Equivalent circuit model for coupled complementary metasurfaces

Coupled complementary metasurfaces (CCMTS) exhibit a passband whose frequency is several times lower than that of the individual metasurface (MTS) passband frequency. In this paper we explain this phenomenon and propose a simple and accurate equivalent circuit for CCMTS comprised of slots and their Babinet complement, dipoles. An equivalent circuit is extracted from a coupled EFIE-MFIE equation using a synthetic basis function. The same procedure can be conveniently applied to any CCMTS. The model allows one to estimate the large downshift of resonant frequency and the bandwidth utilizing a simple formula. When used in a subresonant regime, the unit cell may have a dimension of a tenth of a free space wavelength with a moderate value of permittivity between the complementary layers

Dipole-slot-dipole metasurfaces

A complementary frequency selective surface (CFSS) can be formed on the basis of Babinet’s principle. It consists of an array of slots separated from an array of dipoles by a thin dielectric substrate. This study shows that by adding an extra layer of dipoles to a CFSS capacitance can be added to the structure, which leads to a decrease in its resonant frequency. This new structure is called a dipole-slot-dipole metasurface (MTS) and it has unit-cell dimensions of l/10 × l/10 × l/333, where l is representing the free space wavelength. The dipole-slot-dipole MTS has been fabricated and measured. The study also reports on its equivalent circuit; and the effects of the length of the dipoles on the added layer and their alignment on the pass band resonant frequency of the dipole-slot-dipole MTS

Metasurface Antennas: New Models, Applications and Realizations

This paper presents new designs, implementation and experiments of metasurface (MTS) antennas constituted by subwavelength elements printed on a grounded dielectric slab. These antennas exploit the interaction between a cylindrical surface wave (SW) wavefront and an anisotropic impedance boundary condition (BC) to produce an almost arbitrary aperture field. They are extremely thin and excited by a simple in-plane monopole. By tailoring the BC through the shaping of the printed elements, these antennas can be largely customized in terms of beam shape, bandwidth and polarization. In this paper, we describe new designs and their implementation and measurements. It is experimentally shown for the first time that these antennas can have aperture efficiency up to 70%, a bandwidth up to 30%, they can produce two different direction beams of high-gain and similar beams at two different frequencies, showing performances never reached before

Acquatina Lagoon: a model ecosystem to study community patterns

Acquatina is a small lagoon ecosystem (0.45 km2) located on the Adriatic coast only 5 km north of Lecce (Italy). The lagoon has a freshwater input in the northern part and a connection with the sea at the south edge, being characterised by a latitudinal gradient of salinity and an internal patchiness of habitats. Here, we have used the lagoons as a model to study the influence of these sources of variation on the spatial distribution of macrobenthis and fish fauna, using both taxonomic and on taxonomic descriptors. Results showed a non random distribution of both species and functional traits of macroinvertebrate and fish fauna within the lagoon, despite the relatively small surface area. Salinity had an higher inflence than boItom habitat patchiness on both macroinvertebrates and fishes; moreover, spatial co-variance of the two guilds was observed both at the taxonomic and at the size level. As regards fishes, these patterns were common to the dominant species (Atherina Boyeri) and to the rest of the fish guild. Results emphasise that common non random distribution patterns are observed even in small lagoons and for different guilds, including vagile fauna, as fish are. It suggest the occurrence of high intra-specific and inter-specific divergence in lagoon ecosystem allowing resource use optimisation through niche specialisation, available energy partitioning and individual energy budget adaptation

Notes on Profile Inversion and Closed Form Formulation of Compact GRIN Lenses

This note is an addendum to the paper Profile Inversion and Closed Form Formulation of Compact GRIN Lenses [1] and summarizes a few comments obtained after publication of [1]

Investigation of an optically induced superstrate plasma for tuning microstrip antennas

Optically induced electron-hole plasmas in silicon are used to perform radiation pattern tuning. The antenna is a slot loaded microstrip patch and the effect of illumination is shown to produce beam switching in the radiation patterns of certain modes while other modes are left unaffected. The structure is specifically designed to make the best use of currently available miniature laser sources to form a compact tunable package. Modelled and measured results for tuning of the radiation patterns and frequency response are presented. The effect of the losses incurred by the plasma along with the losses in the optically transparent ground plane are quantified in both simulation and measurement. This forms the basis for designing other types of optically tunable miniature antennas based on the structure presented

Dual circularly polarized broadside beam antenna based on metasurfaces

Design details of a Ku band metasurface (MTS) antenna with dual circularly polarized (CP) broadside radiation is shown in this work. By means of the surface impedance tensor modulation, synchronized propagation of two transversal magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) surface waves (SWs) is ensured in the structure, which contribute to the radiation in broadside direction by the generation of a CP leaky wave. The structure is implemented by elliptical subwavelength metallic elements with a cross-shaped aperture in the center, printed on top of a thin substrate with high permittivity (AD1000 with a thickness of λ0/17). For the experimental validation, the MTS prototype has been excited employing an orthomode transducer composed by a metallic stepped septum inside an air-filled waveguide. Two orthogonal TE11 modes excited with ±90° phase shift in the feed couple with the TM and TE SWs supported by the MTS and generate RHCP or LHCP broadside beam. Experimental results are compared with the simulation predictions. Finally, conclusions are drawn

CONCERTO: Simulating the CO, [CII], and [CI] line emission of galaxies in a 117 deg2 field and the impact of field-to-field variance

In the submillimeter regime, spectral line scans and line intensity mapping (LIM) are new promising probes for the cold gas content and star formation rate of galaxies across cosmic time. However, both of these two measurements suffer from field-to-field variance. We study the effect of field-to-field variance on the predicted CO and [CII] power spectra from future LIM experiments such as CONCERTO, as well as on the line luminosity functions (LFs) and the cosmic molecular gas mass density that are currently derived from spectral line scans. We combined a 117 deg2 dark matter lightcone from the Uchuu cosmological simulation with the simulated infrared dusty extragalactic sky (SIDES) approach. The clustering of the dusty galaxies in the SIDES-Uchuu product is validated by reproducing the cosmic infrared background anisotropies measured by Herschel and Planck. We find that in order to constrain the CO LF with an uncertainty below 20%, we need survey sizes of at least 0.1 deg2. Furthermore, accounting for the field-to-field variance using only the Poisson variance can underestimate the total variance by up to 80%. The lower the luminosity is and the larger the survey size is, the higher the level of underestimate. At z < 3, the impact of field-to-field variance on the cosmic molecular gas density can be as high as 40% for the 4.6 arcmin2 field, but drops below 10% for areas larger than 0.2 deg2. However, at z > 3 the variance decreases more slowly with survey size and for example drops below 10% for 1 deg2 fields. Finally, we find that the CO and [CII] LIM power spectra can vary by up to 50% in 1 deg2 fields. This limits the accuracy of the constraints provided by the first 1 deg2 surveys. In addition the level of the shot noise power is always dominated by the sources that are just below the detection thresholds, which limits its potential for deriving number densities of faint [CII] emitters. We provide an analytical formula to estimate the field-to-field variance of current or future LIM experiments given their observed frequency and survey size. The underlying code to derive the field-to-field variance and the full SIDES-Uchuu products (catalogs, cubes, and maps) are publicly available

Cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors from 1980 to 2010: A comparative risk assessment

Background: High blood pressure, blood glucose, serum cholesterol, and BMI are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and some of these factors also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and diabetes. We estimated mortality from cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes that was attributable to these four cardiometabolic risk factors for all countries and regions from 1980 to 2010. Methods: We used data for exposure to risk factors by country, age group, and sex from pooled analyses of population-based health surveys. We obtained relative risks for the effects of risk factors on cause-specific mortality from meta-analyses of large prospective studies. We calculated the population attributable fractions for each risk factor alone, and for the combination of all risk factors, accounting for multicausality and for mediation of the effects of BMI by the other three risks. We calculated attributable deaths by multiplying the cause-specific population attributable fractions by the number of disease-specific deaths. We obtained cause-specific mortality from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study. We propagated the uncertainties of all the inputs to the final estimates. Findings: In 2010, high blood pressure was the leading risk factor for deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes in every region, causing more than 40% of worldwide deaths from these diseases; high BMI and glucose were each responsible for about 15% of deaths, and high cholesterol for more than 10%. After accounting for multicausality, 63% (10·8 million deaths, 95% CI 10·1-11·5) of deaths from these diseases in 2010 were attributable to the combined effect of these four metabolic risk factors, compared with 67% (7·1 million deaths, 6·6-7·6) in 1980. The mortality burden of high BMI and glucose nearly doubled from 1980 to 2010. At the country level, age-standardised death rates from these diseases attributable to the combined effects of these four risk factors surpassed 925 deaths per 100 000 for men in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia, but were less than 130 deaths per 100 000 for women and less than 200 for men in some high-income countries including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, and Spain. Interpretation: The salient features of the cardiometabolic disease and risk factor epidemic at the beginning of the 21st century are high blood pressure and an increasing effect of obesity and diabetes. The mortality burden of cardiometabolic risk factors has shifted from high-income to low-income and middle-income countries. Lowering cardiometabolic risks through dietary, behavioural, and pharmacological interventions should be a part of the global response to non-communicable diseases. Funding: UK Medical Research Council, US National Institutes of Health. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Fish assemblages in a coastal bay adjacent to a network of marine protected areas in southern Brazil

Abstract Baía Norte (North Bay) in Santa Catarina State is considered a typical coastal bay and is surrounded by a network of Marine Protected Areas. The objectives of this study were to describe the composition of the demersal fish assemblage, identify seasonal and spatial structures on a fine scale and evaluate the role of habitat descriptors and abiotic variables affecting the fish assemblage structure. Seasonal samplings were conducted in 2005, using bottom trawls in six pre-established areas in Baía Norte in summer, fall, winter and spring. Simultaneously with each trawl, environmental data were collected with a multiparameter probe. Temporal and spatial differences in fish abundance were tested by a PERMANOVA. To illustratethe differences detected graphically we ran a canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP). The influence of environmental variables on the fish fauna was evaluated using a Distant Based Linear Model (DistLM) with Akaike's information criterion (AIC). A total of 9,888 specimens, distributed in 27 families and 62 species, were collected. Citharichthys spilopterus was the most abundant species. PERMANOVA detected differences for abundance between seasons, areas and interaction among all the factors. The DISTLM selected temperature and pH. The results highlight seasonality as an important factor in the structuring of fish fauna of the study place