Actuating periodically an elastic filament in a viscous liquid generally breaks the constraints of Purcell's scallop theorem, resulting in the generation of a net propulsive force. This observation suggests a method to design simple swimming devices-which we call "elastic swimmers"-where the actuation mechanism is embedded in a solid body and the resulting swimmer is free to move. In this paper...

Four years after intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS) was first described,1 there is still no clear preference among ophthalmologists for the surgical management of these cases, according to a survey conducted last year by the ASCRS Cataract Clinical Committee.2 In fact, when asked to name their preferred single method for IFIS, the most common response (33%) was “always employ multiple s...

Hypotonia is characterized by reduced resistance to passive range of motion in joints versus weakness, which is a reduction in the maximum muscle power that can be generated. (Dubowitz, 1985; Crawford, 1992; Martin, 2005) Based on strong research evidence, central hypotonia accounts for 60% to 80% of cases of hypotonia, whereas peripheral hypotonia is the cause in about 15% to 30% of cases. Dis...

α-BlOcKeRS anD iFiS Tamsulosin was reportedly introduced in Japan in 1993, in the United Kingdom in 1997, and in the United States in 1997. Gupta et al related the popularity of the drug to its high affinity for the α1A receptor, which explains the lower incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in patients taking tamsulosin compared with less selective α-adrenergic blockers.3 Additionally, th...

Recent experimental results for covalent glasses suggest the existence of an intermediate phase attributed to the self-organization of the glass network resulting from the tendency to minimize its internal stress. However, the exact nature of this experimentally measured phase remains unclear. We modified a previously proposed model of self-organization by generating a uniform sampling of stres...

– The non-reversing heat flow, ∆Hnr(x) near Tg in ternary GexAsxSe1−2x glasses is examined by temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry. The ∆Hnr(x) term shows a deep minimum (which is almost zero) in the 0.09 < x < 0.14 range, identified with the intermediate phase, and an increase, both at low x (< 0.09) in the floppy phase and at high x (> 0.14) in the stressed rigid phase. Exp...

We study the elasticity of random fiber networks. Starting from a microscopic picture of the nonaffine deformation fields, we calculate the macroscopic elastic moduli both in a scaling theory and a self-consistent effective medium theory. By relating nonaffinity to the low-energy excitations of the network ("floppy modes"), we achieve a detailed characterization of the nonaffine deformations pr...

The Brillouin elastic free energy change between thermally annealed and quenched (Na2O)x(SiO2)1−x glasses is found to increase linearly for x > 0.23 (floppy phase), and to nearly vanish at x < 0.18 (stressed-rigid phase). The observed (x) variation closely parallels the mean-field floppy mode fraction f (x) in random networks, and fixes the two (floppy, stressed-rigid) elastic phases. In calori...

Pneumothoraces in association with laparoscopy are uncommon and potentially disastrous complications that may also occur without adverse sequelae. The "floppy diaphragm sign" is a readily discernible and useful sign of a laparoscopic-induced pneumothorax. Tube thoracostomy is generally not indicated in stable patients as the pneumothorax typically resolves quickly upon desufflation of the pneum...