Fabrication of submillimeter-radius optical waveguide bends withanisotropic and isotropic wet chemical etchants

Wet chemical etchants suitable for making GaAs/AlGaAs single-mode optical waveguide bends with radii as low as 300 μm for excess bend losses of 1 dB/90° and propagation losses as low as 1 dB/cm at λ=1.5 μm are described. Additional bend losses due to modal mismatch resulting from etchant anisotropy are investigated, and it is shown that in many cases such anisotropy does not limit bend performance     

Case report: necrotic glossitis and sinusitis in a cow caused apparently by a Fusobacterium necrophorum like microorganism

An unusual case of necrotic infection of the tongue and unilateral necrotic maxillar sinusitis, in a cow is reported. The prominent clinical findings were: a marked salivation, unilateral mucopurulent nasal discharge, diffuse necrotic lesions on the ventral side of the tongue and fetid breath. Clinico-pathological and pathological findings and abnormalities in the haemogram were probably caused by the toxins produced by the causative organism--Fusobacterium necrophorum like microorganism.     

Dislodgment and accelerated degradation of Ras

Membrane anchorage of Ras oncoproteins, required for transforming activity, depends on their carboxy-terminal farnesylcysteine. We previously showed that S-trans,trans-farnesylthiosalicylic acid (FTS), a synthetic farnesylcysteine mimetic, inhibits growth of ErbB2- and Ras-transformed cells, but not of v-Raf-transformed cells, suggesting that FTS interferes specifically with Ras functions. Here we demonstrate that FTS dislodges Ras from membranes of H-Ras-transformed (EJ) cells, facilitating its degradation and decreasing total cellular Ras. The dislodged Ras that was transiently present in the cytosol was degraded relatively rapidly, causing a decrease of up to 80% in total cellular Ras. The half-life of Ras was 10 +/- 4 h in FTS-treated EJ cells and 27 +/- 4 h in controls. The dislodgment of membrane Ras and decrease in total cellular Ras were dose-dependent: 50% of the effects occurred at 10-15 microM, comparable to concentrations (7-10 microM) required for 50% growth inhibition in EJ cells. Higher concentrations of FTS (25-50 microM) were required to dislodge Ras from Rat-1 cell membranes expressing normal Ras, suggesting some selectivity of FTS toward oncogenic Ras. Membrane localization of the prenylated G beta gamma of heterotrimeric G proteins was not affected by FTS in EJ cells. An FTS-related compound, N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine, which does not inhibit EJ cell growth, did not affect Ras. FTS did not inhibit growth of Rat-1 cells transformed by N-myristylated H-Ras and did not reduce the total amount of this Ras isoform. The results suggest that FTS affects docking of Ras in the cell membrane in a rather specific manner, rendering the protein susceptible to proteolytic degradation.     

Decision-tree instance-space decomposition with grouped gain-ratio

This paper examines a decision-tree framework for instance-space decomposition. According to the framework, the original instance-space is hierarchically partitioned into multiple subspaces and a distinct classifier is assigned to each subspace. Subsequently, an unlabeled, previously-unseen instance is classified by employing the classifier that was assigned to the subspace to which the instance belongs. After describing the framework, the paper suggests a novel splitting-rule for the framework and presents an experimental study, which was conducted, to compare various implementations of the framework. The study indicates that using the novel splitting-rule, previously presented implementations of the framework, can be improved in terms of accuracy and computation time.     

Effects of long chain fatty acid unsaturation on the structure and controlled release properties of amylose complexes

The addition of functional long chain (LC) unsaturated fatty acids to foods is often hampered by their instability. This study aimed to probe the possibility of using molecular inclusion complexes formed by amylose, termed V-amylose, as a possible solution for the delivery of long chain (LC) fatty acids to the consumer. X-ray diffraction, light scattering and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to study the micro- and nano-structure of V-amylose hosting LC fatty acids with different degrees of unsaturation. Additionally, enzymatic digestion tests were conducted to assess the release of the fatty acids from the complexes. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of V-amylose while light scattering measurements, and the AFM images revealed that increased fatty acid unsaturation lead to the formation of bigger and more disperse particle populations. Enzymatic digestion tests with mammalian pancreatin illustrated the control over guest release which is induced by enzymatic hydrolysis. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that guest chemistry affects some of the functional properties of V-amylose for the delivery of LC fatty acids.     

Design and Construction of High Multitier Shoring Towers: Case Study

Shoring towers are the common formwork solution for high-clearance construction, but there are not many documented cases of extremely high towers. This paper reports on a project in which 60-m-(200-ft-) high shoring towers were used for slab formwork. The paper describes the design and construction of the formwork, with a focus on aspects unique to high multitier towers. The various considerations made are presented, and data and information are provided that may assist practitioners facing similar engineering undertakings. Special attention is given to the organization of the work, in light of the scarcity of data pertaining to shoring towers of such heights. Measured assembly and disassembly work inputs are presented and analyzed, and the validity of a model to predict work inputs in multitier tower erection is examined.