Nanoelectromechanical Chip (NELMEC) Combination of Nanoelectronics and Microfluidics to Diagnose Epithelial and Mesenchymal Circulating Tumor Cells from Leukocytes

An integrated nano‐electromechanical chip (NELMEC) has been developed for the label‐free distinguishing of both epithelial and mesenchymal circulating tumor cells (ECTCs and MCTCs, respectively) from white blood cells (WBCs). This nanoelectronic microfluidic chip fabricated by silicon micromachining can trap large single cells (>12 µm) at the opening of the analysis microchannel arrays. The nature of the captured cells is detected using silicon nanograss (SiNG) electrodes patterned at the entrance of the channels. There is an observable difference between the membrane capacitance of the ECTCs and MCTCs and that of WBCs (measured using SiNG electrodes), which is the key indication for our diagnosis. The NELMEC chip not only solves the problem of the size overlap between CTCs and WBCs but also detects MCTCs without the need for any markers or tagging processes, which has been an important problem in previously reported CTC detection systems. The great conductivity of the gold‐coated SiNG nanocontacts as well as their safe penetration into the membrane of captured cells, facilitate a precise and direct signal extraction to distinguish the type of captured cell. The results achieved from epithelial (MCF‐7) and mesenchymal (MDA‐MB231) breast cancer cells circulated in unprocessed blood suggest the significant applications for these diagnostic abilities of NELMEC.     

Performance analysis of low-power 1-bit CMOS full adder cells

A performance analysis of 1-bit full-adder cell is presented. The adder cell is anatomized into smaller modules. The modules are studied and evaluated extensively. Several designs of each of them are developed, prototyped, simulated and analyzed. Twenty different 1-bit full-adder cells are constructed (most of them are novel circuits) by connecting combinations of different designs of these modules. Each of these cells exhibits different power consumption, speed, area, and driving capability figures. Two realistic circuit structures that include adder cells are used for simulation. A library of full-adder cells is developed and presented to the circuit designers to pick the full-adder cell that satisfies their specific applications     

The behaviour of copper-zinc alloys in alkaline solutions upon alternate anodic and cathodic polarization

Galvanostatic cyclic anodic and cathodic polarization curves for four CuZn alloys are traced in alkaline solutions of different concentrations. The anodic behaviour of the first three alloys, with 15.9, 46.8 and 50.5 wt% Zn, resembles that of pure Cu. Oxidation arrests, corresponding to the formation of Cu₂O, Cu(OH)₂, HCuO₂? and Cu₂O₃, are recorded before the evolution of O₂ on the passive electrode. The Zn of the electrodes does not develop its oxidation arrest. It affects, however, the behaviour of the alloys in a number of ways. The results are explained on the basis of kinetic interactions, and in relation to the phase diagram of the Cu-Zn system.The fourth alloy, with 85.9 wt% Zn (ε + η phases), yields upon oxidation in concentrated alkali solutions a series of five or six arrests. The first two of these represent the oxidation of the Zn of the η- and ε-phases, respectively. Calculations have shown that the activity of the Zn in the ε-phase is ～ 4.6 × 10^?10 times that of the free η-phase. The other oxidation steps correspond to the oxidation of the Cu of the alloy. In 0.1N NaOH the same alloy behaves as if it was pure Zn.Critical current densities for the passivation of Cu, Zn and the four alloys are determined in 0.1M Na₂SO₄. The ability of the tested materials to withstand electrochemical dissolution decreases in the succession: Alloy I > Alloy III > Cu > Alloy II > Alloy IV > Zn.     

Optimization of transmitter and receiver filters for digitalcommunication systems using mean field annealing

A technique for finding transmitter and receiver filters for a wide class of digital communication systems which minimize the bit-error rate (BER) is presented. The technique uses Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the BER and mean field annealing (MFA) to optimize the pulse shapes. Modeling of the link can be as complex as simulation will allow, while MFA is resistant to the statistical variation in the BER estimate from the simulation. Initially, the MFA technique was applied to a binary symmetric channel in a nonsimulation environment, and an approximate analysis of the behavior of MFA for this problem was performed. In a more complex example, MFA was coupled with Monte Carlo simulation techniques to find near-optimal transmit and receive filters for a satellite communications link, taking 6 CPU hours on a DECstation 3100. The BER of the link was found to be as much as three orders of magnitude lower when using the MFA-constructed optimal filters than when using filters from other comparison results. For this example, the pulse shapes obtained using MFA exhibit a low BER even as the parameter controlling the nonlinearity of the satellite-link model is varied over a wide range, thus showing the solution is robust     

Corrosion inhibition by naturally occurringsubstances—I. The effect of Hibiscus subdariffa (karkade) extract on the dissolution of Al and Zn

The thermometric, the weight-loss and the galvanostatic polarization techniques wereused to establish the inhibition of the dissolution of Al and Zn in HCl and NaOH by different concentrations of aqueous extract of Hibiscus subdariffa (Karkade). The extent of corrosion inhibition as measured by the three techniques is comparable. The results indicated that the additive acts by way of adsorption on both cathodic and anodic corrosion areas. Curves representing the variation of the reaction number (R.N.), in thermometric experiments, and the decrease in weight as a function of the concentration of the additive, are invariably sigmoid in nature. When present in enough amounts, the additive decreases the dissolution rate by as much as 85 per cent of the value recorded in its absence.     

Dye binary mixture formulation by means of derivative ratio spectra of the Kubelka–Munk function

In this study, a new method is introduced for the determination of dye concentration in fabrics dyed with bicomponent dye mixtures. The reflectance spectra of the samples dyed with different binary mixtures of dyes were recorded between 400 and 700 nm. The obtained spectra were divided by a standard spectrum of each of the components in the mixtures and the derivative spectra were calculated. The amounts of dyes were determined by measurements in suitably selected wavelengths in the acquired derivative ratio spectra. The obtained results indicate that the developed derivative ratio spectra method is more accurate than the normal Kubelka–Munk method. The proposed derivative method is simple, accurate, and suitable for quantitative analysis of samples dyed with binary mixed shades. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2010     

Mean-square performance analysis of the family of selective partial update and selective regressor affine projection algorithms

In this paper we present a general formalism for the establishment and mean-square performance analysis of the family of selective partial update affine projection (SPU-AP), selective regressor affine projection (SR-AP), and selective partial update subband adaptive filter (SPU-SAF) algorithms. This analysis is based on energy conservation arguments and does not need to assume a Gaussian or white distribution for the regressors. We demonstrate through simulations that the results are useful in predicting the performance of these adaptive filter algorithms.     

Cooking effects on fat and fatty acids composition of chicken muscles

Total lipids content of chicken breast and thigh muscles were investigated. Effects of boiling and roasting cooking treatments on these muscles were also studied to evaluate the probable changes in their fat contents, values of acid, peroxide and thiobarbituric acid (as measures for lipolysis and oxidative deterioration of fat) as well as to estimate their fatty acids (saturated and unsaturated) composition. The obtained results were tabulated and discussed.     

Refractive index determination in fuel cells using high-resolution laser heterodyne interferometer

In this paper, we present an interferometry method for refractive index determination in membranes of fuel cells. This technique is based on the use of an improved laser heterodyne interferometer. The photocurrents of the avalanche photodiodes, resulting from reflected beams of the optical head, are led to the signal conditioner and digital signal processing sections. The optical path difference between the target and reference paths is fixed, and as a result, the phase shift is calculated in terms of the refractive index shift. In addition, nonlinearity of this system is analyzed and modeled with different neural networks and adaptive filter algorithms. For neural networks, the radial basis function (RBF), the multi-layer perceptron (MLP), and the stacked generalization method are simulated. In adaptive filter algorithms, the least mean square (LMS), the normalized least mean square (NLMS), the recursive least squares (RLS), and the affine projection algorithm (APA) are applied. The simulation results indicate that the RLS method is faster and contains minimum mean square error (MSE) compared to the other approaches. Also, comparison between two main approaches shows that the nonlinearity of refractive index determination can be effectively modeled with adaptive filter algorithms.     

Generalized nonlinear FET/HEMT modeling

A modeling procedure which provides an accurate large-signal response for variation in bias, input power level, and fundamental frequency for FET/HEMT transistors is designed. A procedure for measuring the large-signal input response on an easily implemented system is presented. The technique is illustrated by designing a nonlinear PHEMT model, which includes an accurate large-signal input response and works with variations in the aforementioned input conditions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 14, 122–133, 2004.