Nonlinear Stabilization of High-Energy and Ultrashort Pulses in Passively Modelocked Lasers with Fast Saturable Absorption

The two most commonly used models for passively modelocked lasers with fast saturable absorbers are the Haus modelocking equation (HME) and the cubic-quintic modelocking equation (CQME). The HME corresponds to a special limit of the CQME in which only a cubic nonlinearity in the fast saturable absorber is kept in the model. Here, we use singular perturbation theory to demonstrate that the CQME has a stable high-energy solution for an arbitrarily small but non-zero quintic contribution to the fast saturable absorber. As a consequence, we find that the CQME predicts the existence of stable modelocked pulses when the cubic nonlinearity is orders of magnitude larger than the value at which the HME predicts that modelocked pulses become unstable. This intrinsically larger stability range is consistent with experiments. Our results suggest a possible path to obtain high-energy and ultrashort pulses by fine tuning the higher-order nonlinear terms in the fast saturable absorber.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR

An in vitro evaluation of the efficacy of tedizolid: implications for the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are among the most commonly occurring infections and evidence suggests that these are increasing world-wide. The aetiology is diverse, but Staphylococcus aureus predominate and these are often resistant to antimicrobials that were previously effective. Tedizolid is a new oxazolidinone-class antibacterial indicated for the treatment of adults with SSTI caused by Gram-positive pathogens, including S. aureus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of tedizolid in comparison to other clinically used antibacterials against antibiotic sensitive- and resistant-staphylococci, grown in planktonic cultures and as biofilms reflecting the growth of the microorganism during episodes of SSTI. Against a panel of 66 clinical staphylococci, sensitivity testing revealed that a lower concentration of tedizolid was required to inhibit the growth of staphylococci compared to linezolid, vancomycin and daptomycin; with the tedizolid MIC being 8-fold (S. aureus) or 4-fold (S. epidermidis) below that obtained for linezolid. In addition, cfr+ linezolid-resistant strains remained fully susceptible to tedizolid. Against S. aureus biofilms, 10×MIC tedizolid was superior or comparable with 10×MIC comparator agents in activity, and superior to 10×MIC linezolid against those formed by S. epidermidis (65 vs. 33% reduction, respectively). Under flow-conditions both oxazolidinones at 10×MIC statistically out-performed vancomycin in their ability to reduce the viable cell count within a S. aureus biofilm with fewer the 12% of cells surviving compared to 63% of cells. In conclusion, tedizolid offers a realistic lower-dose alternative agent to treat staphylococcal SSTI, including infections caused by multi-drug resistant strains

FY 2000 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Compliance Monitoring Report

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) mandates removal of status offenders and nonoffenders from secure detention and correctional facilities, sight and sound separation of juveniles and adults, and removal of juveniles from adult jails and lockups. In Alaska, 2 instances of status offenders held in secure detention were recorded in FY 2000, compared with 485 violations in the baseline year of CY 1976. In Alaska, 17 separation violations were recorded in FY 2000 (45 projected), representing a 98% reduction from the CY 1976 baseline of 824 violations. 82 jail removal violations were projected (50 actual), representing an substantial reduction from the CY 1980 baseline.Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Juvenile JusticeA. General Information / B. Removal of Status Offenders and Nonoffenders from Secure Detention and Correctional Facilities / C. De Minimis Request / D. Progress Made in Achieving Removal of Status Offenders and Nonoffenders from Secure Detention and Correctional Facilities / E. Separation of Juveniles and Adults / F. Removal of Juveniles from Adult Jails and Lockups / G. De Minimis Request: Substantive / APPENDICES / I. Method of Analysis / II. Fiscal Year 2000 Violations by Offense Type and Location / III. Common Offense Acronym

Analysing Residential Energy Demand: An Error Correction Demand System Approach for Ireland. ESRI WP505. July 2015

This paper analyses the Irish residential energy demand system by using variants of Deaton and Muellbauer’s Almost Ideal Demand System model. Annual data from 1970 to 2013 is employed to estimate a demand system for solid fuels, oil, gas and electricity with the models incorporating quadratic and demographic terms to estimate long-run price and expenditure elasticities. This is the first attempt in an Irish context to estimate an energy demand system for the residential sector. Error correction models were also estimated to recover short-run elasticities. Against the backdrop of onerous climate and energy efficiency policy targets, and given the residential sector’s substantial energy use it is important to update energy demand elasticity estimates to better inform policy instrument design

Water Quality and Recreational Angling Demand in Ireland. ESRI WP521. December 2015

Using on-site survey data from sea, coarse and game angling sites in Ireland, this paper estimates count data models of recreational angling demand. The models are used to investigate the extent to which anglers are responsive to differences in water quality, with the water quality metric defined by the EU's Water Framework Directive. The analysis shows that angling demand is greater where water quality has a higher ecological status, particularly for anglers targeting game species. However, for coarse anglers we find the reverse, angling demand is greater in waters with lower ecological status. On average, across the different target species surveyed, anglers have a willingness to pay of €371 for a day's fishing. The additional benefit of angling in waters with high versus low ecological status was the highest for game anglers at a mean of €122 per day

Water quality and recreational angling demand in Ireland. ESRI Research Bulletin 2016/2/3

About 8% of the adult population in Ireland consider themselves to be recreational anglers. Including tourist anglers from Northern Ireland, Great Britain and elsewhere, approximately 400,000 people per annum fish in Ireland’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The economic contribution of recreational anglers to the local economy, in terms of expenditure on equipment and services plus food and accommodation exceeds €800 million per annum and supports 11,000 jobs, primarily in rural and peripheral communities

User acceptance of intelligent avionics: A study of automatic-aided target recognition

User acceptance of new support systems typically was evaluated after the systems were specified, designed, and built. The current study attempts to assess user acceptance of an Automatic-Aided Target Recognition (ATR) system using an emulation of such a proposed system. The detection accuracy and false alarm level of the ATR system were varied systematically, and subjects rated the tactical value of systems exhibiting different performance levels. Both detection accuracy and false alarm level affected the subjects' ratings. The data from two experiments suggest a cut-off point in ATR performance below which the subjects saw little tactical value in the system. An ATR system seems to have obvious tactical value only if it functions at a correct detection rate of 0.7 or better with a false alarm level of 0.167 false alarms per square degree or fewer

The Residential Sector's Demand for Energy. ESRI Research Bulletin 2016/3/2

Ireland and other EU member states face onerous climate and energy efficiency policy targets. As the residential sector represents 25% of final energy consumption in Ireland, what happens within the residential sector will play an important part in determining whether Ireland’s policy targets are achieved. Improvements in energy efficiency performance, reduced fossil energy use, and switching to less carbon intensive fuels will contribute to achieving policy targets. Price mechanisms, such as carbon taxes, are one policy option available to policymakers to encourage households to change their energy consumption patterns. This research paper examines historical data on the residential sector’s energy consumption to gauge how responsive households are to changes in energy prices, which should inform the development of future policy initiatives. The paper estimated an energy demand system for the residential sector for four fuel categories: electricity, gas, oil (incl. kerosene, diesel, LPG and petroleum coke) and solid fuels (incl. sod peat, peat briquettes and coal) and uses data from the period 1970 to 2013