Fiber-connectorized ultrafast-laser-inscribed K-band integrated optics beam combiner for the CHARA telescope array.

A fiber-connectorized K-band integrated-optics two-telescope beam combiner was developed for long-baseline interferometry at the CHARA telescope array utilizing the ultrafast laser inscription (ULI) technique. Single-mode waveguide insertion losses were measured to be ∼1.1 over the 2-2.

Six-telescope integrated optics beam combiner fabricated using ultrafast laser inscription for J- and H-band astronomy.

We have built and characterized, to our knowledge, the first six-telescope discrete beam combiner (DBC) for stellar interferometry in the astronomical J-band. It is the DBC with the largest number of beam combinations and was manufactured using ultrafast laser inscription in borosilicate glass, with a throughput of ≈56. For calibration of the visibility-to-pixel matrix, we use a two-input Michelson interferometer and extract the complex visibility.

Heterogeneity of the Effect of Telemedicine Hypertension Management Approach on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of US-based Clinical Trials.

Background: Telemedicine management of hypertension (TM-HTN) uses home blood pressure (BP) to guide pharmacotherapy and telemedicine-based self-management support (SMS). Optimal approach to implementing TM-HTN in the US is unknown.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis to examine the effect of TM-HTN vs.

The role of area-level socioeconomic disadvantage in racial disparities in cancer incidence in metropolitan Detroit.

Background: Neighborhood deprivation is associated with both race and cancer incidence, but there is a need to better understand the effect of structural inequities on racial cancer disparities. The goal of this analysis was to evaluate the relationship between a comprehensive measure of neighborhood-level social disadvantage and cancer incidence within the racially diverse population of metropolitan Detroit.

Methods: We estimated breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer incidence rates using Metropolitan Detroit Cancer Surveillance System and US decennial census data.

Process adaptations to community-engaged research for preventing victimization against trans women: Failure as a blueprint toward nonexploitative implementation science.

Effective violence prevention interventions are largely inaccessible to trans women and trans femmes, despite clear evidence that disproportionate exposure to experiences of victimization is a social determinant of health disparity. Community-engaged implementation science paradigms hold promise for guiding research psychologists in the delivery of evidence-based programming to address drivers of health disparities impacting trans women and trans femmes. Unfortunately, guidance on how to engage in a process of real-time self-reflection to note where implementation is failing in its goals to establish reciprocal and sustainable (i.

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for astronomy II: low-aberration Generation-II AWG devices with three stigmatic points.

In the second part of our series on integrated photonic spectrographs for astronomy, we present theoretical and experimental results on the design, simulation and characterization of custom-manufactured silica-on-silicon arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) constructed using the three-stigmatic-point method. We derive several mid-to-high resolution field-flattened AWG designs, targeting resolving powers of 11,000 - 35,000 in the astronomical H-band, by iterative computation of differential coefficients of the optical path function. We use numerical simulations to study the imaging properties of the designs in a wide wavelength range between 1500 nm and 1680 nm.

Design, simulation and characterization of integrated photonic spectrographs for astronomy: generation-I AWG devices based on canonical layouts.

We present an experimental study on our first generation of custom-developed arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) on a silica platform for spectroscopic applications in near-infrared astronomy. We provide a comprehensive description of the design, numerical simulation and characterization of several AWG devices aimed at spectral resolving powers of 15,000-60,000 in the astronomical H-band. We evaluate the spectral characteristics of the fabricated devices in terms of insertion loss and estimated spectral resolving power and compare the results with numerical simulations.

Simulations of mode-selective photonic lanterns for efficient coupling of starlight into the single-mode regime.

In ground-based astronomy, starlight distorted by the atmosphere couples poorly into single-mode waveguides, but a correction by adaptive optics, even if only partial, can boost coupling into the few-mode regime, allowing the use of photonic lanterns to convert into multiple single-mode beams. Corrected wavefronts result in focal patterns that couple mostly with circularly symmetric waveguide modes. A mode-selective photonic lantern is hence proposed to convert multimode light into a subset of single-mode waveguides of the standard photonic lantern, thereby reducing the required number of outputs.

Performance limits of astronomical arrayed waveguide gratings on a silica platform.

We present a numerical and experimental study of the impact of phase errors on the performance of large, high-resolution arrayed waveguide gratings (AWG) for applications in astronomy. We use a scalar diffraction model to study the transmission spectrum of an AWG under random variations of the optical waveguide lengths. We simulate phase error correction by numerically trimming the lengths of the optical waveguides to the nearest integer multiple of the central wavelength.

Chromatic response of a four-telescope integrated-optics discrete beam combiner at the astronomical L band.

We show the results of simulation and experimental study of a 4-telescope zig-zag discrete beam combiner (DBC) for long-baseline stellar interferometry working at the astronomical L band (3 - 4 µm) under the influence of a narrow bandwidth light source. Following Saviauk et al. (2013), we used a quasi-monochromatic visibility-to-pixel matrix (V2PM) for retrieving the complex coherence functions from simulated and experimentally measured power at the output of the device.

Complex phase masks for OH suppression filters in astronomy: part I: design.

The design of a complex phase mask (CPM) for inscribing multi-notch fiber Bragg grating filters in optical fibers for OH suppression in astronomy is presented. We demonstrate the steps involved in the design of a complex mask with discrete phase steps, following a detailed analysis of fabrication constraints. The phase and amplitude of the complex grating is derived through inverse modelling from the desired aperiodic filter spectrum, following which the phase alone is encoded into the surface relief of a CPM.

Fiber Vector Bend Sensor Based on Multimode Interference and Image Tapping.

A grating-less fiber vector bend sensor is demonstrated using a standard single mode fiber spliced to a multimode fiber as a multimode interference device. The ring-shaped light intensity distribution at the end of the multimode fiber is subject to a vector transition in response to the fiber bend. Instead of comprehensive imaging processing for the analysis, the image can be tapped out by a seven-core fiber spliced to the other end of the multimode fiber.

Paediatric auditory brainstem implantation: The South Asian experience.

Introduction: Paediatric Auditory Brainstem Implantation (ABI) is indicated for children with congenital cochlear aplasia, absent/hypoplastic vestibulocochlear nerve, for whom cochlear implantation is not possible. Knowledge of the anatomical landmarks and variants in anatomy of the brainstem is vital for ABI surgery.

Method: Study was done at Auditory implant centre in Madras ENT research foundation, which includes 24 children who had undergone ABI surgery and are being followed up for 1 year, post operatively.

Improvement of Anti-Hyperlipidemic Activity and Oral Bioavailability of Fluvastatin Via Solid Self-Microemulsifying Systems and Comparative with Liquisolid Formulation.

Background: FR&D scientists continuously try to increase the in vivo performance of low soluble and bioavailable drugs. Solid SMEDDS and liquisolid formulations are relatively simple to develop and fall within the novel drug delivery approaches. Here, a comparison is made to know relative superiority.

Association between screen time and depression among US adults.

Epidemiological surveys conducted in general populations have found that the prevalence of depression is about 9% in the United States. World Health Organization has projected that depression will be leading cause of disease burden by the year 2030. Growing evidence suggests that sedentary lifestyle is an important risk factor of depression among adults.

Nanoindentation study on germania-doped silica glass preforms: evidence for the compaction-densification model of photosensitivity.

Nanoindentation technique was employed to measure the changes in mechanical properties of a glass preform subjected to different levels of UV exposure. The results reveal that short-term exposure leads to an appreciable increase in the Young's modulus (E), suggesting the densification of the glass, confirming the compaction-densification model. However, on prolonged exposure, E decreases, which provides what we believe to be the first direct evidence of dilation in the glass leading into the Type IIA regime.