Trinuclear and hexanuclear platinum clusters as building blocks for organometallic one-dimensional structures

The reaction between the new hexa- and trinuclear clusters [Pt6](CC-C6H4-CCH)2, (4) [[Pt6] = Pt6(CO)4(mu-PBu(t)2)4], and [Pt3]Cl, (6) [[Pt3] = Pt3(mu-PBu(t)2)3(CO)2], in CuI/Amine gives the thermally and air stable [Pt6](CC-C6H4-CC[Pt3])2 (7), where the cluster units are separated by conjugated 1,4-diethynylphenyl groups.     

Structure and properties of 1,4-benzenedimethanethiol films grown from solution on Au(1 1 1): An XPS and NEXAFS study

Core level photoemission and X-ray absorption at the carbon C 1s edge are applied to the study of chemisorption of 1,4-benzenedimethanethiol molecules on Au(1 1 1) and to investigate the effect of the solvent used to prepare the organic films. 1,4-Benzenedimethanethiol films were prepared in polar and non-polar solvents, i.e. ethanol, methanol and n-hexane. 1,4-Benzenedimethanethiol molecules are anchored to the substrate through a single S-Au bond; the molecules in the films tend to assume an upright orientation, the aromatic ring resulting tilted towards the direction perpendicular to the substrate plane. The films present an effective thickness corresponding to more than a single layer. Only small differences are observed among behaviours in different solvents. It is concluded that the final properties and conformation of the 1,4-benzenedimethanethiol films are largely determined by the reciprocal interactions between the molecules and with the substrate.     

Operator splitting for the numerical solution of free surface flow at low capillary numbers

Free surface flows are pervasive in engineering and biomedical applications. In many interesting cases—particularly when small length scales are involved—surface forces (capillarity) dominate the flow dynamics. In these cases, computing the flow together with the shape of the surfaces, requires specialized solution techniques. This article investigates the capabilities of an operator splitting/finite elements method at handling accurately incompressible viscous flow with free surfaces at low capillary numbers. The test case of flow in the downstream section of a slot coater is used for three reasons: (1) it is an established benchmark; (2) it represents an idealized, yet industrially relevant flow; (3) high-fidelity results obtained with monolithic algorithms are available in literature. The flow and free surface shape attained with the new operator splitting scheme agree very satisfactorily with the results obtained with monolithic solvers. Because of its inherent computational simplicity, the new operator splitting scheme is attractive for large-scale simulations, three-dimensional flows, and flows of complex fluids.     

Two rapid and sensitive automated methods for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in soil samples

Spectrophotometric flow injection methods were developed for the individual determination of nitrite or nitrate, and for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate, in soil samples. Nitrite was determined directly using a modified version of the Griess-Ilosvay diazo-coupling reaction, measuring at 543 nm the absorbance of the azo-dye complex formed. Simultaneous nitrite and nitrate determinations were based on on-line nitrate reduction in a micro column containing copperised cadmium. A single chromogenic reagent containing all the necessary reactants was used in both methods. For determinations, the chemical and instrumental variables were optimised by univariate analysis and simplex chemometric method. The optimised conditions gave a linear calibration range between 0.05 and 1.6 µg m L^− 1 for N-NO₂⁻ and between 0.05 and 7.0 µg m L^− 1 for N-NO₃⁻. The detection limits for nitrite and nitrate were 22 µg L^− 1 and 44 µg L^− 1 respectively. The proposed methods allowed up to 35-40 samples per hour to be analysed with good precision. The simultaneous method was successfully used for the determination of nitrite and nitrate in soil samples (the results obtained were validated against those obtained by reference methods). The proposed methods are simpler and faster than conventional methods and could be routinely used in environmental monitoring laboratories.     

Low temperature conductivity of carbon nanotube aggregates

We compare, over wide temperature ranges, the transport properties of single-wall carbon nanotubes arranged in the form of aligned arrays or in the form of fibres. The experimental data show that both the forms of aggregates present a crossover in the transport mechanism from three-dimensional hopping of the electrons between localized states at high temperature to fluctuation-induced tunnelling across potential barriers at low temperature. The role of the junctions formed between the bundles in the array and between the nanotubes inside the fibres is discussed on the basis of the experimental results.     

Eco-friendly process toward collector- and binder-free,high-energy density electrodes for lithium-ion batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The preparation of collector- and binder-free, high-energy density cathodes made from carbon-coated LiFePO4 (C-LFP) and single-walled carbon nanotubes...     

Molecular cloning and transgenic expression of a synthetic human erythropoietin gene in tobacco

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone belonging to a group of hematopoietic growth factors that control the proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow cells. It induces the production of erythrocytes, thereby increasing the amount of circulating hemoglobin and oxygen. Previous attempts to transgenically express human EPO in plants failed to succeed because the plants exhibited abnormal morphology and infertility. In the present work, we describe the generation of fertile transgenic tobacco plants able to express a synthetic version of human EPO. A 582-bp fragment of the human EPO gene was synthesized using a PCR-based method and ligated into pCR-Blunt. After sequencing, the human EPO fragment was transferred to pWUbi.tm1 and the expression cassette was then transferred to the binary vector pWBVec4a. After Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Nicotiana tabacum SR1 plants, integration of the transgene into T₀ and T₁ plant genomes was confirmed by PCR. The human EPO gene was found to be expressed in tobacco leaves at the mRNA and protein levels. Self-crossing allowed us to obtain T₁ plants exhibiting Mendelian segregation of the transgene. None of the plants presented any kind of malformation or deformity.     

Mean field and the confined single homopolymer

We develop a statistical model for a confined homopolymeric chain molecule based on a monomer grand ensemble representation. The molecule is subject to a confining external field, a backbone interaction, and an attractive interaction between any pair of monomers. An exact minimum principle for the thermodynamics of the backbone in an external field is obtained, and a controlled mean field approximation results in a modified minimum principle from which relevant physical quantities such as monomer density can be found. We explore the limit in which the chain is subject to tight confinement, and make a preliminary investigation of a prototypical system.     

Tensor products of n-complete algebras

If A and B are n- and m-representation finite k-algebras, then their tensor product $\mathrm{\Lambda }=A{?}_{k}B$ is not in general $(n+m)$-representation finite. However, we prove that if A and B are acyclic and satisfy the weaker assumption of n- and m-completeness, then Λ is $(n+m)$-complete. This mirrors the fact that taking higher Auslander algebra does not preserve d-representation finiteness in general, but it does preserve d-completeness. As a corollary, we get the necessary condition for Λ to be $(n+m)$-representation finite which was found by Herschend and Iyama by using a certain twisted fractionally Calabi–Yau property.     

Effect of charge distribution on the translocation of an inhomogeneously charged polymer through a nanopore

We investigate the voltage-driven translocation of an inhomogeneously charged polymer through a nanopore by utilizing discrete and continuous stochastic models. As a simplified illustration of the effect of charge distribution on translocation, we consider the translocation of a polymer with a single charged site in the presence and absence of interactions between the charge and the pore. We find that the position of the charge that minimizes the translocation time in the absence of pore-polymer interactions is determined by the entropic cost of translocation, with the optimum charge position being at the midpoint of the chain for a rodlike polymer and close to the leading chain end for an ideal chain. The presence of attractive and repulsive pore-charge interactions yields a shift in the optimum charge position toward the trailing end and the leading end of the chain, respectively. Moreover, our results show that strong attractive or repulsive interactions between the charge and the pore lengthen the translocation time relative to translocation through an inert pore. We generalize our results to accommodate the presence of multiple charged sites on the polymer. Our results provide insight into the effect of charge inhomogeneity on protein translocation through biological membranes.