Recent Progress in Optical Fiber Research

This book presents a comprehensive account of the recent progress in optical fiber research. It consists of four sections with 20 chapters covering the topics of nonlinear and polarisation effects in optical fibers, photonic crystal fibers and new applications for optical fibers. Section 1 reviews nonlinear effects in optical fibers in terms of theoretical analysis, experiments and applications. Section 2 presents polarization mode dispersion, chromatic dispersion and polarization dependent losses in optical fibers, fiber birefringence effects and spun fibers. Section 3 and 4 cover the topics of photonic crystal fibers and a new trend of optical fiber applications. Edited by three scientists with wide knowledge and experience in the field of fiber optics and photonics, the book brings together leading academics and practitioners in a comprehensive and incisive treatment of the subject. This is an essential point of reference for researchers working and teaching in optical fiber technologies, and for industrial users who need to be aware of current developments in optical fiber research areas

Multi-Agent Systems

A multi-agent system (MAS) is a system composed of multiple interacting intelligent agents. Multi-agent systems can be used to solve problems which are difficult or impossible for an individual agent or monolithic system to solve. Agent systems are open and extensible systems that allow for the deployment of autonomous and proactive software components. Multi-agent systems have been brought up and used in several application domains

Design of Peptides with Targeted Apatite and Human Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Adhesion for Bone Tissue Engineering.

The restoration and repair of orofacial and large bone defects resulting from extreme trauma, disease, or genetic inheritance is a clinical challenge in need of new solutions, as current grafting techniques can result in donor site morbidity, graft rejection, and/or inadequate bone formation and quality. Because bone is a complex organ, its hierarchical structure may only be restored in such defects if a temporary material guides tissue formation. Bone tissue engineering explores combinations of materials, biological signals, and cell sources to achieve guided tissue formation with structure-function properties matching those of native tissue. By using nature’s building blocks, or amino acids, as a design platform to synthesize multi-dimensional biomolecules in the form of peptides, biological function can be influenced. The idea is to provide specificity to induce a desired biological activity. In addition, coating a material with biomimetic bone-like mineral can provide a surface morphology and composition similar to the native hydroxyapatite in bone. While bone-like mineral can increase bone growth in vivo, the tissue formed is not uniform or spatially controlled, suggesting the need for better-designed scaffolding to spatiotemporally influence bone tissue development. No studies have investigated the potential impact biomolecule-laden bone-like mineral has on influencing cell behavior. The work presented in this thesis is first to design dual-functioning peptides to increase in vitro cell attachment on bone-like mineral. Using a combinatorial phage library, computational modeling, and biological assays, specific peptide sequences that preferentially adsorb to bone-like mineral and attach to clonally derived human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) were identified. When combined, these sequences formed a dual-functioning peptide that exhibited an increased ability to attach hBMSCs compared to previous peptide designs. Additionally, a bioreactor was designed to coat three-dimensional porous scaffolds with uniform, continuous bone-like mineral, addressing a need for improved biomimetic coating fabrication techniques. The presented strategies can influence guided bone growth and advance the current methodologies in bone engineering. This work provides a new paradigm for peptide development linking organics to inorganics, not only for bone tissue engineered constructs, but also for any system requiring temporary or guided adhesion.Ph.D.Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61615/1/ssegvich_1.pd

From Assessing to Conserving biodiversity. Conceptual and Practical Challenges

This open access book features essays written by philosophers, biologists, ecologists and conservation scientists facing the current biodiversity crisis. Despite increasing communication, accelerating policy and management responses, and notwithstanding improving ecosystem assessment and endangered species knowledge, conserving biodiversity continues to be more a concern than an accomplished task. Why is it so? The overexploitation of natural resources by our species is a frequently recognised factor, while the short-term economic interests of governments and stakeholders typically clash with the burdens that implementing conservation actions imply. But this is not the whole story. This book develops a different perspective on the problem by exploring the conceptual challenges and practical defiance posed by conserving biodiversity, namely: on the one hand, the difficulties in defining what biodiversity is and characterizing that “thing” to which the word ‘biodiversity’ refers to; on the other hand, the reasons why assessing biodiversity and putting in place effective conservation actions is arduous. ; Features essays that are explicitly critical of the species approach to biodiversity Presents bio-philosophical perspectives on the interaction between biodiversity’s units, levels, and scales Serves as an interdisciplinary contribution to the emergent field of biodiversity studie

Meeting the Challenges to Measurement in an Era of Accountability

Under pressure and support from the federal government, states have increasingly turned to indicators based on student test scores to evaluate teachers and schools, as well as students themselves. The focus thus far has been on test scores in those subject areas where there is a sequence of consecutive tests, such as in mathematics or English/language arts with a focus on grades 4-8. Teachers in these subject areas, however, constitute less than thirty percent of the teacher workforce in a district. Comparatively little has been written about the measurement of achievement in the other grades and subjects. This volume seeks to remedy this imbalance by focusing on the assessment of student achievement in a broad range of grade levels and subject areas, with particular attention to their use in the evaluation of teachers and schools in all. It addresses traditional end-of-course tests, as well as alternative measures such as portfolios, exhibitions, and student learning objectives. In each case, issues related to design and development, psychometric considerations, and validity challenges are covered from both a generic and a content-specific perspective. The NCME Applications of Educational Measurement and Assessment series includes edited volumes designed to inform research-based applications of educational measurement and assessment. Edited by leading experts, these books are comprehensive and practical resources on the latest developments in the field. The NCME series editorial board is comprised of Michael J. Kolen, Chair; Robert L. Brennan; Wayne Camara; Edward H. Haertel; Suzanne Lane; and Rebecca Zwick

Understanding Trichoderma bio-inoculants in the root ecosystem of Pinus radiata

Oral presentation on understanding Trichoderma bio-inoculants in the root ecosystem of Pinus radiat

Automated Reasoning

This volume, LNAI 13385, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Joint Conference on Automated Reasoning, IJCAR 2022, held in Haifa, Israel, in August 2022. The 32 full research papers and 9 short papers presented together with two invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 85 submissions. The papers focus on the following topics: Satisfiability, SMT Solving,Arithmetic; Calculi and Orderings; Knowledge Representation and Jutsification; Choices, Invariance, Substitutions and Formalization; Modal Logics; Proofs System and Proofs Search; Evolution, Termination and Decision Prolems. This is an open access book