Reconfigurable circularly polarized cross-dipole antenna with a near-field resonant parasitic element

© Institution of Engineering and Technology.All Rights Reserved. This paper presents a polarization switchable circularly polarized (CP) antenna that consists of a compact single-feed crossed dipole loaded with a near-field resonant parasitic (NFRP) element. This antenna is placed above a metallic reflector to enhance its gain and broadside radiation pattern. A meander line with an arrowhead-shaped ending was applied to all arms of the crossed dipole and NFRP elements for compactness. By adjusting the end size of the NFRP element, the antenna was capable of switching its polarization from right-hand circular polarization to left-hand circular polarization and vice versa. The reconfigurability is realized by controlling the ON/OFF states of 8 PIN-diodes, which are inserted into the arrowhead endings of the NFRP element. For the RHCP mode, the antenna yields a |S11| 6.0 dBic and a radiation efficiency of > 70% across its operational bandwidth

Broadband Electrically Small Circularly Polarized Directive Antenna

© 2013 IEEE. A broadband electrically small antenna with directive circularly polarized radiation is presented. It is composed of a compact single-feed crossed dipole driver, which is backed by a near-field resonant parasitic (NFRP) reflector to achieve the directive radiation pattern. The NFRP reflector is designed to generate extra resonances and minimum axial ratio (AR) points in the antenna system. These features are combined with those resulting from the driver to broaden the operational bandwidth. The proposed antenna was fabricated and measured. The antenna prototype, with a low profile (0.066 λo at 1.45 GHz) and an electrically small size (ka = 0.71 at 1.45 GHz), has a measured S11<-10 dB bandwidth of 25.66% (1.362-1.763 GHz) and a 3-dB AR bandwidth of 10.56% (1.390-1.545 GHz). Additionally, the measurements resulted in a broadside gain of 2.31 ± 0.4 dBic and an average radiation efficiency of 80% within the operational bandwidth

Applications of circularly polarized crossed dipole antennas

© 2014 IEEE. Circularly polarized crossed dipole antennas are presented in this paper. A compact crossed dipole is realized with the use of a meander line and a barbed end in each dipole arm. A vacant-quarter printed ring is used as a 90° phase delay line to achieve circularly polarized radiation. For multi-band applications, each dipole arm is divided into multi-branches with different lengths to obtain multiple resonances. These radiators can be equipped with different reflectors, such as a finite planar metallic conductor, a cavity-backed metallic conductor, and a finite artificial magnetic conductor to obtain the desired antenna radiation characteristics. These antennas are quite practical for many wireless communication systems, such as satellite communications, global positioning systems, wireless local area networks, and radio-frequency identification devices

Compact Crossed-Dipole Antennas Loaded with Near-Field Resonant Parasitic Elements

© 2016 IEEE. Two compact planar crossed-dipole antennas loaded with near-field resonant parasitic (NFRP) elements are reported. The NFRP and crossed-dipole elements are designed for the desired circularly polarized (CP) radiation. By placing the NFRP element over the driven element at angles of 0° and 45°, respectively, dual-band and broadband CP antennas are realized. All radiating elements of antennas are 35 mm × 35 mm × 0.508 mm (0.187 λ0 × 0.187 λ0 × 0.0027 λ0 at 1.6 GHz) in size. The dual-band CP antenna has a measured S11 <-10-dB bandwidth of 226 MHz (1.473-1.699 GHz) and measured 3-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidths of 12 MHz (1.530-1.542 GHz) and 35 MHz (1.580-1.615 GHz) with minimum AR CP frequencies of 1.535 GHz (AR = 0.26 dB) and 1.595 GHz (AR = 2.08 dB), respectively. The broadband CP antenna has a measured S11 <-10-dB bandwidth of 218 MHz (1.491-1.709 GHz) and a 3-dB AR bandwidth of 145 MHz (1.490-1.635 GHz). These compact antennas yield bidirectional electromagnetic fields with high radiation efficiency across their operational bandwidths

Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions : a spatial model

Altres ajuts: Botin Foundation (Banco Santander through its Santander Universities Global Division) i CERCA Programme/Generalitat de CatalunyaSemiarid ecosystems are threatened by global warming due to longer dehydration times and increasing soil degradation. Mounting evidence indicates that, given the current trends, drylands are likely to expand and possibly experience catastrophic shifts from vegetated to desert states. Here, we explore a recent suggestion based on the concept of ecosystem terraformation, where a synthetic organism is used to counterbalance some of the nonlinear effects causing the presence of such tipping points. Using an explicit spatial model incorporating facilitation and considering a simplification of states found in semiarid ecosystems including vegetation, fertile and desert soil, we investigate how engineered microorganisms can shape the fate of these ecosystems. Specifically, two different, but complementary, terraformation strategies are proposed: Cooperation -based: C -terraformation; and Dispersion -based: D -terraformation. The first strategy involves the use of soil synthetic microorganisms to introduce cooperative loops (facilitation) with the vegetation. The second one involves the introduction of engineered microorganisms improving their dispersal capacity, thus facilitating the transition from desert to fertile soil. We show that small modifications enhancing cooperative loops can effectively modify the aridity level of the critical transition found at increasing soil degradation rates, also identifying a stronger protection against soil degradation by using the D -terraformation strategy. The same results are found in a mean-field model providing insights into the transitions and dynamics tied to these terraformation strategies. The potential consequences and extensions of these models are discussed

Establishing comprehensive oral assessments for children with safeguarding concerns.

The dental profession is well placed to contribute important information in child protection cases but no previous research has been reported that assesses the volume or impact of this information. Comprehensive oral assessment clinics were introduced and established as an integral part of comprehensive medical assessments for children with welfare concerns in Greater Glasgow and Clyde. An assessment protocol and standardised paperwork for comprehensive oral assessments were developed to enhance information sharing and patient access to appropriate care. Two cases are presented and discussed to demonstrate the value of dental input

Changing social contracts in climate-change adaptation

Risks from extreme weather events are mediated through state, civil society and individual action 1 , 2 . We propose evolving social contracts as a primary mechanism by which adaptation to climate change proceeds. We use a natural experiment of policy and social contexts of the UK and Ireland affected by the same meteorological event and resultant flooding in November 2009. We analyse data from policy documents and from household surveys of 356 residents in western Ireland and northwest England. We find significant differences between perceptions of individual responsibility for protection across the jurisdictions and between perceptions of future risk from populations directly affected by flooding events. These explain differences in stated willingness to take individual adaptive actions when state support retrenches. We therefore show that expectations for state protection are critical in mediating impacts and promoting longer-term adaptation. We argue that making social contracts explicit may smooth pathways to effective and legitimate adaptation

Gravel pits support waterbird diversity in an urban landscape

We assessed the benefit of 11 gravel pits for the settlement of waterbird communities in an urbanized area lacking natural wetlands. Gravel pits captured 57% of the regional species pool of aquatic birds. We identified 39 species, among which five were regionally rare. We used the Self Organizing Map algorithm to calculate the probabilities of presence of species, and to bring out habitat conditions that predict assemblage patterns. The age of the pits did not correlate with assemblage composition and species richness. There was a positive influence of macrophyte cover on waterbird species richness. Larger pits did not support more species, but species richness increased with connectivity. As alternative wetland habitats, gravel pits are attractive to waterbirds, when they act as stepping stones that ensure connectivity between larger natural and/or artificial wetlands separated in space

A sense of embodiment is reflected in people's signature size

BACKGROUND: The size of a person's signature may reveal implicit information about how the self is perceived although this has not been closely examined. METHODS/RESULTS: We conducted three experiments to test whether increases in signature size can be induced. Specifically, the aim of these experiments was to test whether changes in signature size reflect a person's current implicit sense of embodiment. Experiment 1 showed that an implicit affect task (positive subliminal evaluative conditioning) led to increases in signature size relative to an affectively neutral task, showing that implicit affective cues alter signature size. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated increases in signature size following experiential self-focus on sensory and affective stimuli relative to both conceptual self-focus and external (non-self-focus) in both healthy participants and patients with anorexia nervosa, a disorder associated with self-evaluation and a sense of disembodiment. In all three experiments, increases in signature size were unrelated to changes in self-reported mood and larger than manipulation unrelated variations. CONCLUSIONS: Together, these findings suggest that a person's sense of embodiment is reflected in their signature size

Tripartite interactions between two phase qubits and a resonant cavity

The creation and manipulation of multipartite entangled states is important for advancements in quantum computation and communication, and for testing our fundamental understanding of quantum mechanics and precision measurements. Multipartite entanglement has been achieved by use of various forms of quantum bits (qubits), such as trapped ions, photons, and atoms passing through microwave cavities. Quantum systems based on superconducting circuits have been used to control pair-wise interactions of qubits, either directly, through a quantum bus, or via controllable coupling. Here, we describe the first demonstration of coherent interactions of three directly coupled superconducting quantum systems, two phase qubits and a resonant cavity. We introduce a simple Bloch-sphere-like representation to help one visualize the unitary evolution of this tripartite system as it shares a single microwave photon. With careful control and timing of the initial conditions, this leads to a protocol for creating a rich variety of entangled states. Experimentally, we provide evidence for the deterministic evolution from a simple product state, through a tripartite W-state, into a bipartite Bell-state. These experiments are another step towards deterministically generating multipartite entanglement in superconducting systems with more than two qubits