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.

Pseudo-two-dimensional dynamics in a system of macroscopic rolling spheres.

We study in this work the dynamics of a collection of identical hollow spheres (ping-pong balls) that rest on a horizontal metallic grid. Fluidization is achieved by means of a turbulent air current coming from below. The upflow is adjusted so that the particles do not levitate over the grid, resulting in quasi-two-dimensional dynamics. We show that the behavior of diffusion and correlations in this system is particularly rich. Noticeably as well (and related to the complex dynamical behavior), a variety of phases appear, with important peculiarities with respect to analogous setups. We observe gas, liquid, glass, and hexagonal crystal phases. Most notably, we show that the melting of the hexagonal crystal occurs in coexistence with a liquid phase. This strikingly differs from the corresponding transition in a purely two-dimensional systems of air-fluidized disks, for which no phase coexistence has been reported in the literature.

BIRC6 Is Associated with Vulnerability of Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque.

Carotid atherosclerotic plaque rupture can lead to cerebrovascular accident (CVA). By comparing RNA-Seq data from vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) extracted from carotid atheroma surgically excised from a group of asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects, we identified more than 700 genomic variants associated with symptomatology (p < 0.05). From these, twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected for further validation. Comparing genotypes of a hospital-based cohort of asymptomatic with symptomatic patients, an exonic SNP in the BIRC6 (BRUCE/Apollon) gene, rs35286811, emerged as significantly associated with CVA symptomatology (p = 0.002; OR = 2.24). Moreover, BIRC6 mRNA levels were significantly higher in symptomatic than asymptomatic subjects upon measurement by qPCR in excised carotid atherosclerotic tissue (p < 0.0001), and significantly higher in carriers of the rs35286811 risk allele (p < 0.0001). rs35286811 is a proxy of a GWAS SNP reported to be associated with red cell distribution width (RDW); RDW was increased in symptomatic patients (p < 0.03), but was not influenced by the rs35286811 genotype in our cohort. BIRC6 is a negative regulator of both apoptosis and autophagy. This work introduces BIRC6 as a novel genetic risk factor for stroke, and identifies autophagy as a genetically regulated mechanism of carotid plaque vulnerability.

Zero-gravity thermal convection in granular gases.

Previous experimental and theoretical evidence has shown that convective flow may appear in granular fluids if subjected to a thermal gradient and gravity (Rayleigh-Bénard-type convection). In contrast to this, we present here evidence of gravity-free thermal convection in a granular gas, with no presence of external thermal gradients either. Convection is here maintained steady by internal gradients due to dissipation and thermal sources at the same temperature. The granular gas is composed by identical disks and is enclosed in a rectangular region. Our results are obtained by means of an event-driven algorithm for inelastic hard disks.

Erratum: Energy nonequipartition in gas mixtures of inelastic rough hard spheres: The tracer limit [Phys. Rev. E 96, 052901 (2017)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.052901.

When the Hotter Cools More Quickly: Mpemba Effect in Granular Fluids.

Under certain conditions, two samples of fluid at different initial temperatures present a counterintuitive behavior known as the Mpemba effect: it is the hotter system that cools sooner. Here, we show that the Mpemba effect is present in granular fluids, both in uniformly heated and in freely cooling systems. In both cases, the system remains homogeneous, and no phase transition is present. Analytical quantitative predictions are given for how differently the system must be initially prepared to observe the Mpemba effect, the theoretical predictions being confirmed by both molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. Possible implications of our analysis for other systems are also discussed.

Energy nonequipartition in gas mixtures of inelastic rough hard spheres: The tracer limit.

The dynamical properties of a tracer or impurity particle immersed in a host gas of inelastic and rough hard spheres in the homogeneous cooling state is studied. Specifically, the breakdown of energy equipartition as characterized by the tracer/host ratios of translational and rotational temperatures is analyzed by exploring a wide spectrum of values of the control parameters of the system (masses, moments of inertia, sizes, and coefficients of restitution). Three complementary approaches are considered. On the theoretical side, the Boltzmann and Boltzmann-Lorentz equations (both assuming the molecular chaos ansatz) are solved by means of a multitemperature Maxwellian approximation for the velocity distribution functions. This allows us to obtain explicit analytical expressions for the temperature ratios. On the computational side, two different techniques are used. First, the kinetic equations are numerically solved by the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Second, molecular dynamics simulations for dilute gases are performed. Comparison between theory and simulations shows a general good agreement. This means that (i) the impact of the molecular chaos ansatz on the temperature ratios is not significant (except at high inelasticities and/or big impurities) and (ii) the simple Maxwellian approximation yields quite reliable predictions.

Autophagic marker MAP1LC3B expression levels are associated with carotid atherosclerosis symptomatology.

OBJECTIVES: The mechanism by which atheroma plaque becomes unstable is not completely understood to date but analysis of differentially expressed genes in stable versus unstable plaques may provide clues. This will be crucial toward disclosing the mechanistic basis of plaque instability, and may help to identify prognostic biomarkers for ischaemic events. The objective of our study was to identify differences in expression levels of 59 selected genes between symptomatic patients (unstable plaques) and asymptomatic patients (stable plaques). METHODS: 80 carotid plaques obtained by carotid endarterectomy and classified as symptomatic (>70% stenosis) or asymptomatic (>80% stenosis) were used in this study. The expression levels of 59 genes were quantified by qPCR on RNA extracted from the carotid plaques obtained by endarterectomy and analyzed by means of various bioinformatic tools. RESULTS: Several genes associated with autophagy pathways displayed differential expression levels between asymptomatic and symptomatic (i.e. MAP1LC3B, RAB24, EVA1A). In particular, mRNA levels of MAP1LC3B, an autophagic marker, showed a 5-fold decrease in symptomatic samples, which was confirmed in protein blots. Immune system-related factors and endoplasmic reticulum-associated markers (i.e. ERP27, ITPR1, ERO1LB, TIMP1, IL12B) emerged as differently expressed genes between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Carotid atherosclerotic plaques in which MAP1LC3B is underexpressed would not be able to benefit from MAP1LC3B-associated autophagy. This may lead to accumulation of dead cells at lesion site with subsequent plaque destabilization leading to cerebrovascular events. Identified biomarkers and network interactions may represent novel targets for development of treatments against plaque destabilization and thus for the prevention of cerebrovascular events.

Segregation of an intruder in a heated granular dense gas.

A recent segregation criterion [Phys. Rev. E 78, 020301(R) (2008)] based on the thermal diffusion factor Λ of an intruder in a heated granular gas described by the inelastic Enskog equation is revisited. The sign of Λ provides a criterion for the transition between the Brazil-nut effect (BNE) and the reverse Brazil-nut effect (RBNE). The present theory incorporates two extra ingredients not accounted for by the previous theoretical attempt. First, the theory is based upon the second Sonine approximation to the transport coefficients of the mass flux of the intruder. Second, the dependence of the temperature ratio (intruder temperature over that of the host granular gas) on the solid volume fraction is taken into account in the first and second Sonine approximations. In order to check the accuracy of the Sonine approximation considered, the Enskog equation is also numerically solved by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method to get the kinetic diffusion coefficient D(0). The comparison between theory and simulation shows that the second Sonine approximation to D(0) yields an improvement over the first Sonine approximation when the intruder is lighter than the gas particles in the range of large inelasticity. With respect to the form of the phase diagrams for the BNE-RBNE transition, the kinetic theory results for the factor Λ indicate that while the form of these diagrams depends sensitively on the order of the Sonine approximation considered when gravity is absent, no significant differences between both Sonine solutions appear in the opposite limit (gravity dominates the thermal gradient). In the former case (no gravity), the first Sonine approximation overestimates both the RBNE region and the influence of dissipation on thermal diffusion segregation.

Class of dilute granular Couette flows with uniform heat flux.

In a recent paper [F. Vega Reyes et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 028001 (2010)] we presented a preliminary description of a special class of steady Couette flows in dilute granular gases. In all flows of this class the viscous heating is exactly balanced by inelastic cooling. This yields a uniform heat flux and a linear relationship between the local temperature and flow velocity. The class (referred to as the LTu class) includes the Fourier flow of ordinary gases and the simple shear flow of granular gases as special cases. In the present paper we provide further support for this class of Couette flows by following four different routes, two of them being theoretical (Grad's moment method of the Boltzmann equation and exact solution of a kinetic model) and the other two being computational (molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations of the Boltzmann equation). Comparison between theory and simulations shows a very good agreement for the non-Newtonian rheological properties, even for quite strong inelasticity, and a good agreement for the heat flux coefficients in the case of Grad's method, the agreement being only qualitative in the case of the kinetic model.

Mass transport of impurities in a moderately dense granular gas.

Transport coefficients associated with the mass flux of impurities immersed in a moderately dense granular gas of hard disks or spheres described by the inelastic Enskog equation are obtained by means of the Chapman-Enskog expansion. The transport coefficients are determined as the solutions of a set of coupled linear integral equations recently derived for polydisperse granular mixtures [Garzó, Phys. Rev. E 76, 031304 (2007)]. With the objective of obtaining theoretical expressions for the transport coefficients that are sufficiently accurate for highly inelastic collisions, we solve the above integral equations by using the second Sonine approximation. As a complementary route, we numerically solve by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC) the inelastic Enskog equation to get the kinetic diffusion coefficient D0 for two and three dimensions. We have observed in all our simulations that the disagreement, for arbitrarily large inelasticity, in the values of both solutions (DSMC and second Sonine approximation) is less than 4%. Moreover, we show that the second Sonine approximation to D0 yields a dramatic improvement (up to 50%) over the first Sonine approximation for impurity particles lighter than the surrounding gas and in the range of large inelasticity. The results reported in this paper are of direct application in important problems in granular flows, such as segregation driven by gravity and a thermal gradient. We analyze here the segregation criteria that result from our theoretical expressions of the transport coefficients.

Granular mixtures modeled as elastic hard spheres subject to a drag force.

Granular gaseous mixtures under rapid flow conditions are usually modeled as a multicomponent system of smooth inelastic hard disks (two dimensions) or spheres (three dimensions) with constant coefficients of normal restitution alpha{ij}. In the low density regime an adequate framework is provided by the set of coupled inelastic Boltzmann equations. Due to the intricacy of the inelastic Boltzmann collision operator, in this paper we propose a simpler model of elastic hard disks or spheres subject to the action of an effective drag force, which mimics the effect of dissipation present in the original granular gas. For each collision term ij, the model has two parameters: a dimensionless factor beta{ij} modifying the collision rate of the elastic hard spheres, and the drag coefficient zeta{ij}. Both parameters are determined by requiring that the model reproduces the collisional transfers of momentum and energy of the true inelastic Boltzmann operator, yielding beta{ij}=(1+alpha{ij})2 and zeta{ij} proportional, variant1-alpha{ij}/{2}, where the proportionality constant is a function of the partial densities, velocities, and temperatures of species i and j. The Navier-Stokes transport coefficients for a binary mixture are obtained from the model by application of the Chapman-Enskog method. The three coefficients associated with the mass flux are the same as those obtained from the inelastic Boltzmann equation, while the remaining four transport coefficients show a general good agreement, especially in the case of the thermal conductivity. The discrepancies between both descriptions are seen to be similar to those found for monocomponent gases. Finally, the approximate decomposition of the inelastic Boltzmann collision operator is exploited to construct a model kinetic equation for granular mixtures as a direct extension of a known kinetic model for elastic collisions.

[Assessing COPD-associated morbidity: factors of prognosis]. / Factores pronósticos de reingreso en la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Forced respiratory volume in first second spirometry is currently used to diagnose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, this technique does not always provide a reliable short-term prognosis, especially in patients with associated morbidity. We propose that specific health-related quality of life questionnaires are a better tool to estimate the prognosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. PATIENTS AND METHOD: A total of 93 patients who had been admitted to Unit 1 of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Reina Sofia Hospital for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbation were followed up for one year after discharge. The number of hospital readmissions were recorded. A prospective cohort design and logistic regression analysis were used. RESULTS: Mean age was 70.8, 83% were males, 89.2% presented with an associated illness, and 59.1% had been hospitalized previously. The mean forced respiratory volume in first second was 34% and the overall score for the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire was 58.2. After one year, 40.4% of patients were readmitted to hospital. The regression model included scores for the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire activity scale (OR 1.05) and long-term home oxygen therapy (OR 5.18). CONCLUSIONS: The St George's Respiratory Questionnaire score better predicts hospital readmission after one year than the forced respiratory volume in first second. The activity scale is the best predictor of readmission. Long-term home oxygen therapy is associated with an increase in the number of hospitalizations.

Use of the pseudophase model in the interpretation of reactivity under restricted geometry conditions. An application to the study of the [Ru(NH(3))(5)pz](2+) + S(2)O(8)(2-) electron-transfer reaction in different microheterogeneous systems.

The title reaction has been studied under restricted geometry conditions, comprising aqueous solutions of a polymer (DNA), cyclodextrins, and dendrimers as well as (CTA)Cl micellar solutions and sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT)/water/oil microemulsions. The results are interpreted by taking as a general basis the pseudophase model, modified in some cases in order to take into account the specificity of the reaction medium. These modifications describe the anti-cooperative character of the binding of the substrates to the surfaces and the changes of the electric potential at the surfaces. The conclusion is that the pseudophase model is a powerful tool for the interpretation of kinetic data in the reaction media considered in this work, provided that the specificity of these media were incorporated into the model.

[Survival outcome in chronic alcoholism: a 10 year follow-up study]. / Factores pronósticos de supervivencia en el alcoholismo crónico en un estudio de seguimiento a 10 años.

UNLABELLED: Alcoholism is a major cause of death. To date, there have been reported few studies examining the factors associated with mortality in alcoholics who are hospitalized for medical reasons. The aim of this study was to analyze the survival rate of those alcoholic subjects and to identify outcome variables. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Among all alcoholic patients admitted from January 1986 to December 1988 in the Department of Internal Medicine 1 of the Reina Sofia University Hospital in Córdoba (Spain), 162 met the inclusion criteria. Information was compiled from protocols, medical records,death certificates and interviews to patients and family members.A prospective cohort design was also used. Average age was 50.7 (10.7) years; 91.4% were males, 69.9% smokers,65.7% were married, 19.8% had ascites, and the average follow-up was 8.7 years. 59 patients survived, 56 died, and 47 did not complete the study period. In the covariate analysis, age, marital status,alcoholism duration, bilirubin levels, ascites and albumin concentrations had statistical signification. Four variables were included in the regression model: age (OR, 1.07; 1.03-1.12); ascites (OR,2.09; 1.05-4.15); bilirubin (OR, 1.42; 1.20-1.67) and marital status (OR, 2.39; 1.17-4.85). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, age, an increase in bilirubin level, presence of ascites, and marital status (single, widowed or separated) were associated with a significantly lower survival rate in chronic alcoholics.