Replication-Coupled PCNA Unloading by the Elg1 Complex Occurs Genome-wide and Requires Okazaki Fragment Ligation

Open Access funded by Medical Research Council Acknowledgments We thank Dr Anja Bielinsky for plasmids and Dr. M.K. Raghuraman for a cdc9-1 strain. Alexander Lorenz (University of Aberdeen) provided valuable comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) grant BB/K006304/1 to A.D., Medical Research Council Career Development Fellowship MR/L019698/1 to T.K., and MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas to K.S.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Evaluation of Personalized Thermal Conditioning Chair in Net Zero Energy Building Office

The net Zero Energy Building (ZEB) aims to promote a productive working environment with high occupant satisfaction while minimizing energy input. Personal air-conditioning is a technology which can significantly contribute to ZEB. In this paper, we evaluate the improvement to occupant satisfaction from the use of a personalized thermal conditioning chair (TCC). In our results: (i) The TCC can change the equivalent temperature by –0.7 to 1.2°C. (ii) Users controlled the TCCs according to their thermal comfort. Users chose cooling mode mainly in summer and heating mode in winter according to environmental changes in the ZEB office. (iii) The TCC was controlled to maintain the user’s preferred thermal environment. This resulted in the surrounding temperature of each user during TCC operation to vary. (iv) The thermal comfort survey from users converged to “neutral”. This shows that users felt improved comfort from the ability to control their own thermal environment.publishedVersio

Oxidation mechanisms of ZRB2-based ultra high temperature ceramic matrix composites

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) are expected as the materials for the nose cones and leading edges for hypersonic and re-entry vehicles. Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) and its composites are a widely studied class of UHTCs. The oxidation of monolithic ZrB2 forms ZrO2 and B2O3. B2O3 acts as a surface protective layer; however, it evaporates above 1200℃. SiC particles are considered effective additives because the SiO2 formed by the oxidation of SiC protects the unreacted region. Simultaneously, excessive pores are formed under the surface in the SiC particle-dispersed ZrB2 matrix (hereafter denoted ZS) composites in a wide temperature range by the preferential oxidation of SiC (active oxidation of SiC) because solid SiO2 is not formed; instead, gaseous SiO forms by active oxidation because of the low oxygen partial pressure relative to that of the surface. The pore-rich porous layer is denoted the “SiC-depleted layer”. The SiC-depleted layer leads to spallation and delamination of the oxidized regions on the surface because strength and stiffness of this layer are quite low. Thus, excessive pore formation in ZS composites should be prevented to improve the oxidation resistance. The objective of this study is to understand oxidation mechanisms of ZrB2-based composites and to propose the way to prevent the formation of SiC-depleted layer in ZS composites. In the present study, we fabricated monolithic ZrB2, ZS, and ZrB2-SiC-ZrC (ZSZ) ternary composites by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. In addition, carbon fiber-reinforced ZSZ matrix (C/ZSZ) composites was also fabricated by Si melt infiltration (MI) process. Oxidation resistance of monolithic ZrB2, ZS, ZSZ, and C/ZSZ have specially designed fast heating system in order to characterize oxidation resistance above 2000℃. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Large Magnetic-Field-Induced Strains in Sintered Chromium Tellurides

Sintered samples of Cr3Te4 and Cr2Te3 are found to show large strains accompanied by large volume changes under a magnetic field. In Cr3Te4, volume increases of deltaV/V = 500-1170 ppm by applying a magnetic field of 9 T are observed over the entire temperature range below 350 K. At room temperature, the deltaV/V value exceeds 1000 ppm, which is considerably larger than the maximum values reported for Cr-based magnets thus far and is comparable to the room-temperature value of forced-volume magnetostriction in invar alloys. Cr2Te3 show a large deltaV/V of 680 ppm when applying a magnetic field of 9 T at 200 K. Both samples display particularly large volume increases around the Curie temperature, where they also show negative thermal expansion due to microstructural effects, suggesting that the cooperation between anisotropic lattice deformation associated with the magnetic ordering and microstructural effects is essential for the manifestation of the large magnetic-field-induced volume changes.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Development of light-induced disruptive liposomes (LiDL) as a photoswitchable carrier for intracellular substance delivery

Light-driven inward proton pump rhodopsin RmXeR was embedded in pH-sensitive liposomes. Substance release from the proteoliposomes was observed following light illumination both in vitro and in cells, indicating the successful production of light-induced disruptive liposomes (LiDL). Thus, LiDL is a photoswitchable carrier utilized for intracellular substance delivery