131 research outputs found
Implications of the Babinet Principle for Casimir Interactions
We formulate the Babinet Principle (BP) as a relation between the scattering
amplitudes for electromagnetic waves, and combine it with multiple scattering
techniques to derive new properties of Casimir forces. We show that the Casimir
force exerted by a planar conductor or dielectric on a self- complementary
perforated planar mirror is approximately half that on a uniform mirror
independent of the distance between them. The BP suggests that Casimir edge
effects are anomalously small, supporting results obtained earlier in special
cases. Finally, we illustrate how the BP can be used to estimate Casimir forces
between perforated planar mirrors
L’hemorragie grave du peripartum en milieu de reanimation dans un centre universitaire tunisien de niveau 3: épidémiologie et facteurs de risque de mortalité maternelle
L'hémorragie grave du péripartum demeure une des causes principales de mortalité maternelle. L'objectif de notre étude était de décrire le profil épidémiologique des patientes qui ont été prises en charge en milieu de réanimation suite à une hémorragie grave du péripartum et de rechercher d'éventuels facteurs de risque de mortalité. Notre étude est rétrospective descriptive et analytique. Nous avons inclus tous les cas d'hémorragie du péripartum ayant séjourné en unité de réanimation obstétricale du centre de maternité et de néonatologie de Tunis (CMNT) au cours de la période allant de janvier 2010 à Décembre 2013. Nous avons recueilli les paramètres démographiques, obstétricaux, ceux relatifs à la prise en charge chirurgicale et réanimatoire, les scores de gravité SAPS obstétrical et APACHEII, ainsi que la morbi-mortalité. Au total nous avons colligé 322 cas sur quatre ans. La répartition annuelle des patientes ainsi que les caractéristiques démographiques et obstétricales étaient comparables dans leur globalité sur les quatre années. Les pratiques thérapeutiques étaient également comparables. Le taux global de mortalité par hémorragie dans notre unité était à 4,7%, avec un taux annuel de mortalité stable. L'analyse des facteurs de risque de mortalité par hémorragie en milieu de réanimation a montré une association statistiquement significative entre la survenue du décès et les facteurs suivants : recours aux catécholamines, survenue de sepsis, oedème pulmonaire aigu, coagulation intravasculaire disséminée, insuffisance rénale aigue avec recours à l'hémodialyse, SDRA ou TRALI, atteinte neurologique grave, défaillance multiviscérale et arrêt cardiaque récupéré
Spontaneous emission by rotating objects: A scattering approach
We study the quantum electrodynamics (QED) vacuum in the presence of a body
rotating along its axis of symmetry and show that the object spontaneously
emits energy if it is lossy. The radiated power is expressed as a general trace
formula solely in terms of the scattering matrix, making an explicit connection
to the conjecture of Zel'dovich [JETP Lett. 14, 180 (1971)] on rotating
objects. We further show that a rotating body drags along nearby objects while
making them spin parallel to its own rotation axis
A diagrammatic expansion of the Casimir energy in multiple reflections: theory and applications
We develop a diagrammatic representation of the Casimir energy of a multibody
configuration. The diagrams represent multiple reflections between the objects
and can be organized by a few simple rules. The lowest-order diagrams (or
reflections) give the main contribution to the Casimir interaction which proves
the usefulness of this expansion. Among some applications of this, we find
analytical formulae describing the interaction between "edges", i.e.
semi-infinite plates, where we also give a first example of blocking in the
context of the Casimir energy. We also find the interaction of edges with a
needle and describe analytically a recent model of the repulsion due to the
Casimir interaction
Polymer-mediated entropic forces between scale-free objects
The number of configurations of a polymer is reduced in the presence of a
barrier or an obstacle. The resulting loss of entropy adds a repulsive
component to other forces generated by interaction potentials. When the
obstructions are scale invariant shapes (such as cones, wedges, lines or
planes) the only relevant length scales are the polymer size R_0 and
characteristic separations, severely constraining the functional form of
entropic forces. Specifically, we consider a polymer (single strand or star)
attached to the tip of a cone, at a separation h from a surface (or another
cone). At close proximity, such that h<<R_0, separation is the only remaining
relevant scale and the entropic force must take the form F=AkT/h. The amplitude
A is universal, and can be related to exponents \eta governing the anomalous
scaling of polymer correlations in the presence of obstacles. We use
analytical, numerical and epsilon-expansion techniques to compute the exponent
\eta for a polymer attached to the tip of the cone (with or without an
additional plate or cone) for ideal and self-avoiding polymers. The entropic
force is of the order of 0.1 pN at 0.1 micron for a single polymer, and can be
increased for a star polymer.Comment: LaTeX, 15 pages, 4 eps figure
Casimir effect: Edges and diffraction
The Casimir effect refers to the existence of a macroscopic force between
conducting plates in vacuum due to quantum fluctuations of fields. These forces
play an important role, among other things, in the design of nano-scale
mechanical devices. Accurate experimental observations of this phenomenon have
motivated the development of new theoretical approaches in dealing with the
effects of different geometries, temperature etc. In this talk, I will focus on
a new method we have developed in calculating the contribution to the Casimir
effect due to diffraction from edges and holes in different geometries, at zero
and at finite temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. Talk at the QTS7 conference, Prague, 2011; to
appear in the proceeding
Enhancing the cellular uptake and antibacterial activity of rifampicin through encapsulation in mesoporous silica nanoparticles
An urgent demand exists for the development of novel delivery systems that efficiently transport antibacterial agents across cellular membranes for the eradication of intracellular pathogens. In this study, the clinically relevant poorly water-soluble antibiotic, rifampicin, was confined within mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) to investigate their ability to serve as an efficacious nanocarrier system against small colony variants of Staphylococcus aureus (SCV S. aureus) hosted within Caco-2 cells. The surface chemistry and particle size of MSN were varied through modifications during synthesis, where 40 nm particles with high silanol group densities promoted enhanced cellular uptake. Extensive biophysical analysis was performed, using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, to elucidate the mechanism of MSN adsorption onto semi-native supported lipid bilayers (snSLB) and, thus, uncover potential cellular uptake mechanisms of MSN into Caco-2 cells. Such studies revealed that MSN with reduced silanol group densities were prone to greater particle aggregation on snSLB, which was expected to restrict endocytosis. MSN adsorption and uptake into Caco-2 cells correlated well with antibacterial efficacy against SCV S. aureus, with 40 nm hydrophilic particles triggering a ~2.5-log greater reduction in colony forming units, compared to the pure rifampicin. Thus, this study provides evidence for the potential to design silica nanocarrier systems with controlled surface chemistries that can be used to re-sensitise intracellular bacteria to antibiotics by delivering them to the site of infection
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