Second harmonic generation from a ferroelectric film

We derive an expression for transmittivity (T_SHG) of second harmonic generation (SHG) signals from a ferroelectric (FE) film. Intensities of up and down fields in the medium are investigated in relation to T_SHG. The derivations are made based on undepletion of input fields and nonlinear wave equation derived from the Maxwell equations. We present two cases: film without mirrors and with partial mirrors. Expressions for the newly derived nonlinear susceptibility coefficients of SHG for real crystal symmetry [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 19 (2002) 2007] are used to get more realistic results. Variations in T_SHG with respect to film thickness are illustrated.     

HLA-DRB1 genes and disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis. The MIRA Trial Group. Minocycline in Rheumatoid Arthritis

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of alleles encoding the "shared"/"rheumatoid" epitope on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease severity in patients who participated in the minocycline in RA (MIRA) trial. METHODS: Of 205 patients with a week-48 visit, blood was available for typing of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 in 174 (85%) and successfully completed in 169 (82%). Baseline erosions were used to assess disease severity and new erosions at the last visit served as a proxy for progression. RESULTS: At baseline, there was no association between the presence of erosive disease or rheumatoid factor status and the dose of rheumatoid epitope (homozygous, heterozygous, none) or the specific alleles identified. At the final visit, a gradient was observed for the 3 allelic subgroups (and their gene doses) in the occurrence of new erosions among the Caucasian placebo-treated, but not the minocycline-treated, patients. A treatment group/HLA-DR4 epitope interaction was demonstrated in multivariate analyses. Approximately two-thirds of African-American patients did not have the rheumatoid epitope. CONCLUSION: HLA-DRB1 oligotyping may be useful in predicting the progression of disease in some Caucasian patients. Our study corroborates the infrequency of the epitope among African-American patients with RA.     

Psychometric evaluation of the early/late preferences scale.

This paper examines the psychometric quality of the Early/Late Preferences Scale (PS) relative to that of the Composite Morningness Scale (CS). Questionnaires were completed by 670 undergraduate students aged 16-37 years (mean 22.5), of whom 64% were female. Both scales displayed satisfactory inter-item correlations and similar total mean scores to those reported previously, although the CS had higher variability. Principal axis factor analysis produced single-factor solutions for both scales, although loadings for Items 7 and 9 on the PS were low. Internal consistencies for both scales were good (PS = 0.86, CS = 0.90) with only a small improvement achieved by deleting Items 7 and 9 from the PS. Test-retest reliability over 11 weeks was good for both scales (PS = 0.92, CS = 0.89). Differences between morning, evening and intermediate groups in self-rated alertness at different times of day, and significant correlations with other indices of morning-evening orientation, provided evidence of validity for both scales. These results indicate that PS is psychometrically comparable with CS. In view of its simpler format and lower cultural specificity, PS may be considered a preferable measure for most applications.     

Broadband coplanar waveguide-coplanar strip-fed spiral antenna

A novel broadband coaxial-coplanar waveguide-coplanar strip-fed spiral antenna is presented. The antenna has good radiation patterns and a return loss of better than 10 dB over a wide bandwidth from 0.4 to 3.6 GHz. A DC-3.7 GHz broadband balun was developed for the antenna feed     

Effect of radiation intensity on photo-oxidation of an air-blown bitumen

Xenon-arc irradiation was used to study the influence of a wide range of radiation intensity on the rate of photo-oxidation of a sample of air-blown bitumen as determined by infra-red spectroscopy. The xenon-arc was monitored to provide information on its rate of decay, and its range of intensity was compared with that of total solar radiation in Melbourne. Thermal (dark) oxidation rates were also determined at various temperatures. The information obtained is discussed in terms of the mechanism of photo-oxidation of bitumen and the relation to climatological data. Acceleration factors for oxidation of bitumen in the laboratory for prediction of durability were determined by applying the superposition principle to the data.     

Hybrid inorganic-organic UV-curable abrasion-resistant coatings

Summary  By utilising the Michael addition reaction, a wide range of acrylate functional silane coupling agents have been developed. These can be used to confer functionality on the surface of nanocomposite colloidal oxides, particularly silica which can then be incorporated into acrylic UV-curable matrices. Coatings developed from these systems provide greatly enhanced abrasion resistance, and can approach the performance of thermally-cured silicone hardcoats. The wide range of coupling agents by this method allows considerable flexibility in the design of coatings suitable for different substrates and a wide range of applications. Acknowledgements: M Sollberger, T Washer, J Blizzard and J Tonge, Dow Corning Corp.     

Far infrared measurements of bulk and surface phonons in GaAs/AlAs superlattices

We have used far-infrared oblique-incidence reflection spectroscopy to study bulk phonon polaritons, and attenuated total reflection (ATR) spectroscopy to study surface phonon polaritons, in long-period GaAs/Al_xGa_1?xAs and short-period GaAs/AlAs superlattices. Results on the former are in good agreement with an effective-medium bulk-slab model of the dielectric tensor of the superlattice; results on the latter are analysed in terms of a model that contains dielectric-tensor contributions from the confined optic phonons.