12,144 research outputs found
Increased productivity of Clostridium acetobutylicum fermentation of acetone, butanol, and ethanol by pervaporation through supported ionic liquid membrane
Pervaporation proved to be one of the best methods to remove solvents out of a solvent producing Clostridium acetobutylicum culture. By using an ionic liquid (IL)-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) ultrafiltration membrane (pore size 60 nm), we could guarantee high stability and selectivity during all measurements carried out at 37C. Overall solvent productivity of fermentation connected with continuous product removal by pervaporation was 2.34 g l(-1) h(-1). The supported ionic liquid membrane (SILM) was impregnated with 15 wt% of a novel ionic liquid (tetrapropylammonium tetracyano-borate) and 85 wt% of polydimethylsiloxane. Pervaporation, accomplished with the optimized SILM, led to stable and efficient removal of the solvents butan-1-ol and acetone out of a C. acetobutylicum culture. By pervaporation through SILM, we removed more butan-1-ol than C. acetobutylicum was able to produce. Therefore, we added an extra dose of butan-1-ol to run fermentation on limiting values where the bacteria would still be able to survive its lethal concentration (15.82 g/l). After pervaporation was switched off, the bacteria died from high concentration of butan-1-ol, which they produced
Effect of Poisson ratio on cellular structure formation
Mechanically active cells in soft media act as force dipoles. The resulting
elastic interactions are long-ranged and favor the formation of strings. We
show analytically that due to screening, the effective interaction between
strings decays exponentially, with a decay length determined only by geometry.
Both for disordered and ordered arrangements of cells, we predict novel phase
transitions from paraelastic to ferroelastic and anti-ferroelastic phases as a
function of Poisson ratio.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 Postscript figures include
Structural investigations on -FeGe at high pressure and low temperature
The structural parameters of -FeGe have been determined at ambient
conditions using single crystal refinement. Powder diffraction have been
carried out to determine structural properties and compressibility for
pressures up to 30 GPa and temperatures as low as 82 K. The discontinuous
change in the pressure dependence of the shortest Fe-Ge interatomic distance
might be interpreted as a symmetry-conserving transition and seems to be
related to a magnetic phase boundary line.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Solitonic spin-liquid state due to the violation of the Lifshitz condition in FeTe
A combination of phenomenological analysis and M\"ossbauer spectroscopy
experiments on the tetragonal FeTe system indicates that the magnetic
ordering transition in compounds with higher Fe-excess, 0.11, is
unconventional. Experimentally, a liquid-like magnetic precursor with
quasi-static spin-order is found from significantly broadened M\"ossbauer
spectra at temperatures above the antiferromagnetic transition. The
incommensurate spin-density wave (SDW) order in FeTe is described by a
magnetic free energy that violates the weak Lifshitz condition in the Landau
theory of second-order transitions. The presence of multiple Lifshitz
invariants provides the mechanism to create multidimensional, twisted, and
modulated solitonic phases.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Efficiency of initiating cell adhesion in hydrodynamic flow
We theoretically investigate the efficiency of initial binding between a
receptor-coated sphere and a ligand-coated wall in linear shear flow. The mean
first passage time for binding decreases monotonically with increasing shear
rate. Above a saturation threshold of the order of a few 100 receptor patches,
the binding efficiency is enhanced only weakly by increasing their number and
size, but strongly by increasing their height. This explains why white blood
cells in the blood flow adhere through receptor patches localized to the tips
of microvilli, and why malaria-infected red blood cells form elevated receptor
patches (knobs).Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 4 Postscript figures included, to appear in PR
Linear and nonlinear time series analysis of the black hole candidate Cygnus X-1
We analyze the variability in the X-ray lightcurves of the black hole
candidate Cygnus X-1 by linear and nonlinear time series analysis methods.
While a linear model describes the over-all second order properties of the
observed data well, surrogate data analysis reveals a significant deviation
from linearity. We discuss the relation between shot noise models usually
applied to analyze these data and linear stochastic autoregressive models. We
debate statistical and interpretational issues of surrogate data testing for
the present context. Finally, we suggest a combination of tools from linear
andnonlinear time series analysis methods as a procedure to test the
predictions of astrophysical models on observed data.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Pressure-induced ferromagnetism due to an anisotropic electronic topological transition in Fe1.08Te
A rapid and anisotropic modification of the Fermi-surface shape can be
associated with abrupt changes in crystalline lattice geometry or in the
magnetic state of a material. In this study we show that such an electronic
topological transition is at the basis of the formation of an unusual
pressure-induced tetragonal ferromagnetic phase in FeTe. Around 2 GPa,
the orthorhombic and incommensurate antiferromagnetic ground-state of
FeTe is transformed upon increasing pressure into a tetragonal
ferromagnetic state via a conventional first-order transition. On the other
hand, an isostructural transition takes place from the paramagnetic
high-temperature state into the ferromagnetic phase as a rare case of a `type
0' transformation with anisotropic properties. Electronic-structure
calculations in combination with electrical resistivity, magnetization, and
x-ray diffraction experiments show that the electronic system of FeTe
is instable with respect to profound topological transitions that can drive
fundamental changes of the lattice anisotropy and the associated magnetic
order.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figur
Mean first passage times for bond formation for a Brownian particle in linear shear flow above a wall
Motivated by cell adhesion in hydrodynamic flow, here we study bond formation
between a spherical Brownian particle in linear shear flow carrying receptors
for ligands covering the boundary wall. We derive the appropriate Langevin
equation which includes multiplicative noise due to position-dependent mobility
functions resulting from the Stokes equation. We present a numerical scheme
which allows to simulate it with high accuracy for all model parameters,
including shear rate and three parameters describing receptor geometry
(distance, size and height of the receptor patches). In the case of homogeneous
coating, the mean first passage time problem can be solved exactly. In the case
of position-resolved receptor-ligand binding, we identify different scaling
regimes and discuss their biological relevance.Comment: final version after minor revision
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