Disposable Integrated Microfluidic Biochip for Blood Typing by Plastic Microinjection Moulding

Blood typing is the most important test for both transfusion recipients and blood donors. In this paper, a low cost disposable blood typing integrated microfluidic biochip has been designed, fabricated and characterized. In the biochip, flow splitting microchannels, chaotic micromixers, reaction microchambers and detection microfilters are fully integrated. The loaded sample blood can be divided by 2 or 4 equal volumes through the flow splitting microchannel so that one can perform 2 or 4 blood agglutination tests in parallel. For the purpose of obtaining efficient reaction of agglutinogens on red blood cells (RBCs) and agglutinins in serum, we incorporated a serpentine laminating micromixer into the biochip, which combines two chaotic mixing mechanisms of splitting/recombination and chaotic advection. Relatively large area reaction microchambers were also introduced for the sake of keeping the mixture of the sample blood and serum during the reaction time before filtering. The gradually decreasing multi-step detection microfilters were designed in order to effectively filter the reacted agglutinated RBCs, which show the corresponding blood group. To achieve the cost-effectiveness of the microfluidic biochip for disposability, the biochip was realized by the microinjection moulding of COC (cyclic olefin copolymer) and thermal bonding of two injection moulded COC substrates in mass production with a total fabrication time of less than 20 min. Mould inserts of the biochip for the microinjection moulding were fabricated by SU-8 photolithography and the subsequent nickel electroplating process. Human blood groups of A, B and AB have been successfully determined with the naked eye, with 3 mu l of the whole sample bloods, by means of the fabricated biochip within 3 min.X11100104sciescopu

A new design of nanocrystalline silicon optical devices based on 3-dimensional photonic crystal structures

We propose a new design of nanocrystalline silicon optical devices which are based on control of electromagnetic fields, electronic states, as well as the phonon dispersion of size-controlled silicon quantum dots

Tagless indoor positioning and object tracking using a wireless sensor network

This project seeks to implement a passive indoor positioning and tracking platform using Wi-Fi signals. It is well known that RF wave can be blocked by an object which results in signal attenuation [1 - 2]. The principle of this proposal is based on this phenomenon when the line-of-sight (LOS) link is blocked by an object. Hence, when a grid of such LOS links is tresspassed, it can be detected and tracked within the region

CAutoCSD-evolutionary search and optimisation enabled computer automated control system design

This paper attempts to set a unified scene for various linear time-invariant (LTI) control system design schemes, by transforming the existing concept of 'Computer-Aided Control System Design' (CACSD) to the novel 'Computer-Automated Control System Design' (CAutoCSD). The first step towards this goal is to accommodate, under practical constraints, various design objectives that are desirable in both time and frequency-domains. Such performance-prioritised unification is aimed to relieve practising engineers from having to select a particular control scheme and from sacrificing certain performance goals resulting from pre-committing to the adopted scheme. With the recent progress in evolutionary computing based extra-numeric, multi-criterion search and optimisation techniques, such unification of LTI control schemes becomes feasible, analytically and practically, and the resultant designs can be creative. The techniques developed are applied to, and illustrated by, three design problems. The unified approach automatically provides an integrator for zero-steady state error in velocity control of a DC motor, meets multiple objectives in designing an LTI controller for a non-minimum phase plant and offers a high-performing LTI controller network for a nonlinear chemical process

Positioning Control of an Antagonistic Pneumatic Muscle Actuated System using Feedforward Compensation with Cascaded Control Scheme

This paper presents a feedforward compensation with cascaded control scheme (FFC) for the positioning control of a vertical antagonistic based pneumatic muscle actuated (PMA) system. Owing to the inherent nonlinearities and time varying parameters exhibited by PMA, conventional fixed controllers unable to demonstrate high positioning performance. Hence, the feedforward compensation with cascaded control scheme is proposed whereby the scheme includes a PID controller coupled with nonlinear control elements. The proposed scheme has a simple control structure in addition to its straightforward design procedures. Though there are nonlinear control elements involved, these elements are derived from the open loop system responses that does not requires any accurate known parameters. Performance of the FFC scheme are then evaluated experimentally and compared to a PID controller with feedforward compensation (FF-PID) in point-to-point motion of different step heights. Overall, the experimental results show that the effectiveness of the proposed FFC scheme in reducing the steady state error to zero in comparison to FF-PID controller for all cases of step heights examined

Myxosarcoma in a dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus)

A 1.5 years old female Russian dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus) was presented with a large mass at right caudal ventral abdomen. Lumpectomy was performed to remove the growth mass and subjected to histopathological examination. The encapsulated mass was 3 cm x 4 cm, grossly solitary, non-ulcerated and pinkish in colour with presence of mucous-like substances on cut surface. Routine histopathology using hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed presence of pleomorphic, loosely arranged stellate to spindle shaped cells, angiogenesis, abundant neutrophils, necrotized tissues and high number of mitotic figures. Tumour tissue was positive for Alcian blue (pH 2.5) stain but negative for Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining which suggests presence of acid mucin which confirmed the diagnosis of myxosarcoma. One month post-surgery, the hamster showed absence for local recurrence of the tumour, but it died a few months later due to unrelated cause