Chaotic free-space laser communication over a turbulent channel.

The dynamics of errors caused by atmospheric turbulence in a self-synchronizing chaos-based communication system that stably transmits information over an approximately 5 km free-space laser link is studied experimentally. Binary information is transmitted using a chaotic sequence of short-term pulses as a carrier. The information signal slightly shifts the chaotic time position of each pulse depending on the information bit. We report the results of an experimental analysis of the atmospheric turbulence in the channel and the impact of turbulence on the bit-error-rate performance of this chaos-based communication system.

Synchronization of chaotic oscillations in doped fiber ring lasers.

The synchronization of chaotic rare-earth-doped fiber ring lasers is analyzed. The lasers are first coupled by transmitting a fraction c of the circulating electric field in the transmitter and injecting it into the optical cavity of the receiver. A coupling strategy which relies on modulation of the intensity of the light alone is also examined. Synchronization is studied as a function of the coupling strength, and we see excellent synchronization, even with very small c. We prove that in an open loop configuration (c=1) synchronization is guaranteed due to the particular structure of our equations and of the injection method we use. The generalized synchronization of these model lasers is examined when there is parameter mismatch between the transmitter and receiver lasers. The synchronization is found to be insensitive to a wide range of mismatch in laser parameters, but it is sensitive to other parameters, in particular those associated with the phase and the polarization of the circulating electric field. Communicating information between the transmitter and receiver lasers is also addressed. We investigate a scheme for modulating information onto the chaotic electric field and then demodulating and detecting the information embedded in the chaotic signal passed down the communications channel. We show full recovery with very low error for a wide range of coupling strengths.

The risk for transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at the bedside and during autopsy.

OBJECTIVE: To emphasize the differing infectious potentials of a patient with tuberculosis. SETTING: Hospital ward and autopsy room. DESIGN: An epidemiologic investigation of tuberculin skin test conversions in a clinical setting and during autopsy when results of tuberculin tests done before exposure were available for all participants. MEASUREMENTS: Tuberculin skin test results after the discovery of tuberculosis exposure from a patient with unsuspected tuberculosis for comparison with the test results before exposure; culture of sputum and autopsy material for Mycobacterium tuberculosis; and DNA fingerprinting of organisms. INTERVENTION: Preventive therapy for persons with skin test conversion. RESULTS: None of the 40 skin test-negative health care workers caring for the patient for 3 weeks on an open medical ward showed a skin test conversion, even though they had not used respiratory precautions. By contrast, among personnel present during the 3-hour autopsy, the test results of all five nonreactors converted from negative to positive (mean reaction, 24 mm). Two of these persons had a positive sputum culture 8 weeks later. The DNA fingerprints of all three isolates were identical. CONCLUSIONS: A patient who did not transmit tuberculosis before death released a prodigious number of tubercle bacilli during autopsy.

Gastroesophageal reflux during anaesthesia.

While the number of patients at risk for vomiting and aspiration has been reported to be high, the incidence of clinically important pulmonary aspiration is low. We sought to define the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and to correlate this with the clinical variables of obesity, history of oesophagitis, bucking and changes in body position. Continuous oesophageal pH measurement was used to determine the frequency of gastroesophageal reflux in 44 patients having general anaesthesia for elective surgical procedures. Acid reflux to a pH value of less than four occurred in seven patients (15.9%) during anaesthesia. This was associated temporally with straining on the endotracheal tube in six subjects (13.6%). We conclude that traditional risk factors are not always predictive of those patients at risk of regurgitation and aspiration.