1,721,019 research outputs found
Microdroplets: fabrication of microdevices for interfacial phenomena studies
Full text linkWhen fluids are confined on the length scales of microfluidic channels, typically in the range of tens and hundreds microns, their behavior may results significantly different with respect to the so called “bulk” proprieties. This is mainly due to the fact that the miniaturization is always characterized by a large surface to volume ratio, where the body forces can be normally neglected in favor of the surface forces. Notable example of this kind of systems is observable when two immiscible fluids are mixed to form droplets of emulsions. In the last ten years, the idea to use droplets in microfluidics has been inspired mainly because it allows to further scale down the typical size involved in these systems, bringing to a huge number of applications in chemistry, biology and physics. However, despite a large notoriety, microfluidic systems using droplets are not yet fully understood for the complexity of the interfacial phenomena that are involved. Aim of this thesis is to characterize the droplet systems commonly used in microfluidic devices. In detail, we worked with droplets in both open and closed microfluidic systems, focusing with the problem of their generation, control and manipulation with suitable microdevices, in presence of defects having different geometry and wettability.
Regarding the open microfluidics, in Chapter 3,we first compared the shape of water droplets confined on posts having circular and square cross sections, observing that the pinning of the contact line is strongly influenced by the post shape. In particular, in the case of a circular profile, the contact line is pinned to the whole edge, confirming the Gibbs criteria, while on the square post, the contact line can spill along the vertical walls, because it is sustained by the corners.
Then, in Chapter 4,we moved to investigate the change of morphological configuration from filament to bulge state, typical of liquid droplets confined on posts with rectangular cross section. This effect was already know in literature, but it was not quantify in term of post geometry and volume of the water droplets. Therefore, we realized rectangular posts with different aspect ratio ("l"), between length (L) and width (W). Changing the water volume on the posts, we observed that the morphological transition occurs for all the aspect ratios "l" and that, for "l">16, there is a bistability of the two states at the same volume. Furthermore, we started to investigate the dynamic of the transition, induced by oscillations, founding that, for posts with "l">16, it is possible to induce the transition by the oscillation, without change the volume.
Next, in order to control the droplets motion, in Chapter 5, we studied the different behavior of sliding droplets on homogeneous and on chemically patterned surfaces. To do that we realized surfaces with hydrophilic and hydrophobic stripes by microcontact printing. On these surfaces, droplets show stick-slip motion, which causes the deformation of their shapes and introduces an extra friction imputable to the dissipation of energy at the contact line.
With the aim to study generation and control of droplets in closed microfluidic channels, in Chapter 6, we focused our attention to define a reliable protocol for the production of droplets by T-junctions. Moreover, we investigated the swelling problem, which occurs using organic solvent into PDMS microchannels. We noticed that the swelling deformation is strongly connected with the geometry of the devices, being more evident when the aspect ratio (high to width) of the channel cross section is higher.
Finally, in Chapter 7, we introduced a new method to change the wettability proprieties of thiolen resins, which are commonly used in microfluidics. In particular we worked with NOA, a commercial available resin, which shows a contact angle of 70°. Using chlorosilane chemistry, we changed its wettability to a more hydrophilic and to hydrophobic contact angles, showing that this technique can be used both to open and closed microfluidic device
Enhancement of heterogeneous electron transfer dynamics tuning single-walled carbon nanotube forest height and density
Full text linkElectrochemical sensors are growing in number and importance. Surface modifications could enhance charge transfer properties occurring at the interfaces and carbon nanoassemblies is one of the most used strategy to improve sensitivity to measurements. However, well defined protocols of surface modification are needed in order to fabricate electrochemically effective nanostructured sensors.
Therefore, we aim at investigating the electrochemical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) forests as a function of height and nanotube surface density. Height of the forests is accurately controlled tuning the oxidation temperatures in the range of 293–313 K of SWCNTs. The surface density of carbon nanotubes was adjusted developing cysteamine/2-mercaptoethanol (CYS/ME) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold surfaces at different ratios (1:0, 1:3, 1:10, 1:100, 0:1).
Apparent electron transfer rate was analyzed with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and experimental data show that transfer rate constant, kapp, increases from 1 × 10−4 cm/s to 6 × 10−4 cm/s rising oxidation temperatures (i.e. lowering forest height); therefore forests with reduced height show higher electron transfer rate without significant difference in electrodic reversibility. On the other hand, tuning SWCNT surface density, forests obtained with no ME show optimal Δpeak value of 0.087 ± 0.015 V and highest kapp value of 9.15 × 10−3 cm/s. Surprisingly, electrochemical surface area analysis shows that samples with lower amount of cysteamine have an active surface area three times bigger than samples with 1:3 CYS/ME ratio. Low electrochemical efficiency associated with high active surface may be related to unwanted SWCNT bundles adsorbed on the surface for 1:10 and 1:100 CYS/ME ratio samples as confirmed by AFM morphological characterization. Further investigation shows that a transition from a semi-infinite planar diffusion mechanism to a radial diffusion one takes place when SAMs with low chemical affinity to nanotubes are used. Wettability analysis confirms the robustness of the surface chemical modification during the forest development. Altogether these results show that optimal electrochemical properties of carbon modified electrodes require an accurate control of forest fabrication in terms of carbon nanotube structural assembling
Patterned TiO2 nanostructures fabricated with a novel inorganic resist
No full textThe fabrication of nanostructures is a very intense field of research in material science over the last decades. Overcoming the limit imposed by the diffraction limit in lithography was addressed in several ways: shifting to smaller wavelength, changing radiation and using electrons or ions instead of photons or using non-conventional bottom up techniques like self-assembly. There are few studies on fabrication of ordered TiO2 nanostructures, mostly confined to non-scalable technologies, while nanostructured TiO 2 is a material used in many different fields of applications. In our work we present a hybrid nanofabrication technique based on self-assembly coupled with standard UV lithography. With this method we were able to fabricate in a single step and with the use of inexpensive equipment a 2D Nano Bowl Array of TiO2 with sub wavelength features and easily scalable pattern features
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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