153 research outputs found
Buckling instability causes inertial thrust for spherical swimmers at all scales
Microswimmers, and among them aspirant microrobots, generally have to cope
with flows where viscous forces are dominant, characterized by a low Reynolds
number (). This implies constraints on the possible sequences of body
motion, which have to be nonreciprocal. Furthermore, the presence of a strong
drag limits the range of resulting velocities. Here, we propose a swimming
mechanism, which uses the buckling instability triggered by pressure waves to
propel a spherical, hollow shell. With a macroscopic experimental model, we
show that a net displacement is produced at all regimes. An optimal
displacement caused by non-trivial history effects is reached at intermediate
. We show that, due to the fast activation induced by the instability, this
regime is reachable by microscopic shells. The rapid dynamics would also allow
high frequency excitation with standard traveling ultrasonic waves. Scale
considerations predict a swimming velocity of order 1 cm/s for a
remote-controlled microrobot, a suitable value for biological applications such
as drug delivery.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett See demonstration movie on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXMsFwEqs
Poisson approximations for the Ising model
A -dimensional Ising model on a lattice torus is considered. As the size
of the lattice tends to infinity, a Poisson approximation is given for the
distribution of the number of copies in the lattice of any given local
configuration, provided the magnetic field tends to and the
pair potential remains fixed. Using the Stein-Chen method, a bound is given
for the total variation error in the ferromagnetic case.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur
Hydrodynamic lift of vesicles under shear flow in microgravity
The dynamics of a vesicle suspension in a shear flow between parallel plates
has been investigated under microgravity conditions, where vesicles are only
submitted to hydrodynamic effects such as lift forces due to the presence of
walls and drag forces. The temporal evolution of the spatial distribution of
the vesicles has been recorded thanks to digital holographic microscopy, during
parabolic flights and under normal gravity conditions. The collected data
demonstrates that vesicles are pushed away from the walls with a lift velocity
proportional to where is the shear rate,
the vesicle radius and its distance from the wall. This scaling as well
as the dependence of the lift velocity upon vesicle aspect ratio are consistent
with theoretical predictions by Olla [J. Phys. II France {\bf 7}, 1533--1540
(1997)].Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
Single File Diffusion enhancement in a fluctuating modulated 1D channel
We show that the diffusion of a single file of particles moving in a
fluctuating modulated 1D channel is enhanced with respect to the one in a bald
pipe. This effect, induced by the fluctuations of the modulation, is favored by
the incommensurability between the channel potential modulation and the moving
file periodicity. This phenomenon could be of importance in order to optimize
the critical current in superconductors, in particular in the case where mobile
vortices move in 1D channels designed by adapted patterns of pinning sites.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Stationary shapes of deformable particles moving at low Reynolds numbers
Lecture Notes of the Summer School ``Microswimmers -- From Single Particle
Motion to Collective Behaviour'', organised by the DFG Priority Programme SPP
1726 (Forschungszentrum J{\"{u}}lich, 2015).Comment: Pages C7.1-16 of G. Gompper et al. (ed.), Microswimmers - From Single
Particle Motion to Collective Behaviour, Lecture Notes of the DFG SPP 1726
Summer School 2015, Forschungszentrum J\"ulich GmbH, Schriften des
Forschungszentrums J\"ulich, Reihe Key Technologies, Vol 110, ISBN
978-3-95806-083-
On single file and less dense processes
The diffusion process of N hard rods in a 1D interval of length L (--> inf)
is studied using scaling arguments and an asymptotic analysis of the exact
N-particle probability density function (PDF). In the class of such systems,
the universal scaling law of the tagged particle's mean absolute displacement
reads, ~ _{free}/n^mu, where _{free} is the result for a free
particle in the studied system and n is the number of particles in the covered
length. The exponent mu is given by, mu=1/(1+a), where a is associated with the
particles' density law of the system, rho~rho_0*L^(-a), 0<= a <=1. The scaling
law for leads to, ~rho_0^((a-1)/2) (_{free})^((1+a)/2), an
equation that predicts a smooth interpolation between single file diffusion and
free particle diffusion depending on the particles' density law, and holds for
any underlying dynamics. In particular, ~t^((1+a)/2) for normal diffusion,
with a Gaussian PDF in space for any value of a (deduced by a complementary
analysis), and, ~t^((beta(1+a))/2), for anomalous diffusion in which the
system's particles all have the same power-law waiting time PDF for individual
events, psi~t^(-1-beta), 0<beta<1. Our analysis shows that the scaling
~t^(1/2) in a 'standard' single file is a direct result of the fixed
particles' density condition imposed on the system, a=0
Asteroids' physical models from combined dense and sparse photometry and scaling of the YORP effect by the observed obliquity distribution
The larger number of models of asteroid shapes and their rotational states
derived by the lightcurve inversion give us better insight into both the nature
of individual objects and the whole asteroid population. With a larger
statistical sample we can study the physical properties of asteroid
populations, such as main-belt asteroids or individual asteroid families, in
more detail. Shape models can also be used in combination with other types of
observational data (IR, adaptive optics images, stellar occultations), e.g., to
determine sizes and thermal properties. We use all available photometric data
of asteroids to derive their physical models by the lightcurve inversion method
and compare the observed pole latitude distributions of all asteroids with
known convex shape models with the simulated pole latitude distributions. We
used classical dense photometric lightcurves from several sources and
sparse-in-time photometry from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff,
Catalina Sky Survey, and La Palma surveys (IAU codes 689, 703, 950) in the
lightcurve inversion method to determine asteroid convex models and their
rotational states. We also extended a simple dynamical model for the spin
evolution of asteroids used in our previous paper. We present 119 new asteroid
models derived from combined dense and sparse-in-time photometry. We discuss
the reliability of asteroid shape models derived only from Catalina Sky Survey
data (IAU code 703) and present 20 such models. By using different values for a
scaling parameter cYORP (corresponds to the magnitude of the YORP momentum) in
the dynamical model for the spin evolution and by comparing synthetics and
observed pole-latitude distributions, we were able to constrain the typical
values of the cYORP parameter as between 0.05 and 0.6.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, January 15, 201
Noninferiority of Preservative-free Versus BAK-preserved Latanoprost-timolol Fixed Combination Eye Drops in Patients With Open-angle Glaucoma or Ocular Hypertension
Précis: Noninferiority of efficacy was demonstrated for a preservative-free latanoprost-timolol fixed combination compared with a BAK-containing formulation at 84 days after treatment in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect on intraocular pressure and safety of preservative-free latanoprost-timolol fixed combination (T2347) to benzalkonium chloride-preserved latanoprost-timolol fixed combination in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Methods: Phase III, randomized, parallel-group, investigator-masked study in 10 countries. A total of 242 patients aged 18 years or older with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension in both eyes controlled with a preserved latanoprost-timolol fixed combination (15.7±2.4 mm Hg overall before inclusion) were randomized at day 0 with no washout period to receive the preservative-free alternative T2347 (N=127) or remain on the preserved comparator (N=115) for 84 days. Intraocular pressure changes from day 0 were measured at 9:00 am (±1 hour) on day 42 and day 84, and noninferiority of T2347 to the preserved comparator was analyzed statistically at day 84. Safety parameters were also reported.
Results: The mean change in intraocular pressure from baseline to day 84 was -0.49±1.80 mm Hg for preservative-free T2347 and -0.49±2.25 mm Hg for the preserved comparator. These results met the noninferiority limits. Similar results were observed at day 42. There was no difference between groups in the incidence of adverse events or ocular signs. The total ocular symptoms score was better for T2347 than BPLT upon instillation at day 84 (45.9%/44.3%/9.8% of patients with improvement/no change/worsening vs. 33.6%/47.3%/19.1%; P=0.021), reflecting improvements in individual symptoms such as irritation/burning/stinging (P<0.001), and itching (P<0.01) on day 84.
Conclusions: Preservative-free latanoprost-timolol fixed combination T2347 showed noninferior efficacy compared with the preserved comparator and was well tolerated
Geodesics and the competition interface for the corner growth model
We study the directed last-passage percolation model on the planar square lattice with nearest-neighbor steps and general i.i.d. weights on the vertices, out- side of the class of exactly solvable models. Stationary cocycles are constructed for this percolation model from queueing fixed points. These cocycles serve as bound- ary conditions for stationary last-passage percolation, solve variational formulas that characterize limit shapes, and yield existence of Busemann functions in directions where the shape has some regularity. In a sequel to this paper the cocycles are used to prove results about semi-infinite geodesics and the competition interface
DNA repair capacity as a possible biomarker of breast cancer risk in female BRCA1 mutation carriers
The BRCA1 gene product helps to maintain genomic integrity through its participation in the cellular response to DNA damage: specifically, the repair of double-stranded DNA breaks. An impaired cellular response to DNA damage is a plausible mechanism whereby BRCA1 mutation carriers are at increased risk of breast cancer. Hence, an individual's capacity to repair DNA may serve as a useful biomarker of breast cancer risk. The overall aim of the current study was to identify a biomarker of DNA repair capacity that could distinguish between BRCA1 mutation carriers and non-carriers. DNA repair capacity was assessed using three validated assays: the single-cell alkaline gel electrophoresis (comet) assay, the micronucleus test, and the enumeration of Îł-H2AX nuclear foci. DNA repair capacity of peripheral blood lymphocytes from 25 cancer-free female heterozygous BRCA1 mutation carriers and 25 non-carrier controls was assessed at baseline and following cell exposure to Îł â irradiation (2âGy). We found no significant differences in the mean tail moment, in the number of micronuclei or in the number of Îł-H2AX nuclear foci between the carriers and non-carriers at baseline, and following Îł-irradiation. These data suggest that these assays are not likely to be useful in the identification of women at a high risk for breast cancer
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