Operation of a perfusive catalytic membrane with nonlinear kinetics

Operation of a perfusive catalytic curved membrane is systematized into different transport-reaction regimes. The internal viscous permeation improves the catalyst performance, measured here by the effectiveness factor and by its enhancement relative to purely diffusive conditions. A theoretical analysis is presented for nonlinear kinetic expressions, which are suitable to describe the consumption of a reactant in many (bio)catalytic systems. The kinetic and transport parameters required to attain maximum enhancement are related by simple design rules, which depend on the form of the reaction rate law (namely on the order of reaction and dimensionless inhibition constant). For zero-order reactions, these optimum conditions correspond to attaining negligible concentration at a position inside the membrane, while may be interpreted in general as separating situations of severe mass transfer resistance from cases of high effectiveness. It is important to incorporate the correct form of the kinetic expression in the analysis, so that the predictions can be used in a quantitative manner. The results for the different regimes are compiled in enhancement plots and in Peclet–Thiele diagrams. Moreover, the study also yielded new results for the nonlinear reaction–diffusion problem in a curved membrane with its two surfaces exposed to different concentrations, a case of relevance in membrane reactors

Noncommutative Geometry and Symplectic Field Theory

In this work we study representations of the Poincare group defined over symplectic manifolds, deriving the Klein-Gordon and the Dirac equation in phase space. The formalism is associated with relativistic Wigner functions; the Noether theorem is derived in phase space and an interacting field, including a gauge field, approach is discussed.Comment: To appear in Physics Letters

Regime mapping and the role of the intermediate region in wall-coated microreactors

Operation of a wall-coated microreactor can occur in several mass transfer-reaction regimes. We define these regimes analytically in several planes of a multi-parametric map, taking into account the different degrees of concentration profile development, as well as the influence of non-unity orders of reaction and reactant inhibition in the kinetic law. It was found that the regions where conversion can be calculated from simplified mass transfer models are not discriminated by common results for entrance-length. We also illustrate the trade-offs that exist across this operating map concerning the catalyst design (costs associated with loading and volume) and overall system performance (evaluated in terms of reactant conversion, flow efficiency and microreactor effectiveness). It is shown that under certain conditions, the existence of moderate mass transfer resistance can be advantageous (even if internal limitations cannot be avoided), clarifying the role of the intermediate transport-reaction region

Non-linear Liouville and Shr\"odinger equations in phase space

Unitary representations of the Galilei group are studied in phase space, in order to describe classical and quantum systems. Conditions to write in general form the generator of time translation and Lagrangians in phase space are then established. In the classical case, Galilean invariance provides conditions for writing the Liouville operator and Lagrangian for non-linear systems. We analyze, as an example, a generalized kinetic equation where the collision term is local and non-linear. The quantum counter-part of such unitary representations are developed by using the Moyal (or star) product. Then a non-linear Schr\"odinger equation in phase space is derived and analyzed. In this case, an association with the Wigner formalism is established, which provides a physical interpretation for the formalism

A quantum-like description of the planetary systems

The Titius-Bode law for planetary distances is reviewed. A model describing the basic features of this rule in the "quantum-like" language of a wave equation is proposed. Some considerations about the 't Hooft idea on the quantum behaviour of deterministic systems with dissipation are discussed.Comment: LaTex file, 17 pages, no figures. Version published in Foundations of Physics, August 200

Determining the density of states for classical statistical models: A random walk algorithm to produce a flat histogram

We describe an efficient Monte Carlo algorithm using a random walk in energy space to obtain a very accurate estimate of the density of states for classical statistical models. The density of states is modified at each step when the energy level is visited to produce a flat histogram. By carefully controlling the modification factor, we allow the density of states to converge to the true value very quickly, even for large systems. This algorithm is especially useful for complex systems with a rough landscape since all possible energy levels are visited with the same probability. In this paper, we apply our algorithm to both 1st and 2nd order phase transitions to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy. We obtained direct simulational estimates for the density of states for two-dimensional ten-state Potts models on lattices up to $200 \times 200$ and Ising models on lattices up to $256 \times 256$. Applying this approach to a 3D $\pm J$ spin glass model we estimate the internal energy and entropy at zero temperature; and, using a two-dimensional random walk in energy and order-parameter space, we obtain the (rough) canonical distribution and energy landscape in order-parameter space. Preliminary data suggest that the glass transition temperature is about 1.2 and that better estimates can be obtained with more extensive application of the method.Comment: 22 pages (figures included

Liver Proteomic Response To Hypertriglyceridemia In Human-apolipoprotein C-iii Transgenic Mice At Cellular And Mitochondrial Compartment Levels

Background: Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is defined as a triglyceride (TG) plasma level exceeding 150 mg/dl and is tightly associated with atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes and acute pancreatitis. The present study was undertaken to investigate the mitochondrial, sub-mitochondrial and cellular proteomic impact of hypertriglyceridemia in the hepatocytes of hypertriglyceridemic transgenic mice (overexpressing the human apolipoproteinC-III). Methods. Quantitative proteomics (2D-DIGE) analysis was carried out on both "low-expressor" (LE) and "high- expressor" (HE) mice, respectively exhibiting moderate and severe HTG, to characterize the effect of the TG plasma level on the proteomic response. Results: The mitoproteome analysis has revealed a large-scale phenomenon in transgenic mice, i.e. a general down-regulation of matricial proteins and up-regulation of inner membrane proteins. These data also demonstrate that the magnitude of proteomic changes strongly depends on the TG plasma level. Our different analyses indicate that, in HE mice, the capacity of several metabolic pathways is altered to promote the availability of acetyl-CoA, glycerol-3-phosphate, ATP and NADPH for TG de novo biosynthesis. The up-regulation of several cytosolic ROS detoxifying enzymes has also been observed, suggesting that the cytoplasm of HTG mice is subjected to oxidative stress. Moreover, our results suggest that iron over-accumulation takes place in the cytosol of HE mice hepatocytes and may contribute to enhance oxidative stress and to promote cellular proliferation. Conclusions: These results indicate that the metabolic response to HTG in human apolipoprotein C-III overexpressing mice may support a high TG production rate and that the cytosol of hepatocytes is subjected to an important oxidative stress, probably as a result of FFA over-accumulation, iron overload and enhanced activity of some ROS-producing catabolic enzymes. © 2014 Ehx et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.131Grundy, S.M., Brewer Jr., H.B., Cleeman, J.I., Smith Jr., S.C., Lenfant, C., Definition of Metabolic Syndrome: Report of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/American Heart Association Conference on Scientific Issues Related to Definition (2004) Circulation, 109 (3), pp. 433-438. , DOI 10.1161/01.CIR.0000111245.75752.C6Reid, A.E., Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (2001) Gastroenterology, 121 (3), pp. 710-723Toskes, P.P., Hyperlipidemic pancreatitis (1990) Gastroenterol Clin North Am, 19, pp. 783-791Ginsberg, H.N., Ngoc-Anh, L., Goldberg, I.J., Apolipoprotein B metabolism in subjects with deficiency of apolipoproteins CIII and AI. 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Conformally flat spacetimes and Weyl frames

We discuss the concepts of Weyl and Riemann frames in the context of metric theories of gravity and state the fact that they are completely equivalent as far as geodesic motion is concerned. We apply this result to conformally flat spacetimes and show that a new picture arises when a Riemannian spacetime is taken by means of geometrical gauge transformations into a Minkowskian flat spacetime. We find out that in the Weyl frame gravity is described by a scalar field. We give some examples of how conformally flat spacetime configurations look when viewed from the standpoint of a Weyl frame. We show that in the non-relativistic and weak field regime the Weyl scalar field may be identified with the Newtonian gravitational potential. We suggest an equation for the scalar field by varying the Einstein-Hilbert action restricted to the class of conformally-flat spacetimes. We revisit Einstein and Fokker's interpretation of Nordstr\"om scalar gravity theory and draw an analogy between this approach and the Weyl gauge formalism. We briefly take a look at two-dimensional gravity as viewed in the Weyl frame and address the question of quantizing a conformally flat spacetime by going to the Weyl frame.Comment: LATEX - 18 page

Measuring CMB Polarization with BOOMERANG

BOOMERANG is a balloon-borne telescope designed for long duration (LDB) flights around Antarctica. The second LDB Flight of BOOMERANG took place in January 2003. The primary goal of this flight was to measure the polarization of the CMB. The receiver uses polarization sensitive bolometers at 145 GHz. Polarizing grids provide polarization sensitivity at 245 and 345 GHz. We describe the BOOMERANG telescope noting changes made for 2003 LDB flight, and discuss some of the issues involved in the measurement of polarization with bolometers. Lastly, we report on the 2003 flight and provide an estimate of the expected results.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, To be published in the proceedings of "The Cosmic Microwave Background and its Polarization", New Astronomy Reviews, (eds. S. Hanany and K.A. Olive). Fixed typos, and reformatted citation