Giant Magnetoresistive Biosensors for Time-Domain Magnetorelaxometry: A Theoretical Investigation and Progress Toward an Immunoassay.

Magnetorelaxometry (MRX) is a promising new biosensing technique for point-of-care diagnostics. Historically, magnetic sensors have been primarily used to monitor the stray field of magnetic nanoparticles bound to analytes of interest for immunoassays and flow cytometers. In MRX, the magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are first magnetized and then the temporal response is monitored after removing the magnetic field. This new sensing modality is insensitive to the magnetic field homogeneity making it more amenable to low-power portable applications. In this work, we systematically investigated time-domain MRX by measuring the signal dependence on the applied field, magnetization time, and magnetic core size. The extracted characteristic times varied for different magnetic MNPs, exhibiting unique magnetic signatures. We also measured the signal contribution based on the MNP location and correlated the coverage with measured signal amplitude. Lastly, we demonstrated, for the first time, a GMR-based time-domain MRX bioassay. This approach validates the feasibility of immunoassays using GMR-based MRX and provides an alternative platform for point-of-care diagnostics

G4LTL-ST: Automatic Generation of PLC Programs

G4LTL-ST automatically synthesizes control code for industrial Programmable Logic Controls (PLC) from timed behavioral specifications of input-output signals. These specifications are expressed in a linear temporal logic (LTL) extended with non-linear arithmetic constraints and timing constraints on signals. G4LTL-ST generates code in IEC 61131-3-compatible Structured Text, which is compiled into executable code for a large number of industrial field-level devices. The synthesis algorithm of G4LTL-ST implements pseudo-Boolean abstraction of data constraints and the compilation of timing constraints into LTL, together with a counterstrategy-guided abstraction refinement synthesis loop. Since temporal logic specifications are notoriously difficult to use in practice, G4LTL-ST supports engineers in specifying realizable control problems by suggesting suitable restrictions on the behavior of the control environment from failed synthesis attempts.Comment: This is the full version of the CAV'14 paper. Research concepts developed this paper are mainly from the technical report "Numerical LTL synthesis for cyber-physical systems", coauthored by Chih-Hong Cheng (ABB Research) and Edward A. Lee (UC Berkeley

Relationship between Crude Oil Prices and Stock Prices of Alternative Energy Companies with Recent Evidence

This paper examines the recent interactive relationships between crude oil prices and stock performances of alternative energy companies. Oil prices and stock index of alternative energy sector are found independent from each other before late 2006. Contrary to existing studies, however, we find significant interdependence between oil prices and stock index of alternative energy industry in the recent years. Since late 2006, oil prices become significantly responsible for the stock performances of alternative energy companies. This finding suggests that the stock market investors of alternative energy sector incorporate oil price shocks into their trading decisions only recently.Crude oil price; Alternative energy; Oil stock index

Tuning the Solubility of Copper Complex in Atom Transfer Radical Self-Condensing Vinyl Polymerizations to Control Polymer Topology via One-Pot to the Synthesis of Hyperbranched Core Star Polymers

In this paper, we propose a simple one-pot methodology for proceeding from atom transfer reaction-induced conventional free radical polymerization (AT-FRP) to atom transfer self-condensing vinyl polymerization (AT-SCVP) through manipulation of the catalyst phase homogeneity (i.e., CuBr/2,2'-bipyridine (CuBr/Bpy)) in a mixture of styrene (St), 4-vinyl benzyl chloride (VBC), and ethyl 2-bromoisobutyrate. Tests of the solubilities of CuBr/Bpy and CuBr2/Bpy under various conditions revealed that both temperature and solvent polarity were factors affecting the solubility of these copper complexes. Accordingly, we obtained different polymer topologies when performing AT-SCVP in different single solvents. We investigated two different strategies to control the polymer topology in one-pot: varying temperature and varying solvent polarity. In both cases, different fractions of branching revealed the efficacy of varying the polymer topology. To diversify the functionality of the peripheral space, we performed chain extensions of the resulting hyperbranched poly(St-co-VBC) macroinitiator (name as: hbPSt MI) with either St or tBA (tert-butyl acrylate). The resulting hyperbranched core star polymer had high molecular weights (hbPSt-g-PSt: Mn = 25,000, Đ = 1.77; hbPSt-g-PtBA: Mn = 27,000, Đ = 1.98); hydrolysis of the tert-butyl groups of the later provided a hyperbranched core star polymer featuring hydrophilic poly(acrylic acid) segments

Microwave characteristics of liquid-crystal tunable capacitors

[[abstract]]This letter investigates the microwave characteristics of the liquid crystal tunable capacitors for the first time. With the dielectric anisotropy properties, the liquid crystal capacitors present very different characteristics compared to the semiconductor or MEMS tunable capacitors. A quality factor of 310 with a control voltage of 5 V was achieved at 4 GHz. A tuning range of 25.3% for the control voltages from 0 to 5 V was obtained at 5 GHz. The results demonstrate the potential applications of liquid crystals as dielectric materials for capacitors with high quality factors and wide tuning ranges at high frequencies, particularly suitable for the future flexible electronics with transparent substrates.[[fileno]]2030121010007[[department]]電機工程學