This work describes a novel and simple modification of the current microarray format. It reduces the sample/reagent volume to 1 μl and the hybridization time to 500 s. Both 20mer and 80mer oligonucleotide probes and singly labeled 20mer and 80mer targets, representative of the T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia 1 (TAL1) gene, have been used to elucidate the performance of this hybridization approach. In this format, called shuttle hybridization, a conventional flat glass DNA microarray is integrated with a PMMA microfluidic chip to reduce the sample and reagent consumption to 1/100 of that associated with the conventional format. A serpentine microtrench is designed and fabricated on a PMMA chip using a widely available CO2 laser scriber. The trench spacing is compatible with the inter-spot distance in standard microarrays. The microtrench chip and microarray chip are easily aligned and assembled manually so that the microarray is integrated with a microfluidic channel. Discrete sample plugs are employed in the microchannel for hybridization. Flowing through the microchannel with alternating depths and widths scrambles continuous sample plug into discrete short plugs. These plugs are shuttled back and forth along the channel, sweeping over microarray probes while re-circulation mixing occurs inside the plugs. Integrating the microarrays into the microfluidic channel reduces the DNA–DNA hybridization time from 18 h to 500 s. Additionally, the enhancement of DNA hybridization reaction by the microfluidic device is investigated by determining the coefficient of variation (CV), the growth rate of the hybridization signal and the ability to discriminate single-base mismatch. Detection limit of 19 amol was obtained for shuttle hybridization. A 1 μl target was used to hybridize with an array that can hold 5000 probes.
One of the important factors affecting the accuracy of stress values obtained from the hole-drilling method is the calibration coefficient. A three-dimensional model was established to determine the calibration coefficients for integral method. The constraint conditions and loading conditions during hole-drilling can be simulated more realistically with this method. With this new model, coefficients a¯i,j and b¯i,j could be determined within one computation procedure. The relationship between calibration coefficients and plate thickness was investigated over a wide range of plate thickness. It has been found that the calibration coefficients determined in this work may vary with thickness of plates and the thickness range for thin plates was thus well defined. The calibration coefficients can thus be extended to measure the residual stresses of either thin or thick plates. Comparison of calibration coefficients with those determined by other studies was also conducted.
This paper derives a high precision analytical solution to determine the pull-in voltages of a micro curled beam subjected to electrostatic loads. The analytical model considers the fringing fields between the micro curled beam and the ground plane as well as the initial curling induced by the stress gradient. Furthermore, the electromechanical coupling effects are also involved in the present analytical model. Then the analytical solution of pull-in voltage is obtained by the energy method. By comparing with the other published analytical models as well as the experimentally measured data, the accuracy of the present analytical solution is verified to be more accurate than the other published works. The present analytical solution can determine the pull-in voltage with a maximum deviation of 1% from the experimentally measured results as the ratio of the beam length to the width is greater than 5.
Experimental validation of the calibration coefficients for integral hole-drilling method obtained from an improved three-dimensional FEM model was achieved using bending test of a cantilever beam. The experimental setup is a simple yet accurate method to validate the calibration coefficients obtained by a three-dimensional FEM model. With this experiment, we also validate the adequacy of the criterion applied for thin or thick plates in a previous work. The relieved stresses calculated from the calibration coefficients of the three-dimensional FEM model were compared with those calculated from two-dimensional model calibration coefficients. The results show that the accuracy of relieved stress calculation has been greatly improved as the calibration coefficients based on a three-dimensional model are used for integral hole-drilling method. Significant error in the residual stress measurement and calculation could be arisen if calibration coefficients for integral hole-drilling method were not chosen correctly for corresponding thin plate or thick plate cases according the results of the bending test of cantilever beam. A transitional dimensionless thickness was proposed by examining the calculated relieved stresses obtained from the calibration coefficients for different plate thickness. The probability bounds of relieved stress corresponding to both cases were also calculated to further reveal the improvement of the calibration coefficients obtained from the three-dimensional model.
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