Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is recognized by ECT2 during mitosis

<div><p>Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is an unique posttranslational modification and required for spindle assembly and function during mitosis. However, the molecular mechanism of poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) in mitosis remains elusive. Here, we show the evidence that PAR is recognized by ECT2, a key guanine nucleotide exchange factor in mitosis. The BRCT domain of ECT2 directly binds to PAR both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. We further found that α-tubulin is PARylated during mitosis. PARylation of α-tubulin is recognized by ECT2 and recruits ECT2 to mitotic spindle for completing mitosis. Taken together, our study reveals a novel mechanism by which PAR regulates mitosis.</p></div

Heterogeneously Integrated Silicon Photonics for the Mid-Infrared and Spectroscopic Sensing

Besides being the foundational material for microelectronics, crystalline silicon has long been used for the production of infrared lenses and mirrors. More recently, silicon has become the key material to achieve large-scale integration of photonic devices for on-chip optical interconnect and signal processing. For optics, silicon has significant advantages: it offers a very high refractive index and is highly transparent in the spectral range from 1.2 to 8 μm. To fully exploit silicon’s superior performance in a remarkably broad range and to enable new optoelectronic functionalities, here we describe a general method to integrate silicon photonic devices on arbitrary foreign substrates. In particular, we apply the technique to integrate silicon microring resonators on mid-infrared compatible substrates for operation in the mid-infrared. These high-performance mid-infrared optical resonators are utilized to demonstrate, for the first time, on-chip cavity-enhanced mid-infrared spectroscopic analysis of organic chemicals with a limit of detection of less than 0.1 ng

Supplement 1: Nanophotonic cavity optomechanics with propagating acoustic waves at frequencies up to 12 GHz

Supplemental document Originally published in Optica on 20 September 2015 (optica-2-9-826

Iridium(III) Bis-Pyridine-2-Sulfonamide Complexes as Efficient and Durable Catalysts for Homogeneous Water Oxidation

A family of tetradentate bis­(pyridine-2-sulfonamide) (bpsa) compounds was synthesized as a ligand platform for designing resilient and electronically tunable catalysts capable of performing water oxidation catalysis and other processes in highly oxidizing environments. These wrap-around ligands were coordinated to Ir­(III) octahedrally, forming an anionic complex with chloride ions bound to the two remaining coordination sites. NMR spectroscopy documented that the more rigid ligand frameworks[Ir­(bpsa-Cy)­Cl₂]⁻ and [Ir­(bpsa-Ph)­Cl₂]⁻produced <i>C</i>₁-symmetric complexes, while the complex with the more flexible ethylene linker in [Ir­(bpsa-en)­Cl₂]⁻ displays <i>C</i>₂ symmetry. Their electronic structure was explored with DFT calculations and cyclic voltammetry in nonaqueous environments, which unveiled highly reversible Ir­(III)/Ir­(IV) redox processes and more complex, irreversible reduction chemistry. Addition of water to the electrolyte revealed the ability of these complexes to catalyze the water oxidation reaction efficiently. Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance studies confirmed that a molecular species is responsible for the observed electrocatalytic behavior and ruled out the formation of active IrO_<i>x</i>. The electrochemical studies were complemented by work on chemically driven water oxidation, where the catalytic activity of the iridium complexes was studied upon exposure to ceric ammonium nitrate, a strong, one-electron oxidant. Variation of the catalyst concentrations helped to illuminate the kinetics of these water oxidation processes and highlighted the robustness of these systems. Stable performance for over 10 days with thousands of catalyst turnovers was observed with the <i>C</i>₁-symmetric catalysts. Dynamic light scattering experiments ascertained that a molecular species is responsible for the catalytic activity and excluded the formation of IrO_<i>x</i> particles

Preparation of Double-Shelled C/SiO₂ Hollow Spheres with Enhanced Adsorption Capacity

In this study, double-shelled C/SiO₂ hollow spheres with an outer hydrophilic silica shell and an inner hydrophobic carbon shell were initially prepared by activating a solid silica layer of C/SiO₂ aerosol particles. This low-cost preparation technique, which can easily be scaled up, includes a rapid aerosol process and a subsequent dissolution–regrowth process. The large surface area (226.3 m²/g), high pore volume (0.51 cm³/g), and high mechanical stability of the spheres benefit their high adsorption capacities for methylene blue (MB) and metal ions. The novel spheres show a high adsorption capacity of 171.2 mg/g for MB, which is higher than the adsorption capacity of single-shelled silica hollow spheres (150.0 mg/g). The adsorption efficiency of the hollow spheres remains higher than 95% after five cycles of regeneration. The saturation adsorption values of Pb²⁺ and Ag⁺ ions on the hollow spheres were found to be 216.5 and 283.1 mg/g, respectively, which are higher than the corresponding values of 189.8 and 213.4 mg/g on the single-shelled SiO₂ spheres. Moreover, the adsorption capacities of the five-times-recycled spheres for Pb²⁺ and Ag⁺ ions reached as high as ∼180 and ∼245 mg/g, respectively. These results reveal that the outer porous silica layer with a ζ-potential of −37.4 mV makes the main contribution to the excellent adsorption performance of the spheres. In addition to the contribution to the adsorption capacity of the double-shelled hollow spheres, the inner carbon layer plays a crucial role in supporting the outer silica shell and in improving the adsorption efficiency, mechanical stability, and recycling properties of the hollow spheres

Research Progress and Model Development of Crystal Layer Growth and Impurity Distribution in Layer Melt Crystallization: A Review

Layer melt crystallization has been widely utilized in numerous chemical industries because of its high selectivity for pure products, low energy consumption, and the convenience to industrialization. This review will lay out the research progress and process model development of the key processes (crystal layer growth and impurity distribution) involved in layer melt crystallization. First, the nucleation mechanism, the preparation approaches of the initial crystal layer, and classic experimental configurations are illustrated. Second, modeling approaches are outlined to release the progress of separation effect evaluation, parameter optimization, and sweating process simulation in layer melt crystallization. Novel theories (fractal, porous media, and so on) and technologies (gradient freezing, sonocrystallization, and so forth) with suitable interpretation are potential solutions for the shortcomings of the current process research. Consequently, application areas related to layer melt crystallization are highlighted. Finally, the key issue for further research, challenges, and perspectives will be concluded

Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Magnetic Iron Oxide@SiO₂–Au@C Particles with Core–Shell Nanostructures

The preparation of nonspherical magnetic core–shell nanostructures with uniform sizes still remains a challenge. In this study, magnetic iron oxide@SiO₂–Au@C particles with different shapes, such as pseduocube, ellipsoid, and peanut, were synthesized using hematite as templates and precursors of magnetic iron oxide. The as-obtained magnetic particles demonstrated uniform sizes, shapes, and well-designed core–shell nanostructures. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis showed that the Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) of ∼6 nm were uniformly distributed between the silica and carbon layers. The embedding of the metal nanocrystals into the two different layers prevented the aggregation and reduced the loss of the metal nanocrystals during recycling. Catalytic performance of the peanut-like particles kept almost unchanged without a noticeable decrease in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in 8 min even after 7 cycles, indicating excellent reusability of the particles. Moreover, the catalyst could be readily recycled magnetically after each reduction by an external magnetic field

Non-destructive firmness assessment of ‘SunGold’ kiwifruit a three-year study

Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis) firmness is routinely measured in a destructive manner for decision-making purposes. Thus, a population’s quality is inferred by measuring a sample from that population. Consequently, studies have investigated non-destructive techniques for measuring fruit firmness. However, most of these studies have been restricted to a single season or focused on performance over long-term storage. This work compared non-destructive compression (1 mm deformation) and acoustic stiffness with flesh firmness measured with a penetrometer across three seasons. ‘SunGold’ kiwifruit were harvested from 11, 9 and 3 orchards on multiple occasions in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. Kiwifruit was freighted to Palmerston North and assessed on arrival. Thirty fruit per orchard were measured on lab arrival, whilst 24 fruit per orchard were stored for two weeks at 0°C prior to assessment. The non-destructive methods had a strong (r2 > 0.89–0.92) segmented correlation with flesh firmness (0.52–10 kgf). Flesh firmness could be adequately estimated with the non-destructive methods within a season. However, segmented regression performance was reduced when predicting for a season outside of the training population. Nonetheless, these non-destructive methods may be useful for estimating flesh firmness at harvest and after short-term storage (2 weeks at 0 °C).</p

Supplementary document for Crystallization of High Gyrotropy Garnets with Decreasing Thermal Processing Budgets as Analyzed by Electron Backscatter Diffraction - 6119187.pdf

Supplemental Informatio

Hybrid Mushroom Nanoantenna for Fluorescence Enhancement by Matching the Stokes Shift of the Emitter

Nanoantenna-enhanced fluorescence is a promising method in many emergent applications, such as single molecule detection. The excitation and emission wavelengths of emitters can be well separated depending on the corresponding Stokes shifts, preventing optimal fluorescence enhancement by a rudimentary nanoantenna. We illustrate a hybrid mushroom nanoantenna that can achieve overall enhancements (e.g., excitation rate, quantum yield, fluorescence enhancement) in fluorescence emission. The nanoantenna is made of a plasmonic metal stipe and a dielectric cap, and the resonances can be flexibly and independently controlled to match the Stokes shift of the emitter. By fully leveraging the advantages of the large field enhancement from the metal and the low loss feature from the dielectric, a fluorescence enhancement factor (far field intensity) twice (20 times) as high as that from a pure metallic antenna can be attained, accompanied by improved directivity. Approximately 70% of the overall radiation was directed toward the mushroom cap via coupling to the dielectric resonance, which could benefit the collection efficiency. This hybrid concept introduces a way to build high-performance nanoantennas for fluorescence enhancement applications