T he early description of the living cell as a reaction vessel of molecules undergoing random collisions has evolved to a much more interesting picture of a small chemical factory of complex and dynamic molecular structures that carry out specialized functions in a highlycoordinated fashion. Traditional solution biochemistry has had extraordinary success in elucidating molecular structures of t...

This is the second paper of two, which describe the results of an integrated research effort to develop a four–step simplifi ed approach for design of raft foundations against dip-slip (normal and thrust) fault rupture. The fi rst two steps dealing with fault rupture propagation in the free-fi eld were presented in the companion paper. This paper develops an approximate analytical method to ana...

A direct measurement of the potential energy surface that characterizes individual chemical bonds in complex materials has fundamental significance for many disciplines. Here, we demonstrate that the energy profile for metallic single-atom contacts and single-molecule junctions can be mapped by fitting ambient atomic force microscope measurements carried out in the near-equilibrium regime to a ...

In dynamic force spectroscopy, a (bio-)molecular complex is subjected to a steadily increasing force until the chemical bond breaks. Repeating the same experiment many times results in a broad distribution of rupture forces, whose quantitative interpretation represents a formidable theoretical challenge. In this study we address the situation that more than a single molecular bond is involved i...

This work intends to show how the coupled dynamics of a nonlinear polymer chain alters processes such as thermal fragmentation and force-induced rupture. For that purpose we first examine the equilibrium relaxation properties of nonlinear polymer chains which have a distinct impact on all dynamical processes in such systems. We find that in chains with nonlinear interaction potentials the relax...

Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) we performed dynamic force measurements of the adhesive forces in two model systems: avidin-biotin and streptavidin-biotin. In our experiments we used glutaraldehyde for immobilization of (strept)avidin on the tip and biotin on the sample surface. Such interface layers are more rigid than those usually reported in the literature for AFM studies, when (strept)...

In this article, the results of a study on energy absorption characteristics of foam-filled thin-walled structures with finite element analysis have been presented. Four specimens of thin walled structures have been filled with uniform foam and three specimens have been filled with linear four-layered foam. Also, eight layers HLH (High-Low-High) and eight layers LHL (Low-High-Low) have been sim...

Assessing the behavior of composite structures which are subjected to impact loads is one of the important subjects in the field of mechanical sciences. Using thin-walled tubes which collapsed and absorbed the impact energy is a well-known method to prevent damages to the other parts of the structures. In this paper, deformations, crushing length, peak load, mean force and energy absorption cap...

Bond-rupture scanning for biomedical diagnostics is examined using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) experiments and microparticle mechanics modeling calculations. Specific and nonspecific interactions between a microparticle and its binding QCM surface can be distinguished by gradually increasing the amplitude of driving voltage applied to QCM and monitoring its frequency changes. This researc...

We review some basic features of shear wave generation and energy balance for a 2D antiplane rupture. We first study the energy balance for a flat fault, and for a fault that contains a single localized kink. We determine an exact expression for the partition between strain energy flow released from the elastic medium surrounding the fault, radiated energy flow and energy release rate. This bal...