Microfluidics at fibre tip for nanolitre delivery and sampling

Delivery and sampling nanolitre volumes of liquid can benefit new invasive surgical procedures. However, the dead volume and difficulty in generating constant pressure flow limits the use of small tubes such as capillaries. This work demonstrates sub-millimetre microfluidic chips assembled directly on the tip of a bundle of two hydrophobic coated 100 μm capillaries to deliver nanolitre droplets in liquid environments. Droplets are created in a specially designed nanopipette and propelled by gas through the capillary to the microfluidic chip where a passive valve mechanism separates liquid from gas, allowing their delivery. By adjusting the driving pressure and microfluidic geometry we demonstrate both partial and full delivery of 10 nanolitre droplets with 0.4 nanolitre maximum error, as well as sampling from the environment. This system will enable drug delivery and sampling with minimally invasive probes, facilitating continuous liquid biopsy for disease monitoring and in-vivo drug screening

Are dentists enough aware of infectious risk associated with dental unit waterlines?

Environmental conditions in DU encourage biofilm development. This biofilm may represent a risk for patients and dental staff exposed to water and aerosols generated during dental cares, particularly for immunocompromised persons. A survey was conducted on the 175 dental surgeons of the department of Vienne (France) to investigate the motivations of dental practitioners to renew their DU, their awareness levels with respect to infectious risks related to water circulating within DU, and methods used for the maintenance of DU waterlines. These dentists were only partially aware of the need for maintaining DU waterlines. For this maintaining, chemical treatments and purges of pipes were carried out by 88% and 91.5% of dentists respectively ; chemical treatments were usually on a continous mode and dentists seemed to have complete confidence in their DU supplier regarding the choice and the use of chemical treatments. Flushes were performed only once per day in most cases (63%). This survey also highlighted that dentists were not enough aware of water related infectous risk, even though 68% estimated that the development of a biofilm within DU waterlines was an actual risk. Finally, very positively, dentists strongly indicated their wish to be more informed regarding all these risks. Although these results are based on a relatively small sample, corresponding to dentists of a French department, they clearly suggest that awareness of dental surgeons is still insufficient and must be performed to permit an effective prevention of infectious risk related to DU waterlines

A robust sensorless output feedback controller of the induction motor drives: New design and experimental validation

International audienceIn this paper, a sensorless output feedback controller is designed in order to drive the Induction Motor IM without the use of flux and speed sensors. Firstly, an observer that uses only the measured stator currents is synthesized to estimate the mechanical variables (speed and load torque) and the magnetic variables (fluxes) by structurally taking into account the unobservability phenomena of the Sensorless IM (SIM) and the parametric uncertainties. Secondly, a current-based field oriented sliding mode control, that uses the flux and the speed estimates given by the former observer is developed so as to steer the estimated speed and flux magnitude to the desired references. Since the observer design is independent of the control and depends on theIM parametric uncertainties, a separation principle is introduced to guarantee the practical stability of the whole closed-loop system "observer -controller" ("O-C") according to observability and unobservability time variation. A significant benchmark taking into account the unobservability phenomena of the \textit{SIM} is presented to show the performances of the whole control scheme against experimental set-up

Cosmological time versus CMC time I: Flat spacetimes

This paper gives a new proof that maximal, globally hyperbolic, flat spacetimes of dimension $n\geq 3$ with compact Cauchy hypersurfaces are globally foliated by Cauchy hypersurfaces of constant mean curvature, and that such spacetimes admit a globally defined constant mean curvature time function precisely when they are causally incomplete. The proof, which is based on using the level sets of the cosmological time function as barriers, is conceptually simple and will provide the basis for future work on constant mean curvature time functions in general constant curvature spacetimes, as well for an analysis of the asymptotics of constant mean foliations

The management of student´s virtual money – sensibilisation and learning for life

The advanced technological age, marketing and society of the abundance in which we live, have a strong influence on the consumption and eating habits of the children. Every day in schools, these little human beings make autonomous choices and their parents, despite seeking to control and know their actions, cannot do it entirely for many reasons. The study was carried out in a group of the fifth grade and their results were subjected to a descriptive and inferential analysis, in which the purpose was to study the relation of some of the variables in question. The conclusions point for example to the parents' lack of knowledge in what concerns the type of consumption and on how their students spend their money. So it can be said that the role of the school in raising responsible citizens in managing their money is a necessary and continuous learning throughout the school life.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Slow-slip events in semi-brittle serpentinite fault zones

Slow-slip events are earthquake-like events only with much lower slip rates. While peak coseismic velocities can reach tens of meters per second, slow-slip is on the order of 10^(−7±2) m/s and may last for days to weeks. Under the rate-and-state model of fault friction, slow-slip is produced only when the asperity size is commensurate with the critical nucleation size, a function of frictional properties. However, it is unlikely that all subduction zones embody the same frictional properties. In addition to friction, plastic flow of antigorite-rich serpentinite may significantly influence the dynamics of fault slip near the mantle wedge corner. Here, we show that the range of frictional parameters that generate slow slip is widened in the presence of a serpentinized layer along the subduction plate interface. We observe increased stability and damping of fast ruptures in a semi-brittle fault zone governed by both brittle and viscoelastic constitutive response. The rate of viscous serpentinite flow, governed by dislocation creep, is enhanced by high ambient temperatures. When effective viscosity is taken to be dynamic, long-term slow slip events spontaneously emerge. Integration of rheology, thermal effects, and other microphysical processes with rate-and-state friction may yield further insight into the phenomenology of slow slip

Integrating Simulink Models into the Model Checker Cosmos

International audienceWe present an implementation for Simulink model executions in the statistical model-checker Cosmos. We take profit of this implementation for hybrid modeling and simulations combining Petri nets and Simulink models.Nous présentons une implémentation pour l'exécution de modèles Simulink dans le model-checker Cosmos. Cette implémentation est ensuite utilisée pour la simulation de modèles hybrides, combinant des réseaux de Petri et des modèles Simulink

Cation selectivity of the presequence translocase channel Tim23 is crucial for efficient protein import.

Virtually all mitochondrial matrix proteins and a considerable number of inner membrane proteins carry a positively charged, N-terminal presequence and are imported by the TIM23 complex (presequence translocase) located in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The voltage-regulated Tim23 channel constitutes the actual protein-import pore wide enough to allow the passage of polypeptides with a secondary structure. In this study, we identify amino acids important for the cation selectivity of Tim23. Structure based mutants show that selectivity is provided by highly conserved, pore-lining amino acids. Mutations of these amino acid residues lead to reduced selectivity properties, reduced protein import capacity and they render the Tim23 channel insensitive to substrates. We thus show that the cation selectivity of the Tim23 channel is a key feature for substrate recognition and efficient protein import

Particle Physics Explanations for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Events

The origin of cosmic ray events with E \gsim 10^{11} GeV remains mysterious. In this talk I briefly summarize several proposed particle physics explanations: a breakdown of Lorentz invariance, the ``$Z-$burst'' scenario, new hadrons with masses of several GeV as primaries, and magnetic monopoles with mass below $10^{10}$ GeV as primaries. I then describe in a little more detail the idea that these events are due to the decays of very massive, long--lived exotic particles.Comment: Invited plenary talk at PASCOS03, Mumbai, India, January 2003; 13 pages, 1 figur