Electrical oscillatory rf phenomena are present during the division of cells. These were examined by studying the attraction of cells for polarizable powders. They are understood to occur by a process termed microdielectrophoresis (μ-DEP), the motion induced by a nonuniform electric field acting on a polarizable body. The suggestion that an electrical oscillatory aspect may also be involved in the “contact” or density inhibition of cell division and the mechanisms that may cause invasiveness of oncogenic cells are theoretically explored (i.e., changes in either the power level or the frequency of the oscillatory phenomena associated with cell division, or in the degree of electrical insulation of the cell from electrical damping by nearby cells). A number of experiments to test this hypothesis are suggested.

Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes

Natural electrical RF oscillation from cells

Hydrogels are composed of a crosslinked polymer network and water. The constitutive behaviors of hydrogels have been modeled based on Flory–Huggins theory. Within this model, the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters are assumed to be of constant values and are typically characterized through swelling tests. Since most hydrogels can absorb a large amount of solvent from the dry state to the swollen state, and the network size and solvent concentration of the hydrogels change significantly, the assumption of constant values of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties as the network swells is questionable. In this work, we have experimentally shown that even for the simple neutral polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels, their mechanical responses cannot be fully described by the Flory–Huggins theory with constant thermodynamic parameters: N (number of chains per unit volume of dry polymers) and χ (polymer–solvent interaction parameter). For a more complete and precise characterization of the hydrogels, we measure the evolving properties of the gels as the network swells. Here, we use dynamic indentation to measure the poroelastic properties (shear modulus G, Poisson's ratio ν and diffusivity D) of the hydrogels under a wide range of swelling ratios. We also use linear perturbation to build the link between G, ν and N, χ, and plot the thermodynamic parameters in the Flory–Huggins theory as a function of the hydrogel swelling ratio. Consequently, the validity of the hydrogel models based on Flory–Huggins theory can be quantitatively examined.

Probing the swelling-dependent mechanical and transport properties of polyacrylamide hydrogels through AFM-based dynamic nanoindentation

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/BF00350982.pdf

Diffusion of bound water in wood: Part 3: A model for nonisothermal diffusion

We challenge claims that the principle of maximum entropy production produces physical phenomenological relations between conjugate currents and forces, even beyond the linear regime, and that currents in networks arrange themselves to maximize entropy production as the system approaches the steady state In particular: (1) we show that Ziegler’s principle of thermodynamic orthogonality leads to stringent reciprocal relations for higher order response coefficients, and in the framework of stochastic thermodynamics, we exhibit a simple explicit model that does not satisfy them; (2) on a network, enforcing Kirchhoff’s current law, we show that maximization of the entropy production prescribes reciprocal relations between coarse-grained observables, but is not responsible for the onset of the steady state, which is, rather, due to the minimum entropy production principle

/pdf/fact-checking-ziegler-s-maximum-entropy-production-principle-ghuyq7iob7.pdf

Introduction to Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes

Citations

Natural electrical RF oscillation from cells

Probing the swelling-dependent mechanical and transport properties of polyacrylamide hydrogels through AFM-based dynamic nanoindentation

Diffusion of bound water in wood: Part 3: A model for nonisothermal diffusion

Fact-Checking Ziegler’s Maximum Entropy Production Principle beyond the Linear Regime and towards Steady States

The Spiritual Dimension of Business Ethics and Sustainability Management

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