A Label-Free Multisensing Immunosensor Based on Imaging Ellipsometry

An immunosensor based on imaging ellipsometry and its potential applications was demonstrated in this paper. It has been proven a fast, reliable, and convenient method to quantify the thickness distribution of protein layers or detect protein concentration in solution. Combined with a protein chip, the immunosensor was able to detect multiple analytes simultaneously without any labeling. Preliminary results demonstrated how this immunosensor could be used to monitor several independent biospecific binding processes in real-time and in situ conditions

Hydrothermal Wave in a Shallow Liquid Layer

The oscillatory thermocapillary convection and hydrothermal wave in a shallow liquid layer, where a temperature difference is applied between two parallel sidewalls, have been numerically investigated in a two-dimensional model. The oscillatory thermocapillary convection and hydrothermal wave appear if the Marangoni number is larger than a critical value. The critical phase speed and critical wave number of the hydrothermal wave agree with the ones given analytically by Smith and Davis in the microgravity environment, and it travels in the direction opposed to the surface flow. Another wave traveled downstream in addition to the hydrothermal wave traveled upstream was observed in the case of earth gravity condition

Simultaneous Laser-Induced Fluorescence And Contactless-Conductivity Detection For Microfluidic Chip

A combined detection system involving simultaneous LIF and contactless-conductometric measurements at the same place of the microfluidic chip was described. The LIF measurement was designed according to the confocal principle and a moveable contactless-conductivity detector was used in (CD)-D-4. Both measurements were mutually independent and advantageous in analyses of mixtures. Various experimental parameters affecting the response were examined and optimized. The performances were demonstrated by simultaneous detection of Rhodamine B. And the results showed that the combined detection system could be used sensitively and reliably. (C) 2008 Yong Yu. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved

Superconductivity in iron telluride thin films under tensile stress

By realizing in thin films a tensile stress state, superconductivity of 13 K was introduced into FeTe, an non-superconducting parent compound of the iron pnictides and chalcogenides, with transition temperature higher than that of its superconducting isostructural counterpart FeSe. For these tensile stressed films, the superconductivity is accompanied by the softening of the first-order magnetic and structural phase transition; and also, the in-plane extension and out-of-plane contraction are universal in all FeTe films independent of sign of lattice mismatch, either positive or negative. Moreover, the correlations were found exist between the transition temperatures and the tetrahedra bond angles in these thin films.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Physical Review Letter

Topological structure evolvement of flow and temperature fields in deformable drop Marangoni migration in microgravity

Using the level-set method and the continuum interface model, the axisymmetric thermocapillary migration of a deformable liquid drop immerged in an immiscible bulk liquid with a temperature gradient is simulated numerically with constant material properties of the two phases. Steady terminal state of the motion can always be reached. The dimensionless terminal migration velocity decreases monotonously with the increase of the Marangoni number. Good agreements with space experimental data and most of previous numerical studies in the literature are evident. The terminal topological structure of flow field, in which a recirculation identical to Hill's vortex exists inside the drop, does not change with the Marangoni number. Only slight movement of the location of vortex center can be observed. On the contrary, bifurcations of the terminal topological structure of temperature field occur twice with increasing Marangoni number. At first, the uniform and straight layer-type structure of temperature field at infinitesimal Reynolds and Marangoni numbers wraps inside of the drop due to convective transport of heat as the Marangoni number increases, resulting in the emergence of an onion-type local cooler zone around the center of the drop beyond a lower critical Marangoni number. Expanding of this zone, particularly in the transverse direction, with the increasing of the Marangoni number leads to a cap- or even shell-type structure. The coldest point within the liquid drop locates on the axis. There is a middle critical Marangoni number, beyond which the coldest point will jump from the rear stagnation into the drop, though the topological structure of the temperature field does not change. The second bifurcation occurs at an upper critical Marangoni number, where the shell-type cooler zone inside drops ruptures from the central point and then a torus-type one emerges. The coldest point departs from the axis, and the so-called "cold-eye" appears in the meridian. It is also found that the inner and outer thermal boundary layers along the interface may exist both inside and outside the drop if Ma > 70. But the thickness decreases with the increasing Marangoni number more slowly than the prediction of potential flow at large Marangoni and Reynolds numbers. A velocity shear layer outside the drop is also introduced formally, of which modality may be affected by the convective transports of heat and/or momentum. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Interfacial temperature discontinuities in a thin liquid layer during evaporation

Recent measurements of the temperature profiles across the liquid-vapor interface of a steady evaporating liquid were performed in a thin planar liquid layer subjected to externally imposed horizontal temperature differences when the interface was open to air. Temperature discontinuities have been found to exist at the interface with an growing tendency as the imposed horizontal temperature difference increasing. Under the co-influence of thermocapillary convection and evaporation effect, a thin layer of 0.5 mm thick with approximate uniform temperature was found just below the liquid-vapor interface. Repeated experiments and further comparisons of the interfacial temperature profiles for different spatial positions along the streamwise center line and varying depths of the liquid layer were also carried out. And the temperature discontinuity was found related to the temperature in liquid phase, which was strongly influenced by the coupling of thermocapillary convection and evaporation effect

North Pacific-wide spreading of isotopically heavy nitrogen during the last deglaciation: Evidence from the western Pacific

Sedimentary delta(15) N records in two IMAGES cores (MD012404 and MD012403) retrieved from the Okinawa Trough (OT) in the western North Pacific reveal deglacial increases with two peaks occurring during the Bolling/Allerod and the Preboreal/early Holocene periods. These peaks are synchronous with previously reported delta(15) N peaks in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific, although the amplitudes (from 3.8 to 5.8%) are much smaller in the OT. Similar delta(15) N values for the last glacial maximum and the late-Holocene observed by us at a site far from the present-day zones of water-column denitrification (WCD) indicate that the mean N-15/N-14 of nitrate in the upper ocean did not differ much between the two climate states. The accumulation rate of organic carbon and total sulfur content are used as indices of the local WCD potential. The results suggest that enhancement of global WCD rather than local denitrification should be responsible for the deglacial maxima of sedimentary delta(15) N in the Okinawa Trough. Our data could provide additional constraints to better understand changes in nitrogen budget during the glacial to interglacial transition.National Science Council of Taiwan [NSC 96-2611-M-001-005]; State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, ; Xiamen University, Xiame

Planar Thermocapillary Migration of Two Bubbles in Microgravity Environment

A theoretical investigation is performed on the thermocapillary motion of two bubbles in arbitrary configuration in microgravity environment under the assumption that the surface tension is high enough to keep the bubbles spherical. The two bubbles are drA theoretical investigation is performed on the thermocapillary motion of two bubbles in arbitrary configuration in microgravity environment under the assumption that the surface tension is high enough to keep the bubbles spherical. The two bubbles are driven by the surface tension gradient due to temperature nonuniformity on the surfaces. The bubble interaction is considered for the limit of small Marangoni and Reynolds numbers in the present paper. In order to solve the problem analytically, the method of successive reflections is employed, and then accurate migration velocities of two arbitrarily oriented bubbles in the planar thermocapillary motions are derived. The results demonstrate that two equal-size bubbles exert no influence on the thermocapillary migration of each other at any separation because of the thorough cancellation of the thermal and fluid mechanical interaction effects, and the effect of the large bubble on the motion of the smaller one becomes significant with the two bubbles approaching each other, while the effect of the smaller one on the large remains weak. Moreover, three typical kinds of trajectories of the smaller bubble are identified

Thermocapillary Motion Of Droplets At Large Marangoni Numbers

In this paper, the thermocapillary motion problem of drops is investigated using the axisymmetric model. The front-tracking method is employed to capture the drop interface. We find that the migration velocity of the drop is greatly influenced by the temperature field in the drop when Ma is fairly large (>100), which leads to an increase-decrease migration velocity at the beginning of our simulations. (C) 2007 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Numerical simulations on thermocapillary migrations of nondeformable droplets with large Marangoni numbers

In this paper, the study on isolated spherical drops in thermocapillary migrations in zero gravity is carried out with a novel numerical scheme to accomplish long-tank simulations in a very short computing domain, and the full migrating phenomena with fairly large Marangoni numbers (up to 400) are discussed in detail. Larger Marangoni numbers lead to more complicated migrating processes, and longer distances for the drops to reach their final stable migrating velocities (U-F). There is nontrivial difference between the U-F values in theoretical analysis, numerical simulations, and space experiments, and the most possible reason is the assumed different migrating distances to reach steady states in different investigations