Submarine optical fiber communication provides an unrealized deep-sea observation network.

Oceans are crucial to human survival, providing natural resources and most of the global oxygen supply, and are responsible for a large portion of worldwide economic development. Although it is widely considered a silent world, the sea is filled with natural sounds generated by marine life and geological processes. Man-made underwater sounds, such as active sonars, maritime traffic, and offshore oil and mineral exploration, have significantly affected underwater soundscapes and species.

Simultaneous distributed acoustic sensing and communication over a two-mode fiber.

We designed and tested a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) that co-exists with optical communication over a two-mode fiber (TMF). In particular, we excited both linearly polarized (LP) modes, LP and LP, using a photonic lantern for simultaneous information signal transmission while collecting the backscattered Rayleigh light at the near end of the fiber to detect vibrations from a predetermined source. While transmitting data using on-off keying (OOK) or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation schemes, the optical fiber DAS offers high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values that are always larger than the minimum acceptable 2 dB SNR.

Modelling Growth and Decline in a Two-Species Model System: Pathogenic O157:H7 and Psychrotrophic Spoilage Bacteria in Milk.

Shiga toxin-producing O157:H7 is a food-borne pathogen and the major cause of hemorrhagic colitis. is the genus most frequent psychrotrophic spoilage microorganisms present in milk. Two-species bacterial systems with O157:H7 non-pathogenic , and in skimmed milk at 7, 13, 19, or 25 °C were studied.

Evaluation of natural organic matter changes from Lake Hohloh by three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy during TiO(2)/UV process.

This study shows the changes of natural organic matter (NOM) from Lake Hohloh, (Black Forest, Germany) during heterogeneous photocatalysis with TiO2 (TiO2/UV). The effect of pH on the adsorption of NOM onto TiO2 in the dark and TiO2/UV degradation of NOM was followed using three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence. At pH values between 4 and 9, the NOM was adsorbed onto TiO2 in the dark with a greater decrease in the fluorescence intensity and in the spectral shapes, especially under acidic pH conditions.

Evaluations of the TiO2/simulated solar UV degradations of XAD fractions of natural organic matter from a bog lake using size-exclusion chromatography.

This work reports on the changes in compositions of humic acids (HAs) and fulvic acids (FAs) during photocatalytic degradation. The HAs and FAs were obtained from the XAD-resin fractionation of natural-organic matter (NOM) from a bog lake (Lake Hohloh, Black Forest, Germany). Degussa P-25 titanium dioxide (TiO2) in a suspension and a solar UV simulator (batch reactor) were used in the experiments.

Vaginal health in contraceptive vaginal ring users - A review.

Background: To provide an overview of the available data from clinical studies of vaginal conditions in women who use a vaginal ring as a contraceptive.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature.

Results: Millions of women have already used the ethylene vinyl acetate vaginal ring that releases ethinylestradiol and etonogestrel for contraception.

Application of excitation-emission fluorescence matrices and UV/Vis absorption to monitoring the photocatalytic degradation of commercial humic acid.

This study reports the use of excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence and UV/Vis spectroscopy to monitor the changes in the composition and reactivity of Aldrich humic acids (Aldrich HA) as a model compound for natural organic matter (NOM) during photocatalytic degradation. Degussa P-25 titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) and a solar UV-light simulator (a batch reactor) were used. The photocatalysis shifted the fluorescence maxima of EEMs of Aldrich HA toward shorter wavelengths, which implied that the photocatalytic degradation of commercial Aldrich HA caused the breakdown of high molecular weight components and the formation of lower molecular weight fractions.

Evolution of natural organic matter by size exclusion chromatography during photocatalytic degradation by solvothermal-synthesized titanium dioxide.

This study shows the effect of different titanium dioxides in transforming the structural properties of natural organic matter (NOM) during photocatalytic degradation with a solar UV light simulator. Titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) synthesized by the sol-gel method coupled with the solvothermal technique and Degussa P-25 TiO(2) were used. The evolution of NOM degradation was followed by size exclusion chromatography with dissolved organic carbon, ultraviolet and fluorescence detection (SEC-DOC, SEC-UV(254) and SEC-Fl(254/450)).

Human papillomavirus (HPV) genotype distribution in women with abnormal cervical cytology in the Basque Country, Spain.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes in cytologically abnormal cervical samples from 106 women living in a region of the north of Spain.

Methods: Cytological classification was reported according to the 2001 Bethesda System and HPV genotyping was performed by Roche Linear Array.

Results: The overall HPV prevalence was 69.

Acceptability of the levonorgestrel intrauterine system in the long-term treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding: how many women choose to use a second device?

Objective: To assess the acceptability of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS, Mirena®) in the long-term treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding.

Study Design: Retrospective study of all consecutive women who had a LNG-IUS inserted for control of idiopathic heavy menstrual bleeding between January 2000 and December 2003. Duration of use, reasons for early removal, number of devices removed after 5 years of use, and number of women who decided to use a second LNG-IUS were assessed.

Classification of genomic sequences via wavelet variance and a self-organizing map with an application to mitochondrial DNA.

We present a new methodology for discriminating genomic symbolic sequences, which combines wavelet analysis and a self-organizing map algorithm. Wavelets are used to extract variation across various scales in the oligonucleotide patterns of a sequence. The variation is quantified by the estimated wavelet variance, which yields a feature vector.