IMAT 2024

Milano-Biccoca

Biology
 The Chemistry of living things.
 The biological importance of weak interactions.
 Organic molecules in organisms and the respective functions. The role of enzymes.
 The cell as the basis of life. Cell theory. Cell size. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells,
animal and plant cells. Viruses.
 The structure and function of the cell membrane and transport across the membrane.
Cellular structures and their specific functions.
 Cell cycle and cell division: mitosis and meiosis - chromosomes and chromosome maps.
 Reproduction and Inheritance. Life cycles. Sexual and asexual reproduction.
 Mendelian Genetics: Mendel’s laws and their applications.
 Classical genetics: chromosomal theory of inheritance – inheritance patterns.
 Molecular genetics: structure and duplication of DNA, the genetic code, protein synthesis.
Prokaryotic DNA.
 Eukaryotic chromosome structure. Genes and the regulation of gene expression.
 Human genetics: transmission of mono- and polyfactorial characters; multifactorial
character transmission; hereditary diseases - autosomal and linked to chromosome X.
 Mutations. Natural and artificial selection. Evolutionary theories. The genetic bases of
evolution. Inheritance and environment.
 Biotechnology: recombinant DNA technology and its applications.
 Anatomy and Physiology of animals and humans. The animal tissues. Anatomy and
physiology of systems and apparatus in humans and their interactions. Homeostasis.
 Bioenergetics: The energy currency of cells: adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Redox
reactions in living things.
 Photosynthesis, glycolysis, aerobic respiration and fermentation.

Chemistry
 The composition of matter: states of matter; heterogeneous systems and homogeneous
systems; compounds and elements.
 Ideal gas laws.
 Atomic structure: elementary particles; atomic number and mass number, isotopes,
electronic structure of atoms of different elements.
 The periodic table of the elements: groups and periods; transition elements. Periodic
properties of elements: atomic radius, ionisation potential, electron affinity, metallic
character. The relationships between electronic structure, position in the periodic table
and element properties.
 The chemical bond: ionic, covalent and metallic bonds. Binding energy. Polarity of
bonds. Electronegativity. Intermolecular bonds.
 Fundamentals of inorganic chemistry: nomenclature and main properties of inorganic
compounds: oxides, hydroxides, acids, salts.
 Chemical reactions and stoichiometry: atomic and molecular mass, Avogadro’s number,
mole concept and its application, elementary stoichiometric calculations, balancing
simple reactions, the different types of chemical reaction.
 Solutions: solvent properties of water, solubility, the main ways of expressing the
concentration of solutions.
 Equilibria in aqueous solution.
 Chemical kinetics and catalysis.
 Oxidation and reduction: oxidation number, concept of oxidizing and reducing agents.
 Acids and bases: the concept of acid and base. Acidity, neutrality and basicity of aqueous
solutions. The pH scale Hydrolysis. Buffer solutions.
 Fundamentals of organic chemistry: bonds between carbon atoms, and crude formulas of
structure, the concept of isomerism. Aliphatic, alicyclic and aromatic hydrocarbons.
Functional groups: alcohols, ethers, amines, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters,
amides. Chemical nomenclature.

Mathematics
 Algebra and numerical sets: natural numbers, integers, rational and real numbers. Sorting
and comparison; scales and scientific notation. Operations and their properties.
Proportions and percentages. Powers with integer and rational exponents, and their
properties. Roots and their properties. Logarithms (base 10 and base e) and their
properties. Elements of combinatorics. Algebraic and polynomial expressions. Major
products and nth power of a binomial expansions, factorisation of polynomials. Algebraic
fractions. Algebraic equations and inequalities of the first and second order. Systems of
equations.
 Functions: basic notions of functions and their graphical representations (domain,
codomain, sign, continuity, maxima and minima, increasing and decreasing, etc.).
Elementary functions: whole and fractional algebraic functions, exponential, logarithmic
and trigonometric functions. Composite and inverse functions. Trigonometric equations
and inequalities.
 Geometry: polygons and their properties. Circle and circumference. Measurements of
lengths, surfaces, and volumes. Isometries, similarities, and equivalences in the plane.
Geometric loci. Measurement of angles in degrees and radians. Sine, cosine and tangent
of an angle and their significant values. Trigonometric formulas. Solving triangles.
Cartesian reference system in a plane. Distance between two points and the midpoint of a
segment.
 Straight line equation. Conditions for parallel and perpendicular lines. Distance of a point
to a line. Equation of the circle, the parabola, the hyperbola, the ellipse and their
representation in the Cartesian plane. Pythagoras’ theorem.
 Euclid’s first and second theorems.
 Probability and statistics: frequency distributions and their graphical representations.
Concept of random experiments and events. Probability and frequency.
Physics
 Physical quantities and their measurement: Fundamental and derived physical quantities.
Systems of units of measure: International and Technical. Multiples and submultiples.
Scientific notation.
 Main conversions between units of measurement of different systems. Scalar quantities
and vector quantities. Vectors and operations on vectors
 Kinematics: Motion description. Velocity and angular velocity, acceleration and
centripetal acceleration. Uniform rectilinear motion, uniform motion accelerated, uniform
circular motion, harmonic motion.
 Dynamics: Concept of force as interaction between bodies. Forces as applied vectors. The
principle of inertia. Mass and the 2nd law of dynamics. Examples of forces: weight force,
elastic force, static and dynamic friction. Action and reaction: the 3rd law of dynamics.
 Impulse and momentum. Principle of conservation of momentum. Moment of a force and
angular momentum. Work and kinetic energy. Conservative forces and potential energy.
Principle of conservation of mechanical energy. Power.
 Fluid mechanics Density and compressibility of fluids. Gases and liquids. Hydrostatics:
pressure and Pascal, Stevino and Archimedes’ principles. Dynamics of liquids: one-
dimensional motion, flow and flow rate, continuity equation.
 Ideal fluids and Bernoulli equation. Viscous forces in real fluids.
 Thermodynamics: Balance, temperature concept, thermometers. Concept of heat and
calorimetry. Heat propagation mode. Thermal capacity e specific heat. Changes of state
and latent heats. Ideal gas laws. First and second law of thermodynamics.
 Electricity and electromagnetism: Electric charges. Forces between charges and
Coulomb’s law. Electric field and potential, equipotential surfaces. Dielectric constant,
capacitance, capacitors. Electrostatic energy. Capacitors in series and in parallel.
Generators. Electric voltage. Electric current. resistivity, resistance, resistors. Ohm's law.
 Resistors in series and in parallel. Kirchhoff’s principles. Work, Power, Joule Effect.
Direct and alternating current.
 Period and frequency. Magnetic field of an electric current. Forces on electric currents in
a magnetic field.
 Electromagnetic induction.
TIME TABLE IMAT-2024