Disposable Microchip Platform with Removable Actuators Using SAW Excitation.

The development of microfluidic systems is often constrained both by difficulties associated with the chip interconnection to other instruments and by limitations imposed by the mechanisms that can enable fluid movement and processing. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices have shown promise in allowing samples to be manipulated, although designing complex fluid operations involves using multiple electrode transducers. We now demonstrate a simple interface between a piezoelectric SAW device and a disposable microfluidic chip, patterned with phononic structures to control the acoustic wave propagation. The surface wave is coupled from the piezoelectric substrate into the disposable chip where it interacts with the phononic lattice. By implementing both a phononic filter and an acoustic waveguide, we illustrate the potential of the technique by demonstrating microcentrifugation for particle and cell concentration in microlitre droplets. We show for the first time that the interaction of the fluid within this metamaterial phononic lattice is dependent upon the frequency of the acoustic wave, providing a route to programme complex fluidic functions into a microchip (in much the same way, by analogy, that a holographic element would change the phase of a light wave in optical tweezers). A practical realisation of this involves the centrifugation of blood on the chip.

Automation of offshore platforms and other offshore facilities have always presented unique challenges. Traditionally only the largest platforms could accommodate a DCS but the continuing evolution of Open Control Systems (OCS's) has opened the door for modem automation on nearly all offshore facilities. This paper is based upon several offshore automation projects which demonstrate the unique and valuable benefits of OCS's applied offshore. Actual project details will be presented in as much detail as permitted by the end users. Offshore automation options will be summarized along with the features and benefits of various options. The use of conventional analog controls, PLC's, DCS's, and OCS's will be considered. Design guidelines for automation of new offshore facilities as well as retrofits of existing facilities will be included. The material to be presented is highly significant in that it covers the application of leading edge automation technologies for economic benefit in offshore applications. Introduction Prior to the introduction of microprocessor based control systems, plant automation was, for the most part, limited to Single Input - Single Output (SISO) continuous control and electromechanical relay based discrete control. Operators worked with such control systems at a panel board filled with dials, gages, strip charts, lights, and switches. Using such systems, the operators job was to keep the plant operating safely. The introduction, in the late 1970's, of microprocessor based, or "Distributed Control Systems (DCS)," opened the door for the operator to not only focus on safe operation but, really for the first time, to also accept some additional responsibility for the profitability of the process. The first DCS's emulated their panelboard predecessors in look and feel but did so utilizing CRT displays. These early systems were limited to continuous control functions. They did significantly enhance the practical ability to implement more sophisticated control strategies whose purpose was to improve the process economically. Other features of early DCS's which were of benefit included their ability to interface with a supervisory computer and to automatically produce reports. The application of early DCS's was essentially limited to large, continuous processes such as those found in the petroleum refining industry. With these early systems, it was rarely economically feasible to implement DCS control on any process, including offshore facilities, where continuous I10 quantities were less than approximately 300 inputs and 100 outputs. Offshore facilities presented additional beamers to DCS control due to the often harsh environments and impracticality of "computer rooms" offshore. During the 1 980's' numerous microprocessor based systems came onto the market; each one an attempt to overcome one or more of the limitations presented by other systems. Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC's) came into common use in discrete control applications. Relative to electromechanical relays, PLC's had many advantages in terms of lower engineering and maintenance costs. Personal Computer (PC) based systems were introduced to address the smaller 110 count market. PC reliability was significantly less than that of DCS's which was a significant problem in many applications. Hybrid systems which combined DCS's, PLC's, and I or PC's were also offered in an attempt to offer the advantages of each type of these control systems.

On-chip droplet splitting is one of the fundamental droplet-based microfluidic unit operations to control droplet volume after production and increase operational capability, flexibility, and throughput. Various droplet splitting methods have been proposed, and among them the acoustic droplet splitting method is promising because of its label-free operation without any physical or thermal damage to droplets. Previous acoustic droplet splitting methods faced several limitations: first, they employed a cross-type acoustofluidic device that precluded multichannel droplet splitting; second, they required irreversible bonding between a piezoelectric substrate and a microfluidic chip, such that the fluidic chip was not replaceable. Here, we present a parallel-type acoustofluidic device with a disposable microfluidic chip to address the limitations of previous acoustic droplet splitting devices. In the proposed device, an acoustic field is applied in the direction opposite to the flow direction to achieve multichannel droplet splitting and steering. A disposable polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic chip is employed in the developed device, thereby removing the need for permanent bonding and improving the flexibility of the droplet microfluidic device. We experimentally demonstrated on-demand acoustic droplet bi-splitting and steering with precise control over the droplet splitting ratio, and we investigated the underlying physical mechanisms of droplet splitting and steering based on Laplace pressure and ray acoustics analyses, respectively. We also demonstrated droplet tri-splitting to prove the feasibility of multichannel droplet splitting. The proposed on-demand acoustic droplet splitting device enables on-chip droplet volume control in various droplet-based microfluidic applications.

The aim of this study was to look into the association, if any, of apoprotein-CIII variant allele with hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia and coronary heart disease (CHD). The prevalence of a C to G substitution in the 3' untranslated region of apoprotein-CIII was studied in a sample of 92 angiographed Saudi subjects, consisting of 65 males and 27 females. The subjects were genotyped by amplification followed by digestion of the gene fragment containing the polymorphic site with Sac I restriction enzyme. The variant allele of apoprotein-CIII was found to be associated neither with hypertriglyceridemia nor with hypercholesterolemia. However, a significant association of this allele (P<0.01) was found with coronary heart disease, independent of other risk factors such as smoking, diabetes and hypertension. An estimation of odds ratio using logistic regression with various risk factors in the model showed that the individuals with this rare allele were 3.4 times more at risk of developing coronary heart disease. This estimate of risk held even after analyzing a subset of individuals above 45 years of age. While the association between apoprotein-CIII variant allele and dyslipidemia could not be established in this study, the relationship between this marker and CHD was highlighted in the studied subjects.

This work presents the combination and acceleration of PCR and fluorescent labelling within a disposable microfluidic chip. The utilised geometry consists of a spiral meander with 40 turns, representing a cyclic-flow PCR system. The used reaction chemistry includes Cy3-conjugated primers leading to a one-step process accelerated by cyclic-flow PCR. DNA of three different bacterial samples (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) was processed and successfully amplified and labelled with detection limits down to 102 cells per reaction. The specificity of species identification was comparable to the approach of separate PCR and labelling. The overall processing time was decreased from 6 to 1.5 h. We showed that a disposable polycarbonate chip, fabricated by injection moulding is suitable for the significant acceleration of DNA microarray assays. The reaction output led to high-sensitivity bacterial identification in a short time, which is crucial for an early and targeted therapy against infectious diseases.

In this paper digital image correlation (DIC) has been applied to study the deformation process of cementitious material at very early age. After mixing of cement-based materials, the cement hydration process begins. Consequently, the ongoing chemical reactions result in a 3D deformation process (shrinkage). The mechanism affecting the very early age hydration as well as specifically the deformation behavior of cementitious materials is a challenging topic. In view of that, it is essential to determine the significant effect of concrete hardening process on the deformation progression at different stages. The technique of DIC is highly sensitive and allows for the first time in literature an accurate and non-contact optical monitoring of the shrinkage of fresh cementitious material. The displacement of the surface is measured by correlating the different digital images taken at different ages after mixing of the material. The system enables a 3D observation that allows a deeper understanding of the deformation progression. The surface displacement determined by DIC-software (Vic-Snap 2010) is compared to the displacement measured by Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) sensors for calibration purposes. DIC system realizes a more precise method avoiding the effect of self-weight of the traditional sensor. The purpose of this work is to check the sensitivity as well as the effectiveness of DIC technique, to characterize and better understand the 3D deformation process of fresh cementitious materials.

CHAPTER 5: Wheat Flour Milling

A recent Delphi-type forecast of the future of manufacturing carried out by the International Institution for Production Engineering Research (CIRP) resulted in 94 forecast events on which good consensus was obtained. Of these, 24, or over one-fourth, strongly indicated that the computer-integrated automatic factory would be a full-blown reality well before the end of this century. The three key events which summarize this aspect of that forecast are as follows:1. By 1980 (median), a computer software system for full automation and optimization of all steps in the manufacturing of a part will be developed and in wide use.2. By 1985 (median), full on-line automation and optimization of complete manufacturing plants, controlled by a central computer, will be a reality.3. By 1990 (median), more than 50 percent of the machine tools produced will not have a stand-alone use, but will be part of a versatile manufacturing system, featuring automatic part handling between stations, and being controlled from a central process computer.

A recent Delphi-type forecast of the future of manufacturing carried out by the International Institution for Production Engineering Research (CIRP) resulted in 94 forecast events on which good consensus was obtained. Of these, 24, or over one-fourth, strongly indicated that the computer-integrated automatic factory would be a full-blown reality well before the end of this century. The three key events which summarize this aspect of that forecast are as follows:1. By 1980 (median), a computer software system for full automation and optimization of all steps in the manufacturing of a part will be developed and in wide use.2. By 1985 (median), full on-line automation and optimization of complete manufacturing plants, controlled by a central computer, will be a reality.3. By 1990 (median), more than 50 percent of the machine tools produced will not have a stand-alone use, but will be part of a versatile manufacturing system, featuring automatic part handling between stations, and being controlled from a central process computer.

The gravelly lateritic soils are commonly used for road sub-grade and sub-base course in tropical region due to their good bearing capacity. Whereas, the lack of their ore deposit along or near the corridors of the road construction implies the development of new approach for using these local materials in road construction works. That is why, this study has focused on blending of fine tropical soils with 0/5 mm of crushed basanite to be used for realizing the sub-base course layer. To achieve this aim, mineralogical, chemical and geotechnical tests were performed on crushed basanite and natural fine lateritic soils; and on the mixing materials at 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% of crushed basanite on the other hand. The mineralogical and chemical investigation on two facies of natural fine lateritic soils revealed that Silica/Sesquioxide ratios are less than 2 (S/R < 2). With the increasing of the rate of crushed basanite on these natural fine soils, basanite minerals increase in the mixing materials, but the S/R ratios are still less than 2. Moreover, this implies the relative increase of chemical elements in general and the increase of the amount of Ca, Mg, Na, K, Mn elements in particular. Despite the Ca element increases with the rate of mixing, chemical reaction is not implied. Even more, the addition of crushed basanite on fine lateritic soils have positive effects because fine particles, liquid limit, plasticity index, methylene blue values and optimum moisture content decrease, but conserve their geotechnical class or group, according to geotechnical classification standard. However, the maximum dry density, the Californian Bearing Ratio CBR and the unsoaked Californian Bearing Ratio increase with increasing of crushed basanite. Finally the minimum value of UCS obtained from the mixture materials is 1.67 MPa. Therefore, this physical treatment of fine lateritic soils, allows the increase of their bearing capacity. Starting from 30% of mixing, the bearing capacity values are desirable for sub-base material.

In this paper we discuss the formation and erosion of multi-component materials (‘mixed materials’) on metals with respect to carbon deposition from the vapor phase. The carbide formation and carbon accumulation at the surface are governed both by chemical reactions and by carbon diffusion into the bulk metal. Carbide formation at room temperature is restricted to several monolayers at the interface between carbon and supporting metal. Additional energy entry into the system either by ion bombardment or by annealing enhances the carbide formation. The carbon amount present at the surface decreases after a material-dependent temperature threshold for diffusion in the case of metallic carbides of transition metals. Taking into account oxygen as a reactive plasma impurity, e.g. by starting with an oxidized surface before carbon deposition, new erosion channels open up in these ternary systems due to chemical interactions, rendering interaction simulations by kinematic Monte Carlo models insufficient. Chemical erosion mechanisms additional to mere kinematic processes are also responsible for carbon erosion by deuterium ion impact, shown for film thicknesses smaller than the ion range. They lead to enhanced carbon film erosion rates compared to erosion by sputtering.

Arabidopsis thaliana contains a large number of genes that encode carboxylic acid-activating enzymes, including nine long-chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetases, four 4-coumarate:CoA ligases (4CL), and 25 4CL-like proteins of unknown biochemical function. Because of their high structural and sequence similarity with bona fide 4CLs and their highly hydrophobic putative substrate-binding pockets, the 4CL-like proteins At4g05160 and At5g63380 were selected for detailed analysis. Following heterologous expression, the purified proteins were subjected to a large scale screen to identify their preferred in vitro substrates. This study uncovered a significant activity of At4g05160 with medium-chain fatty acids, medium-chain fatty acids carrying a phenyl substitution, long-chain fatty acids, as well as the jasmonic acid precursors 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid and 3-oxo-2-(2'-pentenyl)-cyclopentane-1-hexanoic acid. The closest homolog of At4g05160, namely At5g63380, showed high activity with long-chain fatty acids and 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, the latter representing the most efficiently converted substrate. By using fluorescent-tagged variants, we demonstrated that both 4CL-like proteins are targeted to leaf peroxisomes. Collectively, these data demonstrate that At4g05160 and At5g63380 have the capacity to contribute to jasmonic acid biosynthesis by initiating the beta-oxidative chain shortening of its precursors.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a technique for nucleic acid amplification, which has been widely used in molecular biology. Owing to the limitations such as large size, high power consumption, and complicated operation, PCR is only used in hospitals or research institutions. To meet the requirements of portable applications, we developed a fast, battery-powered, portable device for PCR amplification and end-point detection. The device consisted of a PCR thermal control system, PCR reaction chip, and fluorescence detection system. The PCR thermal control system was formed by a thermal control chip and external drive circuits. Thin-film heaters and resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) were fabricated on the thermal control chip and were regulated with external drive circuits. The average heating rate was 32 °C/s and the average cooling rate was 7.5 °C/s. The disposable reaction chips were fabricated using a silicon substrate, silicone rubber, and quartz plate. The fluorescence detection system consisted a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera, an LED, and mirror units. The device was driven by a 24 V Li-ion battery. We amplified HPV16E6 genomic DNA using our device and achieved satisfactory results.

Radical–Radical Cross-Coupling Assisted N–S Bond Formation Using Alternating Current Protocol

The TaBoRR{reg_sign} (Tank Bottom Recovery and Remediation) process being developed at Western Research Institute (WRI) offers an alternative to current disposal methods. The TaBoRR process is designed to: (1) process these wastes, (2) provide a cost saving, and (3) limit or reduce the environmental liability of the producers. This process removes the water through evaporation, eliminating water disposal costs, creates a salable crude oil that has been valued at or above the current market price for sweet West-Texas intermediate crude, and reduces the solids to a benign state for disposal at a landfill. This report presents the background information associated with this program, a detailed description of the process, and the work that has been completed during the first year of this program. The plant assembly, unit operations, product analyses of the materials created during operations, the pyrolyzer design, and permitting of the process in Wyoming are described. Also discussed in the report is the future work required to take this process to commercialization. Future work discussed includes shakedown and operation of the pyrolyzer, control systems and plant automation, integrated operations, equipment reliability, effluent sample analysis, and long-term testing of the process.