Finite-size effects in intracellular microrheology

We propose a model to explain finite-size effects in intracellular microrheology observed in experiments. The constrained dynamics of the particles in the intracellular medium, treated as a viscoelastic medium, is described by means of a diffusion equation in which interactions of the particles with the cytoskeleton are modelled by a harmonic force. The model reproduces the observed power-law behavior of the mean-square displacement in which the exponent depends on the ratio between particle-to-cytoskeleton-network sizes.Comment: 6 pages 2 figures. To appear in the Journal of Chemical Physic

Potenciando el aprendizaje proactivo con ILIAS&WebQuest: aprendiendo a paralelizar algoritmos con GPUs

Arquitectura de Computadores es una asignatura troncal de segundo ciclo de la titulación de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación (P.E. 2004) de la Universidad de Jaén, que desde el curso académico 2009/10 cuenta con una metodología de aprendizaje proactivo para motivar al alumno en la realización de las prácticas. En concreto, se ha abordado la enseñanza de la materia de paralelización de algoritmos haciendo uso de GPUs de tarjetas gráficas convencionales. Además, se ha dado soporte telemático al profesorado y alumnado de la asignatura mediante el uso de plataformas web de e-learning como ILIAS y otras como WebQuest. Por último, en este trabajo se presentan algunos de los resultados alcanzados con esta experiencia.Peer Reviewe

Mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics approach to non-Debye dielectric relaxation

Mesoscopic non-equilibrium thermodynamics is used to formulate a model describing non-homogeneous and non-Debye dielectric relaxation. The model is presented in terms of a Fokker-Planck equation for the probability distribution of non-interacting polar molecules in contact with a heat bath and in the presence of an external time-dependent electric field. Memory effects are introduced in the Fokker-Planck description through integral relations containing memory kernels, which in turn are used to establish a connection with fractional Fokker-Planck descriptions. The model is developed in terms of the evolution equations for the first two moments of the distribution function. These equations are solved by following a perturbative method from which the expressions for the complex susceptibilities are obtained as a functions of the frequency and the wave number. Different memory kernels are considered and used to compare with experiments of dielectric relaxation in glassy systems. For the case of Cole-Cole relaxation, we infer the distribution of relaxation times and its relation with an effective distribution of dipolar moments that can be attributed to different segmental motions of the polymer chains in a melt.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figure

The transition to irreversibility in sheared suspensions: An analysis based on a mesoscopic entropy production

We study the shear-induced diffusion effect and the transition to irreversibility in suspensions under oscillatory shear flow by performing an analysis of the entropy production associated to the motion of the particles. We show that the Onsager coupling between different contributions to the entropy production is responsible for the scaling of the mean square displacement on particle diameter and applied strain. We also show that the shear-induced effective diffusion coefficient depends on the volume fraction and use Lattice-Boltzmann simulations to characterize the effect through the power spectrum of particle positions for different Reynolds numbers and volume fractions. Our study gives a thermodynamic explanation of the the transition to irreversibility through a pertinent analysis of the second law of thermodynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, paper submitted tp phys rev

Compressibility and structural stability of ultra-incompressible bimetallic interstitial carbides and nitrides

We have investigated by means of high-pressure x-ray diffraction the structural stability of Pd2Mo3N, Ni2Mo3C0.52N0.48, Co3Mo3C0.62N0.38, and Fe3Mo3C. We have found that they remain stable in their ambient-pressure cubic phase at least up to 48 GPa. All of them have a bulk modulus larger than 330 GPa, being the least compressible material Fe3Mo3C, B0 = 374(3) GPa. In addition, apparently a reduction of compressibility is detected as the carbon content increased. The equation of state for each material is determined. A comparison with other refractory materials indicates that interstitial nitrides and carbides behave as ultra-incompressible materials.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Reinforced SIL-1 micromembranes integrated on chip: APPLICATION to CO2 separation

A novel 4-step microfabrication process is proposed in this work to prepare arrays of c-oriented silicalite (SIL-1) micromembranes on customized silicon nitride (Si3Nx) microsieves. The arrays are integrated on chip and their overall porosity values can be tuned from 1.6% to 19.9%. A low stress Si3Nx microfabricated sieve has been used as support to reinforce via mechanical interlocking and to reduce the effects of the residual stress during membrane processing. The secondary hydrothermal growth over the Si3Nx microsieves also changes the SIL-1 chemistry, improving its affinity towards CO2 adsorption. As a result, the SIL-1/Si3Nx micromembranes integrated on chip facilitate the preferential permeation of CO2 in CO2/H2 mixtures, showing a maximum CO2/H2 separation factor of 16.9 and a CO2 permeance of 8.2×10-7 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 at ambient conditions