Vectorial strain gauge method using single flexible orthogonal polydimethylsiloxane gratings.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Guo H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4804235 | biostudies-other | 2016 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Similar Datasets
Project description:The ability to fabricate flexible filtration membranes that can selectively separate particles of different sizes is of considerable interest. In this article, we describe a facile, reproducible and simple one-step method to produce pores in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes. We embedded micron-sized NaHCO(3) particles in 50 micron thick PDMS films. After curing, the membranes were immersed in concentrated HCl acid. Pores were generated in the membrane by the evolution of CO(2) gas from the reaction of NaHCO(3) and HCl. High resolution Scanning Electron Microscope images clearly reveal the presence of openings on the surface and the cross-section of the membranes. Fluorescence and back-scattered electron imaging of porous PDMS membrane with embedded gold nanoparticles and comparison with non-porous PDMS membranes provided unambiguous evidence of pores in the membrane. Transport studies of molecular fluoresceinate ions, ions (sodium and chloride) and 240 nm polystyrene nanoparticles through these membranes demonstrate passable pores and existence of channels within the body of the membrane. Mechanically stretching the porous PDMS membrane and comparing the flow rates of fluoresceinate ions and the polystyrene beads through the stretched and unstretched membranes allowed a direct proof of the modulation of transport rate in the membranes. We show that stretching the membranes by 10% increases the flow rate of fluorescein molecules by 2.8 times and by a factor of approximately ~40% for the polystyrene nanoparticles.
| S-EPMC3430524 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Differentiation between ischaemic and non-ischaemic transient ST segment events of long term ambulatory electrocardiograms is a persisting weakness in present ischaemia detection systems. Traditional ST segment level measuring is not a sufficiently precise technique due to the single point of measurement and severe noise which is often present. We developed a robust noise resistant orthogonal-transformation based delineation method, which allows tracing the shape of transient ST segment morphology changes from the entire ST segment in terms of diagnostic and morphologic feature-vector time series, and also allows further analysis. For these purposes, we developed a new Legendre Polynomials based Transformation (LPT) of ST segment. Its basis functions have similar shapes to typical transient changes of ST segment morphology categories during myocardial ischaemia (level, slope and scooping), thus providing direct insight into the types of time domain morphology changes through the LPT feature-vector space. We also generated new Karhunen and Lo ève Transformation (KLT) ST segment basis functions using a robust covariance matrix constructed from the ST segment pattern vectors derived from the Long Term ST Database (LTST DB). As for the delineation of significant transient ischaemic and non-ischaemic ST segment episodes, we present a study on the representation of transient ST segment morphology categories, and an evaluation study on the classification power of the KLT- and LPT-based feature vectors to classify between ischaemic and non-ischaemic ST segment episodes of the LTST DB. Classification accuracy using the KLT and LPT feature vectors was 90% and 82%, respectively, when using the k-Nearest Neighbors (k = 3) classifier and 10-fold cross-validation. New sets of feature-vector time series for both transformations were derived for the records of the LTST DB which is freely available on the PhysioNet website and were contributed to the LTST DB. The KLT and LPT present new possibilities for human-expert diagnostics, and for automated ischaemia detection.
| S-EPMC4749300 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Interest in mechanical compliance has been motivated by the development of flexible electronics and mechanosensors. In particular, studies and characterization of structural deformation at the fundamental scale can offer opportunities to improve the device sensitivity and spatiotemporal response; however, the development of precise measurement tools with the appropriate resolution remains a challenge. Here we report a flexible and stretchable photonic crystal nanolaser whose spectral and modal behaviours are sensitive to nanoscale structural alterations. Reversible spectral tuning of ?26?nm in lasing wavelength, with a sub-nanometre resolution of less than ?0.6?nm, is demonstrated in response to applied strain ranging from -10 to 12%. Instantaneous visualization of the sign of the strain is also characterized by exploring the structural and corresponding modal symmetry. Furthermore, our high-resolution strain-gauge nanolaser functions as a stable and deterministic strain-based pH sensor in an opto-fluidic system, which may be useful for further analysis of chemical/biological systems.
| S-EPMC4865857 | biostudies-other
Project description:The method of monodromy is an important tool for computing Virasoro conformal blocks in a two-dimensional Conformal Field Theory (2d CFT) at large central charge and external dimensions. In deriving the form of the monodromy problem, which defines the method, one needs to insert a degenerate operator, usually a level-two operator, into the corresponding correlation function. It can be observed that the choice of which degenerate operator to insert is arbitrary, and they shall reveal the same physical principles underlying the method. In this paper, we exploit this freedom and generalize the method of monodromy by inserting higher-level degenerate operators. We illustrate the case with a level-three operator, and derive the corresponding form of the monodromy problem. We solve the monodromy problem perturbatively and numerically; and check that it agrees with the standard monodromy method, despite the fact that the two versions of the monodromy problem do not seem to be related in any obvious way. The forms corresponding to other higher-level degenerate operators are also discussed. We explain the physical origin of the coincidence and discuss its implication from a mathematical perspective.
| S-EPMC9283430 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are responsible for exotic optical phenomena, including negative refraction, surface enhanced Raman scattering, and nanoscale focusing of light. Although many materials support SPPs, the choice of metal for most applications has been based on traditional plasmonic materials (Ag, Au) because there have been no side-by-side comparisons of the different materials on well-defined, nanostructured surfaces. Here, we report a platform that not only enabled rapid screening of a wide range of metals under different excitation conditions and dielectric environments, but also identified new and unexpected materials for biosensing applications. Nanopyramidal gratings were used to generate plasmon dispersion diagrams for Al, Ag, Au, Cu, and Pd. Surprisingly, the SPP coupling efficiencies of Cu and Al exceeded widely used plasmonic materials under certain excitation conditions. Furthermore, grazing angle excitation led to the highest refractive index sensitivities (figure of merit >85) reported at optical frequencies because of extremely narrow SPP resonances (full-width-at-half-minimum <6 nm or 7 meV). Finally, our screening process revealed that Ag, with the highest sensitivity, was not necessarily the preferred material for detecting molecules. We discovered that Au and even Pd, a weak plasmonic material, showed comparable index shifts on formation of a protein monolayer.
| S-EPMC2629303 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes are used in various applications, such as microvalves, micropumps, microlenses, and cell culture substrates, with various thicknesses from microscale to nanoscale. In this study, we propose a simple fabrication method for PDMS membranes on a water surface, referred to as the floating-on-water (FoW) method. FoW can be used to easily fabricate PDMS membranes with thicknesses of a few micrometers (minimum 3 μm) without special equipment. In addition, as the membrane is fabricated on the water surface, it can be easily handled without damage. In addition, alternative membrane structures were demonstrated, such as membrane-on-pins and droplet-shaped membranes. FoW can be widely used in various applications that require PDMS membranes with microscale thicknesses.
| S-EPMC6722912 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Over the last 15 years, double stranded DNA (dsDNA) has been used as a model polymeric system for nearly all single polymer dynamics studies. However, dsDNA is a semiflexible polymer with markedly different molecular properties compared to flexible chains, including synthetic organic polymers. In this work, we report a new system for single polymer studies of flexible chains based on single stranded DNA (ssDNA). We developed a method to synthesize ssDNA for fluorescence microscopy based on rolling circle replication, which generates long strands (>65 kb) of ssDNA containing "designer" sequences, thereby preventing intramolecular base pair interactions. Polymers are synthesized to contain amine-modified bases randomly distributed along the backbone, which enables uniform labelling of polymer chains with a fluorescent dye to facilitate fluorescence microscopy and imaging. Using this approach, we synthesized ssDNA chains with long contour lengths (>30 ?m) and relatively low dye loading ratios (~1 dye per 100 bases). In addition, we used epifluorescence microscopy to image single ssDNA polymer molecules stretching in flow in a microfluidic device. Overall, we anticipate that ssDNA will serve as a useful model system to probe the dynamics of polymeric materials at the molecular level.
| S-EPMC3433055 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The ability to image single molecules (SM) has been the dream of scientists for centuries, and because of the substantial recent advances in microscopy, individual fluorescent molecules can now be observed on a regular basis. However, the development of such imaging systems was not without dilemmas, such as the detection and separation of individual fluorescence emissions. One method to solve this problem utilized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to enhance the emission intensity of SMs. Although enhancing the SM emission intensity has yielded promising results, this method does not fully utilize the unique plasmonic properties that could vastly improve the SM imaging capabilities. Here, we use SPR excitation as well as surface plasmon-coupled emission from a high-definition digital versatile disc grating structure to image and identify different fluorophores using the angular emission of individual molecules. Our results have important implications for research in multiplexed SM spectroscopy and SM fluorescence imaging.
| S-EPMC6641069 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC9800674 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The manipulation of dynamic Brillouin gratings in optical fibers is demonstrated to be an extremely flexible technique to achieve, with a single experimental setup, several all-optical signal processing functions. In particular, all-optical time differentiation, time integration and true time reversal are theoretically predicted, and then numerically and experimentally demonstrated. The technique can be exploited to process both photonic and ultra-wide band microwave signals, so enabling many applications in photonics and in radio science.
| S-EPMC3615338 | biostudies-literature