Driving Organic Nanocrystals Dissolution Through Electrochemistry

We have recently discussed how organic nanocrystal dissolution appears in different morphologies and the role of the solution pH in the crystal detriment process. We also highlighted the role of the local molecular chemistry in porphyrin nanocrystals having comparable structures: in water-based acid solutions, protonation of free-base porphyrin molecules is the driving force for crystal dissolution, whereas metal (Zn^II) porphyrin nanocrystals remain unperturbed. However, all porphyrin types, having an electron rich π-structure, can be electrochemically oxidized. In this scenario, a key question is: does electrochemistry represent a viable strategy to drive the dissolution of both free-base and metal porphyrin nanocrystals? In this work, by exploiting electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM), we monitor in situ and in real time the dissolution of both free-base and metal porphyrin nanocrystals, as soon as molecules reach the oxidation potential, showing different regimes according to the applied EC potential.     

Factor probabilistic distance clustering (FPDC): a new clustering method

Factor clustering methods have been developed in recent years thanks to improvements in computational power. These methods perform a linear transformation of data and a clustering of the transformed data, optimizing a common criterion. Probabilistic distance (PD)-clustering is an iterative, distribution free, probabilistic clustering method. Factor PD-clustering (FPDC) is based on PD-clustering and involves a linear transformation of the original variables into a reduced number of orthogonal ones using a common criterion with PD-clustering. This paper demonstrates that Tucker3 decomposition can be used to accomplish this transformation. Factor PD-clustering alternatingly exploits Tucker3 decomposition and PD-clustering on transformed data until convergence is achieved. This method can significantly improve the PD-clustering algorithm performance; large data sets can thus be partitioned into clusters with increasing stability and robustness of the results. Real and simulated data sets are used to compare FPDC with its main competitors, where it performs equally well when clusters are elliptically shaped but outperforms its competitors with non-Gaussian shaped clusters or noisy data.     

A multi-technique nondestructive approach for characterizing the state of conservation of ancient bookbindings

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The aim of this work is to evaluate the potentiality of a multi-technique nondestructive approach for characterizing the state of conservation of...     

A simple proof of the linear instability of rotating liquid drops

We give a simplified proof of the linear instability of equilibrium figures of rotating liquid based on energy estimates.      

Experimental results on neutrino-electron scattering

A determination of sin² θ _w based on measurements of elastic scattering of muon-neutrinos and muon-anti-neutrinos on atomic electrons is described. These purely leptonic processes were studied using the CHARM calorimeter exposed to neutrino and antineutrino wide-band beams at the CERN super proton synchrotron. A total of 83±16 neutrino-electron and 112±21 antineutrino-electron events have been detected. From the measurement of the ratio of muon-neutrino and muon-antineutrino cross-sections a value of sin² θ _w =0.211±0.037 was obtained.     

The additive multiboxes

We introduce the new notion of additive “multibox” for linear logic proof-nets. Thanks to this notion, we define a cut-elimination procedure which associates with every proof-net of multiplicative and additive linear logic a unique cut-free one.     

Transport properties of organic vapors in nanocomposites of isotactic polypropylene

Isotactic polypropylene nanocomposites were obtained by the melt blending of polypropylene‐graft‐maleic anhydride and organophilic layered silicate (OLS) consisting of synthetic fluorohectorite modified by cation exchange with protonated octadecylamine. The composition of the inorganic clay was varied between 2.5 and 10 wt %, and films of the composites were obtained via hot‐press molding. X‐ray analysis showed that nanocomposites in which silicate layers were either delaminated or ordered as in an intercalated structure were obtained. The elastic modulus of the samples was higher than that of the pure polymer over a wide temperature range and increased with increasing inorganic content. The transport properties, sorption and diffusion, were measured for two organic vapors, dichloromethane and n‐pentane. For both vapors, the sorption was not very different from that of the pure polymer, whereas the zero‐concentration diffusion parameter strongly decreased with increasing OLS content. Therefore, the permeability, that is, the product of sorption and diffusion, decreased for both vapors as a result of the decreased value of the diffusion parameter. The decrease was higher for the less interacting n‐pentane. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1798–1805, 2003     

Caprine herpesvirus 1 (CpHV-1) vaginal infection of goats: clinical efficacy of fig latex

Clinical score (A) and viral shedding (B) in goats vaginally infected with CpHV-1 and treated with fig latex (goats A, B, C). Goat D was left untreated.