Disposable collection kit for rapid and reliable collection of saliva.

ObjectivesTo describe and evaluate disposable saliva collection kit for rapid, reliable, and reproducible collection of saliva samples.MethodsThe saliva collection kit comprised of a saliva absorbent swab and an extractor unit was used to retrieve whole saliva samples from 10 subjects. The accuracy and precision of the extracted volumes (3, 10, and 30 μl) were compared to similar volumes drawn from control samples obtained by passive drool. Additionally, the impact of kit collection method on subsequent immunoassay results was verified by assessing salivary cortisol levels in the samples and comparing them to controls.ResultsThe recovered volumes for the whole saliva samples were 3.85 ± 0.28, 10.79 ± 0.95, and 31.18 ± 1.72 μl, respectively (CV = 8.76%) and 2.91 ± 0.19, 9.75 ± 0.43, and 29.64 ± 0.91 μl, respectively, (CV = 6.36%) for the controls. There was a close correspondence between the salivary cortisol levels from the saliva samples obtained by the collection kit and the controls (R(2)  > 0.96).ConclusionsThe disposable saliva collection kit allows accurate and repeatable collection of fixed amounts of whole saliva and does not interfere with subsequent measurements of salivary cortisol. The simple collection process, lack of elaborate specimen recovery steps, and the short turnaround time (<3 min) should render the kit attractive to test subjects and researchers alike

Effect of dielectric thin films on reflection properties of metal hole arrays

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 96(2):021106 (2010) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3292024 .We study the effect of a dielectric film attached to the surface of a metal hole array (MHA) on the reflection spectrum in the terahertz (THz) region. The frequency of the reflection dip, attributed to the excitation of surface waves in the vicinity of the MHA surface, shifts to lower frequencies with increasing dielectric film thickness. This resonant characteristic of MHAs can be applied to highly sensitive THz sensing for samples attached to the MHA surface. We also investigate the dependence of the reflection spectrum on the MHA's thickness and the side to which the dielectric film is attached.ArticleAPPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 96(2):021106 (2010)journal articl

Two-Layer Pop-Up Origami Deployable Membrance Reflectarray Antenna Stowed in 1U CubeSat

The present paper shows the innovative deployable reflectarray antenna concept that enables to stow a 1m-by-1m square antenna into 1U CubeSat volume. The antenna is composed of two-layer membranes to obtain an air gap. A one-layer deployable membrane structure was demonstrated by the 3U CubeSat OrigamiSat-1 in 2019. The authors are currently developing two technologies to realize the reflectarray antenna. First, the deployable two-layer membrane structure is to be achieved by using pop-up picture book’s mechanism. Second, reflection elements for the reflectarray antenna that do not cross folding lines are proposed to avoid gain degradation

Effect of dielectric thin films on reflection properties of metal hole arrays

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 96(2):021106 (2010) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3292024 .We study the effect of a dielectric film attached to the surface of a metal hole array (MHA) on the reflection spectrum in the terahertz (THz) region. The frequency of the reflection dip, attributed to the excitation of surface waves in the vicinity of the MHA surface, shifts to lower frequencies with increasing dielectric film thickness. This resonant characteristic of MHAs can be applied to highly sensitive THz sensing for samples attached to the MHA surface. We also investigate the dependence of the reflection spectrum on the MHA's thickness and the side to which the dielectric film is attached.ArticleAPPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 96(2):021106 (2010)journal articl

Computing DAWGs and Minimal Absent Words in Linear Time for Integer Alphabets

The directed acyclic word graph (DAWG) of a string y is the smallest (partial) DFA which recognizes all suffixes of y and has only O(n) nodes and edges. We present the first O(n)-time algorithm for computing the DAWG of a given string y of length n over an integer alphabet of polynomial size in n. We also show that a straightforward modification to our DAWG construction algorithm leads to the first O(n)-time algorithm for constructing the affix tree of a given string y over an integer alphabet. Affix trees are a text indexing structure supporting bidirectional pattern searches. As an application to our O(n)-time DAWG construction algorithm, we show that the set MAW(y) of all minimal absent words of y can be computed in optimal O(n + |MAW(y)|) time and O(n) working space for integer alphabets

Linear-time Computation of DAWGs, Symmetric Indexing Structures, and MAWs for Integer Alphabets

The directed acyclic word graph (DAWG) of a string $y$ of length $n$ is the smallest (partial) DFA which recognizes all suffixes of $y$ with only $O(n)$ nodes and edges. In this paper, we show how to construct the DAWG for the input string $y$ from the suffix tree for $y$, in $O(n)$ time for integer alphabets of polynomial size in $n$. In so doing, we first describe a folklore algorithm which, given the suffix tree for $y$, constructs the DAWG for the reversed string of $y$ in $O(n)$ time. Then, we present our algorithm that builds the DAWG for $y$ in $O(n)$ time for integer alphabets, from the suffix tree for $y$. We also show that a straightforward modification to our DAWG construction algorithm leads to the first $O(n)$-time algorithm for constructing the affix tree of a given string $y$ over an integer alphabet. Affix trees are a text indexing structure supporting bidirectional pattern searches. We then discuss how our constructions can lead to linear-time algorithms for building other text indexing structures, such as linear-size suffix tries and symmetric CDAWGs in linear time in the case of integer alphabets. As a further application to our $O(n)$-time DAWG construction algorithm, we show that the set $\mathsf{MAW}(y)$ of all minimal absent words (MAWs) of $y$ can be computed in optimal, input- and output-sensitive $O(n + |\mathsf{MAW}(y)|)$ time and $O(n)$ working space for integer alphabets.Comment: This is an extended version of the paper "Computing DAWGs and Minimal Absent Words in Linear Time for Integer Alphabets" from MFCS 201