156 research outputs found
Hydrodynamic bubble coarsening in off-critical vapour-liquid phase separation
Late-stage coarsening in off-critical vapour-liquid phase separation is
re-examined. In the limit of bubbles of vapour distributed throughout a
continuous liquid phase, it is argued that coarsening proceeds via inertial
hydrodynamic bubble collapse. This replaces the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner
mechanism seen in binary liquid mixtures. The arguments are strongly supported
by simulations in two dimensions using a novel single-component soft sphere
fluid.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, revtex3.
Evaluation of supramolecular complex of fenbendazole effect on embryonic development
The purpose of the research is to study the embryotropic effect of supramolecular complex of fenbendazole (SMСF).Materials and methods. The experiment to assess the embryotropic properties of SMCF was carried out on 40 white female and 20 male rats in accordance with the Guidelines for the experimental (preclinical) study of new pharmacological substances. Pregnant female rats were divided into 3 experimental and one control groups. SMCF was administered intragastrically on the 1–6 days of embryogenesis (group 1); on the 7–14 days (group 2) and on the 15–19 days (group 3) in three times therapeutic dose – 6,0 mg/kg of active substance. The animals of the control group received saline from the first to the 19th days of pregnancy. Rats were euthanized on the 20th day of pregnancy. The uterus with fetuses was removed after laparotomy, the number of corpora lutea, implantation sites, the number of living, dead and resorbed fetuses were recorded, the weight and diameter of the placenta were determined. The embryos were examined, weighed, the craniocaudal sizes were determined, the levels of total embryonic, preimplantation and postimplantation embryo death were calculated. The fetuses were examined for abnormalities of internal organs and changes in the skeletal system according to the methods of J. G. Wilson (1965) and A. B. Dawson (1926), modified in the department of embryology of the IEM of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences.Results and discussion. As a result, SMCF does not induce toxic effects on the fetus: mortality rates, size and weight of embryos were at the level of the control group in a threefold therapeutic dose 6,0 mg/kg at intragastric administration on the 1–6; 7–14 and 15–19 days of pregnancy. SMCF did not cause external and internal malformations
Effects of <i>Trichinella spiralis</i> and <i>Echinococcus multilocularis</i> extracts after single and multiple injections on mitosis and hematological and biochemical parameters of mice
The purpose of the research is to study effects of Trichinella spiralis and Echinococcus multilocularis extracts on mitosis in a bone marrow cell population, and on hematological and biochemical blood parameters of mice after single and multiple intraperitoneal injections.Materials and methods. The experiment was conducted on outbred male mice. The T. spiralis and E. multilocularis extracts were administered intraperitoneally once or multiple times daily for 10 days at a dose of 80 μg/mouse. Bone marrow cell isolation, microscopic preparations, mitotic index and individual stage determination were made as described in the literature (Ford C. E., Hamerton J. L., 1956). The mouse main peripheral blood parameters were determined with a MicroCC-20 Plus hematological analyzer, and the leucogram was determined by a conventional method. Biochemical blood parameters of the mice were determined with a Clima MC-15 analyzer.Results and discussion. The T. spiralis and E. multilocularis extracts after a single intraperitoneal injection at a dose of 80 μg/ mouse had a pronounced negative effect on the mouse bone marrow cell mitosis with the cell division terminated in the metaphase and a decreased proportion of other mitosis stages. Characteristics were detected of the effects made by the T. spiralis and E. multilocularis extracts on the mouse bone marrow cell mitosis after multiple administration for 10 days. In the reinjection mode of the test extracts to the mice, hematological and biochemical parameters did not change
Towards Better Integrators for Dissipative Particle Dynamics Simulations
Coarse-grained models that preserve hydrodynamics provide a natural approach
to study collective properties of soft-matter systems. Here, we demonstrate
that commonly used integration schemes in dissipative particle dynamics give
rise to pronounced artifacts in physical quantities such as the compressibility
and the diffusion coefficient. We assess the quality of these integration
schemes, including variants based on a recently suggested self-consistent
approach, and examine their relative performance. Implications of
integrator-induced effects are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
E (Rapid Communication), tentative publication issue: 01 Dec 200
Spinodal decomposition of off-critical quenches with a viscous phase using dissipative particle dynamics in two and three spatial dimensions
We investigate the domain growth and phase separation of
hydrodynamically-correct binary immiscible fluids of differing viscosity as a
function of minority phase concentration in both two and three spatial
dimensions using dissipative particle dynamics. We also examine the behavior of
equal-viscosity fluids and compare our results to similar lattice-gas
simulations in two dimensions.Comment: 34 pages (11 figures); accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Spin-Hall effect and spin-Coulomb drag in doped semiconductors
In this review, we describe in detail two important spin-transport phenomena:
the extrinsic spin-Hall effect (coming from spin-orbit interactions between
electrons and impurities) and the spin-Coulomb drag. The interplay of these two
phenomena is analyzed. In particular, we discuss the influence of scattering
between electrons with opposite spins on the spin current and the spin
accumulation produced by the spin-Hall effect. Future challenges and open
questions are briefly discussed.Comment: Topical revie
Affine and toric hyperplane arrangements
We extend the Billera-Ehrenborg-Readdy map between the intersection lattice
and face lattice of a central hyperplane arrangement to affine and toric
hyperplane arrangements. For arrangements on the torus, we also generalize
Zaslavsky's fundamental results on the number of regions.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figure
Three-dimensional lattice-Boltzmann simulations of critical spinodal decomposition in binary immiscible fluids
We use a modified Shan-Chen, noiseless lattice-BGK model for binary
immiscible, incompressible, athermal fluids in three dimensions to simulate the
coarsening of domains following a deep quench below the spinodal point from a
symmetric and homogeneous mixture into a two-phase configuration. We find the
average domain size growing with time as , where increases
in the range , consistent with a crossover between
diffusive and hydrodynamic viscous, , behaviour. We find
good collapse onto a single scaling function, yet the domain growth exponents
differ from others' works' for similar values of the unique characteristic
length and time that can be constructed out of the fluid's parameters. This
rebuts claims of universality for the dynamical scaling hypothesis. At early
times, we also find a crossover from to in the scaled structure
function, which disappears when the dynamical scaling reasonably improves at
later times. This excludes noise as the cause for a behaviour, as
proposed by others. We also observe exponential temporal growth of the
structure function during the initial stages of the dynamics and for
wavenumbers less than a threshold value.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
The Quantum Spin Hall Effect: Theory and Experiment
The search for topologically non-trivial states of matter has become an
important goal for condensed matter physics. Recently, a new class of
topological insulators has been proposed. These topological insulators have an
insulating gap in the bulk, but have topologically protected edge states due to
the time reversal symmetry. In two dimensions the helical edge states give rise
to the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect, in the absence of any external magnetic
field. Here we review a recent theory which predicts that the QSH state can be
realized in HgTe/CdTe semiconductor quantum wells. By varying the thickness of
the quantum well, the band structure changes from a normal to an "inverted"
type at a critical thickness . We present an analytical solution of the
helical edge states and explicitly demonstrate their topological stability. We
also review the recent experimental observation of the QSH state in
HgTe/(Hg,Cd)Te quantum wells. We review both the fabrication of the sample and
the experimental setup. For thin quantum wells with well width
nm, the insulating regime shows the conventional behavior of vanishingly small
conductance at low temperature. However, for thicker quantum wells ( nm), the nominally insulating regime shows a plateau of residual
conductance close to . The residual conductance is independent of the
sample width, indicating that it is caused by edge states. Furthermore, the
residual conductance is destroyed by a small external magnetic field. The
quantum phase transition at the critical thickness, nm, is also
independently determined from the occurrence of a magnetic field induced
insulator to metal transition.Comment: Invited review article for special issue of JPSJ, 32 pages. For
higher resolution figures see official online version when publishe
Reliability and validity of PedsQL for Portuguese children aged 5–7 and 8–12 years
BACKGROUND: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a measure to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents. It is formed by 23 items adapted to children age and includes a parent proxy report version. With four multidimensional subscales and three summary scores, it measures health as defined by WHO. The concepts measured by this instrument are ‘physical functioning’ (8 items), ‘emotional functioning’ (5 items), ‘social functioning’ (5 items) and ‘school functioning’ (5 items). It also measures a ‘total scale score’ (23 items), a ‘physical health summary score’ (8 items) and a ‘psychosocial health summary score’ (15 items). The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the cultural adaptation and validation of the PedsQL into European Portuguese. METHODS: The Portuguese version was the result of a forward-backward translation process, with a cognitive debriefing analysis, guaranteeing face validity and semantic equivalence. Children aged 5–7 and 8–12 were randomly selected and were asked to fill a socio-demographic data survey and the Portuguese versions of PedsQL and KINDL, another HRQoL measure for children and adolescents. They were divided into three groups, healthy children, children with type I diabetes and children with spina bifida. The reliability was tested for reproducibility (ICC) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha). The construct validity (known-groups discriminant validity) was supported by differences between self-reports from healthy children and children with chronic conditions, and from children with chronic diseases and their parents. The criterion validity was tested after the correlations of the scores obtained by both children and adolescents HRQoL assessment instruments. RESULTS: A total of 179 children and 97 parents were recruited. PedsQL demonstrated good levels of reproducibility (r > 0.95 in all versions) and acceptable levels of internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha at 0.70 on most scales. Concordance values between children’s and parents’ perceptions ranged between 0.36 and 0.78 and the correlations with KINDL questionnaire were excellent, supporting concurrent validity. CONCLUSIONS: The Portuguese version of the PedsQL demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties for future research and clinical practice for children aged 5–12
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