Dip coating process: Silicon sheet growth development for the large-area silicon sheet task of the low-cost silicon solar array project

The technical and economic feasibility of producing solar cell quality sheet silicon by dip-coating one surface of carbonized ceramic substrates with a thin layer of large grain polycrystalline silicon was investigated. The dip-coating methods studied were directed toward a minimum cost process with the ultimate objective of producing solar cells with a conversion efficiency of 10% or greater. The technique shows excellent promise for low cost, labor-saving, scale-up potentialities and would provide an end product of sheet silicon with a rigid and strong supportive backing. An experimental dip-coating facility was designed and constructed, several substrates were successfully dip-coated with areas as large as 25 sq cm and thicknesses of 12 micron to 250 micron. There appears to be no serious limitation on the area of a substrate that could be coated. Of the various substrate materials dip-coated, mullite appears to best satisfy the requirement of the program. An inexpensive process was developed for producing mullite in the desired geometry

The Transnational Mission of an Indian War Correspondent: P. R. S. Mani in Southeast Asia, 1944–1946

This article, based on new archival materials, reconstructs the experiences and observations of an Indian war correspondent from 1944 to 1946 as he covered the advance of Indian soldiers of the British-led Indian Army from northeast India, through Burma to Malaya at the war's end, then to their eventual deployment with the South East Asian Command in Java after the Japanese surrender. As it transpired, Captain P. R. S. Mani worked as an enlisted public relations officer of the British-led Indian Army but also sustained his commitment as a patriotic Indian nationalist, who gathered intelligence on the Indian diaspora in Southeast Asia and on the impact of Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. Relatively little scholarship has focused on Asian war journalism. Mani's tension-ridden role as a self-styled ‘Indian Army observer’ provides an illuminating insight into the way in which Britain's lines of communication were appropriated and subverted during wartime and beyond, and into the way his own nationalism was reshaped by his unofficial transnational activities

Achieving high-sensitivity for clinical applications using augmented exome sequencing

daSNVs in ACMG genes where inadequate coverage was observed among at least one platform, using WES/ACE data normalized to both 12 Gb and 100× mean coverage. (XLSX 312 kb

Real-time measurement of tumour hypoxia using an implantable microfabricated oxygen sensor

Hypoxia commonly occurs within tumours and is a major cause of radiotherapy resistance. Clinical outcomes could be improved by locating and selectively increasing the dose delivered to hypoxic regions. Here we describe a miniature implantable sensor for real-time monitoring of tissue oxygenation that could enable this novel treatment approach to be implemented. The sensor uses a solid-state electrochemical cell that was microfabricated at wafer level on a silicon substrate, and includes an integrated reference electrode and electrolyte membrane. It gave a linear response to oxygen concentration, and was unaffected by sterilisation and irradiation, but showed susceptibility to biofouling. Oxygen selectivity was also evaluated against various clinically relevant electroactive compounds. We investigated its robustness and functionality under realistic clinical conditions using a sheep model of lung cancer. The sensor remained functional following CT-guided tumour implantation, and was sufficiently sensitive to track acute changes in oxygenation within tumour tissue

Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics

Currently there are relatively few antiviral therapeutics, and most which do exist are highly pathogen-specific or have other disadvantages. We have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. We have created DRACOs and shown that they are nontoxic in 11 mammalian cell types and effective against 15 different viruses, including dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenaviruses, Guama bunyavirus, and H1N1 influenza. We have also demonstrated that DRACOs can rescue mice challenged with H1N1 influenza. DRACOs have the potential to be effective therapeutics or prophylactics for numerous clinical and priority viruses, due to the broad-spectrum sensitivity of the dsRNA detection domain, the potent activity of the apoptosis induction domain, and the novel direct linkage between the two which viruses have never encountered.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (grant AI057159)New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious DiseasesUnited States. Dept. of Defense (Director of Defense Research & Engineering)United States. Defense Threat Reduction AgencyUnited States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agenc

Wing pathology of white-nose syndrome in bats suggests life-threatening disruption of physiology

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is causing unprecedented declines in several species of North American bats. The characteristic lesions of WNS are caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, which erodes and replaces the living skin of bats while they hibernate. It is unknown how this infection kills the bats. We review here the unique physiological importance of wings to hibernating bats in relation to the damage caused by G. destructans and propose that mortality is caused by catastrophic disruption of wing-dependent physiological functions. Mechanisms of disease associated with G. destructans seem specific to hibernating bats and are most analogous to disease caused by chytrid fungus in amphibians