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In order to improve the communications inside and outside the enterprise, efficient utilization of enterprise capitals and make improvements in the services and products of enterprise, many enterprises have turned to use enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. On the other hand, the more the role of knowledge assets in enterprises grows, the higher the position of knowledge management (KM) in the enterprises becomes and it gradually becomes fundamental to success. The role of knowledge management in today’s knowledge-based world has attracted considerable attention to this topic in industry and academia. The use of ERP and knowledge management in enterprises for the continuation of effective functioning in knowledge-based economy arises the need to study the interactions between ERP and knowledge management and also the possibility of the integration of ERP and KM systems. The mutual relation between knowledge management and enterprise resources planning can be studied from the three perspectives of (A) the effects of knowledge management on the implementation and use of ERP, (B) the ERP effects on improving knowledge management process, and (C) the integration of knowledge management and enterprise resources planning systems. By studying a wide range of academic literature on KM and ERP, this paper aims to review the relation between knowledge management and enterprise resources planning and analyze the opportunities of future research in this area.

Circulating tumor cells are of utmost importance among various biomarkers in liquid biopsies as a prognosis indicator of metastasis as well as in chemotherapeutic monitoring. This study introduces an efficient tool composed of soft nano/hybrid immune microgels for magnetic isolation of targeted tumor cells. The development process involves the in situ synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles within the three-dimensional matrix of thermoresponsive microgels. Surface modification and anti-EpCAM conjugation are adjusted by changing the temperature, and a conjugation efficiency of around 70% is achieved by using a protein G linker. Anti-EpCAM-conjugated nano/hybrid magnetic microgels are used to isolate EpCAM-expressing breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells from culture media and whole blood with an efficiency of 75 and 70%, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of the hybrid microgels to isolate cancer cells with a purity of 65% and culture the cells post-isolation for further drug studies. The multifunctional hybrid microcarriers reported in this work can be potentially used for continuous monitoring of cancers and in personalized medicine.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common pediatric soft-tissue malignant tumor. Treatment of RMS usually includes primary tumor resection along with systemic chemotherapy. Two-dimensional (2D) cell culture systems and animal models have been extensively used for investigating the potential efficacy of new RMS treatments. However, RMS cells behave differently in 2D culture than in vivo, which has recently inspired the adoption of three-dimensional (3D) culture environments. In the current paper, we will describe the detailed methodology we have developed for fabricating a 3D engineered model to study alveolar RMS (ARMS) in vitro. This model consists of a thermally cross-linked collagen disk laden with RMS cells that mimics the structural and bio-chemical aspects of the tumor extracellular matrix (ECM). This process is highly reproducible and produces a 3D engineered model that can be used to analyze the cytotoxicity and autophagy induction of drugs on ARMS cells. The most improtant bullet points are as following:•We fabricated 3D model of ARMS.•The current ARMS 3D model can be used for screening of chemotherapy drugs.•We developed methods to detect apoptosis and autophagy in ARMS 3D model to detect the mechansims of chemotherapy agents., Graphical abstract Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common pediatric soft-tissue malignant tumor. Despite numerous clinical trials that have investigated the efficacy of multidrug chemotherapy regimens, outcomes for high-risk RMS patients are still poor which has inspired research into new targeted therapies that molecularly target malignant RMS cells. In order to evaluate such therapies in vitro in a realistic tumor microenvironment, we have bioengineered a cell-laden 3D tissue-engineered model with uniform geometry and an uncomplicated and reproducible biofabrication process. The transparent collagen-I hydrogel promotes cell attachment and growth and allows for analysis of the cellular response to drugs through brightfield microscopy, immunocytochemistry, and live/dead viability assays.Image, graphical abstract

Several biomedical analyses are performed on particular types of cells present in body samples or using functionalized microparticles. Success in such analyses depends on the ability to separate or isolate the target cells or microparticles from the rest of the sample. In conventional procedures, multiple pieces of equipment, such as centrifuges, magnets, and macroscale filters, are used for such purposes, which are time-consuming, associated with human error, and require several operational steps. In the past two decades, there has been a tendency to develop microfluidic techniques, so-called lab-on-a-chip, to miniaturize and automate these procedures. The processes used for the separation and isolation of the cells and microparticles are scaled down into a small microfluidic chip, requiring very small amounts of sample. Differences in the physical and biological properties of the target cells from the other components present in the sample are the key to the development of such microfluidic techniques. These techniques are categorized as filtration-, hydrodynamic-, dielectrophoretic-, acoustic- and magnetic-based methods. Here we review the microfluidic techniques developed for sorting, separation, and isolation of cells and microparticles for biomedical applications. The mechanisms behind such techniques are thoroughly explained and the applications in which these techniques have been adopted are reviewed.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a rapidly progressive and deadly form of brain tumor with a median survival rate of ~15 months. GBMs are hard to treat and significantly affect the patient's physical and cognitive abilities and quality of life. Temozolomide (TMZ)&mdash, an alkylating agent that causes DNA damage&mdash, is the only chemotherapy choice for the treatment of GBM. However, TMZ also induces autophagy and causes tumor cell resistance and thus fails to improve the survival rate among patients. Here, we studied the drug-induced programmed cell death and invasion inhibition capacity of TMZ and a mevalonate cascade inhibitor, simvastatin (Simva), in a three-dimensional (3D) microfluidic model of GBM. We elucidate the role of autophagy in apoptotic cell death by comparing apoptosis in autophagy knockdown cells (Atg7 KD) against their scrambled counterparts. Our results show that the cells were significantly less sensitive to drugs in the 3D model as compared to monolayer culture systems. An immunofluorescence analysis confirmed that apoptosis is the mechanism of cell death in TMZ- and Simva-treated glioma cells. However, the induction of apoptosis in the 3D model is significantly lower than in monolayer cultures. We have also shown that autophagy inhibition (Atg7 KD) did not change TMZ and Simva-induced apoptosis in the 3D microfluidic model. Overall, for the first time in this study we have established the simultaneous detection of drug induced apoptosis and autophagy in a 3D microfluidic model of GBM. Our study presents a potential ex vivo platform for developing novel therapeutic strategies tailored toward disrupting key molecular pathways involved in programmed cell death and tumor invasion in glioblastoma.

This study proposes robust stochastic stabilization of rigid body attitude motion within the framework of geometric mechanics, which can globally represent the attitude dynamics model. The system is subject to a stochastic input torque with an unknown variance parameter and an unknown nonlinear diffusion coefficient matrix. Our development starts with introducing a general notion of the stochastic stability in probability within the framework of geometric mechanics. Then, the Morse–Lyapunov (M–L) technique is employed to design a nonlinear continuous stochastic feedback control law. Finally, the asymptotic stability of the system is guaranteed in probability and the control gain parameters are obtained via solving a linear matrix inequality feasibility problem. An estimate of the region of attraction of the system is calculated to provide a better insight for tuning the control gain parameters. Two illustrative examples are performed based on the discretized model of the closed-loop system to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Cryptosporidium is a critical waterborne protozoan pathogen found in water resources that have been a major cause of death and serious illnesses worldwide, costing millions of dollars annually for its detection and treatment. Over the past several decades, substantial efforts have been made towards developing techniques for the detection of Cryptosporidium. Early diagnostic techniques were established based on the existing tools in laboratories, such as microscopes. Advancements in fluorescence microscopy, immunological, and molecular techniques have led to the development of several kits for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp. However, these methods have several limitations, such as long processing times, large sample volumes, the requirement for bulky and expensive laboratory tools, and the high cost of reagents. There is an urgent need to improve these existing techniques and develop low-cost, portable and rapid detection tools for applications in the water quality industry. In this review, we compare recent advances in nanotechnology, biosensing and microfluidics that have facilitated the development of sophisticated tools for the detection of Cryptosporidium spp.Finally, we highlight the advantages and disadvantages, of these state-of-the-art detection methods compared to current analytical methodologies and discuss the need for future developments to improve such methods for detecting Cryptosporidium in the water supply chain to enable real-time and on-site monitoring in water resources and remote areas.

An effective treatment of human diseases using regenerative medicine and cell therapy approaches requires a large number of cells. Cultivation of cells on microcarriers is a promising approach due to the high surface-to-volume ratios that these microcarriers offer. Here, multifunctional temperature-responsive microcarriers (cytoGel) made of an interpenetrating hydrogel network composed of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) are developed. A flow-focusing microfluidic chip is used to produce microcarriers with diameters in the range of 100-300 μm and uniform size distribution (polydispersity index of ≈0.08). The mechanical properties and cells adhesion properties of cytoGel are adjusted by changing the composition hydrogel composition. Notably, GelMA regulates the temperature response and enhances microcarrier stiffness. Human-derived glioma cells (U87) are grown on cytoGel in static and dynamic culture conditions with cell viabilities greater than 90%. Enzyme-free cell detachment is achieved at room temperature with up to 70% detachment efficiency. Controlled release of bioactive molecules from cytoGel is accomplished for over a week to showcase the potential use of microcarriers for localized delivery of growth factors to cell surfaces. These microcarriers hold great promise for the efficient expansion of cells for the industrial-scale culture of therapeutic cells.

A continuous nonlinear full-state time-delayed feedback control scheme is designed within the framework of geometric mechanics to stabilize the rigid body attitude motion, which is subject to an unknown constant time delay in feedback measurement. The attitude kinematics is globally described on the matrix Lie group S O ( 3 ) of rigid body rotations. A Morse–Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is utilized to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the system, which yields the control gain matrices via linear matrix inequality stability conditions. In light of this result, a delayed feedback control scheme is also designed for the planar rotational motion to examine the almost global asymptotic stability of the system in the presence of an unknown time delay in feedback measurement. Simulations are performed for the proposed control schemes based on the discretized models of the controlled systems and the performance of the proposed controllers are evaluated by employing large maneuvers.

Statins are some of the most widely used drugs worldwide, but one of their major side effects is myotoxicity. Using mouse myoblast (C2C12) and human alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines (RH30) in both 2-dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture, we investigated the mechanisms of simvastatin's myotoxicity. We found that simvastatin significantly reduced cell viability in C2C12 cells compared to RH30 cells. However, simvastatin induced greater apoptosis in RH30 compared to C2C12 cells. Simvastatin-induced cell death is dependent on geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP) in C2C12 cells, while in RH30 cells it is dependent on both farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) and GGPP. Simvastatin inhibited autophagy flux in both C2C12 and RH30 cells and inhibited lysosomal acidification in C2C12 cells, while autophagy inhibition with Bafilomycin-A1 increased simvastatin myotoxicity in both cell lines. Simvastatin induced greater cell death in RH30 cells compared to C2C12 in a 3D culture model with similar effects on autophagy flux as in 2D culture. Overall, our results suggest that simvastatin-induced myotoxicity involves both apoptosis and autophagy, where autophagy serves a pro-survival role in both cell lines. The sensitivity to simvastatin-induced myotoxicity differs between 2D and 3D culture, demonstrating that the cellular microenvironment is a critical factor in regulating simvastatin-induced cell death in myoblasts.

Temozolomide (TMZ) is a chemotherapy agent used to treat Grade IV astrocytoma, also known as glioblastoma (GBM). TMZ treatment causes DNA damage that results in tumor cell apoptosis and increases the survival rate of GBM patients. However, chemoresistance as a result of TMZ-induced autophagy significantly reduces this anticancer effects over time. Statins are competitive inhibitors of HMG-CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate (MEV) cascade. Statins are best known for their cholesterol (CH)-lowering effect. Long-term consumption of statins, prior to and in parallel with other cancer therapeutic approaches, has been reported to increase the survival rate of patients with various forms of cancers. In this study, we investigated the potentiation of TMZ-induced apoptosis by simvastatin (Simva) in human GBM cell lines and patient GBM cells, using cell monolayers and three-dimensional cell culture systems. The incubation of cells with a combination of Simva and TMZ resulted in a significant increase in apoptotic cells compared to cells treated with TMZ alone. Incubation of cells with CH or MEV cascade intermediates failed to compensate the decrease in cell viability induced by the combined Simva and TMZ treatment. Simva treatment inhibited the autophagy flux induced by TMZ by blocking autophago-lysosome formation. Our results suggest that Simva sensitizes GBM cells to TMZ-induced cell death in a MEV cascade-independent manner and identifies the inhibition of autophagosome-lysosome fusion as a promising therapeutic strategy in the treatment of GBM.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a muscle-derived tumor. In both pre-clinical and clinical studies Temozolomide (TMZ) has been recently tested against RMS; however, the precise mechanism of action of TMZ in RMS remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that TMZ decreases the cell viability of the RH30 RMS and C2C12 cell line, where cells display evidence of mitochondrial outer membrane permeability. Interestingly, the C2C12 mouse myoblast line was relatively more resistant to TMZ-induced apoptosis. Moreover, we observed that TMZ activated biochemical and morphological markers of autophagy in both cell lines. Autophagy inhibition in both RH30 and C2C12 cells significantly increased TMZ-induced cell death. In RH30 cells, TMZ increased Mcl-1 and Bax protein expression compared to corresponding time match controls while in C2C12 Mcl-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, and Bax protein expression were not changed. Baf-A1 co-treatment with TMZ significantly decrease Mcl-1 expression compared to TMZ while increase Bax expression in C2C12 cells (Bcl2 and Bcl-XL do not significantly change in Baf-A1/TMZ co-treatment). Using a three-dimensional (3D) C2C12 and RH30 culture model we demonstrated that TMZ is significantly more toxic in RH30 cells (live/dead assay). Additionally, we have observed in our 3D culture model that TMZ induced both apoptosis (cleavage of PARP) and autophagy (LC3-puncta and localization of LC3/p62). Therefore, our data demonstrate that TMZ induces simultaneous autophagy and apoptosis in both RH30 and C2C12 cells in 2D and 3D culture model, where RH30 cells are more sensitive to TMZ-induced death. Furthermore, autophagy serves to protect RH30 cells from TMZ-induced death.

In this article, we present a method for cell culture on a digital microfluidic (DMF) platform. Dielectrophoresis is used for trapping and patterning cells encapsulated within a 3D gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel. In this method, planar traps are patterned within the electrodes on the DMF chip. Dispersed HEK 293 cells in GelMA solution are used to show negative dielectrophoresis when subject to a voltage at 20 kHz. The effects of the cell concentration, trap area, and trap spacing are analyzed. The rise time for patterning cells is shown to be rapid, from 8.5 seconds to 198.3 seconds for 50 μm and 500 μm diameter traps, respectively. The number of cells trapped was significantly influenced by the trap diameter and cell concentration. Live/dead assayed cells under a fluorescence microscope indicated that clusters of HEK 293 cells are 66% viable after 4 days of culturing. Certain trap designs were 78% viable on average after 4 days. This platform can be applied to execute quantitative, automated cell behavior studies and drug tests on the array of cells in vitro.

Following the development of microfluidic systems, there has been a high tendency towards developing lab-on-a-chip devices for biochemical applications. A great deal of effort has been devoted to improve and advance these devices with the goal of performing complete sets of biochemical assays on the device and possibly developing portable platforms for point of care applications. Among the different microfluidic systems used for such a purpose, digital microfluidics (DMF) shows high flexibility and capability of performing multiplex and parallel biochemical operations, and hence, has been considered as a suitable candidate for lab-on-a-chip applications. In this review, we discuss the most recent advances in the DMF platforms, and evaluate the feasibility of developing multifunctional packages for performing complete sets of processes of biochemical assays, particularly for point-of-care applications. The progress in the development of DMF systems is reviewed from eight different aspects, including device fabrication, basic fluidic operations, automation, manipulation of biological samples, advanced operations, detection, biological applications, and finally, packaging and portability of the DMF devices. Success in developing the lab-on-a-chip DMF devices will be concluded based on the advances achieved in each of these aspects.

The delayed feedback stabilization of rigid spacecraft attitude dynamics in the presence of an unknown time-varying delay in the measurement is addressed. The attitude representation is parameterized using minimal attitude coordinates. The time-varying delay and its derivative are assumed to be bounded. By employing a linear state feedback controller via a Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, a general delay-dependent stability condition is characterized for the closed-loop parameterized system in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) whose solution gives the suitable controller gains. An estimate of the region of attraction of the controlled system is also obtained, inside which the asymptotic stability of parameterized system is guaranteed.

In recent years, the tendency to adopt digital microfluidics (DMF) for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) applications has increased extensively.

The delayed feedback control of rigid body attitude motion is addressed where there is an unknown time delay in the feedback measurement. The attitude motion is described on the tangent bundle TSO(3) to globally and uniquely represent the orientation of the rigid body, while a continuous nonlinear delayed feedback control law is proposed for local asymptotic stabilization on TSO(3). For this purpose, we introduce a notion based on the Lyapunov technique, which combines the Morse-Lyapunov method with Lyapunov-Krasovskii technique to yield a suitable Morse-Lyapunov-Krasovskii (M-L–K) functional, from which the stability conditions and proper control gain matrices are obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Simulations illustrate the performance of the proposed control scheme.

In the present study, a hydrodynamic particle manipulation method for digital microfluidic platforms is introduced to separate and concentrate non-buoyant particles in micro-droplets. The proposed method utilizes the combined effects of the gravitational forces and the fluid flow inside the droplet, and it depends only on the hydrodynamic properties of the system without the need of external electrical or magnetic modules. The desired hydrodynamic effect is created by manipulating the droplet in a controlled fashion on a circular pattern of electrodes using the electrowetting-on-dielectric technique. Two successful electrode designs (Star Design and Square Design) are presented. To investigate the feasibility of the proposed particle separation technique, suspensions of silica and polystyrene beads are tested. The fabricated devices successfully focus the non-buoyant silica beads of 1 μm and 5 μm and polystyrene beads of 15 μm in a region on the central electrode; whereas the focusing behavior is not observed for the polystyrene beads of 5 μm. A capturing efficiency of 86% and 94% is achieved for the 5 μm silica particles and 15 μm polystyrene particles, respectively. A parametric study is conducted to investigate the dependency of the focusing regimes on the particle size and density, the droplet size and the electrode geometry, and the actuation scheme. To understand the focusing mechanism, the fluid flow inside the droplet is simulated numerically, and the observed time scales are verified through analytical calculations. Finally, the application of the current particle focusing technique is illustrated for detection of the presence of a low concentration of DNA (18 μg mL−1).

In this paper, a numerical approach is developed for the stability analysis of linear stochastic delay differential equations (SDDEs) in the parameter space based on the Chebyshev Spectral Continuous Time Approximation (CSCTA) technique. The CSCTA method is used to approximate an infinite-dimensional linear SDDE as a set of linear stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The mean and mean-square stability concepts are employed for the stochastic stability analysis of the resulting SDE. For this purpose, a set of linear deterministic differential equations for both the first and second moments are obtained using the Ito differential rule. Two examples are provided: a first order SDDE with multiplicative stochastic excitation and a second order SDDE with both additive and multiplicative stochastic excitation. In both examples the stability charts obtained from the proposed approach match those obtained using the stochastic semi-discretization method as described by Elbeyli et al. (Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simul 10(1):85–94, 2005). In the first example the stability results obtained from both numerical approaches are found to be less conservative than the Lyapunov-based stability region obtained by Samiei et al. (Int J Dyn Control 1(1):64–80, 2013).

In this paper, we obtain an analytical Lyapunov- based stability conditions for scalar linear and nonlinear stochastic systems with discrete time-delay. The Lyapunov–Krasovskii and Lyapunov–Razumikhin methods are applied with techniques from stochastic calculus to obtain the regions of mean square asymptotic stability in the parameter space. Both delay-independent and delay-dependent stability conditions are analyzed corresponding to both additive and multiplicative stochastic Brownian motion excitation in the Ito form. It is also shown that the derived sufficient conditions are less conservative in comparison with other numerical LMI-based Lyapunov approaches. A range of different stability charts are obtained based on the derived Lyapunov-based stability criteria, which are also compared with numerical first and second moment stability boundaries computed using the stochastic semidiscretization method. A Lipschitz condition is used to treat nonlinear functions of the current and delayed states.

A new algorithm named random particle optimization algorithm (RPOA) for local path planning problem of mobile robots in dynamic and unknown environments is proposed. The new algorithm inspired from bacterial foraging technique is based on particles which are randomly distributed around a robot. These particles search the optimal path toward the target position while avoiding the moving obstacles by getting help from the robot’s sensors. The criterion of optimal path selection relies on the particles distance to target and Gaussian cost function assign to detected obstacles. Then, a high level decision making strategy will decide to select best mobile robot path among the proceeded particles, and finally a low level decision control provides a control signal for control of considered holonomic mobile robot. This process is implemented without requirement to tuning algorithm or complex calculation, and furthermore, it is independent from gradient base methods such as heuristic (artificial potential field) methods. Therefore, in this paper, the problem of local mobile path planning is free from getting stuck in local minima and is easy computed. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, some simulations in three various scenarios are performed and results are compared by the artificial potential field.

This paper presents an electrohydrodynamic technique for rapid mixing of droplets in open and closed digital microfluidic (DMF) platforms. Mixing is performed by applying a high frequency AC voltage to the coplanar or parallel electrodes, inducing circulation zones inside the droplet which results in rapid mixing of the content. The advantages of the proposed method in comparison to conventional mixing methods that operate based on transporting the droplet back and forth and side to side include 1) a shorter mixing time (as fast as 0.25 s), 2) the use of a fewer number of electrodes, reducing the size of the chip, and 3) the stationary nature of the technique which reduces the chance of cross-contamination and surface biofouling. Mixing using the proposed method is performed to create a uniform mixture after merging a water droplet with another droplet containing either particles or dye. The results show that increasing the frequency, and or the amplitude of the applied voltage, enhances the mixing process. However, actuation with a very high frequency and voltage may result in shedding pico-liter satellite droplets. Therefore, for each frequency there is an effective range of the amplitude which provides rapid mixing and avoids shedding satellite droplets. Also, the increase in the gap height between the two plates (for the closed DMF platforms) significantly enhances the mixing efficiency due to the lower viscous effects. Effects of the addition of salts and DNA to the samples were also studied. The electrothermal effect decreased for these cases, which was solved by increasing the frequency of the applied voltage. To assure the high frequency actuation does not increase the sample temperature excessively, the temperature change was monitored using a thermal imaging camera and it was found that the increase in temperature is negligible.

In the present study the effects of surface tension on the growth and collapse stages of cavitation bubbles are studied individually for both spherical and nonspherical bubbles. The Gilmore equation is used to simulate the spherical bubble dynamics by considering mass diffusion and heat transfer. For the collapse stage near a rigid boundary, the Navier–Stokes and energy equations are used to simulate the flow domain, and the VOF method is adopted to track the interface between the gas and the liquid phases. Simulations are divided into two cases. In the first case, the collapse stage alone is considered in both spherical and nonspherical situations with different conditions of bubble radius and surface tension. According to the results, surface tension has no significant effects on the flow pattern and collapse rate. In the second case, both the growth and collapse stages of bubbles with different initial radii and surface tensions are considered. In this case surface tension affects the growth stage considerably and, as a result, the jet velocity and collapse time decrease with increasing surface tension coefficient. This effect is more significant for bubbles with smaller radii.

Several studies have been performed on the integration of biosensors into digital microfluidics (DMF). Despite the general success in their detection capabilities, there are still two challenges associated with the integration of biosensors into DMF: (1) complete removal of the droplet containing the analytes from the sensing surface; and (2) biochemical regeneration of the biosensor involving detaching the target analyte from the receptor after each round of sensing. The latter is case dependent and the solution can vary from one application to another. Our research aims at addressing the former, the solution to which is applicable to all biosensors integrated to DMF. This paper presents a thorough characterization of the hydrophilic surface of the biosensor in terms of wettability and geometry, taking into account the overall configuration of the DMF platform. Consequently, we identify the optimal geometry of the sensing surface and the DMF platform providing successful removal of the target droplet from the sensing surface after detection. Based on the results, the gap height is suggested to be chosen at the upper limit of the applicable range. Also, the biosensor, patterned on the device top plate, is recommended to be designed with a high aspect ratio and aligned with the center of the actuating electrode. As a proof of concept, the optimum configuration is implemented on a DMF platform with an interdigitated capacitive biosensor to detect different concentrations of Cryptosporidium, for which it is shown that the sample droplet is removed successfully from the superhydrophilic surface of the biosensor.

In this paper, we design a geometric stochastic feedback controller to almost globally asymptotically stabilize the rigid body attitude in probability. The attitude motion is represented on the tangent bundle of SO(3) and is subject to an stochastic input torque with an unknown multiplicative diffusion coefficient. In addition, we assume that the variance parameter of the stochastic input torque is unknown. We, first, interpret the attitude dynamics in the Ito sense and the Frobenius norm of the unknown diffusion coefficient is approximated by an unknown bounded scalar parameter. An adaptive backstepping method and a suitable Morse-Lyapunov (M-L) function candidate is then employed to obtain a nonlinear continuous stochastic feedback control law. The almost global asymptotic stability of system is guaranteed in probability and the control gain matrix is obtained through solving LMI feasibility problem. A simulation example is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme on TSO(3).

In the present study a particle focusing technique has been developed for digital microfluidics (DMF) based on cumulative effects of negative dielectrophoretic (nDEP) and gravitational forces. The mechanism of the proposed technique has been studied for different particles, and different magnitudes and frequencies of the applied voltage. Particle focusing using the proposed technique was found to be more efficient for particles with a large diameter and high density. To show a potential application of this method, it was applied to collect particles on one side of a large droplet which was split on a DMF platform into two daughter droplets with very low and very high particle concentrations.

This paper studies the effect of the electrode aspect ratio on droplet splitting in a digital microfluidics (DMF) chip including an array of 3 electrodes in which the middle electrode is kept square while the two side electrodes have different aspect ratios. The aspect ratio is changed from 0.9 to 1.3 while the surface area of the electrodes is kept constant for all cases. Results show that changing the aspect ratio can severely change the required voltage for splitting with a nonlinear behavior. It is also shown that for a constant gap between the top and bottom plates and a constant volume of the droplet, the relation between the threshold voltage and the aspect ratio is parabolic, for which there is an aspect ratio with a minimum threshold voltage. Changing the volume of the droplet changes the threshold voltage and hence the aspect ratio corresponding to the minimum threshold voltage required for splitting.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

In the present study, unequal droplet splitting is performed simply by modifying the electrode geometry: an electrode is divided into four small squares or four narrow sub-electrodes which are surrounded by regular spatial electrodes. Two possible configurations are studied for the narrower modified electrodes in which the narrow sub-electrodes are i) parallel, and ii) perpendicular to the flow direction. By actuating one (or more) sub-electrodes on one side and a spatial electrode on the other side of the droplet reproducible unequal splitting was achieved without a need for a complicated control system. In addition to reproducibility, the proposed approach offers a great deal of flexibility by splitting the droplet (or dispense a droplet) to different volumes based on the number of the actuated sub-electrodes.Copyright © 2013 by ASME

Observer-based attitude controllers for single- and multi-actuator maneuvers are developed from the delayed state feedback control laws obtained by the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and inverse dynamics approaches, respectively. The TRIAD algorithm is employed to process the observations. The observer gain is selected based on the extended Kalman-Bucy (EKB) filter, and a novel delay estimation approach is used to provide the estimates of the delay. The observer-based delayed feedback control laws are shown to be capable of accurate control of spacecraft attitude from noise-corrupted attitude measurements.

The present study is intended to investigate and compare the hemodynamics in two different sizes of hemodialysis arteriovenous grafts for upper arm hemodialysis vascular access: 8-mm tapered to 6-mm at the arterial side and straight 6 mm. A computational simulation approach is presented for this study, which is validated against the available experimental and numerical pressure measurements in the literature. The imposed boundary conditions at the arterial inlet and venous outlet boundaries of the models are physiological velocity and pressure waveforms, respectively. Blood flow fields and distribution patterns of the hemodynamic indices including wall shear stress (WSS) as one of the major hemodynamic parameters of the cardiovascular system and spatial wall shear stress gradient (SWSSG) as an indicator of disturbed flow patterns and hence susceptible sites of lesion developments are analyzed and compared between the two grafts. The tapered 6- to 8-mm graft seemingly is associated with less disturbed flow patterns within the venous anastomosis (VA) and the vein downstream while benefiting from higher blood flow rates within. Also, it shows a definitive advantage in terms of WSS and SWSSG distribution patterns around the VA and throughout the vein downstream with significantly lower values, which reduce the risk of thrombosis formation and stenotic lesion developments. The only disadvantage encountered in using 6- to 8-mm tapered graft is higher values of hemodynamic parameters at the arterial junction attributable to its significantly higher mean blood flow rate within. The results clearly indicate that the tapered 6- to 8-mm graft entirely outperforms straight 6-mm graft hemodynamically as an upper arm hemodialysis vascular access graft and confirms clinical data in the literature, which suggests advantageous use of tapered 6- to 8-mm grafts in the creation of upper arm brachioaxillary hemodialysis vascular access grafts in selected groups of patients with expectably higher patency rates and lower complications.

In this paper, a descriptor dynamic model for a two-cooperative rigid-flexible link manipulators system which holds a rigid object in a horizontal workspace is derived. When a system of multi manipulators grasps an object, they form a closed chain that its equations consist of some algebraic constraints as well as dynamic equations. These algebraic constraints can cause impulsive behaviors in the system response and must be considered in modeling and control. Moreover, some of these algebraic constraints are dependent to each other and must be neglected in order to reach to the minimal form of the model. In this paper, a dynamic model for a rigid-flexible link manipulator which is derived in many literatures based on Lagrange equation and assumed mode method is considered. Then, the Minimal constraints equations of the system are derived. The closed chain motion of manipulators and constraints are linearized around the rigid-body motion, and a linearized dynamic descriptor model of the system which is the absolute description of the whole system is obtained. Finally, by using descriptor system theory, the behavior of the system is investigated. To evaluate the proposed method, a simulation was performed on a two-cooperative flexible-link manipulator system.

Hemodialysis vascular access dysfunction is still considered as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis patients. The most common cause of this vascular access dysfunction is venous stenosis secondary to the progression of venous intimal hyperplasia at the graft-vein junction or in the draining vein. The geometry of the vessels and the local hemodynamics are believed to be contributory factors in the development of intimal hyperplasia. In the present study, the hemodynamic parameters in two types of vascular access grafts of different diameters: 6 mm and 8 mm tapered to 6 mm at the arterial site were compared. A three-dimensional CFD model was developed to simulate blood flow in the two graft types. The boundary conditions applied were a pulsatile velocity waveform at the arterial inlet and a pulsatile pressure waveform at the venous outlet. Computational fluid dynamics software was used to solve the time dependent Navier-Stokes equations under physiological conditions in both graft types. Since the cross section area and the diameter of the venous side of the tapered graft are larger than those of the straight one, the flow aligns well with the vein downstream of the graft and hence the smaller vortices are generated. Comparing the parameters at the two venous anastomosis regions also indicates that in spite of the higher flow rate in 6–8 mm tapered graft, the velocity and the wall shear stress values are lower than the values of the 6 mm straight graft.Copyright © 2010 by ASME

A numerical code to simulate mass transfer effects on spherical cavitation bubble collapse in an acoustic pressure domain in quiescent water has been developed. Gilmore equation is used to simulate bubble dynamics, with considering mass diffusion and heat transfer. Bubbles with different initial radii were considered in quiescent infinite water in interaction with sinusoidal shock waves with different magnitudes of amplitude and frequency. Simulations were done in two cases; with and without considering mass transfer. Good agreement with reference data was achieved. For bubbles with small radii in high frequency pressure field with low amplitude, mass transfer causes larger maximum radii and growth time, and more violent resultant collapse. Decreasing pressure frequency or increasing its amplitude causes larger maximum radii, longer collapse time, and more violent collapse. But, in cases with mass transfer because at the last moments of collapse stage a large amount of water vapor is trapped inside the bubble, the collapse will become less violent. For larger bubbles collapse becomes more violent for the cases without mass transfer in all pressure amplitudes and higher frequencies. But decreasing pressure frequency makes the collapse of the bubbles with mass transfer more violent. However, mass transfer effects decreases with increasing initial bubble radius.Copyright © 2010 by ASME