Non-volatile and volatile compound changes in blueberry juice inoculated with different lactic acid bacteria strains.

BACKGROUND: Lactic acid bacteria (LABs) are widely present in foods and affect the flavour of fermented cultures. This study investigates the effects of fermentation with Lactobacillus acidophilus JYLA-16 (La), Lactobacillus plantarum JYLP-375 (Lp), and Lactobacillus rhamnosus JYLR-005 (Lr) on the flavour profile of blueberry juice. RESULTS: This study showed that all LABs strains preferentially used glucose rather than fructose as the carbon source during fermentation. Lactic acid was the main fermentation product, reaching 7.76 g L-1 in La-fermented blueberry juice, 5.86 g L-1 in Lp-fermented blueberry juice, and 6.41 g L-1 in Lr-fermented blueberry juice. These strains extensively metabolized quinic acid, whereas oxalic acid metabolism was almost unaffected. Sixty-four volatile compounds were identified using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS). All fermented blueberry juices exhibited decreased aldehyde levels. Furthermore, fermentation with La was dominated by alcohols, Lp was dominated by esters, and Lr was dominated by ketones. Linear discriminant analysis of the electronic nose and principal component analysis of the GC-IMS data effectively differentiated between unfermented and fermented blueberry juices. CONCLUSION: This study informs LABs selection for producing desirable flavours in fermented blueberry juice and provides a theoretical framework for flavour detection. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Photonic generation of dual-mode multi-format chirp microwave signals.

In this paper, we present a novel, to the best of our knowledge, photonic scheme for the generation of dual-mode multi-format chirp microwave signals, utilizing a dual-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DD-DPMZM). By inputting a single-chirp signal and controlling the input binary sequences, the proposed method can generate up-, down-, dual-, or triangular-chirp signals in both pulse and continuous-wave modes. Moreover, the duty cycle of the generated chirp signals in the pulse mode can be easily adjusted by manipulating the injected binary sequences. The compact structure of the proposed scheme eliminates the need for polarization control in signal switching and avoids the use of any optical filter. Experimental verification confirms the feasibility of our approach, while also pointing towards its promising applications in multi-functional radar systems.

Photonic angle-of-arrival measurement of microwave signals using a triangular wave.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, photonics-assisted approach for measuring the angle-of-arrival (AOA) of microwave signals with a large measurement range is proposed. The system utilizes a dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (DDMZM) for signal modulation, followed by an optical filter for sideband selection. The dc port of the DDMZM is fed by a triangular wave to generate a pair of opposite frequency shifts. An intermediate frequency (IF) signal with a periodic phase jump is obtained after photodetection. The AOA of the incoming signals can be estimated by measuring the value of the phase jump. The key novelty of the proposed scheme lies in the application of a triangular wave to shift the frequency of optical signals, which introduces a periodic phase jump to the IF signal. The system incorporates only a single optical channel, largely reducing the system complexity. Experimental results show that an AOA measurement with a range of -70.8° to 70.8° is realized, with errors confined to within ±2°.

Photonic generation of dual-band dual-chirp waveforms with anti-dispersion transmission.

A photonic approach for generating dual-band dual-chirp waveforms with the capability of anti-dispersion transmission is proposed. In this approach, an integrated dual-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DD-DPMZM) is adopted to realize single-sideband modulation of a RF input and double-sideband modulation of baseband signal-chirped RF signals. By properly presetting the central frequencies of the RF input and the bias voltages of DD-DPMZM, dual-band dual-chirp waveforms with anti-dispersion transmission can be achieved after photoelectronic conversion. A complete theoretical analysis of the operation principle is presented. Full experimental verification of the generation and anti-dispersion transmission of dual-chirp waveforms centered at 2.5 and 7.5 GHz as well as 2 and 6 GHz over two dispersion compensating modules with dispersion values equivalent to 120 km or 100 km standard single-mode fiber is successfully carried out. The proposed system features a simple architecture, excellent reconfigurability, and immunity to dispersion-induced power fading, which are highly desired in distributed multi-band radar networks with optical-fiber-based transmission.

Successful treatment of an infected wound involving calciphylaxis via vacuum sealing drainage: A case report.

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: The treatment of a complex calciphylaxis wound with infection continues to be a significant challenge in a clinical situation. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe a case of an 87-year-old man presented with a nontraumatic painful ulcer on his right heel. Calciphylaxis was diagnosed by the biopsy. Although a serial therapy of sodium thiosulphate, tramadol hydrochloride, frequent dressing changes, and conventional surgical debridement initiated, the worsening skin wound covered with a necrotic base and blackish eschar was formed. Skin cultures returned positive for the growth of proteus mirabilis. Subsequently, the usage of vacuum sealing drainage appeared to be effective. A complete resolution occurred 12 weeks after vacuum sealing drainage therapy. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: The infected wound due to calciphylaxis is not uncommon. Vacuum sealing drainage technique demonstrated the effective approach to deal with wound infections, especially in the early stage. As the initial measures of wound care, serial debridement and sodium thiosulphate treatment have not slowed down the progress of the disease in this case, the vacuum sealing drainage along with the creative use of topical antibiotic flushing provided the best solution to promote healing of the infected field. CONCLUSION: This case highlights that vacuum sealing drainage technique could be considered in patients presenting with an infected wound involving calciphylaxis.

Photonic distributed compressive sampling of multi-node wideband sparse radio frequency signals.

A photonic distributed compressive sampling (PDCS) approach for identifying the spectra of multi-node wideband sparse signals is proposed. The scheme utilizes wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology to transmit multi-node signals to a central station, where distributed compressive sampling (DCS) based on the random demodulator (RD) model is employed to simultaneously identify the signal spectrum. By exploiting signal correlations among nodes, DCS achieves a higher compression ratio of the sampling rate than single-node compressive sampling (CS). In a semi-physical simulation experiment, we demonstrate the feasibility of the approach by recovering the spectra of two wideband sparse signals from nodes located 20 km and 10 km away. The spectra of two signals with a mixed support-set sparsity of 2 and 4 are recovered with a compression ratio of 8 and 4, respectively. We further investigate the impact of common parts and the number of nodes on PDCS performance through numerical simulation. The proposed system takes advantage of the ultra-high bandwidth of photonic technology and the low loss of optical fiber transmission, making it suitable for long-distance, multi-node, and large-coverage electromagnetic spectrum identification.

Polarization multiplexed active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator for frequency tunable dual-band microwave pulse signals generation.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a polarization multiplexed active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator (AML-OEO) based on a single dual-polarization binary phase-shift keying (DP-BPSK) modulator for frequency tunable dual-band microwave pulse signal generation. In order to realize mode-locking, two single-tone signals whose frequency are integer multiple of the free spectrum range (FSR) of AML-OEO are applied as active modulation signals (AMSs) at the bias ports of the DP-BPSK modulator. By dividing the AML-OEO into two loops with polarization demultiplexing, both the carrier frequency and pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of the dual-band microwave pulses are independently adjustable. In the experiment, microwave pulses with different PRFs of 162.4 kHz, 324.8 kHz and 812 kHz are generated based on fundamental, second-order harmonic and fifth-order harmonic mode-locking, respectively. In addition, the carrier frequency tunability within 4∼10 GHz is verified by inserting a frequency tunable electrical filter. The phase noise of the generated pulse signal at 10 kHz offset is better than -125 dBc/Hz.

Improving the accuracy of distance measurements based on beat frequency detection of a dual-frequency optoelectronic oscillator.

A high-accuracy distance measurements (DMs) approach based on beat frequency detection of a dual-frequency optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The dual-frequency OEO is formed with a single electro-optical modulator and a common length of energy storage fiber, and the beat frequency of the two oscillation signals can be directly achieved after a photodetector. Since the environmental disturbance has the same influence on the lengths of the two loops corresponding to the two oscillation frequencies, the environmental disturbance errors can be greatly reduced by beat frequency detection. In the experiment, we achieved a sensitivity of 49.9375 kHz/mm and a measurement error of ±15µm. The frequency stability of the beat-frequency signal was 8.57 times higher than the oscillation signal of the measurement loop.

Photonic time-stretch based on phase modulation for sub-octave applications.

Photonic time-stretch (PTS) has been extensively studied due to its great potential in analog-to-digital converters. Here, we propose and demonstrate a PTS system based on phase modulation for sub-octave applications. Different from the PTS system using a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), the PTS system, which uses a phase modulator (PM), has an operation bandwidth within an octave and is more suitable for preprocessing of sub-octave signals. Within the sub-octave band, the system is free of all second-order spurious signals. Because there is no direct current bias in a PM, the problem of bias drift, as well as the nonlinear distortion caused by it, can be thoroughly avoided. In addition, based on phase modulation and direct detection, the proposed PTS system has higher stability and a more simplified structure than that based on coherent detection. An exact analytical model has been established, and some compact expressions have been derived to fully characterize all frequency components of the PM-based PTS system. System properties, including the power transfer function, 3-dB bandwidth, and nonlinear distortion have been discussed, and numerical and experimental results on the performance of the PM-based PTS have been presented. In addition, a dual-channel PTS that employs a PM and a push-pull MZM has been proposed to extend the operation bandwidth to multi-octave.

Compressive sensing based on optical mixing using a spectral shaper with bipolar coding.

Photonic compressive sensing (CS) has attracted great research interest for its potentials in the acquisition of wideband sparse signals with relatively low sampling rate. The photonic CS scheme based on optical mixing using a spectral shaper can realize the mixing of a sparse signal with a high-speed pseudo-random bit sequence (PRBS), but avoids the use of high-speed electronics. In this approach, by utilizing the frequency-to-time mapping (FTTM) of chirped pulses, the spectral information on the spatial light modulator (SLM) within a spectral shaper can be projected into the time-domain waveform. However, the generated PRBS in the time domain is a unipolar sequence that alternates between 0 and 1, which leads to a nonzero-mean measurement matrix. This would result in a poorer performance of signal reconstruction compared to that with a zero-mean measurement matrix. Moreover, the length of PRBS that can be recorded in the SLM is also limited by the far-field condition. In this paper, we propose an optical mixer for photonic CS, which utilizes an SLM-based spectral shaper with complementary outputs as well as a balanced photodetector in order to generate bipolar PRBS. The performance of signal reconstruction can be significantly improved owing to the zero-mean measurement matrix induced by bipolar PRBS. In addition, the constraint on the length of PRBS can be greatly alleviated, since the obtained PRBS can still be kept zero-mean even if the PRBS is longer than that the far-field condition demands. Experimental and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and advantage of the given approach.

Photonic arbitrary waveform generation based on the temporal Talbot effect.

In this paper, we propose a novel photonic approach for generating arbitrary waveform. The approach is based on the property of real-time Fourier transform in the temporal Talbot effect, where the spectrum of the modulating analog signal is converted into the output time-domain waveform in each period. We present a concise and strict theoretical framework to reveal the relationship of real-time Fourier transform between the optical signals before and after the dispersion. A proof-of-concept experiment is implemented to validate the presented theoretical model. We propose to generate symmetrical or asymmetrical arbitrary waveforms by using double-sideband or single-sideband modulation, respectively, which is verified by simulation results. It is shown that the given approach can be used to generate a repetition-rate multiplied optical pulse train with arbitrary waveform by simply using a multi-tone RF signal with appropriate frequencies and powers.

Active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator.

The optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) has been widely investigated to generate ultra-pure single-frequency microwave signals. In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an active mode-locking optoelectronic oscillator (AML-OEO), which can generate broadband microwave frequency comb (MFC) signals. An additional intensity modulator is inserted into the OEO as an active mode-locking device for loss modulation to realize phase-locking between adjacent oscillation modes. Through the active mode-locking technique, steady multi-mode oscillation is achieved, which is difficult to realize in a conventional OEO due to the mode-competition effect. By tuning the frequency of the active modulation signal (AMS), both fundamental and harmonic AML-OEOs can be established. In the experiments, MFC signals with a frequency spacing of 195 kHz and 50.115/100.035 MHz are generated with fundamental and harmonic AML-OEOs.

Photonic compressive sensing of sparse radio frequency signals with a single dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator.

A novel approach to realizing compressive sensing (CS) of sparse radio frequency (RF) signals based on photonic random demodulation (RD) is proposed. The key function of mixing the RF signal under test and the bipolar pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) in photonic RD is implemented with a single dual-electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator (DEMZM). By properly setting the DC bias of the DEMZM at Vπ and the voltages of the PRBS at ±Vπ/2, a pure desired multiplication term between the signal and the bipolar PRBS is obtained after an AC-coupled photodetector (PD), which not only simplifies the modeling of the CS link but also improves the recovery performance. A proof-of-concept experiment is demonstrated where a sparse signal with spectral components of 500 MHz and 950 MHz is successfully identified with a compression ratio of 20. Simulation results are also given to show the advantage of the given photonic CS scheme with bipolar random mixing.

Real-time discrete Fourier transformer with complex-valued outputs based on the inverse temporal Talbot effect.

Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) plays an important role in digital signal processing. In this paper, we present a novel optical real-time discrete Fourier transformer with complex-valued outputs, which is enabled by the inverse temporal Talbot effect. In the system, an input pulse train is first quadratically phase-modulated as in an inverse temporal Talbot system and then split into two channels. In the first channel, the pulse train is further amplitude-modulated pulse-by-pulse by a discrete data sequence to be transformed. In the second channel, a reference signal modulates the pulse train, which is for removing the residual quadratic phase profile in the output pulse train. The pulse trains in the two channels propagate through a shared dispersion medium with a proper dispersion value determined by the inverse temporal Talbot effect. A 90-degree optical hybrid and two balanced photodetectors are employed to retrieve the real and imaginary parts of the DFT results. In this scheme, the pulse repetition rate of the output pulse train is equal to the input one. In addition, we present a full theoretical framework to explain exactly the DFT relationship. We also demonstrate that the input data sequence can be complex-valued with the help of an I/Q modulator.