Scintillations of incoherent flat-topped Gaussian source field in turbulence.

The intensity fluctuations of incoherent flat-topped Gaussian beams are evaluated when such sources are used in weakly turbulent horizontal atmospheric links. The formulation is developed for a detector having a response time much longer than the source coherence time. The flat-topped Gaussian profile is obtained by superposing many Gaussian beams, then the incoherence is introduced through delta correlation in space.

Uniform theory for the diffraction of evanescent plane waves.

A uniform diffracted field is obtained in terms of Fresnel functions with complex argument by subtracting the unit step function from the Fresnel integral. The method is applied to the problem of diffraction of inhomogeneous plane waves by a perfectly conducting half-plane and wedge. The results are plotted numerically and compared with results reported in the literature.

Diffraction of homogeneous and inhomogeneous plane waves by a planar junction between perfectly conducting and impedance half-planes.

The problem of diffraction of homogeneous and inhomogeneous plane waves at the discontinuity formed by perfectly conducting and impedance half-planes is examined by the method of modified theory of physical optics (MTPO). The MTPO integral of the reflected scattered waves by the perfectly conducting half-plane is reconstructed in order to include the effect of the diffracted wave coming from the edge of the impedance half-plane. The integrals are evaluated by a uniform asymptotic method.

Structure functions in turbulence for incidence with arbitrary-field distribution.

In a turbulent atmosphere, the log-amplitude, phase-correlation, and structure functions are formulated for light sources exhibiting arbitrary-field distribution. This is done by extending the formulations of the correlation and structure functions for the known general-type beam sources to cover any type of source having arbitrary-field distribution. To introduce the arbitrary field, the source is presented by an incidence that is a function of transverse source coordinates.

Scintillation characteristics of cosh-Gaussian beams.

By using the generalized beam formulation, the scintillation index is derived and evaluated for cosh-Gaussian beams in a turbulent atmosphere. Comparisons are made to cos-Gaussian and Gaussian beam scintillations. The variations of scintillations against propagation length at different values of displacement and focusing parameters are examined.

Anaerobic digestion of dairy manure with enhanced ammonia removal.

Poor ammonia-nitrogen removal in methanogenic anaerobic reactors digesting animal manure has been reported as an important disadvantage of anaerobic digestion (AD) in several studies. Development of anaerobic processes that are capable of producing reduced ammonia-nitrogen levels in their effluent is one of the areas where further research must be pursued if AD technology is to be made more effective and economically advantageous. One approach to removing ammonia from anaerobically digested effluents is the forced precipitation of magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate (MgNH4PO4 x 6H2O), commonly called struvite.

Edge-dislocation waves in the diffraction process by an impedance half-plane.

Edge-dislocation waves, created in the diffraction of plane waves by an impedance half-plane, are examined by the method of modified theory of physical optics. The integrals, obtained by a related technique, are decomposed according to their boundaries and evaluated by using uniform asymptotic methods. The results are plotted and are investigated numerically.

Scintillations of cos-Gaussian and annular beams.

Based on the generalized beam formulation, we derive the scintillation index and selectively evaluate it for cos-Gaussian and annular beams propagating in weak atmospheric turbulence. Dependence of the scintillation index on propagation length, focusing and displacement parameters, wavelength of operation, and source size are individually investigated. From our graphical outputs, it is observed that a cos-Gaussian beam exhibits lower scintillations and thus has a tendency to be advantageous over a pure Gaussian beam particularly at lower propagation lengths.

Scintillation index of flat-topped Gaussian beams.

The scintillation index is formulated for a flat-topped Gaussian beam source in atmospheric turbulence. The variations of the on-axis scintillations at the receiver plane are evaluated versus the link length, the size of the flat-topped Gaussian source, and the wavelength at selected flatness scales. The existing source model that represents the flat-topped Gaussian source as the superposition of Gaussian beams is employed.

Formulation of correlations for general-type beams in atmospheric turbulence.

Log-amplitude and phase correlations of general-type beams are formulated in atmospheric turbulence. A general beam is described as the superposition of many sets of multimode contents, each mode being off-axis Hermite-Gaussian. Since the Rytov solution is utilized, the formulas are valid in the weakly turbulent regime.

Modified theory of the physical-optics approach to the impedance wedge problem.

The problem of a wedge with equal face impedances is examined with a modified theory of physical optics. The surface integral is constructed by use of the impedance boundary condition. The aperture equivalent current is estimated from the behavior of the reflected diffracted field.

Hermite-sine-Gaussian and Hermite-sinh-Gaussian laser beams in turbulent atmosphere.

Hermite-sine-Gaussian and Hermite-sinh-Gaussian laser beam intensities in a turbulent atmosphere are investigated. The received intensity is formulated by applying the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle to generalized Hermite-hyperbolic-Gaussian and Hermite-sinusoidal-Gaussian beam incidences. From this result, the association to different types of Hermite-hyperbolic-Gaussian and Hermite-sinusoidal-Gaussian beams are defined.

Hermite-cosine-Gaussian laser beam and its propagation characteristics in turbulent atmosphere.

Hermite-cosine-Gaussian (HcosG) laser beams are studied. The source plane intensity of the HcosG beam is introduced and its dependence on the source parameters is examined. By application of the Fresnel diffraction integral, the average receiver intensity of HcosG beam is formulated for the case of propagation in turbulent atmosphere.

Simplified uniform theory of diffraction.

Simple exponential functions that approach zero for reflection and shadow boundaries are considered to cancel the infinite values of diffraction coefficients at these regions. This method is applied to a wedge diffraction coefficient, and the resultant uniform coefficient is compared with the exact diffracted fields numerically.

Log-amplitude and phase fluctuations of higher-order annular laser beams in a turbulent medium.

Log-amplitude and phase-correlation and structure functions of higher-order annular laser beams in a turbulent atmosphere are derived. A higher-order annular beam source is defined as the superposition of two different higher-order Hermite-Gaussian beams. A special case of such an excitation is the annular Gaussian beam in which two beams operate at fundamental modes of different Gaussian beam sizes, yielding a doughnut-shaped (annular) beam when the second beam is subtracted from the first beam.

Average intensity and spreading of cosh-Gaussian laser beams in the turbulent atmosphere.

The average intensity and spreading of cosh-Gaussian laser beams in the turbulent atmosphere are examined. Our research is based principally on formulating the average-intensity profile at the receiver plane for cosh-Gaussian excitation. The limiting cases of our formulation for the average intensity are found to reduce correctly to the existing Gaussian beam wave result in turbulence and the cosh-Gaussian beam result in free space (in the absence of turbulence).

Comparative analysis on wavelet-based detection of finite duration low-amplitude signals related to ventricular late potentials.

Ventricular late potentials (VLPs) are considered as a noninvasive marker of patients with myocardial infarction, who are prone to the development of ventricular tachycardia. This paper investigates the effects of variations in physical properties of myocardial infarcts in terms of their effects on the parametric variations in VLP analysis. A sufficiently large set of signals underlining the behavior of physical parameters was employed to represent the effect of physical size, position, orientation and type of infarct.

Correlation and structure functions of Hermite-sinusoidal-Gaussian laser beams in a turbulent atmosphere.

To study the performance of atmospheric optical links by using Hermite-sinusoidal-Gaussian laset beam sources, we derive the log-amplitude and the phase correlation and structure functions of such beams in a turbulent atmosphere. Our formulations correctly reduce to the known higher-order mode correlation and structure functions, which in turn reduce to the fundamental-mode (TEM00-mode) results. Several special cases of our formulation are presented, among which the case involving Hermite-cosh-Gaussian dependence is especially noted, since this case is of interest to us owing to the nature of cosh dependence exhibiting the concentration of the energy in the outer lobes of the beam.

Soccer causes degenerative changes in the cervical spine.

Background: Radiological changes and degeneration of the cervical spine have been previously described in soccer players. The onset of such changes was 10-20 years earlier than that of the normal population. The aim of this study was to assess these early degenerative changes in amateur active and veteran soccer players in a cross-sectional descriptive study using biomechanical, radiological, and magnetic resonance measures.