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Showing papers by "Eindhoven University of Technology published in 2010"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: PEG is the most used polymer and also the gold standard for stealth polymers in the emerging field of polymer-based drug delivery and alternative polymers will be evaluated.
Abstract: Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is the most used polymer and also the gold standard for stealth polymers in the emerging field of polymer-based drug delivery. The properties that account for the overwhelming use of PEG in biomedical applications are outlined in this Review. The first approved PEGylated products have already been on the market for 20 years. A vast amount of clinical experience has since been gained with this polymer--not only benefits, but possible side effects and complications have also been found. The areas that might need consideration and more intensive and careful examination can be divided into the following categories: hypersensitivity, unexpected changes in pharmacokinetic behavior, toxic side products, and an antagonism arising from the easy degradation of the polymer under mechanical stress as a result of its ether structure and its non-biodegradability, as well as the resulting possible accumulation in the body. These possible side effects will be discussed in this Review and alternative polymers will be evaluated.

2,815 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A model describing the mechanisms through which the structure, supramolecular assembly and charge distribution of collagen can control mineralization in the presence of inhibitors of hydroxyapatite nucleation is developed.
Abstract: Bone is a composite material in which collagen fibrils form a scaffold for a highly organized arrangement of uniaxially oriented apatite crystals In the periodic 67 nm cross-striated pattern of the collagen fibril, the less dense 40-nm-long gap zone has been implicated as the place where apatite crystals nucleate from an amorphous phase, and subsequently grow This process is believed to be directed by highly acidic non-collagenous proteins; however, the role of the collagen matrix during bone apatite mineralization remains unknown Here, combining nanometre-scale resolution cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and cryogenic electron tomography with molecular modelling, we show that collagen functions in synergy with inhibitors of hydroxyapatite nucleation to actively control mineralization The positive net charge close to the C-terminal end of the collagen molecules promotes the infiltration of the fibrils with amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) Furthermore, the clusters of charged amino acids, both in gap and overlap regions, form nucleation sites controlling the conversion of ACP into a parallel array of oriented apatite crystals We developed a model describing the mechanisms through which the structure, supramolecular assembly and charge distribution of collagen can control mineralization in the presence of inhibitors of hydroxyapatite nucleation

946 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A newly developed NCS model including all these network phenomena is provided, including communication constraints, to provide an explicit construction of a continuum of Lyapunov functions that guarantee stability of the NCS in the presence of communication constraints.
Abstract: There are many communication imperfections in networked control systems (NCS) such as varying transmission delays, varying sampling/transmission intervals, packet loss, communication constraints and quantization effects. Most of the available literature on NCS focuses on only some of these aspects, while ignoring the others. In this paper we present a general framework that incorporates communication constraints, varying transmission intervals and varying delays. Based on a newly developed NCS model including all these network phenomena, we will provide an explicit construction of a continuum of Lyapunov functions. Based on this continuum of Lyapunov functions we will derive bounds on the maximally allowable transmission interval (MATI) and the maximally allowable delay (MAD) that guarantee stability of the NCS in the presence of communication constraints. The developed theory includes recently improved results for delay-free NCS as a special case. After considering stability, we also study semi-global practical stability (under weaker conditions) and performance of the NCS in terms of Lp gains from disturbance inputs to controlled outputs. The developed results lead to tradeoff curves between MATI, MAD and performance gains that depend on the used protocol. These tradeoff curves provide quantitative information that supports the network designer when selecting appropriate networks and protocols guaranteeing stability and a desirable level of performance, while being robust to specified variations in delays and transmission intervals. The complete design procedure will be illustrated using a benchmark example.

827 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper reviews the state of the art of a particular, yet powerful, method, i.e. computational homogenization, and discusses the main trends since the early developments up to the ongoing contributions and upcoming challenges in the field.

821 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Implementation of the CACC system, the string-stability characteristics of the practical setup, and experimental results are discussed, indicating the advantages of the design over standard adaptive-cruise-control functionality.
Abstract: The design of a cooperative adaptive cruise-control (CACC) system and its practical validation are presented. Focusing on the feasibility of implementation, a decentralized controller design with a limited communication structure is proposed (in this case, a wireless communication link with the nearest preceding vehicle only). A necessary and sufficient frequency-domain condition for string stability is derived, taking into account heterogeneous traffic, i.e., vehicles with possibly different characteristics. For a velocity-dependent intervehicle spacing policy, it is shown that the wireless communication link enables driving at small intervehicle distances, whereas string stability is guaranteed. For a constant velocity-independent intervehicle spacing, string stability cannot be guaranteed. To validate the theoretical results, experiments are performed with two CACC-equipped vehicles. Implementation of the CACC system, the string-stability characteristics of the practical setup, and experimental results are discussed, indicating the advantages of the design over standard adaptive-cruise-control functionality.

779 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that a model based on electron-phonon-mediated spin-flip scattering explains both timescales on equal footing and concludes that the ultrafast magnetization dynamics can be well described disregarding highly excited electronic states, merely considering the thermalized electron system.
Abstract: Demagnetization in metals occurs on very different timescales depending on the material. It is now shown that electron–phonon-mediated spin scattering describes the process of demagnetization well in every case, and the differences in timescale are mainly determined by the ratio between Curie temperature and the atomic magnetic moment.

773 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Three approaches for making the naive Bayes classifier discrimination-free are presented: modifying the probability of the decision being positive, training one model for every sensitive attribute value and balancing them, and adding a latent variable to the Bayesian model that represents the unbiased label and optimizing the model parameters for likelihood using expectation maximization.
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate how to modify the naive Bayes classifier in order to perform classification that is restricted to be independent with respect to a given sensitive attribute. Such independency restrictions occur naturally when the decision process leading to the labels in the data-set was biased; e.g., due to gender or racial discrimination. This setting is motivated by many cases in which there exist laws that disallow a decision that is partly based on discrimination. Naive application of machine learning techniques would result in huge fines for companies. We present three approaches for making the naive Bayes classifier discrimination-free: (i) modifying the probability of the decision being positive, (ii) training one model for every sensitive attribute value and balancing them, and (iii) adding a latent variable to the Bayesian model that represents the unbiased label and optimizing the model parameters for likelihood using expectation maximization. We present experiments for the three approaches on both artificial and real-life data.

750 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper analyzes existing research on relationships between model structure on the one hand and error probability and understanding and proposes a set of seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG), which builds on strong empirical insights, yet they are formulated to be intuitive to practitioners.
Abstract: Business process modeling is heavily applied in practice, but important quality issues have not been addressed thoroughly by research A notorious problem is the low level of modeling competence that many casual modelers in process documentation projects have Existing approaches towards model quality might be of benefit, but they suffer from at least one of the following problems On the one hand, frameworks like SEQUAL and the Guidelines of Modeling are too abstract to be applicable for novices and non-experts in practice On the other hand, there are collections of pragmatic hints that lack a sound research foundation In this paper, we analyze existing research on relationships between model structure on the one hand and error probability and understanding on the other hand As a synthesis we propose a set of seven process modeling guidelines (7PMG) Each of these guidelines builds on strong empirical insights, yet they are formulated to be intuitive to practitioners Furthermore, we analyze how the guidelines are prioritized by industry experts In this regard, the seven guidelines have the potential to serve as an important tool of knowledge transfer from academia into modeling practice

661 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The typical power requirements of some current portable devices, including a body sensor network, are shown in Figure 1.
Abstract: Wireless sensor nodes (WSNs) are employed today in many different application areas, ranging from health and lifestyle to automotive, smart building, predictive maintenance (e.g., of machines and infrastructure), and active RFID tags. Currently these devices have limited lifetimes, however, since they require significant operating power. The typical power requirements of some current portable devices, including a body sensor network, are shown in Figure 1.

611 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the surface-induced formation of apatite from simulated body fluid starts with the aggregation of prenucleation clusters leading to the nucleation of ACP before the development of oriented apatITE crystals.
Abstract: Unravelling the processes of calcium phosphate formation is important in our understanding of both bone and tooth formation, and also of pathological mineralization, for example in cardiovascular disease. Serum is a metastable solution from which calcium phosphate precipitates in the presence of calcifiable templates such as collagen, elastin and cell debris. A pathological deficiency of inhibitors leads to the uncontrolled deposition of calcium phosphate. In bone and teeth the formation of apatite crystals is preceded by an amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) precursor phase. ACP formation is thought to proceed through prenucleation clusters--stable clusters that are present in solution already before nucleation--as was recently demonstrated for CaCO(3) (refs 15,16). However, the role of such nanometre-sized clusters as building blocks for ACP has been debated for many years. Here we demonstrate that the surface-induced formation of apatite from simulated body fluid starts with the aggregation of prenucleation clusters leading to the nucleation of ACP before the development of oriented apatite crystals.

609 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
23 Dec 2010-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, a spin-orbit quantum bit (qubit) is implemented in an indium arsenide nanowire, where the spinorbit interaction is so strong that spin and motion can no longer be separated.
Abstract: Motion of electrons can influence their spins through a fundamental effect called spin–orbit interaction This interaction provides a way to control spins electrically and thus lies at the foundation of spintronics Even at the level of single electrons, the spin–orbit interaction has proven promising for coherent spin rotations Here we implement a spin–orbit quantum bit (qubit) in an indium arsenide nanowire, where the spin–orbit interaction is so strong that spin and motion can no longer be separated In this regime, we realize fast qubit rotations and universal single-qubit control using only electric fields; the qubits are hosted in single-electron quantum dots that are individually addressable We enhance coherence by dynamically decoupling the qubits from the environment Nanowires offer various advantages for quantum computing: they can serve as one-dimensional templates for scalable qubit registers, and it is possible to vary the material even during wire growth Such flexibility can be used to design wires with suppressed decoherence and to push semiconductor qubit fidelities towards error correction levels Furthermore, electrical dots can be integrated with optical dots in p–n junction nanowires The coherence times achieved here are sufficient for the conversion of an electronic qubit into a photon, which can serve as a flying qubit for long-distance quantum communication

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether the prejudiced attitudes of teachers relate to their expectations and the academic achievement of their students and found that the implicit measure of teacher prejudiced attitude, however, was found to explain differing ethnic achievement gap sizes across classrooms via teacher expectations.
Abstract: Ethnic minority students are at risk for school failure and show a heightened susceptibility to negative teacher expectancy effects. In the present study, whether the prejudiced attitudes of teachers relate to their expectations and the academic achievement of their students is examined. The prejudiced attitudes of 41 elementary school teachers were assessed via self-report and an Implicit Association Test. Teacher expectations and achievement scores for 434 students were obtained. Multilevel analyses showed no relations with the self-report measure of prejudiced attitudes. The implicit measure of teacher prejudiced attitudes, however, was found to explain differing ethnic achievement gap sizes across classrooms via teacher expectations. The results of this study also suggest that the use of implicit attitude measures may be important in educational research.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A detailed theoretical analysis of the factors that control reaction paths and corresponding potentialenergy surfaces of surface reactions will provide interesting new insights into the intricate relationship between the chemical bonding features, structure, and energies of transition states.
Abstract: The exponential increase in computational processor speed, the development of novel computational architectures, together with the tremendous advances in ab initio theoretical methods that have emerged over the past two decades have led to unprecedented advances in our ability to probe the fundamental chemistry that occurs on complex catalytic surfaces. In particular, advances in density functional theory (DFT) have made it possible to elucidate the elementary steps and mechanisms in surface-catalyzed processes that would be difficult to explore experimentally. The advanced state of plane wave DFT has made it possible to rapidly examine systematic changes to the metal or the reactant in order to establish structure-property relationships. As a result, extensive data based on the energetics for various different surface-catalyzed reactions has been generated. This invites a detailed theoretical analysis of the factors that control reaction paths and corresponding potentialenergy surfaces of surface reactions. Such a theoretical analysis will not only provide interesting new insights into the intricate relationship between the chemical bonding features, structure, and energies of transition states but also serve as a basis for the development of analytical expressions that relate transitionstate properties to more easily accessible thermodynamic properties. The Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relationship is one such example which has been widely applied in the analysis of surface elementary reaction steps.1-8 δEact )RδEr (1)

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the changing effect of physical distance and territorial borders on the intensity of research collaboration across European regions and found that the bias to collaborate with physically proximate partners did not decrease, while the bias towards collaboration within territorial borders did decrease over time.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the available literature on human behaviour in a fire so far as building safety is concerned is presented as an overview of the critical factors which determine occupants' fire response performances, namely the characteristics of fire, human beings and buildings.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It was found that for a rapid and unambiguous determination of the self-assembly mechanism and its thermodynamic parameters, temperature-dependent measurements are more appropriate.
Abstract: To study the supramolecular polymerisation mechanisms of a self-assembling system, concentration- and temperature-dependent measurements can both be used to probe the transition from the molecular dissolved state to the aggregated state. In this report, both methods are evaluated to determine their effectiveness in identifying and quantifying the self-assembly mechanism for isodesmic and cooperative self-assembling systems. It was found that for a rapid and unambiguous determination of the self-assembly mechanism and its thermodynamic parameters, temperature-dependent measurements are more appropriate. These studies allow the acquisition of a large data set leading to an accurate determination of the self-assembly mechanism and quantification of the different thermodynamic parameters that describe the supramolecular polymerisation. For a comprehensive characterisation, additional concentration-dependent measurements can be performed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used path analysis to further elucidate the relationship between personal (gender and seasonality of mood shifts), building (view type, view quality, window distance, and social density), and perceived environmental conditions (light quality, and office impression) and physical and psychological discomfort, sleep quality and environmental utility.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed global model of atmospheric pressure He + H2O plasmas is presented, which incorporates 46 species and 577 reactions, based on simulation results obtained with this comprehensive model, the main species and reactions are identified, and simplified models capable of capturing the main physicochemical processes in He+H2O discharges are suggested.
Abstract: A detailed global model of atmospheric-pressure He + H2O plasmas is presented in this paper. The model incorporates 46 species and 577 reactions. Based on simulation results obtained with this comprehensive model, the main species and reactions are identified, and simplified models capable of capturing the main physicochemical processes in He + H2O discharges are suggested. The accuracy of the simplified models is quantified and assessed for changes in water concentration, input power and electrode configuration. Simplified models can reduce the number of reactions by a factor of similar to 10 while providing results that are within a factor of two of the detailed model. The simulation results indicate that Penning processes are the main ionization mechanism in this kind of discharge (1-3000 ppm of water), and water clusters of growing size are found to be the dominant charged species when the water concentration is above similar to 100 ppm. Simulation results also predict a growing electronegative character of the discharge with increasing water concentration. The use of He + H2O discharges for the generation of reactive oxygen species of interest in biomedical applications and the green production of hydrogen peroxide are also discussed. Although it would be unrealistic to draw conclusions regarding the efficacy of these processes from a zero-dimensional global model, the results indicate the potential suitability of He + H2O plasmas for these two applications.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a single 7.5μm-diameter microdisk laser coupled to a silicon-on-insulator wire waveguide can work as an all-optical flip-flop memory.
Abstract: Ultra-small, low-power, all-optical switching and memory elements, such as all-optical flip-flops, as well as photonic integrated circuits of many such elements, are in great demand for all-optical signal buffering, switching and processing. Silicon-on-insulator is considered to be a promising platform to accommodate such photonic circuits in large-scale configurations. Through heterogeneous integration of InP membranes onto silicon-on-insulator, a single microdisk laser with a diameter of 7.5 µm, coupled to a silicon-on-insulator wire waveguide, is demonstrated here as an all-optical flip-flop working in a continuous-wave regime with an electrical power consumption of a few milliwatts, allowing switching in 60 ps with 1.8 fJ optical energy. The total power consumption and the device size are, to the best of our knowledge, the smallest reported to date at telecom wavelengths. This is also the only electrically pumped, all-optical flip-flop on silicon built upon complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology. Scientists demonstrate that a single 7.5-μm-diameter microdisk laser coupled to a silicon-on-insulator wire waveguide can work as an all-optical flip-flop memory. Under a continuous bias of 3.5 mA, flip-flop operation is demonstrated using optical triggering pulses of 1.8 fJ and with a switching time of 60 ps. This device is attractive for on-chip all-optical signal buffering, switching, and processing.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new easily accessible, high molecular weight, alternating dithieno-diketopyrrolopyrroophenylene copolymer provides high electron and hole mobilities exceeding 0.02 cm2 V-1 s-1 in FETs and AM1 and 4.5 power conversion efficiencies when combined with PCBM and PCBM.
Abstract: A new easily accessible, high molecular weight, alternating dithieno-diketopyrrolopyrrolophenylene copolymer provides high electron and hole mobilities exceeding 0.02 cm2 V-1 s-1 in FETs and AM1.5 power conversion efficiencies of 4.6% and 5.5% in solar cells when combined with [60]PCBM and [70]PCBM. The performance of the solar cells strongly depends on the use of a processing agent.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed sustainability transitions in the electricity system, using recent theories on socio-technical pathways, and suggested three possible transition pathways and indicated the implications for (grid) infrastructures, which are characterized by a further hybridization of the infrastructure; in the reconfiguration pathway, internationalisation and scale increase in renewable generation lead to the emergence of a supergrid.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The coupled CFD modelling approach and grid generation procedure presented in this paper can be used similarly for future studies of wind flow and related processes in complex urban environments.
Abstract: Wind flow in urban environments is an important factor governing the dispersion of heat and pollutants from streets, squares and buildings. This paper presents a coupled CFD modelling approach for urban wind flow and indoor natural ventilation. A specific procedure is used to efficiently and simultaneously generate the geometry and the high-resolution body-fitted grid for both the outdoor and indoor environment. This procedure allows modelling complex geometries with full control over grid quality and grid resolution, contrary to standard semi-automatic unstructured grid generation procedures. It also provides a way to easily implement various changes in the model geometry and grid for parametric studies. As a case study, a parametric analysis of natural ventilation is performed for the geometrically complex Amsterdam ArenA stadium in the Netherlands. The turbulent wind flow and temperature distribution around and inside the stadium are solved with the 3D steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. Special attention is given to CFD solution verification and validation. It is shown that small geometrical modifications can increase the ventilation rate by up to 43%. The coupled modelling approach and grid generation procedure presented in this paper can be used similarly for future studies of wind flow and related processes in complex urban environments.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The two-step process mining approach, implemented in the context of ProM, overcomes many of the limitations of traditional approaches and enables the user to control the balance between “overfitting” and “underfitting’.
Abstract: Process mining includes the automated discovery of processes from event logs. Based on observed events (e.g., activities being executed or messages being exchanged) a process model is constructed. One of the essential problems in process mining is that one cannot assume to have seen all possible behavior. At best, one has seen a representative subset. Therefore, classical synthesis techniques are not suitable as they aim at finding a model that is able to exactly reproduce the log. Existing process mining techniques try to avoid such “overfitting” by generalizing the model to allow for more behavior. This generalization is often driven by the representation language and very crude assumptions about completeness. As a result, parts of the model are “overfitting” (allow only for what has actually been observed) while other parts may be “underfitting” (allow for much more behavior without strong support for it). None of the existing techniques enables the user to control the balance between “overfitting” and “underfitting”. To address this, we propose a two-step approach. First, using a configurable approach, a transition system is constructed. Then, using the “theory of regions”, the model is synthesized. The approach has been implemented in the context of ProM and overcomes many of the limitations of traditional approaches.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This critical review looks at how the functionalization of solid substrates by self-assembly processes provides the possibility to tailor their surface properties in a controllable fashion.
Abstract: In this critical review, we look at how the functionalization of solid substrates by self-assembly processes provides the possibility to tailor their surface properties in a controllable fashion. One class of molecules, which attracted significant attention during the past decades, are silanes self-assembled on hydroxyl terminated substrates, e.g. silicon and glass. These systems are physically and chemically robust and can be applied in various fields of technology, e.g., electronics, sensors, and others. The introduction of chemical functionalities in such monolayers can be generally obtained via two methods. This involves either the use of pre-functionalized molecules, which can be synthesized by different synthetic routes and subsequent self-assembly of these moieties on the surface. The second method utilizes chemical surface reactions for the modification of the monolayer. The latter method offers the possibility to apply a large variety of different organic reaction pathways on surfaces, which allows the introduction of a wide range of terminal end groups on well-defined base monolayers. In contrast to the first approach an important advantage is that the optimization of the reaction conditions for suitable precursor molecules is circumvented. The following review highlights a selection of chemical surface reactions, i.e., nucleophilic substitution, click chemistry and supramolecular modification, which have been used for the functionalization of solid substrates (80 references).

Proceedings ArticleDOI
13 Dec 2010
TL;DR: Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed approach advances the state-of-the-art in the sense that the learned decision trees have a lower discrimination than models provided by previous methods, with little loss in accuracy.
Abstract: Recently, the following discrimination aware classification problem was introduced: given a labeled dataset and an attribute B, find a classifier with high predictive accuracy that at the same time does not discriminate on the basis of the given attribute B. This problem is motivated by the fact that often available historic data is biased due to discrimination, e.g., when B denotes ethnicity. Using the standard learners on this data may lead to wrongfully biased classifiers, even if the attribute B is removed from training data. Existing solutions for this problem consist in “cleaning away” the discrimination from the dataset before a classifier is learned. In this paper we study an alternative approach in which the non-discrimination constraint is pushed deeply into a decision tree learner by changing its splitting criterion and pruning strategy. Experimental evaluation shows that the proposed approach advances the state-of-the-art in the sense that the learned decision trees have a lower discrimination than models provided by previous methods, with little loss in accuracy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A discrete-time model for networked control systems (NCSs) that incorporates all network phenomena: time-varying sampling intervals, packet dropouts and time- varying delays that may be both smaller and larger than the sampling interval is presented.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors used the theory of instrumental orchestration as the main interpretative framework to investigate which types of orchestrations teachers develop when using technology and to what extent these are related to teachers' views on mathematics education and the role of technology therein.
Abstract: The availability of technology in the mathematics classroom challenges the way teachers orchestrate student learning. Using the theory of instrumental orchestration as the main interpretative framework, this study investigates which types of orchestrations teachers develop when using technology and to what extent these are related to teachers’ views on mathematics education and the role of technology therein. Data consisted of videotapes of 38 lessons taught by three teachers, who also provided information on their views through questionnaires and interviews. Qualitative analysis of these data led to the identification of orchestration types and teacher profiles. The orchestration preferences of the three teachers proved to be related to their views. A detailed analysis of one exemplary episode suggests how other theoretical perspectives might complement the theory of instrumental orchestration.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a comprehensive study into the deactivation of a cobalt catalyst under realistic Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) conditions was performed and the following intrinsic deactivation mechanisms were identified: sintering of Co active phase, carbon deposition and surface reconstruction.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This implies a revolutionary breakthrough in industrial throughput ALD of Al2O3 passivation of silicon solar cells with spatially separated ALD growth rates of 1.2 nm s-1, showing excellent surface passivation.
Abstract: In this Communication we show that with spatially separated ALD of Al2O3 growth rates of 1.2 nm s-1 can be achievd, showing excellent surface passivation (surface recombination velocities of <2 cm s-1). This implies a revolutionary breakthrough in industrial throughput ALD of Al2O3 passivation of silicon solar cells.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This tutorial review focuses on the possibilities of the marriage of synthetic supramolecular architectures and biological systems, and highlights that synthetic supramsolecular elements are for example ideal platforms for the recognition and modulation of proteins and cells.
Abstract: Supramolecular chemistry has primarily found its inspiration in biological molecules, such as proteins and lipids, and their interactions. Currently the supramolecular assembly of designed compounds can be controlled to great extent. This provides the opportunity to combine these synthetic supramolecular elements with biomolecules for the study of biological phenomena. This tutorial review focuses on the possibilities of the marriage of synthetic supramolecular architectures and biological systems. It highlights that synthetic supramolecular elements are for example ideal platforms for the recognition and modulation of proteins and cells. The unique features of synthetic supramolecular systems with control over size, shape, valency, and interaction strength allow the generation of structures fitting the demands to approach the biological problems at hand. Supramolecular chemistry has come full circle, studying the biology and its molecules which initially inspired its conception.