Attractive Regime Research Articles

Influence of droplet size on repulsive and attractive nanoemulsion gelation

Abstract The aim of this paper is to understand how the change in droplet size and ionic emulsifier concentration influence cage-driven repulsive jamming and bond driven attractive gelation in nanoemulsions. It was hypothesized that in repulsive regime decrease in droplet size would increase the influence of counterion shell layer around the nanodroplets thereby increasing the effective oil volume fraction ( ϕ eff ) beyond random jamming. In attractive gelation, decrease in size and a corresponding increase in number of droplets would increase the strength of fractal network leading to gelation at a lower ϕ eff . 40 wt% canola oil-in-water nanoemulsions stabilized with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were prepared by multiple passes through a high-pressure homogenizer at two different emulsifier concentrations, one in repulsive regime (2 times CMC) and the other one in attractive regime (15 times CMC). Rheology of the resulting nanogels was determined using a controlled stress rheometer. Repulsive nanoemulsions transformed from fluids ( G ′ G ″) at droplet size >250 nm to weakly gelled glassy state ( G ′ > G ″) with no yield stress at around 224 nm to jammed state below 200 nm where strong nanogels were formed ( G ′ >> G ″). When the effect of droplet size was transformed to ϕ eff , a gradual increase in gel strength was observed where the transition to glassy and jammed state began at 0.58 and 0.65, respectively. For attractive nanoemulsions, a rapid increase in gel strength was observed below 140 nm with only a very small change in ϕ eff from 0.42 to 0.47, which was attributed to the charge screening effect of the higher number of ions from SDS. It was proposed that the interdroplet interactions transformed from oscillatory structural forces generated by higher SDS micelles at larger droplet sizes to depletion attraction where stronger fractal network formed by increased number of smaller nanodroplets led to rapid increase in gel strength.

Main Directions and Mechanisms of Industrial Policy of Russia

Under difficult economic conditions for Russian business, characterized by difficulties of Russian companies’ access to foreign modern technologies and long-term financial resources, there is a need for elaborated industrial policy which facilitates the development of national industry and provision of economic security of the country. With current sanctions, the Russian enterprises faced the problems of impossibility of getting foreign equipment under the previously signed contracts, re-orientation of orders for the similar domestic production, and attraction of financial resources from internal sources. Solution to these problems lies in the plane of development of “new” industrial policy. The purpose of the article is to determine main directions and mechanisms for realization of measures of industrial policy which facilitates the development of domestic industrial production, implementation of achievements of scientific and technological progress into industrial processes, and import substitution of science intensive products. Realization of industrial policy of Russia supposes the formation of special conditions. These are favorable economic and socio-infrastructural conditions, attractive entrepreneurial regime, high level of training of personnel for various industries, and informational support of government structures. Activation of innovational activity requires mechanisms that ensure the improvement of conditions for fair competition and increase of motivation of companies for innovations; regulation of product markets (service markets) and sectorial regulation for distribution of leading technologies; development of the system of technical regulation, which includes harmonization of legislative basis of Russia and the EU countries in this sphere; simplification of a procedure of entry of new products into the market; simplification and quickening of the procedures of certification, including as to the international quality standards; simplification of a mechanism of import of technologies; strengthening of requirements to efficiency of enterprises’ usage of natural resources, safety of products (services) for ecology and health of population, decrease of energy and materials consumption; development of the system of appropriate bonuses and sanctions, harmonization of Russian standards with international ones, particularly, in the directions that are characterized by perspectives of expansion for export of innovational products.

Dynamics and absorption properties of stochastic equations with Hölder diffusion coefficients

In this article, we characterize the dynamics and absorption properties of a class of stochastic differential equations around singular points where both the drift and diffusion functions vanish. According to the Hölder coefficient α of the diffusion function around the singular point, we identify different regimes: a regime where the solutions almost surely reach the singular point in finite time, and regimes of exponential attraction or repulsion from the singular point. Stability of the absorbing state, large deviations for the absorption time, existence of stationary or quasi-stationary distributions are discussed. In particular, we show that quasi-stationary distributions only exist for α<3/4, and for α∈(3/4,1), no quasi-stationary distribution is found and numerical simulations tend to show that the process conditioned on not being absorbed initiates an almost sure exponential convergence towards the absorbing state (as is demonstrated to be true for α=1). These results have several implications in the understanding of stochastic bifurcations, and we completely unfold two generic situations: the pitchfork and saddle–node bifurcations, and discuss the Hopf bifurcation in the appendix.

Interaction quantum quenches in the one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model with spin imbalance

Using the time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method and exact diagonalization, we study the non-equilibrium dynamics of the one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model following a quantum quench or a ramp of the onsite interaction strength. For quenches from the non-interacting to the attractive regime, we investigate the dynamical emergence of Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) correlations, which at finite spin polarizations are the dominant two-body correlations in the ground state, and their signatures in the pair quasi-momentum distribution function. We observe that the post-quench double occupancy exhibits a maximum as the interaction strength becomes of the order of the bandwidth. Finally, we study quenches and ramps from attractive to repulsive interactions, which imprint FFLO correlations onto repulsively bound pairs. We show that a quite short ramp time is sufficient to wipe out the characteristic FFLO features in the post-quench pair momentum distribution functions.

Revealing Water Films Structure from Force Reconstruction in Dynamic AFM

The structure of water films in contact with surfaces has direct implications in many important interfacial processes, from biology to climatology, as well as in ice nucleation. Here we report on the detection of individual ice-like water layers adsorbed on surfaces in ambient conditions. Reconstructed force profiles obtained in amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM) on top of (111) BaF2 surfaces, with a lattice constant close to the distance of facing water molecules in hexagonal ice (Ih), showed characteristic oscillations in the attractive regime with a periodicity of 3.7 A. This distance matches the thickness of a bilayer of Ih ice and is absent in force profiles on (111) CaF2 surfaces, which show a different lattice parameter. A thickness of 2.6 A is measured for the first water layer in contact with the surface, corresponding to a high-density liquid film structure predicted from calculations in the literature. Our results indicate that, although epitaxial Ih growth of the first water...

Oscillatory Regimes of Attraction of Banking Retail Term Deposits

Dynamics of turnovers of deposit accounts was studied by numerically solving Volterra summation equation. The obtained picture corresponds qualitatively to the actual oscillations of turnovers that are often observed in banking practice. It is shown that oscillatory regimes appear not only under non-decreasing (upward sloping) maturity profiles of deposits, as theory predicts, but and under downward sloping and humped ones.

Dispersability of Carbon Nanotubes in Biopolymer-Based Fluids

In this review the dispersability of carbon nanotubes in aqueous solutions containing proteins, or nucleic acids, is discussed. Data reported previously are complemented by unpublished ones. In the mentioned nanotube-based systems several different phases are observed, depending on the type and concentration of biopolymer, as well as the amount of dispersed nanotubes. The phase behavior depends on how much biopolymers are adsorbing, and, naturally, on the molecular details of the adsorbents. Proper modulation of nanotube/biopolymer interactions helps switching between repulsive and attractive regimes. Dispersion or phase separation take place, respectively, and the formation of liquid crystalline phases or gels may prevail with respect to dispersions. We report on systems containing ss-DNA- and lysozyme-stabilized nanotubes, representative of different organization modes. In the former case, ss-DNA rolls around CNTs and ensures complete coverage. Conversely, proteins randomly and non-cooperatively adsorb onto nanotubes. The two functionalization mechanisms are significantly different. A fine-tuning of temperature, added polymer, pH, and/or ionic strength conditions induces the formation of a given supra-molecular organization mode. The biopolymer physico-chemical properties are relevant to induce the formation of different phases made of carbon nanotubes.

General interpretation and theory of apparent height in dynamic atomic force microscopy

We provide a general theory and interpretation behind the ubiquitous loss of apparent height of nanostructures in dynamic atomic force microscopy that occurs in the attractive regime irrespective of stiffness.

Charging and softening, collapse, and crystallization of dipolar phospholipid membranes by aqueous ionic liquid solutions.

Ionic liquids have a variety of unique controllable structures and properties. These properties may be used to tailor the self-assembly of charged and dipolar biomolecules. Using solution X-ray scattering, we measured the structure of Dilauryl(C12:0)-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-choline (DLPC), a dipolar (or zwitterionic) lipid, in the water-soluble room temperature ionic liquid Ethyl Methyl Imidazolium Ethyl Sulfate (EMIES) and mixtures of EMIES and water. We find that the interaction between the lipid bilayers is dominated by the balance between the charging of the polar headgroups by the ionic liquid, softening of the bilayer, and the osmotic pressure induced by the solvent. This balance leads to the following changes with increasing ionic liquid concentration: an incomplete unbinding transition from an attractive regime to a swollen regime of the lamellar phase formed by the bilayers. The swollen phase is followed by a collapse of the bilayers into a highly desolvated lamellar phase at some critical EMIES concentration, and eventually formation of lipid-crystalline phase, at very high EMIES concentrations. The latter phase is revealed by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) from the lipid solutions, showing multiple Bragg peaks, consistent with highly ordered structures. These structures were not observed in any other type of aqueous solutions containing monovalent or multivalent ions. The kinetics and temperature dependence of these transitions were also determined.

Simulating the interactions of two freely settling spherical particles in Newtonian fluid using lattice-Boltzmann method

The interactions of two freely settling spherical particles in a three dimensional channel are investigated employing the lattice-Boltzmann method with discrete external boundary force (LBM-EBF). By changing the initial separation distance and relative angle between the two particles, a comprehensive analysis about the impact of various parameters on the dynamics of the particle motion and particle–particle interactions is made. The terminal Reynolds numbers based on the diameter of particle and the terminal vertical velocity is about O(100). Three different regimes are identified in the two particles settling system: repulsion, attraction and transition regime. Each regime depends on the initial separation distance and the relative angle of the two particles. The general trend is that the smaller the initial angle, the more likely interaction between them is repulsion. On the contrary, the larger the initial angle, the more likely interaction is attraction. Further, the translation and the rotation of the particles as well as the long-body particle pair behavior and some flow patterns are systematically investigated.

Bose–Einstein condensate in a bichromatic optical lattice: an exact analytical model

We provide an exact analytical model for the dynamics of a 1D Bose–Einstein condensate loaded in a bichromatic optical lattice. Although a host of exact solutions result from this novel method, we mainly concentrate on the solitonic excitations. The trapping potential and its depth of lattice frustration can be varied by tuning the power and the wavelengths of the two overlaying laser beams. Both attractive and repulsive regimes are thoroughly investigated. In the attractive domain, we obtain bright soliton, which reveals interesting variations with the depth of lattice frustration. Localization of the matter wave density is demonstrated as one of the applications in this regime. In the repulsive domain, dark soliton is obtained when the potential resembles an optical lattice. With appropriate tuning of the potential parameter, the dark soliton becomes modulated with an oscillatory background and gradually transforms to bright solitary trains.

Confining multiple polymers between sticky walls: a directed walk model of two polymers

We study a model of two polymers confined to a slit with sticky walls. More precisely, we find and analyse the exact solution of two directed friendly walks in such a geometry on the square lattice. We compare the infinite slit limit, in which the length of the polymer (thermodynamic limit) is taken to infinity before the width of the slit is considered to become large, to the opposite situation where the order of the limits are swapped, known as the half-plane limit when one polymer is modelled. In contrast with the single polymer system we find that the half-plane and infinite slit limits coincide. We understand this result in part due to the tethering of polymers on both walls of the slit. We also analyse the entropic force exerted by the polymers on the walls of the slit. Again the results differ significantly from single polymer models. In a single polymer system both attractive and repulsive regimes were seen, whereas in our two walk model only repulsive forces are observed. We do, however, see that the range of the repulsive force is dependent on the parameter values. This variation can be explained by the adsorption of the walks on opposite walls of the slit.

Superconductivity of disordered Dirac fermions in graphene

We numerically study the interplay between superconductivity and disorder on the graphene honeycomb lattice with on-site Hubbard attractive interactions U using a spatially inhomogeneous self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) approach. In the absence of disorder there are two phases at charge neutrality. Below a critical value Uc for attractive interactions there is a Dirac semimetal phase and above it there is a superconducting phase. We add scalar potential disorder to the system, while remaining at charge neutrality on average. Numerical solution of the BdG equations suggests that while in the strong attraction regime (U > Uc) disorder has the usual effect of suppressing superconductivity, in the weak attraction regime (U < Uc) weak disorder enhances superconductivity. In the weak attraction regime, disorder that is too strong eventually suppresses superconductivity, i.e., there is an optimal disorder strength that maximizes the critical temperature Tc. Our numerical results also suggest that in the weakly disordered regime, mesoscopic inhomogeneities enhance superconductivity significantly more than what is predicted by a spatially uniform mean-field theory a` la Abrikosov-Gorkov. In this regime, superconductivity consists of rare phase-coherent superconducting islands. We also study the enhancement of the superconducting proximity effect by disorder and mesoscopic inhomogeneities, and obtain typical spatial plots of the tunneling density of states and the superfluid susceptibility that can be directly compared to scanning tunneling miscroscopy (STM) experiments on proximity-induced superconductivity in graphene.

Depletion gels from dense soft colloids: Rheology and thermoreversible melting

Upon addition of small nonadsorbing linear polymers, colloidal glasses composed of large hard spheres melt and eventually revitrify into the so-called attractive glass regime. We show that, when replacing the hard spheres by star polymers representing model soft particles, a reentrant gel is formed. This is the result of compression and depletion of the stars due to the action of the osmotic pressure from the linear homopolymers. The viscoelastic properties of the soft dense gel were studied with emphasis on the shear-induced yielding process, which involved localized breaking of elements with a size of the order of the correlation length. Based on these results, a phenomenological attempt was made at describing the universal rheological features of colloid/nonadsorbing polymer mixtures of varying softness. The star gel was found to undergo thermoreversible melting, despite the fact that conventional hard-sphere depletion gels are invariant to heating. This phenomenon is attributed to the hybrid internal microstructure of the stars, akin to a dry-to-wet brush transition, and is characterized by slow kinetics, on the time scale of the osmotic gel formation process. These results may be useful in finding generic features in colloidal gelation, as well as in the molecular design of new soft composite materials.

Effect of Taxation and Fiscal Arrangement on Marginal Oil Field Investment Climate: A Theoretical Framework

The paper presents a theoretical framework on the moderating effect of attractive fiscal regime on taxation and fiscal arrangement on the investment climate of marginal oil fields in Malaysia. The variables proposed under examination are type of revenue-based tax, type of fiscal arrangement, production-based taxes, crypto-based taxes, and tax incentives. If validated, the model would have important policy implications to the host oil and gas producing countries and to marginal oil fields operators for investment decisions.

Phase Behavior of DNA-Stabilized Carbon Nanotubes Dispersions: Association with Oppositely-Charged Additives

The formation of liquid crystalline phases or isotropic clusters is observed in carbon nanotubes systems experiencing repulsive and attractive interactions, respectively. ssDNA-stabilized nanotubes act as strongly repulsive charged rods, showing nematic phases in (pseudo)-binary and ternary systems, in the presence of a nonadsorbing polymer. Switching between purely repulsive and attractive regime has not been investigated yet. For this reason, dispersions of ssDNA-stabilized nanotubes were added with an oppositely charged additive (i.e., protein or surfactant), and the resulting systems were investigated. In both phase diagrams a strong associative behavior was observed. At additive charge excess, a redispersion of the complex was obtained. The phenomenon was substantial in the case of surfactant system, where a charge inversion was also observed. A fine-tuning of attractive and repulsive interactions promoted aggregation and redispersion of carbon nanotube complexes. The introduction of weak attractive ...

Frequency-modulated atomic force microscopy operation by imaging at the frequency shift minimum: the dip-df mode.

In frequency modulated non-contact atomic force microscopy, the change of the cantilever frequency (Δf) is used as the input signal for the topography feedback loop. Around the Δf(z) minimum, however, stable feedback operation is challenging using a standard proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback design due to the change of sign in the slope. When operated under liquid conditions, it is furthermore difficult to address the attractive interaction regime due to its often moderate peakedness. Additionally, the Δf signal level changes severely with time in this environment due to drift of the cantilever frequency f0 and, thus, requires constant adjustment. Here, we present an approach overcoming these obstacles by using the derivative of Δf with respect to z as the input signal for the topography feedback loop. Rather than regulating the absolute value to a preset setpoint, the slope of the Δf with respect to z is regulated to zero. This new measurement mode not only makes the minimum of the Δf(z) curve directly accessible, but it also benefits from greatly increased operation stability due to its immunity against f0 drift. We present isosurfaces of the Δf minimum acquired on the calcite CaCO3(101̅4) surface in liquid environment, demonstrating the capability of our method to image in the attractive tip-sample interaction regime.

Macrophage Contact Dependent and Independent TLR4 Mechanisms Induce β-Cell Dysfunction and Apoptosis in a Mouse Model of Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is evolving into a global disease and patients have a systemic low-grade inflammation, yet the role of this inflammation is still not established. One plausible mechanism is enhanced expression and activity of the innate immune system. Therefore, we evaluated the expression and the function of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) on pancreatic β-cells in primary mouse islets and on the murine β-cell line MIN6 in the presence or absence of macrophages. Diabetic islets have 40% fewer TLR4 positive β-cells, but twice the number of TLR4 positive macrophages as compared to healthy islets. Healthy and diabetic islets respond to a TLR4 challenge with enhanced production of cytokines (5–10-fold), while the TLR4 negative β-cell line MIN6 fails to produce cytokines. TLR4 stimulation induces β-cell dysfunction in mouse islets, measured as reduced glucose stimulated insulin secretion. Diabetic macrophages from 4-months old mice have acquired a transient enhanced capacity to produce cytokines when stimulated with LPS. Interestingly, this is lost in 6-months old diabetic mice. TLR4 activation alone does not induce apoptosis in islets or MIN-6 cells. In contrast, macrophages mediate TLR4-dependent cell-contact dependent (3-fold) as well as cell-contact independent (2-fold) apoptosis of both islets and MIN-6 cells. Importantly, diabetic macrophages have a significantly enhanced capacity to induce β-cell apoptosis compared to healthy macrophages. Taken together, the TLR4 responsiveness is elevated in the diabetic islets and mainly mediated by newly recruited macrophages. The TLR4 positive macrophages, in both a cell-contact dependent and independent manner, induce apoptosis of β-cells in a TLR4 dependent fashion and TLR4 activation directly induces β-cell dysfunction. Thus, targeting either the TLR4 pathway or the macrophages provides a novel attractive treatment regime for T2D.

Modes and Mode Volumes of Leaky Optical Cavities and Plasmonic Nanoresonators

Electromagnetic cavity modes in photonic and plasmonic resonators offer rich and attractive regimes for tailoring the properties of light-matter interactions. Yet there is a disturbing lack of a precise definition for what constitutes a cavity mode, and as a result their mathematical properties remain largely unspecified. The lack of a definition is evidenced in part by the diverse nomenclature at use - "resonance", "leaky mode", "quasimode", to name but a few - suggesting that the dissipative nature of cavity modes somehow makes them different from other modes, but an explicit distinction is rarely made. This perspective article aims to introduce the reader to some of the subtleties and working definitions that can be rigorously applied when describing the modal properties of leaky optical cavities and plasmonic nanoresonators. We describe some recent development in the field, including {calculation methods for quasinormal modes of both photonic and plasmonic resonators and the concept of a generalized effective mode volume, and we} illustrate the theory with several representative cavity structures from the fields of photonic crystals and nanoplasmonics.

Type-I integrable quantum impurities in the Heisenberg model

Type-I quantum impurities are investigated in the context of the integrable Heisenberg model. This type of defects is associated to the (q)-harmonic oscillator algebra. The transmission matrices associated to this particular type of defects are computed via the Bethe ansatz methodology for the XXX model, as well as for the critical and non-critical XXZ spin chain. In the attractive regime of the critical XXZ spin chain the transmission amplitudes for the breathers are also identified.