We studied the dynamics of isotropic-nematic transitions in liquid crystalline polymers by integrating time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. In a concentrated solution of rodlike polymers, the rotational diffusion constant D(r) of the polymer is severely suppressed by the geometrical constraints of the surrounding polymers so that the rodlike molecules diffuse only along their rod direction...

Chronic exposure to crystalline silica (CS) causes silicosis, an irreversible lung inflammatory disease that may eventually lead to lung cancer. In this study, we demonstrate that in K-ras(LA1) mice, CS exposure markedly enhances the lung tumour burden and genetic deletion of leukotriene B4 receptor-1 (BLT1(-/-)) attenuates this increase. Pulmonary neutrophilic inflammation induced by CS is sig...

Initiation and Growth of Uroliths Urolith formation, dissolution, and prevention involve complex physical processes. Major factors include: 1) supersaturation resulting in crystal formation, 2) effects of inhibitors of crystallization and inhibitors of crystal aggregation and growth, 3) crystalloid complexors, 4) effects of promoters of crystal aggregation and growth, and 5) effects of non-crys...

In this work, 4H-SiC epilayers are performed on 4° off-axis substrates under low pressure condition by horizontal hot wall chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) with a standard chemistry of silane-propane-hydrogen, which focuses on the effects of growth pressure on morphology, basal plane dislocations (BPDs) and crystalline quality. It is found that morphological defects reduce with the decreasing ...

New discoveries on collective processes in materials fabrication and performance are emerging in the mesoscopic size regime between the nanoscale, where atomistic effects dominate, and the macroscale, where bulk-like behavior rules. For semiconductor electronics and photonics, dimensional control of the architecture in this regime is the limiting factor for device performance. Epitaxial crystal...

We observe the formation of metastable AuGe phases without quenching, during strictly isothermal nucleation and growth of Ge nanowires, using video-rate lattice-resolved environmental transmission electron microscopy. We explain the unexpected formation of these phases through a novel pathway involving changes in composition rather than temperature. The metastable catalyst has important implica...

The isolation and identification of the anterior pituitary growth hormone as a pure protein were first achieved by Li, Evans, and Simpson (1, 2) in 194445. Their method is a beautiful example of the classical procedures of protein fractionation by the controlled use of salt and of hydrogen ion concentrations. It owes its distinction to the proof that the growth-promoting activity of anterior pi...

Growth and electrochemical properties of single-crystalline vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanorod arrays were investigated. Vanadium pentoxide nanorod arrays were grown by electrochemical deposition, surface condensation induced by a pH change and sol electrophoretic deposition. Uniformly sized vanadium oxide nanorods with a length of about 10 mm and diameters of 100 or 200 nm were grown over a lar...

Abstract. The phase transition between solid and liquid in an undercooled liquid leads to dendritic growth of the solid phase. The problem is modelled by the Stefan problem with a modified Gibbs-Thomson law, which includes the anisotropic mean curvature corresponding to a surface energy that depends on the direction of the interface normal. A finite element method for discretization of the Stef...

The qualitative description of the major microstructure characteristics of microcrystalline silicon is achieved through a threedimensional discrete dynamical growth model. The model is based on three fundamental processes that determine surface morphology: (1) random deposition of particles, (2) local relaxation and (3) desorption. In this model, the incoming particle reaching the growing surfa...