Synthesis and structural,magnetic and electrochemical characterization of PtCo nanoparticles prepared by water-in-oil microemulsion

PtCo nanoparticles with homogeneous size (around 3–4 nm) have been synthesized in a water-in-oil microemulsion of water/polyethylenglycol–dodecylether (BRIJ^®30)/n-heptane. X-ray diffraction study revealed the formation of a cubic phase with a gradual decrease of the cell parameter with increasing cobalt incorporation in the crystalline lattice of platinum. In relation to their magnetic properties, the PtCo nanoparticles present a superparamagnetic behaviour even after annealing, although higher permeability was induced by the thermal treatment. Finally, the electrocatalytic activity of the particles towards oxalic acid oxidation in H₂SO₄ was evaluated. The Pt74Co26 nanoparticles showed the highest reactivity for this reaction.     

α-Synuclein overexpression increases dopamine toxicity in BE(2)-M17 cells

Background  

Oxidative stress has been proposed to be involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). A plausible source of oxidative stress in nigral dopaminergic neurons is the redox reactions that specifically involve dopamine and produce various toxic molecules, i.e., free radicals and quinone species. α-Synuclein, a protein found in Lewy bodies characteristic of PD, is also thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of PD and point mutations and multiplications in the gene coding for α-synuclein have been found in familial forms of PD.     

Influence of the substituent on selective photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic compounds in aqueous TiO2 suspensions

Experimental results are reported showing that the photocatalytic oxidation of aromatic compounds containing an electron-donor group (EDG) gives rise mainly to ortho- and para-monohydroxy derivatives while in the presence of an electron-withdrawing group (EWG) all the monohydroxy derivatives are obtained.     

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy and VP‐SEM/EDS applied to the identification of mineral particles and fibres in histological sections

Histological sections of a patient affected by an important respiratory disease were analysed firstly by optical microscope(OM)—crossed polarisers—to identify the presence of incorporated inorganic particles, with particular attention to the fibrous ones. Then, the particles/fibres that were found were studied both with micro‐Raman spectroscopy and variable‐pressure scanning electron microscopy with energy‐dispersive spectroscopy (VP‐SEM/EDS). The two techniques allowed the in situ characterisation of the inorganic phases without disintegration of the organic matter. Micro‐Raman spectroscopy was able to identify the vibrating chemical groups of the mineral phase associated with the inorganic grain while the crystalline structure was preserved by the biological system. The VP‐SEM/EDS characterisation, defining the elemental chemical composition of the analysed particle/fibre, allowed confirmation of the mineral phase deducible from spectroscopic data or its identification with certainty when the spectroscopic data were not exhaustive. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On an Elliptical Trust-Region Procedure for Ill-Posed Nonlinear Least-Squares Problems

In this paper, we address the stable numerical solution of ill-posed nonlinear least-squares problems with small residual. We propose an elliptical trust-region reformulation of a Levenberg–Marquardt procedure. Thanks to an appropriate choice of the trust-region radius, the proposed procedure guarantees an automatic choice of the free regularization parameters that, together with a suitable stopping criterion, ensures regularizing properties to the method. Specifically, the proposed procedure generates a sequence that even in case of noisy data has the potential to approach a solution of the unperturbed problem. The case of constrained problems is considered, too. The effectiveness of the procedure is shown on several examples of ill-posed least-squares problems.     

Reconstruction of Thin Conductivity Imperfections

We consider the case of a uniform plane conductor containing a thin curve-like inhomogeneity of finite conductivity. In this article we prove that the imperfection can be uniquely determined from the boundary measurements of the first order correction term in the asymptotic expansion of the steady state voltage potential as the thickness goes to zero.     

ECO:a methodology for the enumeration of combinatorial objects

In this Paper, we illustrate a method (called the ECO method) for enumerating some classes of combinatorial objects. The basic idea of this method is the following: by means of an operator that performs a "local expansion" on the objects, we give some recursive constructions of these classes. We use these constructions to deduce some new funtional equations verified by classes' generating functions. By solving the functional equations, we enumerate the combinatorial objects according to various parameters. We show some applications of the method referring to some classical combinatorial objects, such as: trees, paths, polyminoes and permutations     

A marching-on in time meshless kernel based solver for full-wave electromagnetic simulation

A meshless particle method based on an unconditionally stable time domain numerical scheme, oriented to electromagnetic transient simulations, is presented. The proposed scheme improves the smoothed particle electromagnetics method, already developed by the authors. The time stepping is approached by using the alternating directions implicit finite difference scheme, in a leapfrog way. The proposed formulation is used in order to efficiently overcome the stability relation constraint of explicit schemes. In fact, due to this constraint, large time steps cannot be used with small space steps and vice-versa. The same stability relation holds when the meshless formulation is applied together with an explicit finite difference scheme accounted for the time stepping. The computational tool is assessed and first simulation results are compared and discussed in order to validate the proposed approach.     

Existence analysis for a simplified transient energy‐transport model for semiconductors

A simplified transient energy‐transport system for semiconductors subject to mixed Dirichlet–Neumann boundary conditions is analyzed. The model is formally derived from the non‐isothermal hydrodynamic equations in a particular vanishing momentum relaxation limit. It consists of a drift‐diffusion‐type equation for the electron density, involving temperature gradients, a nonlinear heat equation for the electron temperature, and the Poisson equation for the electric potential. The global‐in‐time existence of bounded weak solutions is proved. The proof is based on the Stampacchia truncation method and a careful use of the temperature equation. Under some regularity assumptions on the gradients of the variables, the uniqueness of solutions is shown. Finally, numerical simulations for a ballistic diode in one space dimension illustrate the behavior of the solutions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.