Small volume laboratory on a chip measurements incorporating the quartz crystal microbalance to measure the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids

A microfluidic glass chip system incorporating a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to measure the square root of the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is presented. The QCM covers a central recess on a glass chip, with a seal formed by tightly clamping from above outside the sensing region. The change in resonant frequency of the QCM allows for the determination of the square root viscosity-density product of RTILs to a limit of similar to 10 kg m(-2) s(-0.5). This method has reduced the sample size needed for characterization from 1.5 ml to only 30 mu l and allows the measurement to be made in an enclosed system.

Low SNR Capacity for MIMO Rician and Rayleigh-Product Fading Channels with Single Co-channel Interferer and Noise

This paper studies the ergodic capacity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems with a single co-channel interferer in the low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) regime. Two MIMO models namely Rician and Rayleigh-product channels are investigated. Exact analytical expressions for the minimum energy per information bit, Eb/N0min, and wideband slope, S0, are derived for both channels. Our results show that the minimum energy per information bit is the same for both channels while their wideband slopes differ significantly. Further, the impact of the numbers of transmit and receive antennas, the Rician K factor, the channel mean matrix and the interference-to-noise-ratio (INR) on the capacity, is addressed. Results indicate that interference degrades the capacity by increasing the required minimum energy per information bit and reducing the wideband slope. Simulation results validate our analytical results.

Textural properties of whey based edible films

The objective of this work was to study the textural properties of edible films made from sour (acid) whey for food wrapping application. Acid whey is often regarded as a waste product, obtained as a watery effluent in the manufacturing of cottage cheese. In general, owing to its high nutritional value, whey has gained importance as an additive in food manufacturing processes and in health drink formulations. In this work, fresh sour whey was used to make edible films. The proteins in the whey were concentrated by ultrafiltration to reduce the water content. Only natural ingredients such as acid whey and agar were used to form the film under controlled heating (650 W) in a microwave oven. The structural and surface characteristics of the films were tested by a texture analyser and scanning electron micrographs.