92 research outputs found
A critical review on the use of molecular imprinting for trace heavy metal and micropollutant detection
Molecular recognition has been described as the “ultimate” form of sensing and plays a fundamental role in biological processes. There is a move towards biomimetic recognition elements to overcome inherent problems of natural receptors such as limited stability, high-cost, and variation in response. In recent years, several alternatives have emerged which have found their first commercial applications. In this review, we focus on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) since they present an attractive alternative due to recent breakthroughs in polymer science and nanotechnology. For example, innovative solid-phase synthesis methods can produce MIPs with sometimes greater affinities than natural receptors. Although industry and environmental agencies require sensors for continuous monitoring, the regulatory barrier for employing MIP-based sensors is still low for environmental applications. Despite this, there are currently no sensors in this area, which is likely due to low profitability and the need for new legislation to promote the development of MIP-based sensors for pollutant and heavy metal monitoring. The increased demand for point-of-use devices and home testing kits is driving an exponential growth in biosensor production, leading to an expected market value of over GPB 25 billion by 2023. A key requirement of point-of-use devices is portability, since the test must be conducted at “the time and place” to pinpoint sources of contamination in food and/or water samples. Therefore, this review will focus on MIP-based sensors for monitoring pollutants and heavy metals by critically evaluating relevant literature sources from 1993 to 2022
Ready for O4 II: GRANDMA Observations of Swift GRBs during eight-weeks of Spring 2022
We present a campaign designed to train the GRANDMA network and its
infrastructure to follow up on transient alerts and detect their early
afterglows. In preparation for O4 II campaign, we focused on GRB alerts as they
are expected to be an electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational-wave events.
Our goal was to improve our response to the alerts and start prompt
observations as soon as possible to better prepare the GRANDMA network for the
fourth observational run of LIGO-Virgo-Kagra (which started at the end of May
2023), and future missions such as SM. To receive, manage and send out
observational plans to our partner telescopes we set up dedicated
infrastructure and a rota of follow-up adcates were organized to guarantee
round-the-clock assistance to our telescope teams. To ensure a great number of
observations, we focused on Swift GRBs whose localization errors were generally
smaller than the GRANDMA telescopes' field of view. This allowed us to bypass
the transient identification process and focus on the reaction time and
efficiency of the network. During 'Ready for O4 II', 11 Swift/INTEGRAL GRB
triggers were selected, nine fields had been observed, and three afterglows
were detected (GRB 220403B, GRB 220427A, GRB 220514A), with 17 GRANDMA
telescopes and 17 amateur astronomers from the citizen science project
Kilonova-Catcher. Here we highlight the GRB 220427A analysis where our
long-term follow-up of the host galaxy allowed us to obtain a photometric
redshift of , its lightcurve elution, fit the decay slope of the
afterglows, and study the properties of the host galaxy
The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey. I. Sample Selection and Redshift Distribution
We introduce the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Host Galaxy Legacy Survey ("SHOALS"), a multi-observatory high-redshift galaxy survey targeting the largest unbiased sample of long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts yet assembled (119 in total). We describe the motivations of the survey and the development of our selection criteria, including an assessment of the impact of various observability metrics on the success rate of afterglow-based redshift measurement. We briefly outline our host galaxy observational program, consisting of deep Spitzer/IRAC imaging of every field supplemented by similarly deep, multicolor optical/near-IR photometry, plus spectroscopy of events without preexisting redshifts. Our optimized selection cuts combined with host galaxy follow-up have so far enabled redshift measurements for 110 targets (92%) and placed upper limits on all but one of the remainder. About 20% of GRBs in the sample are heavily dust obscured, and at most 2% originate from Using this sample, we estimate the redshift-dependent GRB rate density, showing it to peak at and fall by at least an order of magnitude toward low (z = 0) redshift, while declining more gradually toward high () redshift. This behavior is consistent with a progenitor whose formation efficiency varies modestly over cosmic history. Our survey will permit the most detailed examination to date of the connection between the GRB host population and general star-forming galaxies, directly measure evolution in the host population over cosmic time and discern its causes, and provide new constraints on the fraction of cosmic star formation occurring in undetectable galaxies at all redshifts. © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
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