Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:53:01 BST CiteULike: norris Ghosh http://www.citeulike.org/user/norris/author/Ghosh CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/user/norris/article/1982635 <i>(8 Oct 2007)</i><br /><br />We present a statistical mechanical study of stiff polymers, motivated by experiments on actin filaments and the considerable current interest in polymer networks. We obtain simple, approximate analytical forms for the force-extension relations and compare these with numerical treatments. We note the important role of boundary conditions in determining force-extension relations. The theoretical predictions presented here can be tested against single molecule experiments on neurofilaments and cytoskeletal filaments like actin and microtubules. Our work is motivated by the buckling of the cytoskeleton of a cell under compression, a phenomenon of interest to biology. Elasticity of Stiff Biopolymers Abhijit Ghosh Joseph Samuel Supurna Sinha (8 Oct 2007) 2007-11-25T22:48:28-00:00 2007 wlc http://www.citeulike.org/user/norris/article/1898787 <i>Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol. 28, No. 10. (2007), pp. 1142-1147.</i><br /><br />A dielectric elastomer derived from a polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-block-polystyrene triblock copolymer swollen with a midblock-selective solvent is reported to show promise as a nanostructured organic actuator requiring no pre-strain. This might provide an attractive alternative to conventional acrylic, siloxane, and polyurethane elastomers since the electromechanical properties are composition-tunable. Electromechanical Response of Nanostructured Polymer Systems with no Mechanical Pre-Strain Ravi Shankar Tushar Ghosh Richard Spontak doi:10.1002/marc.200700033 Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol. 28, No. 10. (2007), pp. 1142-1147. 2007-11-11T14:15:52-00:00 2007 Macromolecular Rapid Communications 28 10 1142 1147 electrostriction