As the editor, I feel extremely happy to present to the readers such a rich collection of chapters authored/co-authored by a large number of experts from around the world covering the broad field of guided wave optics and optoelectronics. Most of the chapters are state-of-the-art on respective topics or areas that are emerging. Several authors narrated technological challenges in a lucid manner, which was possible because of individual expertise of the authors in their own subject specialties. I have no doubt that this book will be useful to graduate students, teachers, researchers, and practicing engineers and technologists and that they would love to have it on their book shelves for ready reference at any time.

In this study, Random copolymers poly[(2-aminoehtyl methacrylamide hydrochloride)-st-(5-methacrylamido-1,2-benzoboroxole)-st-(N-isopropylacrylamide)] (PAMN) and glycopolymer poly (2-lactobionamidoethylmethacrylamide) (PLAEMA) with various molecular weights were synthesized via conventional free radical polymerization method. The effect of temperature, pH, molecular weight and polymer dosage on the kaolin particle settling rate, turbidity of supernatant, mud-line position, solid volume fraction of sediment, and solid content of sediment were evaluated to determine the flocculation performance. Temperature and pH responsive polymer PAMN was considered as the most efficient flocculant as compared with poly[(2-aminoethyl methacrylamide hydrochloride)-st-(N-isopropylacrylamide)] (PAN) and Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm). Furthermore, highly compact sediment can be achieved through increasing pH to 11 due to the cationic/anionic transfer property of PAMN. For the study of PLAEMA, large molecular weight has been proved to possess the positive effect on flocculating kaolin fine particles. The adhesive force, polymer conformation, and other property characterization were determined by several instruments, including surface forces apparatus (SFA), atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Strong adhesion was measured between mica surface and polymers in the case of PAMN and high molecular weight PLAEMA, resulting from benzoboroxole-hydroxyl complexation, electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding and flexible polymer chains. The roughness change of polymer coated mica surface is also an evidence of polymer adsorption and aggregation, contributing to the enhanced flocculation behavior. The results in this thesis provide insight into the development of novel polymer flocculants and basic interaction mechanisms between polymer flocculants and fine particles.

Abstract: Structural, functional, and molecular reorganization of denervated neural networks is often observed in neurological conditions. The loss of input is accompanied by homeostatic synaptic adaptations, which can affect the reorganization process. A major challenge of denervation-induced homeostatic plasticity operating in complex neural networks is the specialization of neuronal inputs. It remains unclear whether neurons respond similarly to the loss of distinct inputs. Here, we used in vitro entorhinal cortex lesion (ECL) and Schaffer collateral lesion (SCL) in mouse organotypic entorhino-hippocampal tissue cultures to study denervation-induced plasticity of CA1 pyramidal neurons. We observed microglia accumulation, presynaptic bouton degeneration, and a reduction in dendritic spine numbers in the denervated layers 3 days after SCL and ECL. Transcriptome analysis of the CA1 region revealed complex changes in differential gene expression following SCL and ECL compared to non-lesioned controls with a specific enrichment of differentially expressed synapse-related genes observed after ECL. Consistent with this finding, denervation-induced homeostatic plasticity of excitatory synapses was observed 3 days after ECL but not after SCL. Chemogenetic silencing of the EC but not CA3 confirmed the pathway-specific induction of homeostatic synaptic plasticity in CA1. Additionally, increased RNA oxidation was observed after SCL and ECL. These results reveal important commonalities and differences between distinct pathway lesions and demonstrate a pathway-specific induction of denervation-induced homeostatic synaptic plasticity