Crack propagation in brittle materials with anisotropic surface energy is important in applications involving single crystals, extruded polymers, or geological and organic materials. Furthermore, when this anisotropy is strong, the phenomenology of crack propagation becomes very rich, with forbidden crack propagation directions or complex sawtooth crack patterns. This problem interrogates funda...

Optimal paths play a fundamental role in numerous physical applications ranging from random polymers to brittle fracture, from the flow through porous media to information propagation. Here for the first time we explore the path that is activated once this optimal path fails and what happens when this new path also fails and so on, until the system is completely disconnected. In fact numerous a...

cancer is the second important reason of mortality in the world. in this regard melanoma was accounted as the most aggressive type of coetaneous cancer. among drug extracted from natural products from marine organisms have been focused investigations related to chemotherapeutic agents derived from echinoderms such as sea cucumbers and starfish.  in the present study, cytotoxic and apoptosis ind...

The object of this investigation was to gain a better understanding of the flow and fracture propensity of steel plates in which the Wells-type notch served as the fracture initiator. This type of notch is of importance in experimental investigations of the brittle fracture phenomenon because it successfully initiates low-stress brittle fractures in the wide-plate specimen in which it is used. ...

The massive use of synthetic plastics, in particular in the food packaging area, has a great environmental impact, and alternative more ecologic materials are being required. Poly(lactic) acid (PLA) and starch have been extensively studied as potential replacements for non-degradable petrochemical polymers on the basis of their availability, adequate food contact properties and competitive cost...

Nanostructured polymers and ultra-thin polymer layers are used more and more in technical applications like nanotechnology and microelectronics. Therefore, it is really important to understand the size-scale dependent properties as bulk polymers become thinner and more two-dimensional. Here the morphology as well as the macroscopic and the microscopic deformation behaviour of multilayered films...

Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are widely used in ship hull, airframe and wind turbine structural applications where they are subjected to various types of constant and variable amplitude cyclic-fatigue loads. Hence, fatiguedurability is one of the important requirements for such composite materials. These FRPs, generally, contain continuous fibres of carbon or glass reinforced in a ...

Global estimates on aging predict an increased burden of asthma in the older population. Consequently, its recognition, diagnosis, and management in clinical practice require optimization. This review aims to provide an update for clinicians, highlighting advances in the understanding of the aging process and immunosenescence together with their applicability to asthma from a diagnostic and the...

The aim of this study was to determine evolution of T1 unenhanced hypointense lesions (acute or chronic black holes (ABHs, CBHs)) by measuring their magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) changes over 12 months. 40 glatiramer acetate (GA)-naive patients with relapsing-remitting MS who presented with 1 or more contrast-enhancing lesions (CELs) at baseline underwent 1.5-T MRI at baseline and after 12...