The fracture of brittle amorphous materials is an especially challenging problem, because the way a large object shatters is intimately tied to details of cohesion at microscopic scales. This subject has been plagued by conceptual puzzles, and to make matters worse, experiments seemed to contradict the most "rmly established theories. In this review, we will show that the theory and experiments...

What are microtubules? One of three types of protein polymer that make up the cellular cytoskeleton, an elaborate array of filaments that are used to establish cell shape, facilitate cell motility, organize organelles and assist with cell division. Microtubules are stiff tubes, about 25 nm in diameter. During interphase, they serve as tracks on which organelles and the nucleus are positioned by...

Louis Reese1,2,∗ Anna Melbinger, and Erwin Frey1,2† Arnold-Sommerfeld-Center for Theoretical Physics and Center for NanoScience, Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Theresienstr. 37, 80333 Munich, Germany; Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstraße 4, D-80333 Munich, Germany; Department of Physics, University of Califo...

In this research, a functionally graded microbeam bonded with piezoelectric layers is analyzed under electric force. Static and dynamic instability due to the electric actuation is studied because of its importance in micro electro mechanical systems, especially in micro switches. In order to prevent pull-in instability, two piezoelectric layers are used as sensor and actuator. A current amplif...