Synthesis of carbon nanotubes with and without catalyst particles

The initial development of carbon nanotube synthesis revolved heavily around the use of 3d valence transition metals such as Fe, Ni, and Co. More recently, noble metals (e.g. Au) and poor metals (e.g. In, Pb) have been shown to also yield carbon nanotubes. In addition, various ceramics and semiconductors can serve as catalytic particles suitable for tube formation and in some cases hybrid metal/metal oxide systems are possible. All-carbon systems for carbon nanotube growth without any catalytic particles have also been demonstrated. These different growth systems are briefly examined in this article and serve to highlight the breadth of avenues available for carbon nanotube synthesis

On the computational methods in non-linear design of experiments

In this paper the non-linear problem is discussed, for point and interval computational estimation. For the interval estimation an adjusted formulation is discussed due to Beale’s measure of non-linearity. The non-linear experimental design problem is regarded when the errors of observations are assumed i.i.d. and normally distributed as usually. The sequential approach is adopted. The average-per-observation information matrix is adopted to the developed theoretical approach. Different applications are discussed and we provide evidence that the sequential approach might be the panacea for solving a non-linear optimal experimental design problem.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Chemical approaches to studying stem cell biology

Stem cells, including both pluripotent stem cells and multipotent somatic stem cells, hold great potential for interrogating the mechanisms of tissue development, homeostasis and pathology, and for treating numerous devastating diseases. Establishment of in vitro platforms to faithfully maintain and precisely manipulate stem cell fates is essential to understand the basic mechanisms of stem cell biology, and to translate stem cells into regenerative medicine. Chemical approaches have recently provided a number of small molecules that can be used to control cell self-renewal, lineage differentiation, reprogramming and regeneration. These chemical modulators have been proven to be versatile tools for probing stem cell biology and manipulating cell fates toward desired outcomes. Ultimately, this strategy is promising to be a new frontier for drug development aimed at endogenous stem cell modulation