Biomedical subjects

Vance Bergeron

Publications and source records attributed to Vance Bergeron.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Controlled irradiative formation of penitentes.

Spike-shaped structures are produced by light-driven ablation in very different contexts. Penitentes 1-4 m high are common on Andean glaciers, where their formation changes glacier dynamics and hydrology. Laser ablation can produce cones 10-100 microm high with a variety of proposed applications in materials science. We report the first laboratory generation of centimeter-scale snow and ice penitentes. Systematically varying conditions allows identification of the parameters controlling the formation of ablation structures. We demonstrate that penitente initiation and coarsening require cold temperatures, so that ablation leads to sublimation. Once penitentes have formed, further growth of height can occur by melting. The penitentes initially appear as small structures (3 mm high) and grow by coarsening to 1-5 cm high. Our results are an important step towards understanding ablation morphologies.

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PubMed2004

Interfacial microgels formed by oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and surfactants. Part 2. Influence of surfactant chain length and surfactant/polymer ratio.

The adsorption and complexation of polystyrene sulfonate (a highly charged anionic polyelectrolyte) and a series of cationic surfactants, alkyltrimethylammonium bromide, CnTAB, n = 8-16, at the air-water interface has been studied by combining surface tension and ellipsometry measurements. We find that increasing the chain length of the surfactant from 8 to 10 carbons leads to a sharp increase in adsorption of PSS/CnTAB complexes. When the surfactant tail length is further increased to 12 and 14 carbons, surface adsorption becomes less favored than macroscopic phase separation, resulting in a partial surface depletion. Furthermore, we find that when surface tensions are plotted against surfactant/monomer molar concentration ratio, all data collapse to a single curve. This result shows that the surfactant-polymer molar ratio, s/p, is a key parameter for tuning the surface activity of the complexes formed.

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PubMed2004

Interfacial microgels formed by oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and surfactants. 1. Influence of polyelectrolyte molecular weight.

The synergistic adsorption and complexation of polystyrene sulfonate, PSS (a highly charged anionic polyelectrolyte), and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide, C12TAB (a cationic surfactant), at the air-water interface can lead to interfacial gels that strongly influence foam-film drainage and stability. The formation and characteristics of these gels have been studied as a function of PSS molecular weight by combining surface tension, ellipsometry, and foam-film drainage experiments. Simultaneously the solution electromotive force has been measured to track the polymer-surfactant interactions in the bulk solution. It has been found that there is a critical molecular weight for surface gelation as well as for bulk precipitation and aggregation. Furthermore, we show that for the lowest molecular weights, PSS adsorbs with C12TAB in compact layers at the air-water interface. In particular, for mixtures of C12TAB with the monomer compound of the PSS repeat unit (e.g. Mw = 208), interfacial complexation is found to be similar to that of catanionic mixtures (mixtures of surfactants of opposite charge).

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PubMed2002

Structural forces reflecting polyelectrolyte organization from bulk solutions and within surface complexes.

The interactions between two macroscopic surfaces approaching one another underlies many of the phenomena observed in Colloid and Interface science. In Russia this gave rise to the branch of colloid science now referred to as Surface Forces. Important discoveries, such as the molecular organization of solvent molecules at an interface, have been unveiled by surface force measurements. More recently, forces and structures at macromolecular length scales have been uncovered. In particular, oscillatory force profiles have been detected from aqueous solutions containing polyelectrolytes. The force-structure relationship can reflect organization in the bulk solution or the internal structure of the adsorbed layer. Using a range of surface force techniques, combined with X-ray and neutron scattering results, we review the main features of these fascinating systems and provide an overview of how they relate to other systems such as micellar solutions, polymer-surfactant complexes and simple solvents.

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