17 research outputs found
Efficiency of a thermodynamic motor at maximum power
Several recent theories address the efficiency of a macroscopic thermodynamic
motor at maximum power and question the so-called "Curzon-Ahlborn (CA)
efficiency." Considering the entropy exchanges and productions in an n-sources
motor, we study the maximization of its power and show that the controversies
are partly due to some imprecision in the maximization variables. When power is
maximized with respect to the system temperatures, these temperatures are
proportional to the square root of the corresponding source temperatures, which
leads to the CA formula for a bi-thermal motor. On the other hand, when power
is maximized with respect to the transitions durations, the Carnot efficiency
of a bi-thermal motor admits the CA efficiency as a lower bound, which is
attained if the duration of the adiabatic transitions can be neglected.
Additionally, we compute the energetic efficiency, or "sustainable efficiency,"
which can be defined for n sources, and we show that it has no other universal
upper bound than 1, but that in certain situations, favorable for power
production, it does not exceed 1/2
Theory of magnetic domains in uniaxial thin films
For uniaxial easy axis films, properties of magnetic domains are usually
described within the Kittel model, which assumes that domain walls are much
thinner than the domains. In this work we present a simple model that includes
a proper description of the magnetostatic energy of domains and domain walls
and also takes into account the interaction between both surfaces of the film.
Our model describes the behavior of domain and wall widths as a function of
film thickness, and is especially well suited for the strong stripe phase. We
prove the existence of a critical value of magneto-crystalline anisotropy above
which stripe domains exist for any film thickness and justify our model by
comparison with exact results. The model is in good agreement with experimental
data for hcp cobalt.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure
Generalized quantum potentials in scale relativity
We first recall that the system of fluid mechanics equations (Euler and
continuity) that describes a fluid in irrotational motion subjected to a
generalized quantum potential (in which the constant is no longer reduced to
the standard quantum constant hbar) is equivalent to a generalized Schrodinger
equation. Then we show that, even in the case of the presence of vorticity, it
is also possible to obtain, for a large class of systems, a Schrodinger-like
equation of the vectorial field type from the continuity and Euler equations
including a quantum potential. The same kind of transformation also applies to
a classical charged fluid subjected to an electromagnetic field and to an
additional potential having the form of a quantum potential. Such a fluid can
therefore be described by an equation of the Ginzburg-Landau type, and is
expected to show some superconducting-like properties. Moreover, a Schrodinger
form can be obtained for the fluctuating rotational motion of a solid. In this
case the mass is replaced by the tensor of inertia, and a generalized form of
the quantum potential is derived. We finally reconsider the case of a standard
diffusion process, and we show that, after a change of variable, the diffusion
equation can also be given the form of a continuity and Euler system including
an additional potential energy. Since this potential is exactly the opposite of
a quantum potential, the quantum behavior may be considered, in this context,
as an anti-diffusion.Comment: 33 pages, submitted for publicatio
Tilted Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Spacetimes: Hydrodynamic and Thermodynamic Properties
We consider Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi spacetimes from the point of view of a
tilted observer, i.e. one with respect to which the fluid is radially moving.
The imperfect fluid and the congruence described by its four-velocity, as seen
by the tilted observer is studied in detail. It is shown that from the point of
view of such tilted observer the fluid evolves non-reversibly (i.e. with
non-vanishing rate of entropy production). The non-geodesic character of the
tilted congruence is related to the non-vanishing of the divergence of the
4-vector entropy flow. We determine the factor related to the existence of
energy-density inhomogeneities and describe its evolution, these results are
compared with those obtained for the non-tilted observer. Finally, we exhibit a
peculiar situation where the non-tilted congruence might be unstable.Comment: 11 pages Revtex. Some changes in the text, references updated.
Published in Phys. Rev.
Protein crystals in adenovirus type 5-infected cells: requirements for intranuclear crystallogenesis, structural and functional analysis
Intranuclear crystalline inclusions have been observed in the nucleus of epithelial cells infected with Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) at late steps of the virus life cycle. Using immuno-electron microscopy and confocal microscopy of cells infected with various Ad5 recombinants modified in their penton base or fiber domains, we found that these inclusions represented crystals of penton capsomers, the heteromeric capsid protein formed of penton base and fiber subunits. The occurrence of protein crystals within the nucleus of infected cells required the integrity of the fiber knob and part of the shaft domain. In the knob domain, the region overlapping residues 489–492 in the FG loop was found to be essential for crystal formation. In the shaft, a large deletion of repeats 4 to 16 had no detrimental effect on crystal inclusions, whereas deletion of repeats 8 to 21 abolished crystal formation without altering the level of fiber protein expression. This suggested a crucial role of the five penultimate repeats in the crystallisation process. Chimeric pentons made of Ad5 penton base and fiber domains from different serotypes were analyzed with respect to crystal formation. No crystal was found when fiber consisted of shaft (S) from Ad5 and knob (K) from Ad3 (heterotypic S5-K3 fiber), but occurred with homotypic S3K3 fiber. However, less regular crystals were observed with homotypic S35-K35 fiber. TB5, a monoclonal antibody directed against the Ad5 fiber knob was found by immunofluorescence microscopy to react with high efficiency with the intranuclear protein crystals in situ. Data obtained with Ad fiber mutants indicated that the absence of crystalline inclusions correlated with a lower infectivity and/or lower yields of virus progeny, suggesting that the protein crystals might be involved in virion assembly. Thus, we propose that TB5 staining of Ad-infected 293 cells can be used as a prognostic assay for the viability and productivity of fiber-modified Ad5 vectors
Pratos e mais pratos: louças domésticas, divisões culturais e limites sociais no Rio de Janeiro, século XIX
Reply to ten comments on a paper published in the last issue of this journal. The discussion follows along six main lines: History museums, identity, ideology and the category of nation; the need of material collections and their modalities: patrimonial, operational, virtual; theater versus laboratory; visitors and their ambiguities; Public History: the museum and the academy.Resposta aos comentários de dez especialistas que contribuíram no debate de texto publicado no último número desta revista. A discussão orientou-se segundo seis tópicos principais: museus históricos, identidade, ideologia e a categoria de nação; a necessidade de acervos materiais e suas modalidades: acervo patrimonial, operacional, virtual; teatro versus laboratório; o público e suas ambigüidades; História Pública: o museu e a Academia
Anomalous dependence on the diffusion coefficients of the ionic relaxation time in electrolytes
We show, by using a numerical analysis, that the dynamic toward equilibrium for an electrolytic cell subject to a step-like external electric field is a multirelaxation process when the diffusion coefficients of positive and negative ions are different. By assuming that the diffusion coefficient of positive ions is constant, we observe that the number of involved relaxation processes increases when the diffusion coefficient of the negative ions diminishes. Furthermore, two of the relaxation times depend nonmonotonically on the ratio of the diffusion coefficients. This result is unexpected, because the ionic drift velocity, by means of which the ions move to reach the equilibrium distribution, increases with increasing ionic mobility
Fallstricke bei Verträgen und Prozessen mit Auslandsberührung
Graf v. Westphalen F. Fallstricke bei Verträgen und Prozessen mit Auslandsberührung. Neue juristische Wochenschrift. 1994;47(33):2113-2120