281 research outputs found
Polymer Adsorption on Curved Surfaces: Finite chain length corrections
The structural properties of polymers adsorbed onto a surface have been
widely investigated using self-consistent mean-field theories. Recently,
analytical mean-field theories have been applied to study polymer adsorption on
curved surfaces but all in the context of the ground state dominance
approximation in which the polymer chain length (N) is essentially infinite.
Using an expression for the free energy by Semenov, we determine leading order
(in 1/N) corrections due to the finiteness of the polymer chain length on
surface tension, spontaneous curvature, and rigidity constants.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Macromolecule
Density Functional Theory of a Curved Liquid-Vapour Interface: Evaluation of the rigidity constants
It is argued that to arrive at a quantitative description of the surface
tension of a liquid drop as a function of its inverse radius, it is necessary
to include the bending rigidity k and Gaussian rigidity k_bar in its
description. New formulas for k and k_bar in the context of density functional
theory with a non-local, integral expression for the interaction between
molecules are presented. These expressions are used to investigate the
influence of the choice of Gibbs dividing surface and it is shown that for a
one-component system, the equimolar surface has a special status in the sense
that both k and k_bar are then the least sensitive to a change in the location
of the dividing surface. Furthermore, the equimolar value for k corresponds to
its maximum value and the equimolar value for k_bar corresponds to its minimum
value. An explicit evaluation using a short-ranged interaction potential
between molecules, shows that k is negative with a value around minus 0.5-1.0
kT and that k_bar is positive with a value which is a bit more than half the
magnitude of k. Finally, for dispersion forces between molecules, we show that
a term proportional to log(R)/R^2 replaces the rigidity constants and we
determine the (universal) proportionality constants.Comment: 28 pages; 5 figures; accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Condens.
Matter (2013
Tension, rigidity and preferential curvature of interfaces between coexisting polymer solutions
The properties of the interface in a phase-separated solution of polymers
with different degrees of polymerization and Kuhn segment lengths are
calculated. The starting point is the planar interface, the profile of which is
calculated in the so-called 'blob model', which incorporates the solvent in an
implicit way. The next step is the study of a metastable droplet phase formed
by imposing a chemical potential different from that at coexistence. The
pressure difference across the curved interface, which corresponds to this
higher chemical potential, is used to calculate the curvature properties of the
droplet. Interfacial tensions, Tolman lengths and rigidities are calculated and
used for predictions for a realistic experimental case. The results suggest
that interfaces between phase-separated solutions of polymers exhibit, in
general, a preferential curvature, which stabilizes droplets of low molecular
mass polymer in a high molecular mass macroscopic phase.Comment: 21 pages; 8 figures; accepted for publication in Macromolecule
Geometry of lipid vesicle adhesion
The adhesion of a lipid membrane vesicle to a fixed substrate is examined
from a geometrical point of view. This vesicle is described by the Helfrich
hamiltonian quadratic in mean curvature; it interacts by contact with the
substrate, with an interaction energy proportional to the area of contact. We
identify the constraints on the geometry at the boundary of the shared surface.
The result is interpreted in terms of the balance of the force normal to this
boundary. No assumptions are made either on the symmetry of the vesicle or on
that of the substrate. The strong bonding limit as well as the effect of
curvature asymmetry on the boundary are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, some major changes in sections III and IV, version published
in Physical Review
Molecular Dynamics Study of the Nematic-Isotropic Interface
We present large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of a nematic-isotropic
interface in a system of repulsive ellipsoidal molecules, focusing in
particular on the capillary wave fluctuations of the interfacial position. The
interface anchors the nematic phase in a planar way, i.e., the director aligns
parallel to the interface. Capillary waves in the direction parallel and
perpendicular to the director are considered separately. We find that the
spectrum is anisotropic, the amplitudes of capillary waves being larger in the
direction perpendicular to the director. In the long wavelength limit, however,
the spectrum becomes isotropic and compares well with the predictions of a
simple capillary wave theory.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.
Behavioural and physiological consequences of acute social defeat in growing gilts: effects of the social environment
Endocrine, behavioural and immunologic processes, together with body growth, were evaluated in gilts that were defeated at 10 weeks of age in resident-intruder tests. Immediately after defeat, gilts were either separated from or reunited with a familiar conspecific (litter-mate; always a barrow). Gilts were assigned to one of four treatments: (a) DI: defeat, followed by isolation (separation from original litter-mate; n=8); (b) I: no defeat, isolation (control group; n=9); (c) DP; defeat, followed by pair-housing (reunion with original litter-mate; n=8); and (d) P: no defeat, pair-housing (control group; n=8). The following general conclusions were derived: (1) social defeat caused pronounced short-term elevations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-adrenal medullary activities, and of prolactin levels. Moreover, as soon as 1 h after defeat, percentages of blood lymphocytes and neutrophilic granulocytes were, respectively, decreased and increased; (2) social defeat had some long-lasting influence on behaviour and physiology, but isolation predominantly determined responses in the longer term. Defeat, as well as isolation, resulted in increased cardiovascular activities compared to P controls, as observed in a novel object test (NOT: +7 days) and an aversion test (AVT: +14 days). Moreover, defeated as well as isolated gilts did not habituate to a repeated novel environment test (NET: -7, +2 and +7 days) in terms of frequencies of vocalising, whereas P controls did. Isolation, through the separation from any other pig, was responsible for the other observed long-term characteristics, which developed progressively. Isolated gilts showed high mobilities and high cortisol responses in the repeated NET (+7 days), not being habituated. This contrasted the reactions of pair-housed gilts, which were much reduced. In addition to their high cardiovascular activities in the NOT and the AVT, isolated gilts also displayed higher heart rates in the repeated NET and during human presence following the NOT, compared to pair-housed gilts. Finally, isolated gilts were more inhibited to approach a novel object (in the NOT) than pair-housed pigs; and (3) stress responses of defeated gilts were modulated by the subsequent social environment. Stimulation of the HPA-axis (plasma- and salivary cortisol) was prolonged in those defeated gilts which were isolated (observed in the first hour). Changes in leucocyte subsets were still observed after 3 days in DI, but were `normalised' within 1 day in DP gilts. Two days after defeat, habituation to the repeated NET in terms of mobility and salivary cortisol responses occurred in control and DP gilts, but not in DI gilts. We argue that these effects of the social environment shortly after defeat were related to a stress-reducing effect of a stable social relationship, i.e. social support.
Good Random Matrices over Finite Fields
The random matrix uniformly distributed over the set of all m-by-n matrices
over a finite field plays an important role in many branches of information
theory. In this paper a generalization of this random matrix, called k-good
random matrices, is studied. It is shown that a k-good random m-by-n matrix
with a distribution of minimum support size is uniformly distributed over a
maximum-rank-distance (MRD) code of minimum rank distance min{m,n}-k+1, and
vice versa. Further examples of k-good random matrices are derived from
homogeneous weights on matrix modules. Several applications of k-good random
matrices are given, establishing links with some well-known combinatorial
problems. Finally, the related combinatorial concept of a k-dense set of m-by-n
matrices is studied, identifying such sets as blocking sets with respect to
(m-k)-dimensional flats in a certain m-by-n matrix geometry and determining
their minimum size in special cases.Comment: 25 pages, publishe
Surface induced disorder in body-centered cubic alloys
We present Monte Carlo simulations of surface induced disordering in a model
of a binary alloy on a bcc lattice which undergoes a first order bulk
transition from the ordered DO3 phase to the disordered A2 phase. The data are
analyzed in terms of an effective interface Hamiltonian for a system with
several order parameters in the framework of the linear renormalization
approach due to Brezin, Halperin and Leibler. We show that the model provides a
good description of the system in the vicinity of the interface. In particular,
we recover the logarithmic divergence of the thickness of the disordered layer
as the bulk transition is approached, we calculate the critical behavior of the
maxima of the layer susceptibilities, and demonstrate that it is in reasonable
agreement with the simulation data. Directly at the (110) surface, the theory
predicts that all order parameters vanish continuously at the surface with a
nonuniversal, but common critical exponent. However, we find different
exponents for the order parameter of the DO3 phase and the order parameter of
the B2 phase. Using the effective interface model, we derive the finite size
scaling function for the surface order parameter and show that the theory
accounts well for the finite size behavior of the DO3 ordering but not for that
of B2 ordering. The situation is even more complicated in the neighborhood of
the (100) surface, due to the presence of an ordering field which couples to
the B2 order.Comment: To appear in Physical Review
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