2,543 research outputs found
Organs from animals for man
In the following review some of the problems of xenotransplantation shall be discussed, based on the few experimental data available so far and on reports in the literature describing investigations which may be of importance for xenotransplantation. The impact of gravity on the upright posture of man versus almost all other mammals, the dysfunction between enzymes and hormones in different species and the lack of interactions between interleukins, cytokines and vasoactive substances will be taken into consideration. The question must be asked whether different levels of carrier molecules or serum proteins play a role in the physiological network. Even though the development of transgenic animals or other imaginative manipulations may lead to the acceptance of any type of xenografted organ, it has to be established for how long the products of the xenografts are able to act in the multifactorial orchestra. We are far from understanding xenogeneic molecular mechanisms involved in toxicity, necrosis and apoptosis or even reperfusion injury and ischemia in addition to the immediate mechanisms of the hyperacute xenogeneic rejection. Here, cell adhesion, blood clotting and vasomotion collide and bring micro-and macrocirculation to a standstill. All types of xenogeneic immunological mechanisms studied so far were found to have a more serious impact than those seen in allogeneic transplantation. In addition we are now only beginning to understand that so-called immunological parameters in allogeneic mechanisms act also in a true physiological manner in the xenogeneic situation. These molecular mechanisms occur behind the curtain of hyperacute, accelerated, acute or chronic xenograft rejection of which only some folds have been lifted to allow glimpses of part of the total scene. Other obstacles are likely to arise when long-term survival is achieved. These obstacles include retroviral infections, transfer of prions and severe side effects of the massive immunosuppression which will be needed. Moral, ethical and religious concerns are under debate and the species-specific production of proteins of the foreign donor species developed for clinical use suddenly appears to be a greater problem than anticipated
Experimental verification of reciprocity relations in quantum thermoelectric transport
Symmetry relations are manifestations of fundamental principles and
constitute cornerstones of modern physics. An example are the Onsager relations
between coefficients connecting thermodynamic fluxes and forces, central to
transport theory and experiments. Initially formulated for classical systems,
these reciprocity relations are also fulfilled in quantum conductors.
Surprisingly, novel relations have been predicted specifically for
thermoelectric transport. However, whereas these thermoelectric reciprocity
relations have to date not been verified, they have been predicted to be
sensitive to inelastic scattering, always present at finite temperature. The
question whether the relations exist in practice is important for
thermoelectricity: whereas their existence may simplify the theory of complex
thermoelectric materials, their absence has been shown to enable, in principle,
higher thermoelectric energy conversion efficiency for a given material
quality. Here we experimentally verify the thermoelectric reciprocity relations
in a four-terminal mesoscopic device where each terminal can be electrically
and thermally biased, individually. The linear response thermoelectric
coefficients are found to be symmetric under simultaneous reversal of magnetic
field and exchange of injection and emission contacts. Intriguingly, we also
observe the breakdown of the reciprocity relations as a function of increasing
thermal bias. Our measurements thus clearly establish the existence of the
thermoelectric reciprocity relations, as well as the possibility to control
their breakdown with the potential to enhance thermoelectric performanceComment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Threshold feedback control for a collective flashing ratchet: threshold dependence
We study the threshold control protocol for a collective flashing ratchet. In
particular, we analyze the dependence of the current on the values of the
thresholds. We have found analytical expressions for the small threshold
dependence both for the few and for the many particle case. For few particles
the current is a decreasing function of the thresholds, thus, the maximum
current is reached for zero thresholds. In contrast, for many particles the
optimal thresholds have a nonzero finite value. We have numerically checked the
relation that allows to obtain the optimal thresholds for an infinite number of
particles from the optimal period of the periodic protocol. These optimal
thresholds for an infinite number of particles give good results for many
particles. In addition, they also give good results for few particles due to
the smooth dependence of the current up to these threshold values.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 7 figures, improved version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Optimizing the performance of thermionic devices using energy filtering
Conventional thermionic power generators and refrigerators utilize a barrier
in the direction of transport to selectively transmit high-energy electrons.
Here we show that the energy spectrum of electrons transmitted in this way is
not optimal, and we derive the ideal energy spectrum for operation in the
maximum power regime. By using suitable energy filters, such as resonances in
quantum dots, the power of thermionic devices can, in principle, be improved by
an order of magnitude.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Transverse rectification of disorder-induced fluctuations in a driven system
We study numerically the overdamped motion of particles driven in a two
dimensional ratchet potential. In the proposed design, of the so-called
geometrical-ratchet type, the mean velocity of a single particle in response to
a constant force has a transverse component that can be induced by the presence
of thermal or other unbiased fluctuations. We find that additional quenched
disorder can strongly enhance the transverse drift at low temperatures, in
spite of reducing the transverse mobility. We show that, under general
conditions, the rectified transverse velocity of a driven particle fluid is
equivalent to the response of a one dimensional flashing ratchet working at a
drive-dependent effective temperature, defined through generalized Einstein
relations.Comment: 4.5 pages, 3 fig
Information and maximum power in a feedback controlled Brownian ratchet
Closed-loop or feedback controlled ratchets are Brownian motors that operate
using information about the state of the system. For these ratchets, we compute
the power output and we investigate its relation with the information used in
the feedback control. We get analytical expressions for one-particle and
few-particle flashing ratchets, and we find that the maximum power output has
an upper bound proportional to the information. In addition, we show that the
increase of the power output that results from changing the optimal open-loop
ratchet to a closed-loop ratchet also has an upper bound that is linear in the
information.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 4 figures, improved version to appear in Eur. Phys.
J.
Brownian motors: current fluctuations and rectification efficiency
With this work we investigate an often neglected aspect of Brownian motor
transport: The r\^{o}le of fluctuations of the noise-induced current and its
consequences for the efficiency of rectifying noise. In doing so, we consider a
Brownian inertial motor that is driven by an unbiased monochromatic,
time-periodic force and thermal noise. Typically, we find that the asymptotic,
time- and noise-averaged transport velocities are small, possessing rather
broad velocity fluctuations. This implies a corresponding poor performance for
the rectification power. However, for tailored profiles of the ratchet
potential and appropriate drive parameters, we can identify a drastic
enhancement of the rectification efficiency. This regime is marked by
persistent, uni-directional motion of the Brownian motor with few back-turns,
only. The corresponding asymmetric velocity distribution is then rather narrow,
with a support that predominantly favors only one sign for the velocity.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
Concept study for a high-efficiency nanowire-based thermoelectric
Materials capable of highly efficient, direct thermal-to-electric energy
conversion would have substantial economic potential. Theory predicts that
thermoelectric efficiencies approaching the Carnot limit can be achieved at low
temperatures in one-dimensional conductors that contain an energy filter such
as a double-barrier resonant tunneling structure. The recent advances in growth
techniques suggest that such devices can now be realized in heterostructured,
semiconductor nanowires. Here we propose specific structural parameters for
InAs/InP nanowires that may allow the experimental observation of near-Carnot
efficient thermoelectric energy conversion in a single nanowire at low
temperature
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