A Dataset on Population Activity Patterns in Typical Regions of North China.

This data article describes the "Typical Regional Activity Patterns" (TRAP) dataset, which is based on the Tackling Key Problems in Air Pollution Control Program. In order to explore the interaction between air pollution and physical activity, we collected activity patterns of 9,221 residents with different occupations and lifestyles for three consecutive days in typical regions (Jinan and Baoding) where air pollutant concentrations were higher than those in neighboring areas. The TRAP dataset consists of two aspects of information: demographic indicators (personal information, occupation, personal habits, and living situation) and physical activity pattern data (activity location and intensity); additionally, the exposure measures of physical activity patterns are included, which data users can match to various endpoints for their specific purpose. This dataset provides evidence for exploring the attributes of activity patterns of residents in northern China and for interdisciplinary researchers to develop strategies and measures for health education and health promotion.

Hydroxy silicone oil modified boron nitride for high thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss silicone rubber composites: experimental and molecular simulation studies.

Polymer-based composites are widely used in microelectronics and wireless communications, which require high thermal conductivity and low dielectric loss for effective heat dispersion and signal transmission. Different lengths of hydroxyl silicone oil chains modified boron nitride/silicone rubber composites were explored and prepared in this work. Experiments demonstrate that the long-chain modified BN improves the thermal conductivity and decreases the dielectric loss of composites. A molecular dynamics simulation was employed to study the mechanism and affecting variables. The calculated results indicated that the improvement of the thermal and dielectric properties is mainly related to the interfacial behavior, including interfacial compatibility, interfacial bond strength, and phonon matching. Based on the simulated interfacial behavior and thermal conductivity, the thermal and dielectric properties of different chain-length modified boron nitride/silicone rubber composites have been anticipated. The results show that the longer-chain modified boron nitride/silicone rubber composites have better thermal and dielectric properties. This research may give a theoretical foundation for the development of materials with designable performance for electronic devices.

Ship-in-a-bottle femtosecond laser integration of optofluidic microlens arrays with center-pass units enabling coupling-free parallel cell counting with a 100% success rate.

Optimal design and fabrication of novel devices for high-performance optofluidic applications is a key issue for the development of advanced lab-on-a-chip systems. Parallel cell counting with a high success rate and simple mode of operation is a challenging goal. Current cell-counting methods, using optical waveguides or flow cytometry, typically require a precise coupling of the probe light and involve complex operations. In the present paper, a novel multifunctional cell counting microdevice is designed. It uses a center-pass optofluidic microlens array (MLA) consisting of seven microlenses and an M-shaped confining wall with 9 µm-diameter apertures. The device can be fabricated in a three-dimensional microchannel by ship-in-a-bottle femtosecond laser integration based on two-photon polymerization with optimized experimental parameters. Each microlens produces approximately the same intensity at the focal positions (within ±5%) under white-light illumination, while the confining wall restricts 6∼8 µm-width cells to passing through the edges of two adjacent microlenses because the aperture opens toward their centers. The device demonstrates coupling-free parallel cell counting with a 100% success rate by monitoring the optical intensity variations at each spot. As a result, this method features both easy operation and high performance. Furthermore, the confining wall can filter deformed cells having 15 µm width.

Rapid, controllable fabrication of regular complex microarchitectures by capillary assembly of micropillars and their application in selectively trapping/releasing microparticles.

A simple strategy to realize new controllable 3D microstructures and a novel method to reversibly trapping and releasing microparticles are reported. This technique controls the height, shape, width, and arrangement of pillar arrays and realizes a series of special microstructures from 2-pillar-cell to 12 cell arrays, S-shape, chain-shape and triangle 3-cell arrays by a combined top down/bottom up method: laser interference lithography and capillary force-induced assembly. Due to the inherent features of this method, the whole time is less than 3 min and the fabricated area determined by the size of the laser beam can reach as much as 1 cm(2) , which shows this method is very simple, rapid, and high-throughput. It is further demonstrated that the 'mechanical hand'-like 4-cell arrays could be used to selectively trap/release microparticles with different sizes, e.g., 1.5, 2, or 3.5 µm, which are controlled by the period of the microstructures from 2.5 to 4 µm, and 6 µm. Finally, the 'mechanical hand'-like 4-cell arrays are integrated into 100 µm-width microfluidic channels prepared by ultraviolet photolithography, which shows that this technique is compatible with conventional microfabrication methods for on-chip applications.

Facile creation of hierarchical PDMS microstructures with extreme underwater superoleophobicity for anti-oil application in microfluidic channels.

Composition modification and surface microstructures have been widely utilized in interface science to improve the surface performance. In this paper, we observed a significant improvement of oil contact angle (CA) from 66 ± 2° to 120 ± 4° by introducing a radical silanol group on a flat PDMS surface through oxygen plasma pretreatment. By combining surface microstructures and plasma modification, we produced three kinds of superoleophobic surfaces: 20 µm pitch micropillar arrays, 2.5 µm pitch micropillar arrays and gecko foot-like hierarchical microstructures. Among them, the hierarchical surface with high surface roughness showed extreme underwater superoleophobicity, which featured ultrahigh CA (175 ± 3°) and ultrasmall sliding angle (<1°). Quantitative measurements demonstrated that these superoleophobic surfaces exhibited distinct adhesive behaviors, by which they were interpreted as Wenzel's, Cassie's and the Lotus state, respectively. A microfluidic channel with superoleophobic microstructures was further created by novel curve-assisted imprint lithography, and the characterization based on anti-oil contamination applications was carried out and discussed. We believe that the superoleophobic surfaces will power broad applications in oil microdroplet transportation, anti-oil channels and droplet microfluidic systems.

Simultaneous efficiency enhancement and self-cleaning effect of white organic light-emitting devices by flexible antireflective films.

In this Letter, we report the improved light outcoupling efficiency of conventional white organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) by a kind of multifunctional film with both antireflective and superhydrophobic ability. This film consisted of regular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanopillar arrays, which were readily batch produced by low-cost imprint lithography. The nanopillar arrays could effectively eliminate the light total reflection and enhance the device efficiency of OLEDs by producing the gradual refractive index due to the decreasing material density from glass to air. Moreover, owing to its superhydrophobicity (contact angle ∼151°), the antireflective film exhibited self-cleaning ability, which was beneficial for keeping the OLEDs substrate clean and ensure the high efficiency of OLEDs. This method is simple, cost-effective, and reproducible. The OLEDs showed an efficiency enhancement of 25% with the multifunctional film.

One-step preparation of regular micropearl arrays for two-direction controllable anisotropic wetting.

In this paper, one simple method to control two-direction anisotropic wetting by regular micropearl arrays was demonstrated. Various micropearl arrays with large area were rapidly fabricated by a kind of improved laser interference lithography. Specially, we found that the parallel contact angle (CA) theta(2) decreased from 93 degrees to 67 degrees as the intensity ratio of four laser beams increased from 2:1 to 30:1, while the perpendicular CA theta(1) determined by the thickness of the resin remained constant. This was interpreted as the decrease of height variations Delta h from 1100 to 200 nm along the parallel direction caused by the increase of the intensity ratio. According to this rule, both theta(1) and theta(2) could be simultaneously controlled by adjusting the height variation Delta h and the resin thickness. Moreover, by combining appropriate design and low surface energy modification, a natural anisotropic rice leaf exhibiting CAs of 146 degrees +/- 2 degrees/153 degrees +/- 3 degrees could be mimicked by our anisotropic biosurface with the CAs 145 degrees +/- 1 degrees/150 degrees +/- 2 degrees. We believe that these controlled anisotropic biosurfaces will be helpful for designing smart, fluid-controllable interfaces that may be applied in novel microfluidic devices, evaporation-driven micro/nanostructures, and liquid microdroplet directional transfer.

Preparation and properties of a novel biodegradable polyester elastomer with functional groups.

A novel biodegradable poly(sebacate-glycerol-citrate) (PGSC) elastomer with functional groups was prepared in this study. First, moldable mixtures were obtained by mixing citric acid with the poly(glycerol-sebacate) (PGS) pre-polymers synthesized in our lab. The PGSC elastomers were obtained from moldable mixtures that were thermally cured in the moulds. Then, the structures, compositions and properties of the elastomers were studied by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), swelling test, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), tensile test, water contact angle measurement, water absorption experiments and a in vitro degradation test. It showed that the hydroxyl groups remained in the elastomers which would endow the polymer chains with functionality such as good surface modification. By controlling the thermal curing time, the compositions of the PGSC elastomers were adjusted for different mechanical and biodegradable properties. Therefore, PGSC elastomers might be used as anti-conglutination films in surgery, guided tissue regeneration membranes and drug-delivery matrices.