The role of phytoestrogens in apoptosis: Chemical structures and actions on specific receptors

Abstract

The accurate description of flow in nano-scale pores or channels is veryimportant for the reliable design of materials and processes in the areas of MEMS,mesoporous media, and vacuum technologies. Use of classical flow equations fails inthis regime since the continuum assumption is not valid. This is due to the fact that themean free path is comparable to the characteristic dimensions of the system, andrarefaction effects dominate the process. Such a difficulty arises notably in theintermediate Knudsen number regime (Kn=0.1 to 10), commonly referred to as the?transition? flow regime. To remedy this, slip flow conditions have been adopted in theliterature, following the simple first-order approach of the velocity near the walls givenby Maxwell, and extended to higher-order treatments. Alternatively, direct deterministicor stochastic atomistic and mesoscopic techniques have been employed for the flowdescription, which solve the Boltzmann or the Burnett equations and use kinetic theoryapproaches pertinent to this flow regime. A description of recent advances in simulationtechniques, namely, the ?continuum? slip approaches, and some direct mesoscopictechniques are presented in this chapter. Illustrative simulation results of permeabilityand viscosity coefficients in mesoporous media using the DSMC and LB methods arealso given, followed by comparisons with classical continuum formulations