Microfluidics refers to the behaviour, precise control, manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale at which capillary penetration governs mass transport. It is a multidisciplinary field that involves engineering, chemistry, biochemistry and biotechnology, it has practical applications in the design of systems that process low volumes of fluids to achieve multiplexing and high-throughput screening. Microfluidics emerged in the beginning of the 1980s and is used in the development of inkjet printheads, DNA chips, lab-on-a-chip technology, micro-propulsion, micro-thermal technologies. Micro means one of the following features: Small volumes Small size Low energy consumption Microdomain effectsTypically microfluidic systems transport, separate, or otherwise process fluids. Various applications rely on passive fluid control using capillary forces, in the form of capillary flow modifying elements, akin to flow resistors and flow accelerators. In some applications, external actuation means are additionally used for a directed transport of the media.
Examples are rotary drives applying centrifugal forces for the fluid transport on the passive chips. Active microfluidics refers to the defined manipulation of the working fluid by active components such as micropumps or microvalves. Micropumps are used for dosing. Microvalves determine the mode of movement of pumped liquids. Processes carried out in a lab are miniaturised on a single chip, which enhances efficiency and mobility, reduces sample and reagent volumes; the behaviour of fluids at the microscale can differ from "macrofluidic" behaviour in that factors such as surface tension, energy dissipation, fluidic resistance start to dominate the system. Microfluidics studies how these behaviours change, how they can be worked around, or exploited for new uses. At small scales some interesting and sometimes unintuitive properties appear. In particular, the Reynolds number can become low. A key consequence is co-flowing fluids do not mix in the traditional sense, as flow becomes laminar rather than turbulent.
High specificity of chemical and physical properties can be ensured resulting in more uniform reaction conditions and higher grade products in single and multi-step reactions. Microfluidic structures include micropneumatic systems, i.e. microsystems for the handling of off-chip fluids, microfluidic structures for the on-chip handling of nanoliter and picoliter volumes. To date, the most successful commercial application of microfluidics is the inkjet printhead. Additionally, microfluidic manufacturing advances mean that makers can produce the devices in low-cost plastics and automatically verify part quality. Advances in microfluidics technology are revolutionizing molecular biology procedures for enzymatic analysis, DNA analysis, in chemical synthesis; the basic idea of microfluidic biochips is to integrate assay operations such as detection, as well as sample pre-treatment and sample preparation on one chip. An emerging application area for biochips is clinical pathology the immediate point-of-care diagnosis of diseases.
In addition, microfluidics-based devices, capable of continuous sampling and real-time testing of air/water samples for biochemical toxins and other dangerous pathogens, can serve as an always-on "bio-smoke alarm" for early warning. Microfluidic technology has led to the creation of powerful tools for biologists to control the complete cellular environment, leading to new questions and discoveries. Many diverse advantages of this technology for microbiology are listed below: General single cell studies including growth Cellular aging: microfluidic devices such as the "mother machine" allow tracking of thousands of individual cells for many generations until they die. Microenvironmental control: ranging from mechanical environment to chemical environment Precise spatiotemporal concentration gradients by incorporating multiple chemical inputs to a single device Force measurements of adherent cells or confined chromosomes: objects trapped in a microfluidic device can be directly manipulated using optical tweezers or other force-generating methods Confining cells and exerting controlled forces by coupling with external force-generation methods such as Stokes flow, optical tweezer, or controlled deformation of the PDMS device Electric field integration Plant on a chip and plant tissue culture Antibiotic resistance: microfluidic devices can be used as heterogeneous environments for microorganisms.
In a heterogeneous environment, it is easier for a microorganism to evolve. This can be useful for testing the acceleration of evolution of a microorganism / for testing the development of antibiotic resistance; some of these areas are further elaborated in the sections below. In open microfluidics, at least one boundary of the system is removed, exposing the fluid to air or another interface. Advantages of open microfluidics include accessibility to the flowing liquid for intervention, larger liquid-gas surface area, minimized bubble formation. Another advantage of open microfluidics is the ability to integrate open systems with surface-tension driven fluid flow, which eliminates the need for external pumping
The Punchiná Dam is an embankment dam on the Guatapé River 17 kilometres east of San Carlos in Antioquia Department, Colombia. The dam creates Punchiná Reservoir, part of the 1,240 megawatts San Carlos Hydroelectric Power Plant; the power plant was completed in two 620 megawatts stages, the first was completed in 1984 and the second in 1987. It is the largest power station in Colombia; the project was initiated by Interconexion Electrica S. A. in 1973 and appraised in 1978. In May 1978, a World Bank loan was approved to help both stages of the power plant. Construction began in 1979, the dam was completed in 1983 and the last generator of stage one was operational in 1984. Stage two's final generator was operational in December 1987; the commissioning of stage two was slated for 1984 and stage one for 1983 but was delayed due to financial problems and redesigns. The total cost of stage one was stage two US$166.3 million. The Punchiná Dam is a 70-metre tall and 800-metre long embankment-type dam with 6,000,000 cubic metres of fill and a crest elevation of 785 metres.
The reservoir created by the dam has a capacity of 72 million cubic metres, of which 52.23 million cubic metres is active capacity. The surface area of the reservoir is 3.4 square kilometres. Initiating the flow of water towards the power station are two 54-metre tall intake towers behind the dam in the reservoir; each tower provides water to a respective stage of the power plant via tunnels. The two tunnels are each about 4.5 kilometres long and to protect against water hammer, each tunnel is equipped with a surge tank. The underground power house is 400 metres below the surface, 203 metres long, 19.65 metres wide and 27.5 metres high. Adjacent to the power house is another cavern that holds the transformers and is of similar dimensions. Once the water reaches the power house, each tunnel supplies the four 155 megawatts Pelton turbines of its respective stage. Once the water leaves the turbines, each stage releases it into their own 1.5 kilometres long tailrace tunnel where the water is discharged into the Samaná Norte River.
The tunnels have a combined maximum discharge of 330 cubic metres per second. List of power stations in Colombia
Clark Fork Valley Hospital is a full-service community hospital in Plains, Montana, USA. The hospital features a 24/7 emergency department, Intensive Care Unit, Family Birthing Center, a complete imaging department anchored by a multi-slice GE lightspeed CT scanner, 3-dimensional ultrasound and all digital imaging. Through a multi-hospital cooperative a 1.5 tesla GE MRI Unit is on site two days weekly. Other services include, general surgery, surgical oncology, total joint replacement, orthopedic surgery, cataract surgery, urology; the hospital operates three family medicine rural health clinics in Thompson Falls and Hot Springs. All these sites offer family medicine and physical therapy services on site. Official website
Zhang Zuoxiang, was an important member of the Fengtien warlord clique. Zhang Zuoxiang was born in 1881 in China. A loyal follower of Zhang Zuolin, he was the commander of the 27th Regiment, 27th Division, of the Fengtian Defence Force from 1911-16 as Zhang Zuolin took control of Fengtian, he rose up through the ranks of the new Fengtian Army as commander of a brigade, acting commanerd of 27th Division and Fengtian garrison commander. From 1920-22 he was staff officer for the Military Governor of Fengtian, Zhang Zuolin himself, he soon was given significant commands of the Eastern Route Army in 1922 and the 3rd Detachment, Zhenwei Army from 1922-24. In April 1924 he was rewarded with the military governorship of Jilin province, which he retained until December 1928, he held the civil governorship of the province in the same time, except for the time between December 1924 and June 1927. Zhang rose higher in command as General of the 4th Army, Zhenwei Army from 1924-25 and of the Northeastern Provinces Railway Route Army from 1925-26.
By 1928 he was Deputy General Commander of the Northeastern Border Defence Command. He became the Chairman of the Jilin Provincial Government and oversaw the reorganization of the Jilin provincial Army. In 1931, following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, he was forced to retreat to Jinzhou, where he became commanding general of the remnants of the Fengtian forces of the Northeastern Border Defence Command. After their defeat he became a member of the Peking Branch, National Military Council, in 1933, he was commander of the Chinese 6th Army Group during the Battle of Rehe. Following that defeat he resigned. In 1936 he was again appointed a member of the National Military Council and of the Political Board, Northeastern Field Headquarters, but was soon removed due to his links to Zhang Xueliang following the Xi'an Incident. During the Chinese Civil War in 1947 he was recalled and made a member of the Government Affairs Board, Northeastern Field Headquarters, becoming its Deputy Head in 1948.
That same year he became Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Northeastern Bandit Suppression Headquarters, but was captured by the People's Liberation Army. He died the next year on May 7 in Tianjin. Rulers: Chinese Administrative divisions, Jilin The Generals of WWII. Rana Mitter, THE MANCHURIAN MYTH: NATIONALISM, RESISTANCE, AND COLLABORATION IN MODERN CHINA, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2000
Adel is an unincorporated community in southeastern Lake County, in the U. S. state of Oregon. The community is in an arid, sparsely populated part of the state, along Oregon Route 140, about 30 miles east of Lakeview; the Warner Valley surrounding Adel contains many marshes and shallow lakes, most of them intermittent. Frequented by Native Americans for many thousands of years, the valley became a region of sheep grazing and cattle ranching by the late 19th century. Adel's infrastructure includes a combined store/restaurant/bar, a post office, an elementary school, a church. Hot springs and related geological features have made one of the nearby ranches a potential site for a geothermal power station. People have lived in the Warner Valley for more than 10,000 years. Evidence of Native American occupation includes petroglyphs, hunting blinds, flakes from obsidian tools, other material artifacts. By historic times, the Kidütökadö band of Northern Paiute frequented the valley and the uplands of Hart Mountain, the fault block ridge to the east.
The Euro-American settler community of Adel developed in the late 19th century around sheep grazing and small cattle ranches. Catholics from Ireland found work here as shepherds. A stagecoach line connected early Adel to Fort Bidwell in northern California and offered transportation three times a week. J. J. Monroe owned the Adel store; the Adel post office was established in 1896 and was either named for a former sweetheart of the owner of the land on which it was established or for a local cow, but with the spelling reversed. Mail service at that time was limited to three days a week. Crump Lake north of Adel, is named after Thomas Crump, who settled here in the 1890s; the lake, toward the southern end of a north–south chain of marshes and intermittent lakes, covers about 8,500 acres with a shoreline of about 70 miles. In 1959, two days after the Nevada Thermal Power Company drilled a well on the Crump family property, a continuous geyser of steam and hot water began shooting 150 feet into the air.
However, during the 1960s the Crump Geyser became plugged with rocks, though it continued to emit steam. In the 21st century, the site's geoelectric potential makes it a candidate for a power station; the state's first geothermal plant began operation at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls in 2010. Another went online near Vale in 2012 and another, near Paisley, in 2014. Adel lies along Oregon Route 140 about 30 miles east of Lakeview in south-central Oregon. From its intersection with the main highway, Plush–Adel Road runs north along the eastern shore of Crump and Hart lakes in the Warner Valley while Twentymile Road runs south from Adel to northern California just east of that state's border with Nevada. Deep Creek, flowing east from the Warner Mountains, passes through Adel into marshlands and Pelican Lake before entering Crump Lake. Adel is 4,547 feet above sea level. To the northeast, the Hart Mountain ridge rises to 8,017 feet; the region is moderately geologically active with several hot springs.
Geothermal exploration at the 7,200-acre Crump Geyser site in 2010 found hot springs with temperatures as high as 172 °F, two shallow wells with temperatures to 248 °F, a parent source of up to 302 °F. This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Adel has a steppe climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. Total annual precipitation in Adel averages about 9 inches; the warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 88 °F. The coldest months are December and January, when the average lows are about 22 °F. Adel School District 21 is one of five school districts comprising the Lake County Education Service District. Adel School, grades 4–8, shares students with Plush School District 18, grades K–3; the two schools combined have about a dozen students. For grades 9–12, the students attend Lakeview High School or Paisley School. Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge Historic photos of Adel from Salem Public Library
Book of Matches is a poetry book written by Simon Armitage, first published in 1993 by Faber and Faber. Several poems featured in the book are studied as part of the GCSE English Literature examination in the UK; the book is written in the first containing 30 short sonnets. Each is meant to be read within 20 seconds, the amount of time it would take for a match to be lit and burn out; the second, Becoming of Age, contains 14 titled poems, with the third, Reading the Banns, containing a collection of untitled poems based upon a wedding theme. Critical reception for Book of Matches was positive, Ronald Carter calling it Armitage's "most distinctive volume"; the Independent stated that it was a "fine collection" and noted that Armitage's persona had changed in the collection's tone