Advanced modulation formats for more robust optical transmission systems

Interest in advanced modulation formats for optical communication systems has so far experienced two major waves. The first one was motivated by the potential to enhance receiver sensitivity of thermal noise-limited systems using coherent detection in combination with phase shift keying. It ended with the advent of optical amplification, enabling high sensitivities together with polarization insensitive, simple and stable direct detection. The second wave is still rolling, fueled by the potential of advanced modulation formats to increase robustness of optical transmission systems against signal distortions. Due to performance limitations given by direct detection and nonlinear effects in the transmission fiber, it is not decided yet, whether there will be widespread application in carrier networks.     

Raw data extraction from electrocardiograms with Portable Document Format

During the last two decades there has been a thorough research and development of standards and protocols in order to cope with different electrocardiogram formats from heterogeneous acquisition systems. Despite the efforts of public and private consortiums on creating a standardized electrocardiogram (ECG) storage format, there is still not a single one. Indeed, there is also the necessity of access to raw data of the ECGs previously acquired. Most of these documents have been saved as Adobe PDF files, since for medical staff it is an easy format for later visualization. However, this format presents difficulties when trying to access original raw data for subsequent studies and signal analysis. In this manner, this paper presents an application that obtains plain numerical data from ECG files stored with PDF format. Data can also be exported to one of the most common file formats in existence, to be easily accessed thereafter.     

化学结构的计算机处理（Ⅱ）：化学结构的计算机内存储方式和文件格式

化学结构作为化学家最普遍使用的语言，在化学知识的记录，传播和交流中起着十分重要的作用。随着计算机的普及，广大化学工作者都希望能用计算机来帮助处理化学结构，本文介绍了目前面向计算机的化学描述方法中用得最多的几种存储方式和文件格式，它们是：邻接矩阵，邻接表，邻接多表和ＭＯＬ格式，ＳＭＤ格式，简要评述了这些存储方式和文件格式的特点，局限性的应用。     

Simplified probabilistic non-linear assessment of existing railway bridges

An objective of the European Commission's Sixth Framework Research Project, Sustainable Bridges, is to advance understanding of the behaviour of existing railway bridges and develop tools to assess their ability to safely handle future traffic demands and extend their service lives. This paper presents the findings of a study that reviews structural safety models applicable to the assessment of existing bridges. The study proposes the use of simplified probabilistic non-linear structural analysis methods to provide more accurate assessments of the load capacity of bridge systems than traditional methods. The simplified methods use the results of a limited number of deterministic non-linear structural analyses and apply these results into a reliability framework. The application of the proposed methods is illustrated by assessing the safety of an existing bridge. The accuracy and efficiency of the simplified methods are verified by comparing the results of the simplified methods to those obtained from full probabilistic non-linear analysis procedures.     

三种载波抑制归零码光调制格式性能

首先分析了基于载波抑制归零码的光载波抑制归零-开关键控(CSRZ-OOK)、载波抑制归零-差分相移键控(CSRZ-DPSK)和载波抑制归零-差分正交相移键控(CSRZ-DQPSK) 三种光调制格式的时域和频域特性,并数字仿真了其在40 Gbit/s单信道光纤系统中的传输性能.以Q值、眼图和误码率(BER)作为性能评价指标,研究了这三种调制格式对色散(CD)、偏振模色散(PMD)和非线性效应的抑制作用.结果表明:CSRZ-DQPSK相对于CSRZ-OOK、CSRZ-DPSK对色散、偏振模色散和非线性效应有非常好的容忍能力.     

光PM-DQPSK调制格式性能研究

对偏振复用-33%归零-差分正交相移键控(PM-33%RZ-DQPSK)和偏振复用-抑制载波归零-差分正交相移键控(PM-CSRZ-DQPSK)调制格式进行了传输性能仿真,在仿真过程中,分别考虑了光纤系统中的偏振模色散(PMD)、色散(CD)和非线性效应(SPM)三种限制因素。仿真结果表明偏振复用系统比非偏振复用系统更易受到PMD、CD和非线性效应的影响。整体来看,PM-CSRZ-DQPSK调制格式的传输性能比PM-33%RZ-DQPSK更为优秀。     

From paper to pixels: A comparison of paper and computer formats in psychological assessment

Internet based data collection methods have many advantages for psychological assessment when compared with more traditional paper formats, including, reduced costs, and greater convenience for both the researcher and the participant. However, prior to the wide-spread adoption of these methods, equivalence with paper tests formats must be established. The present study compared questionnaire data from the computer with that from a traditional paper format in a sample of college students both directly and through an opinion survey. Three types of questionnaires that represent distinct areas commonly assessed in psychological research included: quality of life (SF-36), depression (BDI-II) and personality (NEO). A within-subjects design counterbalanced order across the computer and paper formats. Overall the findings showed no differences for the Neuroticism and Extraversion facts of the NEO, for the BDI and for the subscales and composite scores of the SF-36. Significant differences were found between the paper and computer formats for the Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness facets of the NEO. Additionally, the computer was perceived to be convenient, user-friendly, comfortable, and secure. Results suggest that a computerized format is an efficient way to conduct quality of life research, especially for the assessment of distress levels and quality of life.     

Rating formats and rater training redux: A context-specific approach for enhancing the effectiveness of performance management.

In this paper, we critically examine previous research on rating formats and rater training in the context of performance appraisal. Historically, the goal of this body of research has been to search for ways of maximizing the psychometric quality of performance evaluation data. Our central thesis is that there are a number of avenues for broadening this research. Accordingly, we propose a conceptual model that hopefully serves as a conceptual framework for future work in these 2 traditional performance appraisal research streams. For example, both rating formats and rater training research may be useful for facilitating and improving the feedback and employee development process, as well as reducing the potential existence of rater biases. In addition, format and training research may focus upon ways of enhancing both rater and ratee reactions to the appraisal system. A key feature of our model is the integration of national culture as a moderator of the relations between specific formats, training programs, and various outcomes. We consider both the national culture of raters and ratees, and focus specifically on comparisons between Western and East Asian cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A syntactic commutativity format for SOS

Considering operators defined using Structural Operational Semantics (SOS), commutativity axioms are intuitive properties that hold for many of them. Proving this intuition is usually a laborious task, requiring several pages of boring and standard proof. To save this effort, we propose a syntactic SOS format which guarantees commutativity for a set of composition operators.     

Adding New Words into A Chinese Thesaurus

In this paper, we study the problem of adding a large number of new words into a Chinese thesaurus according to their definitions in a Chinese dictionary, while minimizing the effort of hand tagging. To deal with the problem, we first make use of a kind of supervised learning technique to learn a set of defining formats for each class in the thesaurus, which tries to characterize the regularities about the definitions of the words in the class. We then use traditional techniques in Graph theory to derive a minimal subset of the new words to be added into the thesaurus, which meets the following condition: if we add the new words in the subset into the thesaurus by hand, the other new words can be added into the thesaurus automatically by matching their definitions with the defining formats of each class in the thesaurus. The method uses little, if any, language-specific or thesaurus-specific knowledge, and can be applied to the thesauri of other languages. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.