Generation of SFR few-group constants using the Monte Carlo code serpent

In this study, the Serpent Monte Carlo code was used as a tool for preparation of homogenized few-group cross sections for the nodal diffusion analysis of Sodium cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) cores. Few-group constants for two reference SFR cores were generated by Serpent and then employed by nodal diffusion code DYN3D in 2D full core calculations. The DYN3D results were verified against the references full core Serpent Monte Carlo solutions. A good agreement between the reference Monte Carlo and nodal diffusion results was observed demonstrating the feasibility of using Serpent for generation of few-group constants for the deterministic SFR analysis.

28 Gb/s unequalized PAM3 modulation of an 850 nm VCSEL for next-generation datacommunication links

An 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is modulated at 28 Gb/s using pulseamplitude modulation with three levels. Unequalized transmission over 100 m of OM3 MMF is demonstrated, with advantages over NRZ and PAM4 modulation. © OSA 2012.

Shaping pulse transitions by active voltage control for reduced EMI generation

High-performance power switching devices (IGBT/MOSFET) realise high-performance power converters. Unfortunately, with a high switching speed of the IGBT or MOSFET freewheel diode chopper cell, the circuit has intrinsic sources of high-level EMI. Therefore, costly EMI filters or shielding are normally demanded on the load and supply side. Although an S-shaped voltage transient with a high order of derivation eliminates the discontinuity and could suppress HF spectrum of EMI emissions, a practical control scheme is still under development. In this paper, Active Voltage Control (AVC) is applied to successfully define IGBT switching dynamics with a smoothed Gaussian waveform so a reduced EMI can be achieved without extra EMI suppression devices. © 2013 IEEE.

Detection of microcystins in environmental samples using surface plasmon resonance biosensor

An indirect inhibitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunoassay was developed for the microcystins (MCs) detection. The bioconjugate of MC-LR and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was immobilized on a CM5 sensor chip. A serial premixture of MC-LR standards (or samples) and monoclonal antibody (mAb) were injected over the functional sensor surface, and the subsequent specific immunoreaction was monitored on the BIAcore 3000 biosensor and generated a signal with an increasing intensity in response to the decreasing MCs concentration. The developed SPR immunoassay has a wide quantitative range in 1-100 mu g L-1. Although not as sensitive as conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the SPR biosensor offered unique advantages: (I) the sensor chip could be reusable without any significant loss in its binding activity after 50 assay-regeneration cycles, (2) one single assay could be accomplished in 50 min (including 30-min preincubation and 20-min BIAcore analysis), and (3) this method did not require multiple steps. The SPR biosensor was also used to detect MCs in environmental samples, and the results compared well with those obtained by ELISA. We conclude that the SPR biosensor offers outstanding advantages for the MCs detection and may be further developed as a field-portable sensor for real-time monitoring of MCs on site in the near future. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Holographic mode generation for mode division multiplexing

This paper demonstrates how techniques from computational holography can be employed to significantly improve the modal selectivity of phase masks used in mode division multiplexing. © 2012 OSA.

Sub-100fs pulse generation from a fiber oscillator mode-locked by nanotubes

We report an ultrafast fiber laser based on carbon nanotube saturable absorber. 84 fs pulses are generated directly from the fiber oscillator with 61.2 nm spectral width. © 2011 Optical Society of America.

Orthogonal multipulse modulation for next-generation datacommunication links

Orthogonal multipulse modulation is demonstrated to allow ≈30 Gb/s real-time transmission over multimode fibre using an 850 nm VCSEL. The scheme eases considerably component bandwidth requirements compared with conventional NRZ modulation. © 2011 OSA.

32 Gb/s multilevel modulation of an 850 nm VCSEL for next-generation datacommunication standards

An 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is modulated at 32 Gb/s using pulseamplitude modulation with four levels. Transmitter predistortion generates an optimized modulation waveform, which requires a receiver bandwidth of only 15 GHz. © OSA/ CLEO 2011.

Holographic mode generation for mode division multiplexing

This paper demonstrates how techniques from computational holography can be employed to significantly improve the modal selectivity of phase masks used in mode division multiplexing. © 2012 OSA.

Picosecond pulse generation in narrow stripe mode-locked quantum dot master oscillator power amplifier

This paper reports a monolithically integrated mode-locked narrow stripe QD MOPA operating at 1300nm generating a stable 20GHz pulse train with an average power of 46.4mW and a pulse duration of 8.3ps. © Optical Society of America.

Microfluidics-based acoustic microbubble biosensor

This paper proposes a chip-scale microbubble-based biosensing platform. An encapsulated microbubble oscillates acoustically in liquid when exposed to an ultrasound field with its resonant frequency set by shell parameters. Changes in the resonant frequency of the microbubble can be used to monitor analyte-binding events on the shell. A device concept is proposed where ultrasonic transducers are integrated within a microfluidic channel, inside which electrodes are patterned for differential measurements of microbubble impedance. This device enables simultaneous measurements of the acoustic and electrical response of the microbubble, from which both mechanical and electrical parameters can be extracted. These parameters are used to provide a signature of the analyte. This paper presents acoustic and electrical models of the microbubbles, with the effect of shell parameters being thoroughly discussed. © 2013 IEEE.

Generation of recombinant monoclonal antibodies to study structure-function of envelope protein VP28 of white spot syndrome virus from shrimp

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is a major pathogen in shrimp aquaculture. VP28 is one of the most important envelope proteins of WSSV. In this study, a recombinant antibody library, as single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format, displayed on phage was constructed using mRNA from spleen cells of mice immunized with-full-length VP28 expressed in Escherichia coli. After several rounds of panning, six scFv antibodies specifically binding to the epitopes in the N-terminal, middle, and C-terminal regions of VP28, respectively, were isolated from the library. Using these scFv antibodies as tools, the epitopes in VP28 were located on the envelope of the virion by immuno-electron Microscopy, Neutralization assay with these antibodies in vitro suggested that these epitopes may not be the attachment site of WSSV to host cell receptor. This study provides a new way to investigate the structure and function of the envelope proteins of WSSV. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.