Label-free microfluidic enrichment of ring-stage Plasmodium falciparum-infected red blood cells using non-inertial hydrodynamic lift

<b>Background</b> Understanding of malaria pathogenesis caused by Plasmodium falciparum has been greatly deepened since the introduction of in vitro culture system, but the lack of a method to enrich ring-stage parasites remains a technical challenge. Here, a novel way to enrich red blood cells containing parasites in the early ring stage is described and demonstrated.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> A simple, straight polydimethylsiloxane microchannel connected to two syringe pumps for sample injection and two height reservoirs for sample collection is used to enrich red blood cells containing parasites in the early ring stage (8-10 h p.i.). The separation is based on the non-inertial hydrodynamic lift effect, a repulsive cell-wall interaction that enables continuous and label-free separation with deformability as intrinsic marker.<p></p> <b>Results</b> The possibility to enrich red blood cells containing P. falciparum parasites at ring stage with a throughput of ~12,000 cells per hour and an average enrichment factor of 4.3 ± 0.5 is demonstrated.<p></p> <b>Conclusion</b> The method allows for the enrichment of red blood cells early after the invasion by P. falciparumparasites continuously and without any need to label the cells. The approach promises new possibilities to increase the sensitivity of downstream analyses like genomic- or diagnostic tests. The device can be produced as a cheap, disposable chip with mass production technologies and works without expensive peripheral equipment. This makes the approach interesting for the development of new devices for field use in resource poor settings and environments, e.g. with the aim to increase the sensitivity of microscope malaria diagnosis.<p></p&gt

Negotiating the Korea-United States Free Trade Agreement

Difficult and sensitive issues will command the attention of US and Korean officials as they negotiate a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA). The United States will have to put long-standing US barriers to Korean exports of textiles, apparel, and steel on the table and resolve problems with South Korean access to the US visa waiver program. In turn, South Korea will have to open new opportunities for US goods and services, including autos, beef, and rice. Such a deal will pose a stiff political challenge for Korean officials. However, they will be under pressure in any event to reform their farm programs--either in the context of a final deal in the WTO talks or in response to Chinese initiatives in the region, which Korea will need to match. Both Korea and the United States also have important foreign policy interests in the FTA, particularly enhanced security on the Korean peninsula. South Korea would like the FTA to promote the policy of constructive engagement with North Korea, which the former has been pursuing by extending trade preferences to goods produced in the Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea. However, such a request would put the entire negotiation in jeopardy since the US Congress would reject preferences for the North Korean regime.

Local Calibration of the Highway Safety Manual for Four-Leg Stop-Controlled Intersections in Alaska

A Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Civil EngineeringThe Highway Safety Manual developed methodologies for consistently predicting accident rates that are useful in any location. These predictive accident rates can be adjusted to more closely match the reported accident rates in local areas by calculation of a calibration factor. In order to develop a calibration factor for four-leg stop-controlled intersections in Alaska, a sample of over 200 intersections was selected for analysis. From this sample, two groups of intersections meeting the criteria of four-leg stop-controlled intersections were selected. Information regarding site conditions, reported accident rates and physical characteristics was collected for each of the intersections included in the two study groups. A calibration factor for each group was calculated in accordance with Chapter 12 of the Highway Safety Manual. The findings of this report were calibration factors of 2.60 for the group of 22 intersections, and 2.34 for the group of 48 intersections. These values are far above the assumed calibration factor of 1.0 proving that calibration is necessary for accurate accident prediction rates when using the Highway Safety Manual. This report investigated the calibration factor for a single type of roadway facility in Alaska. However it can be inferred from the wide disparity between the assumed Highway Safety Manual calibration factor and the calculated calibration factors in this report that calibration factors should be calculated for each type of intersection and roadway element when using the Highway Safety Manual’s predictive methods.Title Page / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Appendices / Introduction / Literature Review / Methodology / Results / Conclusions / Recommendations / References / Appendice

Materiales y técnicas de fase vapor para la síntesis de recubrimientos cerámicos

[ES] Se hace un descripción de los avances recientes en la síntesis de recubrimientos duros de tipo cerámico, depositados mediante técnicas de deposición en fase vapor. Se dedica especial atención a los parámetros del proceso de deposición que controlan las propiedades finales de las capas (estructura cristalina, morfología, etc), tales como la energía de llegada de los átomos a las superficie en crecimiento, y la temperatura. Finalmente, se hace una revisión de los materiales más relevantes en lo que se refiere a sus aplicaciones como recubrimientos duros y protectores, o como recubrimientos decorativos, entre ellos, la familia de los nitruros, carburos y óxidos metálicos, depositados en diversos tipos de estructuras (monolíticas, multicapas y nanocomposites), y los compuestos ternarios del sistema BCN.[EN] A survey on recent advances in the synthesis of hard ceramic coatings is given, including materials processes and techniques. Emphasis is made on the parameters which control the coating properties (crystalline structure, morphology, etc), namely arrival energy of the atoms to the growing surface and substrate temperature. Some relevant coating materials are discussed in relation to their applications either as hard protective coatings or with decorative purposes, namely: the family of metal nitrides, carbides, and oxides, in different layer structures (monolithic, multilayers and nanocomposites) and ternary compounds of the BCN system.Peer reviewe