Element fingerprinting of marine organisms by dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A method for the determination of sixteen elements (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, V, Zn) in seafood by dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–DRC–MS) is presented. A preliminary study of polyatomic interferences was carried out in relation to the chemical composition of marine organisms belonging to different taxa. Acid effects and other matrix effects in marine organisms submitted to closed-vessel microwave digestion were investigated as well. Ammonia was the reactive gas used in the DRC to remove polyatomic ions interfering with ²⁷Al, ⁵²Cr, ⁵⁶Fe and ⁵¹V. Optimal conditions for the simultaneous determination of analytes were identified in order to develop a fast multielement method. A suite of real samples (mussels and various fish species) were used during method development along with three certified reference materials: BCR CRM 278R (mussel tissue), BCR CRM 422 (cod muscle) and DORM-2 (dogfish muscle). The proposed analytical approach can be used in conjunction with suitable chemometric procedures to address quality and safety issues in aquaculture and fisheries. As an example, a case study is described in which mussels from three farming sites in the Venice Lagoon were distinguished by multivariate analysis of element fingerprints.      

Neutrino physics with cryogenic detectors

The recent results on neutrino oscillations and the consequent need to measure the value of the neutrino mass are briefly discussed. The operating principle of cryogenic detectors working at low temperatures, where the small heat capacity allows one to record and measure the temperature increase due to the tiny energy lost by a particle in form of heat is described. An application of these detectors is the measurement, or at least an upper constraint, of the neutrino mass in β decay. This approach is complementary and can, in the future, be competitive with experiments based on the spectrometric measurement of the electron energy. The search for neutrinoless double beta decay could reach a better sensitivity on the mass if a neutrino is a Majorana particle. A large cryogenic detector, named CUORICINO, on neutrinoless double beta decay (DBD) of ¹³⁰Te already yields the best constraint on the absolute value of the Majorana neutrino mass. A much larger detector, named CUORE, for Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events, is currently under construction. With its active mass of 750 kg of natural TeO₂ it aims to reach the sensitivity in the determination of the Majorana neutrino mass suggested by the results of neutrino oscillation under the inverse hierarchy hypothesis. The problem is closely connected with what I call “the second mystery of Ettore Majorana” who suggested a particle that would violate the lepton number.     

Asymptotic stability and stabilizability of special classes of discrete-time positive switched systems

In this paper we consider discrete-time positive switched systems, switching among autonomous subsystems, characterized either by monomial matrices or by circulant matrices. Necessary and sufficient conditions are provided guaranteeing either (global uniform) asymptotic stability or stabilizability (i.e. the possibility of driving to zero the state trajectory corresponding to any initial state by resorting to some switching sequence). Such conditions lead to simple algorithms that allow to easily detect, under suitable conditions, whether a given positive switched system is not stabilizable.     

A Jocic-type approach for a practical and scalable synthesis of pyrrolonaphthoxazepine (PNOX)-based potent proapoptotic agents

We developed a Jocic-type protocol for the construction of the pyrrolonaphthoxazepine (PNOX) core. After an initial investigation based on the isolation of a trichloromethyl carbinol derivative, we shifted our attention towards a multicomponent single-step protocol. Screening of a variety of bases and solvents led to the identification of the optimum conditions for the preparation of the key α-aryloxy carboxylic acids to undergo intramolecular cyclization. The novel chemical route significantly improved overall yields for the preparation of PNOX-based compounds and was successfully extended to the preparation of 1,4-benzoxazinone-based templates.     

On Differentiability of Volume Time Functions

We show differentiability of a class of Geroch’s volume functions on globally hyperbolic manifolds. Furthermore, we prove that every volume function satisfies a local anti-Lipschitz condition over causal curves, and that locally Lipschitz time functions which are locally anti-Lipschitz can be uniformly approximated by smooth time functions with timelike gradient. Finally, we prove that in stably causal space-times Hawking’s time function can be uniformly approximated by smooth time functions with timelike gradient.     

On topological filtrations of groups

The (weak) geometric simple connectivity and the quasi-simple filtration are topological notions of manifolds, which may be defined for discrete groups too. It turns out that they are equivalent for finitely presented groups, but the main problem is the absence of examples of groups which do not satisfy them. In this note we study some algebraic classes of groups with respect to these properties.     

Evaluation of different polymerase chain reaction methods for the identification of Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains isolated by cultural methods

Control of contamination by Vibrio parahaemolyticus in fishery products is often hampered by the lack of standardized methods and by the uncertainty associated with biochemical identification of the isolates. In this study, 5 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for the identification of V. parahaemolyticus to the species level were evaluated by using 25 Vibrio reference strains and 163 isolates from fishery products, environmental sources, and clinical samples. Sequence targets of the methods were toxR, gyrB, and tlh genes (tested with 2 protocols), and the fragment pR72H. Isolate identification was confirmed by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and by PCR protocols for the identification of other Vibrio species. The PCR assay targeting the toxR gene achieved the highest performance (100% inclusivity and exclusivity). The 2 PCR protocols based on tlh gene detection, although showing the same inclusivity (100%), differed in the exclusivity (50 and 91%, respectively). Finally, the results provided by the PCR assays targeting the gyrB gene and pR72H fragment were less reliable and, in some cases, difficult to assess. According to the results of this study, the characteristics of accuracy expressed by the toxR identification method make it a suitable candidate as a reference method for the molecular identification of V. parahaemolyticus strains.     

First principles studies on boron sites in zeolites

A systematic computational investigation on protonated and nonprotonated boron-containing zeolites (boralites), performed by using different periodic density functional theory approximations, is presented. Both minimum energy structures and finite temperature behavior of model boron sodalites were analyzed. All of the adopted computational schemes agree in predicting an acid site composed of a silanol Si-OH group loosely linked to a planar BO(3) structure in the protonated system and a BO(4) tetrahedral site in the sodium-containing zeolite. Calculated structural and vibrational properties are in line with experimental data. Comparisons of the protonated boralite site with Al and Ga zeolitic acid sites are discussed as well. Results indicate that this class of mild acid catalysts is characterized by significant framework flexibility and pronounced thermal effects due to the loosely bound acid site.     

Low-temperature effective potential of the Ising model

We study the low-temperature effective potential of the Ising model. We evaluate the three-point and four-point zero-momentum renormalized coupling constants that parametrize the expansion of the effective potential near the coexistence curve. These results are obtained by a constrained analysis of the ε-expansion that uses accurate estimates for the two-dimensional Ising model.