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Thin films of fluorine doped tin oxide were deposited, by an aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition route, to study the effect of scaling the growth rate. The effect of precursor concentration on the growth rate of the films and the properties of deposited films were compared. The films were characterised by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV/vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. A maximum film growth rate of ca. 100 nm min − 1 was observed, which is significantly faster than previously reported aerosol assisted studies. This method shows the ability of aerosol assisted methods to deliver high growth rates whilst maintaining the ease of doping and control over stoichiometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorghum is a genus of plant in the grass family, which is used for both grain and forage production throughout the world. In the United States, sorghum grain is predominantly used as livestock feed, and in ethanol production. In recent years however, sorghum grain has been investigated for other industrial applications, including gluten free food sources for the US food market, and waxes. The United States is the world's largest producer of grain sorghum, which is grown in the arid regions of the southern Great Plains, Arizona and California. Carnauba wax is used in a variety of products; including cosmetics, industrial polishes, food products, and paper products. The United States has no domestic source of carnauba wax, and imports 100% of its carnauba wax supply. Sorghum wax has demonstrated similar physical properties to carnauba wax, and could potentially be a viable substitute for carnauba wax. In this paper we present the first successful reversed phase HPLC method, via a C30 column, for the analysis and characterization of waxes, without the need for specialized columns or sample derivation. Sorghum wax is composed of a heterogeneous mixture of compounds, dominated by C28 and C30 saturated and unsaturated species, while carnauba is more homogeneous in nature, and composed primarily of C56-C60 saturated wax esters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiesel production in the U.S. from vegetable oils has increased substantially during the past decade. However, its further increase is limited by the low amounts of oil produced per hectare from temperate oilseed crops. Recently novel transgenic sugarcane has been developed to accumulate both sugars and lipids in stems, making it a promising dual-purpose feedstock to produce both ethanol and biodiesel. In this study, two lines of the transgenic lipid producing sugarcane (lipid-cane) and the non-transformed sugarcane were characterized and processed. The total lipid concentrations were 0.7%, 0.9% and 1.3% for the non-transformed sugarcane and lipid-cane lines19B and 25 C, respectively. Lipid composition analysis showed that about 31–33% of the total lipids were triacylglycerols, main feedstock for biodiesel production, for the lipid-cane samples, while this value was only 5% for the non-transformed sugarcane. By processing the sugarcane stems with a juicer, about 90% of the sugars and 60% of the lipids were extracted with juice. The extracted sugars in juice were fermented to ethanol and the lipids were later recovered from the fermented juice using organic solvents. The recovered lipids from the fermented juice were 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8 g/100 g dry stem for the non-transformed sugarcane and lipid-cane lines 19B and 25 C, respectively. This study proved the concept of the lipid and sugar coproduction from the novel lipid-cane, which have a potential to make a large-scale replacement of fossil derived fuel without unrealistic demands on land area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: TiO2 thin films prepared by sol–gel synthesis were N-doped by post treating with liquid ammonia and annealing at 500 °C. Characterisation by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirmed that the anatase crystal type was retained and present in all samples. Scanning electron microscopy showed that treatment with liquid ammonia had no significant effect on the film morphology. Functional testing under filtered while light conditions involving water contact angle, and the photo destruction of both Resazurin and Stearic acid showed the ammonia treated samples to be active visible light photocatalysts in contrast to the pure TiO2 and the blank controls. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy studies indicate the presence of interstitial nitrogen (N1s =400eV) suggesting that the origin of the enhanced photocatalytic activity is most likely due to oxygen vacancies created by the interstitial nitrogen incorporation. This synthesis method utilises a simple, inexpensive and highly effective post treatment route to N-dope TiO2 and produces visible light photocatalysts with potential applications in self-cleaning and healthcare environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] N-doped TiO2 achieved using the chelating agent TMEDA as a nitrogen source. [•] Visible light photocatalytic activity shown using filtered white light. [•] Sol–gel synthesis for visible light thin films. [•] Stearic acid and resazurin testing for activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endocrine signaling via nuclear receptors (NRs) is known to play an important role in normal physiology as well as in human tumor progression. Hormones regulate gene expression by altering local chromatin structure and, thereby, accessibility of transcriptional co-regulators to DNA. Recently it has been shown that non-histone proteins involved in hormone signaling, such as nuclear receptors and NR co-activators, are regulated by acetylation, resulting in their altered transcriptional activity. NAD-dependent protein deacetylases, the sirtuins (Sir2-related enzymes), directly modify NRs. Because sirtuins have been shown to regulate tumor cellular growth, aging, metabolic signaling and endocrine hormone signaling, they might play a role in cancer progression. This review focuses on the role of acetylation and the sirtuins in nuclear hormone receptor signaling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

ALEGRA is a multiphysics finite-element shock hydrodynamics code, under development at Sandia National Laboratories since 1990. Fully coupled multiphysics capabilities include transient magnetics, magnetohydrodynamics, electromechanics, and radiation transport. ALEGRA is used to study hypervelocity impact, pulsed power devices, and radiation effects. The breadth of physics represented in ALEGRA is outlined here, along with simulated results for a selected hypervelocity impact experiment. • ALEGRA is a multiphysics finite-element shock hydrodynamics code. • An ALEGRA simulation captures phenomenology from a previous gas gun experiment. • Multiphysics capabilities include electromagnetics and radiation transport. • A multiphysics simulation demonstrates electromagnetic induction during impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two methyl-branched triesters, trimethylolpropane-triisostearate (TMP-ISA) and trimethylolpropane-triisooleate (TMP-IOA) have been synthesized via esterification of trimethylolpropane with isostearic-acid and isooleic-acid, respectively. Isostearic-acid and isooleic-acid have been previously produced through the skeletal-isomerization reaction of naturally derived oleic acid using a reusable zeolite catalyst. TMP-ISA and TMP-IOA are characterized by FTIR NMR, GC-MS, and LC-MS. Physicochemical and tribological analysis reveal that TMP-ISA and TMP-IOA exhibit higher oxidative stability, viscosity index, anti-wear property, and better cold flow properties when compared to high-oleic sunflower oil or polyalphaolefin, a common lubricant base oil. Lubricant property analysis of blends of TMP-ISA or TMP-IOA with high-oleic sunflower oil or polyalphaolefin demonstrates their miscibility and potential applications as biolubricants. Upon commercialization, these developed bio-based esters have the potential to reduce the existing reliance on non-renewable petroleum based lubricants. Methyl-branched triesters with trimethylolpropane backbone exhibit promising physicochemical and tribological properties to be used as bioingredients in bioproducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vanadium(V) oxytrichloride was reacted with 2,4-pentanedione, diethyl malonate, and diethyl succinate under inert conditions, forming compounds: dichloro(oxo)(2,4-pentanedione) vanadium(V) [ 1 ], dichloro(oxo)(diethyl malonate) vanadium(IV) [ 2 ] and dichloro(oxo)(diethyl succinate) vanadium(IV) [ 3 ]. Compounds 1 – 3 are coordinated to the vanadium centre through the two carbonyl oxygen atoms of the bidentate ligand. It was determined by X-ray crystallography that the structures of the resulting complexes were significantly different, resulting in a monomeric complex ( 1 ), a tetrameric ring ( 2 ) and a 1D coordination polymer ( 3 ). Following the synthesis and isolation of 1 – 3 , they were tested as precursors for vanadium nitride and vanadium carbide by annealing under nitrogen and argon respectively at 1200 °C for 24 h. The resulting materials were characterised by: XRD, EDS, XPS and TEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mutant cancer subpopulations have the potential to derail durable patient responses to molecularly targeted cancer therapeutics, yet the prevalence and size of such subpopulations are largely unexplored. We employed the sensitive and quantitative Allele-specific Competitive Blocker PCR approach to characterize mutant cancer subpopulations in ductal carcinomas (DCs), examining five specific hotspot point mutations (PIK3CA H1047R, KRAS G12D, KRAS G12V, HRAS G12D, and BRAF V600E). As an approach to aid interpretation of the DC results, the mutations were also quantified in normal breast tissue. Overall, themutations were prevalent in normal breast and DCs, with 9/9 DCs having measureable levels of at least three of the fivemutations.HRAS G12D was significantly increased inDCs as compared to normal breast. The most frequent point mutation reported in DC by DNA sequencing, PIK3CA H1047R,was detected in all normal breast tissue and DC samples and was present at remarkably high levels (mutant fractions of 1.1 × 10-3 to 4.6 × 10-2) in 4/10 normal breast samples. In normal breast tissue samples, PIK3CA mutation levels were positively correlated with age. However, the PIK3CA H1047R mutant fraction distributions for normal breast tissues and DCs were similar. The results suggest PIK3CA H1047Rmutant cells have a selective advantage in breast, contribute to breast cancer susceptibility, and drive tumor progression during breast carcinogenesis, even when present as only a subpopulation of tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dachshund (dac) gene was initially described as a mutant phenotype in flies featuring extremely short legs relative to their body length. Functioning as a dominant suppressor of the ellipse mutation, a hypermorphic allele of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), the dac gene plays a key role in metazoan development, regulating ocular, limb, brain, and gonadal development. In the Drosophila eye, dac is a key component of the Retinal Determination Gene Network (RDGN) governing the normal initiation of the morphogenetic furrow and thereby eye development. Recent studies have demonstrated an important role for human Dachshund homologue (DACH1) in tumorigenesis, in particular, breast, prostate and ovarian cancer. The molecular mechanisms by which DACH1 regulates differentiation and tumorigenesis are discussed herein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cyclin D1 is an important cell cycle regulator, but in cancer its overexpression also increases cellular migration mediated by p27KIP1 stabilization and RhoA inhibition. Recently, a common polymorphism at the exon 4-intron 4 boundary of the human cyclin D1 gene within a splice donor region was associated with an altered risk of developing cancer. Altered RNA splicing caused by this polymorphism gives rise to a variant cyclin D1 isoform termed cyclin D1b, which has the same N terminus as the canonical cyclin D1a isoform but a distinct C terminus. In this study we show that these different isoforms have unique properties with regard to the cellular migration function of cyclin D1. Although they displayed little difference in transcriptional co-repression assays on idealized reporter genes, microarray cDNA expression analysis revealed differential regulation of genes, including those that influence cellular migration. Additionally, whereas cyclin D1a stabilized p27KIP1 and inhibited RhoA-induced ROCK kinase activity, promoting cellular migration, cyclin D1b failed to stabilize p27KIP1 or inhibit ROCK kinase activity and had no effect on migration. Our findings argue that alternate splicing is an important determinant of the function of cyclin D1 in cellular migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermochromic vanadium dioxide (VO 2) window coatings hold the promise of reducing the energy consumption of the built environment by passively regulating solar heat gain in response to changing conditions. Composite materials with embedded VO 2 particles have shown greatly improved optical performances compared with thin films, however they typically exhibit broadened phase transition hysteresis and gradient widths, which negatively impacts the overall performance. Here, we present a scalable one-step solution based synthesis for a thermochromic smart window coating based on a vanadium dioxide sol-gel containing silica (SiO 2 nanoparticles. We compare the performance of our nanoparticle composite with thin film VO 2 along with composites formed by mixing VO 2 and SiO 2 sol-gels and find that both composites achieve an acceptable visible transmittance (∼ 50%) along with a comparable and competitive solar modulation (12.5% and 16.8% respectively), roughly double that of the plain VO 2 film (6.7%). However, our SiO 2 nanoparticle containing composite also benefits from a narrow transition hysteresis and gradient width (9.4 ∘C and 2.9 ∘C respectively). We predict that this method may subsequently be combined with metal ion doping to control both the optical and phase transition characteristics to achieve composite films with high overall energy saving performances. • Improved visible transmittance due to reduced visible reflectivity. • SiO 2 particles act as a matrix for VO2 domain growth. • VO 2 domains grow larger and are more uniform in size. • Narrow hysteresis and transition gradient for improved overall performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]