This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here.

No abstract

Magnetic levitation (MagLev) is a density-based method which uses magnets and a paramagnetic medium to suspend multiple objects simultaneously as a result of an equilibrium between gravitational, buoyancy, and magnetic forces acting on the particle. Early MagLev setups were bulky with a need for optical or fluorescence microscopes for imaging, confining portability, and accessibility. Here, we review design criteria and the most recent end-applications of portable smartphone-based and self-contained MagLev setups for density-based sorting and analysis of microparticles. Additionally, we review the most recent end applications of those setups, including disease diagnosis, cell sorting and characterization, protein detection, and point-of-care testing.

No abstract

Paper-based devices have a wide range of applications in point-of-care diagnostics, environmental analysis, and food monitoring. Paper-based devices can be deployed to resource-limited countries and remote settings in developed countries. Paper-based point-of-care devices can provide access to diagnostic assays without significant user training to perform the tests accurately and timely. The market penetration of paper-based assays requires decreased device fabrication costs, including larger packing density of assays (i.e., closely packed features) and minimization of assay reagents. In this review, we discuss fabrication methods that allow for increasing packing density and generating closely packed features in paper-based devices. To ensure that the paper-based device is low-cost, advanced fabrication methods have been developed for the mass production of closely packed assays. These emerging methods will enable minimizing the volume of required samples (e.g., liquid biopsies) and reagents in paper-based microfluidic devices.

This research presents a mixed reality (MR) application that is designed to be usable during a motion capture shoot and supports actors with their task to perform. Through our application, we allow seeing and exploring a digital environment without occluding an actor's field of vision. A prototype was built by combining a retroreflective screen covering surrounding walls and a headband consisting of a laser scanning projector with a smartphone. Built-in sensors of a smartphone provide navigation capabilities in the digital world. The presented system was demonstrated in an initially published paper. Here, we extend these research results with our advances and discuss the potential use of our prototype in gaming and entertainment applications. To explore this potential use case, we built a gaming application using our MR prototype and tested it with 45 participants. In these tests, we use head movements as rather unconventional game controls. According to the performed user tests and their feedback, our prototype shows a potential to be used for gaming applications as well. Therefore, our MR prototype could become of special interest because the prototype is lightweight, allows for freedom of movement and is a lowcost, stand-alone mobile system. Moreover, the prototype also allows for 3D vision by mounting additional hardware.

The proposed new method differs from the majority of previous studies which are based on user requirements by leaning on user experiments instead. The study demonstrated that the user interface of EMRs should be designed according to a guideline that results from a survey on users' experiences on metaphoric perception of the terms.

No abstract