517 research outputs found
Melting and Pressure-Induced Amorphization of Quartz
It has recently been shown that amorphization and melting of ice were
intimately linked. In this letter, we infer from molecular dynamics simulations
on the SiO2 system that the extension of the quartz melting line in the
metastable pressure-temperature domain is the pressure-induced amorphization
line. It seems therefore likely that melting is the physical phenomenon
responsible for pressure induced amorphization. Moreover, we show that the
structure of a "pressure glass" is similar to that of a very rapidly (1e+13 to
1e+14 kelvins per second) quenched thermal glass.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2
Flat branches and pressure amorphization
After summarizing the phenomenology of pressure amorphization (PA), we
present a theory of PA based on the notion that one or more branches of the
phonon spectrum soften and flatten with increasing pressure. The theory
expresses the anharmonic dynamics of the flat branches in terms of local modes,
represented by lattice Wannier functions, which are in turn used to construct
an effective Hamiltonian. When the low-pressure structure becomes metastable
with respect to the high-pressure equilibrium phase and the relevant branches
are sufficiently flat, transformation into an amorphous phase is shown to be
kinetically favored because of the exponentially large number of both amorphous
phases and reaction pathways. In effect, the critical-size nucleus for the
first-order phase transition is found to be reduced to a single unit cell, or
nearly so. Random nucleation into symmetrically equivalent local configurations
characteristic of the high-pressure structure is then shown to overwhelm any
possible domain growth, and an ``amorphous'' structure results.Comment: 8 pages with 3 postscript figures embedded; Proceedings of the 4th
International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems,
Hersonissos, Heraklion, Crete, June 16-23, ed. K. L. Ngai, Special Issues of
the Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 200
Obesity-associated gut microbiota is enriched in Lactobacillus reuteri and depleted in Bifidobacterium animalis and Methanobrevibacter smithii
Background: Obesity is associated with increased health risk and has been associated with alterations in bacterial gut microbiota, with mainly a reduction in Bacteroidetes, but few data exist at the genus and species level. It has been reported that the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genus representatives may have a critical role in weight regulation as an anti-obesity effect in experimental models and humans, or as a growth-promoter effect in agriculture depending on the strains. Objectives and methods: To confirm reported gut alterations and test whether Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium species found in the human gut are associated with obesity or lean status, we analyzed the stools of 68 obese and 47 controls targeting Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Lactococcus lactis, Bifidobacterium animalis and seven species of Lactobacillus by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and culture on a Lactobacillus-selective medium. Findings: In qPCR, B. animalis (odds ratio (OR) 0.63; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.39-1.01; P = 0.056) and M. smithii (OR = 0.76; 95% CI 0.59-0.97; P = 0.03) were associated with normal weight whereas Lactobacillus reuteri (OR = 1.79; 95% CI 1.03-3.10; P = 0.04) was associated with obesity. Conclusion: The gut microbiota associated with human obesity is depleted in M. smithii. Some Bifidobacterium or Lactobacillus species were associated with normal weight (B. animalis) while others (L. reuteri) were associated with obesity. Therefore, gut microbiota composition at the species level is related to body weight and obesity, which might be of relevance for further studies and the management of obesity. These results must be considered cautiously because it is the first study to date that links specific species of Lactobacillus with obesity in humans. International Journal of Obesity (2012) 36, 817-825; doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.153; published online 9 August 201
High-Pressure Amorphous Nitrogen
The phase diagram and stability limits of diatomic solid nitrogen have been
explored in a wide pressure--temperature range by several optical spectroscopic
techniques. A newly characterized narrow-gap semiconducting phase has
been found to exist in a range of 80--270 GPa and 10--510 K. The vibrational
and optical properties of the phase produced under these conditions
indicate that it is largely amorphous and back transforms to a new molecular
phase. The band gap of the phase is found to decrease with pressure
indicating possible metallization by band overlap above 280 GPa.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Compressibility of titanosilicate melts
The effect of composition on the relaxed adiabatic bulk modulus (K0) of a range of alkali- and alkaline earth-titanosilicate [X 2 n/n+ TiSiO5 (X=Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Sr, Ba)] melts has been investigated. The relaxed bulk moduli of these melts have been measured using ultrasonic interferometric methods at frequencies of 3, 5 and 7 MHz in the temperature range of 950 to 1600°C (0.02 Pa s < s < 5 Pa s). The bulk moduli of these melts decrease with increasing cation size from Li to Cs and Ca to Ba, and with increasing temperature. The bulk moduli of the Li-, Na-, Ca- and Ba-bearing metasilicate melts decrease with the addition of both TiO2 and SiO2 whereas those of the K-, Rb- and Cs-bearing melts increase. Linear fits to the bulk modulus versus volume fraction of TiO2 do not converge to a common compressibility of the TiO2 component, indicating that the structural role of TiO2 in these melts is dependent on the identity of the cation. This proposition is supported by a number of other property data for these and related melt compositions including heat capacity and density, as well as structural inferences from X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XANES). The compositional dependence of the compressibility of the TiO2 component in these melts explains the difficulty incurred in previous attempts to incorporate TiO2 in calculation schemes for melt compressibility. The empirical relationship KV-4/3 for isostructural materials has been used to evaluate the compressibility-related structural changes occurring in these melts. The alkali metasilicate and disilicate melts are isostructural, independent of the cation. The addition of Ti to the metasilicate composition (i.e. X2TiSiO5), however, results in a series of melts which are not isostructural. The alkaline-earth metasilicate and disilicate compositions are not isostructural, but the addition of Ti to the metasilicate compositions (i.e. XTiSiO5) would appear, on the basis of modulus-volume systematics, to result in the melts becoming isostructural with respect to compressibility
Search for Fingerprints of Tetrahedral Symmetry in
Theoretical predictions suggest the presence of tetrahedral symmetry as an
explanation for the vanishing intra-band E2-transitions at the bottom of the
odd-spin negative parity band in . The present study reports on
experiment performed to address this phenomenon. It allowed to determine the
intra-band E2 transitions and branching ratios B(E2)/B(E1) of two of the
negative-parity bands in .Comment: presented by Q.T. Doan at XLII Zakopane School of Physics: Breaking
Frontiers: Submicron Structures in Physics and Biology, May 2008. 5 pages,
minor corrections. To be published in the proceeding
Frequency dependent specific heat of viscous silica
We apply the Mori-Zwanzig projection operator formalism to obtain an
expression for the frequency dependent specific heat c(z) of a liquid. By using
an exact transformation formula due to Lebowitz et al., we derive a relation
between c(z) and K(t), the autocorrelation function of temperature fluctuations
in the microcanonical ensemble. This connection thus allows to determine c(z)
from computer simulations in equilibrium, i.e. without an external
perturbation. By considering the generalization of K(t) to finite wave-vectors,
we derive an expression to determine the thermal conductivity \lambda from such
simulations. We present the results of extensive computer simulations in which
we use the derived relations to determine c(z) over eight decades in frequency,
as well as \lambda. The system investigated is a simple but realistic model for
amorphous silica. We find that at high frequencies the real part of c(z) has
the value of an ideal gas. c'(\omega) increases quickly at those frequencies
which correspond to the vibrational excitations of the system. At low
temperatures c'(\omega) shows a second step. The frequency at which this step
is observed is comparable to the one at which the \alpha-relaxation peak is
observed in the intermediate scattering function. Also the temperature
dependence of the location of this second step is the same as the one of the
peak, thus showing that these quantities are intimately connected to
each other. From c'(\omega) we estimate the temperature dependence of the
vibrational and configurational part of the specific heat. We find that the
static value of c(z) as well as \lambda are in good agreement with experimental
data.Comment: 27 pages of Latex, 8 figure
Post-operative Aspergillus mediastinitis in a man who was immunocompetent: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p><it>Aspergillus </it>spp. infections mainly affect patients who are immunocompromised, and are extremely rare in immunocompetent individuals.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p><it>Aspergillus </it>post-operative mediastinitis is considered to be a devastating infection, usually affecting patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery with specific predisposing factors. We describe the case of an immunocompetent 68-year-old Caucasian man with severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, who underwent pulmonary thromboendarterectomy and developed post-operative mediastinitis due to <it>Aspergillus flavus</it>. The environmental control did not reveal the source of <it>A. flavus </it>infection and, despite combined antifungal therapy, our patient died as a result of septic shock and multiple organ failure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Aspergillus </it>mediastinitis mainly affects patients after cardiosurgery operations with predisposing factors, and it is unusual in patients who are immunocompetent. The identification of the <it>Aspergillus </it>spp. source is often difficult, and there are no guidelines for the administration of pre-emptive therapy in this population of at-risk patients.</p
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