On the Role of Support in Metallic Heterogeneous Catalysis: A Study of Unsupported Nickel\u2013Cobalt Alloy Nanoparticles in Ethanol Steam Reforming

(Co, Ni) bimetallic nanoparticles have been prepared by reducing Ni and Co chloride solutions with sodium borohydride. The obtained materials have been characterized as cast and/or after annealing by means of XRD, magnetic measurements, IR spectroscopy, FE-SEM and TEM microscopies. The resulting nanomaterials, originally amorphous, crystallize into the cubic structure cF4-Cu as homogeneous (Co, Ni) solid solution alloy and with the additional presence of Boron containing phases due to the residual preparation impurities. The bimetallic nanoparticles are active in ethanol conversion in the presence of steam. For low Boron catalysts, the addition of Nickel to Cobalt nanoparticles improves the catalytic activity in ethanol steam reforming allowing yields as high as 87% at 773 K, at high space velocities (GHSV 324,000 h 121 ). The performances of the catalytic unsupported nanoparticles with a Ni/Co atomic ratio equal to 0.26 appear to be better than those of conventional supported catalysts. The state of Boron impurities affect catalytic activity of bimetallic (Co, Ni) NPs. Carbonaceous materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphitic carbon, form on the catalyst surface upon reaction. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

CR CyberMar as a Solution Path towards Cybersecurity Soundness in Maritime Logistics Domain

Cybersecurity is now considered as one of the main challenges for the maritime sector. At the same time, the maritime transport industry remains one of the most relevant and driving sectors for the global economy in terms of both the number and operations of active companies, and infrastructure and investments, thanks to the policies pushed to attract the latter. Maritime information systems, whether on board ships or in ports, are numerous, built with standard components available on the market and in many cases designed without factoring in well the ever-growing cyber risk. Digital infrastructure has become essential in operating and managing systems critical to the safety and security of shipping and ports. Specifically, Cyber-MAR is focused upon the simulation and emulation of the real world of maritime systems (e.g. Logistics, Supply Chain). This research effort will examine the creation of a federated Cyber Range (CR Cyber-MAR) which will include various platforms and interconnected systems on board a vessel or ashore, in order to allow a hyper-realistic simulation of cyber-attacks and trying to assimilate them into real-life. Then the identified CR Cyber range will be integrated in the Cybersecurity training needs for different levels of operators. The investigation of the discussed topic will essentially use qualitative techniques, analysing data obtained from publications, official and commercial reports, and interviews of a targeted audience

Robotic Splenic Flexure and Transverse Colon Resections

Since the 1990s, laparoscopic technique has become a standard approach for several surgical procedures in the field of colorectal surgery. Laparoscopic approach to splenic flexure and transverse colon cancer, however, is still a matter of debate and considered challenging for both anatomical and technical aspects. The relationship with the spleen and the absence of a consensus on the extent of surgery for splenic flexure cancer are two of several aspects that make splenic flexure surgery mostly debated. Robotic technique has overcome some pitfalls of laparoscopy, thanks to its stability of vision, tremor filtering, and fine movements of the robotic arms that can help in better identifying and managing both vascular structures and side organs, thus avoiding splenic and pancreatic injuries. In addition, robotic system can allow a better fashioning of the intracorporeal anastomosis, and the advent of fluorescence is useful to guide dissection and to evaluate the vascularization of the colon. Herein we discuss a standardized approach for robotic splenic flexure resection and transverse colon

Effective medium optical modelling of indium tin oxide nanocrystal films

: Doped semiconductor nanocrystal-based thin films are widely used for many applications, such as screens, electrochromic windows, light emitting diodes, and solar cells. Herein, we have employed spectroscopic ellipsometry to measure and model the complex dielectric response of indium tin oxide films fabricated by nanocrystal deposition and sintering. The films could be modelled as Bruggemann effective media, allowing estimation of the nanoscale interstitial porosity of the structure. The effective dielectric constants show the possibility of tuning the plasma frequency and the epsilon-near zero condition of the film

Preliminary Assessment of Two Simultaneous and Proportional Myocontrol Methods for 3-DoFs Prostheses Using Incremental Learning

Despite progressive developments over the last decades, current upper limb prostheses still lack a suitable control able to fully restore the functionalities of the lost arm. Traditional control approaches for prostheses fail when simultaneously actuating multiple Degrees of Freedom (DoFs), thus limiting their usability in daily-life scenarios. Machine learning, on the one hand, offers a solution to this issue through a promising approach for decoding user intentions but fails when input signals change. Incremental learning, on the other hand, reduces sources of error by quickly updating the model on new data rather than training the control model from scratch. In this study, we present an initial evaluation of a position and a velocity control strategy for simultaneous and proportional control over 3-DoFs based on incremental learning. The proposed controls are tested using a virtual Hannes prosthesis on two healthy participants. The performances are evaluated over eight sessions by performing the Target Achievement Control test and administering SUS and NASA-TLX questionnaires. Overall, this preliminary study demonstrates that both control strategies are promising approaches for prosthetic control, offering the potential to improve the usability of prostheses for individuals with limb loss. Further research extended to a wider population of both healthy subjects and amputees will be essential to thoroughly assess these control paradigms

Enhancement of TiO2 NPs Activity by Fe3O4 Nano-Seeds for Removal of Organic Pollutants in Water

The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs), synthesized in the presence of a very small amount of magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles, is here presented and discussed. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses, the crystallinity of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) seems to be affected by Fe3O4, acting as nano-seeds to improve the tetragonal TiO2 anatase structure with respect to the amorphous one. Photocatalytic activity data, i.e., the degradation of methylene blue and the Ofloxacin fluoroquinolone emerging pollutant, give evidence that the increased crystalline structure of the NPs, even if correlated to a reduced surface to mass ratio (with respect to commercial TiO2 NPs), enhances the performance of this type of catalyst. The achievement of a relatively well-defined crystal structure at low temperatures (Tmax = 150 \u25e6C), preventing the sintering of the TiO2 NPs and, thus, preserving the high density of active sites, seems to be the keystone to understand the obtained results

Structural and electronic properties of anisotropic ultrathin organic films from dichroic resonant soft x-ray reflectivity

We developed a quantitative approach for the determination of molecular arrangement and electronic structure in anisotropic organic ultrathin films based on the measurement of polarized reflectivity at the carbon K-edge. The reflectivity spectra were fitted to a parameterized model calculation. The method was applied to a self-assembled monolayer of 1,4-benzenedimethanethiol on gold. To simulate reflectivity, the organic anisotropic film was described by a dielectric tensor, obtained by ab initio calculations for the single molecule and suitable rotations to describe the molecular organization in film domains. Film structure was obtained though the best fit of the simulation to the experiment. Results were consistent with a monolayer-thick film composed of domains of molecules with in-plane isotropic distribution of orientations. In each domain, molecules adopted a standing configuration, with a tilt of 28° relative to the substrate normal. Information on the modification of the molecular electronic states due to chemical bonding was derived

Synthesis and Characterization of New Lithium and Boron Based Metal Organic Frameworks with NLO Properties for Application in Neutron Capture Therapy

In this work, we synthetized and characterized new crystalline materials with theranostic properties, i.e., they can be used both as bio-sensors and for "drug delivery". The two solid crystalline compounds studied are Metal Organic Frameworks and have formulas Li[(C6H12O6)2B]\ub72H2O and Li[(C4H2O6)2B]\ub75.5H2O. They can be synthetized both with natural isotopes of Li and B or with 6Li and 10B isotopes, that can be explored for Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) for anti-cancer treatment. The presence of chiral organic molecules, such as mannitol and tartaric acid, provides the NLO property to the crystals and thus their capability to generate the Second Harmonic, which is useful for applications as bio-sensors. The two compounds were characterized with X-ray Diffraction and the Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) responses were estimated by theoretical calculations, and the results were compared with experimental measurements of powdered samples. In order to test the behavior of such compounds under thermal neutron irradiation, we preliminary exposed one of the two compounds in the e_LiBANS facility at the Torino Physics Department. Preliminary results are reported