Hydrodynamic flow and concentration gradients in the gut enhance neutral bacterial diversity

The gut microbiota features important genetic diversity, and the specific spatial features of the gut may shape evolution within this environment. We investigate the fixation probability of neutral bacterial mutants within a minimal model of the gut that includes hydrodynamic flow and resulting gradients of food and bacterial concentrations. We find that this fixation probability is substantially increased, compared with an equivalent well-mixed system, in the regime where the profiles of food and bacterial concentration are strongly spatially dependent. Fixation probability then becomes independent of total population size. We show that our results can be rationalized by introducing an active population, which consists of those bacteria that are actively consuming food and dividing. The active population size yields an effective population size for neutral mutant fixation probability in the gut.

CONTROL SYSTEM FOR NEEDLE INSERTION INTO THE PERIPHERAL VENOUS VESSEL

Предложен новый способ контроля введения инъекционной иглы в просвет вены на основе измерений электрического импеданса с помощью смешанной системы электродов, состоящей из биполярного и тетраполярного звеньев. Исследованы альтернативные схемы расположения электродов при проведении контроля венозной пункции биоимпедансным методом - они имеют более сложную конструкцию, используют дорогостоящие специализированные коаксиальные иглы, не позволяют однозначно определить факт прокола стенки венозного сосуда, нуждаются в дополнительной фильтрации регистрируемого сигнала с целью корректной интерпретации результата. Эффективность предложенной методики проверялась в ходе экспериментальных исследований на 5 добровольцах. Результаты экспериментов позволили идентифицировать 4 стадии нахождения инъекционной иглы относительно верхней конечности: нет касания, касание кожного покрова, нахождение под кожей коже, попадание в просвет вены. Идентификация положений инъекционной иглы происходит в реальном времени без дополнительной фильтрации регистрируемого сигнала. Метод позволяет обнаружить момент прокола стенки венозного сосуда стандартной инъекционной иглой, что в дальнейшем позволит сэкономить на изготовлении специализированных многослойных игольчатых электродов и внедрить данный способ контроля за проведением венепункции в медицинскую практику. Дальнейшее развитие предложенного подхода предполагает идентификацию двойного прокола вены, дифференцирование типа ткани в процессе введения иглы и исследование возможности определения типа кровеносного сосуда A new method for controlling the penetration of an injection needle into the vein based on measurements of electrical impedance using a mixed system of electrodes consisting of bipolar and tetrapolar parts is proposed. Alternative schemes for the arrangement of electrodes for monitoring venous puncture using the bioimpedance method have been investigated - they have a more complex design, use expensive specialized coaxial needles, do not allow to unambiguously determine the fact of a puncture of the venous vessel wall, require additional filtering of the recorded signal in order to correctly interpret the result. The effectiveness of the proposed technique was tested in experimental studies on 5 volunteers. The results of the experiments made it possible to identify 4 stages of finding the injection needle relative to the upper limb: no touching, touching the skin, being under the skin of the skin, getting into the lumen of the vein. Identification of the positions of the injection needle occurs in real time without additional filtering of the recorded signal. The method allows detecting the moment of puncture of the wall of a venous vessel with a standard injection needle, which in the future will save on the manufacture of specialized multilayer needle electrodes and introduce this method of monitoring venipuncture into medical practice. Further development of the proposed approach involves the identification of a double vein puncture, differentiation of tissue type during needle insertion, and investigation of the possibility of determining the type of blood vessel

An Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Changing the Rock's Wettability on the Performance of Carbonated Water Injection CWI

CWI is affected by multiple factors, including the wettability of the rock. These experiments seek to determine the results that are obtained when CW is injected in a tertiary mode for systems: (1) wetted by water and (2) mixed wettability; to date, no study has used this approach. The same sandstone core was used in all trials, and each test consisted of saturating the core with live crude, followed by the injection of water as a secondary recovery and then the injection of CW as a tertiary recovery. An additional sensitivity test was conducted that consisted of varying the composition of the dissolved gas in the crude. In general, in a water wet system, the recovery associated with the injection of CW is higher (normalized) compared to a mixed wettability system. This does not mean that the results were negative in the mixed system. On the contrary, the results are positive since on the order of an additional 20% was recovered. However, the pressure differential in a mixed system is higher (14%) compared to water wet system. Although it is common knowledge that wettability of the rock affects the production and pressure results in an experiment, these are the first experiments that have been performed exclusively to determine quantitatively the response to CWI while maintaining the other parameters constant.

Magneto-Optical properties in thin film Topological insulators with quadratic momentum term

In this work we investigate the influence of quadratic in momentum term (Schrodinger term) on magneto-transport properties of thin film topological insulators. The Schrodinger term modifies the Dirac cones into an hourglass shape which results in inter and intraband Landau levels crossings. Breaking of the particle-hole symmetry in Landau level spectrum in the presence of k2 term leads to asymmetrical density of states profile. We calculate collisional and Hall conductivity for mixed Dirac-Schrodinger system in linear response regime and show oscillatory behavior in collisional con- ductivity, while Zeeman and hybridization terms provide a doubly split peak structure in collisional conductivity for the case m/me → ∞. We calculate Hall conductivity analytically and show that for mixed system filling factor is not symmetric about Fermi energy unlike symmetic plateaus for pure Dirac case.

Effects of various media on micellization, adsorption and thermodynamic behaviour of imipramine hydrochloride and antimicrobial surfactant mixtures

The effect of various media (aqueous, NaCl, urea (U) and thiourea (TU)) on the micellization and adsorption activity of varied mixtures of imipramine hydrochloride (IMP) and benzethonium chloride (BZCl) is investigated via tensiometry. In an aqueous medium, the interactions between IMP and BZCl are also evaluated using UV–visible and FTIR spectroscopy. The interaction between components increases with increased mole fraction ( α 1 ) of BZCl in the mixed system (IMP + BZCl). Different parameters, such as micellar and the mixed monolayer component composition, the interaction parameters of the solution and the interface, the activity coefficients of the components in solution and at the interface, and thermodynamic parameters, are computed using different proposed theoretical models (i.e. Clint, Motomura, Rubingh and Rosen). The cmc values obtained for the pure components and mixtures (IMP + BZCl) of all the compositions are found to be less in NaCl than in the aqueous solution while found more in the presence of U or TU. TU is more effective in increasing the cmc of the pure and mixed systems than U. The Gibbs free energy ( Δ G mic ∘ ) values of the studied pure and mixed systems are negative, showing the spontaneous nature of the reaction.

Co-Deposition Mechanisms of Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Carbonate Scale in Produced Water

Co-precipitation of mineral-based salts during scaling remains poorly understood and thermodynamically undefined within the water industry. This study focuses on investigating calcium carbonate and calcium sulfate mixed precipitation in scaling. Scaling is often observed in the produced water supply as a result of treatment processes. Co-precipitation results were compared with experimental results of a single salt crystallization. Several parameters were carefully monitored, including the electrical conductivity, pH value, crystal morphology and crystal form. The existence of the calcium carbonate scale in the mixed system encourages the loose calcium sulfate scale to become more tightly packed. The mixed scale was firmly adhered to the beaker, and the adhesion of the co-deposition product was located between the pure calcium sulfate scale and the pure calcium carbonate scale. The crystalline form of calcium sulfate was gypsum in both pure material deposition and mixed deposition, while the calcium carbonate scale was stable in calcite form in the pure material deposition. In the co-deposition, apart from calcite form, some calcium carbonate scale crystals had metastable vaterite form. This indicated that the presence of SO42− ions reduced the energy barrier of the calcium carbonate scale and hindered its transformation from a vaterite form to a calcite one, and the increase in HCO3− content inhibited the formation of calcium sulfate scale.

Self-Assembly of NaOL-DDA Mixtures in Aqueous Solution: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

The self-assembly behaviors of sodium oleate (NaOL), dodecylamine (DDA), and their mixtures in aqueous solution were systematically investigated by large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, respectively. The interaction mechanisms between the surfactants, as well as the surfactants and solvent, were revealed via the radial distribution function (RDF), cluster size, solvent-accessible surface area (SASA), hydrogen bond, and non-bond interaction energy. Results showed that the molecules more easily formed aggregates in mixed systems compared to pure systems, indicating higher surface activity. The SASA values of DDA and NaOL decreased significantly after mixing, indicating a tighter aggregation of the mixed surfactants. The RDF results indicated that DDA and NaOL strongly interacted with each other, especially in the mixed system with a 1:1 molar ratio. Compared to van der Waals interactions, electrostatic interactions between the surfactant molecules were the main contributors to the improved aggregation in the mixed systems. Besides, hydrogen bonds were found between NaOL and DDA in the mixed systems. Therefore, the aggregates in the mixed systems were much more compact in comparison with pure systems, which contributed to the reduction of the repulsive force between same molecules. These findings indicated that the mixed NaOL/DDA surfactants had a great potential in application of mineral flotation.

Phonetic and phonological vowel reduction in Brazilian Portuguese

The present study examines the phonetic and phonological status of vowel reduction in Brazilian Portuguese. In order to compare the effects of duration and metrical structure, we tested the influence of duration on the realization of /a/ in five prosodic positions: word-initial pretonic, word-medial pretonic, tonic, word-medial posttonic, and word-final posttonic. The results revealed that, while both phonetic duration and prosodic position had effects on F1 values for /a/, the categorical effect of prosodic position was much stronger and more reliable. In particular, F1 values for /a/ were best predicted by a two-way distinction between posttonic and non-posttonic syllable positions. Correlations between a vowel’s duration and its F1 frequency were statistically significant but generally weak in all positions. We argue that these findings suggest that vowel reduction in Brazilian Portuguese primarily reflects phonological patterning rather than phonetic undershoot, although there was also evidence for some amount of undershoot. Brazilian Portuguese can therefore be said to have a mixed system of phonological and phonetic reduction. The present study discusses the results in the context of Brazilian Portuguese metrical organization, sound change, and the relation between phonetics and phonology.