Experimental Demonstration of Nonlinear Frequency Division Multiplexed Transmission

We experimentally demonstrate an NFDM optical system with modulation over nonlinear discrete spectrum. Particularly, each symbol carries 4-bits from multiplexing two eigenvalues modulated by QPSK constellation. We show a low error performance using NFT detection with 4Gbps rate over 640km.Comment: Will be presented in ECOC 2015, Sept. 201

Change in armed conflict: an introduction

How can we understand change in armed conflict both at the level of the phenomenon as such, as well as within individual conflicts? This Special Issue sets a new agenda on the theme of change in armed conflict. Studying conflict as a dynamic social phenomenon requires embracing interdisciplinarity and methodological pluralism, which this Special Issue facilitates through a shared conceptual framework on five dimensions of change as ‘lingua franca’ across diverse approaches and perspectives. It advances debates through three contributions: by critically assessing pre-existing categories and labels; by accounting for perceptions and experiences; and by scaling analyses across varying units and levels of analysis

The intersections of smuggling flows

This chapter discusses the intersections of a variety of smugglings flows. Across the world, trafficking routes are used for a number of different types of goods, and in various directions. In Libya, for example, people, arms, drugs, and contraband are smuggled on the same routes, in Myanmar, both human trafficking and drug trafficking take place across the border to Thailand and China, and in Colombia, cocaine is shipped abroad via Venezuela and on that same route gasoline is smuggled from Venezuela into Colombia. In order to account for this interconnectedness, this chapter conceptualizes illicit flows as illicit supply chain networks rather than as individual linear chains. These networks include strategic trafficking nodes, that is, illicit business hubs and starting points of international trafficking routes where various illicit flows converge. These are the places where violent entrepreneurs meet to strike business deals, and where rivalry over economic profit turns into selective violence. The chapter thus calls for moving beyond the study of individual flows in isolation. We must focus instead both scholarly and policy attention on the interconnectedness of legally and illegally used routes in order to grasp the social, economic, and political repercussions on the contexts in which the flows are embedded

Self-reported health and cardiovascular reactions to psychological stress in a large community sample: Cross-sectional and prospective associations

Exaggerated cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress have been implicated in a number of adverse health outcomes. This study examined, in a large community sample, the cross-sectional and prospective associations between reactivity and self-reported health. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured at rest and in response to an arithmetic stress task. Self-reported health was assessed concurrently and five years later. In cross-sectional analyses, those with excellent/good self-reported health exhibited larger cardiovascular reactions than those with fair/poor subjective health. In prospective analyses, participants who had larger cardiovascular reactions to stress were more likely to report excellent/good health five years later, taking into account their reported health status at the earlier assessment. The findings suggest that greater cardiovascular reactivity may not always be associated with negative health outcomes