Reversible Microscale Assembly of Nanoparticles Driven by the Phase Transition of a Thermotropic Liquid Crystal.

The arrangement of nanoscale building blocks into patterns with microscale periodicity is challenging to achieve via self-assembly processes. Here, we report on the phase-transition-driven collective assembly of gold nanoparticles in a thermotropic liquid crystal. A temperature-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase under anchoring-driven planar alignment leads to the assembly of individual nanometer-sized particles into arrays of micrometer-sized agglomerates, whose size and characteristic spacing can be tuned by varying the cooling rate.

Longitudinal Validation of a Specific Measure of Fear Avoidance in Athletes: Predicting Time from Injury to Return to Sports Competition.

Purpose: We developed the Athlete Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (AFAQ) to measure fear avoidance in athletes. Previous fear avoidance scales were developed for the general population and have demonstrated significant predictive capabilities regarding rehabilitation. No research to date has examined the association between athlete fear avoidance as measured by the AFAQ and the rehabilitation time in athletes.

Combined effects of the contraceptive hormones, ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel, on the use of place and response memory in gonadally-intact female rats.

During maze navigation rats can rely on hippocampus-mediated place memory or striatum-mediated response memory. Ovarian hormones bias whether females use place or response memory to reach a reward. Here, we investigated the impact of the contraceptive hormones, ethinyl estradiol (EE) and levonorgestrel (LNG), on memory bias.

Controlling permeation in electrically deforming liquid crystal network films: A dynamical Landau theory.

Liquid crystal networks exploit the coupling between the responsivity of liquid crystalline mesogens, e.g., to electric fields, and the (visco)elastic properties of a polymer network.