Role of Underlying Substrates on the Interfacial Thermal Transport in Supported Graphene Nanochannels: Implications of Thermal Translucency.

We study the role of underlying substrates on interfacial heat transfer within supported graphene nanochannels. Due to graphene's translucency, the underlying substrate, apart from its known hydrodynamic impact on fluid flow, also influences heat transport. We introduce the term "thermal translucency" to describe this phenomenon in the context of interfacial heat transfer.

Direct health implications of e-cigarette use: a systematic scoping review with evidence assessment.

Background: E-cigarettes are often marketed as a less harmful alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes. Despite their popularity, the evidence regarding their effects on human health remains unclear and is filled with complexities.

Objectives: This systematic review aims to elucidate the direct effects of electronic cigarette use on human health, carefully distinguishing between the specific characteristics of the populations studied.

Optical recordings of organellar membrane potentials and the components of membrane conductance in lysosomes.

The eukaryotic cell is highly compartmentalized with organelles. Owing to their function in transporting metabolites, metabolic intermediates and byproducts of metabolic activity, organelles are important players in the orchestration of cellular function. Recent advances in optical methods for interrogating the different aspects of organellar activity promise to revolutionize our ability to dissect cellular processes with unprecedented detail.

Single-molecule analysis of solvent-responsive mechanically interlocked ring polymers and the effects of nanoconfinement from coarse-grained simulations.

In this study, we simulate mechanically interlocked semiflexible ring polymers inspired by the minicircles of kinetoplast DNA (kDNA) networks. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the impact of molecular topological linkage and nanoconfinement on the conformational properties of two- and three-ring polymer systems in varying solvent qualities. Under good-quality solvents, for two-ring systems, a higher number of crossing points lead to a more internally constrained structure, reducing their mean radius of gyration.

The Conscious Nematode: Exploring Hallmarks of Minimal Phenomenal Consciousness in .

While subcellular components of cognition and affectivity that involve the interaction between experience, environment, and physiology -such as learning, trauma, or emotion- are being identified, the physical mechanisms of phenomenal consciousness remain more elusive. We are interested in exploring whether ancient, simpler organisms such as nematodes have minimal consciousness. Is there something that feels like to be a worm? Or are worms blind machines? 'Simpler' models allow us to simultaneously extract data from multiple levels such as slow and fast neural dynamics, structural connectivity, molecular dynamics, behavior, decision making, etc.

Impact of Molecular-level Structural Disruption on Relaxation Dynamics of Polymers with End-on and Side-on Liquid Crystal Moieties.

In side-chain liquid crystal polymers (SCLCPs), short side chains are attached on a flexible polymer backbone, and each side chain can have a liquid crystal (LC) group attached at the final bead in either an end-on or a side-on configuration. SCLCPs with random sequences of end-on and side-on LC moieties exhibit nonmonotonic thermal behavior as a function of composition, with some mixed sequences having a lower isotropic to LC phase transition than either purely end-on or side-on configurations. The origin of this nonmonotonic thermal trend lies in the disruption of molecular-level positional ordering and alignment due to the different preferred types of ordering of the different LC attachment types.

Coarse-grained modeling of polymers with end-on and side-on liquid crystal moieties: Effect of architecture.

Mesogens, which are typically stiff rodlike or disklike molecules, are able to self-organize into liquid crystal (LC) phases in a certain temperature range. Such mesogens, or LC groups, can be attached to polymer chains in various configurations including within the backbone (main-chain LC polymers) or at the ends of side-chains attached to the backbone in an end-on or side-on configuration (side-chain LC polymers or SCLCPs), which can display synergistic properties arising from both their LC and polymeric character. At lower temperatures, chain conformations may be significantly altered due to the mesoscale LC ordering; thus, when heated from the LC ordered state through the LC to isotropic phase transition, the chains return from a more stretched to a more random coil conformation.

A Study of the Radiation Tolerance of CVD Diamond to 70 MeV Protons, Fast Neutrons and 200 MeV Pions.

We measured the radiation tolerance of commercially available diamonds grown by the Chemical Vapor Deposition process by measuring the charge created by a 120 GeV hadron beam in a 50 μm pitch strip detector fabricated on each diamond sample before and after irradiation. We irradiated one group of samples with 70 MeV protons, a second group of samples with fast reactor neutrons (defined as energy greater than 0.1 MeV), and a third group of samples with 200 MeV pions, in steps, to (8.