One of the most demonised forms of consensual sexuality is BDSM (bondage and discipline, domination and submission, and sadomasochism). Many counsellors still consider it appropriate to make negative comments about BDSM in a way that is perceived unacceptable in relation to other aspects of sexuality (Hudson-Allez, 2005). Kolmes, Stock and Moser (2006, p.315) found 118 reports of ‘biased or ina...

Vortons are closed loops of superconducting strings carrying current and charge. A formalism has been developed to study vortons in terms of an elastic string approximation, but its implementation requires knowledge of the unknown equation of state, relating the string tension to the energy per unit length. Recently, a planar analogue of the vorton, known as a kinky vorton, has been introduced....

Menkes disease (MD) (OMIM: 309400) is also known as kinky hair disease, trichopoliodystrophy, and steely hair. A 7-months-old, male infant presented to our outpatient department in June 2016 with history of developmental delay and seizures. Seizures started at 3 months of age and worsened progressively to clusters of extensor spasms. Physical examination showed sparse and kinky hair. Neurologic...

We present a toy model for five-dimensional heterotic M-theory where bulk three-branes, originating in 11 dimensions from M five-branes, are modelled as kink solutions of a bulk scalar field theory. It is shown that the vacua of this defect model correspond to a class of topologically distinct M-theory compactifications. Topology change can then be analysed by studying the time evolution of the...

We study two-dimensional SQED viewed as the world-volume theory of a D-string in the presence of D5-branes with non-zero background fields that induce attractive forces between the branes. In various approximations, the low-energy dynamics is given by a hyperKähler, or hyperKähler with torsion, massive sigma-model. We demonstrate the existence of kink solutions corresponding to the string inter...

In order to obtain highly optical transparency polyimides, two novel aromatic diamine monomers containing pyridine and kinky structures, 1,1-bis[4-(5-amino-2-pyridinoxy)phenyl]diphenylmethane (BAPDBP) and 1,1-bis[4-(5-amino-2-pyridinoxy)phenyl]-1-phenylethane (BAPDAP), were designed and synthesized. Polyimides based on BAPDBP, BAPDAP, 2,2-bis[4-(5-amino-2-pyridinoxy)phenyl]propane (BAPDP) with ...

A 5-year-old female, known case of pachyonychia congenita, presented with diffuse hair loss; remaining hairs were easily plucked kinky hairs. Hair samples from patient were investigated using a light microscope. The hairs of the patients were mainly anagen hairs and unlike normal plucked anagen hairs, showed keratinization and cornification of their hair bulbs. No specific hair shaft abnormalit...