This paper reports the fabrication of wafer-sized silicon nanowire (SiNW) surfaces using a modified metal-assisted chemical etching method. The complete fabrication and coating process can be performed in less than three hours, is easily size-scalable, and produces surfaces with very low surface defects, complex, hierarchical surface roughness, and large nanowire height. These surfaces exhibit extreme wettabilities depending on surface coating: oxidized SiNW surfaces are superhydrophilic, while surfaces coated with a fluorinated hydrocarbon are superhydrophobic. The wetting and morphological properties of SiNW surfaces made with one and two etches of different duration are characterized vis-a `-vis their effect on water drop mobility. Compared to a single etch process, a double etch followed by coating with a fluorinated hydrocarbon more efficiently produces SiNW surfaces with high contact angles on which microliter-sized water drops roll-off at approximately 0u tilt angle. Due to their very low friction, extreme wetting properties, ease of fabrication, low-cost, and large-sizes, these SiNW surfaces may be advantageous in microfluidic devices, bioanalysis systems sensitive to cross-contamination that require disposable substrates, and other applications.

This study tested a method of using rapid analysis of electromyographic response patterns to electrical stimulation to enable real-time navigation during endotracheal intubation. An electromyographic response detection device was constructed and integrated into a standard endotracheal tube. The rebound rates of the response voltages were measured in the trachea and oesophagus after stimulation in an acute study performed in three freshly euthanized male Suffolk sheep. In a blind study, a physician attempted to identify the tissue type solely from the electrical response signals. In the acute study, the observed rebound rate was found to be significantly faster in tracheal tissue (2.21 × 10(-3) V s(-1)) than in oesophageal tissue (3.45 × 10(-2) V s(-1); p = 0.000 05). In the blind study, the physician correctly determined the oesophagus response rate seven out of eight times and the tracheal rate eight out of nine times. These results suggest that electromyographic responses can be used to accurately differentiate tracheal from oesophageal tissue during ETT insertion, thus offering a valuable new means of enhancing patient safety.