We develop a free energy density to model a structural first-order phase transformation from a high-temperature cubic phase to a low-temperature tetragonal phase. The free energy density models the softening of the elastic modulus controlling the low-energy path from the cubic to the tetragonal lattice, the loss of stability of the tetragonal phase at high temperatures and the loss of stability...

We determine the relative thermodynamic stability of competing homogeneously and inhomogeneously ordered ferroelectric phases of PbTiO3 using its free-energy landscape, obtained from constrained-polarization moleculardynamics simulations with a first-principles effective Hamiltonian and thermodynamic integration. While we find that the tetragonal structure is thermodynamically most stable at te...

Garnet-type Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) is a solid electrolyte material with a low-conductivity tetragonal and a high-conductivity cubic phase. Using density-functional theory and variable cell shape molecular dynamics simulations, we show that the tetragonal phase stability is dependent on a simultaneous ordering of the Li ions on the Li sublattice and a volume-preserving tetragonal distortion that re...

Persistence of Bacillus globigii spores, a surrogate for Bacillus anthracis, was studied on biofouled concrete-lined slides in drinking water using biofilm annular reactors. Reactors were inoculated with B. globigii spores and persistence was monitored in the bulk and biofilm phases, first in dechlorinated water and later with free chlorine concentrations of 1 and 5 mg/L. In the dechlorinated s...

The airborne fungal spore content in Havana, Cuba, collected by means a non-viable volumetric methodology, was studied from November 2010 - October 2011. The study, from a qualitative point of view, allowed the characterization of 29 genera and 5 fungal types, described following the Saccardo´s morphotypes, as well as their morphobiometrical characteristics. In the amerospores morphotype, the c...

Spores of the tropical mosses Pyrrhobryum spiniforme, Neckeropsis undulata and N. disticha were characterized regarding size, number per capsule and viability. Chemical substances were analyzed for P. spiniforme and N. undulata spores. Length of sporophyte seta (spore dispersal ability) was analyzed for P. spiniforme. Four to six colonies per species in each site (lowland and highland areas of ...

Thermal resistance in heat-sensitive, dipicolinic acid (DPA)-less spores of Bacillus cereus Ht-8 heated in sucrose solutions increased at and above a concentration of 2 M sucrose. The decimal reduction times at 75 degrees C for spores heated in 0.0, 1.8, 2.2, and 2.6 M sucrose were 2.0, 2.8, 4.5, and 12 min, respectively. Maltose, fructose, and glucose increased heat resistance above that obser...

It has been demonstrated that gramicidin S inhibits the outgrowth of spores of the producer-organism Bacillus brevis Nagano (Nandi & Seddon, 1978). Once again we have used the antibiotic-negative mutants E-I and BI-9 (supplied by Professor Y. Saito) in an attempt to relate control by gramicidin S over outgrowth to respiration, RNA synthesis and protein synthesis of the spores. Spores were prepa...

Lysozyme in the recovery medium increased the recovery of heated spores, thereby raising the measured heat resistance of type E Clostridium botulinum spores about 1,800-fold and type A spores up to 3-fold.

Bacillus subtilis isolates lacking the SpoVT protein, which regulates gene expression in developing forespores, gave spores that released their dipicolinic acid (DPA) via germinant receptor (GR)-dependent germination more rapidly than wild-type spores. Non-GR-dependent germination via dodecylamine was more rapid with spoVT spores, but germination via Ca-DPA was slower. The effects of a spoVT mu...