In this work, an innovative analytical approach focused on the use of advanced imaging techniques for the chemical mapping of degradation and/or restoration products is proposed. A representative ...cross-section showing a very complex stratigraphy from the
Saint Wilgefortis Triptych
(Hieronymus Bosch), exhibited in the
Galleria dell'Accademia di Venezia
, was investigated. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) experiments were performed using a time-of-flight detector operating in the so-called delayed extraction mode. The time delay applied during the extraction of the secondary ions permitted mass spectra to be obtained with an excellent mass resolution and chemical maps with nanometer scale spatial resolution. The painting's cross-section was also analysed at the micrometer scale by micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (micro-FTIR). The combined analytical approaches highlighted the colocalization of lead chloride, oxychloride, and hydroxychloride ions, suggesting the transformation of lead white ((PbCO
3
)
2
Pb(OH)
2
) into laurionite (PbClOH). Furthermore, chlorine appears evenly diffused in the cinnabar (HgS) layer, inducing the alteration of its more external part into calomel (Hg
2
Cl
2
). In fact, from the chemical maps the presence in the sample of an unaltered portion of the cinnabar layer is evident. Such degradation products were probably due to the exposure of the painting to a chloride-rich atmosphere for a long time. This led to a global blackening of the painting. To protect the painting from aggressive chemical species, siloxane compounds were probably used as a modern restorative treatment. ToF-SIMS chemical maps revealed permeation of the silicon-based consolidants within the sample's cracks and no interaction products with the other constitutive materials of the painting were found. Finally, the presence of different lead soaps was detected in correspondence with the lead white layer.
In this work, an innovative analytical approach focused on the use of advanced imaging techniques for the chemical mapping of degradation and/or restoration products is proposed.
A search for narrow, low-mass, scalar, and pseudoscalar resonances decaying to bottom quark-antiquark pairs is presented. The search is based on events recorded in √ s = 13 TeV proton-proton ...collisions with the CMS detector at the LHC, collected in 2016, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 . The search selects events in which the resonance would be produced with high transverse momentum because of the presence of initial- or final-state radiation. In such events, the decay products of the resonance would be reconstructed as a single large-radius jet with high mass and two-prong substructure. A potential signal would be identified as a narrow excess in the jet invariant mass spectrum. No evidence for such a resonance is observed within the mass range from 50 to 350 GeV, and upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the product of the cross section and branching fraction to a bottom quark-antiquark pair. These constitute the first constraints from the LHC on exotic bottom quark-antiquark resonances with masses below 325 GeV.
Intent of this study was to explore the potential application of polymerin, the polymeric, dissolved organic matter fraction from olive oil wastewaters, in technologies aimed at remediating ...hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) point-source pollution. Phenanthrene binding with polymerin was investigated. Moreover, the effect of addition of micro and nanoscale aluminum oxides (Al
2O
3) was studied, as well as sorption of polymerin on the oxides. Phenanthrene binding capacity by polymerin was notably higher than the sorption capacities for both types of Al
2O
3 particles. Polymerin sorption on nanoparticles was nearly 100 times higher than microparticles. In a three-phase system, using microparticles, higher phenanthrene sorption was found by adding into water polymerin, oxides and phenanthrene simultaneously. In contrast, using nanoparticles, a considerable enhancement of phenanthrene sorption was shown by adding phenanthrene to a pre-formed and dried polymerin–oxide complex. These findings support the application of polymerin, especially associated with Al
2O
3 nanoparticles, in remediation of water contaminated with HOCs. This work highlights the significant role of nanoparticles.
Size of aluminum oxides significantly affects sorption of polymerin and phenanthrene.
A search for new physics using events containing an imbalance in transverse momentum and one or more energetic jets arising from initial-state radiation or the hadronic decay of W or Z bosons is ...presented. A data sample of proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1, is used. The observed data are found to be in agreement with the expectation from standard model processes. The results are interpreted as limits on the dark matter production cross section in simplified models with vector, axial-vector, scalar, and pseudoscalar mediators. Interpretations in the context of fermion portal and nonthermal dark matter models are also provided. In addition, the results are interpreted in terms of invisible decays of the Higgs boson and set stringent limits on the fundamental Planck scale in the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali model with large extra spatial dimensions.
The first observation of electroweak production of same-sign W boson pairs in proton-proton collisions is reported. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 collected at a ...center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. Events are selected by requiring exactly two leptons (electrons or muons) of the same charge, moderate missing transverse momentum, and two jets with a large rapidity separation and a large dijet mass. The observed significance of the signal is 5.5 standard deviations, where a significance of 5.7 standard deviations is expected based on the standard model. The ratio of measured event yields to that expected from the standard model at leading order is 0.90 ± 0.22. A cross section measurement in a fiducial region is reported. Bounds are given on the structure of quartic vector boson interactions in the framework of dimension-8 effective field theory operators and on the production of doubly charged Higgs bosons.
It has recently been demonstrated that zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) induce death of cancerous cells whilst having no cytotoxic effect on normal cells. However, there are several issues which ...need to be resolved before translation of zinc oxide nanoparticles into medical use, including lack of suitable biocompatible dispersion protocols and a better understanding being needed of the mechanism of their selective cytotoxic action.
Nanoparticle dose affecting cell viability was evaluated in a model of proliferating cells both experimentally and mathematically. The key issue of selective toxicity of ZnO NPs toward proliferating cells was addressed by experiments using a biological model of noncancerous cells, ie, mesenchymal stem cells before and after cell differentiation to the osteogenic lineage.
In this paper, we report a biocompatible protocol for preparation of stable aqueous solutions of monodispersed zinc oxide nanoparticles. We found that the threshold of intracellular ZnO NP concentration required to induce cell death in proliferating cells is 0.4 ± 0.02 mM. Finally, flow cytometry analysis revealed that the threshold dose of zinc oxide nanoparticles was lethal to proliferating pluripotent mesenchymal stem cells but exhibited negligible cytotoxic effects to osteogenically differentiated mesenchymal stem cells.
Results confirm the ZnO NP selective cytotoxic action on rapidly proliferating cells, whether benign or malignant.
A search for pair production of second-generation leptoquarks is performed using proton-proton collision data collected at s=13 TeV in 2016 with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an ...integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. Final states with two muons and two jets, or with one muon, two jets, and missing transverse momentum are considered. Second-generation scalar leptoquarks with masses less than 1530(1285) GeV are excluded for β=1.0(0.5), where β is the branching fraction for the decay of a leptoquark to a charged lepton and a quark. The results of the search are also interpreted as limits on the pair production of long-lived top squarks in an R-parity violating supersymmetry model that has a final state with two muons and two jets. These limits represent the most stringent limits to date on these models.
A search for the pair production of first-generation scalar leptoquarks is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded at 13 TeV center-of-mass energy with the CMS detector at the LHC. The ...data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The leptoquarks are assumed to decay promptly to a quark and either an electron or a neutrino, with branching fractions β and 1−β, respectively. The search targets the decay final states comprising two electrons, or one electron and large missing transverse momentum, along with two quarks that are detected as hadronic jets. First-generation scalar leptoquarks with masses below 1435 (1270) GeV are excluded for β=1.0(0.5). These are the most stringent limits on the mass of first-generation scalar leptoquarks to date. The data are also interpreted to set exclusion limits in the context of an R-parity violating supersymmetric model, predicting promptly decaying top squarks with a similar dielectron final state.
The results of a previous search by the CMS Collaboration for squarks and gluinos are reinterpreted to constrain models of leptoquark (LQ) production. The search considers jets in association with a ...transverse momentum imbalance, using the MT2 variable. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data at s=13 TeV, recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. Leptoquark pair production is considered with LQ decays to a neutrino and a top, bottom, or light quark. This reinterpretation considers higher mass values than the original CMS search to constrain both scalar and vector LQs. Limits on the cross section for LQ pair production are derived at the 95% confidence level depending on the LQ decay mode. A vector LQ decaying with a 50% branching fraction to tν, and 50% to bτ, has been proposed as part of an explanation of anomalous flavor physics results. In such a model, using only the decays to tν, LQ masses below 1530 GeV are excluded assuming the Yang-Mills case with coupling κ=1, or 1115 GeV in the minimal coupling case κ=0, placing the most stringent constraint to date from pair production of vector LQs.
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