Synthesis of bio-functionalized copolymer particles bearing carboxyl groups via a microfluidic device

Monodisperse copolymer particles carrying surface carboxyl groups in the range of 50–200 μm were prepared by in situ UV polymerization of ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) with acrylic acid (AA) via a microfluidic flow-focusing device (MFFD). The design of the coaxial orifices in the MFFD enables the confinement of the comonomer liquid thread to the central axis of the microchannel, which can avoid the wetting problem of comonomer liquid with the microchannel and can successfully produce monodisperse copolymer microspheres with coefficient of variance below 5%. The effects of concentration of EGDMA and AA on droplet diameters and the distribution of carboxyl group on particle surfaces were examined. It has been found that, increasing the concentration of AA would decrease particle sizes, but increase the distribution of carboxyl group on particle surfaces. Bioconjugation of the carboxylated copolymer particles with the anti-rabbit IgG–Cy3 conjugates was successfully demonstrated. By increasing the concentration of AA accompanied with decreasing the particle sizes, high efficiency of bioconjugation on carboxylated copolymer particles was achieved. The rapid continuous synthesis of carboxylated copolymer particles via a microfluidic device provides a reliable control of particle sizes and composition for massive production in biotechnological applications.     

A resource broker with an efficient network information model on grid environments

This paper describes a resource broker whose main function is to match available resources to user needs. The resource broker provides a uniform interface for accessing available and appropriate resources via user credentials. We also focus on providing approximate measurement models for network-related information using NWS for future scheduling and benchmarking. We first propose a network measurement model for gathering network-related information (including bandwidth, latency, forecasting, error rates, etc.) without generating excessive system overhead. Second, we constructed a grid platform using Globus Toolkit that integrates the resources of five schools in Taichung integrated grid environment resources (TIGER). The resource broker runs on top of TIGER. Therefore, it provides security and current information about available resources and serves as a link to the diverse systems available in the Grid.

S-phase fractions of breast carcinomas. Relationships to morphology, estrogen and progesterone receptors, and early recurrence

Analysis of the S-phase fractions (SPF) measured by in vitro thymidine labeling, morphological appearances, and estrogen receptor (ER) assays of primary invasive breast carcinomas demonstrated several interrelationships. Lobular, mucinous, tubular, and adenocystic carcinomas consistently had low SPF and were usually positive for ER. The same was true for the carcinomas of no special histologic type [the not otherwise specified (NOS) group of E. R. Fisher including "infiltrating ductal" and undifferentiated carcinomas] with minimal anaplasia. Medullary, atypical medullary, and morphologically unclassifiable carcinomas with marked nuclear anaplasia nearly always had high SPF and were usually negative for ER. High SPF was associated with advanced stages of carcinoma initially or with early recurrence following mastectomy.     

Intravenous glucose tolerance test in middle-aged men with and without latent coronary heart disease

During a cardiovascular survey, aimed at detecting cases of latent coronary heart disease (CHD), glucose elimination was studied after i.v. loading in 1970 presumably healthy men aged 40-59 years. The aim was to throw light on the importance of deranged glucose tolerance for the development of CHD. Of the 1970 individuals, 1798 were defined as "normals", 33 had chronic, non-anginal chest pain, 34 had slight albeit typical angina pectoris. The remaining 105 had various symptoms/signs strongly suggestive of CHD, and underwent diagnostic coronary angiography (69 angiopositive, 36 angionegative). Plasma insulin was determined in relation to the test in 249 of the subjects. The following conclusions were reached: 1) Mean k-values were similar in all subgroups (p less than 0.10). 2) Low and borderline k-values were significantly more frequent in angiographed individuals compared with the group of normals (p less than 0.025). However, an almost identical frequency was seen in angiopositive and angionegative cases. 3) K-values did not change with age between 40 and 59 years. 4) K-values were unrelated to the severity of angiographic findings in individuals with proven CHD. 5) Significantly lower k-values were found in individuals with a positive diabetic heredity, and 6) in individuals with a high insulin response. 7) The i.v. glucose loading did not influence an exercise ECG recorded in relation to a near-maximal bicycle exercise test.     

Ultrastructure of ischemic contracture of the left ventricle ("stone heart")

Myocardial biopsies from two patients who had developed "stone heart" (myocardial rigor mortis; ischemic contracture of the left ventricle) were studied by electron microscopy. The ultrastructure of tissue in stone heart, though ischemic in nature, differed from that of classic myocardial infarction in some respects. Apart from depletion of glycogen and distension of the sarcoplasmic reticulum and T-tubules, myofibrillar degeneration was much more widespread. Mitochondrial degeneration with active lysosomal autodigestion, disruption of the microcirculation, and lymphedema were prominent changes also observed. In the light of known clinical and experimental observations, our findings suggest that stone heart is an accelerated form of ischemic injury occurring in vulnerable (hypertrophied) hearts and is probably related to ischemia-triggered release of endogenous catecholamines.     

Optimal design of CMOS pseudoactive pixel sensor (PAPS) structure for low-dark-current and large-array-size imager applications

In this paper, a pixel structure called the optimal pseudoactive pixel sensor (OPAPS) is proposed and analyzed for the applications of CMOS imagers. The shared zero-biased-buffer in the pixel is used to suppress both dark current of photodiode and leakage current of pixel switches by keeping both biases of photodiode and parasitic pn junctions in the pixel bus at zero voltage or near zero voltage. The factor of photocurrent-to-dark-current ratio per pixel area (PDRPA) is defined to characterize the performance of the OPAPS structure. It is found that a zero-biased-buffer shared by four pixels can achieve the highest PDRPA. In addition, the column sampling circuits and output correlated double sampling circuits are also used to suppress fixed-pattern noise, clock feedthrough noise, and channel charge injection. An experimental chip of the proposed OPAPS CMOS imager with the format of 352/spl times/288 (CIF) has been designed and fabricated by using 0.25-/spl mu/m single-poly-five-level-metal (1P5M) N-well CMOS process. In the fabricated CMOS imager, one shared zero-biased-buffer is used for four pixels where the PDRPA is equal to 47.29 /spl mu/m/sup -2/. The fabricated OPAPS CMOS imager has a pixel size of 8.2/spl times/.2 /spl mu/m, fill factor of 42%, and chip size of 3630/spl times/3390 /spl mu/m. Moreover, the measured maximum frame rate is 30 frames/s and the dark current is 82 pA/cm/sup 2/. Additionally, the measured optical dynamic range is 65 dB. It is found that the proposed OPAPS structure has lower dark current and higher optical dynamic range as compared with the active pixel sensor (APS) and the conventional passive pixel sensor (PPS). Thus, the proposed OPAPS structure has high potential for the applications of high-quality and large-array-size CMOS imagers.     

A fault-tolerant wormhole routing scheme for torus networks with nonconvex faults

In this paper, we present a fault-tolerant routing algorithm for torus networks by using only 4 virtual channels. The proposed algorithm is based on the solid fault model, which includes rectangular faults and many practical nonconvex faults. Previous works need at least 6 virtual channels to achieve the same fault-tolerant ability.     

Design, optimization, and performance analysis of new photodiode structures for CMOS active-pixel-sensor (APS) imager applications

The dark current in the active-pixel-sensor (APS) cell of a CMOS imager is known to be mainly generated in the regions of bird's beak after the local oxidation of silicon process as well as the surface damage caused by the implantation of high doping concentration. Furthermore, shallow and deep pn-junctions can improve the photo-sensitivity for light of short and long wavelengths, respectively. In this paper, two new photodiode structures using p-substrate and lightly-doped sensor implant SN- as pn-junction photodiode with the regions of bird's beak embraced by SN- and p-field implants, respectively, are proposed and analyzed to reduce dark current and enhance the overall spectral response. 5 /spl mu/m/spl times/5 /spl mu/m APS cells fabricated in a 0.35-/spl mu/m single-poly-triple-metal (1P3M) 3.3-V CMOS process are designed by using the proposed photodiode structures. As shown from the experimental results, the two proposed photodiode structures of 5 /spl mu/m/spl times/5 /spl mu/m APS cells have lower dark currents of 30.6 mV/s and 35.2 mV/s at the reverse-biased voltage of 2 V and higher spectral response, as compared to the conventional structure and other photodiode structures. Thus, the two proposed new photodiode structures can be applied to CMOS imager systems with small pixel size, high resolution, and high quality.     

Effect of baffle height and Reynolds number on fluid mixing

In this paper, both numerical simulation and experiment were performed to investigate the mixing process within mixing chambers of the planar micromixer with three baffles at varied baffle height. The presence of three baffles causes the flow to separate and creates the recirculation and back flow within mixing chambers. The fluid mixing was greatly influenced by the baffle height and Reynolds number (Re) related to the size of recirculation zone. Larger baffle height or Re produces larger recirculation zone and convective mixing. The micromixer with 350 μm high baffles in 400 μm wide channel results in over 95% mixing at Re = 80 from the simulation results. The experiment results confirm the above simulation results qualitatively. This planar micromixer has the merits of simple design and easy fabrication as compared to the three-dimensional passive micromixers.