Search Results (60)
Investigating the early molecular events following exposure of lung cells to nanoparticles using advanced optical microscopies
The potential toxicity of nanoparticles in our environment and consumer products is currently determined by costly and timely animal-based testing, which limits the rate of nanoparticle testing, causing a desperate need for alternative testing strategies. A promising alternative – mechanism-based prediction – employs a set of high-throughput cell-based tests that …
Diversity of viruses infecting tomato and weed plants in agroecosystems
Viruses, satellite viruses, viroids, virusoids, and satellite nucleic acids (herewith, referred to collectively or in part as ‘viruses’) comprise the virosphere and are perhaps the most diverse and abundant, yet still under-sampled, microbes on Earth. They are primarily regarded as pathogens or parasites of their eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts. In …
Examining the relationship between managers' commitment to safety, edarship style, and their role in safety important actions in safety critical organisations
Managers’ commitment to safety has been recognised as a focal concept that can play an important role as organisations strive to improve safety performance and prevent major accidents (Flin, 2003; Flin & Yule, 2004). When management is committed to safety, this shows employees that safety is an important value to …
Chirality and nanoparticles enforced stabilization of topological defects in liquid crystals
Of our main interest in this work is the stabilization of assemblies of topological defects (TDs) in liquid crystals (LCs). Due to the topological origin of TDs, the physics of defects is of interest for all branches of physics, including condensed matter systems, particle physics, and cosmology. LCs represent an …
Speciation of mercury in environmental samples from gold mining communities in Southwestern Ghana
Gold miners (Artisanal and Small-Scale [ASGM]) operating in southwestern Ghana use exclusive mercury-gold amalgamation, cyanidation of gold-rich mercury-contaminated tailings, or a combination of both techniques during gold extraction; exposing water bodies within the catchment to mercury (Hg) and cyanide (CN) from mining discharged effluents. Additionally, sporadic CN spillage/leakage from Large …
In silico approaches to understand and predict the ligand-binding interactions of the human P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) membrane transporter
The P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is responsible for the elimination of a wide variety of substances from the cell, thus it is thought to play an important role in detoxification functions. The P-gp also affects the ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity in pharmacokinetics) properties of drugs. It is involved in …
Classification of wireless links using machine learning techniques
Due to the nature of the wireless transmission medium, wireless communications are characterised by notably larger losses of data packets than wired communications. The quality of wireless links is highly dependent on channel variations, interference and even transceiver imperfections. Such link uncertainty instigated the development of numerous techniques that can …
Correlation of the mechanical properties and wear behaviour with the microstructural characteristics of tool steels
Wear is one of the key problems with many types of engineering components as it can limit their life expectancy. The same is true for tools and tool steels, which are the focus of this doctoral thesis. Tool-wear response and behaviour are closely related to a material’s final microstructure and …
Bioactive calcium phosphate coatings on zirconia ceramics
This doctoral thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of calcium phosphate (CaP) coatings on zirconia ceramics. The main application of coated zirconia is in medicine, particularly in the area of dental bone implants. Due to the favourable biological characteristics of CaP, it can be expected that the application of CaP …
Spectroscopic characterization of conformations of short alanine peptides, poly-L-lysine and insulin during formation of amyloid fibrils
The process of protein folding describes the transition by which an unordered polypeptide chain attains its functional native three-dimensional structure. A detailed understanding of the principles which govern the protein folding, such as conformational preferences of amino acid residues, the neighbour residue effect and the solvent effects, remains an important …