Splay-induced order in systems of hard tapers.

The main objective of this work is to clarify the role that taper-shaped elongated molecules, i.e., molecules with one end wider than the other, can play in stabilizing orientational order.

Splay and polar order in a system of hard pear-like molecules: confrontation of Monte Carlo numerical simulations with density functional theory calculations.

Recent experimental discoveries of novel nematic types with polar order, including ferroelectric nematic and splay nematic, have brought the resurgence of the interest in polar and modulated phases. One of the most important factors that is widely believed to be crucial for the formation of new phases is the pear-like shape of mesogenic molecules. Such molecules were treated using second-virial density functional theory in [De Gregorio, P , , 2016, (23), 5188-5198], where the authors showed that the splay elastic constant can become negative due to solely entropic reasons leading to long-range splay and polar correlations.

Random sequential adsorption of aligned regular polygons and rounded squares: Transition in the kinetics of packing growth.

We study two-dimensional random sequential adsorption (RSA) of flat polygons and rounded squares aligned in parallel to find a transition in the asymptotic behavior of the kinetics of packing growth. Differences in the kinetics for RSA of disks and parallel squares were confirmed in previous analytical and numerical reports. Here, by analyzing the two classes of shapes in question we can precisely control the shape of the packed figures and thus localize the transition.

Why so moderate? Understanding millennials' views on the urban housing affordability crisis in the post-socialist context of the Czech Republic.

The housing affordability crisis is one of the most pressing issues in urban centres around the globe, affecting especially young adults. Some theorists have in response begun calling for the provision of more public housing or less housing financialisation (free market). The goal of our article is to demonstrate the housing attitudes of Czech millennials towards state interventions that are designed to address the decline in housing affordability, using a quantitative attitude survey and a series of qualitative interviews.

Random sequential adsorption: An efficient tool for investigating the deposition of macromolecules and colloidal particles.

Random Sequential Adsorption (RSA) is one of the most efficient theoretical models used to investigate adsorption of macromolecules and particles, with a long-standing tradition in the field of colloid and interface science. In the first part of this paper, we demonstrate how the RSA model can be applied to interpret the experimental data and extract information about the density of the adsorption monolayer, the kinetics of its growth, and microstructural properties such as pair-correlation function and monolayer roughness. We briefly summarized the most important generalizations of the RSA model for monolayers and reviewed its extensions considering, e.