Ecosystem science capabilities required to support NOAA’s mission in the year 2020

The mission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation’s economic, social and environmental needs (NOAA, 2004). In meeting its marine stewardship responsibilities, NOAA seeks to ensure the sustainable use of resources and balance competing uses of coastal and marine ecosystems, recognizing both their human and natural components (NOAA, 2004). Authorities for executing these responsibilities come from over 90 separate pieces of Federal legislation, each with unique requirements and responsibilities. Few of these laws explicitly mandate an ecosystem approach to management (EAM) or supporting science. However, resource managers, the science community, and increasingly, the public, are recognizing that significantly greater connectedness among the scientific disciplines is needed to support management and stewardship responsibilities (Browman and Stergiou, 2004; 2005). Neither NOAA nor any other science agency can meet the increasing demand for ecosystem science products addressing each of its mandates individually. Even if it was possible, doing so would not provide the integration necessary to solve the increasingly complex array of management issues. This focus on the integration of science and management responsibilities into an ecosystem view is one of the centerpieces of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s report (USCOP, 2004), and the Administration’s response to that report in the U.S. Ocean Action Plan (CEQ, 2004). (PDF contains 100 pages)

EcoGIS – GIS tools for ecosystem approaches to fisheries management

Executive Summary: The EcoGIS project was launched in September 2004 to investigate how Geographic Information Systems (GIS), marine data, and custom analysis tools can better enable fisheries scientists and managers to adopt Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management (EAFM). EcoGIS is a collaborative effort between NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and four regional Fishery Management Councils. The project has focused on four priority areas: Fishing Catch and Effort Analysis, Area Characterization, Bycatch Analysis, and Habitat Interactions. Of these four functional areas, the project team first focused on developing a working prototype for catch and effort analysis: the Fishery Mapper Tool. This ArcGIS extension creates time-and-area summarized maps of fishing catch and effort from logbook, observer, or fishery-independent survey data sets. Source data may come from Oracle, Microsoft Access, or other file formats. Feedback from beta-testers of the Fishery Mapper was used to debug the prototype, enhance performance, and add features. This report describes the four priority functional areas, the development of the Fishery Mapper tool, and several themes that emerged through the parallel evolution of the EcoGIS project, the concept and implementation of the broader field of Ecosystem Approaches to Management (EAM), data management practices, and other EAM toolsets. In addition, a set of six succinct recommendations are proposed on page 29. One major conclusion from this work is that there is no single “super-tool” to enable Ecosystem Approaches to Management; as such, tools should be developed for specific purposes with attention given to interoperability and automation. Future work should be coordinated with other GIS development projects in order to provide “value added” and minimize duplication of efforts. In addition to custom tools, the development of cross-cutting Regional Ecosystem Spatial Databases will enable access to quality data to support the analyses required by EAM. GIS tools will be useful in developing Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEAs) and providing pre- and post-processing capabilities for spatially-explicit ecosystem models. Continued funding will enable the EcoGIS project to develop GIS tools that are immediately applicable to today’s needs. These tools will enable simplified and efficient data query, the ability to visualize data over time, and ways to synthesize multidimensional data from diverse sources. These capabilities will provide new information for analyzing issues from an ecosystem perspective, which will ultimately result in better understanding of fisheries and better support for decision-making. (PDF file contains 45 pages.)

Electro-optic integration of embedded electrodes and waveguides in LiNbO3 using a femtosecond laser

We describe the fabrication of a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator in LiNbO3 by femtosecond laser micormachining, which is composed of optical waveguides inscripted by a femtosecond laser and embedded microelectrodes subsequently using femtosecond laser ablation and selective electroless plating. A half-wave voltage close to 19 V is achieved at a wavelength of 632.8 nm with an interaction length of 2.6 mm. This simple and cost-effective technique opens up new opportunities for fabricating integrated electro-optic devices. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America

Lynx1 Modulation of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Nicotinic receptors are the target of nicotine in the brain. They are pentameric ion channels. The pentamer structure allows many combinations of receptors to be formed. These various subtypes exhibit specific properties determined by their subunit composition. Each brain region contains a fixed complement of nicotinic receptor subunits. The midbrain region is of particular interest because the dopaminergic neurons of the midbrain express several subtypes of nicotinic receptors, and these dopaminergic neurons are important for the rewarding effects of nicotine. The α6 nicotinic receptor subunit has garnered intense interest because it is present in dopaminergic neurons but very few other brain regions. With its specific and limited presence in the brain, targeting this subtype of nicotinic receptor may prove advantageous as a method for smoking cessation. However, we do not fully understand the trafficking and membrane localization of this receptor or its effects on dopamine release in the striatum. We hypothesized that lynx1, a known modulator of other nicotinic receptor subtypes, is important for the proper function of α6 nicotinic receptors. lynx1 has been found to act upon several classes of nicotinic receptors, such as α4β2 and α7, the two most common subtypes in the brain. To determine whether lynx1 affects α6 containing nicotinic receptors we used biochemistry, patch clamp electrophysiology, fast scan cyclic voltammetry, and mouse behavior. We found that lynx1 has effects on α6 containing nicotinic receptors, but the effects were subtle. This thesis will detail the observed effects of lynx1 on α6 nicotinic receptors.

飞秒脉冲时空变换整形技术

飞秒激光脉冲通过时空变换技术将时域信息变换到空域，通过空域的处理再返回到时域，是实现飞秒激光脉冲整形、测量和控制的一项重要技术。在应用方面，可产生各种所需要的波形．已广泛应用在飞秒化学、信号处理、安全通信、生物学和医学成像等方面。介绍了飞秒时空变换脉冲整形的几种方法。

室温下稳定的多波长掺铒光纤激光器的研究

通过在线形谐振腔中引入一段缠绕在压电陶瓷上的单模光纤作为正弦相位调制器，使得激射波长的损耗不固定，抑制由于掺铒光纤的均匀展宽效应引起的模式竞争，从而避免了在室温下不稳定的单波长激射，实现了多波长掺铒光纤激光器的稳定输出。为了获得平坦的多波长输出，在谐振腔里使用了一个损耗峰位于1530nm处的长周期光纤光栅，以获得较为平坦的增益谱。通过两个3dB耦合器制成的反射型梳状滤波器的滤波作用，实验中观察到稳定的多波长激射，相邻波长间隔约为0．45nm。中心9个波长的输出功率平坦度为10dB，边模抑制比大于25dB。

Solid-state optical parallel morphological processor

Based on birefringence, a building-block stacking technique is suggested in this paper. A solid-state optical morphological processor module is thus developed, which is an integration of a beam array generator submodule, an optical connector submodule, and a Pockels readout optical modulator. It is shown that the technique is compact in construction, simple for fabrication, and insensitive to the environment.

Optimization of the multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser in a unidirectional cavity without an isolator

A highly uniform multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser with an intracavity sine phase modulator is demonstrated. The flat output spectrum is achieved by optimizing the cavity structure, modulation amplitude, and frequency of the sine phase modulator. Fifteen lasing lines with wavelength spacing of 0.9 nm appear simultaneously and stably with power differences less than 2 dB and side-mode suppression ratio higher than 32 dB. In addition, the proposed cavity can support unidirectional operation without optical isolators. An output power difference of about 20 dB is realized between the counterclockwise and clockwise directions, which is almost independent of the pump power and lasing wavelengths. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

基于光栅成像投影的微位移检测方法

提出了一种基于光栅成像投影的微位移检测方法，利用光学傅里叶变换原理给出了具体的理论分析。准直激光束照明的光栅通过一个4f系统成像投影在被测物体表面上，光栅投影经过被测物体表面反射后由另一个4f系统成像在探测光栅上。探测光栅由一个透镜组成像在光电探测器上，其中采用由起偏器、光弹调制器和检偏器组成的偏振调制单元对探测光强进行调制。通过在4f系统的频谱面上设置滤波光阑，在光电探测器上获得了与被测物体的微位移成正弦关系的光强变化，检测出光电探测器上的光强变化即可以获得被测物体的位移量。实验验证了该检测方法的可行性

精确标定光弹调制器的新方法

针对现有光弹调制器标定方法的不足，提出了一种精确标定光弹调制器的新方法。首先利用起偏器、波片、光弹调制器和检偏器构成标定光路．通过寻找探测信号基频分量的极大值进行粗略标定，使光弹调制器的峰值延迟量处在1．841rad附近。然后撤走波片形成光弹凋制器的精确标定光路．在检偏器旋转90°前后获得探测信号的直流分量和二次谐波分量。最后利用这两种探测信号的直流分量和二次谐波分量精确地计算出光弹调制器的峰值延迟量。实验验让了此光掸调制器标定方法，实验结果表明其标定误差仅为0．7％。在此光掸凋制器标定方法中．光弹调制器

光弹调制器在偏振方向调制中的应用

提出了一种将光弹调制器应用于偏振方向调制的方法．介绍了它的两种基本使用模式，利用琼斯矩阵对其偏振方向调制原理及其两种基本使用模式进行了分析。光弹调制器和1／4波片形成偏振方向调制器件时，光弹调制器处于两块透光轴相互垂直的1／4波片之间．且光弹调制器的振动轴分别和两块1／4波片的透光轴成±45°角，线偏振光通过此器件其偏振方向被调制。实验验证了光弹调制器组合1／4波片调制偏振方向的原理。将光弹调制器应用在偏振方向的调制中．使现有偏振方向调制技术的光谱范围扩展到了紫外波段。

入射光偏振方向对LiNbO3晶体近光轴电光调制的影响

分析了在垂直LiNbO3晶体光轴方向加电压，光沿近光轴方向传播时，入射光偏振方向对电光调制器的影响。通过计算加电场后双折射光程差的变化和偏光振动方向的转动，画出在正交偏振镜下不同起偏方向的锥光干涉图，得到干涉图随起偏方向变化的规律：由偏光振动方向转动引起的消光区域随起偏方向的转动而转动，在起偏和检偏方向上始终消光，在与起偏方向成±45°角方向始终全透光，并且消光线的交点即感应双光轴头不随起偏方向的转动而变化，始终在折射率变大的感应主轴上。

Optimization of the multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser in a unidirectional cavity without an isolator

A highly uniform multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber ring laser with an intracavity sine phase modulator is demonstrated. The flat output spectrum is achieved by optimizing the cavity structure, modulation amplitude, and frequency of the sine phase modulator. Fifteen lasing lines with wavelength spacing of 0.9 nm appear simultaneously and stably with power differences less than 2 dB and side-mode suppression ratio higher than 32 dB. In addition, the proposed cavity can support unidirectional operation without optical isolators. An output power difference of about 20 dB is realized between the counterclockwise and clockwise directions, which is almost independent of the pump power and lasing wavelengths. (c) 2005 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Influences of phase shift on superresolution performances of annular filters

This paper investigates the influences of phase shift on superresolution performances of annular filters. Firstly, it investigates the influence of phase shift on axial superresolution. It proves theoretically that axial superresolution can not be obtained by two-zone phase filter with phase shift pi, and it gets the phase shift with which axial superresolution can be brought by two-zone phase filter. Secondly, it studies the influence of phase shift on transverse superresolution. It finds that the three-zone phase filter with arbitrary phase shift has an almost equal optimal transverse gain to that of commonly used three-zone phase filter, but can produce a much higher axial superresolution gain. Thirdly, it investigates the influence of phase shift on three-dimensional superresolution. Three-dimensional superresolution capability and design margin of three-zone complex filter with arbitrary phase shift are obtained, which presents the theoretical basis for three-dimensional superresolution design. Finally, it investigates the influence of phase shift on focal shift. To obtain desired focal shifts, it designs a series of three-zone phase filters with different phase shifts. A spatial light modulator (SLM) is used to implement the designed filters. By regulating the voltage imposed on the SLM, an accurate focal shift control is obtained.

Polarization analysis and experimental implementation of PLZT electro-optical switch using fiber Sagnac interferometers

The polarization characteristics of electro-optical (EO) switches using fiber Sagnac interferometer (FSI) structures are theoretically investigated. Analytical solutions of output fields are presented when the twists and birefringence in a Sagnac loop are considered. Numerical calculations show that the twists of fiber, the orientation of the inserted phase retarder, and the splitting ratio of the coupler will influence both the output intensity and the output polarization properties of the proposed switch. A polarization-independent EO switch based on a Sagnac interferometer and a PUT bar was experimentally implemented, which showed good coincidence with the analytical results. The experiment showed a switch with 22 dB extinction ratio and less than 31.1 ns switching time. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.