Dean flow focusing and separation of small microspheres within a narrow size range.

Copyright The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are creditedRapid, selective particle separation and concentration within the bacterial size range (1–3 μm) in clinical or environmental samples promises significant improvements in detection of pathogenic microorganisms in areas including diagnostics and bio-defence. It has been proposed that microfluidic Dean flow-based separation might offer simple, efficient sample clean-up: separation of larger, bioassay contaminants to prepare bioassay targets including spores, viruses and proteins. However, reports are limited to focusing spherical particles with diameters of 5 μm or above. To evaluate Dean flow separation for (1–3 μm) range samples, we employ a 20 μm width and depth, spiral microchannel. We demonstrate focusing, separation and concentration of particles with closely spaced diameters of 2.1 and 3.2 μm, significantly smaller than previously reported as separated in Dean flow devices. The smallest target, represented by 1.0 μm particles, is not focused due to the high pressures associated with focussing particles of this size; however, it is cleaned of 93 % of 3.2 μm and 87 % of 2.1 μm microparticles. Concentration increases approaching 3.5 times, close to the maximum, were obtained for 3.2 μm particles at a flow rate of 10 μl min−1. Increasing concentration degraded separation, commencing at significantly lower concentrations than previously predicted, particularly for particles on the limit of being focused. It was demonstrated that flow separation specificity can be fine-tuned by adjustment of output pressure differentials, improving separation of closely spaced particle sizes. We conclude that Dean flow separation techniques can be effectively applied to sample clean-up within this significant microorganism size range.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Sensitive Observations of Radio Recombination Lines in Orion and W51: The Data and Detection of Systematic Recombination Line Blueshifts Proportional to Impact Broadening

Sensitive spectral observations made in two frequency bands near 6.0 and 17.6 GHz are described for Orion and W51. Using frequency switching we were able to achieve a dynamic range in excess of 10,000 without fitting sinusoidal or polynomial baselines. This enabled us to detect lines as weak as T$_{A} ~1mK in these strong continuum sources. Hydrogen recombination lines with$\Delta n$ as high as 25 have been detected in Orion. In the Orion data, where the lines are stronger, we have also detected a systematic shift in the line center frequencies proportional to linewidth that cannot be explained by normal optical depth effects.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Enabling participation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and seldom-heard communities in health research: A case study from the SCAMP adolescent cohort study

Our inquiry investigated the barriers to, and facilitators for, the involvement of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and ‘seldom-heard’ communities, in a study researching the impact of mobile phone and wireless device usage on adolescents’ cognition, behaviour and mental health. The aim was to co-produce solutions to increase participation, and we used focus groups, telephone interviews, a community event and a public and patient involvement (PPI) café to conduct the inquiry. Five themes emerged from the data: two enablers – the value and benefits of research; and three barriers – concerns about research and about communication, and practical constraints. A central cross-cutting theme, the concept of trust, was evident from the data, and extended across all themes, including across the solutions to nonparticipation. When the data collection and analysis were completed, we ran a symposium for researchers and members of the public to share our findings and to co-produce solutions. The symposium generated ideas about improving participation, including tailoring participant information, engaging with local advocates and involving people in research design and delivery

Dynamical description of quantum computing: generic nonlocality of quantum noise

We develop dynamical non-Markovian description of quantum computing in weak coupling limit, in lowest order approximation. We show that long range memory of quantum reservoir produces strong interrelation between structure of noise and quantum algorithm, implying nonlocal attacks of noise. We then argue that the quantum error correction method fails to protect quantum computation against electromagnetic or phonon vacuum which exhibit $1/t^4$ memory. This shows that the implicit assumption of quantum error correction theory -- independence of noise and self-dynamics -- fails in long time regimes. We also use our approach to present {\it pure} decoherence and decoherence accompanied by dissipation in terms of spectral density of reservoir. The so-called {\it dynamical decoupling} method is discussed in this context. Finally, we propose {\it minimal decoherence model}, in which the only source of decoherence is vacuum. We optimize fidelity of quantum information processing under the trade-off between speed of gate and strength of decoherence.Comment: 12 pages, minor corrections, softened interpretation of the result

The outsourcing of social care in Britain : what does it mean for voluntary sector workers?

While recent decades have witnessed a growth in the outsourcing of public services in Britain, the post-1997 UK Labour governments have sought to put in place mechanisms aimed at encouraging long-term collaborative contracting relationships marked by less reliance on cost-based competition. This article explores empirically how far these mechanisms have achieved their aims and thereby acted to protect the employment conditions of staff, and links this exploration to debates concerning the employment implications of organizational reforms within public sectors internationally. It concludes that in terms of bringing income security to the voluntary sector and stability to employment terms and conditions these efforts have been unsuccessful, and consequently casts doubts on more optimistic interpretations of the employment effects of organizational restructuring in the British public sector

The geometry of the higher dimensional black hole thermodynamics in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory

This paper deals with five-dimensional black hole solutions in (a) Einstein-Yang-Mills-Gauss-Bonnet theory and (b)Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet theory with a cosmological constant for spherically symmetric space time. The geometry of the black hole thermodynamics has been studied for both the black holes.Comment: 8 page

A study of dye anchoring points in half-squarylium dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells

This paper reports the synthesis of a series of new half-squaraine dyes (Hf-SQ) based around a common chromophoric unit consisting of linked indoline and squaric acid moieties. Carboxylate groups have been incorporated onto this core structure at four different points to study the influence of the anchoring group position on dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) device performance. Dyes have been linked to TiO2 directly through the squaric acid moiety, through a modified squaric acid unit where a vinyl dicyano group has replaced one carbonyl, via an alkyl carboxylate attached to the indole N or through a carboxylate attached to the 4 position of a benzyl indole. Contact angle measurements have been studied to investigate the hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties of the dyes and the results have been compared to N719 and Z907. Full characterization data of all the dyes and synthetic intermediates are reported including single-crystal X-ray structural analysis for dye precursors; the indole (2a) and the half-squarylium esters (3a) and (6b), as well as the dyes (4c), (8) and (12). Dye colours range from yellow to red/brown in solution (λmax range from 430 to 476 nm) with ε ranging from 38 000 to 133 100 M−1 cm−1. The performance of the dyes in DSCs shows the highest efficiency yet reported for a Hf-SQ dye (η = 5.0%) for 1 cm2 devices with a spectral response ranging from 400 to 700 nm depending on the dye substituents. Co-sensitization of half-squarylium dye (7b) with squaraine dye (SQ2) resulted in a broader spectral response and an improved device efficiency (η = 6.1%). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and cyclic voltammetry have been used to study the influence of linker position on dye HOMO–LUMO levels and the data has been correlated with I–V and EQE data