This book covers all the steps in order to fabricate a lab-on-a-chip device starting from the idea, the design, simulation, fabrication and final evaluation. Additionally, it includes basic theory on microfluidics essential to understand how fluids behave at such reduced scale. Examples of successful histories of lab-on-a-chip systems that made an impact in fields like biomedicine and life sciences are also provided. This book also: * Provides readers with a unique approach and toolset for lab-on-a-chip development in terms of materials, fabrication techniques, and components * Discusses novel materials and techniques, such as paper-based devices and synthesis of chemical compounds on-chip * Covers the four key aspects of development: basic theory, design, fabrication, and testing * Provides readers with a comprehensive list of the most important journals, blogs, forums, and conferences where microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip news, methods, techniques and challenges are presented and discussed, as well as a list of companies providing design and simulation support, components, and/or developing lab-on-a-chip and microfluidic devices.

The thesis covers a broad range of electronic, optical and opto-electronic devices and various predicted physical effects. In particular, it examines the quantum interference transistor effect in graphene nanorings; tunable spin-filtering and spin-dependent negative differential resistance in composite heterostructures based on graphene and ferromagnetic materials; optical and novel electro-optical bistability and hysteresis in compound systems and the real-time control of radiation patterns of optical nanoantennas. The direction of the main radiation lobe of a regular plasmonic array can be changed abruptly by small variations in external control parameters. This optical effect, apart from its relevance for applications, is a revealing example of the Umklapp process and, thus, is a visual manifestation of one of the most fundamental laws of solid state physics: the conservation of the quasi-momentum to within a reciprocal lattice vector. The thesis analyzes not only results for particular device designs but also a variety of advanced numerical methods which are extended by the author and described in detail. These methods can be used as a sound starting point for further research.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the photonic sensing field by covering plasmonics, photonic crystal, and SOI techniques from theory to real sensing applications. A literature review of ultra-sensitive photonic sensors, including their design and application in industry, makes this a self-contained and comprehensive resource for different types of sensors, with high value to the biosensor sector in particular. The book is organized into four parts: Part I covers the basic theory of wave propagation, basic principles of sensing, surface plasmon resonance, and silicon photonics; Part II details the computational modeling techniques for the analysis and prediction of photonic sensors; Part III and Part IV cover the various mechanisms and light matter interaction scenarios behind the design of photonic sensors including photonic crystal fiber sensors and SOI sensors. This book is appropriate for academics and researchers specializing in photonic sensors; graduate students in the early and intermediate stages working in the areas of photonics, sensors, biophysics, and biomedical engineering; and to biomedical, environmental, and chemical engineers.

The present volume is a collection of review articles highlighting the fundamental advances made in this area by the internationally acclaimed research groups , most of them being pioneers themselves and coming together for the first time.

This book reviews advances in cutting-edge micro-/nano-electrometers, and discusses the technological challenges involved in their practical implementation. The detection of electrostatic charge has a wide range of applications in ionization chambers, bio-analyte and aerosol particle instruments, mass spectrometers, scanning tunneling microscopes, and even quantum computers. Designing micro-/nano-electrometers (also known as charge sensors) for electrometry is considered vital because of the charge sensitivity and resolution issues at micro-/nano-scales. The remarkably dynamic microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs)/nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMSs), and advances in solid-state electronics, hold considerable potential for the design and fabrication of extremely sensitive charge sensors.

This book describes the state of the art in the field of bioanalytical nano- and microsystems with optical functionality. In 12 chapters distinguished scientists and leaders in their respective fields show how various optical technologies have been miniaturized and integrated over the last few decades in order to be combined with nano- and microsystems for applications in the life sciences. The main detection and characterization technologies are introduced, and examples of the superiority of these integrated approaches compared to traditional ones are provided. Examples from e.g. the fields of optical waveguides, integrated interferometers, surface plasmon resonance or Raman spectroscopy are introduced and discussed, and it is shown how these approaches have led to novel functionalities and thereby novel applications.

This book covers the complete spectrum of the fundamentals of clocked, regenerative comparators, their state-of-the-art, advanced CMOS technologies, innovative comparators inclusive circuit aspects, their characterization and properties. Starting from the basics of comparators and the transistor characteristics in nanometer CMOS, seven high-performance comparators developed by the authors in 120nm and 65nm CMOS are described extensively. Methods and measurement circuits for the characterization of advanced comparators are introduced. A synthesis of the largely differing aspects of demands on modern comparators and the properties of devices being available in nanometer CMOS, which are posed by the so-called nanometer hell of physics, is accomplished. The book summarizes the state of the art in integrated comparators. Advanced measurement circuits for characterization will be introduced as well as the method of characterization by bit-error analysis usually being used for characterization of optical receivers. The book is compact, and the graphical quality of the illustrations is outstanding. This book is written for engineers and researchers in industry as well as scientists and Ph.D students at universities. It is also recommendable to graduate students specializing on nanoelectronics and microelectronics or circuit design.

Snake Robots is a novel treatment of theoretical and practical topics related to snake robots: robotic mechanisms designed to move like biological snakes and able to operate in challenging environments in which human presence is either undesirable or impossible. Future applications of such robots include search and rescue, inspection and maintenance, and subsea operations. Locomotion in unstructured environments is a focus for this book. The text targets the disparate muddle of approaches to modelling, development and control of snake robots in current literature, giving a unified presentation of recent research results on snake robot locomotion to increase the reader's basic understanding of these mechanisms and their motion dynamics and clarify the state of the art in the field. The book is a complete treatment of snake robotics, with topics ranging from mathematical modelling techniques, through mechatronic design and implementation, to control design strategies. The development of two snake robots is described and both are used to provide experimental validation of many of the theoretical results. Snake Robots is written in a clear and easily understandable manner which makes the material accessible by specialists in the field and non-experts alike. Numerous illustrative figures and images help readers to visualize the material. The book is particularly useful to new researchers taking on a topic related to snake robots because it provides an extensive overview of the snake robot literature and also represents a suitable starting point for research in this area.

This volume gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of cable robots, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 4th International Conference on Cable-Driven Parallel Robots (CableCon 2019), held in Krakow, Poland on June 30-July 4, 2019, as part of the 5th IFToMM World Congress. It covers the theory and applications of cable-driven parallel robots, including their classification, kinematics and singularity analysis, workspace, statics and dynamics, cable modeling and technologies, control and calibration, design methodologies, hardware development, experimental evaluation and prototypes, as well as application reports and new application concepts. The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-review process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

This book shares the knowledge of active and prestigious worldwide researchers and scholars in the field of healthcare monitoring as authors investigate historical developments, summarize latest advancements, and envision future prospects on wearable, attachable, and invisible devices that monitor diverse physiological information. The coverage of the book spans multiple disciplines, from biomechanics, to bioelectricity, biochemistry, biophysics and biomaterials. There is also wide coverage of various physical and chemical quantities such as electricity, pressure, flow, motion, force, temperature, gases, and biomarkers. Each chapter explores the background of a specific monitoring device, as well as its physical and chemical principles and instrumentation, signal processing and data analysis, achieved outcomes and application scenarios, and future research topics. There are chapters on: Electrocardiograms, electroencephalograms, and electromyograms Measurement of flow phenomenon Latest wearable technologies for the quantification of human motion Various forms of wearable thermometers Monitoring of gases and chemical substances produced during metabolism...and more! This book is appropriate and accessible for students and scientists, as well as researchers in biomedical engineering, computer engineers, healthcare entrepreneurs, administrative officers, policy makers, market vendors, and healthcare personnel. It helps to provide us with insights into future endeavors, formulate innovative businesses and services, and will help improve people's health and quality of life.

Among the most promising techniques to handle small objects at the micrometer scale are those that employ electrical forces, which have the advantages of voltage-based control and dominance over other forces. The book provides a state-of-the-art knowledge on both theoretical and applied aspects of the electrical manipulation of colloidal particles and fluids in microsystems and covers the following topics: dielectrophoresis, electrowetting, electrohydrodynamics in microsystems, and electrokinetics of fluids and particles. The book is addressed to doctoral students, young or senior researchers, chemical engineers and/or biotechnologists with an interest in microfluidics, lab-on-chip or MEMS.

Novel Optical Technologies for Nanofabrication describes recent advances made in micro/nanofabrication with super-resolution laser technologies, which are based on the latest research findings in the authors' groups. It focuses on new techniques and methods as well as applications and development trends in laser nanofabrication, including super-resolution laser direct writing, surface structures composed of laser path-guided wrinkle, three-dimensional laser nanofabrication based on two-photon absorption, and nanofabrication by laser interference and surface plasmon polaritons. This book serves as a reference for academic researchers, engineers, technical professionals and graduate students in the fields of micro/nanotechnology, thin film materials, super-resolution optics and laser techniques. Qian Liu is a Professor at Laboratory for Nanodevice, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China. Xuanming Duan is a Professor at the Key Laboratory of Functional Crystals and Laser Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Changsi Peng is a Professor at the Institute of Information Optical Engineering, Soochow University, China.

This is the 2nd edition of the book, Flow Visualization: Techniques and Examples, which was published by Imperial College Press in 2000. Many of the chapters have been revised and updated to take into consideration recent changes in a number of flow visualization and measurement techniques, including an updated high quality flow gallery. Unique among similar publications, this book focuses on the practical rather than theoretical aspects. Obtaining high quality flow visualization results is, in many ways, more of an art than a science, and experience plays a key deciding role. The depth and breadth of the material will make this book invaluable to readers of all levels of experience in the field.

This work describes theoretical and experimental advances towards the realization of a hybrid quantum processor in which the collective degrees of freedom of an ensemble of spins in a crystal are used as a multi-qubit register for superconducting qubits. A memory protocol made of write, read and reset operations is first presented, followed by the demonstration of building blocks of its implementation with NV center spins in diamond. Qubit states are written by resonant absorption of a microwave photon in the spin ensemble and read out of the memory on-demand by applying Hahn echo refocusing techniques to the spins. The reset step is implemented in between two successive write-read sequences using optical repumping of the spins.

The influence of size effects on the properties of nanostructures is subject of this book. Size and interfacial effects in oxides, semiconductors, magnetic and superconducting nanostructures, from very simple to very complex, are considered. The most general meaning is assumed for size effects, including not only the influence of a reduced dimension/dimensionality, but also specific interfacial effects. Preparation and characterization tools are explained for various nanostructures. The specific applications are discussed with respect to size-related properties. A logic implication of type phenomenon-property-material-application is envisaged throughout this work.

Designing complex integrated circuits relies heavily on mathematical methods and calls for suitable simulation and optimization tools. The current design approach involves simulations and optimizations in different physical domains (device, circuit, thermal, electromagnetic) and in a range of electrical engineering disciplines (logic, timing, power, crosstalk, signal integrity, system functionality). COMSON was a Marie Curie Research Training Network created to meet these new scientific and training challenges by (a) developing new descriptive models that take these mutual dependencies into account, (b) combining these models with existing circuit descriptions in new simulation strategies and (c) developing new optimization techniques that will accommodate new designs. The book presents the main project results in the fields of PDAE modeling and simulation, model order reduction techniques and optimization, based on merging the know-how of three major European semiconductor companies with the combined expertise of university groups specialized in developing suitable mathematical models, numerical schemes and e-learning facilities. In addition, a common Demonstrator Platform for testing mathematical methods and approaches was created to assess whether they are capable of addressing the industry's problems, and to educate young researchers by providing hands-on experience with state-of-the-art problems.

The book contains 26 scientific contributions by leading experts from Russia, Austria, Italy, Japan and Taiwan. It presents an overview on recent developments in Advanced Dynamics and Model Based Control of Structures and Machines. Main topics are nonlinear control of structures and systems, sensing and actuation, active and passive damping, nano- and micromechanics, vibrations and waves.

This book covers graphene reinforced polymers, which are useful in electronic applications, including electrically conductive thermoplastics composites, thermosets and elastomers. It systematically introduces the reader to fundamental aspects and leads over to actual applications, such as sensor fabrication, electromagnetic interference shielding, optoelectronics, superconductivity, or memory chips. The book also describes dielectric and thermal behaviour of graphene polymer composites - properties which are essential to consider for the fabrication and production of these new electronic materials. The contributions in this book critically discuss the actual questions in the development and applications of graphene polymer composites. It will thus appeal to chemists, physicists, materials scientists as well as nano technologists, who are interested in the properties of graphene polymer composites.

This book captures selected peer reviewed papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Automotive Technologies, ICSAT 2013, held in Ingolstadt, Germany. ICSAT is the state-of-the-art conference in the field of new technologies for transportation.

The book brings together the work of international researchers and practitioners under the following interrelated headings: fuel transportation and storage, material recycling, manufacturing and management costs, engines and emission reduction.

The book provides a very good overview of research and development activities focused on new technologies and approaches capable of meeting the challenges to sustainable mobility.

This book describes the physics behind the optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures focusing on chiral aspects. It explains in detail how the geometry determines chiral near-fields and how to tailor their shape and strength. Electromagnetic fields with strong optical chirality interact strongly with chiral molecules and, therefore, can be used for enhancing the sensitivity of chiroptical spectroscopy techniques. Besides a short review of the latest results in the field of plasmonically enhanced enantiomer discrimination, this book introduces the concept of chiral plasmonic near-field sources for enhanced chiroptical spectroscopy. The discussion of the fundamental properties of these light sources provides the theoretical basis for further optimizations and is of interest for researchers at the intersection of nano-optics, plasmonics and stereochemistry.

This volume contains papers that have been selected after review for oral presentation at ISRM 2015, the Fourth IFToMM International Symposium on Robotics and Mechatronics held in Poitiers, France 23-24 June 2015. These papers provide a vision of the evolution of the disciplines of robotics and mechatronics, including but not limited to: mechanism design; modeling and simulation; kinematics and dynamics of multibody systems; control methods; navigation and motion planning; sensors and actuators; bio-robotics; micro/nano-robotics; complex robotic systems; walking machines, humanoids-parallel kinematic structures: analysis and synthesis; smart devices; new design; application and prototypes. The book can be used by researchers and engineers in the relevant areas of robotics and mechatronics.

This book covers the continually expanding field of metal nanoparticles and clusters, in particular their size-dependent properties and quantum phenomena. The approaches to the organization of atoms that form clusters and nanoparticles have been advancing rapidly in recent times. These advancements are described through a combination of experimental and computational approaches and are covered in detail by the authors. Recent highlights of the various emerging properties and applications ranging from plasmonics to catalysis are showcased.

Since process variation and chip performance uncertainties have become more pronounced as technologies scale down into the nanometer regime, accurate and efficient modeling or characterization of variations from the device to the architecture level have become imperative for the successful design of VLSI chips. This book provides readers with tools for variation-aware design methodologies and computer-aided design (CAD) of VLSI systems, in the presence of process variations at the nanometer scale. It presents the latest developments for modeling and analysis, with a focus on statistical interconnect modeling, statistical parasitic extractions, statistical full-chip leakage and dynamic power analysis considering spatial correlations, statistical analysis and modeling for large global interconnects and analog/mixed-signal circuits. Provides readers with timely, systematic and comprehensive treatments of statistical modeling and analysis of VLSI systems with a focus on interconnects, on-chip power grids and clock networks, and analog/mixed-signal circuits; Helps chip designers understand the potential and limitations of their design tools, improving their design productivity; Presents analysis of each algorithm with practical applications in the context of real circuit design; Includes numerical examples for the quantitative analysis and evaluation of algorithms presented. Provides readers with timely, systematic and comprehensive treatments of statistical modeling and analysis of VLSI systems with a focus on interconnects, on-chip power grids and clock networks, and analog/mixed-signal circuits; Helps chip designers understand the potential and limitations of their design tools, improving their design productivity; Presents analysis of each algorithm with practical applications in the context of real circuit design; Includes numerical examples for the quantitative analysis and evaluation of algorithms presented.

The book "Nanocosmetics and nanomedicines: new approaches for skin care" contains a summary of the most important nanocarriers for skin delivery. Although "nanocosmetics" is a subject widely commented in the academy and the beauty industry, a book covering the skin care treatments using nanotechnological approaches with cosmetics and nanomedicines is still missing, therefore the need for this publication. This book is divided in three parts: The first one (Part A) is devoted to a brief review on the main topics related to the skin delivery and to the introduction of the subject "nanocosmetics". The second part (Part B) presents different types of nanocarriers applied as skin delivery systems for cosmetics or drugs. The last part (Part C) shows a wide range of applications of nanotechnology on the skin care area as well as on dermatocosmetic and dermatological fields.

This monograph collects and critically reviews the main results obtained by the scientific community in gyroscope technologies research field. It describes architectures, design techniques and fabrication technology of angular rate sensors proposed in literature. MEMS, MOEMS, optical and mechanical technologies are discussed together with achievable performance. The book also consideres future research trends aimed to cover special applications. The book is intended for researchers and Ph.D. students interested in modelling, design and fabrication of gyros. The book may be a useful education support in some university courses focused on gyro technologies.