Supershell structure in alkali metal nanowires

Nanowires are formed by indenting and subsequently retracting two pieces of sodium metal. Their cross section gradually reduces upon retraction and the diameters can be obtained from the conductance. In previous work we have demonstrated that when one constructs a histogram of diameters from large numbers of indentation-retraction cycles such histograms show a periodic pattern of stable nanowire diameters due to shell structure in the conductance modes. Here, we report the observation of a modulation of this periodic pattern, in agreement with predictions of a supershell structure.     

Analytical study of a hollow sphere made of plastic porous material and subjected to hydrostatic tension-application to some problems in ductile fracture of metals

A solution to the problem stated in the title is given by treating the porous matrix as a homogeneous material obeying the Gurson-Tvergaard model. As a first application, it is shown that the flow stress under hydrostatic loading of a material containing two populations of voids with very different sizes is almost the same as that of a material with only one population of voids and the same total porosity. As a second application, a self-consistent method is used to derive a value for the parameter introduced by Tvergaard in the original Gurson model to account for the interactions between cavities. Other models are also considered and shown to fail to satisfy the self-consistency requirement, whatever the value chosen for the parameter characterizing interactions between voids.     

Cavitation in holographic sQGP

We study the possibility of cavitation in the non-conformal N=^2?SU(N) theory which is a mass deformation of N=4SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. The second order transport coefficients are known from the numerical work using AdS/CFT by Buchel and collaborators. Using these and the approach of Rajagopal and Tripuraneni, we investigate the flow equations in a (1+1)-dimensional boost invariant set up. We find that the string theory model does not exhibit cavitation before phase transition is reached. We give a semi-analytic explanation of this finding.     

Identification of a set of genes showing regionally enriched expression in the mouse brain

Background

We have recorded responses from single neurons in murine visual cortex to determine the effectiveness of the input from the two murine cone photoreceptor mechanisms and whether there is any unique selectivity for cone inputs at this higher region of the visual system that would support the possibility of colour vision in mice. Each eye was stimulated by diffuse light, either 370 (strong stimulus for the ultra-violet (UV) cone opsin) or 505 nm (exclusively stimulating the middle wavelength sensitive (M) cone opsin), obtained from light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the presence of a strong adapting light that suppressed the responses of rods.

Results

Single cells responded to these diffuse stimuli in all areas of striate cortex. Two types of responsive cells were encountered. One type (135/323 – 42%) had little to no spontaneous activity and responded at either the on and/or the off phase of the light stimulus with a few impulses often of relatively large amplitude. A second type (166/323 – 51%) had spontaneous activity and responded tonically to light stimuli with impulses often of small amplitude. Most of the cells responded similarly to both spectral stimuli. A few (18/323 – 6%) responded strongly or exclusively to one or the other spectral stimulus and rarely in a spectrally opponent manner.

Conclusion

Most cells in murine striate cortex receive excitatory inputs from both UV- and M-cones. A small fraction shows either strong selectivity for one or the other cone mechanism and occasionally cone opponent responses. Cells that could underlie chromatic contrast detection are present but extremely rare in murine striate cortex.     

A criterion for the onset of void coalescence under combined tension and shear

Depending on the relative positions of voids and on the loading conditions, shear loading components can play an important role in the void coalescence process leading to ductile fracture. Yet, most void coalescence criteria including the original criterion of Thomason, and its various extensions/improvements, take only normal loads into account and neglect the contribution from shear loads to coalescence. Shear can affect both the stress/strain at the onset of coalescence and the direction of deformation localization. In this paper, first, the predictive capabilities of different coalescence criteria without shear effect are critically assessed and the expressions involved in the original Thomason criterion are fine-tuned by comparing with 3D finite element calculations performed on a unit cell containing a spheroidal void. Then, the improved Thomason criterion is theoretically extended—by using limit load analysis—to incorporate the effect of shear. The predictions of this new coalescence criterion are in good agreement with the results produced by 3D finite element calculations, for both loadings involving or not a shear component.     

Mathematical modelling of transformation plasticity in steels I: Case of ideal-plastic phases

Transformation plasticity in steels (i.e., the anomalous plastic flow observed during the progress of a phase transformation) is usually attributed to two distinct physical mechanisms, which have been proposed by Greenwood and Johnson and Magee. This paper proposes a theoretical approach to the problem, in the case where the Magee mechanism is negligible and the phases are ideal-plastic. An explicit expression for the transformation plastic strain rate is obtained for a steel undergoing a transformation under a small applied stress; this expression is consistent with experiments conducted on various materials. A finite element simulation provides a confirmation of the theoretical formula and allows for a detailed examination of the validity of some physical hypotheses made in the treatment. It also allows for a study of transformation plasticity under high applied stresses. Based on these results, a general (i.e., applicable for all kinds of stresses applied) model is proposed in the case of ideal-plastic phases.