Many advanced technologies center on devices of small feature sizes made of diverse materials. Internal stresses that arise in the devices during fabrication and use can result in fracture. Fracture of an individual feature in such a device may impair the function of the device.The materials surrounding the feature have a constraining effect on the elastic energy available to drive the fracture...

The associations between pathogens and their hosts are complex and can result from a variety of evolutionary processes including codivergence, lateral transfer, or duplication. Papillomaviruses (PVs) are double-stranded DNA viruses ubiquitously present in mammals and are a suitable target for rigorous statistical tests of potential virus-host codivergence. We analyze the evolutionary dynamics o...

Over several decades genetic studies have unraveled many molecular mechanisms that underlie the signaling networks guiding morphogenesis, but the mechanical forces at work remain much less well understood. Accumulation of fluid within a luminal space can generate outward hydrostatic pressure capable of shaping morphogenesis at several scales, ranging from individual organs to the entire vertebr...

Making capital and investment is the main driving forces of economic development. Based on the investment sensitivity to the changes of some of macro-economic variables and risk and uncertainty, the present study evaluated the effective factors on investment in private sector in Iran during 1980-2007. At first, the uncertainty variables of real informal exchange rate, nominal interest rate and ...

The packing structures of transmembrane helices are traditionally attributed to patterns in residues along the contact surface. In this view, besides keeping the helices confined in the membrane, the bilayer has only a minor effect on the helices structure. Here, we use two different approaches to show that the lipid environment has a crucial effect in determining the cross-angle distribution o...

Cell sorting, whereby a heterogeneous cell mixture organizes into distinct tissues, is a fundamental patterning process in development. So far, most studies of cell sorting have relied either on 2-dimensional cellular aggregates, in vitro situations that do not have a direct counterpart in vivo, or were focused on the properties of single cells. Here, we report the first multiscale experimental...

The motivation for performing indoor radon reduction measurements or mitigation are generally communicated by the commercial radon industry on the basis of identifying and eliminating a potential health hazard. The role of the commercial indoor radon industry is complicated by the different perspectives of the problem that have developed for various interested parties. Interested parties includ...

Over the years the development of society and industry, coupled with growing awareness of environmental issues, has led to the application of increasingly sophisticated technological methods for handling waste. Between the 1970’s and the 1990’s disposal technologies took on an air of self-sufficiency often forcing operators to take sides, in much the same way as occurs with sport fans. Those in...