344 research outputs found
Predicting the thermodynamics by using state-dependent interactions
We reconsider the structure-based route to coarse graining in which the
coarse-grained model is defined in such a way to reproduce some distributions
functions of the original system as accurately as possible. We consider
standard expressions for pressure and chemical potential applied to this family
of coarse-grained models with density-dependent interactions and show that they
only provide approximations to the pressure and chemical potential of the
underlying original system. These approximations are then carefully compared in
two cases: we consider a generic microscopic system in the low-density regime
and polymer solutions under good-solvent conditions. Moreover, we show that the
state-dependent potentials depend on the ensemble in which they have been
derived. Therefore, care must be used in applying canonical state-dependent
potentials to predict phase lines, which is typically performed in other
ensembles.Comment: 29 pages, 1 figure; To appear in J. Chem. Phy
Multi-scale coarse-graining of diblock copolymer self-assembly: from monomers to ordered micelles
Starting from a microscopic lattice model, we investigate clustering,
micellization and micelle ordering in semi-dilute solutions of AB diblock
copolymers in a selective solvent. To bridge the gap in length scales, from
monomers to ordered micellar structures, we implement a two-step coarse
graining strategy, whereby the AB copolymers are mapped onto ``ultrasoft''
dumbells with monomer-averaged effective interactions between the centres of
mass of the blocks. Monte Carlo simulations of this coarse-grained model yield
clear-cut evidence for self-assembly into micelles with a mean aggregation
number n of roughly 100 beyond a critical concentration. At a slightly higher
concentration the micelles spontaneously undergo a disorder-order transition to
a cubic phase. We determine the effective potential between these micelles from
first principles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett
Polymers as compressible soft spheres
We consider a coarse-grained model in which polymers under good-solvent
conditions are represented by soft spheres whose radii, which should be
identified with the polymer radii of gyrations, are allowed to fluctuate. The
corresponding pair potential depends on the sphere radii. This model is a
single-sphere version of the one proposed in Vettorel et al., Soft Matter 6,
2282 (2010), and it is sufficiently simple to allow us to determine all
potentials accurately from full-monomer simulations of two isolated polymers
(zero-density potentials). We find that in the dilute regime (which is the
expected validity range of single-sphere coarse-grained models based on
zero-density potentials) this model correctly reproduces the density dependence
of the radius of gyration. However, for the thermodynamics and the
intermolecular structure, the model is largely equivalent to the simpler one in
which the sphere radii are fixed to the average value of the radius of gyration
and radiiindependent potentials are used: for the thermodynamics there is no
advantage in considering a fluctuating sphere size.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
Phase diagram of mixtures of colloids and polymers in the thermal crossover from good to solvent
We determine the phase diagram of mixtures of spherical colloids and neutral
nonadsorbing polymers in the thermal crossover region between the
point and the good-solvent regime. We use the generalized free-volume theory
(GFVT), which turns out to be quite accurate as long as
( is the radius of gyration of the polymer and is the colloid
radius). Close to the point the phase diagram is not very sensitive to
solvent quality, while, close to the good-solvent region, changes of the
solvent quality modify significantly the position of the critical point and of
the binodals. We also analyze the phase behavior of aqueous solutions of
charged colloids and polymers, using the extension of GFVT proposed by Fortini
et al., J. Chem. Phys. 128, 024904 (2008)
A multi-blob representation of semi-dilute polymer solutions
A coarse-grained multi-blob description of polymer solutions is presented,
based on soft, transferable effective interactions between bonded and
non-bonded blobs. The number of blobs is chosen such that the blob density does
not exceed their overlap threshold, allowing polymer concentrations to be
explored deep into the semi-dilute regime. This quantitative multi-blob
description is shown to preserve known scaling laws of polymer solutions and
provides accurate estimates of amplitudes, while leading to orders of magnitude
increase of simulation efficiency and allowing analytic calculations of
structural and thermodynamic properties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Velocity autocorrelations across the molecular-atomic fluid transformation in hydrogen under pressure
Non-monotonous changes in velocity autocorrelations across the transformation
from molecular to atomic fluid in hydrogen under pressure are studied by ab
initio molecular dynamics simulations at the temperature 2500 K. We report
diffusion coefficients in a wide range of densities from purely molecular fluid
up to metallic atomic fluid phase. An analysis of contributions to the velocity
autocorrelation functions from the motion of molecular centers-of-mass,
rotational and intramolecular vibrational modes is performed, and a crossover
in the vibrational density of intramolecular modes across the transition is
discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Consistent coarse-graining strategy for polymer solutions in the thermal crossover from Good to Theta solvent
We extend our previously developed coarse-graining strategy for linear
polymers with a tunable number n of effective atoms (blobs) per chain [D'Adamo
et al., J. Chem. Phys. 137, 4901 (2012)] to polymer systems in thermal
crossover between the good-solvent and the Theta regimes. We consider the
thermal crossover in the region in which tricritical effects can be neglected,
i.e. not too close to the Theta point, for a wide range of chain volume
fractions Phi=c/c* (c* is the overlap concentration), up to Phi=30. Scaling
crossover functions for global properties of the solution are obtained by
Monte-Carlo simulations of the Domb-Joyce model. They provide the input data to
develop a minimal coarse-grained model with four blobs per chain. As in the
good-solvent case, the coarse-grained model potentials are derived at zero
density, thus avoiding the inconsistencies related to the use of
state-dependent potentials. We find that the coarse-grained model reproduces
the properties of the underlying system up to some reduced density which
increases when lowering the temperature towards the Theta state. Close to the
lower-temperature crossover boundary, the tetramer model is accurate at least
up to Phi<10, while near the good-solvent regime reasonably accurate results
are obtained up to Phi<2. The density region in which the coarse-grained model
is predictive can be enlarged by developing coarse-grained models with more
blobs per chain. We extend the strategy used in the good-solvent case to the
crossover regime. This requires a proper treatment of the length rescalings as
before, but also a proper temperature redefinition as the number of blobs is
increased. The case n=10 is investigated. Comparison with full-monomer results
shows that the density region in which accurate predictions can be obtained is
significantly wider than that corresponding to the n=4 case.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure
Наноалмазы как идеальные наноносители для циансодежащих цитостатиков
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A Single Wearable Sensor for Gait Analysis in Parkinson’s Disease: A Preliminary Study
Movement monitoring in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is critical for quantifying disease progression and assessing how a subject responds to medication administration over time. In this work, we propose a continuous monitoring system based on a single wearable sensor placed on the lower back and an algorithm for gait parameters evaluation. In order to preliminarily validate the proposed system, seven PD subjects took part in an experimental protocol in preparation for a larger randomized controlled study. We validated the feasibility of our algorithm in a constrained environment through a laboratory scenario. Successively, it was tested in an unsupervised environment, such as the home scenario, for a total of almost 12 h of daily living activity data. During all phases of the experimental protocol, videos were shot to document the tasks. The obtained results showed a good accuracy of the proposed algorithm. For all PD subjects in the laboratory scenario, the algorithm for step identification reached a percentage error low of 2%, 99.13% of sensitivity and 100% of specificity. In the home scenario the Bland–Altman plot showed a mean difference of −3.29 and −1 between the algorithm and the video recording for walking bout detection and steps identification, respectively
On the signature of tensile blobs in the scattering function of a stretched polymer
We present Monte Carlo data for a linear chain with excluded volume subjected
to a uniform stretching. Simulation of long chains (up to 6000 beads) at high
stretching allows us to observe the signature of tensile blobs as a crossover
in the scaling behavior of the chain scattering function for wave vectors
perpendicular to stretching. These results and corresponding ones in the
stretching direction allow us to verify for the first time Pincus prediction on
scaling inside blobs. Outside blobs, the scattering function is well described
by the Debye function for a stretched ideal chain.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter
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