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DNA-binding proteins control various cellular processes such as recombination, replication and transcription. This review is aimed to summarize some of the most commonly used techniques to determine DNA-protein interactions. In vitro techniques such as footprinting assays, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, southwestern blotting, yeast one-hybrid assay, phage display and proximity ligation assay have been discussed. The highly versatile in vivo techniques such as chromatin immunoprecipitation and its variants, DNA adenine methyl transferase identification as well as 3C and chip-loop assay have also been summarized. In addition, some in silico tools have been reviewed to provide computational basis for determining DNA-protein interactions. Biophysical techniques like fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) techniques, FRET-FLIM, circular dichroism, atomic force microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, surface plasmon resonance, etc. have also been highlighted.

Nonintrusive measurements of the optical properties of soot at visible wavelengths (351.2–800.0 nm) were completed for soot in the overfire region of large (2–7 kW) buoyant turbulent diffusion flames burning in still air at standard temperature and pressure, where soot properties are independent of position and characteristic flame residence time for a particular fuel. Soot from flames fueled with gaseous (acetylene, ethylene, propylene, and butadiene) and liquid (benzene, cyclohexane, toluene, and n-heptane) hydrocarbon fuels were studied. Scattering and extinction measurements were interpreted to find soot optical properties using the Rayleigh-Debye-Gans/polydisperse-fractal-aggregate theory after establishing that this theory provided good predictions of scattering patterns over the present test range. Effects of fuel type on soot optical properties were comparable to experimental uncertainties. Dimensionless extinction coefficients were relatively independent of wavelength for wavelengths of 400–800 nm and yielded a mean value of 8.4 in good agreement with earlier measurements. Present measurements of the refractive index function for absorption, Em, were in good agreement with earlier independent measurements of Dalzell and Sarofim and Stagg and Charalampopoulos. Present values of the refractive index function for scattering, Fm, however, only agreed with these earlier measurements for wavelengths of 400–550 nm but otherwise increased with increasing wavelength more rapidly than the rest. The comparison between present and earlier measurements of the real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index was similar to Em and Fm.[S0022-1481(00)02203-9]

Extinction and scattering properties at wavelengths of 250–5200 nm were studied for soot emitted from buoyant turbulent diffusion flames in the long residence time regime where soot properties are independent of position in the overfire region and characteristic flame residence times. Flames burning in still air and fueled with gas (acetylene, ethylene, propane, and propylene) and liquid (benzene, toluene, cyclohexane, and n-heptane) hydrocarbon fuels were considered. Measured scattering patterns and ratios of total scattering/absorption cross sections were in good agreement with predictions based on the Rayleigh-Debye-Gans (RDG) scattering approximation in the visible. Measured depolarization ratios were roughly correlated by primary particle size parameter, suggesting potential for completing RDG methodology needed to make soot scattering predictions as well as providing a nonintrusive way to measure primary soot particle diameters. Measurements of dimensionless extinction coefficients were in good agreement with earlier measurements for similar soot populations and were independent of fuel type and wavelength except for reduced values as the near ultraviolet was approached. The ratios of the scattering/absorption refractive index functions were independent of fuel type within experimental uncertainties and were in good agreement with earlier measurements. The refractive index function for absorption was similarly independent of fuel type but was larger than earlier reflectometry measurements in the infrared. Ratios of total scattering/absorption cross sections were relatively large in the visible and near infrared, with maximum values as large as 0.9 and with values as large as 0.2 at 2000 nm, suggesting greater potential for scattering from soot particles to affect flame radiation properties than previously thought.

We report the application of palladium nanoparticles and thin films for hydrogen sensor. Electrochemically grown palladium particles with spherical shapes deposited on Si substrate and sputter deposited Pd thin films were used to detect hydrogen at room temperature. Grain size dependence of H2sensing behavior has been discussed for both types of Pd films. The electrochemically grown Pd nanoparticles were observed to show better hydrogen sensing response than the sputtered palladium thin films. The demonstration of size dependent room temperature H2sensing paves the ways to fabricate the room temperature metallic and metal–metal oxide semiconductor sensor by tuning the size of metal catalyst in mixed systems. H2sensing by the Pd nanostructures is attributed to the chemical and electronic sensitization mechanisms.

In order to study the role of the direction of the connecting groups in bent-core mesogens we synthesized two series of ten possible achiral isomeric five-ring bent-core compounds in which all aromatic rings are connected by ester groups and each of which possesses the same length of the terminal chains (octyloxy or dodecyloxy, respectively). The structure of the isomers is distinguished by the direction of at least one ester group, only. The mesophase behaviour of the compounds has been studied by polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray experiments and electro-optical measurements. We have found that in spite of the minor structural differences a variety of mesophases occur (SmCP A , Col rec , Col ob ) whereby the clearing temperatures vary from 121 to 193 uC (octyloxy isomers) and 112 to 189 uC (dodecyloxy isomers). Depending on the direction of the ester groups some of these isomers show interesting properties, such as field-induced inversion of chirality in SmCP A and columnar phases, the field-induced enhancement of the clearing temperature, a second-order phase transition Col ob A SmCP A or the reversible field-induced phase transition Col ob A SmCP F . The unexpectedly strong influence of the direction of the connecting groups is discussed on the base of theoretical calculations and molecular dynamics simulation on isolated molecules.

Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) methods enable chemical discrimination of intact bacterial cells and produce complex whole‐organism biochemical fingerprints (spectra), which are reproducible and distinct for different bacteria. Numerous researchers indicate that there is great potential for using FT‐IR methods in combination with multivariate statistics (chemometrics) to detect and identify bacteria in water, culture media and foods. This article presents a review of the FT‐IR techniques, sample preparation procedures and experimental conditions used in these studies, as well as advantages, disadvantages and challenges that remain for the development of FT‐IR detection methods.

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