The quantum zeno effect slows down the quantum system's time evolution under frequent measurements. This paper aims to study this quantum effect by introducing the definition of time based on an ...irreversible thermodynamic analysis of quantum systems. Consequently, the quantum zeno effect requires (i) high values of the electromagnetic entropy generation rate related to the spontaneously down-converted light and (ii) a decrease in the quantum system's entropy value. So, the quantum zeno effect is a quantum process related to the interaction between a quantum system and the electromagnetic waves of the measurement device, causing a quantum thermodynamic stationary state. Last, the fundamental role of irreversibility emerges.
Cells are open complex thermodynamic systems. They can be also regarded as complex engines that execute a series of chemical reactions. Energy transformations, thermo-electro-chemical processes and ...transports phenomena can occur across the cells membranes. Moreover, cells can also actively modify their behaviours in relation to changes in their environment.
Different thermo-electro-biochemical behaviours occur between health and disease states. But, all the living systems waste heat, which is no more than the result of their internal irreversibility. This heat is dissipated into the environment. But, this wasted heat represent also a sort of information, which outflows from the cell toward its environment, completely accessible to any observer.
The analysis of irreversibility related to this wasted heat can represent a new approach to study the behaviour of the cells themselves and to control their behaviours. So, this approach allows us to consider the living systems as black boxes and analyze only the inflows and outflows and their changes in relation to the modification of the environment. Therefore, information on the systems can be obtained by analyzing the changes in the cell heat wasted in relation to external perturbations.
The bioengineering thermodynamics bases are summarized and used to analyse possible controls of the calls behaviours based on the control of the ions fluxes across the cells membranes.
At present, one of the main challenges that industry faces is its impact on global warming, linked to the greenhouse effect and ozone hole problems. These two environmental issues have not yet been ...solved completely and, concerning the industrial cold sector, countries are making various decisions on refrigerants. Magnetic refrigeration potentially represents a less impactful refrigeration technology. In this review, the physical basis of magnetic refrigeration is analysed, in order to propose this technology for industrial use.
This paper develops a non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach to life, with particular regards to the membrane role. The Onsager phenomenological coefficients are introduced in order to point out the ...thermophysical properties of the cell systems. The fundamental role of the cell membrane electric potential is highlighted, in relation to ions and heat fluxes, pointing out the strictly relation between heat exchange and the membrane electric potential. A Seebeck-like and Peltier-like effects emerge in order to simplify the description of the heat and the ions fluxes. Life is described as a continuos transition between the Peltier-like effect to the Seebeck-like one, and
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Thermodynamics studies the transformations of energy occurring in open systems. Living systems, with particular reference to cells, are complex systems in which energy transformations occur. ...Thermo-electro-chemical processes and transports occur across their border, the cells membranes. These processes take place with important differences between healthy and diseased states. In particular, different thermal and biochemical behaviours can be highlighted between these two states and they can be related to the energy transformations inside the living systems, in particular the metabolic behaviour. Moreover, living systems waste heat. This heat is the consequence of the internal irreversibility. Irreversibility is effectively studied by using the Gouy-Stodola theorem. Consequently, this approach can be introduced in the analysis of the states of living systems, in order to obtain a unifying approach to study them. Indeed, this approach allows us to consider living systems as black boxes and analyze only the inflows and outflows and their changes in relation to the modification of the environment, so information on the systems can be obtained by analyzing their behaviour in relation to the modification of external perturbations. This paper presents a review of the recent results obtained in the thermodynamics analysis of cell systems.
From a thermodynamic point of view, living cell life is no more than a cyclic process. It starts with the newly separated daughter cells and restarts when the next generations grow as free entities. ...During this cycle, the cell changes its entropy. In cancer, the growth control is damaged. In this paper, we analyze the role of the volume–area ratio in the cell in relation to the heat exchange between cell and its environment in order to point out its effect on cancer growth. The result holds to a possible control of the cancer growth based on the heat exchanged by the cancer toward its environment and the membrane potential variation, with the consequence of controlling the ions fluxes and the related biochemical reactions. This second law approach could represent a starting point for a possible future support for the anticancer therapies, in order to improve their effectiveness for the untreatable cancers.
In the environment, there exists a continuous interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter. So, atoms continuously interact with the photons of the environmental electromagnetic fields. ...This electromagnetic interaction is the consequence of the continuous and universal thermal non-equilibrium, that introduces an element of randomness to atomic and molecular motion. Consequently, a decreasing of path probability required for microscopic reversibility of evolution occurs. Recently, an energy footprint has been theoretically proven in the atomic electron-photon interaction, related to the well known spectroscopic phase shift effect, and the results on the irreversibility of the electromagnetic interaction with atoms and molecules, experimentally obtained in the late sixties. Here, we want to show how this quantum footprint is the "origin of time". Last, the result obtained represents also a response to the question introduced by Einstein on the analysis of the interaction between radiation and molecules when thermal radiation is considered; he highlighted that in general one restricts oneself to a discussion of the energy exchange, without taking the momentum exchange into account. Our result has been obtained just introducing the momentum into the quantum analysis.
One of the present major issues for industrialised societies is the environmental impact of energy production. Nuclear power is identified as a possible sustainable opportunity to provide a ...technological answer to this problem. This review aims to overview the physical bases of accelerator-driven systems, focusing on spallation and transmutation phenomena. A discussion on the possible use of these nuclear devices is developed in the context of sustainable energy production, showing a possible new approach to nuclear energy, based on the developments of accelerator physics and technology during the last century.
In thermodynamics, the useful work in any process can be evaluated by using the exergy quantity. The analyses of irreversibility are fundamental in the engineering design and in the productive ...processes’ development in order to obtain the economic growth. Recently, the use has been improved also in the thermodynamic analysis of the socio-economic context. Consequently, the exergy lost is linked to the energy cost required to maintain the productive processes themselves. The fundamental role of the fluxes and the interaction between systems and their environment is highlighted. The equivalent wasted primary resource value for the work-hour is proposed as an indicator to support the economic considerations on the biofuel production by using biomass and bacteria. The equivalent wasted primary resource value for the work-hour is proposed as an indicator to support the economic considerations of the biofuel production by using biomass and bacteria. Moreover, the technological considerations can be developed by using the exergy inefficiency. Consequently, bacteria use can be compared with other means of biofuel production, taking into account both the technologies and the economic considerations. Cyanobacteria results as the better organism for biofuel production.
The interest in designing nanosystems is continuously growing. Engineers apply a great number of optimization methods to design macroscopic systems. If these methods could be introduced into the ...design of small systems, a great improvement in nanotechnologies could be achieved. To do so, however, it is necessary to extend classical thermodynamic analysis to small systems, but irreversibility is also present in small systems, as the Loschmidt paradox highlighted. Here, the use of the recent improvement of the Gouy-Stodola theorem to complex systems (GSGL approach), based on the use of entropy generation, is suggested to obtain the extension of classical thermodynamics to nanothermodynamics. The result is a new approach to nanosystems which avoids the difficulties highlighted in the usual analysis of the small systems, such as the definition of temperature for nanosystems.
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