Distribution of chemical constituents in the plant parts of six tropical-origin forage grasses at early anthesis

The distribution of chemical constituents in the plant parts of six tropical forage grasses at early anthesis was studied. The forage grasses were guinea grass Panicum maximum (Jacq.); angleton grass Dichanthium aristatum (Poir.); gamba grass Andropogon gayanus (Kunth); buffel grass Cenchrus ciliaris (L.); birdwood grass Cenchrus setigerus (Vahl.); and rhodes grass Chloris gayana (Kunth.). Apart from ether extract, which generally decreased from the inflorescence down to the basal culm, and crude fibre, which increased from the inflorescence down to the basal culm, no clear gradient of constituents within the plants could be established for any of the forage grass species.     

Wideband HBT circuits for operation above 10 GHz and power supply voltages below 5 V

Single-stage and two-stage differential cascode amplifiers, and a 2:1 multiplexer, fabricated in InP/InGaAs HBT technology and powered from less than 5 V supplies, are presented. The amplifiers have typical DC gains of 21 and 33 dB, respectively, and unity-gain bandwidths in excess of 15 GHz, with approximately 20 dB gain at 10 GHz. The multiplexer was tested at rates up to 20 Gbit/s.<>     

Surface and microanalytical studies of whetlerite charcoals: 1. Effects of aging

ASC Whetlerite charcoals impregnated with copper and chromium have been studied by several surface and microanalytical techniques to determine the effects of aging on the composition and microstructure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) studies of absorbers not deliberately aged, showed that most of copper on the inside of each particle was present as Cu(I). Transmission microscopy showed that some of this copper is present as crystallites with diameters up to 0.1 μm. Natural or artificial aging in a humid atmosphere resulted in the number and size of such crystallites and a migration of some of the copper impregnants to the outer surface of the particle, where it is bonded largely as Cu(OH)₂. Chromium is present in the adsorber in both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) oxidation states and it undergoes little change during aging.     

Magnetic bubble logic component library

A comprehensive library of magnetic bubble logic components has been established, with emphasis on standardization in terms of dimensions and I/O to facilitate VLSI chip composition. These components were designed in a current-access perforated-sheet configuration and fabricated on magnetic garnet wafers supporting 2-µm bubbles. The operating margin for each component was studied individually on 8-µm period devices at 1 MHZ by using a high-speed magneto-optical sampling-camera system. The bubble-to-bubble interaction force was found to be very reliable in producing successful logic operation with a 12-percent bias-field margin for the XOR/AND gate equal to 80 percent of the bubble-propagation margin and about 60 percent of the free-bubble bias-field margin. The experimental results show 10.8, 10.7, 10.2, 10, 10.6, 8.5, 12, 8.5, 15, and 9.5-percent bias-field margins for the SWITCH, AND/OR, COMPARATOR, SEARCH, LATCH, BIT-PAIR SEPARATOR, MERGER, CROSSOVER, ANNIHILATOR, and SPLITTER gates, respectively. An 8.5-percent overlapped bias margin has been obtained for all of the logic components. Transient pictures taken with a small incremented delay revealed that the bubble motion in perforated-sheet logic devices is uniform both in the velocity excursion and shape distortion. The behavior of various components at different values of the bias field and drive current is all qualitatively interpretable on the basis of experimental observations. The feasibility of these logic components is successfully demonstrated.     

A Technology‐Enhanced Learning Environment for an Optical Fiber Communications Course*

This paper describes a technology‐enhanced learning environment for an undergraduate course on Optical Fiber Communications ( http:ctle.colorado.edunsf2000 ).     

Asset management for transmission and distribution

This paper discusses asset management for transmission and distribution companies. It first presents the goals and objectives of asset management, a corporate framework, and the competencies required to make it all work. It also discusses some of the pressing issues facing transmission and distribution companies today and the ability of asset management to help address these issues in an effective manner.     

Arterial uptake of biodegradable nanoparticles: effect of surface modifications

Restenosis is the reobstruction of an artery following interventional procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stenting. Local pharmacotherapeutic approaches using controlled release systems are under investigation to inhibit the regional pathophysiologic process of restenosis. We have been investigating biodegradable nanoparticles (100 +/- 39 nm in diameter, mean +/- sd) for the local intra-arterial drug delivery. The purpose of this study was to investigate nanoparticle surface modifications (see Table 1) to enhance their arterial uptake. The PLGA (polylactic polyglycolic acid copolymer) nanoparticles were formulated by an oil-in-water emulsion solvent evaporation technique using a 2-aminochromone (U-86983, Upjohn and Pharmacia) (U-86) as a model antiproliferative agent. The various formulations of nanoparticles were evaluated for the arterial wall uptake by using an ex-vivo dog femoral artery model. The selected formulations were then tested in vivo in acute dog femoral artery and pig coronary artery models. The nanoparticles surface modified with a cationic compound, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DMAB), demonstrated 7-10-fold greater arterial U-86 levels compared to the unmodified nanoparticles in different ex-vivo and in-vivo studies. The mean U-86 levels were 10.7 +/- 1.7 microg/10 mg (dog) and 6.6 +/- 0.6 microg/10 mg (pig) in the artery segments ( approximately 2 cm) which were infused with the nanoparticles. The pig coronary studies further demonstrated that the infusion of nanoparticles with higher U-86 loading reduced the arterial U-86 levels, whereas increasing the nanoparticle concentration in the infusion solutions increased the arterial U-86 levels. The biodistribution studies in pigs following coronary arterial administration of nanoparticles demonstrated disposition of U-86 in the myocardium and distally in the liver and the lung. The mechanism of enhanced arterial uptake of the DMAB surface modified nanoparticles seems to be due to the alteration in the nanoparticle surface charge. The unmodified nanoparticles had a zeta potential of -27.8 +/- 0.5 mV (mean +/- sem, n = 5), whereas the DMAB modified nanoparticles demonstrated a zeta potential of +22.1 +/- 3.2 mV (mean +/- sem, n = 5). The adsorption of DMAB to the nanoparticle surface followed the Freundlich isotherm with binding capacity k = 28.1 microg/mg and affinity constant p = 2. 33. In conclusion, surface modified nanoparticles have potential applications for intra-arterial drug delivery to localize therapeutic agents in the arterial wall to inhibit restenosis.     

Microwave noise performance of InP/InGaAs heterostructure bipolartransistors

The authors report the first low-noise InP/InGaAs heterostructure bipolar transistor (HBT). Minimum noise figures of 0.46, 2.0, and 3.33 dB were measured at 2, 10, and 18 GHz, respectively. The noise performance of this InP/InGaAs HBT with an emitter size of 3.5×3.5 μm² is compared to that for FETs having a 1-μm gate length. The measured minimum noise figures agree well with calculated data using a modified Hawkins model. Broadband low-noise operation is observed because of the short transit time for injected nonequilibrium electrons to transverse the base and collector depletion region