Quasi One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals as Building Block for Compact Integrated Optical Refractometric Sensors

A quasi one-dimensional photonic crystal has been fabricated and the applicability of this strong grating for optical sensing has been investigated by measuring the transmission spectra as a function of the cladding refractive index. The cladding index was varied a small range. By monitoring the transmitted output power the transmission stop-band was found to shift by 1 nm wavelength for either a cladding refractive index change of 0.05 or a temperature change of 120 K

Quasi 1-dimensional photonic crystals as building block for compact integrated optical sensors

A quasi one-dimensional photonic crystal has been fabricated and the applicability of this kind of structure for optical sensing has been investigated by measuring the transmission spectra as a function of the cladding refractive index. The cladding index was varied using a liquid flow, of which the index was slowly varied over a small range. The shift with cladding index of the steep stop band edge provides a relatively sensitive detection mechanism in an extremely compact device

Fieldays Exhibitor 2015

This magazine was assembled by Wintec Media Arts third year students in journalism, photography and graphic design under the supervision of the corresponding staff. The Fieldays Exhibitor magazine is a daily magazine which stretches over the four days of the Waikato Fieldays to document the goings on and excitement of the current affairs going on daily at Mystery Creek

Application of time-dependent convection models to the photometric mode identification in gamma Doradus stars

We apply the Time-Dependent Convection (TDC) treatment of Gabriel \cite{Gabriel1996} and Grigahcène et al. \cite{Grigahcene} to the photometric mode identification in gamma Dor stars. Comparison of our theoretical results with the observed amplitudes and phases of the star gamma Dor is presented. This comparison makes the identification of the degree l of its pulsation modes possible and shows that our TDC models better agree with observations than Frozen Convection (FC) models

Influence of anatomic landmarks in the virtual environment on simulated angled laparoscope navigation

Background - The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the presence of anatomic landmarks on the performance of angled laparoscope navigation on the SimSurgery SEP simulator. Methods - Twenty-eight experienced laparoscopic surgeons (familiar with 30º angled laparoscope, >100 basic laparoscopic procedures, >5 advanced laparoscopic procedures) and 23 novices (no laparoscopy experience) performed the Camera Navigation task in an abstract virtual environment (CN-box) and in a virtual representation of the lower abdomen (CN-abdomen). They also rated the realism and added value of the virtual environments on seven-point scales. Results - Within both groups, the CN-box task was accomplished in less time and with shorter tip trajectory than the CN-abdomen task (Wilcoxon test, p0.05). In both groups, the CN tasks were perceived as hard work and more challenging than anticipated. Conclusions - Performance of the angled laparoscope navigation task is influenced by the virtual environment surrounding the exercise. The task was performed better in an abstract environment than in a virtual environment with anatomic landmarks. More insight is required into the influence and function of different types of intrinsic and extrinsic feedback on the effectiveness of preclinical simulator training.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Family-Based Haplotype Estimation and Allele Dosage Correction for Polyploids Using Short Sequence Reads

DNA sequence reads contain information about the genomic variants located on a single chromosome. By extracting and extending this information using the overlaps between the reads, the haplotypes of an individual can be obtained. Using parent-offspring relationships in a population can considerably improve the quality of the haplotypes obtained from short reads, as pedigree information can be used to correct for spurious overlaps (due to sequencing errors) and insufficient overlaps (due to short read lengths, low genomic variation and shallow coverage). We developed a novel method, PopPoly, to estimate polyploid haplotypes in an F1-population from short sequence data by taking into consideration the transmission of the haplotypes from the parents to the offspring. In addition, this information is employed to improve genotype dosage estimation and to call missing genotypes in the population. Through simulations, we compare PopPoly to other haplotyping methods and show its better performance. We evaluate PopPoly by applying it to a tetraploid potato cross at nine genomic regions involved in tuber formation

Small x Resummation with Quarks: Deep-Inelastic Scattering

We extend our previous results on small-x resummation in the pure Yang--Mills theory to full QCD with nf quark flavours, with a resummed two-by-two matrix of resummed quark and gluon splitting functions. We also construct the corresponding deep-inelastic coefficient functions, and show how these can be combined with parton densities to give fully resummed deep-inelastic structure functions F_2 and F_L at the next-to-leading logarithmic level. We discuss how this resummation can be performed in different factorization schemes, including the commonly used MSbar scheme. We study the importance of the resummation effects by comparison with fixed-order perturbative results, and we discuss the corresponding renormalization and factorization scale variation uncertainties. We find that for x below 0.01 the resummation effects are comparable in size to the fixed order NNLO corrections, but differ in shape. We finally discuss the phenomenological impact of the small-x resummation, specifically in the extraction of parton distribution from present day experiments and their extrapolation to the kinematics relevant for future colliders such as the LHCComment: 45 pages, 16 figures, plain TeX with harvma

Influence of non-adiabatic temperature variations on line profile variations of slowly rotating beta Cephei stars and SPBs. II. Simulations of line profile time series

We investigate to what extent non-adiabatic temperature variations at the surface of slowly rotating non-radially pulsating beta Cephei stars and slowly pulsating B stars affect silicon line profile variations. We use the non-adiabatic amplitudes of the effective temperature and gravity variation presented in Dupret et al. (\cite{Dupret02}), together with a Kurucz intensity grid, to compute time series of line profile variations. Our simulations point out that the line shapes do not change significantly due to temperature variations. We find equivalent width variations of at most two percent of the mean equivalent width. We confront our results with observational equivalent width variations and with photometrically obtained effective temperature variations. Based on observations obtained with the Swiss photometric telescope and with the ESO/CAT telescope, at La Silla in Chile

Impact of land use on urban mobility patterns, emissions and air quality in a Portuguese medium-sized city

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the impact of urban development trends in mobility patterns of a medium sized Portuguese city and air quality consequences, using a sequential modeling process, comprising i) land use and transportation, TRANUS model; ii) road traffic air pollutants emissions, TREM model and; iii) air quality, TAPM model. This integrated methodology was applied to a medium sized Portuguese city. In order to evaluate the implementation of the methodology, a preliminary study was performed, which consisted on the comparison of modeled mobility patterns and CO and PM(10) concentrations with measured data used in the definition of the current scenario. The comparison between modeled and monitored mobility patterns at the morning peak hour for a weekday showed an RMSE of 31%. Regarding CO concentrations, an underestimation of the modeled results was observed. Nevertheless, the modeled PM(10) concentrations were consistent with the monitored data. Overall, the results showed a reasonable consistency of the modeled data, which allowed the use of the integrated modeling system for the study scenarios. The future scenarios consisted on the definition of different mobility patterns and vehicle technology characteristics, according to two main developing trends: (1) "car pooling" scenario, which imposes a mean occupancy rate of 3 passengers by vehicle and (2) the "Euro 6" scenario, which establishes that all vehicles accomplish at least the Euro 6 standard technology. Reductions of 54% and 83% for CO, 44% and 95% for PM(10), 44% and 87% for VOC and 44% and 79% for NO(x) emissions were observed in scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Concerning air quality, a reduction of about 100 mug m(-3) of CO annual average concentration was observed in both scenarios. The results of PM(10) annual concentrations showed a reduction of 1.35 mug m(-3) and 2.7 mug m(-3) for scenarios 1 and 2 respectively