Controlling a Twister II with VBA and the Zymark ZyRobot ICP

A Visual Basic for Applications program was developed for direct control of a Twister II robot using the Zymark ZyRobot_ICP. Direct control enables automated check-out of the robot, and automated measurement of the plate stacks prior to a robot run. Normal operation of the robot program is performed with just two buttons.     

A Demonstration of High-Throughput Electrophoresis

Automating electrophoresis significantly reduces the time required for loading a large number of samples, increases the speed of electrophoresis analysis, and maximizes the resolution power (clear separation of fragments) of this technique. In addition, automation increases the precision of electrophoresis analysis. Here we demonstrate an automated, high-throughput method of loading 96 samples simultaneously onto an electrophoresis gel, using the Apogent Discoveries Tango™ system and the Invitrogen™ E-Gel® 96 system.     

A Study of a High-Throughput Plasmid DNA Purification System

An automated process that incorporates Millipore's Plasmid Miniprep₉₆ Montáge™ Kit with the Apogent Discoveries PlateMate Plus® and Tango™ automated high-throughput dispensing systems has been developed for purifying plasmid DNA. To test the efficacy of this process, parameters such as the reproducibility and consistency of the purified DNA quantity and quality as well as the purification speed were analyzed. The purification time for two plates of the Plasmid Miniprep₉₆ Kit (192 samples) was approximately 60 minutes using a PlateMate Plus equipped with 96 disposable tips and the Tango system equipped with 96 RB (resin bead) syringes. High uniformity and consistency in DNA yields (determined by spectrophotometric analysis) and quality (determined by gel electrophoresis analysis) among the different wells were observed. The purified plasmid DNA samples sequenced at an exceptional level with an average PHRED Q > 20 of 819 ± 25.*Millipore and Montage are the trademarks of Millipore Corporation     

Real-time implementation of multi-linear model-based control strategies––an application to a bench-scale pH neutralization reactor

The real-time implementation of a set of multi-linear model-based control design methodologies is studied using a bench-scale pH neutralization system that exhibits nonlinear dynamics. It is envisaged that advanced model-based control strategy based on the multi-linear models presents a promising paradigm to design controllers for complex nonlinear plants. The multi-linear modeling philosophy is based on the selection of a set of linear models, complemented with an adaptation mechanism to explain the nonlinear plant behavior in the whole operating range. Practical implications of each control strategy are evaluated and discussed.     

Construction of a Low Cost Custom 2-D Bar Code Reader for Tube Racks

We describe the development of a custom system for reading 2-D DataMatrix bar codes imprinted on the base of tubes stored in a rack. The system software drives a standard flatbed scanner in order to acquire an image, interprets DataMatrix bar codes at predefined locations in the image, and returns in an array the interpreted bar code data along with other associated information. Commercial software components were used for the image acquisition and bar code interpretation portion of the software. An example is given that illustrates how to call the custom software from Microsoft® Excel and insert the returned data directly into a spreadsheet.     

Performance evaluation of an automated material handling system for a wafer fab

Discrete-event simulation model was developed to evaluate the performance of an automated material handling system (AMHS) for a wafer fab with a zone control scheme avoiding all vehicle collision. The layout of this AMHS is a custom configuration. The track option contains turntables, turnouts and high-speed express lanes. The behavior of the interarrival for all stockers from the real data set was analyzed to verify the assumption of the simulation model. The results show that the underlying distributions of most stockers for interarrival times belong to the exponential or Weibull distribution. The simulation results show that the number of vehicles significantly affects the average delivery time and the average throughput. A simple one-factor response surface model is used to determine the appropriate vehicle numbers. This study was also investigated to determine the vehicle numbers in an automated guided vehicle-based intrabay material handling system.     

An extension of the Bene filter and some identification problems solved by nonlinear filtering methods

An extension of Benne ' filtering theorem to time dependent, parameter dependent and unknown initial conditions filtering problems is proved. A new approach for the identification of linear diffusions with unknown drift coefficients follows. New finite dimensional filters, which may also be regarded as identification filters, are derived and related to W.S. Wong's earlier work which used algebraic methods.     

固态pH 探测电极的制备及其性能表征

我们采用熔融碳酸锂(LiCO3)氧化法制备了固态Ir／IrO2 pH电极，同时制备了改进型固态Ag／AgCl参比电极，并对它们的性能进行了表征。实验结果显示，在pH=0-14的溶液中，Ir／IrO2电极与参比电极电位差与pH值呈现良好的线性关系，直线斜率为-62．429mV／pH，截距为607．97mV，相关系数R2=0．993。温度对新型pH传感器响应信号的影响符合Nernst方程，易于进行温度校正。盐度对电信号强度的影响是线性的，在介质盐度已知，或向步测定介质盐度的前提下，可从响应电信号强度及盐度确定待测介质的pH值。     

Global observability of a class of nonlinear discrete time systems

It is shown that discrete time systems whose dynamics are governed by piecewise monotone maps of the interval are globally observable under a general class of observations. The results rest on the fact that the dynamics are ergodic.     

Functionalization of Silicon Surfaces for Device Applications

Over the past decade, there has been increasing interest in functionalizing silicon surfaces, avoiding the ubiquitous oxide overlayer utilized in most integrated circuits based upon silicon. While silicon is clearly the backbone material of the microelectronics industry, an understanding of its surface chemistry still remains in preliminary stages. The native oxide overlayer on silicon chips has served admirably well for most microelectronic applications but as the features on integrated circuits become increasingly small, the ability to tailor the interfacial properties of the surface is extremely desirable. As the well known Moore's law describes, the number of devices on an integrated circuit has been increasing exponentially since the early 1960's, approximately doubling every year to 18 months. The smallest feature on a Pentium processor chip is now about 300 nm, and both industry and academia look to make even tinier surface features and devices as the state-of-the-art moves from ultra-to giga-scale integration, with over 10 to 100 million transistors per chip. Because the surface properties of these nanoscale devices will have crucial effects on their performance, new surface terminations and the chemical tools to access them are required.     

The Effect of Thalassemic Serum on Plasmodium Falciparum Growth in Vitro

Thalassemia and malaria are present at high frequency in tropic and subtropic regions. Impaired growth of Plasmodium falciparum has been demonstrated in vitro in both α-and β- thalasemic erythrocytes. In this study, we investigated the effects of thalassemic sera on Plasmodium falciparum developement including 5 α-thalasemia1/α-thalasemia2 (HbH) sera, 4 α-thalasemia1/hemoglobin Constant Springs (HbH/HbCS) sera and 7 β-thalassemia/ HbE sera compared to 7 normal sera. Study on malarial growth in medium containing 10% various sera for 4 days revealed that HbH and β-thalasemia/ HbE sera was significantly inhibited (p<0.05, by Mann-Whitney Utest) the parasite growth comparing to normal serum. Mean percentages of the parasites grown in HbH (2.24 + 0.75%) and β-thalassemia/ HbE (1.69 + 0.97%) sera were about 2 times less than that in normal serum (4.55 + 2.40%). The mean parasitemia cultured in HbH/HbCS serum (2.38 + 1.54%) was also lower than that in normal serum but it was non-significantly different. Investigation on stage changing of the parasite among the starting, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th day showed that all thalassemic sera retarded the parasite maturation from stage to stage. Decrease in percent ring stage production was observed in culture with HbH/HbCS and β-thalassemia/HbE sera. This might be resulted from reduction of merozoite population in mature schizont or failure of re-invasion of the merozoite. Therefore, not only cellular factors but also serum factors of thalassemic patients inhibited P. falciparum development which may be related to the protective mechanism of thalassemic patients from P. falciparum infection.     

A concept of local observability

A notion of local observability, which is natural in the context of nonlinear input/output regulation, is introduced. A simple characterization is provided, a comparison is made with other local nonlinear observability definitions, and its behavior under constant-rate sampling is analyzed.     

Remarks on two fixed-point theorems involving the sum and the product of two operators

In this article, we focus our attention on two fixed-point theorems of Krasnoselskii [1] and Dhage [2]. It is shown that some of the hypotheses of these fixed-point theorems are redundent. Our claim is also illustrated with an example.     

On the preservation of observability under sampling

In this paper, we investigate the problem of the preservation of observability under sampling.     

Use of the DIAS model to predict unrecognised hypoglycaemia in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes

The Diabetes Advisory System (DIAS) is a model of human glucose metabolism implemented in a causal probabilistic network. It handles data on insulin dose, carbohydrate intake and blood glucose concentration to predict hourly blood glucose concentrations and thus provide an indication of blood glucose values between home blood tests. DIAS was used to predict blood glucose profiles in eight patients with well-controlled insulin-dependent diabetes, who are at increased risk of hypoglycaemia (abnormally low blood glucose levels). DIAS predicted nocturnal hypoglycaemia in six patients and daytime hypoglycaemia in one patient. The occurrence of nocturnal hypoglycaemia was not recognised by the patient or suspected by their doctor but was subsequently confirmed by blood testing in five patients. It is known that unrecognised nocturnal hypoglycaemia is common in patients with well-controlled diabetes. The ability of DIAS to identify such periods of hypoglycaemia with reasonable accuracy illustrates how the advanced technology it employs may provide reliable decision support to clinicians.     

Stabilization of linear systems in the presence of output measurement saturation

This note considers siso nonlinear systems, which have a linear controllable and observable part followed by a measurement saturation nonlinearity. A controller is presented, which feeds back only the saturating output measurements and nevertheless globally asymptotically stabilizes the system. The equilibrium is actually reached in finite time, i.e. the controller is dead beat.     

Comfort evaluation of hearing protection

Hearing protection is very important for workers in noisy work environments, although the willingness of workers to wear hearing protectors depends heavily on their comfort. This paper evaluates and recommends improvements for the comfort of hearing protection. Workers’ experience and comfort needs for hearing protection were investigated through a questionnaire that established the “comfort indices” for hearing protection. An earmuff “comfort tester” was designed to measure the comfort indices, and an experiment was conducted to measure workers’ perceived comfort into quantitative data. From the data, the range of these comfort indices in which workers will feel comfortable was determined. Finally, guidelines to improve the design of current hearing protection based on these “comfort indices” are proposed, which may help increase workers’ willingness to wear hearing protection.

Relevance to industry

Using these proposed guidelines may help improve the comfort of hearing protection and increase workers’ willingness to wear hearing protection in noisy work environments.     

Computer-aided integration of multidisciplinary design information

This paper addresses the integration issues at the preliminary design stage in order to support analysis and decision-making while considering a design from the viewpoint of different disciplines. The paper describes a research project for investigating and designing a framework for intelligent linkage between design drawings and other information system environments, providing access to both external databases and design methods at the preliminary design stage. Accessing such information at this stage will allow designers to carry out the rapid evaluation of design alternatives, analysis and decision-making in a multi-disciplinary, multi-agent design environment. The objectives of the research are outlined, the methodology is discussed and the first application results are demonstrated.     

Efficient parallel solution of structural eigenvalue problems

An efficient parallelisation of an existing sequential method for obtaining the eigenvalues of a structure by an exact analytical procedure is presented. Results are given which illustrate finding the undamped natural frequencies of a rigidly jointed plane frame, but the method is also applicable to buckling problems and to other types of structure. The parallel method is suited to both distributed and shared-memory parallel machines. It seeks to equate the workload of each processor (node) by initially sharing out the work and by subsequently passing work from working nodes to idle nodes. Experimental runs on an nCUBE2 computer show that reasonably high levels of efficiency are possible.