A microorganism screening system includes a container configured to store a liquid containing microorganism particles and a liquid medium, and a microorganism separation device. The microorganism separation device includes a hydrodynamic separation device and a liquid feeding unit configured to supply the liquid from the container to the hydrodynamic separation device. The hydrodynamic separation device includes a curved flow channel having a rectangular cross-section, and is configured to separate the liquid into a first segment containing relatively large microorganism particles and a second segment containing relatively small microorganism particles through use of a vortex flow generated in the liquid flowing through the curved flow channel. Screening for microorganisms can be performed efficiently.

A system for preparing a sample solution for testing includes a microorganism separation device, and prepares a sample solution for testing from an undiluted sample solution. The microorganism separation device includes a hydrodynamic separation device and a liquid feeding unit configured to supply the undiluted sample solution to the hydrodynamic separation device. The hydrodynamic separation device includes a curved flow channel having a rectangular cross-section, and is configured to separate a liquid into a first segment and a second segment through use of a vortex flow generated in the liquid flowing through the curved flow channel. Particles contained in the undiluted sample solution are concentrated in the first segment.

Disclosed is a measurement apparatus for analyzing a cell contained in a specimen, comprising: a chamber for preparing a measurement sample in which the cell is stained with first and second fluorescent dyes contained in a reagent supplied from at least one reagent container; a liquid feeding section for feeding the reagent from the reagent container to the chamber via a liquid feeding tube provided between the reagent container and the chamber; and a detection section that acquires first and second signals each corresponding to fluorescence of a first wavelength and fluorescence of a second wavelength emitted from the cell stained with the first and second fluorescent dyes in response to irradiation of the measurement sample flowing in a flow cell with light; and an analysis section that analyzes the cell on the basis of the first and second signals.

Multistage deterministic lateral displacement devices, methods of forming the devices, and methods of separating a fluid mixture including particles having three or more particle sizes generally include a first module and at least one additional module. Each module includes a condenser portion and a separate portion. The condenser portion is generally configured to focus a streamline of all particles to a center of a channel whereas the separator separates the streamline of all particles into two different streamlines. One of the streamlines focuses the largest particles in the fluid mixture along a sidewall of the channel and the other streamline of smaller particles is between opposing sidewalls that define the channel. Each additional module can be used to further separate the largest particles remaining in the fluid mixture from the smaller particles.

A powder dispersing device of a powder particle size distribution measuring equipment has a base, an elastic force generating assembly and a first housing. The elastic force generating assembly includes a bumping piece, a force applying board and a power transmission assembly. Two ends of the power transmission assembly are respectively connected to the bumping piece and the force applying board. When the force applying board is applied with a first displacement, the power transmission assembly actuates the bumping piece to generate a second displacement which enables the bumping piece to have a first elastic force. The first housing is formed with a through hole on a side surface for one end of the force applying board to extend out. The first elastic force of the bumping piece triggers the bumping piece to strike on any surface facing toward the inside of the first housing and touching the other end of the bumping piece.

In an apparatus for collecting aerosolised respirable particles of an inhalable medicinal formulation, aerosolised formulation is drawn pneumatically through a dose collection section comprising an inlet orifice (201) and an air-permeable filter (206), the filter being positioned opposed to said orifice, and extending across the pathway (4) for filtering the pneumatic flow so as to retain particulate material therein on the filter, and the orifice (201) being so dimensioned and configured that it has an unimpeded area that is no less than 75% of the area of the filter (201) on which the dose will be collected. In a method using the apparatus, particles (209, 210) collected on the filter may optionally be subjected to a dissolution test. A good correlation is obtainable between in vitro and in vivo doses with improved independence of loading.

A quantitative evaluation method for activation energy of pyrolysis of graded diesel particulates is disclosed, relating to the technical field of diesel particulate emission. The present disclosure includes four major steps: grading of particulates, pretreatment of the particulates, thermogravimetry test for the particulates in different particle size ranges, and mathematical analysis on obtained thermogravimetric data by using a Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) formula. The particulates are collected and treated by using a micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor and a thermogravimetric analyzer, to obtain thermogravimetry/differential thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) curves of the particulates in different particle size ranges, and final activation energy values of pyrolysis of the particulates in different particle size ranges are obtained by linear fitting of the obtained data. The present disclosure can quickly and accurately obtain oxidation activation energy of to-be-tested diesel particulates of different particle sizes, thereby providing effective parameters for regeneration design of a diesel particulate filter (DPF).

A method for fabricating a fluidic device includes depositing a sacrificial material on a pillar array arranged on a substrate. The method also includes removing a portion of the sacrificial material. The method further includes depositing a sealing layer on the pillar array to form a sealed fluidic cavity.

The invention generally provides systems and methods for particle detection for minimizing microbial growth and cross-contamination in manufacturing environments requiring low levels of microbes, such as cleanroom environments for electronics manufacturing and aseptic environments for manufacturing pharmaceutical and biological products, such as sterile medicinal products. In some embodiments, systems of the invention incorporate a housing having an outer surface being a first antimicrobial surface and a touchscreen being a second antimicrobial surface. In some embodiments, substantially all of the outer surfaces of the system are antimicrobial surfaces. In some embodiments, the first antimicrobial surface may comprise an Active Screen Plasma alloyed layer. In some embodiments, the housing may comprise a molded polymer substrate and a metal coating layer bonded to the molded polymer substrate such that at least some exterior surfaces of the housing are metal coated surfaces.

Systems and methods for flowing particles, such as biological entities, in a fluidic channel(s) are generally provided. In some cases, the systems described herein are designed such that a single particle may be isolated from a plurality of particles and flowed into a fluidic channel (e.g., a microfluidic channel) and/or collected e.g., on fluidically isolated surfaces. For example, the single particle may be present in a plurality of particles of relatively high density and the single particle is flowed into a fluidic channel, such that it is separated from the plurality of particles. The particles may be spaced within a fluidic channel so that individual particles may be measured/observed over time. In certain embodiments, the particle may be a biological entity. Such article and methods may be useful, for example, for isolating single cells into individual wells of multi-well cell culture dishes (e.g., for single-cell analysis).