Abstract: An optoelectronic device and method of manufacturing the same. The device includes: a layer disposed above a substrate, the layer having a first cavity therein, which cavity is at least partially defined by an inclined interface between the cavity and an insulating liner, the interface being disposed at an angle relative to the substrate of greater than 0° and less than or equal to 90°; and a regrown semiconductor material, providing or forming a part of a waveguide, the regrown semiconductor material being at least partly disposed in the first cavity and including an inclined interface between the regrown semiconductor material and the insulating liner, the interface being disposed at an angle relative to the substrate of greater than 0° and less than or equal to 90°.

Abstract: Polymer blends of polypropylene homopolymer and propylene-?-olefin interpolymer. Processes for producing polymeric compositions comprising control-cooling heated blends of polypropylene and propylene-?-olefin interpolymer. Such polymeric compositions can be employed in forming coated wires and cables.

Abstract: Oligonucleotide chemistry is central to the advancement of core technologies such as DNA sequencing, forensic and genetic analysis and has impacted greatly on the discipline of molecular biology. Oligonucleotides and their analogues are essential tools in these areas. They are often produced by automated solid-phase phosphoramidite synthesis but it is difficult to synthesize long DNA and RNA sequences by this method. Methods are proposed for ligating oligonucleotides together, in particular the use of an azide-alkyne coupling reaction to ligate the backbones of oligonucleotides together to form longer oligonucleotides that can be synthesized using current phosphoramidite synthesis methods.

Abstract: A redox ammoximation process in which a ketone or aldehyde is reacted with ammonia and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst; wherein the catalyst is an aluminophosphate based redox catalyst having at least two different redox catalytic sites comprising different transition metal atoms.

Abstract: An electrochemical cell comprising a cathode, an anode and an electrolyte is provided, wherein: the cathode comprises mesoporous nickel having a periodic arrangement of substantially uniformly sized pores of cross-section of the order of 10?8 to 10?9 m; and the anode comprises a mesoporous material having a periodic arrangement of substantially uniformly sized pores of cross-section of the order of 10?8 to 10?9 m and selected from: carbon, cadmium, iron, a palladium/nickel alloy, an iron/titanium alloy, palladium or a mixed metal hydride.

Abstract: In a method of measuring a temperature value associated with melting, softening or decomposition of sample substances, an array of samples is deposited onto a support tray. The support tray is placed onto a heating device provided with temperature sensing means, the support tray is illuminated, and the array of samples is observed by a imaging device. WNle varying the temperature of the heating device, the image data from the imaging device is fed to an image recording device and temperature values associated with each feed of image data are also recorded. The image data is reviewed to detect changes in the image, such as image intensity, at each or selected sample locations, and the temperature of the heating device at an image change associated with a change in state of a sample is logged. Image processing software may be used to detect changes in the image, for example in the intensity of the image, at each sample location.

Abstract: Methods of human therapy using a chimeric anti-CD40 antibody, LOB 7/4 or humanized variants thereof, are provided. This CD40 antibody elicits agonistic effects on immunity when used as a monotherapy especially when used in the treatment of human lymphomas and leukemias and other solid tumors In addition, this agonistic CD40 antibody when administered in combination with certain molecules such as TLR agonists or interferons, e.g., alpha and beta interferon, elicits a synergistic effect on immunity.

Abstract: A novel polyurethane material having excellent leukocyte adsorption capacity. When exposed to a labelled sugar chain solution LDF1 for 2 hours, it exhibits an adsorption amount of 400,000 or more. The polyurethane is composed of (A) a diisocyanate compound structural unit, (B) a polymer diol compound structural unit, and (C) a chain extender structural unit, preferably containing a tertiary amino group.

Abstract: An electromagnetic generator comprising two magnets and a coil disposed therebetween, the two magnets being configured to define therebetween a region of magnetic flux in which the coil is disposed whereby relative movement between the coil and the magnets generates an electrical current in the coil, and a vibratable first mount for each of the magnets and a vibratable second mount for the coil whereby each of the at least two magnets and the coil are respectively vibratable about a respective central position.

Abstract: A method of fabricating a metamaterial is provided, comprising providing a sample of engineered microstructured material that is transparent to electromagnetic radiation and comprises one or more voids, passing through the voids a high pressure fluid comprising a functional material carried in a carrier fluid, and causing the functional material to deposit or otherwise integrate into the engineered microstructured material to form the metamaterial. Many microstructured materials and functional materials can be used, together with various techniques for controlling the location of the integration of the functional material within the microstructured material, so that a wide range of different metamaterials can be produced.

Abstract: A method of deactivating an allergen comprises dispersing into an airspace containing or able to support said allergen an allergen-deactivating amount of an allergen-deactivating compound, the compound comprising one or more of the following compounds: a citrus oil; a mint oil; bois de rose oil; oil of jasmine; frankincense; oil of bergamot; and oil of lemon grass.

Abstract: Using sol-gel techniques, an optical gain medium has been fabricated comprising a glass ceramic host material that includes clusters of crystalline oxide material, especially tin oxide, and that is doped with active ions concentrated at the clusters. The active ions are preferentially located at the nanoclusters so that they experience the relatively low phonon energy of the oxide and are insensitive to the phonon energy of the host. A host with a high phonon energy, such as silica, can therefore be used without the usual drawback of reduced carrier lifetimes through enhanced nonradiative decay rates.

Abstract: An optical device, in one embodiment, is constituted by a substantially planar first layer, which in this example is a layer of gold, supported by a silicon substrate layer, in the form of a silicon wafer. The gold layer is formed with a pattern of solid shaped elements, in the form of (left-handed) gammadions. The gammadions have a size of between 700 nm and 4? and are arranged in a tiled regular square pattern.

Abstract: A method of and apparatus for creating a second order non-linearity profile along a waveguide. The method comprises: thermally poling a waveguide structure to generate a second order non-linearity; placing a mask adjacent to the waveguide structure; and exposing the waveguide structure with UV light through the mask to selectively erase the second order non-linearity along the waveguide structure. The mask may be an amplitude mask or phase mask. In a preferred embodiment an amplitude mask is used in combination with an incoherent UV light source to produce selective erasure of a thermally poled second order non-linearity. Apparatus for carrying out this method and devices based on waveguide structure fabricated using the method are also described.

Abstract: A Sagnac or loop type interferometer is disclosed which uses a single broadband Erbium-doped fibre source (10) and a single IngaAs detector (150) together with a 40 km long sensor loop (90). A wavelength division multiplexer (50) spectrally slices the broadband light from the source (10) into two sub-bands, with different optical paths being defined between the source (10) and detector (150) for the light in the different spectrally sliced sub-bands. The two optical paths include separate phase modulators (70, 130) which modulate the two signals at different frequencies, and also separate delay loops (60, 130) at different places relative to the sensor loop (90). Effectively, two separate Sagnac loops are provided with a single sensor loop (90), source (10) and detector (150). Standard phase locked loop techniques can be used to extract information from signals that have passed through the two loops and to determine the location of a mechanical or thermal perturbation applied to the sensor loop (90).

Abstract: A pest trap which comprises retaining means (9) and one or more members (3) having substantially smooth surfaces mounted above the retaining means, whereby a pest displaced from the smooth surface falls into the retaining means (9). The members with smooth surfaces may comprise rods or spheres which may optionally be coated with electrostatically charged powder.

Abstract: A coated optical fiber comprises a coating, an optical fiber, at least one waveguiding region and an index grating. The waveguiding region contains at least one photosensitive region, the index grating is formed by writing through the coating using UV light, and the coating transmits UV light at the wavelength at which the index grating is written.

Abstract: An optical fiber laser includes an optical fiber having a core (14), an inner cladding (12) surrounding the core and an outer cladding (16) surrounding the inner cladding and core. The core (12) is doped with a first laser-active material, preferably, thulium. The inner cladding is doped with a second different laser-active material, for example, neodymium and is pumped by a multimode pump light source such as a diode array. Pumping of the inner cladding (12) causes laser emission in the inner cladding material which, in turn, serves as pump radiation for the laser-active dopant in the core (14).