Synthesis of hematite/silica/polymer composite colloids with a tunable morphology

Hematite/SiO₂/polystyrene colloidal particles were synthesized through emulsion polymerization, in the presence of seeds coated with 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MPS). Scanning and transmission electron microscopy studies indicate that flying saucer-like particles can be prepared by taking advantage of the coalescence phenomenon which occurs between growing polymer nodules when the MPS surface density of the coupling agent is high. By decreasing this density, multipod-like and raspberry-like composite particles were obtained, depending on the concentration of monomer.     

Bioremediation of hydrocarbons contaminated waters and soils: monitoring by luminescent bacteria test

Bioremediation has proven successful in numerous applications to petroleum hydrocarbons or chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons contaminated soils. There is increasing interest in application of biotoxicity tests for ecological assessment and for supporting management decisions for remediation. Luminescent assays, light-emitting bacteria in particular, can be a suitable tool for environmental analysis, and in vivo luminescence is a rapid and precise indicator of the toxic effects of xenobiotic on micro-organisms. In this study, three different strains of marine bioluminescent bacteria have been employed to follow the changes in biotoxicity occurring during the laboratory scale bioremediation of water and soil samples contaminated by hydrocarbons and collected at an industrial area. The degradation was made by hydrocarbons degrading bacteria, both of commercial sources and isolated from polluted water and soils. The samples were treated for 45 days. The toxicity of the samples, before and after the bioremediation, was determined directly on water samples or on the extracts of soil samples. The yield of extraction by different solvents (acetone, dioxane, ethanol and dichloromethane) was evaluated by the bioluminescent test. The measurements were carried out using a microplate format both for short time of contact (60?minutes, acute toxicity) and for longer time intervals (24 hours, chronic toxicity). The results have been expressed as percentage of inhibition with respect to the blank emission (100% emission). Original and treated samples have been analysed by gas chromatography to assess the hydrocarbons (C?>?12 and Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls, PCB) content. The autochthonous bacteria isolated from polluted samples proved less effective, due to the short time for selection in remediation activity with respect to the commercial ones, but their capacity to degrade long chain hydrocarbons was satisfactory. The presented laboratory study can be applied also in case of on-field conditions.     

The Modulation of PCSK9 and LDLR by Supercritical CO2 Extracts of Mentha longifolia and Isolated Piperitone Oxide,an In Vitro Study

In the present study the ability of supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO₂) extracts of M. longifolia L. leaves to modulate low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) expression was evaluated in cultured human hepatoma cell lines Huh7 and HepG2. Two SCO₂ extracts, one oil (ML-SCO₂) and a semisolid (MW-SCO₂), were subjected to detailed chemical characterization by mono- and bidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (1D, 2D-NMR), gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Chemical analysis revealed significant amounts of fatty acids, phytosterols and terpenoids. ML-SCO₂ was able to induce LDLR expression at a dose of 60 µg/mL in HuH7 and HepG2 cell lines. Furthermore, ML-SCO₂ reduced PCSK9 secretion in a concentration-dependent manner in both cell lines. Piperitone oxide, the most abundant compound of the volatile constituent of ML-SCO₂ (27% w/w), was isolated and tested for the same targets, showing a very effective reduction of PCSK9 expression. The overall results revealed the opportunity to obtain a new nutraceutical ingredient with a high amount of phytosterols and terpenoids using the SCO₂ extraction of M. longifolia L., a very well-known botanical species used as food. Furthermore, for the first time we report the high activity of piperitone oxide in the reduction of PCSK9 expression.     

Reflexive representability and stable metrics

It is well-known that a topological group can be represented as a group of isometries of a reflexive Banach space if and only if its topology is induced by weakly almost periodic functions [see Megrelishvili (Operator topologies and reflexive representability. Nuclear groups and Lie groups (Madrid 1999). Res. Exp. Math., vol. 24, pp. 197?C208. Heldermann, Lemgo, 2001; Topological transformation groups: selected topics. In: Pearl E (ed) Open Problems in Topology II. Elsevier, Amsterdam 2007), Shtern (Russian J. Math. Phys. 2(1):131?C132, 1994)]. We show that for a metrisable group this is equivalent to the property that its metric is uniformly equivalent to a stable metric in the sense of Krivine and Maurey (Isr J Math 39(4):273?C295, 1981). This result is used to give a partial negative answer to a problem of Megrelishvili.     

Betti numbers in multidimensional persistent homology are stable functions

Multidimensional persistence mostly studies topological features of shapes by analyzing the lower level sets of vector‐valued functions, called filtering functions. As is well known, in the case of scalar‐valued filtering functions, persistent homology groups can be studied through their persistent Betti numbers, that is, the dimensions of the images of the homomorphisms induced by the inclusions of lower level sets into each other. Whenever such inclusions exist for lower level sets of vector‐valued filtering functions, we can consider the multidimensional analog of persistent Betti numbers. Varying the lower level sets, we obtain that persistent Betti numbers can be seen as functions taking pairs of vectors to the set of non‐negative integers. In this paper, we prove stability of multidimensional persistent Betti numbers. More precisely, we prove that small changes of the vector‐valued filtering functions imply only small changes of persistent Betti numbers functions. This result can be obtained by assuming the filtering functions to be just continuous. Multidimensional stability opens the way to a stable shape comparison methodology based on multidimensional persistence. In order to obtain our stability theorem, some other new results are proved for continuous filtering functions. They concern the finiteness of persistent Betti numbers for vector‐valued filtering functions and the representation via persistence diagrams of persistent Betti numbers, as well as their stability, in the case of scalar‐valued filtering functions. Finally, from the stability of multidimensional persistent Betti numbers, we obtain a lower bound for the natural pseudo‐distance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kinetics of colloidal fractal aggregation by differential dynamic microscopy

We study the kinetics of an aggregation process induced by adding salt to a stable colloidal suspension of 73 nm (diameter) particles. Despite the subdiffraction size of the colloidal particles, the process is monitored via optical microscopy, which is used here to obtain time-resolved scattering information about the colloidal aggregates. The radius of the aggregates is determined as a function of time and their fractal dimension is extracted. Our results are compatible with a diffusion limited aggregation process, as independently confirmed by spectral turbidimetry measurements on the same sample.     

Crystalline properties and colour centres in alkali halide thin films

Abstract

Thin films of KCl, KBr, RbCl have been obtained by thermal evaporation on amorphous substrates with different deposition parameters. The crystalline structure and orientation have been determined, and the films resulted to be policrystals with high uniformity of orientation. Production of colour centres, achieved by irradiation with low-energy electrons, leads to F center concentrations barely observed in large crystals. The colouration kinetics is similar to that in the bulk, and shows after a maximum an exponential decay at high doses because of centre aggregation coupled to thermal effects. The films exhibit a bleaching process of the colour centres at room temperature, whose kinetics depends on the irradiation damage.     

Statistical, noise-related non-classicality’s indicator

Finding signs of the classical-quantum border is a very important task of perennial interest. We show, using semiclassical arguments, that the frontier between the classical and quantum domains can be characterized by recourse to idiosyncratic features of a delimiter parameter associated with the concepts of i) noise) ii) Husimi distribution functions, iii) Wherl’s entropy, and iv) escort distributions.      

Cardanol Based Matrix for Jute Reinforced Pipes

The aim of this work is the development of composite pipes using renewable resources. The pipes, manufactured by filament winding technology, were obtained using an epoxy resin crosslinked with a cardanol based novolac as matrix and jute fibres as reinforcement. Cardanol is a natural oil extracted from the shell of the cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) nut. An amount of natural materials higher than 50% by weight was achieved in the final composites. Tensile and parallel plate compression tests were carried out on the composite pipes.     

On the hydrolysis of the titanium(IV) ion in chloride media

Determinations of the [Ti(IV)]/[Ti(III) ratio in solutions of titanium(IV) chloride equilibrated with H₂(g), at 25°C in 3 M (Na)Cl ionic medium, have indicated the predominance of the Ti(OH)₂²⁺ species in the concentration ranges 0.5 ? [H⁺] ? 2 M and 1.5 x 10^?3 ? [Ti(IV)] ? 0.05 M. From the equilibrium data the reduction potential has been evaluated Ti(OH)₂²⁺ + 2 H⁺ + e ? Ti³⁺ + 2H₂O, E_oH = (7.7 ± 0.6) x 10^?3 V. The acidification reactions of Ti(OH)₂²⁺ were also studied in 12 M(Li)Cl medium at 25°C by measuring the redox potential of the Ti(IV)/Ti(III) couple as a function of [H⁺]. The potentiometric data in the acidity range 0.3 ? [H⁺] ? 12 M have been explained by assuming Ti⁴⁺ + e ? Ti³⁺, E_o = 0.202 ± 0.002 V Ti⁴⁺ + H₂O ? TiOH³⁺ + H⁺, log K_a1 = 0.3 ± 0.01 Ti⁴⁺ + 2H₂O ? Ti(OH)₂²⁺ + 2H⁺, log K_a1K_a2 = 1.38 ± 0.05.