Growth and Characterization of Metastable Hexagonal Nickel Thin Films via Plasma-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition.

There is a great interest in various branches of the advanced materials industry for the development of novel methods (and improvements to existing ones) for the deposition of conformal ultrathin metallic films. In most of these applications, like enhanced solar absorbers and microelectronics, achieving the capacity to deposit a conformal thin film on a three-dimensional structure is an important condition. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) is known for its potential for growth of conformal thin films with a precise control over the thickness and its capability for deposition at relatively low temperatures (below 500 °C).

Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Based on Blends of Conjugated Polymers with II⁻VI and IV⁻VI Inorganic Semiconductor Quantum Dots.

Bulk heterojunction solar cells based on blends of quantum dots and conjugated polymers are a promising configuration for obtaining high-efficiency, cheaply fabricated solution-processed photovoltaic devices. Such devices are of significant interest as they have the potential to leverage the advantages of both types of materials, such as the high mobility, band gap tunability and possibility of multiple exciton generation in quantum dots together with the high mechanical flexibility and large molar extinction coefficient of conjugated polymers. Despite these advantages, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of these hybrid devices has remained relatively low at around 6%, well behind that of all-organic or all-inorganic solar cells.

Heatmapper: web-enabled heat mapping for all.

Heatmapper is a freely available web server that allows users to interactively visualize their data in the form of heat maps through an easy-to-use graphical interface. Unlike existing non-commercial heat map packages, which either lack graphical interfaces or are specialized for only one or two kinds of heat maps, Heatmapper is a versatile tool that allows users to easily create a wide variety of heat maps for many different data types and applications. More specifically, Heatmapper allows users to generate, cluster and visualize: (i) expression-based heat maps from transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic experiments; (ii) pairwise distance maps; (iii) correlation maps; (iv) image overlay heat maps; (v) latitude and longitude heat maps and (vi) geopolitical (choropleth) heat maps.

PHASTER: a better, faster version of the PHAST phage search tool.

PHASTER (PHAge Search Tool - Enhanced Release) is a significant upgrade to the popular PHAST web server for the rapid identification and annotation of prophage sequences within bacterial genomes and plasmids. Although the steps in the phage identification pipeline in PHASTER remain largely the same as in the original PHAST, numerous software improvements and significant hardware enhancements have now made PHASTER faster, more efficient, more visually appealing and much more user friendly. In particular, PHASTER is now 4.

Direct observation of transition paths during the folding of proteins and nucleic acids.

Transition paths, the fleeting trajectories through the transition states that dominate the dynamics of biomolecular folding reactions, encapsulate the critical information about how structure forms. Owing to their brief duration, however, they have not previously been observed directly. We measured transition paths for both nucleic acid and protein folding, using optical tweezers to observe the microscopic diffusive motion of single molecules traversing energy barriers.

Torque-mixing magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

A universal, torque-mixing method for magnetic resonance spectroscopy is presented. In analogy to resonance detection by magnetic induction, the transverse component of a precessing dipole moment can be measured in sensitive broadband spectroscopy, here using a resonant mechanical torque sensor. Unlike induction, the torque amplitude allows equilibrium magnetic properties to be monitored simultaneously with the spin dynamics.

ECMDB 2.0: A richer resource for understanding the biochemistry of E. coli.

ECMDB or the Escherichia coli Metabolome Database (http://www.ecmdb.ca) is a comprehensive database containing detailed information about the genome and metabolome of E.

Polymer-Coated Metal-Oxide Nanoparticles Inhibit IgE Receptor Binding, Cellular Signaling, and Degranulation in a Mast Cell-like Cell Line.

Previous reports have shown that nanoparticles (NPs) can both enhance and suppress immune effector functions; however the mechanisms that dictate these responses are still unclear. Here, the effects of polyacrylic acid (PAA) functionalized metal-oxide NP are investigated on RBL-2H3 (representative mammalian granulocyte-like cell line) cell viability, cellular degranulation, immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor binding, and cell signaling pathways related to immune function. The increasing development of PAA-NPs as pesticide dispersants and as drug carriers in therapeutics necessitates their investigation for safe production.

Pathways with PathWhiz.

PathWhiz (http://smpdb.ca/pathwhiz) is a web server designed to create colourful, visually pleasing and biologically accurate pathway diagrams that are both machine-readable and interactive. As a web server, PathWhiz is accessible from almost any place and compatible with essentially any operating system.

MetaboAnalyst 3.0--making metabolomics more meaningful.

MetaboAnalyst (www.metaboanalyst.ca) is a web server designed to permit comprehensive metabolomic data analysis, visualization and interpretation.

T3DB: the toxic exposome database.

The exposome is defined as the totality of all human environmental exposures from conception to death. It is often regarded as the complement to the genome, with the interaction between the exposome and the genome ultimately determining one's phenotype. The 'toxic exposome' is the complete collection of chronically or acutely toxic compounds to which humans can be exposed.

Enhancing multimodality functional and molecular imaging using glucose-coated gold nanoparticles.

Aim: To describe how pegylated glucose-coated gold nanoparticles (PEG-Glu-GNPs) can help improve computed tomography (CT) imaging.

Materials And Methods: PEG-Glu-GNPs were designed for use as an imaging nanoprobe to act an effective contrast agent for both CT and PET scans. Twelve BALB/c mice were divided into two groups: mice with injected with PEG-Glu-GNPs and control mice.