The global human security index: Can disaggregations help us to forge progress?

A Human Security Index (HIS) enumerating 200 countries was introduced in 2008. A community-level HSI is under development in the USA. Coastal communities face large disparities in components of human security. How can a HSI support improved policies/services (such as environmental or public health forecasts or warnings) for improving lives? Several issues are discussed. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Negative refractive index in a four-level atomic system

We propose a scheme for realizing negative refractive index in a four-level atomic system. It is shown that such a system can simultaneously exhibit negative permittivity and negative permeability in an optical frequency range. Furthermore, by analysing the dispersion property of the left-handed material, we find that the probe beam can be controlled from superluminal to subluminal or vice versa via choosing appropriate parameters.

Phase control of switching from positive to negative index material in a four-level atomic system

Electric and magnetic responses of the medium to the probe field are analysed in a four-level loop atomic system by taking into account the relative phase of the applied fields. An interesting phenomenon is found: under suitable conditions, a change of the refractive index from positive to negative can occur by modulating the relative phase of the applied fields. Then the medium can be switched from a positive index material to a negative index material in our scheme. In addition, a negative index material can be realized in different frequency regions by adjusting the relative phase. It may give us a convenient way to obtain the desired material with positive or negative index.

Electromagnetically induced negative refractive index in a V-type four-level atomic system

We propose a scheme for realizing negative refractive index in a V-type four-level atomic system. It is shown that the negative refractive index can be achieved in a wide frequency band based on the effect of quantum coherence. It is also found that the frequency band of negative refractive index and the absorption property of left-handed material are manipulated by the pump and control fields. Furthermore, left-handed material with reduced absorption is possible by choosing appropriate parameters. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improvement of sensitivity and refractive-index changes in LiNbO3 : Ce : Cu crystals with UV light

A nonvolatile recording scheme is proposed using LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystals and modulated UV light to record gratings simultaneously in two centres and using red light to bleach the grating in the shallow centre to realize persistent photorefractive holographic storage. Compared with the normal UV-sensitized nonvolatile holographic system, the amplitude of refractive-index changes is greatly increased and the recording sensitivity is significantly enhanced by recording with UV light in the LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystals. Based on jointly solving the two-centre material equations and the coupled-wave equations, temporal evolutions of the photorefractive grating and the diffraction effciency are effectively described and numerically analysed. Roles of doping levels and recording-beam intensity are discussed in detail. Theoretical results confirm and predict experimental results.

Improvement in refractive-index change in LiNbO3 : Ce : Cu by applying an external electric field

By jointly solving two-centre material equations with a nonzero external electric field and coupled-wave equations, we have numerically studied the dependence of the non-volatile holographic recording in LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystals on the external electric field. The dominative photovoltaic effect of the non-volatile holographic recording in doubly doped LiNbO3 crystals is directly verified. And an external electric field that is applied in the positive direction along the c-axis (or a large one in the negative direction of the c-axis) in the recording phase and another one that is applied in the negative direction of the c-axis in the fixing phase are both proved to benefit strong photorefractive performances. Experimental verifications are given with a small electric field applied externally.

Refractive-index change and sensitivity improvement in holographic recording in LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystals with green light

Nonvolatile holographic recording is performed with green light in LiNbO3:Ce:Cu crystals. The refractive-index change and the recording sensitivity are times better than those obtained by recording with red light, and higher optical fixing efficiency is obtained. Correspondingly, theoretical investigations are given.

Approximate analytical description for fundamental-mode fields of graded-index fibers: Beyond the Gaussian approximation

An approximate analytical description for fundamental-mode fields of graded-index fibers is explicitly presented by use of the power-series expansion method, the maximum-value condition at the fiber axis, the decay properties of fundamental-mode fields at large distance from the fiber axis, and the approximate modal parameters U obtained from the Gaussian approximation. This analytical description is much more accurate than the Gaussian approximation and at the same time keep the simplicity of the latter. As two special examples, we present the approximate analytical formulas for the fundamental-mode fields of a step profile fiber and a Gaussian profile fiber, and we find that they are both highly accurate in the single-mode range by comparing them with the corresponding exact solutions.

Corrections to the paraxial approximation solutions in transversely nonuniform refractive-index media

The coupled differential recurrence equations for the corrections to the paraxial approximation solutions in transversely nonuniform refractive-index media are established in terms of the perturbation method. All the corrections (including the longitudinal field corrections) to the paraxial approximation solutions are presented in the weak-guidance approximation. As a concrete application, the first-order longitudinal field correction and the second-order transverse field correction to the paraxial approximation of a Gaussian beam propagating in a transversely quadratic refractive index medium are analytically investigated. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(99)00310-5].

Construction of the refractive index profiles for few-mode planar optical waveguides

We present a nondestructive technique to predict the refractive index profiles of isotropic planar waveguides, on which a thin gold film is deposited to as the cladding. The negative dielectric constant of the metal results in significant differences of effective indices between TE and TM modes. The two polarized modes and a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) with abundant information of the surface index can be used to construct the refractive index profiles of single-mode and two-mode waveguides at a fixed wavelength. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Company financial performance: Does board size matter? Case of the EUROSTOXX50 index

[EN] This study analyzes the relationship between board size and economic-financial performance in a sample of European firms that constitute the EUROSTOXX50 Index. Based on previous literature, resource dependency and agency theories, and considering regulation developed by the OECD and European Union on the normative of corporate governance for each country in the sample, the authors propose the hypotheses of both positive linear and quadratic relationships between the researched parameters. Using ROA as a benchmark of financial performance and the number of members of the board as measurement of the board size, two OLS estimations are performed. To confirm the robustness of the results the empirical study is tested with two other similar financial ratios, ROE and Tobin s Q. Due to the absence of significant results, an additional factor, firm size, is employed in order to check if it affects firm performance. Delving further into the nature of this relationship, it is revealed that there exists a strong and negative relation between firm size and financial performance. Consequently, it can be asseverated that the generic recommendation one size fits all cannot be applied in this case; which conforms to the Recommendations of the European Union that dissuade using generic models for all countries.

The tunable negative refractive index in granular composite

The effective refractive index of a kind of granular composite, which consists of granular metallic and magnetic inclusions with different radius embedded in a host medium, is theoretically investigated. Results show that for certain volume fractions of these two inclusions, the negative permittivity peak shifts to low frequency and the peak value increases with increasing radius ratio of the radius of magnetic granulae to that of metallic granulae. Simultaneously, peak value of permeability decreases with the radius ratio, and value peak shifts to high frequency with increasing volume fraction of magnetic inclusion. Therefore, the radius ratio can affect the effective refractive index considerably, and it is found that by adjusting the radius ratio, the refractive index may change between negative and positive values for certain volume fractions of the two inclusions. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electric and magnetic losses and gains in determining the sign of refractive index

Within the framework of classic electromagnetic theories, we have studied the sign of refractive index of optical medias with the emphases on the roles of the electric and magnetic losses and gains. Starting from the Maxwell equations for an isotropic and homogeneous media, we have derived the general form of the complex refractive index and its relation with the complex electric permittivity and magnetic permeability, i.e. n = root epsilon mu, in which the intrinsic electric and magnetic losses and gains are included as the imaginary parts of the complex permittivity and permeability, respectively, as epsilon = epsilon(r) + i(epsilon i) and mu = mu(r) + i mu(i). The electric and magnetic losses are present in all passive materials, which correspond, respectively, to the positive imaginary permittivity and permeability epsilon(i) > 0 and mu(i) > 0. The electric and magnetic gains are present in materials where external pumping sources enable the light to be amplified instead of attenuated, which correspond, respectively, to the negative imaginary permittivity and permeability epsilon(i) < 0 and mu(i) < 0. We have analyzed and determined uniquely the sign of the refractive index, for all possible combinations of the four parameters epsilon(r), mu(r), epsilon(i), and mu(i), in light of the relativistic causality. A causal solution requires that the wave impedance be positive Re {Z} > 0. We illustrate the results for all cases in tables of the sign of refractive index. One of the most important messages from the sign tables is that, apart from the well-known case where simultaneously epsilon < 0 and mu < 0, there are other possibilities for the refractive index to be negative n < 0, for example, for epsilon(r) < 0, mu(r) > 0, epsilon(i) > 0, and mu(i) > 0, the refractive index is negative n < 0 provided mu(i)/epsilon(i) > mu(r)/vertical bar epsilon(r)vertical bar. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.