21,698 research outputs found
Confined water in the low hydration regime
Molecular dynamics results on water confined in a silica pore in the low
hydration regime are presented. Strong layering effects are found due to the
hydrophilic character of the substrate. The local properties of water are
studied as function of both temperature and hydration level. The interaction of
the thin films of water with the silica atoms induces a strong distortion of
the hydrogen bond network. The residence time of the water molecules is
dependent on the distance from the surface. Its behavior shows a transition
from a brownian to a non-brownian regime approaching the substrate in agreement
with results found in studies of water at contact with globular proteins.Comment: 7 pages with 12 figures (RevTeX4). To be published on J. Chem. Phy
A molecular dynamics simulation of water confined in a cylindrical SiO2 pore
A molecular dynamics simulation of water confined in a silica pore is
performed in order to compare it with recent experimental results on water
confined in porous Vycor glass at room temperature. A cylindrical pore of 40 A
is created inside a vitreous SiO2 cell, obtained by computer simulation. The
resulting cavity offers to water a rough hydrophilic surface and its geometry
and size are similar to those of a typical pore in porous Vycor glass. The
site-site distribution functions of water inside the pore are evaluated and
compared with bulk water results. We find that the modifications of the
site-site distribution functions, induced by confinement, are in qualitative
agreement with the recent neutron diffraction experiment, confirming that the
disturbance to the microscopic structure of water mainly concerns orientational
arrangement of neighbouring molecules. A layer analysis of MD results indicates
that, while the geometrical constraint gives an almost constant density profile
up to the layers closest to the interface, with an uniform average number of
hydrogen bonds (HB), the hydrophilic interaction produces the wetting of the
pore surface at the expenses of the adjacent water layers. Moreover the
orientational disorder togheter with a reduction of the average number of HB
persists in the layers close to the interface, while water molecules cluster in
the middle of the pore at a density and with a coordination similar to bulk
water.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages, 12 figures; to appear in June 15 issue of J. Chem.
Phy
Heat transfer simulation of evacuated tube collectors (ETC): An application to a prototype
Since fossil fuels shortages are predicted for the forthcoming generations, the use of renewable energy sources is playing a key role and is strongly recommended worldwide by national and international regulations. In this scenario, solar collectors for hot water preparation, space heating and cooling are becoming an increasingly interesting alternative, especially in the building sector because of population growth. Thus, the present paper is addressed to numerically investigate the thermal behaviour of a prototypal evacuated tube by solving the heat transfer differential equations using the Finite Element Method. This is to reproduce the heat transfer process occurring within the real system, helping the industry improve the prototype
CARMA interferometric observations of 2MASS J044427+2512: the first spatially resolved observations of thermal emission of a brown dwarf disk
We present CARMA 1.3 mm continuum data of the disk surrounding the young
brown dwarf 2MASS J044427+2512 in the Taurus molecular cloud. The high angular
resolution of the CARMA observations (0.16 arcsec) allows us to spatially
resolve for the first time the thermal emission from dust around a brown dwarf.
We analyze the interferometric visibilities and constrain the disk outer radius
adopting disk models with power-law radial profiles of the dust surface
density. In the case of a power-law index equal to or lower than 1, we obtain a
disk radius in the range of about 15 - 30 AU, while larger disks are inferred
for steeper radial profiles. By combining this information on the disk spatial
extent with the sub-mm spectral index of this source we find conclusive
evidence for mm-sized grains, or larger, in this brown dwarf disk. We discuss
the implications of our results on the models of dust evolution in
proto-planetary disks and brown dwarf formation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Comment on ``Two Time Scales and Violation of the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem in a Finite Dimensional Model for Structural Glasses''
In cond-mat/0002074 Ricci-Tersenghi et al. find two linear regimes in the
fluctuation-dissipation relation between density-density correlations and
associated responses of the Frustrated Ising Lattice Gas. Here we show that
this result does not seem to correspond to the equilibrium quantities of the
model, by measuring the overlap distribution P(q) of the density and comparing
the FDR expected on the ground of the P(q) with the one measured in the
off-equilibrium experiments.Comment: RevTeX, 1 page, 2 eps figures, Comment on F. Ricci-Tersenghi et al.,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4473 (2000
ALMA observations of the debris disk around the young Solar Analog HD 107146
We present ALMA continuum observations at a wavelength of 1.25 mm of the
debris disk surrounding the 100 Myr old solar analog HD 107146. The
continuum emission extends from about 30 to 150 AU from the central star with a
decrease in the surface brightness at intermediate radii. We analyze the ALMA
interferometric visibilities using debris disk models with radial profiles for
the dust surface density parametrized as i) a single power-law, ii) a single
power-law with a gap, and iii) a double power-law. We find that models with a
gap of radial width AU at a distance of AU from the central
star, as well as double power-law models with a dip in the dust surface density
at AU provide significantly better fits to the ALMA data than single
power-law models. We discuss possible scenarios for the origin of the HD 107146
debris disk using models of planetesimal belts in which the formation of
Pluto-sized objects trigger disruptive collisions of large bodies, as well as
models which consider the interaction of a planetary system with a planetesimal
belt and spatial variation of the dust opacity across the disk. If future
observations with higher angular resolution and sensitivity confirm the
fully-depleted gap structure discussed here, a planet with a mass of
approximately a few Earth masses in a nearly circular orbit at AU
from the central star would be a possible explanation for the presence of the
gap.Comment: (38 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
ALMA Observations of Circumstellar Disks in the Upper Scorpius OB Association
We present ALMA observations of 106 G-, K-, and M-type stars in the Upper
Scorpius OB Association hosting circumstellar disks. With these data, we
measure the 0.88 mm continuum and CO = 32 line fluxes of disks
around low-mass ( ) stars at an age of 5-11 Myr. Of the
75 primordial disks in the sample, 53 are detected in the dust continuum and 26
in CO. Of the 31 disks classified as debris/evolved transitional disks, 5 are
detected in the continuum and none in CO. The lack of CO emission in
approximately half of the disks with detected continuum emission can be
explained if CO is optically thick but has a compact emitting area ( au), or if the CO is heavily depleted by a factor of at least
relative to interstellar medium abundances and is optically thin. The continuum
measurements are used to estimate the dust mass of the disks. We find a
correlation between disk dust mass and stellar host mass consistent with a
power-law relation of . Disk dust
masses in Upper Sco are compared to those measured in the younger Taurus
star-forming region to constrain the evolution of disk dust mass. We find that
the difference in the mean of between Taurus and
Upper Sco is , such that is lower in Upper
Sco by a factor of .Comment: 18 pages of text, 11 Figures, 5 Tables. Published in Ap
What information could the main actors of liquid biopsy provide? A representative case of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there is a consensus regarding the use of liquid biopsy, generally, to detect "druggable" mutations and, in particular, to monitor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatments. However, whether circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are better tools than cell-free DNA (cfDNA), is still a matter of debate, mainly concerning which antigen(s) we should use to investigating simultaneously both epithelial and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transient (EMT) phenotype in the same sample of CTCs. To address this item, we exploited here a single-tube liquid biopsy, to detect both epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-positive CTCs and EpCAM-low/negative CTCs, because down-modulation of EpCAM is considered the first step in EMT. Furthermore, we analyzed the DNA from CTCs of four different phenotypes (ctcDNA), according to their EpCAM expression and cytokeratin pattern, and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), in order to disclose activating and resistancedriving mutations. Liquid biopsy reflected spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the tumor under treatment pressure. We provide the proof-of-concept that the complementary use of ctDNA and ctcDNA represents a reliable, minimally invasive and dynamic tool for a more comprehensive view of tumor evolution
From car to bike. Marketing and dialogue as a driver of change
The Paris Climate Agreement has sent a key message to the international community regarding the need to increase efforts to move towards a low-carbon economy and help slow climate change, while underpinning global long-term economic growth and sustainable development. COP 21 recognizes the social, economic and environmental value of voluntary mitigation actions and their co-benefits for adaptation, health and sustainable development. In this framework, the PTP Cycle project, running from 2013 to 2016 and funded by the European Commission through the Intelligent Energy Europe program, introduces a non-market approach through voluntary participation in the adoption of sustainable transport modes such as cycling, based on marketing to potential customers through Personalized Travel Plans. The medium-sized city of Burgos (Spain) and the cities of Ljubljana, Riga, Antwerp and London
(boroughs of Haringey and Greenwich) developed a new policy instrument (Personalized Travel Plans) in order to increase bike patronage. Beyond potential savings of CO2, the results show that PTP as a form of Active Mobility Consultancy is a suitable instrument to influence modal shift to public transport, walking and cycling, and to address the challenges of climate change, while fostering sustainable transportation by changing mobility behaviour. These results, matching with the state-of-the-art of studies and pilot applications in other countries, allows deriving differentiated results for medium-size and large urban areas
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