Search results for "fluctuation"
showing 10 items of 357 documents
Sedimentation and tropical vegetation changes in Southern Benin (West Africa), carbon-13 tracing of organic matter dynamics and fluctuations of the s…
2007
International audience
Impacts of climate change on the performance of an insect pest and associated consequences for tritrophic interactions
2019
Global warming poses a major challenge to living organisms, particularly for ectothermic animals like insects, whose physiology and behaviour are closely related with direct thermal surroundings. This thesis aims at experimentally investigating the impacts of climate change on the overall performance of a major grapevine pest, the European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana), and the associated consequences for interactions involving this phytophagous insect and adjacent trophic levels, more specifically natural enemies (parasitoids). The experiments conducted focus on three facets of climate change: an increase in mean temperature, an alteration of daily thermal range, and the occurrence of h…
Paths to purchase : the role of the online environment and the fluctuation of customer brand engagement
2016
Customers´ paths to purchase are constantly developing due to digitalization. Online channels enable customers to guide their own decision processes more than ever. When understanding the complex buying journeys, companies can gain competitive advantage. Another current and interesting phenomena in the field of marketing lies in a fairly new concept called customer brand engagement (CBE). The nature of CBE has been studied to some extent, but further research is needed, especially on fluctuation, since most research focuses on observing CBE levels during a specific context and time. The aim of this research is to create insight into the customer decision-making process and CBE. The focus is…
‘Intrinsic’ profiles and capillary waves at interfaces between coexisting phases in polymer blends
2001
Abstract Lateral fluctuations in the local position of the center of the interface between coexisting phases in unmixed polymer blends lead to a broadening of interfacial widths; comparing self-consistent field predictions for the ‘intrinsic’ profile to simulations (or experiments), this ‘capillary wave’ broadening needs consideration. This problem has been studied by extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model for symmetrical polymer mixtures, both for free interfaces (between bulk phases) and for confined interfaces (in thin films between parallel walls). While the capillary wave predictions at large length scales are confirmed, the extraction of the ‘intrinsic’ profil…
Static properties of end-tethered polymers in good solution: A comparison between different models
2004
We present a comparison between results, obtained from different simulation models, for the static properties of end-tethered polymer layers in good solvent. Our analysis includes data from two previous studies--the bond fluctuation model of Wittmer et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 4379 (1994)] and the off-lattice bead-spring model of Grest and Murat [Macromolecules 26, 3108 (1993)]. Additionally, we explore the properties of a similar off-lattice model simulated close to the Theta temperature. We show that the data for the bond fluctuation and the Grest-Murat model can be analyzed in terms of scaling theory because chains are swollen inside the Pincus blob. In the vicinity of the Theta point th…
Penetrant diffusion in frozen polymer matrices: A finite-size scaling study of free volume percolation
1996
The diffusion of penetrant particles in frozen polymer matrices is investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model. By applying finite-size scaling to data obtained from very large systems it is demonstrated that the diffusion process takes place on a percolating free volume cluster describable by a correlated site percolation model which falls into the same universality class as random percolation. The diverging correlation length entails a pronounced dependence of the diffusion constant on the size of the simulated system. It is shown that this dependence is appreciable for a wide range of parameters around the transition. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American …
Simulation of Dense Polymer Systems in Two and Three Dimensions
1991
Dense polymer systems are modeled by self- and mutually avoiding walks on lattices. Both simple models where the step length is one lattice spacing and more complicated models where the step length is distinctly longer and may fluctuate (“bond fluctuation model”) are discussed, and it is shown that the computer simulation of such models gives useful insight to understand the thermodynamic phase behavior and the relaxational dynamics of dense polymer solutions and polymer melts. The huge demands in computing power needed for a successful simulation of such systems can be covered by parallel computers such as the multitransputer facility of the University of Mainz.
Recent Developments in Monte Carlo Simulations of Lattice Models for Polymer Systems
2008
A brief review is given of methodological advances made during the past decade with the Monte Carlo sampling of equilibrium properties of simple lattice models of polymer systems, and representative applications of these new algorithms are summarized. These algorithms include Wang−Landau (WL) sampling, the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM), and topology violating dynamic Monte Carlo algorithms such as combinations of local moves, slithering snake moves, and “double bridging” moves for the bond fluctuation model. The applications mentioned concern phase-transition-like phenomena of single chains (collapse and crystallization in bad solvents; interplay of collapse and adsorption; escap…
Counterion-mediated attraction and kinks on loops of semiflexible polyelectrolyte bundles.
2006
The formation of kinks in a loop of bundled polyelectrolyte filaments is analyzed in terms of the thermal fluctuations of charge density due to polyvalent counterions adsorbed on the polyelectrolyte filaments. It is found that the counterion-mediated attraction energy of filaments depends on their bending. By consideration of curvature elasticity energy and counterion-mediated attraction between polyelectrolyte filaments, the characteristic width of the kink and the number of kinks per loop is found to be in reasonable agreement with existing experimental data for rings of bundled actin filaments.
Monte carlo simulation of the glass transition of polymer melts
2007
The bond fluctuation model of polymer melts is presented as a reasonable compromise between simulation efficiency and realistic chemical detail. It is shown that inclusion of a potential energy that depends on the length of the effective bonds connecting the effective monomers easily creates a conflict between configurational entropy of dense packing and the energetic tendency of the bonds to stretch. This competition leads to a glass transition of the model, which very well describes many features of real systems.