Micro-fabrication of bio-MEMS based force sensor to measure the force response of living cells

Understanding how a living cell behaves has become a very important topic in today’s research field. Hence, different sensors and testing devices have been designed to test the mechanical properties of these living cells. This thesis presents a method of micro-fabricating a bio-MEMS based force sensor which is used to measure the force response of living cells. Initially, the basic concepts of MEMS have been discussed and the different micro-fabrication techniques used to manufacture various MEMS devices have been described. There have been many MEMS based devices manufactured and employed for testing many nano-materials and bio-materials. Each of the MEMS based devices described in this thesis use a novel concept of testing the specimens. The different specimens tested are nano-tubes, nano-wires, thin film membranes and biological living cells. Hence, these different devices used for material testing and cell mechanics have been explained. The micro-fabrication techniques used to fabricate this force sensor has been described and the experiments preformed to successfully characterize each step in the fabrication have been explained. The fabrication of this force sensor is based on the facilities available at Michigan Technological University. There are some interesting and uncommon concepts in MEMS which have been observed during this fabrication. These concepts in MEMS which have been observed are shown in multiple SEM images.

A new application of emulsions to measure the gravitational force on antihydrogen

We propose to build and operate a detector based on the emulsion film technology for the measurement of the gravitational acceleration on antimatter, to be performed by the AEgIS experiment (AD6) at CERN. The goal of AEgIS is to test the weak equivalence principle with a precision of 1% on the gravitational acceleration g by measuring the vertical position of the annihilation vertex of antihydrogen atoms after their free fall while moving horizontally in a vacuum pipe. With the emulsion technology developed at the University of Bern we propose to improve the performance of AEgIS by exploiting the superior position resolution of emulsion films over other particle detectors. The idea is to use a new type of emulsion films, especially developed for applications in vacuum, to yield a spatial resolution of the order of one micron in the measurement of the sag of the antihydrogen atoms in the gravitational field. This is an order of magnitude better than what was planned in the original AEgIS proposal.

Department of Defense authorization for appropriations for fiscal year 2010 : hearing before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, first session, on S. 1390, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2010 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

"May 20 and June 3, 2009"--Pt. 6-7.

Department of Defense authorization for appropriations for fiscal year 2013 and the Future Years Defense Program : hearings before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, second session, on S. 3254, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2013 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

Shipping list no.: 2013-0201-P (pt.1), 2013-0185-P (pt. 2), 2013-0213-P (pt. 3), 2013-0212-P (pt. 4), 2013-0140-P (pt. 5), 2013-0148-P (pt. 6), 2013-0209-P (pt. 7).

Aerology and amphibious warfare, Operations of the Seventh Amphibious Force : part one, 30 June 1943 to 2 January 1944.

"This is one of a series of pamphlets dealing with the weather aspects of Naval and Amphibious Warfare."

Report of Secretary of Defense ... to the Congress on the FY ... budget, FY ... authorization request, and FY ... defense programs.

Title varies slightly.

The statute law of Kentucky; with notes, prælections, and observations on the public acts. Comprehending also, the laws of Virginia and acts of Parliament in force in this commonwealth; the charter of Virginia, the federal and state constitutions, and so much of the King of England's proclamation in 1763, as relates to the titles to land in Kentucky. Together with a table of reference to the cases adjudicated in the Court of appeals ...

Imprint varies: v. 2-3, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for William Hunter, by Johnston & Pleasants. 1810-1811.--v. 4, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for William Hunter, by Robert Johnston. 1814.--v. 5, Frankfort, (Ken.) Printed for Butler & Wood. 1819.

Interim report on laws relating to the liability of employers to make compensation to their employees for injuries received in the course of their employment, which are in force in other countries,

Included: Brief of Trades and Labour Congress of Canada.--Laws of European countries and the provinces of Canada.--Acts passed by state legislatures in the United States of America

Final report on laws relating to the liability of employers to make compensation to their employees for injuries received in the course of their employment, which are in force in other countries.

This report, without the appendixes, is issued also with the "Second interim report," 1913 (cover-title, 58p.)

Cost shifting, hospital financial viability, and accessibility of hospital care : Task Force report to the Council.

Cover title.

Findings and recommendations of the Technical Task Force on Community Mental Health Services : report to the Governor of the state of Illinois and the Illinois General Assembly.

"In accordance with Public Act 85-1301." -- Cover.

A digest of the laws of the State of Alabama : containing all the statutes of a public and general nature, in force at the close of the session of the General assembly, in January, 1833 to which are prefixed, the Declaration of independence, the constitution of the United States, the Act to enable the people of Alabama to form a constitution and state government, &c., and the constitution of the State of Alabama; with an appendix, and a copious index /

Includes index.

Amendment to Communications act of 1934, protest section : hearing before a subcommittee of the Commitee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, United States Senate, Eighty-fourth Congress, first session, on S. 1648, a bill to amend section 309 of the Communications act of 1934, in regard to protests of grants of instruments of authorization without hearing : July 7, 1955.

Mode of access: Internet.

Use of blanks to determine in vitro net gas and methane production when using rumen fermentation modifiers

Blanks (flasks without substrate containing only inoculum and medium) are used in vitro to correct for gas. CH(4) and residual organic matter (OM) fermented in inoculum. However inclusion of rumen fermentation modifiers may affect fermentation of OM in the substrate and inoculum. Thus, data correction using blanks that lack additives may result in inaccurate adjustment for background fermentation. Our objective was to evaluate impacts of using blanks containing additive (i.e., specific blanks) or blanks without additive on estimation of in vitro net gas and CH(4) production. We used the semi-automatic in vitro gas production technique including monensin sodium at 2.08 mg/l of buffered rumen fluid (Experiment 1) or carvacrol, eugenol and 1,8-cineol at 667 mg/l (Experiment 2) in flasks with substrate and in blank flasks. At 16h of incubation, monensin reduced (P <= 0.02) total gas production in flasks containing substrate (162.0 ml versus 146.3 ml) and in blanks (84.4 ml versus 79.2 ml). Total methane production was also decreased (P <= 0.05) by adding monensin to flasks containing substrate (15.7 ml versus 11.9 ml) as well as in blanks (6.4 ml versus 5.0 ml). Inclusion of carvacrol or eugenol reduced (P <= 0.05) total gas and CH(4) production in flasks with substrate and in blanks, but in a more pronounced manner than monensin. For these three additives, correction for blank without additive resulted in lower net gas and CH(4) production than correction for a treatment specific blank. For instance, correcting carvacrol data using a blank without the additive resulted in negative net gas and CH(4) production (-6.5 and -1.5 ml. respectively). These biologically impossible results occurred because total gas and CH(4) production in blanks without carvacrol (46.1 and 2.1 ml, respectively) were higher than in flasks containing substrate plus carvacrol (39.7 and 0.6 ml, respectively). Results demonstrated that inclusion of rumen additives affected fermentation of OM in the substrate and the inoculum. Thus, correction of gas and CH(4) production using blanks without additives resulted in overestimation of these variables. Blanks containing the additive of interest should be included when rumen fermentation modifiers are evaluated in vitro. This paper is part of the special issue entitled: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions, Guest Edited by T.A. McAllister, Section Guest Editors: K.A. Beauchemin, X. Hao, S. McGinn and Editor for Animal Feed Science and Technology, P.H. Robinson. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Use of Hyaluronidase to Prevent Perineal Trauma During Spontaneous Births: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-blind, Clinical Trial

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency and severity of perineal trauma during spontaneous birth with or without perineal injections of hyaluronidase (HAase). Methods: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial was conducted in a midwife-led, in-hospital birth center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Primiparous women (N = 160) were randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 80) or control (n = 80) group. During the second stage of labor, women in the experimental group received an injection of 20.000 turbidity-reducing units of HAase in the posterior region of the perineum, and those in the control group received a placebo injection. The assessment of perineal outcome was performed by 2 independent nurse-midwives. A 1-tailed Fisher exact test was performed, and a P value < .025 was considered statistically significant. Results: Perineal integrity occurred in 34.2% of the experimental group and in 32.5% of the control group, which was not a statistically significant difference (P = .477). First-degree laceration was the most common trauma in the posterior region of the perineum in women in both groups (experimental = 56%, control = 42.6%). Severe perineal trauma occurred in 28.9% of the experimental group and 38.8% of the control group, which also was not a statistically significant difference (P =. 131). The depth of second-degree perineal lacerations in the experimental and control groups, measured by the Peri-Rule, was 1.9 cm and 2.3 cm, respectively. An episiotomy was performed in 11 women (experimental group = 3, control group = 8), and 4 (all in control group) had third-degree lacerations. Discussion: The use of injectable HAase did not increase the proportion of intact perineum and did not reduce the proportion of severe perineal trauma in our sample. J Midwifery Womens Health 2011; 56: 436-445 (C) 2011 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.