Identification of British one pound counterfeit coins using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to Robert Matthews, C.Chem., MRSC for his generous loan of seven of the counterfeit coins.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Binary Particle Swarm Optimization based Biclustering of Web usage Data

Web mining is the nontrivial process to discover valid, novel, potentially useful knowledge from web data using the data mining techniques or methods. It may give information that is useful for improving the services offered by web portals and information access and retrieval tools. With the rapid development of biclustering, more researchers have applied the biclustering technique to different fields in recent years. When biclustering approach is applied to the web usage data it automatically captures the hidden browsing patterns from it in the form of biclusters. In this work, swarm intelligent technique is combined with biclustering approach to propose an algorithm called Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) based Biclustering for Web Usage Data. The main objective of this algorithm is to retrieve the global optimal bicluster from the web usage data. These biclusters contain relationships between web users and web pages which are useful for the E-Commerce applications like web advertising and marketing. Experiments are conducted on real dataset to prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithms

Codelivery of Genistein and miRNA-29b to A549 Cells Using Aptamer-Hybrid Nanoparticle Bioconjugates.

This study aimed to evaluate the anti-cancer effect of a combination therapy of miRNA-29b and genistein loaded in mucin-1 (MUC 1)-aptamer functionalized hybrid nanoparticles in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cell line. Genistein-miRNA-29b-loaded hybrid nanoparticles (GMLHN) was prepared and characterized. Particle size and zeta potential were measured using photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). Encapsulation efficiency and loading efficiency were determined using HPLC. Preferential internalization of MUC 1-aptamer functionalized GMLHN by A549 cells was evaluated and compared to normal MRC-5 cells. The ability of GMLHN to downregulate targeted oncoproteins Phosphorylated protein kinase, strain AK, Thymoma (Phosphorylated protein kinase B) (pAKT), Phosphorylated phosphoinositide 3-kinase (p-PI3K), DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 3 beta (DNMT3B) and Myeloid Cell Leukemia Sequence 1 (MCL 1) was evaluated using western blot, while antiproliferative effect and ability to initiate apoptosis was also assessed in A549 cells. MUC 1-aptamer functionalized GMLHN nanoparticles were prepared. These nanoparticles were preferentially internalized by A549 cells but less so, in MRC-5 cells. pAKT, p-PI3K, DNMT3B and MCL 1 were efficiently downregulated by these nanoparticles without affecting the levels of AKT and PI3K in A549 cells. GMLHN demonstrated a superior antiproliferative effect compared to individual genistein and miRNA-29b-loaded nanoparticles. Results generated were able to demonstrate that genistein-miRNA-29b-loaded hybrid nanoparticles (GMLHN) could be a potential treatment modality for NSCLC because of the ability of the payloads to attack multiple targets

The stereochemistry of selected supramolecular complexes of cucurbiturils and the effect of homogeneous equilibria and electron transfer of the guest

From a practical perspective, host-guest complexes are vehicles for understanding and using supramolecular interactions for purposeful function in sensors, molecular machines and switches, while from a fundamental perspective they may lead to novel supramolecular protection schemes in basic organic reactions. This dissertation examines the interactions of cucurbiturils as barrel-shaped hosts, exhibiting a hydrophobic cavity, with substituted benzoylpyrydinium, phenypyrylium, and diazaanthraquinonediium cations as guests. In water, N-methyl-4-(p-substituted benzoyl)pyridinium cations exist in equilibrium with their hydrated forms (gem-diols), whose concentrations depend on the para substituent. In the presence of cucurbit7uril (CB[7]), the benzoyl group shows a preference for the CB[7] cavity, and the ketone to gem-diol equilibrium is shifted toward the keto form, meaning that the stabilization through hydrophobic interactions of the benzoyl group in the CB[7] cavity exceeds the hydrogen bonding stabilization of the gem-diols in the aqueous environment. In an aprotic polar solvent such as dimethylsulfoxide, 4-benzoylpyridinium cations undergo heterogeneous electron transfer simultaneously from both their free state as well as their complexes with CB[7]. In the same line of work, N,N\u27-dimethyl-2,6-diaza-9,10-anthraquinonediium dication in water not only exists in equilibrium with its gem-diol but also forms aggregates which cause line-broadening in ¹H NMR. At low pH (\u3c1), the aggregates break up and the equilibrium is shifted exclusively toward the quinone form. In the presence of CB[7], the quinone form undergoes inclusion with CB[7] by slow exchange in both water and aqueous acid. Both free and CB[7]-intercalated quinone forms are observed by ¹H NMR. To gain more insight on the intercalation of monocationic guests in the cucurbituril cavity not only as a function of their hydrophobic properties but also in terms of their shape, size and the size of the cavity, 4-phenylpyrylium cation (Pylm) was chosen as a guest and both CB[7] and CB[8] as hosts. The size and shape of the guest was modified by 2,6-substitution (Me, iPr, Ph, t-Bu). In water, 2,6-disubsituted-Pylm form dimers, but they enter as such only in CB[8]. All guests insert their 4-phenyl groups in either cavity, except (iPr-Pylm)₂@CB[8] where iPr-groups are inserted. Stereochemistry is interpreted by an interplay of size and hydrophobicity of pyrylium substituents, solvation effects, and size and flexibility of the hosts --Abstract, page iv