Efficient Communication Protocols for Wireless Nanoscale Sensor Networks

Advances in nanotechnology are paving the way for wireless nanoscale sensor networks (WNSNs), promising radically new applications in medical, biological, and chemical fields. However, the small scale poses formidable challenges for communication. First, small nanomaterial-based antennas communicate in the terahertz band, which coincides with the natural resonance frequencies of many types of molecules causing severe molecular absorption and noise. The problem is particularly complicated if the molecular composition of the channel changes over time, causing time-varying absorption and noise. Second, as it is not practical to fit large batteries or replace batteries in a small device, these devices are expected to power themselves by harvesting ambient energy from the environment. However, the amount of energy that can be harvested is directly proportional to the size of the harvester. A nanodevice therefore can generate only a tiny fraction of its total power consumption, which requires us to rethink the design of communication protocols for self-powering WNSNs. In order to address aforementioned challenges, this thesis makes three fundamental contributions. First, it proposes dynamic frequency and power selection as a means to overcome the first problem, i.e, changing molecular composition problem in a time-varying terahertz channel. The dynamic frequency/power selection problem is modelled as a Markov Decision Process to derive the optimal solutions, while several practical heuristics are proposed that achieve close to optimal solutions. Second, to address the severe power shortage problem in a self-powering nanodevice, this thesis proposes a mechanism to exploit the information contained in the energy harvesting data to detect the energy-dissipating events occurring in the environment. This form of event monitoring makes dual use of the energy-harvesting unit in the nanodevice, i.e., it is used to generate power as well as monitor the environment, thus saving significant energy, which otherwise would have been used to power the onboard sensors. Finally, novel WNSN applications are designed and analysed to monitor and control chemical reactors at the molecular level with the ultimate goal of increasing the selectivity of the reactor. It is shown that using the proposed communication protocols for a time-varying terahertz channel, the selectivity of the reactor can be significantly increased, beyond what can be achieved with conventional solutions

Single-Molecule Detection of Unique Genome Signatures: Applications in Molecular Diagnostics and Homeland Security

Single-molecule detection (SMD) offers an attractive approach for identifying the presence of certain markers that can be used for in vitro molecular diagnostics in a near real-time format. The ability to eliminate sample processing steps afforded by the ultra-high sensitivity associated with SMD yields an increased sampling pipeline. When SMD and microfluidics are used in conjunction with nucleic acid-based assays such as the ligase detection reaction coupled with single-pair fluorescent resonance energy transfer (LDR-spFRET), complete molecular profiling and screening of certain cancers, pathogenic bacteria, and other biomarkers becomes possible at remarkable speeds and sensitivities with high specificity. The merging of these technologies and techniques into two different novel instrument formats has been investigated. (1) The use of a charge-coupled device (CCD) in time-delayed integration (TDI) mode as a means for increasing the throughput of any single molecule measurement by simultaneously tracking and detecting single-molecules in multiple microfluidic channels was demonstrated. The CCD/TDI approach allowed increasing the sample throughput by a factor of 8 compared to a single-assay SMD experiment. A sampling throughput of 276 molecules s-1 per channel and 2208 molecules s-1 for an eight channel microfluidic system was achieved. A cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) waveguide was designed and fabricated in a pre-cast poly(dimethylsiloxane) stencil to increase the SNR by controlling the excitation geometry. The waveguide showed an attenuation of 0.67 dB/cm and the launch angle was optimized to increase the depth of penetration of the evanescent wave. (2) A compact SMD (cSMD) instrument was designed and built for the reporting of molecular signatures associated with bacteria. The optical waveguides were poised within the fluidic chip at orientation of 90° with respect to each other for the interrogation of single-molecule events. Molecular beacons (MB) were designed to probe bacteria for the classification of Gram +. MBs were mixed with bacterial cells and pumped though the cSMD which allowed S. aureus to be classified with 2,000 cells in 1 min. Finally, the integration of the LDR-spFRET assay on the cSMD was explored with the future direction of designing a molecular screening approach for stroke diagnostics

Energy harvesting of low-grade waste heat with colloid based technology

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Book of abstracts of the 10th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference: CHEMPOR 2008

This book contains the extended abstracts presented at the 10th International Chemical and Biological Engineering Conference - CHEMPOR 2008, held in Braga, Portugal, over 3 days, from the 4th to the 6th of September, 2008. Previous editions took place in Lisboa (1975, 1889, 1998), Braga (1978), Póvoa de Varzim (1981), Coimbra (1985, 2005), Porto (1993), and Aveiro (2001). The conference was jointly organized by the University of Minho, “Ordem dos Engenheiros”, and the IBB - Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering with the usual support of the “Sociedade Portuguesa de Química” and, by the first time, of the “Sociedade Portuguesa de Biotecnologia”. Thirty years elapsed since CHEMPOR was held at the University of Minho, organized by T.R. Bott, D. Allen, A. Bridgwater, J.J.B. Romero, L.J.S. Soares and J.D.R.S. Pinheiro. We are fortunate to have Profs. Bott, Soares and Pinheiro in the Honor Committee of this 10th edition, under the high Patronage of his Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic, Prof. Aníbal Cavaco Silva. The opening ceremony will confer Prof. Bott with a “Long Term Achievement” award acknowledging the important contribution Prof. Bott brought along more than 30 years to the development of the Chemical Engineering science, to the launch of CHEMPOR series and specially to the University of Minho. Prof. Bott’s inaugural lecture will address the importance of effective energy management in processing operations, particularly in the effectiveness of heat recovery and the associated reduction in greenhouse gas emission from combustion processes. The CHEMPOR series traditionally brings together both young and established researchers and end users to discuss recent developments in different areas of Chemical Engineering. The scope of this edition is broadening out by including the Biological Engineering research. One of the major core areas of the conference program is life quality, due to the importance that Chemical and Biological Engineering plays in this area. “Integration of Life Sciences & Engineering” and “Sustainable Process-Product Development through Green Chemistry” are two of the leading themes with papers addressing such important issues. This is complemented with additional leading themes including “Advancing the Chemical and Biological Engineering Fundamentals”, “Multi-Scale and/or Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Process-Product Innovation”, “Systematic Methods and Tools for Managing the Complexity”, and “Educating Chemical and Biological Engineers for Coming Challenges” which define the extended abstracts arrangements along this book. A total of 516 extended abstracts are included in the book, consisting of 7 invited lecturers, 15 keynote, 105 short oral presentations given in 5 parallel sessions, along with 6 slots for viewing 389 poster presentations. Full papers are jointly included in the companion Proceedings in CD-ROM. All papers have been reviewed and we are grateful to the members of scientific and organizing committees for their evaluations. It was an intensive task since 610 submitted abstracts from 45 countries were received. It has been an honor for us to contribute to setting up CHEMPOR 2008 during almost two years. We wish to thank the authors who have contributed to yield a high scientific standard to the program. We are thankful to the sponsors who have contributed decisively to this event. We also extend our gratefulness to all those who, through their dedicated efforts, have assisted us in this task. On behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees we wish you that together with an interesting reading, the scientific program and the social moments organized will be memorable for all.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Activity Report 2017-18

The Scientific Activity Report you have in your hands summarizes two years of intense and continued efforts by the dedicated group of scientists conforming the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of the University of Barcelona (IN2UB). Created in 2006, the Institute aims to harness the multidisciplinary skills of the UB researchers interested in nanotechnology, with a view of favoring ambitious collaborative research. Thus, it integrates members from up to six Faculties of the University, namely Physics, Chemistry, Farmacy, Medicine, Biology and, most recently, Geology. As a Director, it has been to me a huge responsibility and a tremendous challenge to uphold the high standards set out by my predecessors, Prof. Amilcar Labarta and Prof. Jordi Borrell

Development and use of bioanalytical instrumentation and signal analysis methods for rapid sampling microdialysis monitoring of neuro-intensive care patients

This thesis focuses on the development and use of analysis tools to monitor brain injury patients. For this purpose, an online amperometric analyzer of cerebral microdialysis samples for glucose and lactate has been developed and optimized within the Boutelle group. The initial aim of this thesis was to significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio and limit of detection of the assay to allow reliable quantification of the analytical data. The first approach was to re-design the electronic instrumentation of the assay. Printed-circuit boards were fabricated and proved very low noise, stable and much smaller than the previous potentiostats. The second approach was to develop generic data processing algorithms to remove three complex types of noise that commonly contaminate analytical signals: spikes, non-stationary ripples and baseline drift. The general strategy consisted in identifying the types of noise, characterising them, and subsequently subtracting them from the otherwise unprocessed data set. Spikes were effectively removed with 96.8% success and ripples were removed with minimal distortion of the signal resulting in an increased signal-to-noise ratio by up to 250%. This allowed reliable quantification of traces from ten patients monitored with the online microdialysis assay. Ninety-six spontaneous metabolic events in response to spreading depolarizations were resolved. These were characterized by a fall in glucose by -32.0 μM and a rise in lactate by +23.1 μM (median values) for over a 20-minute time-period. With frequently repeating events, this led to a progressive depletion of brain glucose. Finally, to improve the temporal coupling between the metabolic data and the electro-cortical signals, a flow-cell was engineered to integrate a potassium selective electrode into the microdialysate flow stream. With good stability over hours of continuous use and a 90% response time of 65 seconds, this flow cell was used for preliminary in vivo experiments the Max Planck Institute in Cologne

Microfluidics for Biosensing

There are 12 papers published with 8 research articles, 3 review articles and 1 perspective. The topics cover: Biomedical microfluidics Lab-on-a-chip Miniaturized systems for chemistry and life science (MicroTAS) Biosensor development and characteristics Imaging and other detection technologies Imaging and signal processing Point-of-care testing microdevices Food and water quality testing and control We hope this collection could promote the development of microfluidics and point-of-care testing (POCT) devices for biosensing

Present and future of surface-enhanced Raman scattering

The discovery of the enhancement of Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on nanostructured metal surfaces is a landmark in the history of spectroscopic and analytical techniques. Significant experimental and theoretical effort has been directed toward understanding the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect and demonstrating its potential in various types of ultrasensitive sensing applications in a wide variety of fields. In the 45 years since its discovery, SERS has blossomed into a rich area of research and technology, but additional efforts are still needed before it can be routinely used analytically and in commercial products. In this Review, prominent authors from around the world joined together to summarize the state of the art in understanding and using SERS and to predict what can be expected in the near future in terms of research, applications, and technological development. This Review is dedicated to SERS pioneer and our coauthor, the late Prof. Richard Van Duyne, whom we lost during the preparation of this article