778 research outputs found
Da INFANZIA numero 6 2012, Quando la scuola va nel bosco... Paolo Donati, Irene Salvaterra, Michela Schenetti
Da INFANZIA numero 6 2012, Quando la scuola va nel bosco... Paolo Donati, Irene Salvaterra, Michela Schenetti
Colorimetric nanodiagnostics for Point-Of-Care applications: detection of salivary biomarkers and environmental contaminants
Nanomaterials offer many unique opportunities for the development of effective and rapid point-of-care (POC) devices to be exploited in many fields, including early diagnosis, health monitoring, and pollutant detection. In particular, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit tunable catalytic and plasmonic properties, which are key enabling tools to design and develop innovative detection schemes in several sensing applications. The aim of this PhD project was the development of AuNPs-based colorimetric POCs to detect heavy metal ion contaminations and specific biomarkers in non-invasive biological fluids. First, we developed a novel strategy that exploits the combination of the plasmonic and catalytic properties of AuNPs to achieve an ultrafast (1 min) and sensitive colorimetric sensor for highly toxic methyl mercury. Taking advantage of the AuNP nanocatalyst to promote the rapid reduction of methyl mercury with nucleation on the particle surface and consequent aggregation-induced plasmonic shift, we were able to detect by naked-eye mercury contaminations as low as 20 ppb, which is relevant for food contaminations or biological fluid assessment. Moreover, an innovative and versatile platform, based on multibranched AuNPs, was developed for the detection of salivary biomarkers. Coupling etching and growing reactions in a reshaping process onto the nanostars surface, we created a customizable platform with boosted color change readout for fast detection of salivary glucose at low concentrations. The nanosensor performance was validated on samples from patients with diabetes, proving its potential as a novel non-invasive tool for frequent monitoring of glycaemia. As side project we also investigated the platinum nanoparticles enzymatic activity in a colorimetric sensor for inorganic mercury contamination monitoring in water sources
Experimental Realization of the Deutsch-Jozsa Algorithm with a Six-Qubit Cluster State
We describe the first experimental realization of the Deutsch-Jozsa quantum
algorithm to evaluate the properties of a 2-bit boolean function in the
framework of one-way quantum computation. For this purpose a novel two-photon
six-qubit cluster state was engineered. Its peculiar topological structure is
the basis of the original measurement pattern allowing the algorithm
realization. The good agreement of the experimental results with the
theoretical predictions, obtained at 1kHz success rate, demonstrate the
correct implementation of the algorithm.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, RevTe
Chiavi semplificate per il riconoscimento degli alberi da Allen G.; Denslow J.; Alberi, libri chiave, ed. La Scuola 1982
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