Spatially-multiplexed fibre-optic Bragg grating strain and temperature sensor system based on interferometric wavelength-shift detection

A prototype fibre-optic system using interferometric wavelength-shift detection, capable of multiplexing up to 32 fibre-optic Bragg grating strain and temperature sensors with identical characteristics, has been demonstrated. This system is based on a spatially multiplexed scheme for use with fibre-based low-coherence interferometric sensors, reported previously. Four fibre-optic Bragg grating channels using the same fibre grating have been demonstrated for measuring quasi-static strain and temperature.

Data transmission by frequency-hopped multilevel frequency shift keying

Spread spectrum systems make use of radio frequency bandwidths which far exceed the minimum bandwidth necessary to transmit the basic message information.These systems are designed to provide satisfactory communication of the message information under difficult transmission conditions. Frequency-hopped multilevel frequency shift keying (FH-MFSK) is one of the many techniques used in spread spectrum systems. It is a combination of frequency hopping and time hopping. In this system many users share a common frequency band using code division multiplexing. Each user is assigned an address and the message is modulated into the address. The receiver, knowing the address, decodes the received signal and extracts the message. This technique is suggested for digital mobile telephony. This thesis is concerned with an investigation of the possibility of utilising FH-MFSK for data transmission corrupted by additive white gaussian noise (A.W.G.N.). Work related to FH-MFSK has so far been mostly confined to its validity, and its performance in the presence of A.W.G.N. has not been reported before. An experimental system was therefore constructed which utilised combined hardware and software and operated under the supervision of a microprocessor system. The experimental system was used to develop an error-rate model for the system under investigation. The performance of FH-MFSK for data transmission was established in the presence of A.W.G.N. and with deleted and delayed sample effects. Its capability for multiuser applications was determined theoretically. The results show that FH-MFSK is a suitable technique for data transmission in the presence of A.W.G.N.

Influence of check and field size on the visual evoked magnetic response to a pattern shift stimulus

A decrease in the check size of a pattern shift stimulus increases the latency and amplitude of the visual evoked potential (VEP) P100. In addition, for a given check size, decreasing the size of the stimulus field increases the latency and amplitude of the P100. These results imply that the central regions of the retina make a significant contribution to the generation of the electrical P100. However, the corresponding magnetic P100m may have a different origin. We have studied the effects of check and field size on the P100m in five normal subjects using a DC-Squid, second-order gradiometer. Magnetic responses were recorded at the positive maximum of the P100m over the occipital scalp to six check sizes (10-100') presented in a large (13 degrees 34') and small (5 degrees 14') field and to a large check (100') presented in seven field sizes (1 degree 45' - 15 degrees 10'). No responses were recorded to any check size with a small field. Decreasing the check size presented in a large field increased latency of the P100m by approx. 30 ms while the amplitude of the response decreased with the largest reduction occurring between 70' and 12' checks. Using a large check, latency increased and amplitude decreased as the field size was reduced. The latency changes in response to check and field size were similar to those described for the VEP although the magnitudes of the magnetic changes were greater. Unlike the VEP, amplitude responses were maximal when large checks were presented in a large stimulus field. This suggests that regions outside the central retina make a more significant contribution to the visual evoked magnetic response than they do to the VEP, and that the P100m may be useful clinically in the study of diseases that affect the more peripheral regions of the retina.

Topography of visual evoked magnetic responses to pattern shift, pattern onset and flash stimuli

Different visual stimuli may activate separate channels in the visual system and produce magnetic responses from the human bran which originate from distinct regions of the visual cortex. To test this hypothesis, we have investigated the distribution of visual evoked magnetic responses to three distinct visual stimuli over the occipital region of the scalp with a DC-SQUID second-order gradiometer in an ubshielded environment. Patterned stimuli were presented full field and to the right half field, while a flash stimulus was presented full field only, in five normal subjects. Magnetic responses were recorded from 20 to 42 positions over the occipital scalp. Topographic maps were prepared of the major positive component within the first 150ms to the three stimuli, i.e., the P100m (pattern shift), C11m (pattern onset) and P2m (flash). For the pattern shift stimulus the data suggested the source of the P100m was close to the midline with the current directed towards the medial surface. The data for the pattern onset C11m suggested a source at a similar depth but with the current directed away from the midline towards the lateral surface. The flash P2m appeared to originate closer to the surface of the occipital pole than both the patterned stimuli. Hence the pattern shift (which may represent movement), and the pattern onset C11m (representing contrast and contour) appear to originate in similar areas of brain but to represent different asepcts of cortical processing. By contrast, the flash P2m (representing luminance change) appears to originate in a distinct area of visual cortex closer to the occipital pole.

A new role for Low German? Language insertion as bilingual practice in the process of language shift

This article analyses language insertion as a bilingual communicative practice, applying a functional, speaker-focused approach to the study of sociolinguistics and language contact. The article is based on a study of contact phenomena in a formerly diglossic region in Northern Germany, where the previously spoken language – Low German – is in the process of being replaced by the dominant standard variety, German. It examines regional publications in order to establish the linguistic techniques by which Low German elements are incorporated into the Standard German texts and the communicative purposes that they serve. The paper concludes that in the process of language shift an emblematic repertoire from Low German is created which can be applied into the dominant contact language, German, for specific communicative purposes.

Phase shift keyed systems based on a gain switched laser transmitter

Return-to-Zero (RZ) and Non-Return-to-Zero (NRZ) Differential Phase Shift Keyed (DPSK) systems require cheap and optimal transmitters for widespread implementation. The authors report on a gain switched Discrete Mode (DM) laser that can be employed as a cost efficient transmitter in a 10.7 Gb/s RZ DPSK system and compare its performance to that of a gain switched Distributed Feed-Back (DFB) laser. Experimental results show that the gain switched DM laser readily provides error free performance and a receiver sensitivity of -33.1 dBm in the 10.7 Gbit/s RZ DPSK system. The standard DFB laser on the other hand displays an error floor at 10(-1) in the same RZ DPSK system. The difference in performance, between the two types of gain switched transmitters, is analysed by investigating their linewidths. We also demonstrate, for the first time, the generation of a highly coherent gain switched pulse train which displays a spectral comb of approximately 13 sidebands spaced by the 10.7 GHz modulation frequency. The filtered side-bands are then employed as narrow linewidth Continuous Wave (CW) sources in a 10.7 Gb/s NRZ DPSK system.

Rayleigh noise mitigation in DWDM LR-PONs using carrier suppressed subcarrier-amplitude modulated phase shift keying

We demonstrate a novel Rayleigh interferometric noise mitigation scheme for applications in carrier-distributed dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) passive optical networks at 10 Gbit/s using carrier suppressed subcarrier-amplitude modulated phase shift keying modulation. The required optical signal to Rayleigh noise ratio is reduced by 12 dB, while achieving excellent tolerance to dispersion, subcarrier frequency and drive amplitude variations.

Design of Raman-based nonlinear loop mirror for all-optical 2R regeneration of differential phase-shift-keying transmission

We present a concept for all-optical regeneration of signals modulated in phase-sensitive modulation formats, which is based on a new design of Raman amplified nonlinear optical loop mirror (RA-NOLM). We demonstrate simultaneous amplitude-shape regeneration and phase-noise reduction in high-speed differential phase-shift-keying transmission systems by use of the RA-NOLM combined with spectral filtering.

Institutional work taken literally: How logics shift as banking lawyers 'get the deal done'

The role of interest and agency in the creation and transformation of institutions, in particular the “paradox of embedded agency” (Seo & Creed, 2002) have long puzzled institutional scholars. Most recently, Lawrence and Suddaby (2006) coined the term “institutional work” to describe various strategies for creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions. This label, while useful to integrate existing research, highlights institutionalists’ lack of attention to work as actors’ everyday occupational tasks and activities. Thus, the objective of this study is to take institutional work literally and ask: How does practical work come to constitute institutional work? Drawing on concepts of “situated change” (Orlikowski, 1996) I supplement existing macro-level perspectives of change with a microscopic, practice-based alternative. I examine the everyday work of English and German banking lawyers in a global law firm. Located at the intersection of local laws, international financial markets, commercial logics and professional norms, banking lawyers’ work regularly bridges different normative settings. Hence, they must constructively negotiate contradictory meanings, practices and logics to develop shared routines that resonate with different normative frameworks and facilitate task accomplishment. Based on observation and interview data, the paper distils a process model of banking transac-tions that highlights the critical interfaces forcing English and German banking lawyers into cross-border sensemaking. It distinguishes two accounts of cross-border sensemaking: the “old story” in which contradictory practices and norms collide and the “new story” of a synthetic set of practices for collaboratively “editing” (Sahlin-Andersson, 1996) legal documentation. Data show how new practices gain shape and legitimacy over a series of dialectic contests unfolding at work and how, in turn, these contests shift institutional logics as lawyers ‘get the deal done’. These micro-mechanisms suggest that as practical and institutional work blend, everyday work-ing practices come to constitute a form of institutional agency that is situated, emergent, dialectic and, therefore, embedded.

True chemical shift correlation maps:a TOCSY experiment with pure shifts in both dimensions

Signal resolution in H NMR is limited primarily by multiplet structure. Recent advances in pure shift NMR, in which the effects of homonuclear couplings are suppressed, have allowed this limitation to be circumvented in 1D NMR, gaining almost an order of magnitude in spectral resolution. Here for the first time an experiment is demonstrated that suppresses multiplet structure in both domains of a homonuclear two-dimensional spectrum. The principle is demonstrated for the TOCSY experiment, generating a chemical shift correlation map in which a single peak is seen for each coupled relationship, but the principle is general and readily extensible to other homonuclear correlation experiments. Such spectra greatly simplify manual spectral analysis and should be well-suited to automated methods for structure elucidation. © 2010 American Chemical Society.

A simulation study of the shift system at a UK police communications centre

The UK Police Force is required to operate communications centres under increased funding constraints. Staff represent the main cost in operating the facility and the key issue for the efficient deployment of staff, in this case call handler staff, is to try to ensure sufficient staff are available to make a timely response to customer calls when the timing of individual calls is difficult to predict. A discrete-event simulation study is presented of an investigation of a new shift pattern for call handler staff that aims to improve operational efficiency. The communications centre can be considered a specialised case of a call centre but an important issue for Police Force management is the particularly stressful nature of the work staff are involved with when responding to emergency calls. Thus decisions regarding changes to the shift system were made in the context of both attempting to improve efficiency by matching staff supply with customer demand, but also ensuring a reasonable workload pattern for staff over time.