Rational design protocols for size-based particle sorting microdevices using symmetry-induced cyclical dynamics

Separations, Sorting and Cyclical Unemployment

This paper establishes a new fact about the compositional changes in the pool of unemployed over the U.S. business cycle. Using micro-data from the Current Population Survey for the years 1962-2012, it documents that in recessions the pool of unemployed shifts towards workers with high wages in their previous job. These shifts are associated with both observed and unobserved factors in the wage...

Infrared Micro-Particle Image Velocimetry Measurement in Silicon-Based Microdevices

Disposable Microdevices for Dna Analysis and Cell Sorting

We have developed microfabricated devices to size and sort microscopic objects, based on measurement of fluorescent properties. With these devices, we have demonstrated sizing and sorting on various biological entities, ranging from E. Coli cells to single molecules of DNA. The microfabricated devices have several advantages over macroscopic systems, including size, cost and sensitivity. For ex...

Size Based Droplet Sorting with Wide Tuning Range Using Tensiophoresis

Size-based droplet sorting can be used to improve the monodispersity of droplet populations in chemical assays, and as a label-free measurement in cell-in-droplet assays. Several microfluidic approaches can efficiently perform binary sorting based on a size threshold; however, the thresholds are typically fixed by the channel design. This paper presents a passive drop sorting technique in which...

Sorting in Swarm Robots Using Communication-Based Cluster Size Estimation

Inspired by sorting behaviors of social insects, we are interested in sorting by robot swarms using only local information and hence achieving high degrees of robustness and scalability. In this work, we propose a gossip-based sorting method which allows two swarms of simple homogeneous autonomous robots to sort themselves in two not pre-assigned areas. Key feature of this method is the estimat...