Asbestos fibers as small as 1 mum in diameter can be uniquely identified by light microscopy by employing dispersion staining methods. The technique described herein involves suspension of fibers in liquids of known refractive indices and observation of color display by means of a dispersion staining objective. Wavelengths or indices of refraction may be determined at right angles to and parall...

A simple method for fabricating selective injection microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) using a conventional fusion splicer is described. The effects of fusion current, fusion duration and offset position on the hole collapse property of the MOFs are investigated. With this method, the central hollow-core and the holes in the cladding region can be selectively infiltrated, which allows for th...

An improved design for hollow core anti-resonant fibers (HAFs) is presented. A split cladding structure is introduced to reduce the fabrication distortion within design tolerance. We use numerical simulations to compare the Kagome fibers (KFs) and the proposed split cladding fibers (SCFs) over two normalized transmission bands. It reveals that SCFs are able to maintain the desired round shape o...

The fiber-optic delivery of sparks in gases is challenging as the output beam must be refocused to high intensity (approximately 200 GW/cm(2) for nanosecond pulses). Analysis suggests the use of coated hollow core fibers, fiber lasers, and photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). We study the effects of launch conditions and bending for 2 m long coated hollow fibers and find an optimum launch f# of appr...

RECORDING TECHNIQUE MUSCLE AFFERENTS Clinically Relevant Insights Sensory Role of Muscle Spindles Fusimotor Function at Rest Fusimotor Function During Voluntary Contractions Fusimotor Function During Contractions of Remote Muscles, Motor Imagery, and Preparation for a Contraction Fusimotor Function in Motor Disorders CUTANEOUS AND JOINT AFFERENTS Large Myelinated Cutaneous Afferents Cutaneous A...

An alternative method to build point and sensor array based on photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) is presented. A short length (in the 9-12 mm range) of properly selected index-guiding PCF is fusion spliced between conventional single mode fibers. By selective excitation and overlapping of specific modes in the PCF we make the transmission spectra of the sensors to exhibit a single and narrow notch...

200 μm MRSEC researchers have fabricated the first optical Fibers made from zinc selenide, using a high-pressure Chemical deposition technique invented in the MRSEC. Optical fibers are a cornerstone of modern science and technology, yet remain fundamentally limited by the types of materials from which they can be made. With these new ZnSe fibers, it is now possible to exploit the materials prop...

We present the light-propagation characteristics of OmniGuide fibers, which guide light by concentric multi-layer dielectric mirrors having the property of omnidirectional reflection. We show how the lowest-loss TE_01 mode can propagate in a single-mode fashion through even large-core fibers, with other modes eliminated asymptotically by their higher losses and poor coupling, analogous to hollo...

The association of a particular mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation with different clinical phenotypes is a well-known feature of mitochondrial diseases. A simple genotype-phenotype correlation has not been found between mutation load and disease expression. Tissue and intercellular mosaicism as well as mtDNA copy number are thought to be responsible for the different clinical phenotypes. As dis...

The clinical use of adenosine is commonly associated with pulmonary side effects, namely dyspnea, that suggest the possible involvement of bronchopulmonary sensory afferents. Our objective in this study was to characterize the effects of adenosine on breathing and to determine whether the vagal pulmonary afferents play a role in mediating these effects. We measured respiratory and cardiovascula...