Polyethylene glycol assisted facile sol-gel synthesis of lanthanum oxide nanoparticles: Structural characterizations and photoluminescence studies

In this study, lanthanum oxide nanoparticles (La₂O₃ NPs) synthesised via the facile sol-gel method, using a solution of micro-sized lanthanum oxide powders containing 20% nitric acid and high molecular weight polyethylene glycol (PEG). The as synthesised La₂O₃ NPs were then characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDS) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Our findings indicated that the concentration of PEG strongly influences the particle size and the lattice strain of the La₂O₃ NPs. A single phase hexagonal crystal structure was confirmed via XRD studies with lattice constants, a =?b =?0.3973?nm and c =?0.6129?nm. The average crystallite size and lattice strains estimated were in the range of approximately 25–28?nm and 0.0050–0.0055 respectively. The incremental nature of the crystallinity and lattice strains of the NPs was observed with the subsequent enhancement of PEG-contents, while the average particle size was reduced. The average particle size of La₂O₃ NPs estimated from ESEM imaging was consistent with that obtained from the XRD data. The photoluminescence spectra revealed a strong emission band located at a wavelength of 365?nm (typical green band) for all La₂O₃NPsamples. This is ascribed to the recombination of delocalized electrons around the conduction band with a single charged state of a surface oxygen vacancy.     

Surface-Micromachined Parylene Dual Valves for On-Chip Unpowered Microflow Regulation

This paper presents the world's first surface-micromachined parylene dual-valved microfluidic system for on-chip unpowered microflow regulation. Incorporating a normally closed and a normally open passive check valve in a back-to-back configuration inside a microchannel, the dual-valved system has successfully regulated the pressure/flow rate of air and liquid without power consumption or electronic/magnetic/thermal transduction. By exclusively using parylene C (poly-para-xylylene C) as the structural material, the fabricated valves have higher flexibility to shunt flows in comparison to other conventional thin-film valves. A state-of-the-art multilayer polymer surface-micromachining technology is applied here to fabricate parylene microvalves of various designs. The parylene-based devices are completely biocompatible/implantable and provide an economical paradigm for fluidic control in integrated lab-on-a-chip systems. Design, fabrication, and characterization of the parylene dual valves are discussed in this paper. Testing results have successfully demonstrated that the microflow regulation of the on-chip dual-valved system can achieve a bandpass profile in which the pressure control range is 0-50 mmHg with corresponding flow rates up to 2 mL/min for air flow and 1 muL/min flow rate for water flow. This regulation range is suitable for controlling biological conditions in human health care, with potential applications including drug delivery and regulation of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients     

Joint admission control,cell association,power allocation and throughput maximization in decoupled 5G heterogeneous networks

Downlink (DL)-uplink (UL) coupled cell association scheme was adopted in 3rd generation (3G) homogeneous network and 4th generation (4G) heterogeneous network (HetNet). In the coupled cell association scheme, a user is associated to single base station (BS) in DL & UL based on the strongest received signal power (SRSP) in DL from a macro base station (MBS) and multiple small base stations (SBS) in HetNet. This is a sub-optimal solution for cell association as most of the users are associated to a MBS due to dominant transmit power and brings challenges like multiple interference issues and imbalanced user traffic load which leads to a degraded throughput in HetNet. In this paper, we investigate downlink uplink decoupled cell association scheme to address these issues and formulate a sum-rate maximization problem in terms of admission control, cell association and power allocation for MBS only, coupled and decoupled HetNet. The formulated optimization problem falls into class of a mixed integer non linear programming (MINLP) problem which is NP-hard and requires exhaustive search to find the optimal solution. However, computational complexity of the exhaustive search increases exponentially with the increase in number of users. Therefore, an outer approximation algorithm (OAA) is proposed as a solution to find near optimal solution with less computation complexity. Extensive simulations work has been done to evaluate the decoupled cell association scheme in HetNet vs the coupled cell association scheme in traditional MBS only and HetNet. Results show the effectiveness of decoupled cell association scheme in terms of KPIs, such as throughput, addressing user traffic load imbalances and number of users attached.

     

Impedance as a method to sense proximity at the electrode-retina interface

Precise positioning of a stimulating electrode in the eye is not possible by simple visualization. However, reliable measurement of responses to retinal stimulation requires consistent positioning. The present study focuses on impedance measurement techniques to sense the proximity of the electrode to the retina. A platinum-iridium stimulation electrode was placed inside the rat eye and impedance was recorded at different positions of the stimulating electrode relative to the retina. The presence of robust electrically evoked response in the superior colliculus indicates that the electrode may not have to be in absolute contact in order to elicit a neural response. Optical coherence tomography imaging confirmed the distance-impedance relationship.     

Visual Prosthesis

Electronic visual prostheses have demonstrated the ability to restore a rudimentary sense of vision to blind individuals. This review paper will highlight past and recent progress in this field as well as some technical challenges to further advancement. Retinal implants have now been tested in humans by four independent groups. Optic nerve and cortical implants have been also been evaluated in humans. The first implants have achieved remarkable results, including detection of motion and distinguishing objects from a set. To improve on these results, a number of research groups have performed simulations that predict up to 1000 individual pixels may be needed to restore significant functions such as face recognition and reading. In order to achieve a device that can stimulate the visual system in this many locations, issues of power consumption and electronic packaging must be resolved.     

Perceptual thresholds and electrode impedance in three retinal prosthesis subjects.

Three test subjects blind from retinitis pigmentosa were implanted with retinal prostheses as part of a FDA-approved clinical trial. The implant consisted of an extraocular unit that contained electronics for wireless data, power, and generation of stimulus current, and an intraocular unit that consisted of 16 platinum stimulating electrodes arranged in a 4 x 4 pattern within a silicone rubber substrate. The array was held to the retina by a small tack. The stimulator was connected to the array by a multiwire cable and was controlled by a computer based external system that allowed precise control over each electrode. Perception thresholds and electrode impedance were obtained on each electrode from the subjects over several months of testing. The electrode distance from the retina was determined from optical coherence tomography imaging of the array and retina. Across all subjects, average thresholds ranged from 24-702 microA (1-ms pulse). The data show that proximity to the retina played a role in determining the threshold and impedance, but only for electrodes that were greater than 0.5 mm from the retina.     

The dependence of spectral impedance on disc microelectrode radius

As microelectrodes gain widespread use for electrochemical sensing, biopotential recording, and neural stimulation, it becomes important to understand the dependence of electrochemical impedance on microelectrode size. It has been shown mathematically that a disc electrode, coplanar in an insulating substrate and exposed to a conducting media, exhibits an inhomogeneous current distribution when a potential step is applied. This distribution is known as the primary distribution, and its derivation also yielded an analytic solution for electrical resistance of the conducting media (R(s)), between the disc surface and a distant ground, which is inversely proportional to disk radius [R(s) = 1/(4kappar), where kappa is media conductivity and r is disk radius]. The dependence of spectral impedance on microelectrode radius, however, has not been explored. We verify the analytical solution for resistance using high-frequency (100 kHz) electrochemical impedance data from microelectrodes of varying radius (11-325 microm). For all disc radii, as we approach a lower frequency (--> 10 Hz), we observe a transition from radial to area dependence (e.g., 1/r --> 1/r2). We hypothesize that this transition is driven by the fact that the derivation of the primary distribution ignores concentration gradients, but that these gradients cannot be ignored at lower frequencies.     

Fatigue behavior of an austenitic steel of 300-series under non-zero mean loading

Strain-controlled fatigue data of an austenitic stainless steel subjected to uniaxial state at different strain ratios with tensile and compressive mean strain are experimentally investigated to understand the fatigue phenomena when non-zero mean straining is involved. The fatigue test result indicates that mean stresses relax to very low level and the material experiences elastic-plastic response throughout the life. Moreover, the material has higher fatigue resistance under tensile mean strain loading condition than that of completely reversed loading and compressive mean strain cycling at the same strain amplitude which might be attributed to the micro-structural deformation mechanism. The capabilities of several damage parameters to characterize the non-zero mean strain effect on fatigue life are examined based on fatigue data and are found inappropriate for the as-received material. Therefore, a fatigue damage approach with a power law relationship between modified damage parameter and reversals to failure, considering a mean strain function in stress-strain-based fatigue damage module, is introduced to the material which shows better correlation with the uniaxial fatigue data under mean strain loading compared to that of some established fatigue models.