This book describes the author’s work on the development of sequence-specific DNA binders for the therapy of mitochondrial diseases. In the first chapter, the author provides a detailed background of pyrrole–imidazole polyamides (PIPs) and mitochondrial disease research followed by chapters presenting the author's own research and discoveries. Firstly, the developed compounds called MITO-PIPs, which recognize specific sequences in mitochondrial DNA, are presented. The following chapter demonstrates how, by introducing a DNA alkylating reagent into a MITO-PIP that recognizes the adjacent...

Supercritical pressure fluids have been exploited in many engineering fields, where binary mixtures are frequently encountered. This book focuses on the coupled heat and mass transfer in them, where the coupling comes from cross-diffusion effects (i.e., Soret and Dufour effects) and temperature-dependent boundary reactions. Under this configuration, three main topics are discussed: relaxation and diffusion problems, hydrodynamic stability, and convective heat and mass transfer. This book reports a series of new phenomena, novel mechanisms, and an innovative engineering design in hydrodynamics...

This thesis presents a simple, yet highly effective surface engineering solution that uses non-covalent binding peptides to control the autophagy-inducing activity of nanomaterials and nanodevices. The author presents RE-1, a short synthetic peptide that sequence-specifically binds to lanthanide (LN) oxide and upconversion nanocrystals with high affinity, which was discovered using an innovative phage display approach. RE-1 effectively inhibits the autophagy-inducing activity and toxicity of these nanocrystals by forming a stable coating layer on the surface of the nanoparticles, and by...

This book explicates the optical controls of antiferromagnetic spins by intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic waves. The book comprises two key components: (1) the experimental demonstration of the enhancement of a THz magnetic field using a split-ring resonator (SRR) and (2) the control of the direction of magnetization by using the enhanced THz magnetic field to break the symmetry of optically-induced phase transition. These make up the first step leading to future spintronics devices.In the beginning of the book, the author reviews the basics of the ultrafast laser and nonlinear optical...

Since the initial predictions for the existence of Weyl fermions in condensed matter, many different experimental techniques have confirmed the existence of Weyl semimetals. Among these techniques, optical responses have shown a variety of effects associated with the existence of Weyl fermions. In chiral crystals, we find a new type of fermions protected by crystal symmetries — the chiral multifold fermions — that can be understood as a higher-spin generalization of Weyl fermions.This work provides a complete description of all chiral multifold fermions, studying their topological...

This book presents the derivation of the fluctuation theorems with divergent entropy production and their application to fundamental problems in statistical physics. It explores the two basic aspects of the fluctuation theorems: i) Applicability in extreme situations with divergent entropy production, concluding that the fluctuation theorems remain valid under the notion of absolute irreversibility, and ii) utility in the investigation of classical enigmas in the framework of statistical physics, i.e., Gibbs and Loschmidt paradoxes.The book offers readers an overview of the research in...

This book focuses on water content estimation and control of the PEM fuel cell stack and the individual cell in vehicle. Firstly, the mathematical connection between polarization curve and equivalent circuit model proves importance of MEA and its feasibility to study water content. Optimizing structure of MEA realizes the internal water content recirculation of a fuel cell and improves its performance under middle or lower current density. The influence of water content on performance of MEA is quantified, and variation of equivalent circuit model is an excellent indicator of water content....

This book describes a novel machine-learning based approach   to answer some traditional archaeological problems, relating to archaeological site detection and site locational preferences. Institutional data collected from six Swiss regions (Zurich, Aargau, Grisons, Vaud, Geneva and Fribourg) have been analyzed with an original conceptual framework based on the Random Forest algorithm. It is shown how the algorithm can assist in the modelling process in connection with heterogeneous, incomplete archaeological datasets and related cultural heritage information. Moreover, an in-depth review...

​In order to cope with the increased radiation level and the challenging pile-up conditions at High Luminosity-LHC, the CMS collaboration will replace its current calorimeter endcaps with the High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) in the mid 2020s. This dissertation addresses two important topics related to the preparation of the HGCAL upgrade: experimental validation of its silicon- based design and fast simulation of its data.Beam tests at the DESY (Hamburg) and the CERN SPS beam test facilities in 2018 have been the basis for the design validation. The associated experimental...

This thesis presents an in-depth exploration of imperfections that can be found in self-catalysed III-V semiconductor nanowires. By utilising advanced electron microscopy techniques, the interface sharpness and defects at the atomic and macroscopic scale are analysed. It is found that a surprising variety and quantity of defect structures can exist in nanowire systems, and that they can in fact host some never-before-seen defect configurations. To probe how these defects are formed, conditions during nanowire growth can be emulated inside the microscope using the latest generation of in-situ...