Optical fiber solitons, their properties and uses

The history and mathematical formulation of solutions are briefly reviewed. Solitons of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation are studied in greater detail because they describe nonlinear pulse propagation on dispersive optical fibers. The proposal by A. Hasegawa and the experiments of L.F. Mollenauer on long distance soliton propagation for use in repeaterless transoceanic fiber transmission cables are described. In 1986, limitations on the distance that can be spanned by a repeaterless link for a given bit rate were shown to exist. It has been shown recently that by proper design these limitations can be overcome, so that newer transoceanic cable designs are likely to utilize solitons. The special properties of solitons make them particularly suited for all optical switching and logic operations. Some recent experiments with such switches are described     

Tunable wavelength filters based on nonlinear optical interactionsin semiconductor amplifiers

A novel class of narrow-band tunable wavelength filters is proposed and evaluated. Wavelength selectivity of the proposed filters Is derived from the finite time response of an optical nonlinearity. The nonlinearity is gain saturation in semiconductor optical amplifier structures. The filters are shown to have very narrow passbands tunable over the entire semiconductor gain bandwidth. The key to filter implementation is a device configuration in which the wave-mixing products can be isolated from the amplified inputs. Three integrated optics compatible configurations are considered and shown to have high filter throughputs 34 to 180% and subangstrom bandwidths     

ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION OF CHEMICAL SPECIES TO POLAR SNOW

Particles and gases can deposit from the atmosphere to polar snow by several mechanisms. Dry deposition can be considered to consist of three steps: aerodynamic transport from the free atmosphere to the viscous sublayer near the surface, boundary layer transport across the sublayer, and interactions with the surface. The particle dry deposition mass flux is dominated by the largest particles present in a size distribution. Wet deposition includes in-cloud and below-cloud scavenging, where the former refers to uptake of particles during nucleation of cloudwater as well as scavenging of particles and gases by existing droplets and ice crystals. Of all the wet deposition mechanisms, nucleation scavenging is often the most important mechanism for particles in the polar regions. Finally, incorporation of particles and gases into fog droplets and subsequent settling of the fog to the snow surface can be an important removal process in regions of frequent fog. For Summit, Greenland, the total deposition of MSA, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ during May 24-July 13, 1993 was dominated by wet deposition: this mechanism accounted for an average of 62% of the total deposition for these species. Fog and dry deposition accounted for 21% and 17% of the total, respectively. These results suggest that all three mechanisms may need to be considered when estimating total deposition of certain chemical species to polar snow.     

Synthesis and thermal properties of polyamide 6 (A)-polyimide (B) block copolymers of ABA type

Summary Polyimides (PI) having different molecular weights were prepared by condensation of oxydiphthalic anhydride with 9,9-bis-(4-aminophenyl)fluorene in nitrobenzene solution at 180°C. These polyimides carried two amino chain ends which allowed us to fix polycaprolactam chains (PA6) to obtain PA6-PI-PA6 type copolymers. The elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopic determination gave the proportion of PA6 (or PI) in the copolymers. The studies of thermal properties-DSC and TGA-allowed us to characterize the copolymers.     

Proteolytic cleavage of MHC class I by complement C1-esterases--an overlooked mechanism?

This paper reviews recent changes in morbidity and mortality of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in infants with congenital heart disease. Mortality since the late 1970s has declined substantially, from approximately 37% to 3%. Although the frequency of admission to intensive care units has declined from approximately 60% to 30%, the frequency for mechanical ventilatory support has not changed significantly. Because mortality dropped prior to the widespread use of ribavirin, it is difficult to ascribe the improvement to this therapy. In infants with congenital heart disease (CHD), nosocomial infection remains a significant problem, accounting for approximately 33% of the RSV cases. Some authors report significant reductions in hospital-acquired RSV by use of gloves and gowns for contacts with infectious cases. Efforts at primary prevention have encountered problems with development of an RSV vaccine. Preliminary data from studies of passive immunization using immune globulins with high RSV antibody titers suggest that this therapy may reduce the severity of RSV infection in infants with serious heart disease.     

Monitoring systems and determination of actual fatigue usage

At GKN, fatigue monitoring of important components has been conducted since 1979. The monitoring methods depend on the mechanisms of damage; quasi-static loads are regarded as well as dynamic loads. The components were selected for monitoring on the basis of a system analysis. The data resulting from monitoring are used to optimise operation mode steadily. Experience shows that the use of monitoring data as input for fatigue assessment is the most realistic and cost-effective way. This fatigue assessment uses global and local sensitivity studies to evaluate the load-stress relation for each component. These relations can be programmed to produce stress vs. time curves. These are processed according to ASME rules to give a realistic fatigue usage.     

A new monitoring system for piping systems in fossil fired power plants

A CEC-funded project has been performed to tackle the problem of producing an advanced Life Monitoring System (LMS) which would calculate the creep and fatigue damage experienced by high temperature pipework components. Four areas were identified where existing Life Monitoring System technology could be improved:

1. 1. the inclusion of creep relaxation

2. 2. the inclusion of external loads on components

3. 3. a more accurate method of calculating thermal stresses due to temperature transients

4. 4. the inclusion of high cycle fatigue terms.

The creep relaxation problem was solved using stress reduction factors in an analytical in-elastic stress calculation. The stress reduction factors were produced for a number of common geometries and materials by means of non-linear finite element analysis. External loads were catered for by producing influence coefficients from in-elastic analysis of the particular piping system and using them to calculate bending moments at critical positions on the pipework from load and displacement measurements made at the convenient points at the pipework. The thermal stress problem was solved by producing a completely new solution based on Green's Function and Fast Fourier transforms. This allowed the thermal stress in a complex component to be calculated from simple non-intrusive thermocouple measurements made on the outside of the component. The high-cycle fatigue problem was dealt with precalculating the fatigue damage associated with standard transients and adding this damage to cumulative total when a transient occurred.

The site testing provided good practical experience and showed up problems which would not otherwise have been detected.     

Trends in low-cost, high-performance substrate technology

The trends in high density interconnection (HDI) multichip module (MCM) techniques that have the potential to reduce interconnection cost and production time are described. The implementation in laminated dielectric (MCM-L) technology of a workstation processor core illustrates current substrate technology capabilities. The design, routing, layout and thermal management of the processor core are described. Thin-film deposited dielectric (MCM-D) technology is discussed as a cost-effective method for future interconnection applications     

Correlation between serum levels of alanine aminotransferase and ferritin in male blood donors with antibody to hepatitis C virus

Chronic hepatitis C has been demonstrated to be associated with hepatic iron overload, and the hypothesis that the disease activity of hepatitis C is associated with iron cytotoxicity was tested in male volunteer blood donors. Sera with either antibody to hepatitis C virus or hepatitis B surface antigen were selected for determination of ferritin concentration and alanine aminotransferase activity. A correlation between serum ferritin concentration (Y; microgram/l) and alanine aminotransferase activity (X; IU/l) was found in donors with antibody to hepatitis C (log Y = 0.65 x log X + 0.98, r = 0.53, and P < 0.01). The correlation was lower in donors with hepatitis B surface antigen (r = 0.37; P < 0.01). Hepatitis C virus infection probably induces time-dependent iron accumulation associated with the progression of disease activity, while hepatitis B virus infection results in a variety of iron loads with different clinical features. The high disease activity related to hyperferritinemia suggests the presence of iron-induced liver damage in donors with hepatitis C.