5,660 research outputs found
Structure and Function of Connective Tissue in Cardiac Muscle: Collagen Types I and III in Endomysial Struts and Pericellular Fibers
Heart myocytes and capillaries are enmeshed in a complex array of connective tissue structures arranged in several levels of organization: epimysium, the sheath of connective tissue that surrounds muscles; perimysium, which is associated with groups of cells; and endomysium, which surrounds and interconnects individual cells. The present paper is a review of work in this field with an emphasis on new, unpublished findings, including composition of endomysial fibers and disposition of newly described perimysial fibers. The role of scanning electron microscopy in the development of current understanding is also outlined. Biaxially arranged epimysial fibers form a sheath around papillary muscles and trabeculae that becomes increasingly well-oriented with the muscle axis during stretch. Perimysial structures are associated with groups of cells, and include weaves and septa of collagen, tendon-like fibers between weaves, ribbon-like fibers perpendicular to myocytes, and the newly described coiled perimysial fibers, which form an array in parallel with the myocytes and the epimysial net. The endomysium includes struts that bridge cells and pericellular fibers; both contain collagen types I and III. The evidence for the latter is presented in this paper and depends upon the use of antibody localization with fluorescent markers in light microscopy and colloidal gold for scanning electron microscopy. The implications of the composition of collagen fibers for myocardial function are discussed in relation to intra-cellular and other extra-cellular structures
Nuclear break-up of 11Be
The break-up of 11Be was studied at 41AMeV using a secondary beam of 11Be
from the GANIL facility on a 48Ti target by measuring correlations between the
10Be core, the emitted neutrons and gamma rays. The nuclear break-up leading to
the emission of a neutron at large angle in the laboratory frame is identified
with the towing mode through its characteristic n-fragment correlation. The
experimental spectra are compared with a model where the time dependent
Schrodinger equation (TDSE) is solved for the neutron initially in the 11 Be. A
good agreement is found between experiment and theory for the shapes of neutron
experimental energies and angular distributions. The spectroscopic factor of
the 2s orbital is tentatively extracted to be 0.46+-0.15. The neutron emission
from the 1p and 1d orbitals is also studied
Diluted Networks of Nonlinear Resistors and Fractal Dimensions of Percolation Clusters
We study random networks of nonlinear resistors, which obey a generalized
Ohm's law, . Our renormalized field theory, which thrives on an
interpretation of the involved Feynman Diagrams as being resistor networks
themselves, is presented in detail. By considering distinct values of the
nonlinearity r, we calculate several fractal dimensions characterizing
percolation clusters. For the dimension associated with the red bonds we show
that at least to order {\sl O} (\epsilon^4),
with being the correlation length exponent, and , where d
denotes the spatial dimension. This result agrees with a rigorous one by
Coniglio. Our result for the chemical distance, d_{\scriptsize min} = 2 -
\epsilon /6 - [ 937/588 + 45/49 (\ln 2 -9/10 \ln 3)] (\epsilon /6)^2 + {\sl O}
(\epsilon^3) verifies a previous calculation by one of us. For the backbone
dimension we find D_B = 2 + \epsilon /21 - 172 \epsilon^2 /9261 + 2 (- 74639 +
22680 \zeta (3))\epsilon^3 /4084101 + {\sl O} (\epsilon^4), where , in agreement to second order in with a two-loop
calculation by Harris and Lubensky.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure
Charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers for pulse shape discrimination techniques with silicon detectors
New charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers coupled to silicon detectors
and devoted to studies in nuclear structure and dynamics have been developed
and tested. For the first time shapes of current pulses from light charged
particles and carbon ions are presented. Capabilities for pulse shape
discrimination techniques are demonstrated.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Nucl. Inst. Meth.
The Role of Friction in Compaction and Segregation of Granular Materials
We investigate the role of friction in compaction and segregation of granular
materials by combining Edwards' thermodynamic hypothesis with a simple
mechanical model and mean-field based geometrical calculations. Systems of
single species with large friction coefficients are found to compact less.
Binary mixtures of grains differing in frictional properties are found to
segregate at high compactivities, in contrary to granular mixtures differing in
size, which segregate at low compactivities. A phase diagram for segregation
vs. friction coefficients of the two species is generated. Finally, the
characteristics of segregation are related directly to the volume fraction
without the explicit use of the yet unclear notion of compactivity.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Chord distribution functions of three-dimensional random media: Approximate first-passage times of Gaussian processes
The main result of this paper is a semi-analytic approximation for the chord
distribution functions of three-dimensional models of microstructure derived
from Gaussian random fields. In the simplest case the chord functions are
equivalent to a standard first-passage time problem, i.e., the probability
density governing the time taken by a Gaussian random process to first exceed a
threshold. We obtain an approximation based on the assumption that successive
chords are independent. The result is a generalization of the independent
interval approximation recently used to determine the exponent of persistence
time decay in coarsening. The approximation is easily extended to more general
models based on the intersection and union sets of models generated from the
iso-surfaces of random fields. The chord distribution functions play an
important role in the characterization of random composite and porous
materials. Our results are compared with experimental data obtained from a
three-dimensional image of a porous Fontainebleau sandstone and a
two-dimensional image of a tungsten-silver composite alloy.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Path Integral Approach to Strongly Nonlinear Composite
We study strongly nonlinear disordered media using a functional method. We
solve exactly the problem of a nonlinear impurity in a linear host and we
obtain a Bruggeman-like formula for the effective nonlinear susceptibility.
This formula reduces to the usual Bruggeman effective medium approximation in
the linear case and has the following features: (i) It reproduces the weak
contrast expansion to the second order and (ii) the effective medium exponent
near the percolation threshold are , , where is the
nonlinearity exponent. Finally, we give analytical expressions for previously
numerically calculated quantities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Explanation of the Gibbs paradox within the framework of quantum thermodynamics
The issue of the Gibbs paradox is that when considering mixing of two gases
within classical thermodynamics, the entropy of mixing appears to be a
discontinuous function of the difference between the gases: it is finite for
whatever small difference, but vanishes for identical gases. The resolution
offered in the literature, with help of quantum mixing entropy, was later shown
to be unsatisfactory precisely where it sought to resolve the paradox.
Macroscopic thermodynamics, classical or quantum, is unsuitable for explaining
the paradox, since it does not deal explicitly with the difference between the
gases. The proper approach employs quantum thermodynamics, which deals with
finite quantum systems coupled to a large bath and a macroscopic work source.
Within quantum thermodynamics, entropy generally looses its dominant place and
the target of the paradox is naturally shifted to the decrease of the maximally
available work before and after mixing (mixing ergotropy). In contrast to
entropy this is an unambiguous quantity. For almost identical gases the mixing
ergotropy continuously goes to zero, thus resolving the paradox. In this
approach the concept of ``difference between the gases'' gets a clear
operational meaning related to the possibilities of controlling the involved
quantum states. Difficulties which prevent resolutions of the paradox in its
entropic formulation do not arise here. The mixing ergotropy has several
counter-intuitive features. It can increase when less precise operations are
allowed. In the quantum situation (in contrast to the classical one) the mixing
ergotropy can also increase when decreasing the degree of mixing between the
gases, or when decreasing their distinguishability. These points go against a
direct association of physical irreversibility with lack of information.Comment: Published version. New title. 17 pages Revte
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