Personality–relationship transaction in young adulthood.

Personality and social relationships were assessed twice across a 4-year period in a general population sample of 489 German young adults. Two kinds of personality–relationship transaction were observed. First, mean-level change in personality toward maturity (e.g., increase in Conscientiousness and decrease in Neuroticism) was moderated by the transition to partnership but was independent of other developmental transitions. Second, individual differences in personality traits predicted social relationships much better than vice versa. Specifically, once initial correlations were controlled for, Extraversion, Shyness, Neuroticism, self-esteem, and Agreeableness predicted change in various qualities of relationships (especially with friends and colleagues), whereas only quality of relationships with preschool children predicted later Extraversion and Neuroticism. Consequences for the transactional view of personality in young adulthood are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polysiloxane optical waveguide layer integrated in printed circuit board

A hybrid electrical-optical circuit board is demonstrated using polysiloxane as low-loss and high-temperature stable waveguide material system. After board lamination at 180/spl deg/C for two hours and a subsequent annealing at 230/spl deg/C for 5 minutes the waveguide insertion loss is 0.05 dB/cm at 850 nm wavelength.     

Mesenteric lymph node T cells but not splenic T cells maintain their proliferative response to concanavalin-A following peroral infection with Toxoplasma gondii

The suppression of T cell responsiveness which occurs after infection with Toxoplasma gondii in mice has been widely studied using spleen cells. Because the natural route of infection with T. gondii is the peroral route, we examined the proliferative responses of mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells, in addition to spleen cells, to Concanavalin-A (Con-A) in mice perorally infected with T. gondii. Proliferative responses of spleen cells were significantly suppressed seven and ten days after infection when compared with spleen cells from uninfected mice (62% and 91% reduction, respectively). In contrast, proliferative responses of MLN cells from these infected mice did not differ from those of normal MLN cells. Since IFN-gamma-induced reactive nitrogen intermediate (RNI) production has been reported to play a major role in suppression of proliferative responses in spleen cells of infected mice, we compared production of IFN-gamma and RNI by spleen and MLN cells following infection. MLN cells produced as much IFN-gamma as did spleen cells, but produced 70% less nitrite (as a measure of RNI) after Con-A stimulation. Proliferative responses of MLN cells were suppressed when co-cultured with spleen cells from infected mice, and addition of an inhibitor of RNI to these co-culture inhibited this suppression, suggesting that reduced RNI production by MLN cells contributes to their maintenance of higher proliferative responses. These results demonstrated a clear difference in activity of T cells in the MLN and spleen during the acute stage of the infection.     

Hybrid electro-optical multivibrator operating by finite feedback delay

A new type of hybrid electro-optical multivibrator is investigated. The operation principle is based on the finite delay time of the feedback circuit and the nonlinear characteristic of the light modulator. The system is analysed by a diagram technique and realised experimentally by using an integrated interferometer modulator.     

Plastic-optical-fiber-based parallel optical interconnects

The implementation of plastic optical fibers (POFs) in parallel optical interconnects is reported. 8×8 array interconnects with a potential of >100-Gb/s accumulated data throughput have been demonstrated using 125 μm-diameter POFs. The technology, the limitations and the potential of POF-interconnects are discussed     

Addressable Microfluidic Polymer Chip for DNA‐Directed Immobilization of Oligonucleotide‐Tagged Compounds

A microfluidic polymer chip for the self‐assembly of DNA conjugates through DNA‐directed immobilization is developed. The chip is fabricated from two parts, one of which contains a microfluidic channel produced from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) by replica‐casting technique using a mold prepared by photolithographic techniques. The microfluidic part is sealed by covalent bonding with a chemically activated glass slide containing a DNA oligonucleotide microarray. The dimension of the PDMS–glass microfluidic chip is equivalent to standard microscope slides (76 × 26 mm²). The DNA microarray surface inside the microfluidic channels is configured through conventional spotting, and the resulting DNA patches can be conveniently addressed with compounds containing complementary DNA tags. To demonstrate the utility of the addressable surface within the microfluidic channel, DNA‐directed immobilization (DDI) of DNA‐modified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and DNA‐conjugates of the enzymes glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) are carried out. DDI of AuNPs is used to demonstrate site selectivity and reversibility of the surface‐modification process. In the case of the DNA–enzyme conjugates, the patterned assembly of the two enzymes allows the establishment and investigation of the coupled reaction of GOx and HRP, with particular emphasis on surface coverage and lateral flow rates. The results demonstrate that this addressable chip is well suited for the generation of fluidically coupled multi‐enzyme microreactors.     

Optical Interconnects on and in Printed Circuit Boards

Two types of short distance optical interconnects for on-board applications are presented: Small diameter plastic optical fibre (POF) links and multimode polymer waveguide layers integrated in multilayer printed circuit boards (PCB). POF links with fibre numbers up to 128 and link lengths up to 50 cm are realized with total transmission loss values below 2 dB at 660 nm. First tests of 10 cm long temperature stable multimode polymer waveguides laminated into standard multilayer PCBs demonstrate the capabilities of combined electrical-optical circuit boards.     

Operation mechanism of electrooptic multimode X-switches

The operation mechanism of electrooptic multimode switches using crossing channel waveguides (X-switch) is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The light propagation through the X-structure as well as the switching behavior of the device is explained in terms of local normal modes. The theoretical model is confirmed by numerical calculations (BPM) and by experiments using Ti:LiNbO3multimode channel waveguides. The results indicate that the generally applied model of total internal reflection (TIR) is not suited to explain the low voltage operation of multimode X-switches.     

Integrated-optic wavelength multiplexers on lithium niobate basedon two-mode interference

The principle of the wavelength-dependent two-mode interference (TMI) in guided wave devices is utilized to build up integrated-optic dual-channel wavelength-division multi-/demultiplexers (WDM) for single-mode systems. The device characteristics are analyzed by analytical and numerical methods where special emphasis is given to the wavelength dependence of the channel spacing. These devices are fabricated by titanium indiffusion into X-cut and Y- and Z-propagating LiNbO₃, where the Z-propagating configuration is preferred for polarization independent operation. In the wavelength range between 1.3 and 1.6 μm, insertion losses (fiber-waveguide-fiber) below 3 dB, channel spacings of 30-40 nm, and far-end crosstalk values of 26-40 dB are achieved. The measured low temperature sensitivity of the wavelength shift of 5.6×10^-2 nm/°C and the possibility of electrooptic tuning at a rate of 2.5 nm/V allow the realization of high performance devices at reduced fabrication tolerances     

Tabu-search for the multi-mode job-shop problem

In a multi-processor-tasks job-shop problem (MPTJSP) there is a machine set associated with each operation. All machines are needed for the whole processing period to process the operation. The objective is to find a schedule which minimizes the makespan. In a multi-mode job-shop problem (MMJSP) there is a set of machine sets associated with each operation. One has to assign a machine set to each operation and to solve the resulting MPTJSP such that the resulting makespan is minimized. For the MMJSP a tabu-search algorithm is presented. Computational results are reported.Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Project Br389/15-1