Explosion of microbubbles generated by the alternating polarity water electrolysis

Water electrolysis with a fast change of polarity generates a high concentration of bulk nanobubbles containing H2 and O2 gases. When this concentration reaches a critical value, a microbubble pops up, which is terminated quickly in an explosion process. In this paper, we provide experimental information on the phenomenon concentrating on the dynamics of exploding microbubble observed from the top and from the side. An initial bubble with a size of 150 μm expands to a maximum size of 1200 μm for 150 μs and then shrinks in the cavitation process. The sound produced by the event is coming from two sources separated in time: exploding bubble and cavitating bubble. The observed dynamics supports expansion of the bubble with steam but not with H2 and O2 mixture. A qualitative model of this puzzling phenomenon proposed earlier is refined. It is demonstrated that the pressure and temperature in the initial bubble can be evaluated using only the energy conservation law for which the driving energy is the energy of the combusted gas. The temperature in the bubble reaches 200 °C that shows that the process cannot be ignited by standard combustion, but the surface-assisted spontaneous combustion agrees well with the observations and theoretical estimates. The pressure in the microbubble varies with the size of the merging nanobubbles and is evaluated as 10-20 bar. Large pressure difference between the bubble and liquid drives the bubble expansion, and is the source of the sound produced by the process. Exploding microbubbles are a promising principle to drive fast and strong micropumps for microfluidic and other applications

Branched Polymers and Hyperplane Arrangements

Original manuscript December 17, 2009We generalize the construction of connected branched polymers and the notion of the volume of the space of connected branched polymers studied by Brydges and Imbrie (Ann Math, 158:1019–1039, 2003), and Kenyon and Winkler (Am Math Mon, 116(7):612–628, 2009) to any central hyperplane arrangement A A . The volume of the resulting configuration space of connected branched polymers associated to the hyperplane arrangement A A is expressed through the value of the characteristic polynomial of A A at 0. We give a more general definition of the space of branched polymers, where we do not require connectivity, and introduce the notion of q-volume for it, which is expressed through the value of the characteristic polynomial of A A at −q − q . Finally, we relate the volume of the space of branched polymers to broken circuits and show that the cohomology ring of the space of branched polymers is isomorphic to the Orlik–Solomon algebra.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DMS 6923772)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER Award DMS 0504629

Collective behavior of bulk nanobubbles produced by alternating polarity electrolysis

Nanobubbles in liquids are mysterious gaseous objects having exceptional stability. They promise a wide range of applications but their production is not well controlled and localized. Alternating polarity electrolysis of water is a tool that can control production of bulk nanobubbles in space and time without generating larger bubbles. Using the schlieren technique a detailed three-dimensional structure of a dense cloud of nanobubbles above the electrodes is visualized. It is demonstrated that the thermal effects produce different schlieren pattern and have different dynamics. A localized volume enriched with nanobubbles can be separated from the parent cloud and exists on its own. This volume demonstrates buoyancy from which the concentration of nanobubbles is estimated as 2x10^18 m^-3. This concentration is smaller than that in the parent cloud. Dynamic light scattering shows that the average size of nanobubbles during the process is 60-80 nm. The bubbles are observed 15 minutes after switching off the electrical pulses but their size is shifted to larger values of about 250 nm. Thus, an efficient way to generate and control nanobubbles is proposed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, Supplemental, 3 video file

High throughput testing of drug library substances and monoclonal antibodies for capacity to reduce formation of cystatin C dimers to identify candidates for treatment of hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy.

Objective. To establish a high-throughput system for testing the ability of drugs or monoclonal antibodies to reduce the in vitro formation of cystatin C dimers to identify substances potentially useful for treatment of patients with hereditary cystatin C amyloid angiopathy (HCCAA). Methods. Various combinations of incubation temperature, time period, guanidinium chloride concentration and concentration of cystatin C monomers were tested in low-volume formats to induce dimer formation of recombinant cystatin C. The extent of dimerization was analysed by gel filtration chromatography and agarose gel electrophoresis. Results. A high-throughput system based upon agarose gel electrophoresis was developed and used to test 1040 drugs in a clinical drug library for their capacity to reduce cystatin C dimer formation in vitro. Seventeen substances reducing dimer formation by more than 30% were identified. A similar system for testing the capacity of monoclonal antibodies against cystatin C to reduce the in vitro formation of cystatin C dimers was also developed and used to test a panel of 12 monoclonal antibodies. Seven antibodies reducing dimer formation by more than 30% were identified and the two most potent, Cyst28 and HCC3, reduced dimerization by 75 and 60%, respectively. Conclusion. We constructed a simple high-throughput system for testing the capacity of drugs and monoclonal antibodies to reduce the in vitro formation of cystatin C dimers and several candidates for treatment of HCCAA could be identified

CT-IGFBP-4 as a novel prognostic biomarker in acute heart failure

Aims Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) fragments have been shown to predict the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, including segment-elevation myocardial infarction, in patients with acute coronary syndrome. We evaluated the prognostic value of the carboxy-terminal fragment of IGFBP-4 (CT-IGFBP-4) for all-cause mortality in emergency room patients with acute heart failure (AHF). Methods and results CT-IGFBP-4, N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at admission from the lithium-heparin plasma of 156 patients with AHF. All-cause mortality was recorded for 1 year. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves, Kaplan-Meier, and Cox proportional hazard ratio analyses were performed to evaluate the prognostic value of the various clinical variables, CT-IGFBP-4, NT-proBNP, CRP, and their combinations. During 1 year of follow-up, 52 (33.3%) patients died. CT-IGFBP-4 only weakly correlated with NT-proBNP (Pearson correlation coefficient r = 0.16, P = 0.044) and did not correlate with CRP (r = 0.08, P = 0.35), emphasizing the different nature of these biomarkers. The receiver operator characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC) of CT-IGFBP-4 for the prediction of all-cause mortality (0.727) was significantly higher than that of NT-proBNP (0.680, P = 0.045) and CRP (0.669, P = 0.016). The combination of CT-IGFBP-4, NT-proBNP, and CRP predicted mortality significantly better (ROC AUC = 0.788) than any of the biomarkers alone (P <0.01 for all). The addition of CT-IGFBP-4 to a clinical prediction model that included age, gender, systolic blood pressure, creatinine, and sodium levels, as well as the history of previous heart failure, coronary artery disease, and hypertension significantly improved the mortality risk prediction (ROC AUC 0.774 vs. 0.699, P = 0.025). Cox hazard analysis indicated that elevated CT-IGFBP-4 was independently associated with 1 year mortality (hazard ratio 3.26, P = 0.0008) after adjustment for age, gender, history of previous heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension, chronic kidney failure, history of diabetes, heart rate, haemoglobin, plasma sodium, NT-proBNP, CRP, cystatin C, and elevated cardiac troponin I or T. Patients with increased levels of either two or three of the biomarkers CT-IGFBP-4, NT-proBNP, and CRP had significantly higher mortality risk (adjusted hazard ratio 10.04, P <0.0001) than patients with increased levels of one or none of the biomarkers. Conclusions CT-IGFBP-4 was independently associated with all-cause mortality in patients with AHF. Compared with single biomarkers, the combination of CT-IGFBP-4, NT-proBNP, and CRP improved the prediction of all-cause mortality in patients with AHF.Peer reviewe

Development of hybrid reconstruction techniques for TAIGA

n/

Growing Birch in Clear-cut Areas with Herbicide Application

Birch, being one of the main forest-forming tree species, has valuable and soughtafter timber. In production forest conditions, natural regeneration and crops of this species experience strong competition from both grass cover and undesirable hardwoods (aspen, gray alder and willow). Without carrying out high-quality maintenance (agrotechnical care, clearing), the formation of economically valuable birch forests is impossible. The most effective and economical is the chemical care method, which involves the use of modern environmentally friendly herbicides. However, if technological regulations and practical recommendations for the use of herbicides have already been developed for the care of coniferous species (pine, spruce and others), then there are currently no such recommendations for birch. The aim of the research is to develop a scientifically based method of caring for natural young birch stands (clearing, agrotechnical care) using selective herbicides on forest fund lands. The objects of research are seed and vegetative regeneration of birch in young stands formed in clear-cut areas, as well as undesirable herbaceous and tree-shrub vegetation. When laying the experiments and evaluating their results, we were guided by the generally accepted methodology for testing herbicides in agriculture. In field production and small-scale experiments with herbicides magnum, magnum super, mortira and anchor-85 in young stands with birch trees, the biological effectiveness of the action of the preparations on a wide range of undesirable vegetation was determined, as well as their selectivity with respect to birch. High efficiency of herbicides magnum (100–300 g/ha) and magnum super (100–200 g/ha) on dicotyledonous species of herbaceous vegetation and deciduous species – willow, aspen, gray alder and mountain-ash, as well as high resistance of birch to them at continuous spraying during the growing season was established. Herbicides mortira (100–200 g/ha) and anchor-85 (100 g/ha) were recognized as unsuitable for birch care. It was found that after a single application of herbicide magnum at rates of 100 and 200 g/ha in mixed young stands dominated by aspen, willow and gray alder and with participation of birch 1–2 composition units, stands dominated by the latter are formed. Acknowledgements: The study was financially supported by the Federal Agency of Forestry within the state assignment of the Saint Petersburg Forestry Research Institute approved by Order No. 1061 of 25.12.2018. For citation: Egorov A.B., Postnikov A.M., Bubnov A.A., Pavluchenkova L.N., Partolina A.N. Growing Birch in Clear-cut Areas with Herbicide Application. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2023, no. 5, pp. 58–74. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2023-5-58-7

Scattering amplitudes and the positive Grassmannian

We establish a direct connection between scattering amplitudes in planar four-dimensional theories and a remarkable mathematical structure known as the positive Grassmannian. The central physical idea is to focus on on-shell diagrams as objects of fundamental importance to scattering amplitudes. We show that the all-loop integrand in N=4 SYM is naturally represented in this way. On-shell diagrams in this theory are intimately tied to a variety of mathematical objects, ranging from a new graphical representation of permutations to a beautiful stratification of the Grassmannian G(k,n) which generalizes the notion of a simplex in projective space. All physically important operations involving on-shell diagrams map to canonical operations on permutations; in particular, BCFW deformations correspond to adjacent transpositions. Each cell of the positive Grassmannian is naturally endowed with positive coordinates and an invariant measure which determines the on-shell function associated with the diagram. This understanding allows us to classify and compute all on-shell diagrams, and give a geometric understanding for all the non-trivial relations among them. Yangian invariance of scattering amplitudes is transparently represented by diffeomorphisms of G(k,n) which preserve the positive structure. Scattering amplitudes in (1+1)-dimensional integrable systems and the ABJM theory in (2+1) dimensions can both be understood as special cases of these ideas. On-shell diagrams in theories with less (or no) supersymmetry are associated with exactly the same structures in the Grassmannian, but with a measure deformed by a factor encoding ultraviolet singularities. The Grassmannian representation of on-shell processes also gives a new understanding of the all-loop integrand for scattering amplitudes, presenting all integrands in a novel dLog form which directly reflects the underlying positive structure