Transport control in fusion plasmas by changing electric and magnetic field spatial profiles

For magnetically confined plasmas in tokamaks, we have numerically investigated how Lagrangian chaos at the plasma edge affects the plasma confinement. Initially, we have considered the chaotic motion of particles in an equilibrium electric field with a monotonic radial profile perturbed by drift waves. We have showed that an effective transport barrier may be created at the plasma edge by modifying the electric field radial profile. In the second place, we have obtained escape patterns and magnetic footprints of chaotic magnetic field lines in the region near a tokamak wall with resonant modes due to the action of an ergodic magnetic limiter. For monotonic plasma current density profiles we have obtained distributions of field line connections to the wall and line escape channels with the same spatial pattern as the magnetic footprints on the tokamak walls. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chaotic transport in reversed shear tokamaks

For tokamak models using simplified geometries and reversed shear plasma profiles, we have numerically investigated how the onset of Lagrangian chaos at the plasma edge may affect the plasma confinement in two distinct but closely related problems. Firstly, we have considered the motion of particles in drift waves in the presence of an equilibrium radial electric field with shear. We have shown that the radial particle transport caused by this motion is selective in phase space, being determined by the resonant drift waves and depending on the parameters of both the resonant waves and the electric field profile. Moreover, we have shown that an additional transport barrier may be created at the plasma edge by increasing the electric field. In the second place, we have studied escape patterns and magnetic footprints of chaotic magnetic field lines in the region near a tokamak wall, when there are resonant modes due to the action of an ergodic magnetic limiter. A non-monotonic safety factor profile has been used in the analysis of field line topology in a region of negative magnetic shear. We have observed that, if internal modes are perturbed, the distributions of field line connection lengths and magnetic footprints exhibit spatially localized escape channels. For typical physical parameters of a fusion plasma, the two Lagrangian chaotic processes considered in this work can be effective in usual conditions so as to influence plasma confinement. The reversed shear effects discussed in this work may also contribute to evaluate the transport barrier relevance in advanced confinement scenarios in future tokamak experiments.

Conformal deformation of equilibrium measures in normal random ensembles

We investigate the eigenvalue statistics of ensembles of normal random matrices when their order N tends to infinite. In the model, the eigenvalues have uniform density within a region determined by a simple analytic polynomial curve. We study the conformal deformations of equilibrium measures of normal random ensembles to the real line and give sufficient conditions for it to weakly converge to a Wigner measure.

Aging and stationary properties of non-equilibrium symmetrical three-state models

We consider a non-equilibrium three-state model whose dynamics is Markovian and displays the same symmetry as the three-state Potts model, i.e. the transition rates are invariant under the cyclic permutation of the states. Unlike the Potts model, detailed balance is, in general, not satisfied. The aging and the stationary properties of the model defined on a square lattice are obtained by means of large-scale Monte Carlo simulations. We show that the phase diagram presents a critical line, belonging to the three-state Potts universality class, that ends at a point whose universality class is that of the Voter model. Aging is considered on the critical line, at the Voter point and in the ferromagnetic phase.

Study of Blood Porphyrin Spectral Profile for Diagnosis of Chronic Renal Failure

The progression to end-stage renal failure is independent of the initial pathogenic mechanism. Metabolic acidosis is a common consequence of chronic renal failure that results from inadequate ammonium excretion and decreased tubular bicarbonate reabsorption. Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is the immediate metabolic precursor of the heme molecule. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of erythrocytes protoporphyrin IX at an animal model during progressive renal disease. A total of 36 eight-week-old male Wistar rats were divided into six groups: Normal, 4 and 8 weeks after 5/6 nephrectomy (NX). Renal function was evaluated by creatinine clearance and plasma creatinine levels. The autofluorescence of erythrocytes porphyrin of healthy and NX rats was analyzed using fluorescence spectroscopy. Emission spectra were obtained by exciting the samples at 405 nm. Significant differences between normal and NX rats autofluorescence shape occurred in the 600-700 nm spectral region. A correlation was observed between emission band intensity at 635 nm and progression of renal disease.

Approach to Equilibrium for a Class of Random Quantum Models of Infinite Range

We consider random generalizations of a quantum model of infinite range introduced by Emch and Radin. The generalizations allow a neat extension from the class l (1) of absolutely summable lattice potentials to the optimal class l (2) of square summable potentials first considered by Khanin and Sinai and generalised by van Enter and van Hemmen. The approach to equilibrium in the case of a Gaussian distribution is proved to be faster than for a Bernoulli distribution for both short-range and long-range lattice potentials. While exponential decay to equilibrium is excluded in the nonrandom l (1) case, it is proved to occur for both short and long range potentials for Gaussian distributions, and for potentials of class l (2) in the Bernoulli case. Open problems are discussed.

Modeling Adsorption Processes of Poly-p-phenylenevinylene Precursor and Sodium Acid Dodecylbenzenesulfonate onto Layer-by-Layer Films Using a Langmuir-type Metastable Equilibrium Model

The adsorption kinetics curves of poly(xylylidene tetrahydrothiophenium chloride) (PTHT), a poly-p-phenylenevinylene (PPV) precursor, and the sodium salt of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBS), onto (PTHT/DBS)(n) layer-by-layer (LBL) films were characterized by means of UV-vis spectroscopy. The amount of PTHT/DBS and PTHT adsorbed on each layer was shown to be practically independent of adsorption time. A Langmuir-type metastable equilibrium model was used to adjust the adsorption isotherms data and to estimate adsorption/desorption coefficients ratios, k = k(ads)/k(des), values of 2 x 10(5) and 4 x 10(6) for PTHT and PTHT/DBS layers, respectively. The desorption coefficient has been estimated, using literature values for poly(o-methoxyaniline) desorption coefficient, as was found to be in the range of 10(-9) to 10(-6) s(-1), indicating that quasi equilibrium is rapidly attained.

Femtosecond laser ablation on dental hard tissues-Analysis of ablated profile near an interface using local effective intensity

This study evaluated the process of ablation produced by a Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser under different average powers taking place at the enamel/dentin interface. Based on the geometry of ablated microcavities the effective intensity for ablation was obtained. This study shows the validity for the local effective intensity analysis and allows a quantification of the variation in the ablation geometry taking place at the interface of two naturally different materials. It shows that the variation of the diameter of the ablated region as a function of the cavity depth comes essentially from a mechanism of effective intensity attenuation, as a result of a series of complex effects. Additionally, our data are sufficient to predict that a discontinuity on the ablation profile will occur on the interface between two biological media: enamel-dentin, showing a suddenly jump on the ablated cavity dimensions.

Influence of fixed electric charges on potential profile across the squid axon membrane

The potential profile for a model of squid axon membrane has been determined for two physiological states: resting and action states. The non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation has been solved by considering the volumetric charge densities due to charges dissolved in an electrolytic solution and fixed on both glycocalyx and cytoplasmatic proteins. Results showing the features of the potential profile along the outer electrolytic region are similar for both resting and action states. However, the potential fall along glycocalyx at action state is lower than at resting. A small variation in the Na+ concentration drastically affects the surface membrane potentials and vice versa. We conclude that effects on the potential profile due to surface lipidic bilayer charge and contiguous electric double layers are more relevant than those provoked by fixed charges distributed along the cell cytoplasm. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamical self-stabilization of the Mott insulator: Time evolution of the density and entanglement entropy of out-of-equilibrium cold fermion gases

The time evolution of the out-of-equilibrium Mott insulator is investigated numerically through calculations of space-time-resolved density and entropy profiles resulting from the release of a gas of ultracold fermionic atoms from an optical trap. For adiabatic, moderate and sudden switching-off of the trapping potential, the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of the Mott insulator is found to differ profoundly from that of the band insulator and the metallic phase, displaying a self-induced stability that is robust within a wide range of densities, system sizes and interaction strengths. The connection between the entanglement entropy and changes of phase, known for equilibrium situations, is found to extend to the out-of-equilibrium regime. Finally, the relation between the system`s long time behavior and the thermalization limit is analyzed. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2011

Synthesis and analgesic profile of conformationally constrained N-acylhydrazone analogues: Discovery of novel N-arylideneamino quinazolin-4(3H)-one compounds derived from natural safrole

In this work we reported the synthesis and evaluation of the analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and platelet anti-aggregating properties of new 3-(arylideneamino)-2-methyl-6,7-methylenedioxy-quinazolin-4 (3H)-one derivatives (3a-j), designed as conformationally constrained analogues of analgesic 1,3- benzodioxolyl-N- acylhydrazones (1) previously developed at LASSBio. Target compounds were synthesized in very good yields exploiting abundant Brazilian natural product safrole (2) as starting material. The pharmacological assays lead us to identify compounds LASSBio-1240 (3b) and LASSBio-1272 (3d) as new analgesic prototypes, presenting an antinociceptive pro. le more potent and effective than dipyrone and indomethacin used, respectively, as standards in AcOH-induced abdominal constrictions assay and in the formalin test. These results confirmed the success in the exploitation of conformation restriction strategy for identification of novel cyclic N-acylhydrazone analogues with optimized analgesic profile (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Morphology and composition of gold in a lateritic profile, Fazenda Pison ""Garimpo"", Amazon, Brazil

This study describes the morphological evolution of gold grains in a lateritic weathering profile in an equatorial rainforest climate. Primary sources of gold are quartz veins associated with shallow granophyric intrusion. Gold grains were found in fresh ore, saprolite, transition zones, ferruginous duricrust, red latosol, and yellow latosol. Irregularly shaped grains predominate, with smaller proportions of dendritic and prismatic forms. Gold grains are weathered in the uppermost 10 m of the regolith. Mean gold grain size is maximum in the duricrust (> 125 mu m) and decreases progressively upward into the yellow latosol (<90 mu m). Voids and corrosion pits appear on grain surfaces, and progressive rounding is observed from the bottom of the profile to the top. Gold grains can be classified as either homogeneous or zoned with respect to their chemical composition. Homogeneous grains contain 2-15% Ag (mean 8.3%). Zoned grains have more variable Ag contents; grain cores have means of approximately 10% or 23% Ag, with Ag-poor zones of approximately 3.7% Ag along internal discontinuities and/or outer rims. Formation of Ag-poor rims is due to preferential depletion of silver. Processes responsible for duricrust formation may preserve some grains as large aggregates, but subsequent transformation into latosol further modifies them. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Density-Profile Processes Describing Biological Signaling Networks: Almost Sure Convergence to Deterministic Trajectories

We introduce jump processes in R(k), called density-profile processes, to model biological signaling networks. Our modeling setup describes the macroscopic evolution of a finite-size spin-flip model with k types of spins with arbitrary number of internal states interacting through a non-reversible stochastic dynamics. We are mostly interested on the multi-dimensional empirical-magnetization vector in the thermodynamic limit, and prove that, within arbitrary finite time-intervals, its path converges almost surely to a deterministic trajectory determined by a first-order (non-linear) differential equation with explicit bounds on the distance between the stochastic and deterministic trajectories. As parameters of the spin-flip dynamics change, the associated dynamical system may go through bifurcations, associated to phase transitions in the statistical mechanical setting. We present a simple example of spin-flip stochastic model, associated to a synthetic biology model known as repressilator, which leads to a dynamical system with Hopf and pitchfork bifurcations. Depending on the parameter values, the magnetization random path can either converge to a unique stable fixed point, converge to one of a pair of stable fixed points, or asymptotically evolve close to a deterministic orbit in Rk. We also discuss a simple signaling pathway related to cancer research, called p53 module.

Instability of equilibrium points of some Lagrangian systems

In this work we show that, if L is a natural Lagrangian system such that the k-jet of the potential energy ensures it does not have a minimum at the equilibrium and such that its Hessian has rank at least n - 2, then there is an asymptotic trajectory to the associated equilibrium point and so the equilibrium is unstable. This applies, in particular, to analytic potentials with a saddle point and a Hessian with at most 2 null eigenvalues. The result is proven for Lagrangians in a specific form, and we show that the class of Lagrangians we are interested can be taken into this specific form by a subtle change of spatial coordinates. We also consider the extension of this results to systems subjected to gyroscopic forces. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of the antimicrobial peptide gomesin on the global gene expression profile, virulence and biofilm formation of Xylella fastidiosa

In the xylem vessels of susceptible hosts, such as citrus trees, Xylella fastidiosa forms biofilm-like colonies that can block water transport, which appears to correlate to disease symptoms. Besides aiding host colonization, bacterial biofilms play an important role in resistance against antimicrobial agents, for instance antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Here, we show that gomesin, a potent AMP from a tarantula spider, modulates X. fastidiosa gene expression profile upon 60 min of treatment with a sublethal concentration. DNA microarray hybridizations revealed that among the upregulated coding sequences, some are related to biofilm production. In addition, we show that the biofilm formed by gomesin-treated bacteria is thicker than that formed by nontreated cells or cells exposed to streptomycin. We have also observed that the treatment of X. fastidiosa with a sublethal concentration of gomesin before inoculation in tobacco plants correlates with a reduction in foliar symptoms, an effect possibly due to the trapping of bacterial cells to fewer xylem vessels, given the enhancement in biofilm production. These results warrant further investigation of how X. fastidiosa would respond to the AMPs produced by citrus endophytes and by the insect vector, leading to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of these molecules on bacterial virulence.