Spectralités dans le roman contemporain. Italie, Espagne, Portugal, Marine Aubry-Morici, Silvia Cucchi (éd.)

À une époque où les dialogues avec les morts envahissent aussi la forme narrative de la série télévisuelle, comme dans l’excellent River de la scénariste britannique Abi Morgan, l’initiative de deux jeunes chercheuses de l’université Paris 3 consistant à questionner la présence des spectres et de leurs différents avatars dans la littérature en langue romane (Italie, surtout, mais aussi Espagne et Portugal) est à signaler. Si les auteurs transalpins de..

Sophie Nezri-Dufour, Giorgio Bassani, prisonnier du passé, gardien de la mémoire

En cette année de commémoration bassanienne, le court essai de Sophie Nezri-Dufour tombe à pic. L’auteur, spécialiste de l’écrivain auquel elle a consacré plusieurs études, privilégie ici une approche monographique classique : éléments biographiques, contextualisation historique, présentation et analyse des œuvres. Sur ce plan, le contrat est rempli, la lecture agréable, les repères donnés précis. Pour autant, par endroits, quelques approximations sont à no..

Anna Maria Ortese, Le piccole persone

Il convient de saluer l’initiative de l’éditeur Adelphi et le remarquable travail de présentation d’Angela Borghesi qui nous permettent de lire des textes qu’Anna Maria Ortese a rédigés entre 1940 et 1997. La plupart ont paru dans des journaux italiens, d’autres sont inédits. L’ensemble regroupe donc plus de cinquante ans d’annotations et de prises de position sur l’Italie contemporaine, sur la lente déshumanisation de la société et le mépris des puissants ..

La tentation du refus. Italo Calvino et la photographie

Si Calvino n’a pratiquement pas écrit de textes théoriques sur la photographie, il est indéniable que sa double fascination pour l’iconographie et pour la question de l’envahissement de la technique dans la société contemporaine ne pouvait que le conduire à évoquer dans ses œuvres de fiction cet art de l’image fixe né de la révolution industrielle. Notre réflexion portera sur la légitimité de relier la photographie à ce qu’il définit comme une façon de « penser par images ». Interrogeant les textes de fiction qui mettent en scène des photographes et des photographies – au premier rang desquels La giornata di uno scrutatore, Palomar et le récit « L’avventura di un fotografo » extrait de Gli amori difficili – nous tâcherons de démontrer que la prise de vue, comme objet et comme trace, ressortit bien à cette obsession du regard, de l’« exactitude » et de la « visibilité » qui est au cœur de l’œuvre calvinienne

AFM-Nano Manipulation of Plasmonic Molecules Used as “Nano-Lens” to Enhance Raman of Individual Nano-Objects

This paper explores the enhancement of Raman signals using individual nano-plasmonic structures and demonstrates the possibility to obtain controlled gold plasmonic nanostructures by atomic force microscopy (AFM) manipulation under a confocal Raman device. By manipulating the gold nanoparticles (Nps) while monitoring them using a confocal microscope, it is possible to generate individual nano- structures, plasmonic molecules not accessible currently by lithography at these nanometer scales. This flexible approach allows us to tune plasmonic resonance of the nanostructures, to generate localized hot spots and to circumvent the effects of strong electric near field gradients intrinsic to Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS) or Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) experiments. The inter Np distances and symmetry of the plasmonic molecules in interaction with other individual nano-objects control the resonance conditions of the assemblies and the enhancement of their Raman responses. This paper shows also how some plasmonic structures generate localized nanometric areas with high electric field magnitude without strong gradient. These last plasmonic molecules may be used as "nano-lenses" tunable in wavelength and able to enhance Raman signals of neighbored nano-object. The positioning of one individual probed nano-object in the spatial area defined by the nano-lens becomes then very non-restrictive, contrary to TERS experiments where the spacing distance between tip and sample is crucial. The experimental flexibility obtained in these approaches is illustrated here by the enhanced Raman scatterings of carbon nanotube

Breaking Material Symmetry to Control Mechanical Performance in 3D Printed Objects

Additive manufacturing is a modern manufacturing technology allowing the material structuring at a fine scale. This structuring affects the performance of printed parts. In this study, the quantification of the material arrangement in 3D printed ceramic on the mechanical performance is tackled. The experimental layout considers two main printing parameters, namely, part orientation and printing angle, where 12 different printing configurations are studied. These configurations differ in terms of filament arrangement in the building direction, and within the plane of construction. Material characterisation is undertaken through tensile testing, which are performed for vertical, lateral and longitudinal orientations, and combined with a printing angle of 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°. In addition, Scanning Electron Microscopy is considered to study how the material symmetry affects the fractured patterns. This analysis is completed with optical imaging and is used to monitor the deformation sequences up to the rupture point. The experimental results show a wide variety of deformation mechanisms that are triggered by the studied printing configurations. This study concludes on the interpretation of the observed trends in terms of mechanical load transfer, which is related to the lack of material connectivity, and the relative orientation of the filaments with respect to the loading directions. This study also concludes on the possibility to tune the tensile performance of 3D printed ceramic material by adjusting both the part orientation and the printing angle

Adsorption of Hyperbranched Arabinogalactan-Proteins from Plant Exudate at the Solid–Liquid Interface

Adsorption of hyperbranched arabinogalactan-proteins (AGPs) from two plant exudates, A. senegal and A. seyal, was thoroughly studied at the solid−liquid interface using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Isotherms of the adsorption reveal that 3.3 fold more AGPs from A. seyal (500 ppm) are needed to cover the gold surface compared to A. senegal (150 ppm). The pH and salt concentration of the environment greatly affected the adsorption behavior of both gums, with the surface density ranging from 0.92 to 3.83 mg m−2 using SPR (i.e., “dry” mass) and from 1.16 to 19.07 mg m−2 using QCM-D (wet mass). Surprisingly, the mass adsorbed was the highest in conditions of strong electrostatic repulsions between the gold substrate and AGPs, i.e., pH 7.0, highlighting the contribution of other interactions involved in the adsorption process. Structural changes of AGPs induced by pH would result in swelling of the polysaccharide blocks and conformational changes of the polypeptide backbone, therefore increasing the protein accessibility and hydrophobic interactions and/or hydrogen bonds with the gold substrate