Collapse-free thermal bonding technique for large area microchambers in plastic lab-on-a-chip applications

Bonding is an essential step to form microchannels or microchambers in lab-on-a-chip applications. In this paper, we present a novel plastic thermal bonding technique to seal and form large area microchambers (planar characteristic width and length on the order of 1 mm and characteristic thickness on the order of 10–100 μm) without collapse by introducing a holed pressure equalizing plate (HPEP) that includes holes of the same size and shape as the microchambers. To demonstrate the proposed technique, two types of large area microchambers [(1) 20 × 10 mm and 40 μm thick and (2) 12 × 2.5 mm and 120 μm thick] with microchannels were designed and replicated on plastic substrates by means of hot embossing and injection molding processes with prepared two nickel mold inserts. The replicated large area microchambers as well as the microchannels in the plastic lab-on-a-chip were successfully sealed (i.e., no leakage) and formed without any collapse by the proposed thermal bonding technique with the help of the HPEP.     

A piecewise analysis method to stability analysis of linear continuous/discrete systems with time‐varying delay

The delay‐dependent stability problem of linear continuous/discrete systems with time‐varying delay is investigated based on a piecewise analysis method (PAM). In the method, the variation interval of the time delay is firstly divided into several subintervals. By checking the variation of the Lyapunov functional in every subinterval, some new delay‐dependent stability criteria are derived. Several numerical examples show that our method can lead to much less conservative results than those in the existing references. Moreover, when the number of the divided subintervals increases, the corresponding criteria can provide an improvement on the results. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新形势下对设计教育方法的思考

在信息化社会里,设计专业与社会需求之间有着非常紧密的联系,为了使学生在大量信息面前,对所学习的专业知识与技能,展开独立的思考,多向思维、多种角度去认识同一事物,并能根据自己的需要进行分类和整理,培养学生捕捉信息的敏锐感受和理解的能力,要求教师积极主动调整知识结构、增加新的教育方法来改善我们的设计教育,使每一个学生的潜能都能得到充分发展,并获得更直接、更实际的专业知识。     

如何设定品牌标志的设计标准

品牌设计师通过知觉联想可以将文字语言转化为直接、可见的视觉图形传达给社会大众,这种语言上的转换是设计师发掘人们想象不到或想象不全面的一种表现方式,是艺术创造。同时,在没有限制,具有广泛可能性的创意、设计中,要把企业理念和目标等文字语言浓缩、整合出适合创意、设计的关键语,这一个个关键语就是品牌标志设计的依据和标准。有了这样的设计标准就会提高设计效率和准确性,减少在标志设计过程中的矛盾与摩擦,起到指引方向和检验最终方案的作用。     

Diffractive-phase-element design that implements several optical functions

A scheme for the design of diffractive phase elements (DPE's) that integrates several optical functions is presented in a consistent sense based on the general theory of amplitude-phase retrieval and the Yang-Gu algorithm [Appl. Opt. 33, 209 (1994)]. We extend the original Yang-Gu algorithm to treat a system illuminated by a beam of incident light whose components are at different wavelengths, and a set of equations for determining the phase distribution of the DPE is derived. The profile of a surface-relief DPE can be designed with an iterative algorithm. Numerical simulations are carried out for the design of one-dimensional DPE's capable of both demultiplexing different wavelength components and focusing each partial wave at predetermined positions. The influence of the extension of sampling points in the DPE's from ideal geometric points to physical spots on design results is also investigated. The numerical simulation results show that the new algorithm can be used successfully to design the desired DPE's. It is therefore expected to be useful in the design of DPE's for micro-optical systems.     

Lightweight deep learning methods for panoramic dental X-ray image segmentation

Neural Computing and Applications - Dental X-ray image segmentation is helpful for assisting clinicians to examine tooth conditions and identify dental diseases. Fast and lightweight segmentation...     

Application potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSCs) based tissue-engineering for spinal cord defect repair in rat fetuses with spina bifida aperta

Spina bifida aperta are complex congenital malformations resulting from failure of fusion in the spinal neural tube during embryogenesis. Despite surgical repair of the defect, most patients who survive with spina bifida aperta have a multiple system handicap due to neuron deficiency of the defective spinal cord. Tissue engineering has emerged as a novel treatment for replacement of lost tissue. This study evaluated the prenatal surgical approach of transplanting a chitosan–gelatin scaffold seeded with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in the healing the defective spinal cord of rat fetuses with retinoic acid induced spina bifida aperta. Scaffold characterisation revealed the porous structure, organic and amorphous content. This biomaterial promoted the adhesion, spreading and in vitro viability of the BMSCs. After transplantation of the scaffold combined with BMSCs, the defective region of spinal cord in rat fetuses with spina bifida aperta at E20 decreased obviously under stereomicroscopy, and the skin defect almost closed in many fetuses. The transplanted BMSCs in chitosan–gelatin scaffold survived, grew and expressed markers of neural stem cells and neurons in the defective spinal cord. In addition, the biomaterial presented high biocompatibility and slow biodegradation in vivo. In conclusion, prenatal transplantation of the scaffold combined with BMSCs could treat spinal cord defect in fetuses with spina bifida aperta by the regeneration of neurons and repairmen of defective region.     

气相色谱仪新旧检定规程的解读

本文主要从规程适用范围、计量器具控制、计量性能要求及检定方法等方面入手,全面的解读了气相色谱仪新旧检定规程的差异,为仪器检定及期间核查提供了参考。