1,100 research outputs found
Lattice Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations of Platelet Aggregation and Deposition
Platelet aggregation is an essential process in forming a stable clot to prevent blood loss. The response of platelets to a complex signal of pro-clotting agonists determines the stability and size of the resulting clot. An underdeveloped clot represents a bleeding risk, while an overdeveloped clot can cause vessel occlusion, which can lead to heart attack or stroke. A multiscale model was developed to study the integration of platelet signaling within the complex phenomena driven by flow. The model is built upon a lattice kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm (LKMC) to track platelet motion and binding. First, a new method for including flow-driven particle motion in LKMC was derived from a timescale analysis of particle motion. Simple methods for simulating flow-driven motion were found to exhibit concentration dependent velocities violating the assumptions in the model. The nature of the error was analyzed mathematically and resolved by considering the chain length distribution on the lattice. The accuracy of the method was found to scale linearly with the lattice spacing. Second, the LKMC method was extended to study particle aggregation in complex flows. The LKMC results for simple flows were compared directly to a continuum population balance equation (PBE) approach. A contact time model was introduced to capture nonideal collisions in the LKMC model and a connection to the continuum collision efficiency was derived. The particle size distribution for a baffled geometry with regions of standing vortices and squeezing flows was determined using the LKMC method for varying baffle heights. Finally, the LKMC method was incorporated within a multiscale model to simulate platelet aggregation including platelet signaling (neural network model), blood flow (lattice Boltzmann method), and the release of soluble platelet agonists (finite element method). The neural network model for platelet signaling was trained on patient-specific, experimental measurements of intracellular calcium enabling patient-specific predictions of platelet function in flow. The model accurately predicted the order of potency for three antiplatelet therapies, donor-specific aggregate size, and donor-specific response to antiplatelet therapy as compared to microfluidic experiments of platelet aggregation
Brans-Dicke cylindrical wormholes
Static axisymmetric thin-shell wormholes are constructed within the framework
of the Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory of gravity. Examples of wormholes
associated with vacuum and electromagnetic fields are studied. All
constructions must be threaded by exotic matter, except in the case of
geometries with a singularity of finite radius, associated with an electric
field, which can have a throat supported by ordinary matter. These results are
achieved with any of the two definitions of the flare-out condition considered.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; v3: corrected version, conclusions unchange
Global embedding of the Kerr black hole event horizon into hyperbolic 3-space
An explicit global and unique isometric embedding into hyperbolic 3-space,
H^3, of an axi-symmetric 2-surface with Gaussian curvature bounded below is
given. In particular, this allows the embedding into H^3 of surfaces of
revolution having negative, but finite, Gaussian curvature at smooth fixed
points of the U(1) isometry. As an example, we exhibit the global embedding of
the Kerr-Newman event horizon into H^3, for arbitrary values of the angular
momentum. For this example, considering a quotient of H^3 by the Picard group,
we show that the hyperbolic embedding fits in a fundamental domain of the group
up to a slightly larger value of the angular momentum than the limit for which
a global embedding into Euclidean 3-space is possible. An embedding of the
double-Kerr event horizon is also presented, as an example of an embedding
which cannot be made global.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure
Meson Mass Splittings in the Nonrelativistic Model
Mass splittings between isodoublet meson pairs and between and
mesons of the same valence quark content are computed in a detailed
nonrelativistic model. The field theoretic expressions for such splittings are
shown to reduce to kinematic and Breit-Fermi terms in the nonrelativistic
limit. Algebraic results thus obtained are applied to the specific case of the
linear-plus-Coulomb potential, with resultant numbers compared to experiment.Comment: 29 pages with 2 tables and 4 figures, LBL-32872 and UCB-PTH-92/3
Structural parameters affecting the kinetics of RNA hairpin formation
There is little experimental knowledge on the sequence dependent rate of hairpin formation in RNA. We have therefore designed RNA sequences that can fold into either of two mutually exclusive hairpins and have determined the ratio of folding of the two conformations, using structure probing. This folding ratio reflects their respective folding rates. Changing one of the two loop sequences from a purine- to a pyrimidine-rich loop did increase its folding rate, which corresponds well with similar observations in DNA hairpins. However, neither changing one of the loops from a regular non-GNRA tetra-loop into a stable GNRA tetra-loop, nor increasing the loop size from 4 to 6 nt did affect the folding rate. The folding kinetics of these RNAs have also been simulated with the program ‘Kinfold’. These simulations were in agreement with the experimental results if the additional stabilization energies for stable tetra-loops were not taken into account. Despite the high stability of the stable tetra-loops, they apparently do not affect folding kinetics of these RNA hairpins. These results show that it is possible to experimentally determine relative folding rates of hairpins and to use these data to improve the computer-assisted simulation of the folding kinetics of stem–loop structures
Gravitational memory of natural wormholes
A traversable wormhole solution of general scalar-tensor field equations is
presented. We have shown, after a numerical analysis for the behavior of the
scalar field of Brans-Dicke theory, that the solution is completely
singularity--free. Furthermore, the analysis of more general scalar field
dependent coupling constants indicates that the gravitational memory phenomenon
may play an important role in the fate of natural wormholes.Comment: 14 pages revtex, 1 ps figur
Vector Positronium States in QED3
The homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation is solved in the quenched ladder
approximation for the vector positronium states of 4-component quantum
electrodynamics in 2 space and 1 time dimensions. Fermion propagator input is
from a Rainbow approximation Dyson-Schwinger solution, with a broad range of
fermion masses considered. This work is an extension of earlier work on the
scalar spectrum of the same model. The non-relativistic limit is also
considered via the large fermion mass limit. Classification of states via their
transformation properties under discrete parity transformations allows
analogies to be drawn with the meson spectrum of QCD.Comment: 24 pages, 2 encapsulated postscript figure
Higher Dimensional Wormhole Geometries with Compact Dimensions
This paper studies wormhole solutions to Einstein gravity with an arbitrary
number of time dependent compact dimensions and a matter-vacuum boundary. A new
gauge is utilized which is particularly suited for studies of the wormhole
throat. The solutions possess arbitrary functions which allow for the
description of infinitely many wormhole systems of this type and, at the
stellar boundary, the matter field is smoothly joined to vacuum. It turns out
that the classical vacuum structure differs considerably from the four
dimensional theory and is therefore studied in detail. The presence of the
vacuum-matter boundary and extra dimensions places interesting restrictions on
the wormhole. For example, in the static case, the radial size of a weak energy
condition (WEC) respecting throat is restricted by the extra dimensions. There
is a critical dimension, D=5, where this restriction is eliminated. In the time
dependent case, one \emph{cannot} respect the WEC at the throat as the time
dependence actually tends the solution towards WEC violation. This differs
considerably from the static case and the four dimensional case.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures (quality reduced to reduce file size). Update
includes added references and more detail regarding role extra dimensions
play in wormhole analysis. Accepted for publication in Nuclear Phys.
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