Future of smart cardiovascular implants

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in Western society. Recent technological advances have opened the opportunity of developing new and innovative smart stent devices that have advanced electrical properties that can improve diagnosis and even treatment of previously intractable conditions, such as central line access failure, atherosclerosis and reporting on vascular grafts for renal dialysis. Here we review the latest advances in the field of cardiovascular medical implants, providing a broad overview of the application of their use in the context of cardiovascular disease rather than an in-depth analysis of the current state of the art. We cover their powering, communication and the challenges faced in their fabrication. We focus specifically on those devices required to maintain vascular access such as ones used to treat arterial disease, a major source of heart attacks and strokes. We look forward to advances in these technologies in the future and their implementation to improve the human condition

Assembling Micron/Nanoscale Electronic Components using Optoelectronic Tweezers

The aim of this work is to develop a new method with the potential to revolutionise the process of assembling electronic components into circuits. We aim to produce a step change in the size of the smallest components that can be handled from the current smallest standard component size of 400×200 microns (0402 metric) down to components a few microns across and even nanostructured components (based upon graphene, nanowires or nanotubes, for example). This will be accomplished by developing a radically new assembly strategy based on a touch-less manipulation technique known as optoelectronic tweezers (OET). We have demonstrated the use of OET to manipulate conductive silver nanowires into different patterns. A proof-ofconcept demonstration was also made to quantify the feasibility of using OET to manipulate silver nanowires to form a conductive metal path between two electrodes

Automated Particle Identification through Regression Analysis of Size, Shape and Colour

Rapid point of care diagnostic tests and tests to provide therapeutic information are now available for a range of specific conditions from the measurement of blood glucose levels for diabetes to card agglutination tests for parasitic infections. Due to a lack of specificity these test are often then backed up by more conventional lab based diagnostic methods for example a card agglutination test may be carried out for a suspected parasitic infection in the field and if positive a blood sample can then be sent to a lab for confirmation. The eventual diagnosis is often achieved by microscopic examination of the sample. In this paper we propose a computerized vision system for aiding in the diagnostic process; this system used a novel particle recognition algorithm to improve specificity and speed during the diagnostic process. We will show the detection and classification of different types of cells in a diluted blood sample using regression analysis of their size, shape and colour. The first step is to define the objects to be tracked by a Gaussian Mixture Model for background subtraction and binary opening and closing for noise suppression. After subtracting the objects of interest from the background the next challenge is to predict if a given object belongs to a certain category or not. This is a classification problem, and the output of the algorithm is a Boolean value (true/false). As such the computer program should be able to ”predict” with reasonable level of confidence if a given particle belongs to the kind we are looking for or not. We show the use of a binary logistic regression analysis with three continuous predictors: size, shape and color histogram. The results suggest this variables could be very useful in a logistic regression equation as they proved to have a relatively high predictive value on their own

Bridging the gap: rewritable electronics using real-time light-induced dielectrophoresis on lithium niobate

In the context of micro-electronics, the real-time manipulation and placement of components using optics alone promises a route towards increasingly dynamic systems, where the geometry and function of the device is not fixed at the point of fabrication. Here, we demonstrate physically reconfigurable circuitry through light-induced dielectrophoresis on lithium niobate. Using virtual electrodes, patterned by light, to trap, move, and chain individual micro-solder-beads in real-time via dielectrophoresis, we demonstrate rewritable electrical contacts which can make electrical connections between surface-bound components. The completed micro-solder-bead bridges were found to have relatively low resistances that were not solely dominated by the number of interfaces, or the number of discrete beads, in the connection. Significantly, these connections are formed without any melting/fusing of the beads, a key feature of this technique that enables reconfigurability. Requiring only a low-power (~3.5 mW) laser source to activate, and without the need for external power supply or signal generation, the all-optical simplicity of virtual-electrodes may prove significant for the future development of reconfigurable electronic systems

Spatially selecting single cell for lysis using light induced electric fields

An optoelectronic tweezing (OET) device, within an integrated microfluidic channel, is used to precisely select single cells for lysis among dense populations. Cells to be lysed are exposed to higher electrical fields than their neighbours by illuminating a photoconductive film underneath them. Using beam spot sizes as low as 2.5 μm, 100% lysis efficiency is reached in <1 min allowing the targeted lysis of cells

Use of optoelectronic tweezers in manufacturing – accurate solder bead positioning

In this work, we analyze the use of optoelectronic tweezers (OETs) to manipulate 45 μm diameter Sn62Pb36Ag2 solder beads with light-induced dielectrophoresis force and we demonstrate high positioning accuracy. It was found that the positional deviation of the solder beads increases with the increase of the trap size. To clarify the underlying mechanism, simulations based on the integration of the Maxwell stress tensor were used to study the force profiles of OET traps with different sizes. It was found that the solder beads felt a 0.1 nN static friction or stiction force due to electrical forces pulling them towards the surface and that this force is not dependent on the size of the trap. The stiction limits the positioning accuracy; however, we show that by choosing a trap that is just larger than the solder bead sub-micron positional accuracy can be achieved

Lexical semantics annotation for enriched Portuguese corpora

The semantic annotation of corpora has an important role to play in ensuring that sentences occurring in natural language texts are correctly understood based on their intended context. Two examples of lexical semantic units that contribute to this knowledge are word senses – which allow words with multiple meanings to be understood based on the context in which they are used – and named entities – which can be disambiguated and linked back to the specific encyclopedic resources that describe them. In this paper, we describe the construction of lexical semanticallyannotated corpora for Portuguese, annotated with both word senses linked to senses in a Portuguese wordnet and named entities linked to Portuguese Wikipedia entries using DBpedia. The result is a goldstandard lexical semantically-annotated resource that is useful in supporting the training and evaluation of tools for the disambiguation of these lexical units in Portuguese.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assembling and Manipulating Metallic Beads Using Optoelectronic Tweezers

Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) or light patterned dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been proved to be an effective micromanipulation technology for cell sorting, cell separation and cell communications. Apart from being useful for cell biology experiments, the capability of moving small objects accurately also makes OET an attractive technology for other micromanipulation applications. In this work, we demonstrated the use of OET to manipulate conductive silver-coated Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres into different patterns. The silver-coated PMMA microspheres were suspended in deionized water and manipulated by positive DEP force generated by an OET device. It is found that the microspheres can be moved at a max speed of over 3000 µm/s, corresponding to around 4 nano-newton (10-9 N) DEP force, which is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the DEP force imposed on widely-reported glass and PMMA microspheres. Simulations were carried out to clarify the underlying mechanism and it is found that the strong DEP force is caused by the significant increase of the gradient of electric field due to the silver shells of the microspheres. The strong DEP force makes it possible to manipulate these metallic microspheres efficiently with high reliability, which is important for applications on electronic component assembling and circuit construction

Manipulating and assembling metallic beads with optoelectronic tweezers

Optoelectronic tweezers (OET) or light-patterned dielectrophoresis (DEP) has been developed as a micromanipulation technology for controlling micro- and nano-particles with applications such as cell sorting and studying cell communications. Additionally, the capability of moving small objects accurately and assembling them into arbitrary 2D patterns also makes OET an attractive technology for microfabrication applications. In this work, we demonstrated the use of OET to manipulate conductive silver-coated Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres (50 μm diameter) into tailored patterns. It was found that the microspheres could be moved at a max velocity of 3200 μm/s, corresponding to 4.2 nano-newton (10−9 N) DEP force, and also could be positioned with high accuracy via this DEP force. The underlying mechanism for this strong DEP force is shown by our simulations to be caused by a significant increase of the electric field close to the particles, due to the interaction between the field and the silver shells coating the microspheres. The associated increase in electrical gradient causes DEP forces that are much stronger than any previously reported for an OET device, which facilitates manipulation of the metallic microspheres efficiently without compromise in positioning accuracy and is important for applications on electronic component assembling and circuit construction

Microparticle manipulation using laser-induced thermophoresis and thermal convection flow

We demonstrate manipulation of microbeads with diameters from 1.5 to 10 µm and Jurkat cells within a thin fluidic device using the combined effect of thermophoresis and thermal convection. The heat flow is induced by localized absorption of laser light by a cluster of single walled carbon nanotubes, with no requirement for a treated substrate. Characterization of the system shows the speed of particle motion increases with optical power absorption and is also affected by particle size and corresponding particle suspension height within the fluid. Further analysis shows that the thermophoretic mobility (DT) is thermophobic in sign and increases linearly with particle diameter, reaching a value of 8 µm2 s−1 K−1 for a 10 µm polystyrene bead