Polarisation-independent vertically coupled microring resonatorfilter

A polarisation-independent microring resonator filter is proposed using a birefringent polymer overlay. The thickness of the polymer overlay is optimally designed and the polarisation-independent operation successfully demonstrated     

An uncertainty importance measure using a distance metric for the change in a cumulative distribution function

A simple measure of uncertainty importance using the entire change of cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) has been developed for use in probability safety assessments (PSAs). The entire change of CDFs is quantified in terms of the metric distance between two CDFs. The metric distance measure developed in this study reflects the relative impact of distributional changes of inputs on the change of an output distribution, while most of the existing uncertainty importance measures reflect the magnitude of relative contribution of input uncertainties to the output uncertainty. The present measure has been evaluated analytically for various analytical distributions to examine its characteristics. To illustrate the applicability and strength of the present measure, two examples are provided. The first example is an application of the present measure to a typical problem of a system fault tree analysis and the second one is for a hypothetical non-linear model. Comparisons of the present result with those obtained by existing uncertainty importance measures show that the metric distance measure is a useful tool to express the measure of uncertainty importance in terms of the relative impact of distributional changes of inputs on the change of an output distribution.     

Serum response of Escherichia coli strains causing dyspepsia and urinary tract infection: relation to alpha-hemolysin production and O type

A total of 109 alpha-hemolytic and 104 nonhemolytic Escherichia coli isolates from children with dyspepsia and urinary tract infections were investigated for resistance to the bactericidal activity of human serum. A significantly higher proportion of serum resistance was found in alpha-hemolytic E. coli isolates than in nonhemolytic isolates (P < 0.01). An association between the titer of alpha-hemolysin produced and serum resistance was found.     

Optimization of pH sensing using silicon nanowire field effect transistors with HfO2 as the sensing surface

Silicon nanowire field effect transistor sensors with SiO(2)/HfO(2) as the gate dielectric sensing surface are fabricated using a top down approach. These sensors are optimized for pH sensing with two key characteristics. First, the pH sensitivity is shown to be independent of buffer concentration. Second, the observed pH sensitivity is enhanced and is equal to the Nernst maximum sensitivity limit of 59 mV/pH with a corresponding subthreshold drain current change of ～ 650%/pH. These two enhanced pH sensing characteristics are attributed to the use of HfO(2) as the sensing surface and an optimized fabrication process compatible with silicon processing technology.     

External Cavity Lasers Composed of Higher Order Gratings and SLDs Integrated on PLC Platform

Very compact 4‐channel 200‐GHz‐spacing external cavity lasers (ECLs) were fabricated by hybrid integration of reflection gratings and superluminescent laser diodes on a planar lightwave circuit chip. The fifth‐order gratings as reflection gratings were formed using a conventional contact‐mask photo‐lithography process to achieve low‐cost fabrication. The lasing wavelength of the fabricated ECLs matched the ITU grid with an accuracy of ×0.1 nm, and optical powers were more than 0.4 mW at the injection current of 80 mA for all channels. The ECLs showed single mode operations with more than 30 dB side lobe suppression.     

Correlation between Barkhausen-noise and corrugation of railway rails

The magnetic Barkhausen-noise has been investigated on the running surface of a railway rail and a good correlation has been found between the noise and corrugation. The Barkhausen-noise showed minima and maxima at the hill and valley positions, respectively. This correlation can be used to observe or preindicate the corrugation process.     

Effect of transglutaminase on the quality of wheat-based pasta products

Transglutaminase (TG) enzyme was tested in T. aestivum and T. durum wheat-based model systems to evaluate the quality improvement to pasta imparted by cross-linking. Quality was measured by the enhancement in sensory and cooking properties. In this process, tests were also performed to establish the biochemical structure-functions of the proteins involved at TG enzyme concentrations between 10 and 200 mg kg⁻¹. It was observed that the amounts of water/salt-, the alcohol- and the alkali-soluble protein fractions were reduced significantly. Change in the molecular weight distribution assessed by SDS PAGE was also noticed. The sensory properties were observed to improve from high water uptake and low cooking loss. The TG treatment changed the gluten structure in the modified pasta products. Immune-reactive gliadin fractions were detected by immunoblotting and independently measured by competitive indirect ELISA, using the anti-gliadin rabbit IgG.