Heading towards an advanced signalling system for multimedia,multiparty services in broadband ISDN

Introduction of the broadband integrated services digital network (B-ISDN) will enable network users to make use of advanced multimedia, multiparty services. With this aim in view, RACE II project R2044, MAGIC, is investigating long-term signalling requirements, architecture and protocols for B-ISDN. New service concepts are being developed in MAGIC which will provide more flexibility when compared to narrowband ISDN (N-ISDN). The service requirements and other signalling requirements, such as the separation between call and associated connections at the network-node interface, are used to determine the distribution of functions over the network. The signalling protocols which are used to exchange the signalling information are subsequently developed. These signalling protocols are simulated to prove the performance and the feasibility of call handling concepts     

All-optical wavelength conversion by semiconductor opticalamplifiers

Following a brief introduction to the applications for wavelength conversion and the different available conversion techniques, the paper gives an in depth analysis of cross gain and cross phase wavelength conversion in semiconductor optical amplifiers. The influence of saturation filtering on the bandwidth of the converters is explained and conditions for conversion at 20 Gb/s or more are identified. The cross gain modulation scheme shows extinction ratio degradation for conversion to longer wavelengths. This can be overcome using cross phase modulation in semiconductor optical amplifiers that are integrated into interferometric structures. The first results for monolithic integrated interferometric wavelength converters are reviewed, and the quality of the converted signals is demonstrated by transmission of 10 Gb/s converted signals over 60 km of nondispersion shifted single mode fiber     

Patient's self-interpretation of tuberculin skin tests

BACKGROUND: In the outpatient use of tuberculin skin testing (purified protein derivative [PPD]), it is at times inconvenient to have a patient revisit for interpretation. Therefore, we assessed patients' ability to self-interpret these test results. METHODS: In keeping with prior custom, patients were seen by an experienced nurse, who performed skin testing with PPD intermediate strength as well as mumps and Candida anergy control tests in some cases, and explained the procedure. The patients were asked to return 48 to 72 h later, at which time one of the researchers recorded their test interpretations before they were again evaluated by the nurse. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients were studied, of whom 59 returned at appropriate interval. Eighteen patients had a positive PPD test reaction of 10 to 20 mm induration, which only one patient correctly identified as a positive test result. However, positive anergy control tests were correctly interpreted in 10 of 27 cases. CONCLUSION: The small number of positive PPD test result recognition by these patients may be partially attributed to their lack of education, as well as foreign birth and denial of illness. PPD results should be checked by an experienced professional.     

Scattering from coated targets using a frequency-dependent, surfaceimpedance boundary condition in FDTD

One method for reducing the radar cross section of objects such as aircraft and missiles is the application of a lossy coating. Computing scattering from targets coated with dielectric/magnetic materials is challenging due to the reduced wavelengths of an incident field inside the coating. These smaller wavelengths require finer sampling of the fields. A technique for implementing this calculation without greatly increased memory requirements or computation times has previously been developed using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) code which has been tested in one, two, and three dimensions. The method requires knowledge of the frequency behaviour of the complex permittivity and permeability, and the thickness of the dielectric coating and is applicable to thin coatings when one or more reflections from the conducting surface are significant. The impedance at the surface of the coating is computed based on the given information and then approximated using a summation of causal functions. The approximated impedance is Z-transformed and added to the FDTD code in special update equations for the fields at the surface of the coating. No computations are required inside the coatings so the FDTD grid can be sized based on the free-space wavelength. The result obtained is valid over the entire frequency range of interest, assuming that the approximated surface impedance is a good match over the entire range. Comparisons with measurements of a scale model coated missile show good agreement and almost no increase in resource requirements over a standard FDTD calculation for an uncoated metal target     

Distributed channel assignment strategies using coexistenceetiquettes for land based radio environment

The performance of two distributed channel assignment algorithms which use coexistence etiquettes for point to point links are considered by the authors. It has been found that selecting channels prior to transmission at the transmitter as opposed to the receiver, supports greater offered traffic with the additional advantage of a less complex protocol     

Comparison between normal and reverse thin crystalline silicon solar cells

The newly developed ingot growing techniques, as the three-grain and the columnar multigrain ingot processes, are now offering the possibility of slicing thinner wafers (≤ 100 μm). In this paper we present the results obtained on p type large area (≥ 100 cm²) and 100 μm thick wafers by using both conventional and reverse cell manufacturing technologies.The conventional cells are provided with aluminium or boron BSF plus screen-printed silver mirror or a silver-aluminium net; the reverse cells have a FSF and the deep back junction completely covered by a screen-printed or CVD silver layer.The constructing parameters have been chosen on the base of one and two dimensions modeling and both raw material and devices have been completely characterized.This work shows that very thin wafers do not introduce serious problems for the conventional manufacturing of solar cells. The efficiencies of the normal and of the reverse cells are found to be comparable and are of the same order than those of thicker cells, however at a significant lower cost. The main obtained result has to be related to the demonstration of a cell manufacturing feasibility starting from very thin wafers.     

Computation of periodic Green's functions of Stokes flow

Methods of computing periodic Green's functions of Stokes flow representing the flow due to triply-, doubly-, and singly-periodic arrays of three-dimensional or two-dimensional point forces are reviewed, developed, and discussed with emphasis on efficient numerical computation. The standard representation in terms of Fourier series requires a prohibitive computational effort for use with singularity and boundary-integral-equation methods; alternative representations based on variations of Ewald's summation method involving various types of splitting between physical and Fourier space with partial sums that decay in a Gaussian or exponential manner, allow for efficient numerical computation. The physical changes undergone by the flow in deriving singly- and doubly-periodic Green's functions from their triply-periodic counterparts are considered.     

Accelerated vibratory fatigue test by ultrasonic frequency at cryogenic temperature

The fatigue test is a time-consuming experiment. The accelerated fatigue testing technique is a dream for all researchers. In our laboratory, a vibratory fatigue testing machine was built, which works at 20 kHz for R = −1 and permits to carry out tests at cryogenic temperature. This is an automatic machine controlled by a PC computer. By using this apparatus, it is easy to save time by 400 to 500 times and a lot of liquid air (nitrogen or helium).

A titanium alloy, Ti6A14V (TA6V PQ french mark), was tested in liquid nitrogen (77 K) with this machine for S---N curve. At the same time, other fatigue tests were performed in SEP (Société Européenne de Propulsion) in conventional fatigue for the same material and the same conditions except the frequency. The comparison shows that the results are coherent.     

The application of transmission-line modelling to the simulation ofan induction motor drive

The simulation of a complete induction motor drive is presented. The entire network is modelled using the transmission-line modelling (TLM) technique. The network is split into three sections which are solved independently and are joined together by link transmission-line models. Advantages of this approach are the explicit nature of the algorithm which remains unaltered irrespective of the network topology, unconditional stability, and straightforward modelling of switching elements. Results are presented for a complete drive which illustrate the capabilities and flexibility of the simulation technique