Space variant guided mode resonant filters

Guided mode resonance filters (GMRF) combine subwavelength gratings and planar slab waveguides to create highly efficient, narrow linewidth spectral filters. Resonances between diffracted orders of the SWG and the waveguide provide the mechanism for spectral filtering. These resonance conditions are dependent on all of the structural and optical parameters of the GMRF structure. Microfabrication technologies are routinely used to fabricate these types of micro-optical structures as well as other types of micro-optical components such as diffractive optical elements. A spatially and spectrally varying optical element can be realized by spatially varying one or more of the structural parameters of a standard GMRF structure. This dissertation will show different methods of achieving a spatially and spectrally varying GMRF. These types devices have applications as beam shaping elements, feedback elements is laser systems, and as an alternate to graded reflectivity mirrors. Unlike graded reflectivity mirrors, the spatial variation in these space variant GMRFs is not limited to axial symmetries. This dissertation will focus on space variant GMRFs through a spatially variation in the fill-fraction of the SWG lattice structure as well as a spatial variation of the waveguiding layer. It will be shown what the effect of each of these variations has on the resonance conditions of a GMRF. Proposed devices for a spatially varying waveguide structure using a silicon oxide SWG with a silicon nitride waveguiding layer and a silicon nitride SWG with a silicon nitride waveguide layer will be discussed

Finding Historical Truth: How Literature Interrupts National Narratives And Exposes Delusional Thinking

In the short story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius”, by Jorge Luis Borges, the main character is introduced to an old encyclopedia edition that contains an almost limitless amount of information about a different world and planet named Tlön. This encyclopedia includes fantastical details of the geography, language, and culture of Uqbar and Tlön, revealing major differences between the Earth that we know and Tlön. As the narrator learns more about this world, he discovers that it is a complete fiction that was invented by someone in the seventeenth century. After the contents of the encyclopedia become public knowledge and widely available to everyone, people begin to forget the difference between Earth and Tlön. Despite the fact that the culture, languages, and practices in the encyclopedia were a complete fabrication, the history of Tlön gradually invades and mixes with the history and culture of Earth until both Tlön’s and Earth’s history are essentially the same. This short story is a powerful example about the dangers of capitalism and globalism, idealist philosophy, and the depth to which humans can be entranced by ridiculous beliefs. It reveals not only how history can be constructed but also how the present is manipulated to conform to a certain narrative. Tlön does this because, according to Borges own literary theory “it [Tlön] is about fiction invading reality…it is a reality that pushes through and puncture’s fiction. And somehow makes the possibility of fiction invading reality more plausible” (Diaz, Between History and Eternity, 60). The power of fiction to invade reality is, for Borges, the true power of narrative and the true purpose of nationalist and even globalist myths. Because Tlön’s reality seeps through into Earth’s, the power of national narratives is unmistakable

Long-Term Monitoring of Fecal Steroid Hormones in Female Snow Leopards (Panthera uncia) during Pregnancy or Pseudopregnancy

Knowledge of the basic reproductive physiology of snow leopards is required urgently in order to develop a suitable management conditions under captivity. In this study, the long-term monitoring of concentrations of three steroid hormones in fecal matter of three female snow leopards was performed using enzyme immunoassays: (1) estradiol-17β, (2) progesterone and (3) cortisol metabolite. Two of the female animals were housed with a male during the winter breeding season, and copulated around the day the estradiol-17β metabolite peaked subsequently becoming pregnant. The other female was treated in two different ways: (1) first housed with a male in all year round and then (2) in the winter season only. She did not mate with him on the first occasion, but did so latter around when estradiol-17β metabolite peaked, and became pseudopregnant. During pregnancy, progesterone metabolite concentrations increased for 92 or 94 days, with this period being approximately twice as long as in the pseudopregnant case (31, 42, 49 and 53 days). The levels of cortisol metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (1.35 µg/g) were significantly higher than in the pregnant females (0.33 and 0.24 µg/g) (P<0.05). Similarly, during the breeding season, the levels of estradiol-17β metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (2.18 µg/g) were significantly higher than those in the pregnant females (0.81 and 0.85 µg/g) (P<0.05). Unlike cortisol the average levels of estradiol-17β during the breeding season were independent of reproductive success

The role of clathrin in post-golgi trafficking in toxoplasma gondii

Apicomplexan parasites are single eukaryotic cells with a highly polarised secretory system that contains unique secretory organelles (micronemes and rhoptries) that are required for host cell invasion. In contrast, the role of the endosomal system is poorly understood in these parasites. With many typical endocytic factors missing, we speculated that endocytosis depends exclusively on a clathrin-mediated mechanism. Intriguingly, in Toxoplasma gondii we were only able to observe the endogenous clathrin heavy chain 1 (CHC1) at the Golgi, but not at the parasite surface. For the functional characterisation of Toxoplasma gondii CHC1 we generated parasite mutants conditionally expressing the dominant negative clathrin Hub fragment and demonstrate that CHC1 is essential for vesicle formation at the trans-Golgi network. Consequently, the functional ablation of CHC1 results in Golgi aberrations, a block in the biogenesis of the unique secretory microneme and rhoptry organelles, and of the pellicle. However, we found no morphological evidence for clathrin mediating endocytosis in these parasites and speculate that they remodelled their vesicular trafficking system to adapt to an intracellular lifestyle

Ostriches Sleep like Platypuses

Mammals and birds engage in two distinct states of sleep, slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. SWS is characterized by slow, high amplitude brain waves, while REM sleep is characterized by fast, low amplitude waves, known as activation, occurring with rapid eye movements and reduced muscle tone. However, monotremes (platypuses and echidnas), the most basal (or ‘ancient’) group of living mammals, show only a single sleep state that combines elements of SWS and REM sleep, suggesting that these states became temporally segregated in the common ancestor to marsupial and eutherian mammals. Whether sleep in basal birds resembles that of monotremes or other mammals and birds is unknown. Here, we provide the first description of brain activity during sleep in ostriches (Struthio camelus), a member of the most basal group of living birds. We found that the brain activity of sleeping ostriches is unique. Episodes of REM sleep were delineated by rapid eye movements, reduced muscle tone, and head movements, similar to those observed in other birds and mammals engaged in REM sleep; however, during REM sleep in ostriches, forebrain activity would flip between REM sleep-like activation and SWS-like slow waves, the latter reminiscent of sleep in the platypus. Moreover, the amount of REM sleep in ostriches is greater than in any other bird, just as in platypuses, which have more REM sleep than other mammals. These findings reveal a recurring sequence of steps in the evolution of sleep in which SWS and REM sleep arose from a single heterogeneous state that became temporally segregated into two distinct states. This common trajectory suggests that forebrain activation during REM sleep is an evolutionarily new feature, presumably involved in performing new sleep functions not found in more basal animals

A single-electron transistor made from a cadmium selenide nanocrystal

The techniques of colloidal chemistry permit the routine creation of semiconductor nanocrystals, whose dimensions are much smaller than those that can be realized using lithographic techniques. The sizes of such nanocrystals can be varied systematically to study quantum size effects or to make novel electronic or optical materials with tailored properties. Preliminary studies of both the electrical and optical properties of individual nanocrystals have been performed recently. These studies show clearly that a single excess charge on a nanocrystal can markedly influence its properties. Here we present measurements of electrical transport in a single-electron transistor made from a colloidal nanocrystal of cadmium selenide. This device structure enables the number of charge carriers on the nanocrystal to be tuned directly, and so permits the measurement of the energy required for adding successive charge carriers. Such measurements are invaluable in understanding the energy-level spectra of small electronic systems, as has been shown by similar studies of lithographically patterned quantum dots and small metallic grains.Comment: 3 pages, PDF forma

Ifosfamide, cisplatin and etoposide combination in locally advanced inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer: a phase II study

From March 1993 to February 1997, 43 eligible patients with inoperable stage IIIA (ten patients) and stage IIIB (33 patients), histologically confirmed NSCLC received 3 courses of the ICE combination (ifosfamide 1.5 g m−2 and mesna 750 mg m−2 two times a day, cisplatin 25 mg m−2 and etoposide 100 mg m−2, all administered intravenously (i.v.) on days 1–3 every 3 weeks) with G-CSF support. After three cycles, patients were submitted to radical surgery or received two additional courses of the ICE regimen and/or curative radiotherapy. Grade 3–4 neutropenia occurred in 21% of 114 evaluable courses, but was of short duration, leading to neutropenic fever in 5% of the courses. Severe thrombocytopenia and anaemia were observed in 13% and 3% of the courses respectively. Non-haematological toxicity was generally mild with only two episodes of reversible renal impairment. The overall response rate after three chemotherapy courses was 69% (28 partial responses, one complete response). Ten patients (8/10 patients in stage IIIA, 2/33 patients in stage IIIB) underwent radical surgery. Median TTP for patients not undergoing surgery (n = 33) was 8 months (range 3–34+); median DFS for patients rendered NED by surgery (n = 10) was 26 months (range 1–54+). Median OS for the entire group was 12.5 months (range 2–57+). The ICE regimen is active in locally advanced NSCLC with acceptable toxicity and warrants further exploration as induction chemotherapy in larger series. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 x 10(20) protons on target

111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee commentsWe thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance and the CERN NA61/SHINE Collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC, NRC, and CFI, Canada; CEA and CNRS/IN2P3, France; DFG, Germany; INFN, Italy; National Science Centre (NCN), Poland; RSF, RFBR and MES, Russia; MINECO and ERDF funds, Spain; SNSF and SER, Switzerland; STFC, UK; and the U. S. Deparment of Energy, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the WestGrid and SciNet consortia in Compute Canada, GridPP, UK, and the Emerald High Performance Computing facility in the Centre for Innovation, UK. In addition, participation of individual researchers and institutions has been further supported by funds from ERC (FP7), EU; JSPS, Japan; Royal Society, UK; and DOE Early Career program, USA

Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 pi(0) detector

10 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to PRDhttp://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.112010© 2015 American Physical Society11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PR

Prognostic factors affecting long-term outcomes in patients with resected stage IIIA pN2 non-small-cell lung cancer: 5-year follow-up of a phase II study

The aim was to investigate the efficacy of neoadjuvant docetaxel–cisplatin and identify prognostic factors for outcome in locally advanced stage IIIA (pN2 by mediastinoscopy) non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. In all, 75 patients (from 90 enrolled) underwent tumour resection after three 3-week cycles of docetaxel 85 mg m−2 (day 1) plus cisplatin 40 or 50 mg m−2 (days 1 and 2). Therapy was well tolerated (overall grade 3 toxicity occurred in 48% patients; no grade 4 nonhaematological toxicity was reported), with no observed late toxicities. Median overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) times were 35 and 15 months, respectively, in the 75 patients who underwent surgery; corresponding figures for all 90 patients enrolled were 28 and 12 months. At 3 years after initiating trial therapy, 27 out of 75 patients (36%) were alive and tumour free. At 5-year follow-up, 60 and 65% of patients had local relapse and distant metastases, respectively. The most common sites of distant metastases were the lung (24%) and brain (17%). Factors associated with OS, EFS and risk of local relapse and distant metastases were complete tumour resection and chemotherapy activity (clinical response, pathologic response, mediastinal downstaging). Neoadjuvant docetaxel–cisplatin was effective and tolerable in stage IIIA pN2 NSCLC, with chemotherapy contributing significantly to outcomes