Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of a 2-D SOI MEMS Micromirror with Sidewall Electrodes for Confocal MACROscope Imaging

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) micromirrors have been developed for more than two decades along with the development of MEMS technology. They have been used into many application fields: optical switches, digital light projector (DLP), adoptive optics (AO), high definition (HD) display, barcode reader, endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal microscope, and so on. Especially, MEMS mirrors applied into endoscopic OCT and confocal microscope are the intensive research field. Various actuation mechanisms, such as electrostatic, electromagnetic, electro bimorph thermal, electrowetting, piezoelectric (PZT) and hybrid actuators, are adopted by different types of micromirrors. Among these actuators, the electrostatic is easily understood and simple to realize, therefore, it is broadly adopted by a large number of micromirrors. This thesis reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a 2-D Silicon-on-insulation (SOI) MEMS micromirror with sidewall (SW) electrodes for endoscopic OCT or confocal microscope imaging. The biaxial MEMS mirror with SW electrodes is actuated by electrostatic actuators. The dimension of mirror plate is 1000micron×1000micron, with a thickness of a 35micron. The analytical modeling of SW electrodes, fabrication process, and performance characteristics are described. In comparison to traditional electrostatic actuators, parallel-plate and comb-drive, SW electrodes combined with bottom electrodes achieve a large tilt angle under a low drive voltage that the comb-drive does and possess fairly simple fabrication process same as that of the parallel-plate. A new fabrication process based on SOI wafer, hybrid bulk/surface micromachined technology, and a high-aspect-ratio shadow mask is presented. Moreover, the fabrication process is successfully extended to fabricate 2×2 and 4×4 micromirror arrays. Finally, a biaxial MEMS mirror with SW electrodes was used into Confocal MACROscope for imaging. Studied optical requirements in terms of two optical configurations and frequency optimization of the micromirror, the biaxial MEMS mirror replaces the galvo-scanner and improves the MACROscope. Meanwhile, a new Micromirror-based Laser Scanning Microscope system is presented and allows 2D images to be acquired and displayed

Boundary stabilization of quasilinear hyperbolic systems of balance laws: Exponential decay for small source terms

We investigate the long-time behavior of solutions of quasilinear hyperbolic systems with transparent boundary conditions when small source terms are incorporated in the system. Even if the finite-time stability of the system is not preserved, it is shown here that an exponential convergence towards the steady state still holds with a decay rate which is proportional to the logarithm of the amplitude of the source term. The result is stated for a system with dynamical boundary conditions in order to deal with initial data that are free of any compatibility condition

Hopf Bifurcation Analysis for the Modified Rayleigh Price Model with Time Delay

This paper mainly modifies and further develops the Reyleigh price model. By modifying the basic Reyleigh model, we can more accurately illustrate the economic phenomena with price varying. First, we research the dynamics of the modified Reyleigh model with time delay. By employing the normal form theory and center manifold theory, we obtain some testable results on these issues. The conclusion confirms that a Hopf bifurcation occurs due to the existence of stability switches when the delay varies. Finally, some numerical simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of our results

Cyclic performance of viscoelastic dielectric elastomers with solid hydrogel electrodes

Hydrogels containing electrolyte can work as ionic conductors to actuate dielectric elastomer (DE) artificial muscles. Based on a popular design of a circular actuator, we study theoretically and experimentally the cyclic performance of acrylic DE actuators with solid hydrogel electrodes. The viscoelasticity of solid electrodes constrains the maximum strain that is attainable for one cycle of triangular voltage, and it also diminishes the accumulated increment of the maximum strain after many cycles of loadings.Engineering and Applied Science

Enhancing predictive validity of motoric cognitive risk syndrome for incident dementia and all-cause mortality with handgrip strength: insights from a prospective cohort study

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess whether integrating handgrip strength (HGS) into the concept of motoric cognitive risk (MCR) would enhance its predictive validity for incident dementia and all-cause mortality.MethodsA cohort of 5, 899 adults from the Health and Retirement Study underwent assessments of gait speed, subjective cognitive complaints, and HGS were involved. Over a 10-year follow-up, biennial cognitive tests and mortality data were collected. Cox proportional hazard analyses assessed the predictive power of MCR alone and MCR plus HGS for incident dementia and all-cause mortality.ResultsPatients with MCR and impaired HGS (MCR-HGS) showed the highest adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) for dementia (2.33; 95% CI, 1.49–3.65) and mortality (1.52; 95% CI, 1.07–2.17). Even patients with MCR and normal HGS (MCR-non-HGS) experienced a 1.77-fold increased risk of incident dementia; however, this association was not significant when adjusted for socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, and medical conditions. Nevertheless, all MCR groups demonstrated increased risks of all-cause mortality. The inclusion of HGS in the MCR models significantly improved predictive discrimination for both incident dementia and all-cause mortality, as indicated by improvements in the C-statistic, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) and net reclassification indices (NRI).ConclusionOur study underscores the incremental predictive value of adding HGS to the MCR concept for estimating risks of adverse health outcomes among older adults. A modified MCR, incorporating HGS, could serve as an effective screening tool during national health examinations for identifying individuals at risk of dementia and mortality

A spiropyran with low pK_a for tracking DNA G-quadruplexes and revealing the dissipation of ΔΨm with senescence using an in-situ switching strategy

The in-situ fluorescence triggering of bioprobes only using endogenous bioforces is an ideal non-destructive real-time detection method, which is of particular interest to improve the accuracy of clinical diagnosis and treatment. We have recently reported a strategy of spiropyran in-situ switching triggered by endogenous biological forces in vivo to develop optical probes for this purpose. However, such probes, as with all spiropyrans, are sensitive to lysosomal acidity. We here present a spiropyran-based fluorescent probe TANG with low pKa, which can recognize intranuclear DNA G4s in situ without the aid of exogenous light or chemicals and is as stable to lysosomal acidity due to a decreased pKa value (4.3). Interestingly, despite the stability to lysosomal pH environment, the TANG spiropyran can be opened in situ by the negative membrane potential of extranuclear mitochondria (ΔΨm), causing a ratiometric change in fluorescence signals and providing the in-situ and real-time tracking of ΔΨm. Of note, ratiometric imaging using TANG indicates that ΔΨm decreases gradually with cellular senescence, which is to the best of our knowledge the first visualization of such mitochondrion-related aging processes using a ratiometric imaging approach.</p

Amorphous quaternary alloy nanoplates for efficient catalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction

Developing a highly efficient non-precious transition metal-based electrocatalyst via a facile approach toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is critical for large-scale hydrogen production but still remains challenging. Herein, a cost-effective electrochemical deposition strategy is rationally proposed to construct amorphous quaternary FeCoNiCu alloy nanosheets supported on nickel foam (NF) towards this challenge. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of multi-metal atoms interaction and the high exposure of active sites caused by abundant open voids, the as-synthesized FeCoNiCu/NF electrode exhibits high catalytic activity and robustness toward HER in alkaline solution, requiring an overpotential of only 35 mV to reach a current density of 10 mA cm–2. This study may pave a new avenue to design advanced electrocatalyst for energy conversion

Oxygen Vacancy-Enriched Amorphous Transition Metal Ternary Oxides toward Highly Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Developing highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts based on earth-abundant elements is critical to improve the efficiency of water electrolysis, but it remains a challenge. Herein, an amorphous ternary oxides composites FeNiCoOx/CoOx with rich oxygen vacancies are developed through a low-cost wet chemical deposition strategy toward this challenge. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of multimetal atom interaction and high exposure of active sites caused by oxygen vacancies and amorphous structure, the as-developed FeNiCoOx/CoOx electrocatalyst exhibits an exceptional catalytic performance with a low overpotential of only 221 mV at a current density of 100 mA cm-2 and negligible performance degradation over 240 h. Furthermore, the FeNiCoOx/CoOx-assembled anion exchange membrane water electrolyzer (AEMWE) can achieve a high current density of 1 A cm-2 at a low voltage of 1.765 V, demonstrating its great potential for practical application