Spatially correlated charge transport in organic thin film transistors

Hole mobility in organic ultrathin film field-effect transistors is studied as a function of the coverage. For layered sexithienyl films, the charge carrier mobility rapidly increases with increasing coverage and saturates at a coverage of about two monolayers. This shows that the first two molecular layers next to the dielectric interface dominate the charge transport. A quantitative analysis of spatial correlations shows that the second layer is crucial, as it provides efficient percolation pathways for carriers generated in both the first and the second layers. The upper layers do not actively contribute either because their domains are smaller than the ones in the second layer or because the carrier density is negligible.     

Microorganic pollutants in the outskirts of Rome

A short field campaign was performed in the outskirts of Rome at four sites located pretty along the four rose wind directions to city centre. Both chlorinated (PCB and PCDD/F) and non-chlorinated (n-alkanes, PAH, nitrated-PAH, n-alkanoic acids) organic micropollutants were investigated for their contents in the atmosphere. Concentrations reached by these pollutants in the outskirts were compared to those found in downtown Rome, both inside and outside of its largest city garden. Although concentrations of organic pollutants found in the outskirts were quite low, however they seemed enough high to induce some health risk in humans. Rural sites were less affected than industrial and waste disposal/treatment areas.     

Molecular switch triggered by solvent polarity: synthesis,Acid-base behavior,alkali metal ion complexation,and crystal structure

The synthesis and characterization of the new tetraazamacrocycle L, bearing two 1,1'-bis(2-phenol) groups as side-arms, is reported. The basicity behavior and the binding properties of L toward alkali metal ions were determined by means of potentiometric measurements in ethanol/water 50:50 (v/v) solution (298.1+/-0.1 K, I=0.15 mol dm(-3)). The anionic H(-1)L(-) species can be obtained in strong alkaline solution, indicating that not all of the acidic protons of L can be removed under the experimental conditions used. This species behaves as a tetraprotic base (log K(1)=11.22, log K(2)=9.45, log K(3)=7.07, log K(4)=5.08), and binds alkali metal ions to form neutral [MH(-1)L] complexes with the following stability constants: log K(Li)=3.92, log K(Na)=3.54, log K(K)=3.29, log K(Cs)=3.53. The arrangement of the acidic protons in the H(-1)L(-) species depends on the polarity of the solvents used, and at least one proton switches from the amine moiety to the aromatic part upon decreasing the polarity of the solvent. In this way two different binding areas, modulated by the polarity of solvents, are possible in L. One area is preferred by alkali metal ions in polar solvents, the second one is preferred in solvents with low polarity. Thus, the metal ion can switch from one location to the other in the ligand, modulated by the polarity of the environment. A strong hydrogen-bonding network should preorganize the ligand for coordination, as confirmed by MD simulations. The crystal structure of the [Na(H(-1)L)].CH(3)CN complex (space group P2(1)/c, a=12.805(1), b=20.205(3), c=14.170(2) A, beta=100.77(1) degrees, V=3601.6(8) A(3), Z=4, R=0.0430, wR2=0.1181), obtained using CH(2)Cl(2)/CH(3)CN as mixed solvent, supports this last aspect and shows one of the proposed binding areas.     

Concise and stereocontrolled synthesis of pseudo-C2-symmetric diamino alcohols and triamines for use in HIV protease inhibitors

A new protocol is described for the stereocontrolled synthesis of pseudo-C(2)-symmetric core units of interest as candidates for HIV protease inhibition. Addition of unbranched and branched organolithium reagents to cyanohydrins from l-phenylalaninal and l-isoleucinal, followed by in situ reduction of the intermediate imines and CHT deprotection under MW irradiation, led to 1,3-diamino alcohols 6a and 8a as the major products in satisfactory to good yields. The first preparation of a previously unreported pseudo-C(2)-symmetric triamino derivative was accomplished expeditiously via high-yielding nitro-Mannich addition of the silylnitronate, from 2-phenyl-1-nitroethane, to the PMP imine derived from l-phenylalaninal. Reduction of the nitro group in the moderately unstable nitro diamine adduct, followed by chromatographic separation of the required diastereoisomer and CHT debenzylation under MW irradiation, led to the 2-PMP-protected triamine 19 isolated as a bis(sulfonamide).     

Blocking Sets of Type (1, k) in a Finite Projective Plane

Following a previous work of Tallini (J. Geom. (1987), 191–199), we investigate the arithmetical properties of a blocking set in a finite projective plane which is met by any line in either 1 or k points, for a fixed number k. The results are then used to give some characterizations of blocking sets of this type which are preserved by a large collineation group of the plane.     

M-Band Burt–Adelson Biorthogonal Wavelets

For every integer M>2 we introduce a new family of biorthogonal MRAs with dilation factor M, generated by symmetric scaling functions with small support. This construction generalizes Burt–Adelson biorthogonal 2-band wavelets. For M{3,4} we are able to find simple explicit expressions for two different families of wavelets associated with these MRAs: one with better localization and the other with interesting symmetry–antisymmetry properties. We study the regularity of our scaling functions by determining their Sobolev exponent, for every value of the parameter and every M. We also study the critical exponent when M=3.     

Evaluating and managing the sustainability of investments in green and sustainable chemistry: An overview of sustainable finance approaches and tools

Green chemistry (GC) was developed to maximise resource efficiency and minimise hazards in chemical processes and products. Over time, the approach evolved into green and sustainable chemistry (GSC), which aims at promoting the development of an ecologically friendly society. GSC encourages society's reliance on sustainable materials and technologies/processes and supports the ambitious sustainability targets set by international organisations. It also steers public attention to the provision of sustainable solutions for producers, consumers and investors. Since GSC implementation requires significant financial investment, this paper describes a broad range of approaches and tools to assess the sustainability of potential investments and shows, although with a primary focus on environmental sustainability, how life cycle approaches could be used to define enhanced key performance indicators. Thus, the paper may serve as a useful reference for: (i) chemical companies interested in evaluating the sustainability performance of activities requiring financial investment, and (ii) investors interested in evaluating the sustainability of potential financial investments.     

On the compatibility conditions in a curved membrane

Summary Compatibility conditions for a membrane taking on the shape of a surface with given non-constant Gaussian curvature K are deduced. The system for the unknown displacement in general coordinates is integrated, by making use of the non-holonomic basis formed by the unit vectors tangent to the lines K=const. and to the associated orthogonal trajectories. This method unifies the discussion for rotation surfaces, geodesically parallel surfaces and general surfaces. In particular it is proved that, in the case of geodesically parallel surfaces, the integrability conditions reduce to two and involve explicitly the strain and its derivatives up to the third and fifth order respectively.

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Sommario Vengono dedotte le condizioni di congruenza per una membrana tesa su una superficie a curvatura gaussiana assegnata non costante. Il procedimento utilizzato consente di integrare il sistema nello spostamento in un generico sistema di coordinate, usando la base anolonoma costituita dai versori delle linee di ugual curvatura e delle traiettorie ortogonali. Tale metodo unifica la discussione per le superficie di rotazione, le superficie geodeticamente parallele e le superficie generali. In particolare nel caso di superficie geodeticamente parallel vengono stabilite due sole condizioni di integrabilità nel tensore di deformazione, una alle derivate terze ed una alle derivate quinte.

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This work has been realized within the activities of the Italian Council for the Research (C.N.R.), Gruppo Nazionale per la Fisica Matematica (GNFM).     

On the energy method in the non-linear theory of thin plates

Summary The equilibrium configuration of a thin plate under normal pressure is studied. A variational non-linear treatment of the problem is considered, taking into account the bending stresses and allowing large deflections.Existence, uniqueness, and regularity of solutions are obtained.

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Sommario Si studia il problema non lineare della configurazione di equilibrio di una piastra sottile caricata normalmente nel suo piano medio, tenendo conto delle tensioni di natura flessionale e in un regime di spostamenti moderatamente grandi.Con una tecnica variazionale si studiano l'esistenza, l'unicità, e la regolarità delle soluzioni del problema.

     

The Differential System Method for the Identification of Transmissivity and Storativity

The differential system (DS) method for the identification of transmissivity and storativity is applied to a confined isotropic aquifer in transient conditions. The data that are required for the identification are the piezometric heads and the source terms, together with the value of transmissivity at a single point only, which is the only parameter value needed a priori. In particular, no a priori knowledge of storativity is needed and, moreover, the identification of transmissivity does not depend upon storativity. The DS method yields the internode transmissivities necessary for the conservative finite differences models in a natural way, because it identifies transmissivities along the internodal segments, so that a well-known formula can be applied that bypasses the difficulty of finding an equivalent cell transmissivity and an averaging scheme. In addition, the DS method takes into account several different flows all over the aquifer, so that the identified parameters are to a certain degree global andflow independent. Moreover, the method allows for a piecemeal identification of the parameters, thus keeping away from the regions where wells are pumping so that a two-dimensional model can be used throughout. We test the applicability of the DS method with noisy data by means of numerical synthetic examples and compare the identified internode transmissivities with the reference values. We use the identified parameters to forecast the behaviour of the aquifer under different exploitation and boundary conditions and we compare the forecast piezometric heads, their gradients and the associated fluxes with those computed with the reference parameters.