Aflatoxins, metabolites of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, are potent liver toxins and carcinogens in animals, and may also be human carcinogens. Although aflatoxin contamination in corn is uncommon in Kentucky, occasional incidents do occur and can create significant economic losses for individual producers. Of all the known mycotoxins (toxic substances produced by fungi), aflatoxins in corn an...

The stability of phases at finite temperatures is given by the free energy. But the fact that it is not expressible in terms of ensemble averages over functions of position and velocity coordinates, complicates its determination in atomistic simulations. In order to overcome this problem, thermodynamic integration methods are used. This method is not limited to thermodynamic paths which can be ...