 3/ layer, the authors propose the optimal position of the LiF in the Alq/sub 3/ layer. Experimental results show that the efficiency and brightness of the newly devised device with LiF in the Alq/sub 3/ layer were seven times higher than that without LiF in the Alq/sub 3/ layer.     

Molecular design,synthesis, and electro‐optic properties of novel Y‐type polyesters with high thermal stability of second harmonic generation

3,4‐Di‐(2′‐hydroxyethoxy)‐4′‐nitrostilbene was prepared and condensed with terephthaloyl chloride, adipoyl chloride, and sebacoyl chloride to yield novel Y‐type polyesters containing NLO‐chromophore dioxynitrostilbenyl groups, which constituted parts of the polymer backbone. Polymers were found soluble in common organic solvents such as acetone and N,N‐dimethylformamide. They showed thermal stability up to 300 °C in thermogravimetric analysis with glass‐transition temperatures obtained from differential scanning calorimetry in the range 110–152 °C. The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficients (d₃₃) of poled polymer films at a 1064 cm^?1 fundamental wavelength were around 3.51 × 10^?8 esu. The dipole alignment exhibited high thermal stability even at 10 °C higher than the glass‐transition temperature, and there was no SHG decay below 120 °C for one of these polymers due to the partial main‐chain character of polymer structure, which was acceptable for NLO device applications. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Application of computational fluid dynamics analysis for improving performance of commercial scale selective catalytic reduction

The performance of commercial scale selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system is strongly dependant upon the degree of mixing between NH₃ and NOx or NH₃ concentration distribution at the catalyst layer according to the reaction kinetics of SCR catalysts. Insufficient mixing of the reduction agent and NOx mass flow necessitates an uneconomically large catalyst volume and high NH₃ slip to meet the required NOx emission values. The effective methodology which can increase the performance of commercial scale SCR through improving NH₃ concentration distribution at the catalyst layer using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was suggested and applied to the real operations. The operation results have shown that the performance of commercial SCR was improved from 54.4% to 74.8% as NH₃ concentration deviation at the catalyst layer was reduced from 23.6% to 8.6%. It is established that the increase of NH₃ concentration uniformity at the catalyst layer contributes to improvement of performance of commercial scale SCR.     

A lower upper-bound solution for shear spinning of cones

The shear spinning process, where the plastic deformation zone is localized in a very small portion of the work piece, is introduced for the manufacturing of large conical shapes. This process seemingly shows a promise for increasingly broader application to the production of axially symmetric parts. This study is to gain a better understanding of the process of shear spinning and to propose a lower upper-bound solution for shear spinning cones. Velocity fields and strain rates are derived from considering the adequate deformation mode and the contact factor is introduced to obtain the lower upper-bound power. The theoretical values are compared with the experimental results of various materials. Al-1100-0, Al-1100-H14, and Al-6061-0. A comparison shows that theoretical prediction is reasonably in good agreement with experimental results.     

Post-translational heterocyclic backbone modifications in the 43-peptide antibiotic microcin B17. Structure elucidation and NMR study of a 13C,15N-labelled gyrase inhibitor

Microcin B17 (McB17), the first known gyrase inhibitor of peptidic nature, is produced by ribosomal synthesis and post-translational modification of the 69-residue precursor protein by an Escherichia coli strain. To elucidate the chemical structure of the mature 43-residue peptide antibiotic, fermentation and purification protocols were established and optimized which allowed the isolation and purification of substantial amounts of highly pure McB17 (non-labelled, 15N-labelled and 13C/15N-labelled peptide. By ultraviolet-absorption spectroscopy. HPLC-electrospray mass spectrometry and GC-mass spectrometry, amino acid analysis, protein sequencing, and, in particular, multidimensional NMR, we could demonstrate and unequivocally prove that the enzymic modification of the precursor backbone at Gly-Cys and Gly-Ser segments leads to the formation of 2-aminomethylthiazole-4-carboxylic acid and 2-aminomethyloxazole-4-carboxylic acid, respectively. In addition, two bicyclic modifications 2-(2-aminomethyloxazolyl)thiazole-4-carboxylic acid and 2-(2-aminomethylthiazolyl)oxazole-4-carboxylic acid were found that consist of directly linked thiazole and oxazole rings derived from one Gly-Ser-Cys and one Gly-Cys-Ser segment. Analogous to the thiazole and oxazole rings found in antitumor peptides of microbial and marine origin, these heteroaromatic ring systems of McB17 presumably play an important role in its gyrase-inhibiting activity, e.g. interacting with the DNA to trap the covalent protein-DNA intermediate of the breakage-reunion reaction of the gyrase.