text:
There had been suggestions that Coloccini may not return to the club, but he has checked in as scheduled and will continue discussions with the Premier League side.
The 31-year-old Argentina international's representatives met Newcastle officials earlier this week to discuss his desire to return to South America because of personal problems.
Argentine club San Lorenzo have been chasing centre-back Coloccini's signature after he told the Magpies of his desire to leave.
Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is understandably keen to retain the services of one of his most dependable defenders and has resisted attempts by San Lorenzo to prise him from Newcastle's grasp.
However, the matter remains unresolved and efforts to find a solution are ongoing.


text:
Merit Retention
The League of Women Voters of Florida supports a judicial system that provides a unified court structure, improved provisions for judicial selection and merit retention and equal access to legal services.
League study of the judicial system in 1967 resulted in support of a merit selection and retention plan for judges. Judges should not be chosen on the basis of political identification, ability to get votes or in return for campaign contributions. The 1976 Legislature proposed a constitutional amendment providing merit selection and retention of judges at the appellate level. The League conducted a major action campaign for the amendment, which passed in the November election. The League's slogan was "Amendment 2 – You Be the Judge." Circuit court judges and county court judges were not affected by this amendment.
In 1992, LWVF chose extending merit selection and retention to circuit and county judges as a legislative priority. The measure passed the Senate successfully but failure in the House killed the bill. Currently, judicial vacancies are filled by appointment of the Governor, as directed by the Florida Constitution. The Governor makes these appointments from a list of not fewer than three and not more than six persons nominated by a judicial nominating commission. Each judicial nominating commission is composed of nine members. Five of those members are appointed to the commission at the sole discretion of the Governor. The remaining four positions are also appointed by the Governor; however, the Governor must make his or her selection from a list of nominees recommended by the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar. The Board of Governors of The Florida Bar recommends three people for each of those positions on the commission, and the Governor must make his or her selection from that list or reject all three recommendations and request that a new list of three be provided. A bill was filed during the 2011 legislative session that would retain the current membership-selection process but would provide that the governor dismiss all current members of the twenty-six judicial nominating commissions. The bill did not pass in either house.
Early in the 2011 session, the House Speaker proposed legislation to split the state Supreme Court in two and expand the number of justices. Each court would have five members for a total of ten as opposed to the current seven member court. One branch would handle civil cases and the other would handle criminal cases. There were many critics of the bill who stated that the legislation would undermine the independence of the judiciary and that it was retribution for the Supreme Court striking down three amendments proposed by the 2010 legislature. The bill was altered as it passed through the House; the Supreme Court would remain as a single court but three justices would be added to the panel and there would be a civil and criminal division, each with five justices. The Bill was now a joint resolution and would appear on the 2012 ballot. As it moved to the Senate, the bill was not as well received. While it passed through two committees, it was defeated on the floor of the Senate. However, $400,000 was provided in the budget for a study of the Supreme Court; the governor later vetoed the expenditure.
Along with other amendments, the Legislature succeeded in adding Amendment 5 to this year's November election. The proposed amendment would alter the balance of power among the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government. Its most meaningful provision is the one granting the state Senate confirmation power over appointees to the Florida Supreme Court. If passed, this amendment would allow the Senate to reject or approve nominees. It would also give members of the state House of Representatives expanded access to confidential files involving judges accused of misconduct, and would give lawmakers the right to repeal procedural court rules, such as speedy trial time limits or deadlines for filing court documents, with a simple majority vote rather than a two-thirds majority vote, as currently required.
Policy Positions
LWVF supports:
• Judges should be appointed on the basis of merit;
• There should be provisions in the constitution for the governor to appoint judges from a group of nominees selected by a panel or a commission composed of members of the Bar and lay people;
• If judges continue to be elected, their election should be nonpartisan;
• A law degree is a necessary legal requirement for holding judicial office;
• Judges should be retained in office by means of periodic review through an election in which a judge would run unopposed and solely on his or her record.
• Florida should have a formal method of evaluating judges for retention election.
Take Action!
SEND a letter-to-the-editor for publication to your local news outlet expressing your opposition to Amendment 5. If passed, the amendment would allow the state Senate to reject or approve judicial nominees. It would also give members of the state House of Representatives expanded access to confidential files involving judges accused of misconduct, and would give lawmakers the right to repeal procedural court rules, such as speedy trial time limits or deadlines for filing court documents, with a simple majority vote rather than a two-thirds majority vote, as currently required. For help with your letter, contact the state office.
DONATE to the League of Women Voters of Florida Advocacy Fund to help us campaign against the assault on our Supreme Court.
Useful Links
Click HERE to watch the League of Women Voters of Florida's forum on merit retention, "Who Will Be The Judge?," which took place in Tallahassee, Florida on October 5, 2012.
The Florida Bar's "The Vote's in Your Court" campaign website.
Democracy at Stake's "Stand for the Courts" campaign website.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Celebrate Halloween With This Vincent Price Ring What could be a better Halloween fashion accessory than a ring featuring the face of horror king Vincent Price? No, really. I can't think of anything that would be better this Halloween than this ring by artist Paul Komoda.Link Via Make Comments (0) Commenting is closed.


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Bought my 3rd pair in Garnet!!!
By Jocelyne
from Edmonton Alberta
I wrote earlier I would get the garnet and change to rhodium plating. The garnet with gold 22 carrot plating has floored me!! I LOVE all of the gems and really am shocked there r any left. Scoop up whatever is left at this price...it IS a steal!!!!
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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( 1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
beautiful beyond words
By jewellery queen
from Nova Scotia
When I ordered these earrings I had a very difficult time choosing the gemstone as I loved the look of all of them. I ordered them in the aqua and I am very pleased with the colour of the aqua and the workmanship - quality, quality, quality. I am also going to order another pair in the amethyst in gold plating. I have ordered from this line before and once again I am very happy with my purchase. Thanks Bob and keep bringing these stunning pieces for us.
( 2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)
got a 2nd pair!
By Chantal
from Moncton
I enjoy my previous purchase that I went ahead and got another color.I do not wear them for occasion. I regularly wear this piece. I safely keep them in its original box because I normally do not own such pieces so I cherish them with great care.Don't need to shy away with the bling because it is a subtle piece not too big so it is easy to wear for everyday, so go ahead and get a pair, you won't regret it!
a real charm!
I over look these earrings because such earrings is too ornate for me and never aloud myself to own such a piece but decide to treat myself and go ahead and got a pair and I'm so glad that I did!I keep them in its original box apart from my custom jewelry. I end up wearing them several time a week. Don't need to wait for New Year's ball to wear such jewelry, wear them!!I appreciate fine jewelry so thank again Bob!
( 4 of 4 customers found this review helpful)
THE BEST of Generations 1912!!!!!!
from Edmonton
LOVE these elegant and exquisite earrings; the beautiful box these treasures are encased is not a throw away box and will also keep these stunning earrings for next generation to wear. Once I opened the box I gasped at the brilliance of the gem, the loving care and incredible craftsmanship and detail of these regal earrings!!!!!! The hardest part was making a decision on which gem to buy. I wanted ALL of them!! My first purchase was the aqua marine (my favourite gem) and I have not seen this quality of colour since the early '80s!!! I bought my second pair in the Russian amythist and I am floored by the deep, rich, and oh so regal colour. I am going to buy a third pair in the garnet and I know I will be equally overjoyed!! I will send these to Bob to have the 22k plating in rhodium as I prefer my jewellery in white gold. As Bob does not charge for any alterations you can't go wrong!! I wear these all the time. They are the perfect size & length for either every day wear or those special occasions. I feel like royalty wearing these elegant treasures!!! A polished elegance even when wearing these with jeans and a shirt and the earrings are not over the top when I am casually dressed. Bob and staff of Generations 1912 Family have made me feel like their family as you will feel their love & passion of their craftsmanship with each stunning, of one of a kind pieces of exquisite jewellery!!!!
By Purplewoman
from Ajax, Ontario
I ordered these in the aqua and was so impressed with them that I ordered another pair in the amethyst! The aqua are very pretty but the amethyst are gorgeous! The purple is a deep vibrant colour, not the pale lilac-purple amethyst is usually known for. The only drawback I have with either of these earrings is that they would have been even better if they had been just a bit bigger - something this gorgeous should be immediately noticeable. Despite the size and length, I would definitely refer these.
By Kate
from Toronto
I received these in morganite. They were beautifully presented and are really very lovely. I know that they are completely worthy of wearing to a formal function, but it would be such a shame to wear them only occasionally. I find that since I've received them, I am wearing them 2-3 times every week. They've become my favorite earrings! I purchased a pair of Bob's earrings in 14K and aquamarine a few years ago and these are comparable in workmanship and beauty despite being set in silver. I'm tempted to get another pair in garnet!
By Irene
from Mississauga On
The rhodium amethyst earrings are exceptional. I love this line. Great work.
( 3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
Exceptional Pair of Earrings
By TSC Shopper
from Toronto, Ontario
Exceptional value, quality, design, craftsmanship and customer service. These earrings should be rated 5 +. Bob, thank you for standing by your products. From my past experiences with Generations 1912, I honestly can say I trust your company, you are a man of your word and stand behind all your products. Hence, the longevity of your company. Wishing you continued success.
By Countrygal
from Southern Alberta
I purchased these in the morganite and am happy with them. The smaller stones were lighter, but I can live with that.


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You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"I ordered this invitation for our engagement party and I had so many guests brag on the invitation itself. It's beautiful in person and there's thank you cards to match, This invitation had my guests eager for the party. Highly recommend."
"I ordered these invitations for my daughter and future son-in-law's engagement party. It was very easy to work thru your site and place the order. The product came prior to my delivery date. Will definitely be ordering future products from you."
"I was so excited to be able to change the color of this design to help meet the theme of the party I was throwing. Paper was excellent quality and love the square design and envelopes that do not require additional postage. Will definitely order from this company again!"
"We were looking for something to tie upcoming Valentine's Day into our engagement party invitations. The selection was really good and it was nice that you could personalize the colors, but we didn't need to."
"These invitations turned out great! The quality of the paper was sturdy and smooth. The images, font, and colors were fantastic! I was very pleased with the results. I've gotten many comment from guests on how fantastic try turned out! Also, they arrived way before their estimated arrival date, which was a great surprise!"


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|Apple Rumors and Reports Discuss what's going on with Apple in this forum
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Member Since: Jul 31, 2007
Posts: 309
"Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that the iPhone 3G has a kill switch that can remotely remove software from the devices.
Jobs told The Wall Street Journal that Apple needs the capability in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program -- such as an application that steals user's personal data -- to be distributed to iPhones through its App Store.
"Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull," Jobs said.
Switch Not Used
Jobs' statement reveals Apple hasn't used the kill switch yet, but the company did remove an application from the App Store last week.
Apple removed the $999 "I Am Rich" application, which had the sole purpose of showing people the owner has money. The program creates a red icon that sits on the iPhone deck with a the words "I Am Rich" underneath. After the user activates the application, it glows on the handset like a ruby.
Apple initially approved the application, which bumps up against the pricing limit for applications sold on its App Store. The company was not immediately available for comment on why it decided to pull the plug.
Disappearing Acts
But the real controversy started when Jonathan Zdziarski, author of the books iPhone Open Application Development and iPhone Forensics Manual, discovered a URL buried in Apple's firmware. That URL links to a file dubbed "unauthorizedApps" where malicious or simply bad apps might go once they disappear from the App Store.
According to Zdziarski, I Am Rich isn't the only app to disappear. BoxOffice (renamed to Now Playing) and NullRiver's NetShare were also removed. But removing the applications from the App Store and removing them from a consumer's iPhone are two different issues.
"The kill switch is a very controlling gesture. I am not sure why Apple didn't disclose it up front as simply a security measure," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "Consumers will accept an awful lot if you let them know what they are accepting."
What Else is Apple Hiding?
In the past, Jobs has said he wants to be careful not to allow applications to bring down the network. Greengart doesn't see that as a major threat, especially since Apple is approving the applications.
However, Greengart said he's less concerned with the "heavy-handed and Big Brotherish" kill switch than the fact that Apple didn't disclose it in the first place. As far as he knows, no other mobile phone has a kill-switch capability.
"To my way of thinking, the issue is that you don't really know what your phone might be doing or not be doing," Greengart said. "I am not 100 percent sure what the capability is or is not. That is the problem. What is the capability? When might they use it? When wouldn't they use it? Is there anything else Apple is not disclosing?"
|QUOTE Thanks
Member Since: Jul 04, 2008
Posts: 136
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|QUOTE Thanks
Member Since: Jul 31, 2007
Posts: 309
|QUOTE Thanks
Member Since: Jul 03, 2007
Posts: 850
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|QUOTE Thanks
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Mac Specs: 15" 2.2GHz Santa Rosa Macbook Pro - 4GB Ram - 120GB HD OS X Leopard - Windows XP
I think the difference is that this "Kill Switch" can remove apps while the "Remote Wipe" only removes the users E-Mails, Contacts, Calenders, etc...
They could be the same though - I just remember hearing about the Remote Wipe feature numerous times, and the article says the "Kill Switch" was never advertised...
"The forums are not only a place to have questions answered, they are a place to be part of a community..."
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George Karl discusses Chris Andersen situation
May 11, 2012, 2:00 AM EDT
The "Birdman" was at shootaround Thursday morning with his teammates.
Chris Andersen, the Nuggets reserve big man, was there after police had come and searched his house that morning, taking a lot of computers and other equipment as part of an investigation by their Internet Crimes Against Children Division. We don't know much, but we know that Andersen was the focus of the investigation and we are afraid we know what this police division searches for.
Nuggets coach George Karl was asked about it before his team went out and beat the Lakers to force a Game 7 Saturday. From the Associated Press:
"For me right now, I think I'm at a stage where I don't know enough information," Nuggets coach George Karl said before Thursday night's game. "I think we all were advised probably not to talk about it until we know the information. The only thing I will say is I trust Chris. In my years with him, he's been fantastic. I think he's really grown as a person. We're going to support him and stand by him…
"I think enough guys individually have been told what's going on. I don't think we have the full information, the full story to analyze or scrutinize," Karl said. "Like I said before, I trust Bird. I think Bird will figure this out."
As we might expect, Karl sounds like a guy surprised someone he knew could be involved with such a distasteful crime, so he doesn't want to believe it. This is the natural reaction, we trust the people we know. Karl's feelings about it may change as the investigation moves forward and evidence comes to light.
The Birdman has seen his minutes drop this season and Karl took the blame for that, because most of his minutes had gone to Kenneth Faried.
"He's been dealt a bad hand by me," Karl said. "For a guy that's played great basketball for me and the Nuggets over the years, (he's) kind of been phased out because of the youth movement, and in the middle of the season is not always fair. I personally think Bird is a very good basketball player, can play for many NBA teams. He could play for us someday, if the situation would open itself up again."
- habibthomas - May 11, 2012 at 2:11 AM
on second thought (I posted on the earlier post ) …if they have been investigating him since Feb …and now its May….well , its kind of hard to ignore that as an accident. wow
- david8726 - May 11, 2012 at 4:05 AM
I hope that somehow, someway this ends up being a mistake. I'm not a nuggets fan, but Birdman has always been someone I've rooted for. It's never fun to find out that someone you've liked could be involved in something as disgusting as what's alleged.
- londonaiooo - May 11, 2012 at 4:38 AM
In democratic society you're innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. One of the worst things about the blogosphere is that people are too quick to judge and mob mentality runs wild with uninformed ideas and judgements. Based on just how disgusting this crime is in general I hope that he's not involved in any way.
- muhangis - May 11, 2012 at 5:31 AM
Kurt quit trying to portray guilt before we know more. If Chris is guilty of serious wrongdoing, his price will come. But there's no use in showing off your assuming attitude. Just keep your prejudgments to yourself until the evidence comes out.
- marlin1894 - May 11, 2012 at 5:53 AM
david8786 & londonaiooo
Totally agree with the both of you. I like Birdman but this has potential to be as awful as it gets. I hope he's innocent because this would be ugly. I wish I could forget that crimes like these exist.
- cupofjoe1962 - May 11, 2012 at 6:58 AM
They shoot horses don't they?
What about a horses arse ?
- fm31970 - May 11, 2012 at 9:23 AM
"Karl sounds like a guy surprised someone he knew could be involved with such a distasteful crime, so he doesn't want to believe it"
Who would? Karl is smart enough to wait until all the info is in before he judges.
I would love to see the Nuggets bounce the Lakers in Game 7.
- habibthomas - May 11, 2012 at 10:39 AM
I'm not convicting him yet, I'm just saying from Feb to May is sort of a long time if its just nothing ….its something
- unfortunatelyavikingsfan - May 11, 2012 at 2:59 PM
I agree. They don't investigate a crime like this unless there is some weird sh!$ going on. It's not like they just draw addresses out of a hat and ransack the place. What the Birdman's involvement was remains to be seen. Hopefully nothing.
- furio2929 - May 11, 2012 at 2:41 PM
Always two sides to a story. Let's wait n c what comes out of this!
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30 Creative 3D Concept Logos from DeviantartSubmitted by
- Published on: February 26th, 2010
- Published by: SpeckyBoy
- Written by: SpeckyBoy
- Topic(s): 3D, design, deviantart, logos
Roundup Excerpt
The following text is an excerpt of the original article, hence it belongs to the respective copyright holder/s.
In this article, written by Richie Thimmaiah, he has rounded up some of the most awesome looking 3D glossy logo concepts, all designed with only Photoshop and have all been showcased on DevianART.
He has also have provided some links and resources to some useful and insightful tutorials on how to create your own 3D logo.
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Bethlehem, Pa., June 19, 2008—Latin Grammy Award winner David Sánchez will perform in Foy Concert Hall with the Moravian College Big Band and the jazz faculty of Moravian College on Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m. Sánchez will also present a workshop at the College on Friday, July 18, at 11 a.m. His appearance is part of "Summer Jazz @ Moravian" (replacing July Jazz Getaway), which includes a summer jazz camp for high school and college students as well as a series of public performances. The college has expanded its jazz camp offerings to two weeks; session one runs from July 7 to 11 and session two runs from July 14 to 18.
Sánchez is being hailed as "the most profound young tenor saxophonist working today." He continues to push the frontiers of mainstream jazz to incorporate a compelling and rich array of Latin and Afro-Caribbean influences, while remaining true to the tenets of the jazz genre. In a review, world-renown jazz critic Howard Reich saluted the young bandleader saying, "Technically, tonally and creatively, he seems to have it all." His most recent recording for Columbia, Coral, earned the saxophonist his fourth Grammy nomination and won a Latin Grammy after being voted "Best Instrumental Album" of 2005 by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Sánchez composes and arranges for a number of ensemble configurations—instrumental and with vocals—including sextet, quartet, trio and duo (saxophone and piano). He was named a 2005 grant recipient of Chamber Music America's "New Works: Creation and Presentation Program," from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Sánchez has also proven to be a compelling presence with student musicians and continues to be in demand for workshops and master classes throughout the world. In recent years, his academic pursuits have included visiting professorships at the Peabody Conservatory, the Conservatory of Puerto Rico and at Indiana University's School of Music.
In the spirit of July Jazz Getaway, Summer Jazz @ Moravian will feature a number of public events including the Lehigh Valley Open Jam Session which will be held on Wednesday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m. All area musicians are invited to bring their instruments and join in the action on stage. The jam session is free and open to the public.
In addition, The Summer Jazz @ Moravian Ensembles Concerts will be held on Friday, July 11 and Friday, July 18 at 7:00 p.m. The concerts feature the talents of the jazz camp participants in a variety of ensembles. Admission is free.
The jazz camp is open to students of all levels, instruments and voice, who are entering grades 8-12 in the fall of 2008 and college students. The camp offers challenging and rewarding opportunities for musical growth for a range of students— from seasoned performers to those with little or no experience. Campers will learn about performance practices of the art form of Jazz; become familiarized with the music theory and historical elements relevant to jazz performance, and enhance their jazz performance capabilities.
Admission for David Sanchez with the Moravian College Big Band and the Summer Jazz @ Moravian faculty are $20 general admission, $15 for senior citizens and $10 for students and children 12 and under. Advance tickets may be purchased online through the Lehigh Valley Arts Box Office at www.lvartsboxoffice.org. Admission to the workshop with David Sanchez and Summer Jazz @ Moravian participants is free of charge. For more information on the concerts, call 610-861-1650, email, email@example.com or visit www.summerjazz.moravian.edu.
The Summer Jazz Camp is directed by Neil Wetzel, assistant professor music and director of jazz studies at Moravian College. Wetzel directs the College's BIG Band and oversees the jazz combo program. Wetzel plays in groups including The Eric Mintel Quartet. As founder and music director of Moravian College's summer music camp, July Jazz Getaway, Neil has worked and played with many jazz greats including: Clark Terry, Ellis Marsalis, Al Grey, Stanley Turrentine, and Bobby Watson.
The camp faculty includes:
For more information on the youth jazz camp, call 610-861-1650, email, firstname.lastname@example.com or visit www.summerjazz.moravian.edu.
Moravian College is a private, coeducational, selective liberal arts college located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tracing its founding to 1742, it is recognized as America's sixth-oldest college. Visit the Web site at www.moravian.edu.


text:
Billboard Wars: Secularists Hit Back at Anti-Gay-Marriage Message from Catholics
Categories: Adverstising, Gettin' All Religious Up in Here
|Battle of the billboards in Smithville!
Matt Gaines of Smithville (between Kansas City and St. Joseph) did not take kindly to the billboard recently erected by 1090 AM, a Catholic radio station in his hometown.
The billboard he found offensive was this one:
|Image via
So on Highway 169, one mile north of Highway 92 in Clay County, he arranged for a new billboard:
|Provided by the FFRA.org
|This billboard now stands on Highway 169 in Clay County
Gaines is a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a secular non-profit based in Madison, Wisconsin. The message is actually their slogan, and they paid for the sign. But Gaines got them involved, and he himself donated some funds to make it happen.
Said Gaines in a statement:
"To denigrate other people's relationships or the decisions they have had to make with their outdated religious dogmas is simply shameful."
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Grade Range: 5-12Resource Type(s): Primary Source, ArtifactsDate Posted: 12/22/2010
The Battle of Gettysburg was a critical turning point in the American Civil War. During the first three days of July 1863, over 172,000 men and 634 cannons were positioned in an area encompassing 25 square miles.
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General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North culminated in the Battle of Antietam, t...
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The story of the Gettysburg Address, illustrated with watercolors and archival photographs.
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DPS Corner: 2014 Literacy Summit coming in May
On May 3, volunteers and partners from across Durham County will unite with a shared strategy toward our common purpose: every child a reader, every child a writer.
The Durham Public Schools Literacy Summit, presented by the Superintendent's Closing the Achievement Gap Committee, will convene beginning at 8:30 a.m. May 3 at Brogden Middle School. If you are a current volunteer or partner in Durham Public Schools, or would like to learn how to support our schools in teaching our students how to improve their reading and writing skills, we urge you to join us.
The Literacy Summit is one part of DPS's response to the Read to Achieve program enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in July 2012. While the State Board of Education has recently updated the details of how Read to Achieve is implemented, the principle remains the same: If a third-grade student cannot read at grade level by the school year's end, he or she will have to either repeat third-grade or participate in a free reading camp sponsored by DPS.
Community partners and educators on the Closing the Achievement Gap committee, led by co-chairs and community volunteers Martinette Horner and Donna Rewalt, saw an opportunity to gather our community together, mobilizing new and current volunteers to pour more energy into helping our students read and write. We are inviting faith communities, business partners and the many Durham organizations dedicated to community literacy to join us for sessions designed to offer helpful resources and present the state academic standards that our students must meet.
Read to Achieve's basic emphasis on early skills is sound, even if the statewide implementation has been challenging. Reading and writing are the key to academic success for every child. When a student is a proficient reader he or she can better absorb history, science and other subjects. A proficient writer can not only demonstrate but also apply his or her knowledge. Preparation in early grades leads to success and, in the end, graduation.
We hope you will join us at the 2014 Durham Public Schools Literacy Summit so that all of us, as schools, partners and community volunteers, can more quickly build that foundation of knowledge for our students. You can pre-register at www.dpsnc.net/literacy-summit. We will provide child care for ages 4 to 12 to people who request it in advance online. Breakfast and lunch are included. We will see you at Brogden Middle School at 1001 Leon St. in Durham on May 3, and we look forward to a community partnership that grows and becomes even more powerful long after the summit has ended.


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Rocking my Intel X-25M 160GB here as my primary drive. Although I honestly haven't seen much improvement in startup time, as my RAID 0 Seagates were plenty fast already. Same thing with gaming loading, as levels and gaming assets are largely sequential file accesses that don't benefit much from the fast random access times on the SSD. Its all the little things like opening and running Firefox, and opening Office and other productivity apps that I put on the SSD that improve, and searching for files has improved, even after disabling Indexing.
And honestly, after reading horror stories on SSDs failing and having problems, Intel and maybe OCZ are the only brands I trust right now. Once Intel comes out with its SATA III SSDs, I'll probably do a mobo upgrade and grab one of those.
Intel Core i7 3930K | Asus X79 Sabertooth | 4x4 GB G.Skill RipJaw PC3-12800 | 2x EVGA NVIDIA GTX TITAN Signature 6GB SLI | OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD | 2x500 GB Seagate Barracuda RAID 0 | LG BD-ROM | Cyber Acoustics CA3001WB 2.1 Speakers | SeaSonic 1250W PSU | 3x Acer GD235HZ 23.6in 120Hz | Silverstone Fortress FT02 | Windows 8 Pro x64 | NVIDIA 3DVision SURROUND
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jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide
jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide
Book Details
About This Book
- Quickly look up features of the jQuery library
- Step through each function, method, and selector expression in the jQuery library with an easy-to-follow approach
- Understand the anatomy of a jQuery script
- Write your own plug-ins using jQuery's powerful plug-in architecture
- Written by the creators of learningquery.com
- Check out the new Learning jQuery Third Edition here
Who This Book Is For
This is a reference guide, not an introductory title and if you are looking to get started with jQuery (or JavaScript libraries in general) then you are looking for the companion title Learning jQuery 1.3.
Table of Contents
What You Will Learn
- Explore the impressive jQuery JavaScript library and its capabilities with a real-world example
- Investigate jQuery's plug-in architecture, using a variety of approaches to extend the library's capabilities
- Pull information from the server without refreshing a page using the AJAX capabilities of jQuery
- Build a small script that dynamically extracts the headings from an HTML document and assembles them into a table of contents for the page
- Discover the Form plug-in for combining AJAX techniques with HTML forms
- Explore the Dimensions plug-in for getting the size and position of any element on the page—even the document and browser window
- Determine whether an element is visible by testing its current width and height using a :visible selector
- Inspect the browser environment and individual jQuery objects using the properties of jQuery
- Create an extremely powerful jQuery toolset using a combined set of a selector expression and a corresponding DOM traversal method
- Get complete and functional jQuery-powered scripts in this example-packed book
In Detail
If you are looking for a comprehensive reference guide to this popular JavaScript library, this book and eBook is for you.
To make optimal use of jQuery, it's good to keep in mind the breadth of capabilities it provides. You can add dynamic, interactive elements to your sites with reduced development time using jQuery.
Revised and updated for version 1.4 of jQuery, this book offers an organized menu of every jQuery method, function, and selector. Each method and function is introduced with a summary of its syntax and a list of its parameters and return value, followed by a discussion, with examples where applicable, to assist in getting the most out of jQuery and avoiding the pitfalls commonly associated with JavaScript and other client-side languages.
In this book you will be provided information about the latest features of jQuery that include Sizzle Selector, Native event delegation, Event triggering, DOM manipulation, and many more. You won't be confined to built-in functionality, you'll be able to examine jQuery's plug-in architecture and we discuss both how to use plug-ins and how to write your own. If you're already familiar with JavaScript programming, this book will help you dive right into advanced jQuery concepts. You'll be able to experiment on your own, trusting the pages of this book to provide information on the intricacies of the library, where and when you need it.
This book is a companion to Learning jQuery 1.3. Learning jQuery 1.3 begins with a tutorial to jQuery, where the authors share their knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm about jQuery to help you get the most from the library and to make your web applications shine.
jQuery 1.4 Reference Guide digs deeper into the library, taking you through the syntax specifications and following up with detailed discussions. You'll discover the untapped possibilities that jQuery 1.4 makes available, and polish your skills as you return to this guide time and again.


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Effects of diffraction of a spectral beam from an edge of the micromirrors are reduced in order to optimize the passband in a wavelength selective switch. The effects of diffraction on the pass band may be reduced by appropriate modification of the edges of the micromirrors, by modification of the input and/or output ports to allow for attenuation by rotation of the micromirror about the switching axis, by using rotation of the micromirror about both the attenuation axis and the switching axis to achieve the desired level of attenuation, by inserting an aperture at a focal plane or external to the device to reduce the magnitude of the micromirror edge diffraction transmitted to any or all output ports, or by appropriate filtering of angular frequencies with a diffraction grating used to separate a multi-channel optical signal into constituent spectral beams.
1. Optical apparatus for switching multi-channel optical signals having spectral channels of different wavelengths, comprising:
a plurality of input and output ports for optical signals having one or more of said spectral channels;
an optical beam expander and relay system adapted to receive the optical signals from one or more of the input ports, the optical beam expander and relay system being formed to convert the optical signals to spectral beams having a predetermined elongated beam profile; a wavelength separator for spatially separating the spectral beams into constituent spectral channels; and
an array of channel micromirrors, each channel micromirror of the array being positioned to receive one of said constituent spectral channels, the micromirrors being rotatable about a switching axis to switch said one spectral channel to a selected output port;
wherein each channel micromirror is rotatable about an attenuation axis to vary the coupling of the switched spectral channel to the selected output port to control a power level of the spectral channel output at such selected port, wherein the attenuation axis is different from the switching axis,
wherein the channel micromirrors and/or the input or output ports and/or wavelength separator are configured to reduce an increase in signal intensity of a spectral channel near side edges of a passband for that spectral channel relative to a central portion of the passband due to diffraction of that spectral channel from an edge of that spectral channel's associated micromirror, wherein the edge is substantially parallel to the attenuation axis and the signal is attenuated by rotating the channel micromirror about the attenuation axis.
2. The apparatus of
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a port mirror array optically coupled to the beam expander and relay system and the input and output ports;
one or more multimode mode optical fibers, wherein each single mode optical fiber has a first end and a second end, the first end being optically coupled to a corresponding output port; and
one or more collimator lens pairs having first and second collimator lenses, each collimator lens pair being optically coupled to the second end of a corresponding one of the one or more multimode optical fibers;
wherein the spatial filter is located between the first and second collimator lenses.
22. The apparatus of
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29. A method of optimizing passband in optical apparatus for switching optical signals of a multi-channel optical signal having constituent spectral channels of different wavelengths between input and output ports, comprising:
spatially separating said multi-channel optical signal from one of the input ports into spectral beams corresponding to the constituent spectral channels;
focusing the separated spectral channels onto corresponding channel micromirrors that switch the focused spectral channels to one or more selected output ports, the channel micromirrors having an elongated shape and size that is compatible with the shape and size of said elongated spots, said focusing comprising aligning said elongated spots to be centered on said corresponding micromirrors; and
reducing an increase in signal intensity of a spectral channel near the side edges of a passband for that spectral channel relative to a central portion of the passband due to effects of diffraction of that spectral channel reflected from an edge of that spectral channel's associated micromirror, wherein the edge is substantially parallel to the attenuation axis and the signal is attenuated by rotating the channel micromirror about the attenuation axis.
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a port mirror array optically coupled to the beam expander and relay system and the input and output ports;
one or more multimode mode optical fibers, wherein each single mode optical fiber has a first end and a second end, the first end being optically coupled to a corresponding output port; and
one or more collimator lens pairs having first and second collimator lenses, each collimator lens pair being optically coupled to the second end of a corresponding one of the one or more multimode optical fibers;
wherein the spatial filter is located between the first and second collimator lenses.
49. The method of
spatially separating said spectral beams into constituent spectral channels.
50. The method of
51. The method of
This application relates generally to optical communications systems and methods for wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical networks, and more particularly to wavelength selective switch systems and methods having optimized optical performance for switching and managing the power of individual spectral channels of a multi-channel optical signal.
Multi-channel optical signals typically comprise a plurality of spectral channels, each having a distinct center wavelength and an associated bandwidth. The center wavelengths of adjacent channels are spaced at a predetermined wavelength or frequency interval, and the plurality of spectral channels may be wavelength division multiplexed to form a composite multi-channel signal of the optical network. Each spectral channel is capable of carrying separate and independent information. At various locations, or nodes, in the optical network, one or more spectral channels may be dropped from or added to the composite multi-channel optical signal, as by using, for example, a reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM). Reconfigurable optical add-drop architectures are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,549,699, 6,625,346, 6,661,948, 6,687,431, and 6,760,511, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
An optical switching node may comprise one or more wavelength selective switches (WSS) configured as ADD and/or DROP modules. The referenced patents disclose wavelength selective switch apparatus and methods comprising an array of fiber coupled collimators that serve as input and output ports for optical signals, a wavelength-separator such as a diffraction grating, a beam-focuser, and an array of channel micromirrors, one micromirror for each spectral channel. In operation, a composite multi-wavelength optical signal (also referred to herein as a "multi-channel optical signal") from an input port is supplied to the wavelength separator. The wavelength separator spatially separates or demultiplexes the free-space multi-wavelength optical signal into an angular spectrum of constituent spectral channels, and the beam-focuser focuses the spectral channels onto corresponding ones of the channel micromirrors. The channel micromirrors are positioned such that each channel micromirror receives an assigned one of the separated spectral channel beams. The micromirrors are individually controllable and continuously pivotal (or rotatable) so as to reflect the spectral channel beams into selected output ports. This enables each channel micromirror to direct its corresponding spectral channel into any possible output port and thereby switch the spectral channel to any desired output port. Each output port may receive none, one, or more than one of the reflected and so directed spectral channels. Spectral channels may be selectively dropped from a multi-channel signal by switching the channels to different output ports, and new input channels may be selectively added or combined with the original channels to form different multi-wavelength composite signals.
It is also desirable, for a number of reasons, to be able to monitor and control the power in individual spectral channels of the multi-wavelength optical signal. This includes the ability to completely block the power contained in a particular spectral channel. One reason for controlling the power in a channel is to afford "hitless" switching to minimize undesired crosstalk during repositioning of a channel micromirror to direct ("switch") an input spectral channel beam to a desired output port. During repositioning, the channel micromirror redirects the input spectral channel beam across, i.e., "hits", intermediate ports, which couples unwanted light into the intermediate ports, and causes crosstalk. Thus, it is desirable either to completely block or to substantially attenuate the power in the beam during switching so that unwanted light coupling is avoided. Another use of monitoring and controlling the optical power of a channel is to afford attenuation of that channel to some predetermined level.
The above-mentioned U.S. patents disclose one approach to power management and hitless switching that employs a spatial light modulator, such as a liquid crystal pixel array, to attenuate or completely blocking the power contained in the spectral channels. Each pixel in the liquid crystal array is associated with one of the spectral channels, and a separate focal plane is created at the location of the liquid crystal array such that a spectral spot corresponding to each channel is located on its associated pixel. Since the voltage applied to the pixel controls the light transmissivity of a pixel, the pixel can be made less transmissive or even opaque to the transmission of light by applying an appropriate voltage, thereby attenuating or completely blocking the power in the spectral channel passing through that pixel. However, this approach has the disadvantage of requiring additional components, including a relay lens system to create a focal plane at the liquid crystal array, the liquid crystal array itself, and electronics to control the liquid crystal array. In addition to the added costs for such additional components, more physical space is needed to accommodate these components, which increases the overall size and complexity of the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,699 discloses another approach to power management of spectral channels in which the rotation of a channel micromirror about its switching axis (the axis of the parallel to the array of channel micromirrors) is controlled to vary the spatial location of the reflected spectral channel beam relative to its intended output port. Since the amount of power in a spectral channel that is coupled to an output port is a function of the coupling efficiency, a desired power level can be obtained by pivoting the channel micromirror a predetermined angle to decouple the optical beam relative to the output port to attenuate it by an amount corresponding to the desired output power level.
A disadvantage of this latter approach is that decoupling the spectral channel beam spatially repositions the beam along the switching axis. Depending upon the physical spacing of adjacent output ports, a portion of the beam may be cross-coupled into an adjacent output port, causing detrimental cross-talk between the ports. Increasing the physical spacing of the ports to decrease the cross-coupling undesirably increases the physical size of the device. Furthermore, as will be described in detail later, using this approach it is difficult to accurately control the power output levels of spectral channels due to the sensitivity of the coupling to rotation of the channel mirror about the switching axis. To overcome this, wavelength selective switches have been developed that utilize rotation of a channel micromirror about a separate axis (herein referred to as the attenuation axis) to vary the power of a selected beam. However, this approach can lead to a non-uniform attenuation of the passband in the form of side lobes herein referred to as "rabbit ears". It would be desirable to have a wavelength selective switch that is able to achieve accurate attenuation of separate channels without these passband non-uniformities.
It is to these ends that embodiments of the present invention are directed.
Embodiments of the invention find application to optimizing a passband in optical switches that switch components of multi-channel optical signals characterized by spectral channels of different wavelengths between input and output ports. The optical signals are converted from one or more input ports into spectral beams having a predetermined elongated beam profile by anamorphically expanding the beams in orthogonal directions. The spectral beams are spatially separated into constituent spectral channels. The separated spectral channels are focused onto corresponding channel micromirrors that switch the focused spectral channels to one or more selected output ports. Each micromirror is positioned to receive one of the spectral channels. Each micromirror is rotatable about a switching axis to switch the spectral channel to a selected output port. Each micromirror is also rotatable about an attenuation axis to vary the coupling of the switched spectral channel to the selected output port to control a power level of the spectral channel output at such selected port.
The effects of diffraction of a spectral beam from an edge of the micromirrors are reduced in order to optimize the passband and reduce the increased power levels between the passbands. This increased power level can cause undesirable effects on the behavior of broadband amplifiers. The diffraction may be reduced by appropriate modification of the edges of the micromirrors, by modification of the input and/or output ports to allow for attenuation by rotation of the micromirror about the switching axis, by using rotation of the micromirror about both the attenuation axis and the switching axis to achieve the desired level of attenuation or by appropriate filtering of angular frequencies with a spatial filter or a combination of some or all of the above methods.
Other more specific aspects of the invention will be set out in the description and claims that follow.
For reasons discussed below, it appears that diffraction from the edge of the mirror is the source of the side lobes known as "rabbit ears" during attenuation. Without being limited to any particular theory, it is believed that the spatial frequencies or angular frequencies induced by the diffraction are directed into the output port during attenuation. Changing the edge of the mirror, making some sort of pattern on the edge, can alter the direction and amplitude of the angular frequencies induced by diffraction. Furthermore, in WSS systems that use a grating to separate a signal into constituent optical channels the grating may have an efficiency vs. angle of incidence such that it can filter or reduce the higher angular frequencies. Higher angular frequencies induced by an edge modification of the mirror can also be directed out of the system clear aperture. Higher angular frequencies may also be eliminated by appropriately configuring the acceptance angle of an output fiber. Higher angular frequencies may also be eliminated by a spatial filtering system.
In view of the above, the side lobes in the optical passband may be reduced by 1) modification of the edge profile of the channel mirror; 2) efficiency filtering by appropriate selection of the Bragg width of the grating; 3) spatial filtering at a Fourier transform plane; or some combination of these.
Embodiments of the present invention are particularly applicable to wavelength selective switches (WSS) as used, for example, in reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs) permitting dynamic network reconfiguration and enabling management of the power or attenuation of individual spectral channels of a multi-wavelength (multi-channel) optical signal, such that signals can be readily added to or dropped from the network. One or more components of such switches are configured to reduce passband non-uniformities due to diffraction at edges of micromirrors used to switch optical signals from one port to another. It will become apparent, however, that this is illustrative of only one utility of the invention.
By way of example and without limiting the scope of the invention, the wavelength separator 112 may be of any of several types of free-space beam separators are commercially available. Preferably, the wavelength separator 112 is a diffraction grating although embodiments of the invention are not limited to such gratings. Suitable types of diffraction gratings include but are not limited to reflection, such as high spatial frequency gratings holographically formed, low spatial frequency gratings such as an Echelle grating, which is a ruled grating, and transmission gratings which can be holographically formed in various polymers. Although a diffraction grating is preferred, other wavelength separators, e.g., planar light circuits, may alternatively be used instead of a diffraction grating as the wavelength separator 112.
A composite multi-wavelength optical signal comprising a plurality of spectral channels may be supplied to an input port of the fiber collimator array 102 and reflected and aligned by a corresponding port mirror of the port mirror array 106 through the beam expander and relay system 110 onto the diffraction grating 112. For reasons to be explained, in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, the beam expander and relay system 110 may be an anamorphic system, e.g., lenses that provide different magnifications along orthogonal axes. The diffraction grating 112 angularly separates the constituent spectral channels of the multi-wavelength optical signal, and the telecentric focusing optics 116, which in this example is also an anamorphic system, focuses the individual spectral channels into spectral spots onto corresponding ones of the channel micromirrors of array 118. Two such channels having center wavelengths λi and λj are shown in the figure being focused onto corresponding channel micromirrors 120, 122, respectively. The channel micromirrors are arranged spatially in the array in accordance with the spatial separation of the spectral channels of the composite multi-wavelength optical signal induced by the diffraction grating and the focusing optics such that each channel micromirror receives one of the spectral channels. Spectral channels are reflected from the micromirrors back through the optical system to the fiber collimator array. The channel micromirrors are individually controllable, as will be described, such that upon reflection a spectral channel may be directed, i.e., switched, into a desired output port of the fiber collimator array with a desired coupling efficiency or attenuation.
Each output port may receive and output any number of the reflected spectral channels. Accordingly, spectral channels may be selectively dropped from the composite multi-channel signal by switching the channels to one or more "drop" output ports, and the multi-channel signal containing the remaining channels may be output from a "pass-through" port. Moreover, new input channels may be selectively added or combined at an output port with a subset of the original spectral channels to form a different multi-channel composite signal. Both WSS DROP modules that drop channels from and WSS ADD modules that insert or add channels to the multi-channel optical signal may employ a similar architecture to that shown in
Generally, there may be a separate channel micromirror in array 118 for each spectral channel. A typical multi-channel WDM optical signal may have 45 or 96 spectral channels, for example. Accordingly, array 118 of
The WSS of
As shown in
The collimated input beam from the fiber collimator array 102 generally has a circular cross-section. Accordingly, to provide a controlled beam shape and size on the micromirror, the beam expander and relay system 110 is made anamorphic, i.e., providing different magnifications in the X and Y directions. As indicated in
From the diffraction grating 112, beams corresponding to the separated individual spectral channels are focused on to channel micromirrors by focusing optics 116, which also is preferably anamorphic. As shown, the focusing optics may comprise lens systems 148 and 149 having focal lengths Fx Fy and F′x F′y, respectively. The anamorphic beam focusing optics changes the beam profile 146 spot size and orientation from the diffraction grating to the optimum size and appropriate orientation as indicated by beam profile 140 on the channel micromirror. The channel beams are reflected back through the optical system to the fiber collimator array, and the anamorphic optics determines their characteristics at the output ports. After the channel micromirror design has been determined, the optical characteristics of the anamorphic beam expander and relay system 110 and anamorphic focusing optics 116 may be selected to provide spectral channel beams having the predetermined size, shape and characteristics at the channel micromirrors as well as at the output ports. As will be described, optimum optical performance is afforded in large part by designing the optical system to optimize the beam profile and alignment on the micromirrors.
The architecture described herein is significant in affording a simplified and effective approach to managing the power in individual spectral channels that avoids the difficulties and disadvantages associated with previously known approaches to power management, while enabling optical performance to be optimized. In embodiments of the invention, rotating a channel micromirror about its attenuation axis reduces coupling efficiency for the corresponding spectral channel and causes the amount of light coupled into the output port to be reduced. As the amount of rotation of the channel micromirror about the attenuation axis increases, the coupling continuously decreases until light is no longer coupled to the output port.
Since the fiber is conjugate to the channel micromirror, rotation of the channel micromirror produces an angular deviation of the beam at the fiber and, accordingly, a coupling change. Thus, the rotation of the channel micromirror produces an angular deviation of the beam at the fiber and, thus, a coupling change. For an anamorphic system, with different focal lengths fx, and fy along orthogonal X and Y axes, respectively, the angular deviations of the beam at the fiber will, therefore, be different for rotation about the orthogonal axes. Angular rotations Δθx and Δθy of the channel micromirror create displacements Δx and Δy of the beam of Δθx fx=Δx, and Δθy fy=Δy at the entrance aperture of the focusing optics. These displacements are relayed onto the output port collimator by the anamorphic beam expander, which, when operating in the reverse direction, causes demagnification of the displacements inversely proportional to magnification factors Mx and My. The output port collimator focuses the light onto the output fiber with the angular deviations Δθxcoll=(Δx/Mx)/fcoll., and Δθycoll=(Δy/My)/fcoll.. Typically fx and fy may differ by 10%, but Mx and My can differ by a factor of 10 or more. Since the displacements are different, the angles of the beam in the orthogonal axis directions onto the output fiber will be different. This produces different angular sensitivities for the orthogonal rotation axis of the channel micromirrors, as shown in
In order to optimize the coupling of the spectral channels into output ports and to control accurately the power level of each spectral channel, embodiments of the invention may employ a servo-based feedback control system to control the axes of the channel micromirrors. The same control system preferably may, but need not necessarily, be used to control both orthogonal axes of both the channel micromirror and the port mirrors of the port mirror array.
As shown in
The feedback control system 160 of
The control system 160 may also continue to monitor the output power level of each channel during operation, and may continuously adjust the voltages applied to the channel micromirror and port mirror electrodes to maintain a desired attenuation and power level. By using the coupling efficiency curve for the attenuation axis X which is desensitized relative to the switching axis Y, as shown in
In addition to controlling the movement of the channel micromirrors about their attenuation axes, the control system 160 of
Preferably, the control system of
The control system of
The dither frequencies are preferably low frequency tones in the range, for example, from about 100 Hz to approximately 250 Hz, and preferably have amplitude sufficient to produce a small variation in optical power of the order of 0.5% (0.02 dB), for example. When the coupling of a channel is not optimal, the light will be modulated at the same frequency as the dither tone. When optimal coupling is achieved, however, the light will be modulated at twice the dither tone frequency. The processing electronics of the electronics module 180 may synchronously demodulate the amplitude variations on the channel power level signals produced by the optical channel monitor. When a tone of the dither frequency is present, the electronics may produce a dc control voltage to the switching axis electrodes to move the channel micromirror to the point of optimal coupling at which the signal from the optical channel monitor contains only modulation at twice the dither frequency.
The electronics module of the control system of
As discussed above, diffraction of light at the micromirror edge can introduce anomalies in the attenuation of optical signals as a function of their wavelengths.
As set forth above, the peaks 206 (sometimes referred to as "rabbit ears") can present problems when optical signals switched by the wavelength selective switch 100 are transmitted over an optical communications network. Specifically, optical communication networks often utilize optical amplifiers to compensate for signal losses encountered as optical signals pass through various components of the network. Such optical amplifiers are often broadband in nature, i.e., they amplify optical signals over a broad band of wavelengths more or less indiscriminately. Due to the "rabbit ear" effect as exhibited by the peaks 206, noise near the edges of the pass band can be amplified to a much greater extent than signal from the central portion of the passband. Such high signal intensity can damage components of the network and degrade the signal-to-noise ratio throughout the network. The problem is exacerbated when wavelength selective switches are cascaded.
The "rabbit ear" effect is less pronounced when the power level is attenuated by a relatively small amount. For example, the middle curve 210 in
As is evident from
The edge diffraction effect exhibited as illustrated in
Given the above assumptions one can explain the observed "rabbit ear behavior" depicted in
It is noted that the "rabbit ear" peaks are often observed to be asymmetrical, i.e., one peak is higher than the other. The asymmetry usually depends on whether the mirror is rotated clockwise or counterclockwise with respect to the attenuation axis. This asymmetry is believed to be due to a slightly larger area of diffraction from the edge parallel to the attenuation axis that has been rotated slightly towards the beam. The other edge that is rotated slightly away from the beam also has a slightly smaller area of diffraction facing the beam.
The edge diffraction effect can be reduced in a number of different ways. For example, according to certain embodiments of the present invention, attenuation may be effected by a combination of rotation about the attenuation axis and rotation about the switching axis of either or both the channel mirror array and the port mirror array. Since rotation about the switching axis strongly attenuates the beam and is relatively insensitive to edge diffraction, the two rotations can be combined in a way that reduces or even eliminates the detrimental effects of edge diffraction and the associated "rabbit ear" phenomena.
According to embodiments of the present invention, the diffraction may be reduced by appropriately configuring the edge region 133 of the micromirrors 130 used in the micromirror channel array 118. One possible configuration, among others involves creation of a geometry that causes the effect of an edge rotation about the switching axis when the mirror is rotated about the attenuation axis. For example,
Thus, the sawtooth edge 133A produces the equivalent of a combination of a rotation about the switching axis with a rotation about the attenuation axis. The sawtooth angle may be between about 5 degrees and about 85 degrees. The inventors have determined experimentally that a combination of rotations about the switching axis and attenuation axis that is equivalent to a sawtooth angle α of between about 6 degrees and about 15 degrees is sufficient to significantly reduce and even eliminate the effect of rabbit ears. These measurements were made on a rectangular mirror approximately 500 microns in height and approximately 100 microns wide. The rotations about the switching and attenuation axes were approximately 0.15 and 0.7 degrees, respectively.
By way of example, two or more such mirrors 130A, 130B may be arrayed together as depicted in
There are many variations on the configuration depicted in
In another alternative embodiment depicted in
There are other ways of reducing edge diffractions. For example,
In yet another variation on the embodiment of
In addition to configuring the edge 133 of the micromirrors 130, there are other ways of reducing the effect of diffraction at the edge. For example, it is possible to perform the attenuation by partly rotating the mirror about the attenuation axis and partly about the switching axis.
Curve 906B of
Curve 906C of
As seen in
As set forth above, another alternative is to reduce the "rabbit ear" lobes in the passband through spatial filtering. Spatial separation of the diffracted orders may be induced by a Fourier transform system so that a spatial filter aperture can be applied at a fourier transform plane to diminish the diffraction-induced side lobes and or increase the fidelity of the center portion of the passband compared to the side lobes. Such spatial filtering may be implemented, e.g., with an aperture in the WSS 100 having a size, shape and location chosen to eliminate the effects of diffraction at the edges of the channel micromirrors 118, e.g., at a focal plane within the WSS 100.
There are many possible spatial filter configurations.
The aperture of the spatial filter could alternatively be located between the collimator array 102 and the port mirror array 106. For example,
In some embodiments, the spatial filter aperture may be placed external to the WSS. For example
The reduction of the "rabbit ear" effect is more pronounced for smaller diameter apertures. The effectiveness of spatial filtering in reducing the "rabbit ear" effect can be seen in the computer modeled passband graphs
In addition to spatial filtering there are other possible filter techniques that may be used to reduce the side-lobe non-uniformity of the pass band of a WSS. For example, the angular frequencies, and or scattered light from the channel micromirrors may be filtered to some degree by the diffraction efficiency of the grating 112 as a function of angle of incidence, sometimes called the angular Bragg width, where the greater the angle of incidence the lower the diffraction efficiency. This effect can mean that diffracted and or scattered light is in effect filtered by the grating 112 by virtue of not being efficiently diffracted by the grating. Thus, in some embodiments, angular Bragg width of the grating 112 may allow the grating 112 to filter out or reduce the higher angular frequencies that contribute to the "rabbit ear" side lobes. Such reduction of the amplitude of the side lobes during attenuation may be combined modification of the edges of the channel micromirrors 118.
In some embodiments of the invention it is desirable to use a WSS configured for hitless switching. Such hitless switching may be combined with embodiments of the present invention that reduce the "rabbit ear" effect due to diffraction as described above. By way of example,
As indicated in
Switching the input spectral channel λi from the input port 224 to the output port 222 may be done in a hitless manner. With hitless switching, the light input at port 224 is not scanned across the intermediate ports 230 and 232 as the channel micromirror is rotated to switch the beam to port 222. Rather, for hitless switching, the light is substantially attenuated or blocked during switching. To accomplish this, the servo control loop controlling the switching axis of channel micromirror 228 is first disengaged. A control voltage may be applied to the channel micromirror to rotate the micromirror about its attenuation axis by an amount required for blocking; the channel micromirror may then be rotated about its switching axis to reflect the input spectral channel to output port 222 by applying to the switching axis a preset control voltage stored in calibration tables in the electronics module memory of the control system of
Controlling the optical signals as shown in
A second method is to go directly from the original attenuated state at the input port to the desired attenuated state at the output port without first unattenuating to maximum coupling efficiency. This method utilizes calibrated voltages stored in look-up tables in the memory of the electronics module of the control system that specify the attenuation level for each channel micromirror as a function of rotation angle (e.g., electrostatic voltage) about the attenuation axis.
A third and preferred method for hitless switching is to go from an attenuated state at an input port to a low light state at that port by rotation about the attenuation axis to minimize the power. Next, a hitless switch to the desired destination port is performed with the attenuation-axis retained at the minimum power, e.g., the blocking condition. Then, upon reaching the destination port, the channel micromirror is rotated about the attenuation axis to go to a low light level such as, for example, −20 dB, rather than back to full power; the coupling efficiency at the low light level may then be optimized using the switching axis of the channel micromirror (and, preferably, also the corresponding port mirror 106 shown in
In addition to controlling coupling efficiency by controlling the rotation of a channel micromirror about its switching axis, it is also desirable to control the location at which the spectral beam of each channel is focused on to its corresponding channel micromirror. In order to afford a high passband, and a high data transmission rate, the center wavelength of the channel should be aligned to the center of the channel micromirror. The center wavelengths of other channels should similarly be aligned with the center of their corresponding micromirrors. Channel spacing is specified by ITU grid specifications, and the channel micromirrors are laterally spaced in the array according to the ITU grid spacing of the input multi-channel optical signal. It is, therefore, desirable to maintain ITU alignment so that the center wavelengths of all channels remain centered on their corresponding micromirrors in order to maximize the passband of the system.
A WSS system incorporating embodiments of the invention as described above may be configured to establish and maintain ITU alignment under adverse operating conditions. As previously described, WSS 100 of
The direction in which the input collimator 102 points may change as a function of temperature, causing the location at which an input spectral beam is focused onto a micromirror to deviate from the center of the micromirror, producing ITU misalignment and narrowing of the channel passband. In addition, other thermal-mechanical effects may cause changes in the diffraction grating angle, the positions of the channel micromirrors, and the focal length of the optics. Each of these effects can also result in ITU misalignment and passband narrowing. In order to compensate for ITU misalignment, the port mirrors may be rotated to realign the channel center wavelength onto the center of the channel micromirrors.
In the embodiment of the WSS shown in
If the pointing of the collimator or one or more of the other previously described elements changes due to changes such as system temperature, a new port mirror angle and reference light beam position (x1, y1) on the PSD will be needed to maintain ITU alignment. Accordingly, a set of calibration points may be generated for the required PSD spot position as a function of temperature to maintain ITU alignment, and the calibration points stored in a table in the memory of the control electronics 128. Temperature sensors may be located within the WSS module to monitor temperature changes, and the temperature information and set point information from the calibration table is supplied to a feed forward servo system in the control electronics to control all of the port mirrors of the array to maintain ITU alignment. To account for variations due to hysteresis, for example, calibration information may be stored in the table for both increasing and decreasing temperature conditions.
Another advantage of the architecture of embodiments of the invention is that it affords the ability to confirm the distribution of wavelengths in the various output or pass-through ports of an ADD module, such as that shown in
The dither may be asserted about either axis of rotation of the port micromirror. Dithering modulates the optical signals associated with a particular output or pass-through port that are reflected by that port micromirror. The modulation preferably creates a power fluctuation in the signals of the order of approximately 0.05 dB at the pixels of the photodiode array 196 in the optical channel power monitor 176 of
In a typical ring network, there may be several wavelength selective switch modules in operation simultaneously. If each wavelength selective switch module in the ring network utilizes the same dither frequency to indicate the wavelengths passing through a port, there could be a significant accumulation of noise at the dither frequency in the telecommunication signal. Therefore, it may be desirable to use a different dither frequency for each module in the network ring. To accomplish this, each WSS module may be assigned a unique dither frequency, preferably one that is at least 5 Hz different from that of other WSS modules in the ring. The frequency assignment process may be automated, as for example, by performing an electronic search for dither frequencies already in use, and then assigning a frequency that is not being utilized.
The 5�1 (N�M) architecture of the ADD module 220 shown in
The WSS optical module 162 shown in the feedback control arrangement of
In the case of an ADD module, such as illustrated in
For an ADD module, power level control of both input and output channels may be implemented by either of two different approaches. One approach may employ separate optical channel monitors, one for the light power in the input and add fibers, and one for the light from the output and drop fibers. The two channel monitors may be substantially the same as shown and described in
A second approach would be to employ separate combiners, such as combiner 172, one for the input and add channels and one for the output and drop channels, a 1�2 switch to select the composite signal from either the input or output combiner, and a single optical channel monitor and electronics module which would monitor and control the incoming light or the outgoing light depending on the position of the switch. The incoming light and pass-through light may be monitored if a specific attenuation level is sought, and the outgoing light may be monitored if a specific power level is desired.
In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, the method of maintaining channel beams centered on their associated channel micromirrors for ITU grid alignment in both ADD and DROP modules may be similar to that previously described in connection with
From the foregoing, it can be seen that reconfigurable optical add-drop systems and methods in accordance with the embodiments of the invention afford a simplified and integrated architecture having a number of advantages. Among others, these include effective, flexible and highly accurate methods of power management of-individual spectral channels on a channel-by-channel basis; hitless switching of channels that avoids cross-talk and interference to intermediate channels; notchless operation that enables accurate management of power across channels and operation at various wavelength grid spacing; optimization of optical characteristics resulting in high passband and ITU channel alignment; and optimum mechanical characteristics of both the modules and components such as micromirrors.
While the foregoing description has been with reference to particular embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the spirit and principles of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims.
While the above includes a complete description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use various alternatives, modifications and equivalents. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined not with reference to the above description but should, instead, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with their full scope of equivalents. In the claims that follow, the indefinite article "A", or "An" refers to a quantity of one or more of the item following the article, except where expressly stated otherwise. The appended claims are not to be interpreted as including means-plus-function limitations, unless such a limitation is explicitly recited in a given claim using the phrase "means for."
Referenziert von
Juristische Ereignisse


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July 21, 2003 - Aquinas College has selected an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Michigan-Flint to head its new theatre program. Anthony Guest, the manager of the Bronner Performing Arts Center at Frankenmuth (Mich.) High School, will join Aquinas this fall as an assistant professor of theatre and as director of the College's renewed theatre program within the Department of Communications. Guest graduated with a master of fine arts in acting and directing from the Professional Actor Training Company at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2000. He brings a broad range of professional experience in acting and directing from New York theatre. Further, his additional professional experience combined with his graduate work will help form the foundation of the College's theatre curriculum. More recently, Guest served as manager of the new $4 million Bronner Performing Arts Center. He was the creative and technical force behind development of the theatre curriculum along with designing repertory light plot, advising on user policies and expanding theatre programs for the high school and community. Guest will lead the theatre programs that will centered at the soon-to-be-opened Aquinas College Performing Arts Center. The theatre's Grand Opening Celebration will take place Tuesday, July 29 through Saturday, August 2. The Center is the result of collaboration between Aquinas, Community Circle Theatre and the Greater Grand Rapids Area Catholic Secondary Schools. For information on the many performances at the Center, contact the box office at 616-456-6656. Consistently ranked one of the top liberal arts colleges in the Midwest by U.S. News and World Report, Aquinas College offers an approach to learning and living that teaches students unlimited ways of seeing the world. Founded in 1886 by the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, the College's Dominican tradition of working, service and lifelong learning remains alive today in a diverse student body. Students from more than 22 states and 15 foreign countries are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. Within six months of graduation, nearly all graduates are in full-time jobs, enrolled in professional schools of law, medicine, or dentistry, or in a master or doctoral program.


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There's little doubt that our universities are among Michigan's most valuable and important assets. But real alarm about public higher education is spreading throughout the country -- and threatening profound consequences for our state and it colleges.
Take the case of Teresa Sullivan, a former provost at the University of Michigan and now president of the University of Virginia. On June 10, with no advance warning, she was forced to resign by the university's board, which said she wasn't making changes fast enough. The campus erupted in anger. Under pressure from the governor, the board quickly reinstated Sullivan.