Quantitation of buried contamination by use of solvents

Experiments directed at determining the potential of reclaimed silicone polymers for reuse are described

Quantitation of buried contamination by use of solvents

Spore recovery form cured silicone potting compounds using amine solvents to degrade the cured polymers was investigated. A complete list of solvents and a description of the effect of each on two different silicone polymers is provided

A Model-Based Reconstruction Method for Incomplete Projection Industrial Computed Tomography Imaging

In computerized tomography, the cross-sectioned image of an object can be reconstructed from a set of projection data. It provides the ability to image internal structure which can not be inspected effectively with alternate techniques. Based on the Fourier slice theorem[l], projections in a full angular range and with sufficiently fine angular spacing are required to reconstruct a unique image. In some situations, however, complete projections are not available due to physical limitations in the data acquisition process. Image quality is degraded by the absence of complete data. Because most manufactured parts were built from a designer’s blueprint or solid modeling electronic database, a great deal is known about the physical structure of the part. Incorporating a priori information extracted from the CAD model has the potential to enhance incomplete projection CT image quality. In this paper, a model-based CT reconstruction method is presented. The a priori information used to enhance incomplete projection CT image quality is extracted from a 3-D solid modeling electronic database. Engineering database matching is conducted to extract the proper 2D cross-sectioned model image corresponding to the CT projection plane. A moment-based registration method is applied to ensure proper use of a priori information for model-based CT reconstruction. Furthermore, a projection substitution scheme, including projection alignment and automatic scaling method, is developed so that the projection data in the missing angular range calculated from a model image can be automatically rescaled to match the projection data in the available angular range. Experimental results of applying the model-based CT reconstruction method to an industrial part in both the limited-angle and the penetration-limited incomplete projection situations are presented and described. It is shown that the use of a priori information from solid models is a powerful technique for enhancing the quality of incomplete data CT images

On Internal Fracture of Solids

Initiation and propagation of internal fracture in solid

Efficient orthogonal control of tunnel couplings in a quantum dot array

Electrostatically-defined semiconductor quantum dot arrays offer a promising platform for quantum computation and quantum simulation. However, crosstalk of gate voltages to dot potentials and inter-dot tunnel couplings complicates the tuning of the device parameters. To date, crosstalk to the dot potentials is routinely and efficiently compensated using so-called virtual gates, which are specific linear combinations of physical gate voltages. However, due to exponential dependence of tunnel couplings on gate voltages, crosstalk to the tunnel barriers is currently compensated through a slow iterative process. In this work, we show that the crosstalk on tunnel barriers can be efficiently characterized and compensated for, using the fact that the same exponential dependence applies to all gates. We demonstrate efficient calibration of crosstalk in a quadruple quantum dot array and define a set of virtual barrier gates, with which we show orthogonal control of all inter-dot tunnel couplings. Our method marks a key step forward in the scalability of the tuning process of large-scale quantum dot arrays.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Picoliter-volume inkjet printing into planar microdevice reservoirs for low-waste, high-capacity drug loading.

Oral delivery of therapeutics is the preferred route for systemic drug administration due to ease of access and improved patient compliance. However, many therapeutics suffer from low oral bioavailability due to low pH and enzymatic conditions, poor cellular permeability, and low residence time. Microfabrication techniques have been used to create planar, asymmetric microdevices for oral drug delivery to address these limitations. The geometry of these microdevices facilitates prolonged drug exposure with unidirectional release of drug toward gastrointestinal epithelium. While these devices have significantly enhanced drug permeability in vitro and in vivo, loading drug into the micron-scale reservoirs of the devices in a low-waste, high-capacity manner remains challenging. Here, we use picoliter-volume inkjet printing to load topotecan and insulin into planar microdevices efficiently. Following a simple surface functionalization step, drug solution can be spotted into the microdevice reservoir. We show that relatively high capacities of both topotecan and insulin can be loaded into microdevices in a rapid, automated process with little to no drug waste