Biocompatibility of nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes with murine fibroblasts and human hematopoietic stem cells

Journal of Nanoparticle Research - Workers are increasingly exposed to nanoparticles, mostly via inhalation. Respiratory protection is recommended as an additional control measure. Particulate...     

Influence of heat treatment temperature of carbon fiber felt substrate on polyaniline electrosynthesis and its properties

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Polyaniline was electrosynthesized using three voltammetric cycles on carbon fiber felts annealed at 1400, 1600, 2000, and 2300 K. Felts and...     

A new methodology for the determination of silicon in plants by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence

Silicon is an important element for plants at their structure and physiology and plays an important role in bone mineralization and soft tissue development in human beings. Furthermore, its determination is being requested more frequently due to nutritional requirements. However, the methods found in the literature to determine silicon in this type of samples require a sample preparation step, which makes them time-consuming and provides high uncertainties. In this paper, a method for the determination of silicon in plants by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectrometry has been developed. Horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) and nettle leaf (Urtica dioica) have been used as a source of silicon due to its medical use. Sample preparation involved calcining the sample at 700°C and preparing fused beads from the calcined sample. Calibration standards for WD-XRF measurement were prepared by mixing certified reference materials and chemical products to reproduce the samples matrix. The linear range for silicon concentration ranges from 6 to 55 wt% SiO₂. The validation of the method was performed measuring a reference material (NCS DC73349 Bush branches and leaves) and comparing the results obtained by WD-XRF with those obtained by an independent method by atomic absorption spectrometry. The developed methodology is rapid and accurate, provides low uncertainties, and is environmentally friendly, as it does require the use of less hazardous reagents.     

A numerical approach on hybrid nanofluid behavior in laminar duct flow with various cross sections

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, a three-dimensional analysis is used to study the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in ducts with various cross-sectional...     

Partial control of delay-coordinate maps

Nonlinear Dynamics - Delay-coordinate maps have been widely used recently to study nonlinear dynamical systems, where there is only access to the time series of one of their variables. Here, we...     

Limit cycles and detailed balance in Fokker-Planck equations

A class of non-linear Fokker Planck equations with exactly known steady state solution is investigated and its relation with the models considered earlier in the literature is discussed. A characterisation of the absence of detailed balance and possible existence of limit cycles is given. The implications of detailed balance on the existence and the character of limit cycle behaviour are studied. It is shown that detailed balance does not determine the existence or non-existence of limit cycles but rather their character.     

Diffusion and Velocity Correlations of the Phase Transitions in a System of Macroscopic Rolling Spheres

We study an air-fluidized granular monolayer composed of plastic spheres which roll on a metallic grid. The air current is adjusted so that the spheres never lose contact with the grid and so that the dynamics may be regarded as pseudo two dimensional (or two dimensional, if the effects of the sphere rolling are not taken into account). We find two surprising continuous transitions, both of them displaying two coexisting phases. Moreover, in all the cases, we found the coexisting phases display a strong energy non-equipartition. In the first transition, at a weak fluidization, a glass phase coexists with a disordered fluid-like phase. In the second transition, a hexagonal crystal coexists with the fluid phase. We analyze, for these two-phase systems, the specific diffusive properties of each phase, as well as the velocity correlations. Surprisingly, we find a glass phase at a very low packing fraction and for a wide range of granular temperatures. Both phases are also characterized by strong anticorrelated velocities upon a collision. Thus, the dynamics observed for this quasi two-dimensional system unveil phase transitions with peculiar properties, very different from the predicted behavior in well-know theories for their equilibrium counterparts.     

Gauge invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking in two-gap superconductors

The gauge symmetry of the Ginzburg–Landau theory for two-gap superconductors is analyzed in this letter. We argue that the existence of two different phases, associated with the two independent scalar Higgs fields, explicitly breaks the gauge symmetry of the Ginzburg–Landau Hamiltonian, unless a new additional vector field is included. Furthermore, the interference term, or Josephson coupling, holding a direct dependence with the phase difference, also explicitly breaks down the gauge symmetry. We show that a solution for the problem is achieved by adding an additional kinetic coupling term between the two vector fields, which generates the desired terms through a spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism. Finally, the electrodynamics of the system is also presented in terms of the supercurrents inside the superconducting region.     

Bifurcation and resonance in a fractional Mathieu-Duffing oscillator

The bifurcation and resonance phenomena are investigated in a fractional Mathieu-Duffing oscillator which contains a fast parametric excitation and a slow external excitation. We extend the method of direct partition of motions to evaluate the response for the parametrically excited system. Besides, we propose a numerical method to simulate different types of local bifurcation of the equilibria. For the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of the considered system, the linear stiffness coefficient is a key factor which influences the resonance phenomenon directly. Moreover, the fractional-order damping brings some new results that are different from the corresponding results in the ordinary Mathieu-Duffing oscillator. Especially, the resonance pattern, the resonance frequency and the resonance magnitude depend on the value of the fractional-order closely.