Write compensation using the thermal transfer function in an optical disk.
The theoretical basis for a write-compensation scheme is developed with a simplified thermal transfer function in an optical disk. The thermal transfer function is analytically approximated to a first-order exponential filter similar to that of an integrating circuit. A write-compensation method is then given directly by the inverse function of the filter. A simplified form of the compensation is also derived, and this is verified by experiments. This method eliminates the thermal interference and shows how to form mark edges uniformly for an arbitrary optical disk.
Temperature distributions in semi-infinite and finite-thickness media as a result of absorption of laser light: erratum.
Errors in a paper published earlier [Appl. Opt. 36, 494 (1997)]are corrected. They comprise a corrected definition and line of pseudocode. In the paper "Temperature distributions in semiinfinite and finite-thickness media as a result of absorption of laser light,"(1) two errors appeared and are corrected as follows:
Labour Law in a Globalising World
At the opening of the 21st century it is clear that increasing globalisation will remain one of the most important long term influences on the evolution of the international economy and international political structures. The controversial nature of globalisation is self-evident from the increasing intensity of antiglobalisation demonstrations at meetings of international bodies such as the World Trade Organisation. While the actual nature of globalisation, the direction in which it will take the world and the costs and benefits that will result are still contestable, it is clear that the main, and certainly the most effective, drivers are economic. Nations are primarily concerned to set in place structures that promote the free movement of capital including the freedom of multinational companies to locate and relocate around the world, and to promote free trade in goods and services. While non-economic values such as environmental protection and social and labour rights are not excluded from the debates setting these structures in place, they are largely marginal to it. One symbol of this marginalisation is that the ILO, unlike the World Bank, IMF and OECD, does not enjoy observer status at the WTO in spite of the rhetoric of concern for such rights from member states of the Organisation. As McCrudden and Davies explain,1 this exclusion is the result of a major and continuing division between developed and developing countries within the WTO that in the 1990s prevented agreement on any tangible measures in the Marrakesh agreements and that has continued to block subsequent progress. The stark divisions between these groups became even more apparent at the Singapore Ministerial meeting in 1996 when an invitation to the head of the ILO to speak was withdrawn. The only tangible result was a weak statement to the effect that members agreed that labour standards should be upheld but that this should be done through the ILO and not the WTO. The suspicion of developing countries that any link between trade and labour standards will lead to increased protectionism is almost certainly justified. Experience within the WTO to date provides little reason for developing countries to have any great faith in the undertakings of the developed world. Developing countries have seen the promises of movement toward freer trade that might benefit them fade into the distance while at the same time the undertakings they entered into are increasingly used to their disadvantage.2