We experimentally observed atomic-scale torsional stick-slip behavior in individual nanotubes of tungsten disulfide (WS2). When an external torque is applied to a WS2 nanotube, all its walls initially stick and twist together, until a critical torsion angle, at which the outer wall slips and twists around the inner walls, further undergoing a series of stick-slip torque oscillations. We present...

■ Figure 1 Audio Technology for the Network Age Last year Sony released the Memory Stick Walkman, which uses the Memory Stick as its recording media. The Memory Stick Walkman adopts the ATRAC3 (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3) high-quality audio encoding technology and achieves high-quality audio reproduction equivalent to that of MD players. ATRAC3 is a further development of the ATRAC te...

AIM To evaluate whether spontaneous skin conductance activity is an objective method for measuring the stress response to painful stimuli in premature infants. The number and amplitude of the waves and the baseline increase with the activity of the sympathetic nervous system. METHODS In 20 preterm infants of gestational age >/= 29 weeks, behavioural state and spontaneous skin conductance acti...

The mobility is a complex, yet not well understood, human cognitive process; it subtends several different tasks such as walking and orientation. The visually impaired people (VIP) mobility heavily depends on the white stick (or white cane) which however does not provide an efficient support for walking and orientation. Indeed, these two later functions implementation requires the usage of high...

Sliding friction across a thin soft lubricant film typically occurs by stick-slip, the lubricant fully solidifying at stick, yielding and flowing at slip. The static friction force per unit area preceding slip is known from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to decrease with increasing contact area. That makes the large-size fate of stick-slip unclear and unknown; its possible vanishing is imp...

We present the first systematic study of the response of insect "cold cells" to a variation in the partial pressure of water vapor in ambient air. The cold cells on the antenna of the stick insect respond with an increase in activity when either the temperature or the partial pressure of water vapor is suddenly reduced. This double dependence does not in itself constitute bimodality, for it cou...

background: exposure to blood-borne pathogens from needle-stick and sharp injuries continues to pose a significant risk to health care workers. these events are of concern because of the risk to transmit blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis b virus, hepatitis c virus, and the human immunodeficiency virus. objective: to benchmark different risk factors associated with needle-stick incidents am...

We present the first systematic study of the response of insect "cold cells" to a variation in the partial pressure of water vapor in ambient air. The cold cells on the antenna of the stick insect respond with an increase in activity when either the temperature or the partial pressure of water vapor is suddenly reduced. This double dependency does not in itself constitute bimodality because it ...

Many biological interfaces provide low friction aqueous lubrication through the generation and maintenance of a high water content polymeric surface gel. The lubricity of such gels is often attributed to their high water content, high water permeability, low elastic modulus, and their ability to promote a water film at the sliding interface. Such biological systems are frequently characterized ...

Clustering prevails in water-soluble polymers and biological macromolecules. It has also been observed in polar solvent mixtures. The possible causes of clustering are discussed. A systematic investigation of clustering in poly(ethylene oxide)/d-water solutions has been undertaken using the small-angle neutron scattering method. The poly(ethylene oxide) monomer is formed of an oxygen atom and a...