All-optical switching using nonlinear subwavelength Mach-Zehnder on silicon

We report on the experimental demonstration of ultrafast all-optical switching and wavelength down-conversion based on a novel nonlinear Mach-Zehnder interferometer with subwavelength grating and wire waveguides. Unlike other periodic waveguides such as line-defects in a 2D photonic crystal lattice, a subwavelength grating waveguide confines the light as a conventional index-guided structure and does not exhibit optically resonant behaviour. Since the device had no dedicated port to input optical signal to control switching a new approach was also implemented for all-optical switching control

Vocational careers of retired Olympic athletes from Switzerland: A person-oriented study

For many high-performance athletes, competing in the Olympic Games is a major goal. Achieving this goal requires more than ever substantial investments of time and personal resources towards the sports career over several years. Thus, some athletes neglect other areas of life (e.g. education), which can pose a problem for the time after high-performance sport, while other athletes pursue a dual career. Previous studies have shown that former high-performance athletes achieved higher levels of education and better vocational positions than the general population. Due to the advancing professionalization and commercialization of high-performance sport, the question emerges whether these results are valid for athletes that are more recently retired. In addition, cross-cultural generalisability of these findings are of interest. For this purpose, 341 former athletes representing Switzerland at the Olympics were surveyed about their athletic, educational, and vocational careers. It turns out that these athletes obtained more degrees of higher education than the general population. Relative to their siblings, they have higher school-leaving certificates and work in more prestigious occupations. Following the holistic-interactionistic paradigm, person-oriented analyses was performed and revealed nine – mostly satisfactory – vocational career patterns. Hence, involvement in high-performance sport facilitates rather than hinders a successful vocational career

Professionalization and organizational problems of sports clubs: Is there a relationship?

Sports clubs have been reporting several organizational problems in recent decades (e.g., recruitment and retention of members and volunteers). At the same time, certain sports clubs have professionalized their strategies, structures, processes, and staff. However, previous research has not analyzed whether the professionalization of sports clubs is related to their organizational problems. Therefore, this study conducts, in the first step, a cluster analysis based on three dimensions of professionalization to identify professionalization types among sports clubs. In the second step, it examines differences in organizational problems among the identified professionalization types. The main findings are that (1) sports clubs with paid staff report fewer problems with recruiting and retaining members but more problems with finances than sports clubs that rely on voluntary work, and (2) sports clubs with increased professionalization of human resources management (HRM) and strategy have fewer problems with recruiting and retaining board members and coaches than sports clubs with low professionalization of HRM and strategy. These results show that professionalized sports clubs have different, but not necessarily fewer, organizational problems

A general approach for robust integrated polarization rotators

Integrated polarization rotators suffer from very high sensitivity to fabrication errors. A polarization rotator scheme that substantially increases fabrication tolerances is proposed. In the proposed scheme, two tunable polarization phase shifters are used to connect three rotator waveguide sections. By means of properly setting the polarization phase shifters, fabrication errors are compensated and perfect polarization rotation is achieved. Analytical conditions are shown that determine the maximum deviation that can be corrected with the proposed scheme. A design example is discussed, where the thermo-optic effect is used to provide the required tunable polarization phase shifting. Calculated 40dB extinction ratio is shown in presence of fabrication errors that would yield a 4dB extinction ratio in the conventional approach. © (2013) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.The authors want to aknowledge Universidad de Málaga alaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucia Tech for their support

A New Fiducial Marker for Gated Radiotherapy in the Lung – A Feasibility Study of Bronchoscopy Based Insertion and Removal in Göttingen Mini-Pig

To develop a new prototype fiducial marker (LS-1) that may be used for gated radiotherapy in the lung.  One LS-1 marker was inserted in the lung of each animal under sedation. Animals were kept under observation  for four weeks after insertion. After the observation period the marker was removed. Animals were  CT scanned after insertion and before removal of the LS-1 marker. After the last CT scan animals were  euthanized and lungs excised for pathology. The LS-1 marker was successfully inserted in all fourteen animals. Thirteen of fourteen LS-1 marker’s  were in situ after four weeks. Two cases of pneumothorax were seen in connection with insertion. The LS-1  marker could only be successfully removed from eleven of thirteen animals. Damage to the lung was mainly  local close to the LS-1 marker insertion site. The LS-1 marker has the potential to be a fiducial marker suitable for gated external beam radiotherapy in  the lung. The method still needs some refinement prior to application in humans.

Fabrication tolerant and broadband polarization splitter and rotator based on a taper-etched directional coupler.

We propose a fabrication tolerant polarization splitter and rotator (PSR) on the silicon-on-insulator platform based on the mode-coupling mechanism. The PSR consists of a silicon wire waveguide coupled to a taper-etched waveguide. Compared to previously reported PSRs based on directional couplers which are sensitive to fabrication variations, the partially etched taper structure can compensate for fabrication inaccuracies. In addition, the taper-etched geometry breaks both the horizontal and vertical symmetries of the waveguide, introducing an additional degree of design freedom to accommodate different upper cladding layers. The proposed PSR can be readily integrated in a planar waveguide circuit using e.g. SiO(2) cladding, making it compatible with typical metal back-end-of-line processes. Our simulation results show that the PSR has a low TM-to-TE polarization conversion loss of -0.09 dB in the C-band (or a conversion efficiency of 98%). A low TE-to-TE through insertion loss (-0.07 dB) and a very low polarization crosstalk (-30 dB) over a wide wavelength range exceeding 160 nm with a large fabrication tolerance (50 nm) are numerically demonstrated

ProEcoWine: Development of a Novel Plant Protection Product to Replace Copper in Organic Viticulture

Fungi like downy mildew reduce wine yield and impair wine quality. In conventional as well as organic viticulture, grape growers usually apply copper for preventing these fungal diseases. In the ProEcoWine project funded by the EC, on behalf of five companies, the Fraunhofer IGB, the University of West Hungary and Laboratoire PHENOBIO develop a novel bio-plant protection product to replace copper fungicides. To achieve this, microalgal strains with antifungal properties have been cultivated to be further processed into a plant protection product enriched with micronutrients. Strains with the most efficient control (more than 90%) over downy mildew and Botrytis have been identified and selected for validation in greenhouse and field experiments, while effective and economic cultivation methods for high density growth are being established. The optimal formulation of microalgae concentrate containing micronutrients and natural preservatives will then be determined after downstream methods required for the activation of antifungal activity are evaluated, optimizing the process for the manufacture of ProEcoWine