A thin film model for corotational Jeffreys fluids under strong slip

We derive a thin film model for viscoelastic liquids under strong slip which obey the stress tensor dynamics of corotational Jeffreys fluids.Comment: 3 pages, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Slip vs viscoelasticity in dewetting thin films

Ultrathin polymer films on non-wettable substrates display dynamic features which have been attributed to either viscoelastic or slip effects. Here we show that in the weak and strong slip regime effects of viscoelastic relaxation are either absent or not distinguishable from slip effects. Strong-slip modifies the fastest unstable mode in a rupturing thin film, which questions the standard approach to reconstruct the effective interface potential from dewetting experiments.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Human pharmacokinetics and CSF penetration of clavulanic acid

Clavulanic acid, a product of Streptomyces clavuligerus with β-lactam structure, is a potent inhibitor of several β-lactamases. To study its pharmacokinetic and CSF penetration in patients without meningeal inflammation, a single oral dose of 250 mg of clavulanic acid was given to 21 patients. One patient was studied in a multiple dose schedule. Fifteen of these 21 patients had a diagnostic lumbar puncture and 3 neurosurgical patients had a continuous CSF drainage. Serum and urine concentrations of clavulanic acid were available from 22 patients. The mean peak serum concentration was 4·3 mg/l and individual peak serum concentrations ranged from 0·1-9·5 mg/i between 40 and 60 mm after ingestion of clavulanic acid. Urinary recovery between 300 and 400 mm ranged from 0·8-54·3% of the administered dose. The mean absorption half life was 0·26 h and the mean elimination half life was 0·9 h. Considerable degradation of clavulanic acid occurred in vitro at 37°C. In pooled human serum, phosphate buffer pH 7 and 5, an hourly loss of activity of about 10, 7 and 10% respectively, was observe

The 89,000-Mr murine cytomegalovirus immediate-early protein activates gene transcription

To study trans-activation of gene expression by murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) immediate-early (IE) proteins, the IE coding region 1 (ie1), which encodes the 89,000-Mr IE phosphoprotein (pp89), was stably introduced into L cells. A cell line was selected and characterized that efficiently expressed the authentic viral protein. The pp89 that was constitutively expressed in L cells stimulated the expression of transfected recombinant constructs containing the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene under the control of viral promoters. The regulatory function of the ie1 product was confirmed by transient expression assays in which MCMV IE genes were cotransfected into L cells together with recombinant constructs of the CAT gene. For CAT activation by the ie1 product, a promoter region was required, but there was no preferential activation of a herpes simplex virus type 1 delayed-early promoter. All plasmid constructs that contained the intact coding sequences for pp89 induced gene expression in trans. The MCMV enhancer region was not essential for the expression of a functional IE gene product, and testing of the cis-regulatory activity of the MCMV enhancer revealed a low activity in L cells. Another region transcribed at IE times of infection, IE coding region 2, was unable to induce CAT expression and also did not augment the functional activity of ie1 after cotransfection

The structure of a dewetting rim with strong slip: the long-time evolution

When a thin viscous film dewets from a solid substrate, the liquid forms a characteristic rim near the contact line as the contact line retracts. The shape of the rim and also the retraction rate vary strongly with the amount of slip that occurs at the liquid-solid substrate. If the slip length is very large compared to the thickness of the film, extensional stresses dominate the shear stresses, and the film evolution can be modelled by a thin-film model similar to the ones that occur in freely suspended films, with a correction from the viscous friction due to the large but finite slip. Asymptotic investigation of this model reveals that the rim has an amazingly rich asymptotic structure that moreover changes as the solution passes through four distinct time regimes. This paper continues previous work that focused on the first of these regimes [Evans, King, Münch, AMRX 2006:25262, 2006]. The structure of the solution is analyzed in detail via matched asymptotics and then the predictions for the contact line and profile evolution are compared with numerical results

Linear stability of a ridge

We investigate the stability of the three-phase contact-line of a thin liquid ridge on a hydrophobic substrate for flow driven by surface tension and van der Waals forces. We study the role of slippage in the emerging instability at the three-phase contact-line by comparing the lubrication models for no-slip and slip-dominated conditions at the liquid/substrate interface. For both cases we derive a sharp-interface model via matched asymptotic expansions and derive the eigenvalues from a linear stability analysis of the respective reduced models. We compare our asymptotic results with the eigenvalues obtained numerically for the full lubrication models

Linear stability analysis of a sharp-interface model for dewetting thin films

The topic of this study concerns the stability of the three-phase contact-line of a dewetting thin liquid film on a hydrophobised substrate driven by van der Waals forces. The role of slippage in the emerging instability at the three-phase contact-line is studied by deriving a sharp-interface model for the dewetting thin film via matched asymptotic expansions. This allows for a derivation of travelling waves and their linear stability via eigenmode analysis. In contrast to the dispersion relations typically encountered for the finger-instabilty, where the dependence of the growth rate on the wave number is quadratic, here it is linear. Using the separation of time scales of the slowly growing rim of the dewetting film and time scale on which the contact line destabilises, the sharp-interface results are compared to earlier results for the full lubrication model and good agreement for the most unstable modes is obtained

Intermediate-asymptotic structure of a dewetting rim with strong slip

When a thin viscous liquid film dewets, it typically forms a rim which spreads outwards, leaving behind a growing dry region. We consider the dewetting behaviour of a film, when there is strong slip at a liquid-substrate interface. The film can be modelled by two coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) describing the film thickness and velocity. Using asymptotic methods, we describe the structure of the rim as it evolves in time, and the rate of dewetting, in the limit of large slip lengths. An inner region emerges, closest to the dewetted region, where surface tension is important; in an outer region, three subregions develop. This asymptotic description is compared with numerical solutions of the full system of PDEs

Slip-controlled thin film dynamics

In this study, we present a novel method to assess the slip length and the viscosity of thin films of highly viscous Newtonian liquids. We quantitatively analyse dewetting fronts of low molecular weight polystyrene melts on Octadecyl- (OTS) and Dodecyltrichlorosilane (DTS) polymer brushes. Using a thin film (lubrication) model derived in the limit of large slip lengths, we can extract slip length and viscosity. We study polymer films with thicknesses between 50 nm and 230 nm and various temperatures above the glass transition. We find slip lengths from 100 nm up to 1 micron on OTS and between 300 nm and 10 microns on DTS covered silicon wafers. The slip length decreases with temperature. The obtained values for the viscosity are consistent with independent measurements.Comment: 4 figure

A statistical procedure to adjust for time-interval mismatch in forensic voice comparison

The present paper describes a statistical modeling procedure that was developed to account for the fact that, in a forensic voice comparison analysis conducted for a particular case, there was a long time interval between when the questioned- and known-speaker recordings were made (six years), but in the sample of the relevant population used for training and testing the forensic voice comparison system there was a short interval (hours to days) between when each of multiple recordings of each speaker was made. The present paper also includes results of empirical validation of the procedure. Although based on a particular case, the procedure has potential for wider application given that relatively long time intervals between the recording of questioned and known speakers are not uncommon in casework