There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Synthesis and surface engineering of iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Polydopamine and Its Derivative Materials: Synthesis and Promising Applications in Energy, Environmental, and Biomedical Fields

http://chemotaxis.semmelweis.hu/CHTXhpg/Durotaxis/LoCM_BiophysJ_2000.pdf

Cell Movement Is Guided by the Rigidity of the Substrate

▪ Abstract Soft lithography, a set of techniques for microfabrication, is based on printing and molding using elastomeric stamps with the patterns of interest in bas-relief. As a technique for fabricating microstructures for biological applications, soft lithography overcomes many of the shortcomings of photolithography. In particular, soft lithography offers the ability to control the molecular structure of surfaces and to pattern the complex molecules relevant to biology, to fabricate channel structures appropriate for microfluidics, and to pattern and manipulate cells. For the relatively large feature sizes used in biology (≥50 μm), production of prototype patterns and structures is convenient, inexpensive, and rapid. Self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiolates on gold are particularly easy to pattern by soft lithography, and they provide exquisite control over surface biochemistry.

/pdf/soft-lithography-in-biology-and-biochemistry-1qiku7qz44.pdf

Soft Lithography in Biology and Biochemistry

We have studied how the switching field of permalloy elements with sub-micron widths varies as a function of the orientation of the applied field. Switching fields for individual elements were determined using Lorentz microscopy, the studies being facilitated greatly by the use of a newly designed magnetizing stage. Brief details of the stage are given. For elements with widths ~400 nm, switching fields increased modestly as the angle the applied field made with the long axis of the element increased. In contrast, as the element width was reduced to 160 nm, little variation with field orientation was observed. The results suggest that the residual domain structures close to the ends of the elements played a major role in determining their switching characteristics, even for the smallest elements investigated here.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0022-3727/36/24/001/pdf

TEM studies of the switching characteristics of small permalloy elements as a function of field orientation

Women's request for Cesarean.

Women’s views are critical for informing the planning and delivery of maternity care services. ST segment analysis (STan) is a promising method to more accurately detect when unborn babies are at risk of brain damage or death during labour that is being trialled for the first time in Australia. This is the first study to examine women’s views about STan monitoring in this context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with pregnant women recruited across a range of clinical locations at the study hospital. The interviews included hypothetical scenarios to assess women’s prospective views about STan monitoring (as an adjunct to cardiotocography, (CTG)) compared to the existing fetal monitoring method of CTG alone. This article describes findings from an inductive and descriptive thematic analysis. Most women preferred the existing fetal monitoring method compared to STan monitoring; women’s decision-making was multifaceted. Analysis yielded four themes relating to women’s views towards fetal monitoring in labour: a) risk and labour b) mobility in labour c) autonomy and choice in labour d) trust in maternity care providers. Findings suggest that women’s views towards CTG and STan monitoring are multifaceted, and appear to be influenced by individual labour preferences and the information being received and understood. This underlies the importance of clear communication between maternity care providers and women about technology use in intrapartum care. This research is now being used to inform the implementation of the first properly powered Australian randomised trial comparing STan and CTG monitoring.

/pdf/a-pilot-exploratory-investigation-on-pregnant-women-s-views-4az1l6u0og.pdf

A pilot exploratory investigation on pregnant women's views regarding STan fetal monitoring technology.

We report on the use of CHF3, C2F6, and SF6 as etch gases for deep reactive ion etch processing of germano-boro-silicate glass films prepared by flame hydrolysis deposition (FHD) The glass film under study had a composition of 83 wt % SiO2, 12 wt % GeO2, and 5 wt % B2O3 The scope of the study was to identify the benefits and drawbacks of each gas for fabrication of deep structures (>10 μm) and to develop an etch process in each gas system The etch rate, etch profile, and surface roughness of the FHD glass films were investigated for each gas Etch rates and surface roughness were measured using a surface profiler and etch profiles were assessed using a scanning electron microscope It was found that SF6 had the highest FHD glass etch rate and nichrome mask selectivity (>100:1) however, it had the lowest photoresist mask selectivity ( 80:1) and photoresist (>10:1) and the etch profile was 

Deep, vertical etching of flame hydrolysis deposited hi-silica glass films for optoelectronic and bioelectronic applications

A method for reactive ion etching (RIE) InP has been developed using CH4/H2 which allows the fabrication of dots of 6Onm diameter and 200nm height with good aspect ratio. The effect of the etch on the optical quality of the InP surface is investigated by phonon Raman scattering and 5K luminescence.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Chris D. W. Wilkinson

Papers

TEM studies of the switching characteristics of small permalloy elements as a function of field orientation

Women's request for Cesarean.

A pilot exploratory investigation on pregnant women's views regarding STan fetal monitoring technology.

Deep, vertical etching of flame hydrolysis deposited hi-silica glass films for optoelectronic and bioelectronic applications

Reactive ion etching of InP and its optical assessment