Nonequilibrium Time Reversibility with Maps and Walks

Time-reversible dynamical simulations of nonequilibrium systems exemplify both Loschmidt’s and Zermélo’s paradoxes. That is, computational time-reversible simulations invariably produce solutions consistent with the irreversible Second Law of Thermodynamics (Loschmidt’s) as well as periodic in the time (Zermélo’s, illustrating Poincaré recurrence). Understanding these paradoxical aspects of time-reversible systems is enhanced here by studying the simplest pair of such model systems. The first is time-reversible, but nevertheless dissipative and periodic, the piecewise-linear compressible Baker Map. The fractal properties of that two-dimensional map are mirrored by an even simpler example, the one-dimensional random walk, confined to the unit interval. As a further puzzle the two models yield ambiguities in determining the fractals’ information dimensions. These puzzles, including the classical paradoxes, are reviewed and explored here.EPSR

Enhancing surface heat transfer by carbon nanofins: towards an alternative to nanofluids?

Background: Nanofluids are suspensions of nanoparticles and fibers which have recently attracted much attention because of their superior thermal properties. Nevertheless, it was proven that, due to modest dispersion of nanoparticles, such high expectations often remain unmet. In this article, by introducing the notion of nanofin, a possible solution is envisioned, where nanostructures with high aspect-ratio are sparsely attached to a solid surface (to avoid a significant disturbance on the fluid dynamic structures), and act as efficient thermal bridges within the boundary layer. As a result, particles are only needed in a small region of the fluid, while dispersion can be controlled in advance through design and manufacturing processes. Results: Toward the end of implementing the above idea, we focus on single carbon nanotubes to enhance heat transfer between a surface and a fluid in contact with it. First, we investigate the thermal conductivity of the latter nanostructures by means of classical non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. Next, thermal conductance at the interface between a single wall carbon nanotube (nanofin) and water molecules is assessed by means of both steady-state and transient numerical experiments. Conclusions: Numerical evidences suggest a pretty favorable thermal boundary conductance (order of 107 W·m-2·K-1) which makes carbon nanotubes potential candidates for constructing nanofinned surface

Angiomotin and angiomotin like proteins, their expression and correlation with angiogenesis and clinical outcome in human breast cancer

BACKGOUND: Angiomotin is a newly discovered molecule that regulates the migration and tubule formation of endothelial cells. It therefore has been implicated in the control of angiogenesis under physiological and pathological conditions. This study examined the expression of angiomotin and its analogues, angiomotin-like 1 (L1) and -like 2 (L2) in breast tumour tissues, and analysed their correlation with angiogenesis and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Human breast tissues (normal n = 32 and tumours n = 120) were used. The levels of expression of angiomotin, L1 and L2 were determined using reverse transcription PCR. Microvessels were stained using antibodies against PECAM, von Willebrand factor (factor 8, or vWF) and VE-cadherin. The transcript levels of angiomotin and its analogues were assessed against the clinical and pathological background, including long term survival (120 months). RESULTS: Breast cancer tissues expressed significantly higher levels of angiomotin transcript, compared with normal mammary tissues (33.1 ± 11 in normal versus 86.5 ± 13.7 in tumour tissues, p = 0.003). Both L1 and L2 were seen at marginally higher levels in tumour than normal tissues but the difference was not statistically significant. Levels of angiomotin were at significantly higher levels in grade 2 and grade 3 tumours compared with grade 1 (p < 0.01 and p = 0.05 respectively). The levels of angiomotin in tumours from patients who had metastatic disease were also significantly higher than those patients who remained disease free (p = 0.03). Multivariate analysis indicated that angiomotin transcript was an independent prognostic factor (p = 0.031). No significant correlations were seen between angiomotin-L1 and L2 with the clinical outcome. Furthermore, high levels of angiomotin transcript were associated with shorter overall survival (p < 0.05). There was a high degree of correlation between levels of vW factor and that of angiomotin (p < 0.05), but not angiomotin-L1 and angiomotin-L2. CONCLUSION: Angiomotin, a putative endothelial motility factor, is highly expressed in human breast tumour tissues and linked to angiogenesis. It links to the aggressive nature of breast tumours and the long term survival of the patients. These data point angiomotin as being a potential therapeutic target

Effect of entropy on the dynamics of supercooled liquids: New results from high pressure data

We show that for arbitrary thermodynamic conditions, master curves of the entropy are obtained by expressing S(T,V) as a function of TV^g_G, where T is temperature, V specific volume, and g_G the thermodynamic Gruneisen parameter. A similar scaling is known for structural relaxation times,tau = f(TV^g); however, we find g_G < g. We show herein that this inequality reflects contributions to S(T,V) from processes, such as vibrations and secondary relaxations, that do not directly influence the supercooled dynamics. An approximate method is proposed to remove these contributions, S_0, yielding the relationship tau = f(S-S_0).Comment: 10 pages 7 figure

Precise Analysis of Polymer Rotational Dynamics

Through the analysis of individual chain dynamics alongside the corresponding molecular structures under shear via nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of C178H358 linear and short-chain branched polyethylene melts under shear flow, we observed that the conventional method based on the chain end-to-end vector (and/or the gyration tensor of chain) is susceptible to quantitatively inaccurate measurements and often misleading information in describing the rotational dynamics of polymers. Identifying the flaw as attributed to strong irregular Brownian fluctuations inherent to the chain ends associated with their large free volume and strong molecular collisions, we propose a simple, robust way based on the chain center-to-center vector connecting the two centers of mass of the bisected chain, which is shown to adequately describe polymer rotational dynamics without such shortcomings. We present further consideration that the proposed method can be useful in accurately measuring the overall chain structure and dynamics of polymeric materials with various molecular architectures, including branched and ring polymers.open

“Excellence R Us”: university research and the fetishisation of excellence

The rhetoric of “excellence” is pervasive across the academy. It is used to refer to research outputs as well as researchers, theory and education, individuals and organisations, from art history to zoology. But does “excellence” actually mean anything? Does this pervasive narrative of “excellence” do any good? Drawing on a range of sources we interrogate “excellence” as a concept and find that it has no intrinsic meaning in academia. Rather it functions as a linguistic interchange mechanism. To investigate whether this linguistic function is useful we examine how the rhetoric of excellence combines with narratives of scarcity and competition to show that the hypercompetition that arises from the performance of “excellence” is completely at odds with the qualities of good research. We trace the roots of issues in reproducibility, fraud, and homophily to this rhetoric. But we also show that this rhetoric is an internal, and not primarily an external, imposition. We conclude by proposing an alternative rhetoric based on soundness and capacity-building. In the final analysis, it turns out that that “excellence” is not excellent. Used in its current unqualified form it is a pernicious and dangerous rhetoric that undermines the very foundations of good research and scholarship

Do Twin Boundaries Always Strengthen Metal Nanowires?

It has been widely reported that twin boundaries strengthen nanowires regardless of their morphology—that is, the strength of nanowires goes up as twin spacing goes down. This article shows that twin boundaries do not always strengthen nanowires. Using classical molecular dynamics simulations, the authors show that whether twin boundaries strengthen nanowires depends on the necessary stress for dislocation nucleation, which in turn depends on surface morphologies. When nanowires are circular cylindrical, the necessary stress of dislocation nucleation is high and the presence of twin boundaries lowers this stress; twin boundaries soften nanowires. In contrast, when nanowires are square cylindrical, the necessary stress of dislocation nucleation is low, and a higher stress is required for dislocations to penetrate twin boundaries; they strengthen nanowires

“Conjugate Channeling” Effect in Dislocation Core Diffusion: Carbon Transport in Dislocated BCC Iron

Dislocation pipe diffusion seems to be a well-established phenomenon. Here we demonstrate an unexpected effect, that the migration of interstitials such as carbon in iron may be accelerated not in the dislocation line direction [symbol], but in a conjugate diffusion direction. This accelerated random walk arises from a simple crystallographic channeling effect. [c] is a function of the Burgers vector b, but not [symbol], thus a dislocation loop possesses the same everywhere. Using molecular dynamics and accelerated dynamics simulations, we further show that such dislocation-core-coupled carbon diffusion in iron has temperature-dependent activation enthalpy like a fragile glass. The 71° mixed dislocation is the only case in which we see straightforward pipe diffusion that does not depend on dislocation mobility.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. CMMI-0728069)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. DMR-1008104)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant No. DMR-1120901

Liquid metal nanodroplet dynamics inside nanocontainers

Here we report direct observations of spatial movements of nanodroplets of Pb metal trapped inside sealed carbon nanocontainers. We find drastic changes in the mobility of the liquid droplets as the particle size increases from a few to a few ten nanometers. In open containers the droplet becomes immobile and readily evaporates to the vacuum environment. The particle mobility strongly depends on confinement, particle size, and wetting on the enclosed surface. The collisions between droplets increase mobility but the tendency is reversed if collisions lead to droplet coalescence. The dynamics of confined nanodroplets could provide new insights into the activity of nanostructures in spatially constrained geometries

In vitro anti-angiogenic properties of LGD1069, a selective retinoid X-receptor agonist through down-regulating Runx2 expression on Human endothelial cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>LGD1069 (Targretin^®) is a selective retinoid X receptor (RXR) ligand, which is used in patients for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Our published study reported that LGD1069 inhibited tumor-induced angiogenesis in non-small cell lung cancer. In present study, we found that LGD1069 suppressed the proliferation, adhesion, invasion and migration of endothelial cells directly, and affected the expression of vegf and some matrix genes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used for <it>in vitro </it>study. MTT assay and Sulforhodamine B assay were used for cell viability assay; the tube formation assay was used to investigate the effect of LGD1069 on angiogenesis <it>in vitro</it>. <it>In vitro </it>adhesion, migration and invasion of HUVEC cells were analyzed by Matrigel adhesion, migration and invasion assay. Gene expressions were measured by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our data showed here that LGD1069 inhibited the activation of TGF-β/Smad pathway significantly. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that expression of Runx2 was suppressed pronouncedly during incubation with LGD1069. Runx2 is a DNA-binding transcription factor which plays a master role in tumor-induced angiogenesis and cancer cells metastasis by interaction with the TGF-β/Smad pathway of transcriptional modulators.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggested that LGD1069 may impair angiogenic and metastatic potential induced by tumor cells through suppressing expression of Runx2 directly on human endothelial cells, which may point out new pathway through which LGD1069 display anti-angiogenic properties, and provide new molecular evidence to support LGD1069 as a potent anti-metastatic agent in cancer therapy.</p