Although biochemical sensing using liquid crystals (LC) has been demonstrated, relatively little attention has been paid towards the fabrication of in situ-formed LC sensing devices. Herein, we demonstrate a highly reproducible method to create uniform LC thin film on treated substrates, as needed, for LC sensing. We use shear forces generated by the laminar flow of aqueous liquid within a micr...

There are many processes in biology in which mechanical forces are generated. Force-bearing networks can transduce locally developed mechanical signals very extensively over different parts of the cell or tissues. In this article we conduct an overview of this kind of mechanical transduction, focusing in particular on the multiple layers of complexity displayed by the mechanisms that control an...

The identification of suitable model parameters for biochemical reactions has been recognized as a quite difficult endeavor. Parameter values from literature or experiments can often not directly be combined in complex reaction systems. Nature-inspired optimization techniques can find appropriate sets of parameters that calibrate a model to experimentally obtained time series data. We present S...

Various scaffolds used in tissue engineering require a controlled biochemical environment to mimic the physiological cell niche. Interfacial polyelectrolyte complexation (IPC) fibers can be used for controlled delivery of various biological agents such as small molecule drugs, cells, proteins and growth factors. The simplicity of the methodology in making IPC fibers gives flexibility in its app...

Lipid droplets (LDs) are subcellular organelles with important roles in lipid storage and metabolism and involved in various diseases including cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Conventional methods, however, have limited ability to provide quantitative information on individual LDs and have limited capability for three-dimensional (3-D) imaging of LDs in live cells especially for fast acquisition...

The human APOBEC3 (A3) family (A, B, C, DE, F, G, and H) comprises host defense factors that potently inhibit the replication of diverse retroviruses, retrotransposons, and the other viral pathogens. HIV-1 has a counterstrategy that includes expressing the Vif protein to abrogate A3 antiviral function. Without Vif, A3 proteins, particularly APOBEC3G (A3G) and APOBEC3F (A3F), inhibit HIV-1 repli...

Recently much has been written about sustainability and greening and the issue is likely to continue to resurface on the agendas of decision makers. This paper addresses one aspect of the topic: that of sustainability and greening through information technology management. The authors review existing research and publications on the topic and conclude that while much research is available on me...

The present study discussed the issue of gender and career maturity which operated on Super‟s Theory of career development. The aim was to examine the effects of gender on career maturity among counseling students in a public university in Malaysia. The Career Maturity Inventory by Crites (1995) was utilized as the major instrument for the study. Seventy-six participants comprising 35 males and...

We study a novel aspect of a firm’s capital structure, namely the profile of its debt maturity dates. In a simple theoretical framework we show that the dispersion of debt maturities constitutes an important dimension of capital structure choice, driven by firm characteristics and debt rollover risk. Guided by these results we establish two main empirical results. First, using an exogenous shoc...