A new technique, based on a partially automated process, for smooth end face termination of three types of plastic optical fibers (microstructured, graded-index, and step-index) is presented. The cross-sectional shape of the fibers is preserved, and the structure in microstructured plastic optical fibers (POFs) is of good quality, showing no plastic deformations. The termination is achieved in ...

This paper presents an improved technique for extracting singular streamlines that extends the capabilities of vector field topology. Singular streamlines are a unique set of tangent curves that connect singular or critical points. In prior work [Ken99], we demonstrated that vector field topology (a well-known technique for extracting singular streamlines) failed to identify a class of singular...

In this paper we describe a computer-controlled reactor system capable of imposing any concentration-forcing function on the input. Combination of a monolithic support with a fast-scan Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) results in a system capable of detecting all the IR-active species inside the reactor simultaneously, with a time resolution of 0.17 s. Flow characteristics and typical results o...

A simple and robust image processing program was built to track and analyze morphology of cells/droplets inside microchannels. The program was built using LabView software, which is accessible to most laboratories, to enable easy access to non-experts. Our program relies on calling the different powerful image processing tools built in LabView, such as local adaptive threshold (LAT) for object ...

In this paper we lay out the design time and space of component assembly in a visual builder, and propose concrete ways of also handling context components seamlessly. We present an environment that allows Java developers to test and evaluate JavaBeans components implementing the extensible runtime containment and services protocol. We enhanced the BeanBox from the Bean Development Kit (BDK) wi...

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) being an assembly of hundreds or thousands of sensor nodes, each with sensing (temperature, humidity, sound level, light intensity, magnetism, etc.) and wireless communication capabilities, provide vast opportunities for monitoring and mathematical modeling the spatial information about a region of interest. Starting from the measurements collected by sensor node...

Recent work at SNL has demonstrated unique capabilities to experimentally measure a variety of ion and neutral particle parameters inside surface features being etched, including ion energy, angular distributions, ion and neutral species measurements. This report details the construction of one recent laboratory tool designed to measure ion beam uniformity over the wafer surface in a reactive i...

An important new method for phagocytosis research, confocal scanning fluorescence light microscopy (CSFM), is demonstrated using fluorescent microspheres ingested by murine macrophages. CSFM, in combination with Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC), can resolve microspheres inside cells from microspheres attached to the surface of cells. Further, combined CSFM and DIC im...

A software component must be tested every time it is reused, to guarantee the quality of both the component itself and the system in which it is to be integrated. To reduce testing costs, we propose a model to build highly testable components by embedding testing and monitoring mechanisms inside them. The approach is useful to component developers, who can use these built-in test capabilities i...

A probe station, suitable for the electrical characterization of integrated circuits at cryogenic temperatures is presented. The unique design incorporates all moving components inside the cryostat at room temperature, greatly simplifying the design and allowing automated step and repeat testing. The system can characterize wafers up to 100 mm in diameter, at temperatures <20 K. It is capable o...