A unified discretization of rigid solids and fluids is introduced, allowing for resolved simulations of fluid–solid phases within a meshless framework. The numerical solution, attained by Smoothed ...Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and a variation of Discrete Element Method (DEM), the Distributed Contact Discrete Element Method (DCDEM) discretization, is achieved by directly considering solid–solid and solid–fluid interactions. The novelty of the work is centred on the generalization of the coupling of the DEM and SPH methodologies for resolved simulations, allowing for state-of-the-art contact mechanics theories to be used in arbitrary geometries, while fluid to solid and vice versa momentum transfers are accurately described. The methods are introduced, analysed and discussed. Initial validations on the DCDEM and the fluid coupling are presented, drawing from test cases in the literature. An experimental campaign serves as a validation point for complex, large scale solid–fluid flows, where a set of blocks in several configurations is subjected to a dam-break wave. Blocks are tracked and positions are then compared between experimental data and the numerical solutions. A Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique allows for the quantification of the flow field and direct comparison with numerical data. The results show that the model is accurate and is capable of treating highly complex interactions, such as transport of debris or hydrodynamic actions on structures, if relevant scales are reproduced.
The short-range ordered but long-range disordered structure of metallic glasses yields strong structural and dynamic heterogeneities. Stress relaxation is a technique to trace the evolution of stress ...in response to a fixed strain, which reflects the dynamic features phenomenologically described by the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) equation. The KWW equation describes a broad distribution of relaxation times with a small number of empirical parameters, but it does not arise from a particular physically motivated mechanistic picture. Here we report an anomalous two-stage stress relaxation behavior in a Cu sub(46) Zr sub(46) Al sub(8) metallic glass over a wide temperature range and generalize the findings in other compositions. Thermodynamic analysis identifies two categories of processes: a fast stress-driven event with large activation volume and a slow thermally activated event with small activation volume, which synthetically dominates the stress relaxation dynamics. Discrete analyses rationalize the transition mechanism induced by stress and explain the anomalous variation of the KWW characteristic time with temperature. Atomistic simulations reveal that the stress-driven event involves virtually instantaneous short-range atomic rearrangement, while the thermally activated event is the percolation of the fast event accommodated by the long-range atomic diffusion. The insights may clarify the underlying physical mechanisms behind the phenomenological description and shed light on correlating the hierarchical dynamics and structural heterogeneity of amorphous solids.
This paper presents a review about mercury contamination and human exposure in the Tapajós River basin (Brazil), one of the major tributaries of the Amazon impacted by traditional gold mining from ...the mid 1980s. The most recent review in this region was published more than ten years ago and since then many articles about environment and especially human populations have revealed new aspects of mercury toxicology. Additionally, new biomarkers of mercury exposure and toxicity have been studied in these populations. However, there are still many open, about both mercury's biogeochemical cycle and mercury health risks. Further environmental and human risk research directions are proposed.
ABSTRACT
We present a qualitative search for ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) in excess variance spectra of radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We analyse 42 sources from the spectroscopic UFO ...detection sample, and an additional 22 different sources from the variability sample. A total of 58 sources have sufficient observational data from XMM–Newton EPIC-pn and variability for an excess variance spectrum to be calculated. We examine these spectra for peaks corresponding to variable blue-shifted H- and He-like ion absorption lines from UFOs. We find good evidence for such outflows in 28 per cent of the AGN sample and weak evidence in a further 31 per cent, meaning that ∼30–60 per cent of the AGN sample hosts such UFOs. The mean and median blue-shifted velocity is found to be ∼0.14c and 0.12c, respectively. Current variability methods allow for a fast, model-independent determination of UFOs; however, further work needs to be undertaken to better characterize the statistical significance of the peaks in these spectra by more rigorous modelling. Detecting good evidence for variable UFO lines in a large number of sources also lays the groundwork for detailed analysis of the variability time-scales of the absorbers. This will allow us to probe their densities and hence distances from the central supermassive black hole.
We report on the properties of pre-main-sequence objects in the Taurus molecular clouds as observed in seven mid- and far-infrared bands with the Spitzer Space Telescope. There are 215 previously ...identified members of the Taurus star-forming region in our ~44 deg2 map these members exhibit a range of Spitzer colors that we take to define young stars still surrounded by circumstellar dust (noting that ~20% of the bona fide Taurus members exhibit no detectable dust excesses). We looked for new objects in the survey field with similar Spitzer properties, aided by extensive optical, X-ray, and ultraviolet imaging, and found 148 new candidate members of Taurus. We have obtained follow-up spectroscopy for about half the candidate sample, thus far confirming 34 new members, three probable new members, and 10 possible new members, an increase of 15%-20% in Taurus members. Of the objects for which we have spectroscopy, seven are now confirmed extragalactic objects, and one is a background Be star. The remaining 93 candidate objects await additional analysis and/or data to be confirmed or rejected as Taurus members. Most of the new members are Class II M stars and are located along the same cloud filaments as the previously identified Taurus members. Among non-members with Spitzer colors similar to young, dusty stars are evolved Be stars, planetary nebulae, carbon stars, galaxies, and active galactic nuclei.
Mercury is responsible for serious episodes of environmental pollution throughout the world, especially in the Amazon. This toxicity has led regulatory agencies to focus on fish as the target ...organism for protecting the health of humans and other sensitive organisms. Unfortunately, in the Amazon area, different sampling strategies and the wide variety of sampling areas and fish species make it extremely difficult to determine relationships across geographic regions or over time to ascertain historical trends. Thus, the aim of this work was to achieve three main objectives: a comparative study of mercury contamination in fish of Itaituba (Tapajós, located downstream of the largest gold-mining region in Amazon) and Belém (an area non-exposed to mercury pollution of anthropogenic origin), perform an analysis of inorganic mercury (IHg) versus monomethylmercury (MeHg) contents, and, finally, compare mercury contamination in Tapajós over time. Five piscivorous species were obtained in Itaituba and Belém. Also, four non-piscivorous species were collected in Itaituba. For the first time, mercury speciation showed that (1) current MeHg levels in piscivorous species in Tapajós are higher than those of the non-exposed area, (2) piscivorous species from Itaituba (dourada, filhote, and sarda) contained mercury levels above the World Health Organization safety limit (~17 %) and/or above the US Environmental Protection Agency tissue residue criterion (40 %), (3) increased MeHg is usually accompanied by increased IHg, and (4) the mean total mercury concentrations for piscivorous species in Itaituba were within the same range and, associated uncertainties as those previously reported, although a remarkable decreasing trend over time was observed for mean total Hg concentrations in non-piscivorous species from Itaituba. The present study supports the importance of continuous monitoring of both populations in the Amazon Rivers. Our results will better assist the development of preventive strategies and governmental actions to confront the problem of mercury contamination in the Amazon.
We experimentally show that it is possible to induce room-temperature ferromagnetic-like behavior in ZnO nanoparticles without doping with magnetic impurities but simply inducing an alteration of ...their electronic configuration. Capping ZnO nanoparticles (∼10 nm size) with different organic molecules produces an alteration of their electronic configuration that depends on the particular molecule, as evidenced by photoluminescence and X-ray absorption spectroscopies and altering their magnetic properties that varies from diamagnetic to ferromagnetic-like behavior.
There is increasing evidence supporting the role of genetic variants in the development of radiation-induced toxicity. However, previous candidate gene association studies failed to elucidate the ...common genetic variation underlying this phenotype, which could emerge years after the completion of treatment. We performed a genome-wide association study on a Spanish cohort of 741 individuals with prostate cancer treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). The replication cohorts consisted of 633 cases from the UK and 368 cases from North America. One locus comprising TANC1 (lowest unadjusted P value for overall late toxicity=6.85×10(-9), odds ratio (OR)=6.61, 95% confidence interval (CI)=2.23-19.63) was replicated in the second stage (lowest unadjusted P value for overall late toxicity=2.08×10(-4), OR=6.17, 95% CI=2.25-16.95; Pcombined=4.16×10(-10)). The inclusion of the third cohort gave unadjusted Pcombined=4.64×10(-11). These results, together with the role of TANC1 in regenerating damaged muscle, suggest that the TANC1 locus influences the development of late radiation-induced damage.
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