Elastic constants of 3-, 4- and 6-connected chiral and anti-chiral honeycombs subject to uniaxial in-plane loading

Finite Element models are developed for the in-plane linear elastic constants of a family of honeycombs comprising arrays of cylinders connected by ligaments. Honeycombs having cylinders with 3, 4 and 6 ligaments attached to them are considered, with two possible configurations explored for each of the 3- (trichiral and anti-trichiral) and 4- (tetrachiral and anti-tetrachiral) connected systems. Honeycombs for each configuration have been manufactured using rapid prototyping and subsequently characterised for mechanical properties through in-plane uniaxial loading to verify the models. An interesting consequence of the family of 'chiral' honeycombs presented here is the ability to produce negative Poisson's ratio (auxetic) response. The deformation mechanisms responsible for auxetic functionality in such honeycombs are discussed

Coherent vs incoherent pairing in 2D systems near magnetic instability

We study the superconductivity in 2D fermionic systems near antiferromagnetic instability, assuming that the pairing is mediated by spin fluctuations. This pairing involves fully incoherent fermions and diffusive spin excitations. We show that the competition between fermionic incoherence and strong pairing interaction yields the pairing instability temperature $T_{ins}$ which increases and saturates as the magnetic correlation length $\xi \to \infty$. We argue that in this quantum-critical regime the pairing problem is qualitatively different from the BCS one.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Evolution of the quasiparticle spectral function in cuprates

We analyzed photoemssion data for several doping levels of the Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+x} compounds, ranging from overdoped to underdoped. We show that the high frequency part of the spectra near (0,\pi) can be described by Fermi liquid theory in the overdoped regime, but exhibits a non-Fermi liquid behavior in the underdoped regime. We further demonstrate that this novel behavior fits reasonably well to a 1/\sqrt{\omega} behavior suggested for systems with strong spin fluctuations.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures (EPS), RevTeX, submitted to Phys Rev B R

The Fermi surface of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8

We study the Fermi surface of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi2212) using angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) with a momentum resolution of ~ 0.01 of the Brillouin zone. We show that, contrary to recent suggestions, the Fermi surface is a large hole barrel centered at (pi,pi), independent of the incident photon energy.Comment: 4 pages (revtex), 4 figures (eps, 2 color

The Hypothetical witness in Gorgias and Antiphon

The paper below focuses on the shadowy figure of the hypothetical witness found in two mock-forensic works of the late 5th century: Gorgias’ Defence of Palamedes and Antiphon’s First Tetralogy. I argue that these witnesses, who only exist within the εἰκός arguments found in these speeches, are consistently characterized in impersonal ways, as individuals with knowledge pertinent to the resolution of the case. The issue of their will is also broached, particularly in last rebuttal speech of the First Tetralogy. Though such witnesses, being logical figments, could never appear in court, their characterization sheds important light on the ancient Greek notion of ‘witnessing’. Indeed, the very ability of Gorgias and Antiphon to deploy such arguments shows that witnessing was, at least in this cases, not thought to be tied to the witness’s prestige or character which remain entirely undefined. Rather, their characterization of a ‘witness’ as an individual who knows and who is motivated to testify implies that these were the features thought to fundamental to witnesses, whether real or fictive

Prevalence and risk of Down syndrome in monozygotic and dizygotic multiple pregnancies in Europe: implications for prenatal screening.

OBJECTIVE: To determine risk of Down syndrome (DS) in multiple relative to singleton pregnancies, and compare prenatal diagnosis rates and pregnancy outcome. DESIGN: Population-based prevalence study based on EUROCAT congenital anomaly registries. SETTING: Eight European countries. POPULATION: 14.8 million births 1990-2009; 2.89% multiple births. METHODS: DS cases included livebirths, fetal deaths from 20 weeks, and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly (TOPFA). Zygosity is inferred from like/unlike sex for birth denominators, and from concordance for DS cases. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Relative risk (RR) of DS per fetus/baby from multiple versus singleton pregnancies and per pregnancy in monozygotic/dizygotic versus singleton pregnancies. Proportion of prenatally diagnosed and pregnancy outcome. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Poisson and logistic regression stratified for maternal age, country and time. RESULTS: Overall, the adjusted (adj) RR of DS for fetus/babies from multiple versus singleton pregnancies was 0.58 (95% CI 0.53-0.62), similar for all maternal ages except for mothers over 44, for whom it was considerably lower. In 8.7% of twin pairs affected by DS, both co-twins were diagnosed with the condition. The adjRR of DS for monozygotic versus singleton pregnancies was 0.34 (95% CI 0.25-0.44) and for dizygotic versus singleton pregnancies 1.34 (95% CI 1.23-1.46). DS fetuses from multiple births were less likely to be prenatally diagnosed than singletons (adjOR 0.62 [95% CI 0.50-0.78]) and following diagnosis less likely to be TOPFA (adjOR 0.40 [95% CI 0.27-0.59]). CONCLUSIONS: The risk of DS per fetus/baby is lower in multiple than singleton pregnancies. These estimates can be used for genetic counselling and prenatal screening

Multi-step self-guided pathways for shape-changing metamaterials

Multi-step pathways, constituted of a sequence of reconfigurations, are central to a wide variety of natural and man-made systems. Such pathways autonomously execute in self-guided processes such as protein folding and self-assembly, but require external control in macroscopic mechanical systems, provided by, e.g., actuators in robotics or manual folding in origami. Here we introduce shape-changing mechanical metamaterials, that exhibit self-guided multi-step pathways in response to global uniform compression. Their design combines strongly nonlinear mechanical elements with a multimodal architecture that allows for a sequence of topological reconfigurations, i.e., modifications of the topology caused by the formation of internal self-contacts. We realized such metamaterials by digital manufacturing, and show that the pathway and final configuration can be controlled by rational design of the nonlinear mechanical elements. We furthermore demonstrate that self-contacts suppress pathway errors. Finally, we demonstrate how hierarchical architectures allow to extend the number of distinct reconfiguration steps. Our work establishes general principles for designing mechanical pathways, opening new avenues for self-folding media, pluripotent materials, and pliable devices in, e.g., stretchable electronics and soft robotics.Comment: 16 pages, 3 main figures, 10 extended data figures. See https://youtu.be/8m1QfkMFL0I for an explanatory vide