969 research outputs found
Studying synthesis confinement effects on the internal structure of nanogels in computer simulations
We study the effects of droplet finite size on the structure of nanogel
particles synthesized by random crosslinking of molecular polymers diluted in
nanoemulsions. For this, we use a bead-spring computer model of polymer-like
structures that mimics the confined random crosslinking process corresponding
to irradiation- or electrochemically-induced crosslinking methods. Our results
indicate that random crosslinking under strong confinement can lead to unusual
nanogel internal structures, with a central region less dense than the external
one, whereas under moderate confinement the resulting structure has a denser
central region. We analyze the topology of the polymer networks forming nanogel
particles with both types of architectures, their overall structural
parameters, their response to the quality of the solvent and compare the cases
of non-ionic and ionic systems
Mobility coefficients in the systems of magnetic dipolar particles
In this paper, we present our first results on the mobility coefficients in the systems of magnetic dipolar particles. In our study, we investigate the influence of chain formation and polydispersity of particles on self-diffusion. The work is purely theoretical and combines direct calculations with the density functional approach to calculate equilibrium densities of chains. We study mainly bulk systems. It is shown that the formation of chains leads to the average decrease of mobility in monodisperse systems, but in the case of bidisperse particle size distribution, the particle mobility becomes a function of the fractional composition. The mobility coefficients obtained here are important for calculating the diffusion coefficients in case of gradient-induced diffusion (be that of the field or density gradient) in magnetic fluids with chain aggregates
Kinetic and ion pairing contributions in the dielectric spectra of electrolyte aqueous solutions
Understanding dielectric spectra can reveal important information about the
dynamics of solvents and solutes from the dipolar relaxation times down to
electronic ones. In the late 1970s, Hubbard and Onsager predicted that adding
salt ions to a polar solution would result in a reduced dielectric permittivity
that arises from the unexpected tendency of solvent dipoles to align opposite
to the applied field. So far, this effect has escaped an experimental
verification, mainly because of the concomitant appearance of dielectric
saturation from which the Hubbard-Onsager decrement cannot be easily separated.
Here we develop a novel non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation approach
to determine this decrement accurately for the first time. Using a
thermodynamic consistent all-atom force field we show that for an aqueous
solution containing sodium chloride around 4.8 Mol/l, this effect accounts for
12\% of the total dielectric permittivity. The dielectric decrement can be
strikingly different if a less accurate force field for the ions is used. Using
the widespread GROMOS parameters, we observe in fact an {\it increment} of the
dielectric permittivity rather than a decrement. We can show that this
increment is caused by ion pairing, introduced by a too low dispersion force,
and clarify the microscopic connection between long-living ion pairs and the
appearance of specific features in the dielectric spectrum of the solution
The influence of steric potential on the pressure and interparticle correlations in magnetic fluids
In the present paper, we analyze the influence of the steric potential on the interparticle correlation in magnetic fluids. Using molecular dynamics simulations and diagram technique, we obtain the radial distribution function for a monodisperse system of softdipolar spheres. On the basis of the pair correlation function we compute the pressure associated with the presence of dipolar particles in magnetic fluids. Comparing our findings to the results obtained for dipolar hard spheres it is shown that the steric potential plays a very important role for pressure and should be accurately taken into account
The generalized identification of truly interfacial molecules (ITIM) algorithm for nonplanar interfaces
We present a generalized version of the ITIM algorithm for the identification of interfacial molecules, which is able to treat arbitrarily shaped interfaces. The algorithm exploits the similarities between the concept of probe sphere used in ITIM and the circumsphere criterion used in the α-shapes approach, and can be regarded either as a reference-frame independent version of the former, or as an extended version of the latter that includes the atomic excluded volume. The new algorithm is applied to compute the intrinsic orientational order parameters of water around a dodecylphosphocholine and a cholic acid micelle in aqueous environment, and to the identification of solvent-reachable sites in four model structures for soot. The additional algorithm introduced for the calculation of intrinsic density profiles in arbitrary geometries proved to be extremely useful also for planar interfaces, as it allows to solve the paradox of smeared intrinsic profiles far from the interface. © 2013 American Institute of Physics
Fr\'echet frames, general definition and expansions
We define an {\it -frame} with Banach spaces , , and a -space (\Theta, \snorm[\cdot]).
Then by the use of decreasing sequences of Banach spaces
and of sequence spaces , we define a general Fr\'
echet frame on the Fr\' echet space . We give
frame expansions of elements of and its dual , as well of some of
the generating spaces of with convergence in appropriate norms. Moreover,
we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a general pre-Fr\' echet frame
to be a general Fr\' echet frame, as well as for the complementedness of the
range of the analysis operator .Comment: A new section is added and a minor revision is don
Nonequilibrium Generalised Langevin Equation for the calculation of heat transport properties in model 1D atomic chains coupled to two 3D thermal baths
We use a Generalised Langevin Equation (GLE) scheme to study the thermal
transport of low dimensional systems. In this approach, the central classical
region is connected to two realistic thermal baths kept at two different
temperatures [H. Ness et al., Phys. Rev. B {\bf 93}, 174303 (2016)]. We
consider model Al systems, i.e. one-dimensional atomic chains connected to
three-dimensional baths. The thermal transport properties are studied as a
function of the chain length and the temperature difference
between the baths. We calculate the transport properties both in the linear
response regime and in the non-linear regime. Two different laws are obtained
for the linear conductance versus the length of the chains. For large
temperatures ( K) and temperature differences ( K), the chains, with atoms, present a diffusive transport regime
with the presence of a temperature gradient across the system. For lower
temperatures( K) and temperature differences ( K), a regime similar to the ballistic regime is observed. Such a
ballistic-like regime is also obtained for shorter chains (). Our
detailed analysis suggests that the behaviour at higher temperatures and
temperature differences is mainly due to anharmonic effects within the long
chains.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Chem. Phy
Suspensions of supracolloidal magnetic polymers: self-assembly properties from computer simulations
We study self-assembly in suspensions of supracolloidal polymer-like
structures made of crosslinked magnetic particles. Inspired by self-assembly
motifs observed for dipolar hard spheres, we focus on four different topologies
of the polymer-like structures: linear chains, rings, Y-shaped and X-shaped
polymers. We show how the presence of the crosslinkers, the number of beads in
the polymer and the magnetic interparticle interaction affect the structure of
the suspension. It turns out that for the same set of parameters, the rings are
the least active in assembling larger structures, whereas the system of Y- and
especially X-like magnetic polymers tend to form very large loose aggregates
Characterisation of the magnetic response of nanoscale magnetic filaments in applied fields
Incorporating magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) within permanently crosslinked polymer-like structures opens up the possibility for synthesis of complex, highly magneto-responsive systems. Among such structures are chains of prealigned magnetic (ferro- or super-paramagnetic) monomers, permanently crosslinked by means of macromolecules, which we refer to as magnetic filaments (MFs). In this paper, using molecular dynamics simulations, we encompass filament synthesis scenarios, with a compact set of easily tuneable computational models, where we consider two distinct crosslinking approaches, for both ferromagnetic and super-paramagnetic monomers. We characterise the equilibrium structure, correlations and magnetic properties of MFs in static magnetic fields. Calculations show that MFs with ferromagnetic MNPs in crosslinking scenarios where the dipole moment orientations are decoupled from the filament backbone, have similar properties to MFs with super-paramagnetic monomers. At the same time, magnetic properties of MFs with ferromagnetic MNPs are more dependent on the crosslinking approach than they are for ones with super-paramagnetic monomers. Our results show that, in a strong applied field, MFs with super-paramagnetic MNPs have similar magnetic properties to ferromagnetic ones, while exhibiting higher susceptibility in low fields. We find that MFs with super-paramagnetic MNPs have a tendency to bend the backbone locally rather than to fully stretch along the field. We explain this behaviour by supplementing Flory theory with an explicit dipole-dipole interaction potential, with which we can take in to account folded filament configurations. It turns out that the entropy gain obtained through bending compensates an insignificant loss in dipolar energy for the filament lengths considered in the manuscript. © 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Austrian Science Fund, FWF: START-Projekt Y 627-N27Russian Science Foundation, RSF: 19-12-00209This research has been supported by the Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 19-12-00209. Authors acknowledge support from the Austrian Research Fund (FWF), START-Projekt Y 627-N27. Computer simulations were performed at the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC-3)
The Potential of Omega-3 Supplementation to Reduce Muscle-Inflammation after Muscle-Damaging Exercise
Muscle Damaging exercise (EIMD) induces inflammation and relates to strength loss, muscle-soreness and impaired recovery. Overall, this means a performance impairment which might be relevant for those who engages in competitions or strenuous physical activities. It remains unclear whether Omega-3 fatty acids (O-3) supplementation blunts the exercise-induced inflammation associated with EIMD and therefore prevents performance impairment. PURPOSE: Following a three-week supplementation with O-3, indirect markers of muscle damage were examined after a bout of EIMD to determine if supplementation had any beneficial effect in maintaining leg-strength levels. METHODS: Eight healthy, recreationally active caucasian males (28.13 ± 3.4 yr) were randomly allocated to a supplementation group (SUP, n = 4) to receive 2.85g/day O-3 supplementation or a control group (CON, n = 4) for three weeks. Following supplementation, participants performed a bout of EIMD, which consisted of performing 10 sets of 15 repetitions of leg extension at a self-assessed intensity of 7/10 on the Rate of Perceived Exertion scale. Creatine Kinase (CK) from venous blood samples, isometric right-leg strength, squat-jump test and perceived soreness were determined, as indirect markers of muscle-damage at Baseline, immediately after EIMD (POST) and 48 hours after EIMD to coincide with the delayed muscle inflammatory response. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between Baseline and POST. There was a trend for smaller increase of CK levels (pre vs 48-h post EIMD) on the SUP group (38.8% increase) compared with the CON group (105.6% increase; P = 0.051). There was no significant effect (baseline vs. 48-h post EIMD) on muscle strength between SUP and CON group (P > 0.05), however, CON showed a larger decrease in strength compared to SUP (> 6.3% vs SUP). No differences in jump height were found between SUP and CON (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in muscle soreness at 48-h post EIMD between SUP and CON group (P = 0.171). CONCLUSION: Three weeks of O-3 supplementation might decrease exercise-induced muscle inflammation after eccentric exercise. The lack of statistical significance may be adduced to the limitations of the study design and sample size. Supplementation with O-3 can be beneficial in athletes undergoing heavy exercise regimes and in sedentary individuals restarting physical activity, decreasing the exercise related muscle inflammation. The encouraging results from this pilot study have led to designing further work related to this topic
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