On Boussinesq-type models for long longitudinal waves in elastic rods

In this paper we revisit the derivations of model equations describing long nonlinear longitudinal bulk strain waves in elastic rods within the scope of the Murnaghan model in order to derive a Boussinesq-type model, and extend these derivations to include axially symmetric loading on the lateral boundary surface, and longitudinal pre-stretch. We systematically derive two forced Boussinesq-type models from the full equations of motion and non-zero surface boundary conditions, utilising the presence of two small parameters characterising the smallness of the wave amplitude and the long wavelength compared to the radius of the waveguide. We compare the basic dynamical properties of both models (linear dispersion curves and solitary wave solutions). We also briefly describe the laboratory experiments on generation of bulk strain solitary waves in the Ioffe Institute, and suggest that this generation process can be modelled using the derived equations.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, submitted to the Special Issue of Wave Motion, "Nonlinear Waves in Solids", in Memory of Professor Alexander M. Samsono

Garden varieties: how attractive are recommended garden plants to butterflies?

One way the public can engage in insect conservation is through wildlife gardening, including the growing of insect-friendly flowers as sources of nectar. However, plant varieties differ in the types of insects they attract. To determine which garden plants attracted which butterflies, we counted butterflies nectaring on 11 varieties of summer-flowering garden plants in a rural garden in East Sussex, UK. These plants were all from a list of 100 varieties considered attractive to British butterflies, and included the five varieties specifically listed by the UK charity Butterfly Conservation as best for summer nectar. A total of 2659 flower visits from 14 butterfly and one moth species were observed. We performed a principal components analysis which showed contrasting patterns between the species attracted to Origanum vulgare and Buddleia davidii. The “butterfly bush” Buddleia attracted many nymphalines, such as the peacock, Inachis io, but very few satyrines such as the gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus, which mostly visited Origanum. Eupatorium cannibinum had the highest Simpson’s Diversity score of 0.75, while Buddleia and Origanum were lower, scoring 0.66 and 0.50 respectively. No one plant was good at attracting all observed butterfly species, as each attracted only a subset of the butterfly community. We conclude that to create a butterfly-friendly garden, a variety of plant species are required as nectar sources for butterflies. Furthermore, garden plant recommendations can probably benefit from being more precise as to the species of butterfly they attract

Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications

Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties. Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes from the published versio

GaSbBi alloys and heterostructures: fabrication and properties

International audienceDilute bismuth (Bi) III-V alloys have recently attracted great attention, due to their properties of band-gap reduction and spin-orbit splitting. The incorporation of Bi into antimonide based III-V semiconductors is very attractive for the development of new optoelectronic devices working in the mid-infrared range (2-5 µm). However, due to its large size, Bi does not readily incorporate into III-V alloys and the epitaxy of III-V dilute bismides is thus very challenging. This book chapter presents the most recent developments in the epitaxy and characterization of GaSbBi alloys and heterostructures

An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic insecticides. Part 2: impacts on organisms and ecosystems

New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous WIA in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little, while not much new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal classneonicotinoids and fipronil. , withContinued large scale – mostly prophylactic – use of these persistent organochlorine pesticides has the potential to greatly decreasecompletely eliminate populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates, and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015)

Generalization of nonlinear Murnaghan elastic model for viscoelastic materials

This paper presents a generalization of Murnaghan elastic material to viscoelastic behavior using the Green-Rivlin multiple-integral approach. In the linear limit, the model coincides with the generalized Maxwell model. To create a nonlinear generalization, all possible second-order corrections were included in the constitutive equations written in the internal strains representation. Using this approach, we obtained expressions for the time- and frequency-dependent nonlinear dynamic moduli. We applied the developed nonlinear viscoelastic model to the description of infinitesimal strain waves superposed on finite prestrain. Furthermore, we considered the generation of higher harmonic by the nonlinear interaction of two strain waves, which we showed can provide a method to measure all viscoelastic constants of the developed model