22,596 research outputs found
Electro-optically Q-switched Er:YAG laser in-band pumped by an Er,Yb fiber laser
No full textElectro-optically Q-switched operation of an Er:YAG laser at 1645nm end-pumped by a cladding-pumped Er-Yb fiber laser is reported. Pulse energies up to 15mJ have been generated at a pulse repetition frequency of 29Hz
Detection and Characterization of Bacterial Biofilms and Biofilm-Based Sensors
No full textMicrobial biofilms have caused serious concerns in healthcare, medical, and food industries because of their intrinsic resistance against conventional antibiotics and cleaning procedures and their capability to firmly adhere on surfaces for persistent contamination. These global issues strongly motivate researchers to develop novel methodologies to investigate the kinetics underlying biofilm formation, to understand the response of the biofilm with different chemical and physical treatments, and to identify biofilm-specific drugs with high-throughput screenings. Meanwhile microbial biofilms can also be utilized positively as sensing elements in cell-based sensors due to their strong adhesion on surfaces. In this perspective, we provide an overview on the connections between sensing and microbial biofilms, focusing on tools used to investigate biofilm properties, kinetics, and their response to chemicals or physical agents, and biofilm-based sensors, a type of biosensor using the bacterial biofilm as a biorecognition element to capture the presence of the target of interest by measuring the metabolic activity of the immobilized microbial cells. Finally we discuss possible new research directions for the development of robust and rapid biofilm related sensors with high temporal and spatial resolutions, pertinent to a wide range of applications
CMVF: A novel dimension reduction scheme for efficient indexing in a large image database
No full textCopyright 2003 ACMJialie Shen, Anne H. H. Ngu, John Shepherd, Du Q. Huynh, Quan Z. Shen
Implied Author, Overall Consideration, and Subtext of "Desiree's Baby"
No full textThis essay explores how to infer from a text the image of the implied author. It examines Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby" (1893), which has been widely regarded as an indictment of racism but which an "overall consideration" of the implied author's choices will lead us to see as a racist text. Through the interaction of various details in the text, the implied author suggests three racist dichotomies: (1) white characters' nondiscrimination versus black characters' discrimination, (2) positive slavery under white masters versus negative slavery under a black master, and (3) superior whites versus inferior blacks. This implied racist stance reflects the historical context of Chopin's personal experiences, but it contrasts with the quite different racial stances of the implied authors of some other Chopin narratives with different thematic designs. The complexity of the narratives under the name "Kate Chopin" offers an opportunity not only to gain a better understanding of the concept of implied author but also to clarify the relations (connections as well as disparities) among textual, intertextual, and extratextual evidence in literary interpretation in general.LiteratureA&HCI4ARTICLE2285-3113
Nanoplasmonic multiplex biosensing for COVID-19 vaccines
No full textThe ongoing emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) variants requires swift actions in identifying specific antigens and optimizing vaccine development to maximize the humoral response of the patient. Measuring the specificity and the amount of antibody produced by the host immune system with high throughput and accuracy is critical to develop timely diagnostics and therapeutic strategies. Motivated by finding an easy-to-use and cost-effective alternative to existing serological methodologies for multiplex analysis, we develop a proof-of-concept multiplex nanoplasmonic biosensor to capture the humoral response in serums against multiple antigens. Nanoplasmonic sensing relies on the wavelength shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak of gold nanostructures upon binding interactions between the antibodies and the immobilized antigens. Here the antigens are first immobilized on different sensing areas by using a mono-biotinylation system based on the high affinity interaction between biotin and streptavidin. We then validate the multiplex platform by detecting the presence of 3 monoclonal antibodies against 3 antigens (2 different hemagglutinins (HAs) from influenza viruses, and the SARS-CoV-2 Spike RBD (receptor binding domain)). We also measure the humoral response in murine sera collected before and after its immunization with the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein, in good agreement with the results obtained by the ELISA assay. Our nanoplasmonic assays have successfully demonstrated multiple serum antibody profiling, which can be further integrated with microfluidics as an effective high throughput screening platform in future studies for the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development
Detecting Escherichia coli Biofilm Development Stages on Gold and Titanium by Quartz Crystal Microbalance
No full textBacterial biofilms are responsible for persistent infections and biofouling, raising serious concerns in both medical and industrial processes. These motivations underpin the need to develop methodologies to study the complex biological structures of biofilms and prevent their formation on medical implants, tools, and industrial apparatuses. Here, we report the detailed comparison of Escherichia coli biofilm development stages (adhesion, maturation, and dispersion) on gold and titanium surfaces by monitoring the changes in both frequency and dissipation of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) device, a cheap and reliable microgravimetric sensor which allows the real-time and label-free characterization of various stages of biofilm development. Although gold is the most common electrode material used for QCM sensors, the titanium electrode is also readily available for QCM sensors; thus, QCM sensors with different metal electrodes serve as a simple platform to probe how pathogens interact with different metal substrates. The QCM outcomes are further confirmed by atomic force microscopy and crystal violet staining, thus validating the effectiveness of this surface sensitive sensor for microbial biofilm research. Moreover, because QCM technology can easily modify the substrate types and coatings, QCM sensors also provide well-controlled experimental conditions to study antimicrobial surface treatments and eradication procedures, even on mature biofilms
Diffractive imaging of nonperiodic materials with future coherent X-ray sources
No full textCoherent diffractive imaging using a coherent X-ray source promises to be a useful microscopic method for imaging noncrystalline objects at high spatial resolution. In this article a simple method to estimate the coherently scattered signal as a function of resolution is presented, and it is shown that the required X-ray flux or dose scales as the inverse third power of resolution for a specimen of constant volume and density. A simulated case study using the proposed energy-recovery linac source is also presented, which confirms the estimated flux requirement
On intersection cohomology and Lagrangian fibrations of irreducible symplectic varieties
No full textWe prove several results concerning the intersection cohomology and the perverse filtration associated with a Lagrangian fibration of an irreducible symplectic variety. We first show that the perverse numbers only depend on the deformation equivalence class of the ambient variety. Then we compute the border of the perverse diamond, which further yields a complete description of the intersection cohomology of the Lagrangian base and the invariant cohomology classes of the fibers. Lastly, we identify the perverse and Hodge numbers of intersection cohomology when the irreducible symplectic variety admits a symplectic resolution. These results generalize some earlier work by the second and third authors in the nonsingular case
Patellofemoral Pain, Q-Angle, and Performance in Female Chinese Collegiate Soccer Players
No full textBackground and objective: Female sports injuries have been neglected by science, and few relevant studies have considered female subjects. Knee pain in female soccer players is more common than in male soccer players. The number of days of absence from training and competition has been shown to be higher in females than males. The reporting of knee pain is common in female soccer players, but whether knee pain is associated with morphological features is unclear. The Q-angle of the knee has been hypothesized to be a causal factor in knee pain. Asian females have shown higher levels of valgus than non-sporting Caucasian populations, but no data exist for female Chinese players. The aim of our study was to investigate whether there are associations between knee pain, the Q-angle of the lower limb, jump performance, play time, and perceived exertion in female Chinese collegiate soccer players. Materials and Methods: We measured the Q-angle, patellofemoral/anterior knee pain (SNAPPS questionnaire), and CMJ and SJ performance of 21 subjects (age: 20.09 ± 1.13 years, weight: 56.9 ± 6.26 kg, height: 164.24 ± 4.48 cm, and >10 years of practice) before and after a match; Borg scale and play time results were also recorded. Results: We found that our studied group had higher Q-angles in comparison to other ethnic groups reported in the literature, as well as an association of the Q-angle with the age, height, and weight of the players; however, contrary to other studies, we did not find any association between the Q-angle and knee pain, jumps, play time, or perceived exertion. Knee pain was not associated with any of the measured variables. Conclusions: Female Chinese soccer players showed higher Q-angles than players of other ethnic groups, a result that was associated with anthropometrics. The Q-angle was not found to be associated with knee pain, for which the sole determinant was body height
Detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein by gold nanospikes in an opto-microfluidic chip
No full textThe ongoing global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to active research in its associated diagnostics and medical treatments. While quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is the most reliable method to detect viral genes of SARS-CoV-2, serological tests for specific antiviral antibodies are also important as they identify false negative qRT-PCR responses, track how effectively the patient's immune system is fighting the infection, and are potentially helpful for plasma transfusion therapies. In this work, based on the principle of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), we develop an opto-microfluidic sensing platform with gold nanospikes, fabricated by electrodeposition, to detect the presence and amount of antibodies specific to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in 1 mu L of human plasma diluted in 1 mL of buffer solution, within similar to 30 min. The target antibody concentration can be correlated with the LSPR wavelength peak shift of gold nanospikes caused by the local refractive index change due to the antigen-antibody binding. This label-free microfluidic platform achieves a limit of detection of similar to 0.08 ng/mL (similar to 0.5 pM), falling under the clinical relevant concentration range. We demonstrate that our opto-microfluidic platform offers a promising point-of-care testing tool to complement standard serological assays and make SARS-CoV-2 quantitative diagnostics easier, cheaper, and faster
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