Solvothermal synthesis and properties control of doped ZnO nanoparticles

Indium and gallium doped ZnO nanoparticles have been prepared by a hydrothermal reaction in ethanol and methoxyethanol. A comprehensive study of the preparation process, including a thorough investigation by TG-FTIR and TG-MS of the thermal-purification procedure, is presented. Moreover, the effect of thermal conditions and dopant concentration on the structural and optical properties is discussed on the basis of XRD, TEM and UV-vis-NIR results. Reported data indicated that the use of methoxyethanol as a solvent allows an enhanced control of nanoparticle size and favours dopant incorporation into zinc oxide. Near infrared absorption of these materials can be strongly affected by increasing the doping level and upon treating nanoparticles under reducing atmosphere. Preliminary study indicated that this effect is greatly enhanced for gallium-doped zinc oxide.     

Two general methods for the isolation of enzyme activities by colony filter screening

We describe two general methodologies, based on filter-sandwich assays, for isolating enzymatic activities from a large repertoire of protein variants expressed in the cytoplasm of E. coli cells. The enzymes are released by the freezing and thawing of bacterial colonies grown on a porous master filter and diffuse to a second "reaction" filter that closely contacts the master filter. Reaction substrates can be immobilized either on the filter or on the enzyme itself (which is then, in turn, captured on the reaction filter). The resulting products are detected with suitable affinity reagents. We used biotin ligase as a model enzyme to assess the performance of the two methodologies. Active enzymes were released by the bacteria, locally biotinylated the immobilized target substrate peptide, and allowed the sensitive and specific detection of individual catalytically active colonies.     

Review of recent advances in the preparation of organic polymer monoliths for liquid chromatography of large molecules

In recent years the use of monolithic polymers in separation science has greatly increased due to the advantages these materials present over particle-based stationary phases, such as their relative ease of preparation and good permeability. For these reasons, these materials present high potential as stationary phases for the separation and purification of large molecules such as proteins, peptides, nucleic acids and cells. An example of this is the wide range of commercial available polymer-based monolithic columns now present in the market.     

Sul teorema di unicità nella dinamica dei fluidi

Sunto Si dimostra, per le equazioni del moto dei fluidi, un teorema di unicità valido in domini illimitati, senza supporre condizioni di convergenza all’infinito per la velocità. Ad Antonio Signorini nel suo 70^mo compleanno.     

Real points in the fibres of dominant maps defined overR

Letf: X → Y be a dominant map between real algebraic varieties of the same dimension. The object of this paper is the study of the map which sends every pointy ∈ Y to the number of real points inf ⁻¹ (y). We give a sufficient condition ony to ensure that the above map is locally constant iny. Moreover, we consider the subset ofY where this map is no more locally constant and we give the principal properties of this set.

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Sunto Siaf: X → Y un morfismo dominante tra varietà algebriche reali della stessa dimensione. In questo articolo si studia la mappa che associa ad ogni puntoy ∈ Y il numero di punti reali inf ⁻¹ (y); in particolare si dà una condizione sufficiente suy affinchè tale mappa sia costante in un suo intorno. Inoltre, si considera il sottoinsieme diY in cui tale mappa non è più localmente costante e si danno le principali proprietà di tale insieme.

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The work was written while both the authors were members of the G.N.S.A.G.A. of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.     

Ultra‐Small Plutonium Oxide Nanocrystals: An Innovative Material in Plutonium Science

Apart from its technological importance, plutonium (Pu) is also one of the most intriguing elements because of its non‐conventional physical properties and fascinating chemistry. Those fundamental aspects are particularly interesting when dealing with the challenging study of plutonium‐based nanomaterials. Here we show that ultra‐small (3.2±0.9 nm) and highly crystalline plutonium oxide (PuO₂) nanocrystals (NCs) can be synthesized by the thermal decomposition of plutonyl nitrate ([PuO₂(NO₃)₂] ? 3 H₂O) in a highly coordinating organic medium. This is the first example reporting on the preparation of significant quantities (several tens of milligrams) of PuO₂ NCs, in a controllable and reproducible manner. The structure and magnetic properties of PuO₂ NCs have been characterized by a wide variety of techniques (powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD), X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), X‐ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), TEM, IR, Raman, UV/Vis spectroscopies, and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry). The current PuO₂ NCs constitute an innovative material for the study of challenging problems as diverse as the transport behavior of plutonium in the environment or size and shape effects on the physics of transuranium elements.