Integral equation formulation for buoyancy-driven convection problems

An integral equation formulation for buoyancy-driven convection problems is developed and illustrated. Buoyancy-driven convection in a bounded cylindrical geometry with a free surface is studied for a range of aspect ratios and Nusselt numbers. The critical Rayleigh number, the nature of the cellular motion, and the heat transfer enhancement are computed using linear theory. Green's functions are used to convert the linear problem into linear Fredholm integral equations. Theorems are proved which establish the properties of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the linear integral operator which appears in these equations.     

A site-renormalized molecular fluid theory

The orientation-dependent pair distribution function for molecular fluids on site-site potentials is expanded in a topological analog of the diagrammatically proper site-site theory of liquids [D. Chandler et al., Mol. Phys. 46, 1335 (1982)]. The resulting functions are then used to diagrammatically renormalize the molecular fluid theory. A result is that the diagrammatically proper interaction site model theory is shown to be a linearized, minimal angular basis set approximation to this site-renormalized molecular theory. This framework is used to propose a new, exact, and proper closure to the diagrammatically proper interaction site model theory. The resulting equation system contains a bridge function expansion in the proper site-site theory. In addition, the construction of the theory is such that the molecular pair distribution function, in full dimensionality, is intrinsic to the theory. Furthermore, the theory is equivalent to the molecular Ornstein-Zernike treatment of site-site molecules in the basis set expansion of Blum and Torruella [J. Chem. Phys. 56, 303 (1971)]. A significant formal result of the theory is the demonstration that certain classes of diagrams which would otherwise be considered improper in the interaction site model formalism are included in the angular expansion of molecular interactions. Numerical results for several apolar homonuclear models and an apolar heteronuclear model are shown to quantitatively improve upon those of reference interaction site model and our recent proper variant with respect to simulation. Significant numerical results are that the various thermodynamic quantities obey the exact symmetries and sum rules within numerical error for the different sites in the heteronuclear case, even for the low order approximation used in this work, and the theory is independent of the so-called auxiliary site problem common to previous site-site theories.     

Permanently oriented antibody immobilization for digoxin determination with a flow-through fluoroimmunosensor

This paper reports a new flow-through fluoroimmunosensor, the function of which is based on antibodies immobilized on an inmunoreactor of controlled-pore glass (CPG), for determination of digoxin, used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and artery disease. The immunosensor has a detection limit of 1.20 microg L(-1) and provides high reproducibility (RSD=4.5% for a concentration of 0.0025 mg L(-1), and RSD=6.7% for 0.01 mg L(-1)). The optimum working concentration range was found to be 1.2 x 10(-3)-4.0 x 10(-2) mg L(-1). The lifetime of the immunosensor was about 50 immunoassays; if stored unused its lifetime can be extended to three months. A sample speed of about 10-12 samples per hour can be attained. Possible interference from substances with structures similar to digoxin (morphine, heroin, tebaine, codeine, pentazocine and narcotine) was investigated. No cross-reactivity was seen at the highest digoxin: interferent ratio studied (1:100). The proposed fluoroimmunosensor was successfully used to determine digoxin concentrations in human serum samples.     

A reexamination of virial coefficients of the Lennard-Jones fluid

The fourth-order virial coefficients have been calculated exactly to five decimal places for pure fluids of the Lennard-Jones potential at many points in the phase diagram. The calculations were performed through direct evaluation of the integrals, or diagrams, which make up the density expansion of the radial distribution function: included were the standard fast Fourier transform method of evaluating the simply connected diagrams and the evaluation of the bridge diagram for the fourth order in density by expansion in Legendre polynomials. The polynomial-order dependence of the bridge diagram calculation and the range dependence of the simply connected diagrams of the fourth order are found to have more significance than was thought from previous studies, especially in the low-temperature range. This result was confirmed by direct evaluation of the diagrams which construct the virial coefficients, as given by Rowlinson, Barker, and coworkers. This calculation confirmed that numerical convergence has not been achieved at the precision levels previously reported in the literature. These differences, though minor at higher temperatures, can be seen to be more significant at the lower temperature ranges. Received: 31 July 2000 / Accepted: 18 September 2000 / Published online: 21 December 2000     

Computationally useful bridge diagram series for the structure and thermodynamics of Lennard-Jones fluids

The first two orders of bridge diagrams, those with two and three field points, have been calculated exactly for the Lennard-Jones fluid for several isotherms. The method of calculation was one of expansion in Legendre polynomials, and the dependence of the method on the number of polynomials needed for accurate results was investigated. Thermodynamic and structural properties of the Lennard-Jones fluid calculated from integral equation methods with the inclusion of bridge diagrams were found to be systematically improved. Two attempts at predicting the missing bridge diagrams of even higher order were discussed. The first, which uses the functional form of those diagrams that were calculated exactly, showed no significant improvement. The second, a series sum based on the first two orders of calculated diagrams and motivated by the success of a similar heuristic sum in the case of hard spheres, was extremely successful. When the series sum was employed, thermodynamic and structural quantities were improved to the point where the difference between simulation results and integral equation results was of the same order as the error in the simulations themselves. Received: 9 January 1997 / Accepted 28 January 1997     

Human Neuroepithelial Cells Express NMDA Receptors

L-glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, binds to both ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors. In certain parts of the brain the BBB contains two normally impermeable barriers: 1) cerebral endothelial barrier and 2) cerebral epithelial barrier. Human cerebral endothelial cells express NMDA receptors; however, to date, human cerebral epithelial cells (neuroepithelial cells) have not been shown to express NMDA receptor message or protein. In this study, human hypothalamic sections were examined for NMDA receptors (NMDAR) expression via immunohistochemistry and murine neuroepithelial cell line (V1) were examined for NMDAR via RT-PCR and Western analysis. We found that human cerebral epithelium express protein and cultured mouse neuroepithelial cells express both mRNA and protein for the NMDA receptor. These findings may have important consequences for neuroepithelial responses during excitotoxicity and in disease.