Periodic and Quasi-Periodic Compensation Strategies of Extreme Outages caused by Polarization Mode Dispersion and Amplifier Noise

Effect of birefringent disorder on the Bit Error Rate (BER) in an optical fiber telecommunication system subject to amplifier noise may lead to extreme outages, related to anomalously large values of BER. We analyze the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) of BER for various strategies of Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD) compensation. A compensation method is proposed that is capable of more efficient extreme outages suppression, which leads to substantial improvement of the fiber system performance.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, Submitted to IEEE Photonics Letter

Der Konjunktiv II in den ruralen Basisdialekten Österreichs.: Quantitative und qualitative Befunde

Until today, variation and change in the use of subjunctive II variants in the dialects of Austria have been poorly studied. Largely neglected by traditional dialectology, even more recent studies neither consider all dialect regions of Austria, nor do they go into detail about intra-linguistic factors. Furthermore, an integration into morpho-syntactic theories of language change is missing. This paper addresses the above-mentioned desiderata. Using an apparent-time design, it intends to uncover linguistic, geographical, and sociolinguistic factors of variation and change in the use of subjunctive II variants in Austria’s dialects. In order to achieve these goals, a comprehensive corpus of direct dialect recordings is analysed by means of various quantitative methods (cluster analyses, factor analyses, mixed variance analyses). Data are based on the dialect translations of 21 verb forms by 163 speakers from 40 locations (3,430 tokens). Overall, results show that periphrastic variants spread in the Austrian dialects, in particular periphrastic forms with the täte-auxiliary. Meanwhile, synthetic forms lose importance (both strong and weak synthetic forms). Moreover, results reveal significant verb-related differences which cannot be explained by their belonging to inflectional classes, as previous studies suggested. Instead, the 21 verbs studied can be divided into six clusters reflecting different stages in the spread of periphrastic forms. In terms of linguistic geography, Austria is divided into three parts with regard to subjunctive II variation: an Alemannic region in the west, a north-western Bavarian area, and a south-eastern Bavarian area. With respect to sociolinguistic factors, gender is hardly a relevant factor, whereas age turns out to be decisive. Younger speakers use periphrastic forms more often and synthetic variants less often. Finally, these empirical findings will be discussed against the background of the theory of Natural Morphology

Die Konjunktiv-II-Bildung im Kontext von Partikelverben in den Basisdialekten Salzburgs

Focusing on phrasal verbs such as einbringen ‘to harvest’ or abbringen ‘to dissuade’, the aim of the present exploratory apparent-time study is to uncover factors affecting the subjunctive II formation in the traditional base dialects of Salzburg (Austria). Depending on whether the subjunctive II formation is synthetic or periphrastic, phrasal verbs are formed in contact position (e. g., würde/täte abbringen ‘would dissuade’) or in distance position (e. g. brächte ab ‘would dissuade’) between particle and verb stem. In order to examine which subjunctive II variants are used for 15 phrasal verbs in the traditional dialects of Salzburg, an indirect survey was carried out with 25 informants in six rural locations. These villages are spread across the three dialect areas (West-Central Bavarian, South-Central Bavarian, and South Bavarian) cutting through the federal state of Salzburg. Furthermore, the subjunctive II formation of the phrasal verbs is compared to that of the simple verbs (e. g., bringen ‘to bring’) corresponding to the derivational bases of the respective phrasal verbs investigated (e. g., einbringen or abbringen). In addition to linguistic and areal factors, sociolinguistic factors (age and gender) are taken into account. Results show that the subjunctive II formation of phrasal verbs differs significantly from that of simple verbs: compared to the corresponding simple verbs, the informants used the phrasal verbs significantly more often with periphrastic variants. It is argued that this tendency is related to specific semantic-lexical and morpho-syntactic properties of phrasal verbs. Regarding the areal distribution, there are differences between the individual locations. These differences do not correlate with the traditional dialect regions but can be traced back to the socio-demographic characteristics of the locations (number of inhabitants, transport connections, tourism etc.). Moreover, age proves to be a relevant factor: there is a statistically significant difference in both, simple verbs and phrasal verbs, with the younger informants preferring the periphrastic variants

The impact of young age on cancer-specific and non-cancer-related survival after surgery for colorectal cancer: 10-year follow-up

<b>Background</b>: It has been reported that although young patients present with more advanced disease, when adjusted for stage, cancer-specific survival is not different after surgery for colorectal cancer. However, few studies have examined non-cancer survival in young patients and 10-year survival has rarely been reported. Moreover, the largest study included patients of old age as a comparator. The aim of this study was to compare cancer-specific and non-cancer-related survival at 10 years in a young age cohort and a middle age cohort in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer. <b>Methods</b>: Two thousand and seventy seven patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer between 1991 and 1994 in 11 hospitals in Scotland were included in the study. Ten-year cancer-specific and non-cancer-related survival and the hazard ratios (HR) were calculated according to age groups (<45/45–54/55–64/65–74 years). <b>Results</b>: On follow-up, 1066 patients died of their cancer and 369 died of non-cancer-related causes. At 10 years, overall survival was 32%, cancer-specific was 45%, and non-cancer-related survival was 72%. On multivariate analysis of all factors, sex (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.68–0.88, P<0.001), mode of presentation (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.44–1.87, P<0.01), Dukes' stage (HR 2.69, 95% CI 2.49–2.90, P<0.001), and specialisation (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.04–1.44, P<0.01) were independently associated with cancer-specific survival. On multivariate analysis of all factors, age (HR 2.46, 2.04–2.97, P<0.001), sex (HR 0.56, 0.45–0.70, P<0.001), and deprivation (HR 1.16, 1.10–1.24, P<0.001) were independently associated with non-cancer-related survival. <b>Conclusion</b>: The results of this study confirm that young age does not have a negative impact on cancer-specific survival. Moreover, they show that, with 10-year follow-up, young age does not have a negative impact on non-cancer-related survival

Review on quality assurance along the CFRP value chain - Non-destructive testing of fabrics, preforms and CFRP by HF radio wave techniques

Eddy current testing is well established for non-destructive testing of electrical conductive materials [1]. The development of radio frequency (RF) eddy current technology with frequency ranges up to 100 MHz made it possible to extend the classical fields of application even towards less conductive materials like CFRP [2][3](Table 2). It turns out that RF eddy current technology on CFRP generates a growing number of valuable information for comprehensive material diagnostic. Both permittivity and conductivity of CFRP influence the complex impedance measured with RF eddy current devices. The electrical conductivity contains information about fiber texture like orientations, gaps or undulations in a multilayered material. The permittivity characterization influenced by dielectric properties allows the determination of local curing defects on CFRP e.g. hot spots, thermal impacts or polymer degradation. An explanation for that effect is seen in the measurement frequency range and the capacitive structure of the carbon rovings. Using radio wave frequencies for testing, the effect of displacement currents cannot be neglected anymore. The capacitive structures formed by the carbon rovings is supposed to further strengthen the dielectric influences on eddy current measurement signal [3]. This report gives an overview of several realized applications and should be understood as a general introduction of CFRP testing by HF Radio Wave techniques

The impact of religion on changes in end-of-life practices in European intensive care units: a comparative analysis over 16 years.

PURPOSE Religious beliefs affect end-of-life practices in intensive care units (ICUs). Changes over time in end-of-life practices were not investigated regarding religions. METHODS Twenty-two European ICUs (3 regions: Northern, Central, and Southern Europe) participated in both Ethicus-1 (years 1999-2000) and Ethicus-2 studies (years 2015-2016). Data of ICU patients who died or had limitations of life-sustaining therapy were analysed regarding changes in end-of-life practices and patient/physician religious affiliations. Frequencies, timing of decision-making, and religious affiliations of physicians/patients were compared using the same definitions. RESULTS In total, 4592 adult ICU patients (n = 2807 Ethicus-1, n = 1785 Ethicus-2) were analysed. In both studies, patient and physician religious affiliations were mostly Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Protestant, or unknown. Treating physicians (but not patients) commonly reported no religious affiliation (18%). Distribution of end-of-life practices with respect to religion and geographical regions were comparable between the two studies. Withholding [n = 1143 (40.7%) Ethicus-1 and n = 892 (50%) Ethicus-2] and withdrawing [n = 695 (24.8%) Ethicus-1 and n = 692 (38.8%) Ethicus-2] were most commonly decided. No significant changes in end-of-life practices were observed for any religion over 16 years. The number of end-of-life discussions with patients/ families/ physicians increased, while mortality and time until first decision decreased. CONCLUSIONS Changes in end-of-life practices observed over 16 years appear unrelated to religious affiliations of ICU patients or their treating physicians, but the effects of religiosity and/or culture could not be assessed. Shorter time until decision in the ICU and increased numbers of patient and family discussions may indicate increased awareness of the importance of end-of-life decision-making in the ICU

Internet addiction and sleep disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The pathological use of the internet – conceptualized as 'internet addiction' – might be crucial in initiating and increasing sleep disturbances in the community. While inconsistent evidence is reported regarding the association of internet addiction and sleep disturbances, severity of this association is unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to increase our understanding of the relationship between internet addiction and sleep disturbances. A systematic review was conducted through Scopus, PubMed Central, ProQuest, ISI Web of Knowledge, and EMBASE using keywords related to internet addiction and sleep problems. Observational studies (cohort, case-control or cross-sectional studies) focusing on association between internet addiction and sleep disturbances including sleep problems and sleep duration were selected. A meta-analysis using random-effect model was conducted to calculate the odds ratio (OR) for experiencing sleep problems and standardized mean differences (SMDs) for sleep duration. Eligible studies (N=23) included 35,684 participants. The overall pooled OR of having sleep problems if addicted to the internet was 2.20 (95% CI: 1.77–2.74). Additionally, the overall pooled SMDs for sleep duration for the IA group compared to normal internet users was -0.24 (95% CI: -0.38, -0.10). Results of the meta-analysis revealed a significant OR for sleep problems and a significant reduced sleep duration among individuals addicted to the internet