140 research outputs found
Alginate reduces the increased uptake of cholesterol and glucose in overweight male subjects: a pilot study
Dietary fibers are of particular interest in the prevention and management of obesity and consequent pathologies. Among the proposed mechanisms of action of fiber is the modulation of nutrient uptake from the small intestine. We have used a crossover study design in human subjects to monitor the uptake of glucose, cholesterol, and triacylglycerols in human subjects with normal and high body mass index. Our data demonstrate that uptakes of glucose, triacylglycerols, and cholesterol are all increased with increasing body fat. We demonstrate that treatment with a 1.5-g dose of a strong-gelling alginate may restore uptake of cholesterol and glucose to the levels of healthy subjects. These data indicate a potential therapeutic application of gelling fibers. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc
Phase separating binary fluids under oscillatory shear
We apply lattice Boltzmann methods to study the segregation of binary fluid
mixtures under oscillatory shear flow in two dimensions. The algorithm allows
to simulate systems whose dynamics is described by the Navier-Stokes and the
convection-diffusion equations. The interplay between several time scales
produces a rich and complex phenomenology. We investigate the effects of
different oscillation frequencies and viscosities on the morphology of the
phase separating domains. We find that at high frequencies the evolution is
almost isotropic with growth exponents 2/3 and 1/3 in the inertial (low
viscosity) and diffusive (high viscosity) regimes, respectively. When the
period of the applied shear flow becomes of the same order of the relaxation
time of the shear velocity profile, anisotropic effects are clearly
observable. In correspondence with non-linear patterns for the velocity
profiles, we find configurations where lamellar order close to the walls
coexists with isotropic domains in the middle of the system. For particular
values of frequency and viscosity it can also happen that the convective
effects induced by the oscillations cause an interruption or a slowing of the
segregation process, as found in some experiments. Finally, at very low
frequencies, the morphology of domains is characterized by lamellar order
everywhere in the system resembling what happens in the case with steady shear.Comment: 1 table and 12 figures in .gif forma
Scaling and universality in the phase diagram of the 2D Blume-Capel model
We review the pertinent features of the phase diagram of the zero-field
Blume-Capel model, focusing on the aspects of transition order, finite-size
scaling and universality. In particular, we employ a range of Monte Carlo
simulation methods to study the 2D spin-1 Blume-Capel model on the square
lattice to investigate the behavior in the vicinity of the first-order and
second-order regimes of the ferromagnet-paramagnet phase boundary,
respectively. To achieve high-precision results, we utilize a combination of
(i) a parallel version of the multicanonical algorithm and (ii) a hybrid
updating scheme combining Metropolis and generalized Wolff cluster moves. These
techniques are combined to study for the first time the correlation length of
the model, using its scaling in the regime of second-order transitions to
illustrate universality through the observed identity of the limiting value of
with the exactly known result for the Ising universality class.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. Special
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