Synthesis of TiO2-Au composites by titania-nanorod-assisted generation of gold nanoparticles at aqueous/nonpolar interfaces

Hydrophobically coated anatase TiO(2) nanorods can assist the reduction of AuCl(4) (-)ions at aqueous/nonpolar solvent interfaces, which results in the generation of organic-soluble Au nanoparticles with tunable size in the absence of any metal ligands and/or phase-transfer agents. The titania-nanorod-driven modulation of interfacial energy and catalysis of gold nucleation provide straightforward access to nanocomposite solutions of TiO(2)-stabilized Au nanoparticles. Among colloidal approaches, this method represents a unique tool for the surfactantless, large-scale preparation of nanostructured semiconductor-metal hybrid systems with relevant technological potential in catalysis, photocatalysis, and charge-storage processes.     

Multi-branching carbon nanotubes via self-seeded catalysts

A novel multi-branching carbon nanotube (CNT) structure is synthesized by direct current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The structure consists of aligned CNTs which have branches of smaller diameters growing aligned along a direction perpendicular to the original CNT. The mechanism of branching is explained in terms of a self-seeding of Ni catalyst which is transferred by sputtering from the original catalyst particles in the backbone CNTs to the walls of those CNTs. It is also shown that the branching induced a large increase in surface area and total nanotube length and can be beneficial in supporting very fine Pt nanoparticles for fuel cell and other catalytic applications. Such an array of Y-junction nanostructures could be useful for the fabrication of a high-density array of nanoelectronics switches and transistors.     

Absence of allergenic residues in experimental and commercial wines fined with caseinates

The possible presence of allergenic residues in wines treated with one of the potassium caseinates used as fining agents has been investigated.     

In-House Validation and Comparison of Two Wheat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Triticum aestivum</Emphasis>) Taxon-Specific Real-Time PCR Methods for GMO Quantification Supported by Droplet Digital PCR

Common wheat is one of the most important staple food crops worldwide. However, unlike other important staple crops such as maize or soybean, genetically modified (GM) wheat is not yet present in the global food market. Nonetheless, in the recent past, the adventitious presence of GM glyphosate-tolerant volunteers was reported in open wheat fields in the USA. The European Union Reference Laboratory for GM Food and Feed (EURL-GMFF) was therefore called to develop a strategy to detect such unauthorised GM wheat in wheat samples by using both taxon-specific and screening tests. Two candidate common wheat taxon-specific real-time PCR methods were suggested, one targeting ssII-D gene coding for starch synthase and the other targeting waxy-D1 gene, coding for granule-bound starch synthase. In the present study, the two above-mentioned real-time PCR taxon-specific methods were in-house verified and compared, proposing droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) as a new tool for supporting the application of the European Network of GMO Laboratories (ENGL) established method performance criteria. Preliminary performance data of waxy-D1 and ssII-D methods in ddPCR format are shown too to give a contribution to the bridging process from the consolidated to the emerging quantitative PCR methodology.     

A dirichlet process elaboration diagnostic for binomial goodness of fit

Useful model checking tools can be constructed by measuring the distance between a prior distribution that concentrates most of its mass around a model of interest, and the resulting posterior distribution. In this paper we use this approach to construct a diagnostic measure for detecting lack of fit in discrete data, with special focus on binomial data. We begin by constructing a suitable probability model “around” the model of interest, via a Dirichlet Process elaboration. We derive the resulting diagnostic and show that, approximately, it is the sum of two terms: the first is the logarithm of the Bayes factor and the second is proportional to the Pearson chi-square statistics. We give details of a simulation algorithm for computing the diagnostic and illustrate its use in an application to biomedical data.     

Actuators for the generation of highly nonlinear solitary waves

In this paper we present the design of two actuators for the generation of highly nonlinear solitary waves (HNSWs), which are mechanical waves that can form and travel in highly nonlinear systems. These waves are characterized by a constant spatial wavelength and by a tunable propagation speed, dependent on the wave amplitude. To date, the simplest and widely adopted method to generate HNSWs is by impacting a striker onto a chain of beads of equal size and mass. This operation is conducted manually and it might be impracticable if repetition rates higher than 0.1 Hz are necessary. It is known that the HNSWs' properties, such as amplitude, duration, and speed can be modified by changing the size or the material of the particles, the velocity of the striker, and/or the precompression on the chain. To address the limitations associated with the manual generation of HNSWs we designed, built, and tested two actuators. The first actuator consists of a chain of particles wrapped by an electromagnet that induces static precompression on the chain. This design allows for the generation of solitary waves with controlled properties. The second actuator consists of a chain surmounted by an electromagnet that lifts and releases a striker. This actuator permits the remote and noncontact generation of solitary waves. The performance of both actuators is evaluated by comparing the experimental HNSWs to theoretical predictions, based on the long wavelength approximation.     

SRAM-Based FPGA Systems for Safety-Critical Applications：A Survey on Design Standards and Proposed Methodologies

As the ASIC design cost becomes affordable only for very large-scale productions, the FPGA technology is currently becoming the leading technology for those applications that require a small-scale prod...