Living fluids

One of the major emerging fields of research of the beginning of this century concerns living fluids. By “living fluids”, we mean two major categories of complex fluids: (i) fluids which are essential to life, like blood, and (ii) active fluids made of particles that are able to propel themselves in the suspending fluid by converting a form of their energy into mechanical motion. Studies on active fluids have known a considerable interest since the last decade. Blood might be viewed as an old topic, but the progresses in experimental techniques, analytical concepts and numerics, have contributed nowadays to a dramatic renewal of the interest in this field, with a great potential towards understanding physical and mechanical factors in cardiovascular diseases. These fields have considerably strengthened interdisciplinary research. The series of reviews of this dossier focus on the tremendous recent progress achieved in research on living fluids both from the experimental and theoretical points of views. These reviews present also the major open issues, making of this dossier a unique guide for future research in these fields. This project grew up thanks to the international summer school that we organized on the topic “living fluids” at the IES (Institut dʼétudes scientifiques) of Cargèse (Corsica) in 2012.     

A Split-Flow Enzyme Thermistor

Abstract

The split-flow system is comprised of two identical micro-columns, one of which contains an immobilized enzyme preparation, the other an inert support material.

The heat produced in each column on introduction of a sample is measured with thermistors placed in these columns. The use of a reference column virtually eliminates the influence on the measurements of artifactual signals as unspecific heat, i.e., heat not produced by the enzymic reaction. The performance of the split-flow enzyme thermistor at a variety of pH's, ionic strengths or viscosities associated with the sample has been investigated and compared with previously described alternative enzyme thermistor arrangements. In this comparative study glucose at a concentration of 5 · 10^?4 M was used throughout. On passage through the imnobilized glucose oxidase preparation this solution gave rise to a heat change At of about 0.01°C. The insensitivity of the system described herein towards such variations makes it particularly suitable for the analysis of metabolities present in crude solutions such as urine and skim-milk.     

Surface tension and viscosity measurements of liquids with the survismeter: a single instrumental unit

Surface tension (γ) and viscosity (η) data of aqueous solutions of the deoxyadenosine (DOA) and the deoxyribose (DOR) sugars have been measured with the survismeter, a new instrument, along with tetrahydrofuran (THF), dimethylformamide (DMF), acetonitrile and dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) solvents. The same properties have also been measured with a stalagmometer and a viscosimeter, respectively, which afford the same information, albeit at the expense of a larger amount of chemicals and solvents. We obtain comparatively better accuracy in both kinds of measurements than with conventional methods. Therefore, the survismeter lends itself as a simple and reliable instrument.     

Three‐dimensional computation for flow‐induced vibrations in in‐line and cross‐flow directions of a circular cylinder

We present numerical results for in‐line and cross‐flow vibrations of a circular cylinder, which is immersed in a uniform flow and is elastically supported by damper‐spring systems to compute vibrations of a rigid cylinder. In the case of a circular cylinder with a low Scruton number, it is well‐known that two types of self‐excited vibrations appear in the in‐line direction in the range of low reduced velocities. On the other hand, a cross‐flow vibration of the circular cylinder can be excited in the range of high reduced velocities. Therefore, we compute the flow‐induced vibrations of the circular cylinder in the wide range of the reduced velocities at low and high Scruton numbers and discuss about excitation mechanisms in the in‐line and cross‐flow directions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

标量场与电磁场相互作用体系中的Gasimir效应

摘要本文用Feynmann路径积分方法,研究了一种U(1)规范场理论中的Casimir效应。在一圈图近似下,计算了带电标量场在两个平行的理想金属板之间的Casimir能,并对低维情况进行了讨论。     

有机层界面对双层有机发光二极管复合效率的影响

建立了双层有机发光二极管中载流子在有机层界面复合的无序跳跃理论模型.由于有机分子材料的空间及能带结构的无序性，采用刚体模型处理有机层界面问题是不恰当的，而采用无序跳跃模型比较合理.复合效率及复合电流由载流子跳跃距离、有机层界面的有效势垒高度及该界面处的电场强度分布所决定：在双层器件ITO/α-NPD/Alq₃/Al中，当所加电压小于19.5V时，复合效率随着载流子跳跃距离的增加而增加，而大于19.5V时，复合效率随着其距离的增加而减少；复合效率随着有机层界面有效势垒高度的增加而增加； 关键词： 有机层界面 双层有机发光二极管 复合效率 有效势垒高度 无序跳跃模型     

Some peculiar boundary phenomena for extremes of rth nearest neighbor links

Let D_n,r denote the largest rth nearest neighbor link for n points drawn independently and uniformly from the unit d-cube C_d. We show that according as r < d or r>d, the limiting behavior of D_n,r, as n → ∞, is determined by the two-dimensional ‘faces’ respectively one-dimensional ‘edges’ of the boundary of C_d. If d = r, a ‘balance’ between faces and edges occurs. In case of a d-dimensional sphere (instead of a cube) the boundary dominates the asymptotic behavior of D_n,r if d 3 or if d = 2, r 3.     

The Perturbation of the Interface of the Two-dimensional Diffraction Problem and an Approximating Muskat Modal

ln this paper, a new transformation is found out to straighten the interface Γ_2 x = f(y), f ∈ C^{2+a}([0, a]), f_y|_y =0, δ < f < l-δ,δ > 0,δ,l=constants and a perturbation of the interface is considered for a two dimensional diffraction problem. And the existence, uniqueness and regularity of an appeoximating Muskat model are proved.     

Positive solutions of singular boundary value problem of negative exponent Emden—Fowler equation

This paper investigates the existence of positive solutions of a singular boundary value problem with negative exponent similar to standard Emden-Fowler equation. A necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of C[0, 1] positive solutions as well as C¹[0, 1] positive solutions is given by means of the method of lower and upper solutions with the Schauder fixed point theorem.     

On the Pesin set of expansive geodesic flows in manifolds with no conjugate points

In this paper, we show that the Pesin set of an expansive geodesic flow in compact manifold with no conjugate points and bounded asymptote coincides a.e with an open and dense set of the unit tangent bundle. We also show that the set of hyperbolic periodic orbits is dense in the unit tangent bundle.