• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2011

Quantifying the solute composition of a cloud droplet (or a whole droplet) is an important task for understanding formation processes and heating/cooling rates. In this study, a combination of droplet fixation and SR-XRF microprobe analysis was used to visualize and quantify elements in a micro-scale droplet. In this study, we report the preliminary outcome of this experiment. A spherical micro-scale droplet was successfully solidified through exposure to ${\alpha}$-cyano-acrylate vapor without affecting its size or shape. An X-ray microprobe system equipped at the beam line 37XU of Super Photon ring 8 GeV (SPring-8) was applied to visualize and quantify the elemental composition in an individual micro-scale droplet. It was possible to reconstruct 2D elemental maps for the K and Cl contained in a microdroplet that was dispensed from the 10-ppm KCl standard solution. Multi-elemental peaks corresponding to X-ray energy were also successfully resolved. Further experiments to determine quantitative measures of elemental mass in individual droplets and high-resolution X-ray microtomography (i.e., 3D elemental distribution) are planned for the future.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.103-107
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• 2019

Low-temperature plasma (LTP) ionization is one of the ambient ionization methods typically used in mass spectrometry (MS) for fast screening of chemicals with minimal or no sample preparation. In spite of various advantages of LTP ionization method, including simple instrumentation and in-situ analysis, more general applications of the method are limited due to poor desorption of analytes with low volatilities and low ionization efficiencies in the negative ion mode. In order to overcome these limitations, an ultrasonic vibrator of a commercial hand-held humidifier was interfaced with an LTP ionization source, which generated microdroplets from sample solutions and assisted with LTP ionization. Ionization behaviors of various chemicals in microdroplet-assisted LTP (MA LTP) were tested and compared with typical LTP ionization from dried samples applied on a surface. MA LTP efficiently ionized small organic, amino, and fatty acids with low volatilities and high polarities, which were hardly ionized using the standard LTP method. Facile interaction of LTP with ultrafine droplets generated by ultrasonic resonator allows efficient ionization of relatively non-volatile and polar analytes both in the positive and negative ion modes.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.423-427
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• 2022

A pressure sensor that mimics the sensing ability of human skin has emerged as high-profile technology because it shows remarkable applications in numerous fields such as robotics, human health monitoring, and artificial prosthetics. Whereas recent pressure sensors have achieved high sensitivity similar to that of human skin, they still show limited detection bandwidth. Moreover, once these e-skin are fabricated, their sensitivity and stiffness are fixed; therefore, they can be used for only limited applications. Our study proposes a new adaptive pressure sensor built with uniform gallium microdroplet-elastomer composite. Based on the phase transition of gallium microdroplets, the proposed sensor undergoes mode transformation, enabling it to have a higher sensitivity and wider detection bandwidth compared with those of human skin. In addition, we succeeded in extending a single adaptive pressure sensor to sensor arrays based on its high uniformity, reproducibility, and large-scale manufacturability. Finally, we designed an adaptive e-skin with the sensor array and demonstrated its applications on health monitoring tasks including blood pulse and body weight measurements.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 2023

Background: Despite considerable technological advancements, polyspermy remains a significant challenge in in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in pigs, disrupting normal embryonic development. Here, we aimed to determine whether optimal fertilization conditions reduce the polyspermy incidence in pigs. Methods: In vitro-matured oocytes were co-incubated with sperm according to a modified two-step culture system. Results: In the first experiment, oocytes were briefly co-incubated with sperm, washed in IVF medium, and then moved to fresh IVF medium for 5 or 6 h. Although the 6 h sperm-free cultured group had a higher penetration rate than the 5 h cultured group, the polyspermy rate significantly increased in the 6 h sperm-free cultured group. The gamete co-incubation period was either 20 or 40 min. The 40 min cultured group had a higher rate of blastocyst formation and number of total cells in blastocysts than the 20 min cultured group. In experiment 2, oocytes were inseminated with sperm separated by Pecroll treatment. Percoll treatment increased the rate of oocyte penetration and blastocyst formation compared to the control. In experiment 3, fertilized oocytes were cultured in 25 µL microdroplets (10 gametes/drop) or 500 µL (100 gametes/well) of culture medium in 4-well plates. The large volume of medium significantly reduced the number of dead oocytes and increased the rate of blastocyst formation compared to the small volume. Conclusions: Collectively, these results demonstrate that various fertilization conditions, including modified co-culture period, active sperm separation, and culture medium volume, enhance fertilization efficiency and subsequent embryonic development by decreasing polyspermy occurrence.

• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.283-288
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• 2019

Monodisperse microparticles has been particularly enabling for various applications in the encapsulation and delivery of pharmaceutical agents. The microfluidic devices are attractive candidates to produce highly uniform droplets that serve as templates to form monodisperse microparticles. The microfluidic devices that have micro-scale channel allow precise control of the balance between surface tension and viscous forces in two-phase flows. One of its essential abilities is to generate highly monodisperse droplets. In this paper, a microfluidic approach for preparing monodisperse polycaprolactone (PCL) microparticles is presented. The microfluidic devices that have a flow-focusing generator are manufactured by soft-lithography using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The crucial factors in the droplet generation are the controllability of size and monodispersity of the microdroplets. For this, the volumetric flow rates of the dispersed phase of oil solution and the continuous phase of water to generate monodisperse droplets are optimized. As a result, the optimal flow condition for droplet dripping region that is able to generate uniform droplet is found. Furthermore, the droplets containing PCL polymer by solvent evaporation after collection of droplet from device is solidified to generate the microparticle. The particle size can be controlled by tuning the flow rate and the size of the microchannel. The monodispersity of the PCL particles is measured by a coefficient of variation (CV) below 5%.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.369-377
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• 2004

The objective of this study was to investigate the patterns of protein leaching to an external phase during an ethyl acetate-based, double emulsion microencapsulation process. An aqueous protein solution (lactoglobulin, lysozyme, or ribonuclease; $W_1$) was emulsified in ethyl acetate containing poly-d,l-lactide-co-glycolide 75:25. The $W_1/O$ emulsion was transferred to a 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol solution saturated with ethyl acetate $(W_2)$. After the double emulsion was stirred for 5, 15, 30, or 45 min, additional 0.5% polyvinyl alcohol $(W_3)$ was quickly added into the emulsion. This so-called quenching step helped convert emulsion microdroplets into microspheres. After 2-hr stirring, microspheres were collected and dried. The degree of protein leaching to $W_2$ and/or $W_3$ phase was monitored during the microencapsulation process. In a separate, comparative experiment, the profile of protein leaching to an external phase was investigated during the conventional methylene chloride-based microencapsulation process. When ethyl acetate was used as a dispersed solvent, proteins continued diffusing to the $W_2$ phase, as stirring went on. Therefore, the timing of ethyl acetate quenching played an important role in determining the degree of protein microencapsulation efficiency. For example, when quenching was peformed after 5-min stirring of the primary $W_1/O$ emulsion, the encapsulation efficiencies of lactoglobulin and ribonuclease were $55.1{\pm}4.2\;and\;45.3{\pm}7.6%$, respectively. In contrast, when quenching was carried out in 45 min, their respective encapsulation efficiencies were $39.6{\pm}3.2\;and\;29.9{\pm}11.2%$. By sharp contrast, different results were attained with the methylene-chloride based process: up to 2 hr-stirring of the primary and double emulsions, less than 5% of a protein appeared in $W_2$. Afterwards, it started to partition from $W_1\;to\;W_2/W_3$, and such a tendency was affected by the amount of PLGA75:25 used to make microspheres. Different solvent properties (e.g., water miscibility) and their effect on microsphere hardening were to be held answerable for such marked differences observed with the two microencapsulation processes.