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Mouthwatering food pix to lift your Friday mood

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PIX: What kids learned during the lockdown

Rediff readers sent us these pictures to show how their kids are making the most of the lockdown.




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PIX: Models dare to take #PillowChallenge!

See how your favourite models rocked the challenge.




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This 16 YO loves reading Ruskin Bond

Rediff reader Pooja Rakesh from Kochi, Kerala tells us why Ruskin Bond is her favourite author.




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Amazing Animated CSS Hover Effects

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Outstanding Scroll and Parallax CSS Effects

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Fascinating CSS Grid Layout Examples and Tutorials

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Building WordPress Websites With Zurb Foundation or Bootstrap: Comparisons and Starter Themes

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How to Easily Animate Website Elements on Scroll Using the Free AOS Library

On-scroll animations can add quite the elegant effect to your website. A little animated polish can go a long way towards making your site look well-rounded and complete. With JavaScript and CSS, you can make elements fade, slide, or even …




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20 Amazing Pure CSS Animated Buttons

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Proving and interpreting the spontaneous formation of bulk nanobubbles in aqueous organic solvent solutions: effects of solvent type and content

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00111B, Paper
Open Access
  This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.
Ananda J. Jadhav, Mostafa Barigou
We show that the mixing of organic solvents with pure water leads to the spontaneous formation of bulk nanobubbles which exhibit long-term stability on the scale of months.
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Structure and tensile properties of the forewing costal vein of the honeybee Apis mellifera

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4057-4064
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02364J, Paper
Yun Ma, Tianbao Ma, Jianguo Ning, Stanislav Gorb
Our paper reveals the functional morphology and tensile properties of the forewing costal vein of honeybees, reviews studies on wings and discusses outlooks for future research.
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Viscoelastic interfaces comprising of cellulose nanocrystals and lauroyl ethyl arginate for enhanced foam stability

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3981-3990
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02392E, Paper
Agnieszka Czakaj, Aadithya Kannan, Agnieszka Wiśniewska, Gabriela Grześ, Marcel Krzan, Piotr Warszyński, Gerald G. Fuller
At submillimolar concentrations of lauroyl ethyl arginate, cellulose nanocrystals aggregate and form elongated fibres. This interfacial assembly efficiently stabilises foams.
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Template-based fabrication of spatially organized 3D bioactive constructs using magnetic low-concentration gelation methacrylate (GelMA) microfibers

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3902-3913
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM01945F, Paper
Tao Sun, Yibing Yao, Qing Shi, Huaping Wang, Paolo Dario, Junzhong Sun, Qiang Huang, Toshio Fukuda
A new template-based method to apply low-concentration GelMA microfibers as building blocks for higher-order cellular assembly.
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Role of molecular bend angle and biaxiality in the stabilization of the twist-bend nematic phase

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00078G, Communication
Wojciech Tomczyk, Lech Longa
Within mean-field theory for V-shaped molecules, we have investigated how the alteration of a molecule's structural features influence the stabilization of modulated and non-modulated nematic phases.
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A practical guide to active colloids: choosing synthetic model systems for soft matter physics research

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3846-3868
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00222D, Review Article
Wei Wang, Xianglong Lv, Jeffrey L. Moran, Shifang Duan, Chao Zhou
This review article provides practical, experimentally relevant details on six common types of active colloids useful for soft matter research.
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Surface buckling delamination patterns of film on soft spherical substrates

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3952-3961
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00122H, Paper
Kanako Emori, Yusaku Saito, Akio Yonezu, Liangliang Zhu, Xiangbiao Liao, Xi Chen
The morphological transition of film buckling-delamination in an elastomeric bilayer spherical shell system was studied experimentally and numerically. It was changed by the film thickness, Young's modulus, and interfacial adhesion condition, etc.
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Melting scenarios of two-dimensional Hertzian spheres with a single triangular lattice

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3962-3972
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02262G, Paper
E. N. Tsiok, E. A. Gaiduk, Yu. D. Fomin, V. N. Ryzhov
We present a molecular dynamics simulation study of the phase diagram and melting scenarios of two-dimensional Hertzian spheres with exponent 7/2.
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How clay particulates affect flow cessation and the coiling stability of yield stress-matched cementing suspensions

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3929-3940
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02414J, Paper
Iman Mehdipour, Hakan Atahan, Narayanan Neithalath, Mathieu Bauchy, Edward Garboczi, Gaurav Sant
Transition from closely-packed to fractally-architected structures with clay addition improves homogeneity and prevents local dewatering, thus enhancing coiling stability of layer-wise extruded cementing suspensions during 3D-printing.
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Rotation of a submerged finite cylinder moving down a soft incline

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4000-4007
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02344E, Paper
Baudouin Saintyves, Bhargav Rallabandi, Theo Jules, Jesse Ault, Thomas Salez, Clarissa Schönecker, Howard A. Stone, L. Mahadevan
A fluid-immersed solid cylinder moves along a soft incline and rotates at a rate that depends on its aspect ratio and the stiffness of the incline.
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Normal and shear forces between boundary sphingomyelin layers under aqueous conditions

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3973-3980
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00215A, Paper
Yifeng Cao, Nir Kampf, Weifeng Lin, Jacob Klein
Sphingomyelin boundary layers can maintain extremely low friction under high pressures both in water and at high salt concentration.
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Engineering interfacial entropic effects to generate giant viscosity changes in nanoparticle embedded polymer thin films

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4065-4073
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00019A, Paper
Aparna Swain, Nafisa Begam, Sivasurender Chandran, M. S. Bobji, J. K. Basu
We demonstrate a new method to study the viscosity of PNC thin films, consisting of polymer grafted nanoparticles (PGNPs) embedded in un-entangled homopolymer melt films, using atomic force microscopy based force–distance spectroscopy.
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Inverse leidenfrost drop manipulation using menisci

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4043-4048
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02363A, Paper
Anaïs Gauthier, Guillaume Lajoinie, Jacco H. Snoeijer, Devaraj van der Meer
The motion of droplets levitated above a liquid surface is controlled using the menisci rising against partially immersed walls.
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Structural properties of contractile gels based on light-driven molecular motors: a small-angle neutron and X-ray study

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4008-4023
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00031K, Paper
Giacomo Mariani, Jean-Rémy Colard-Itté, Emilie Moulin, Nicolas Giuseppone, Eric Buhler
The collective rotation of light-driven molecular motors actuates the structural changes and macroscopic contraction of the chemical gels.
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Using microprojectiles to study the ballistic limit of polymer thin films

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3886-3890
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00295J, Communication
Shawn H. Chen, Amanda J. Souna, Christopher L. Soles, Stephan J. Stranick, Edwin P. Chan
In this work, a microballistic impact test called laser induced projectile impact test (LIPIT) was used to study the perforation behavior of polycarbonate thin films to demonstrate the importance of film thickness on the film's ballistic limit.
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The generic unfolding of a biomimetic polymer during force spectroscopy

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3941-3951
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02545F, Paper
Aviel Chaimovich, Christian Leitold, Christoph Dellago
By computing free energies with molecular simulations, we find a general signature for protein unfolding in force spectroscopy, and in turn, we present a useful formula for experimentalists.
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Outstanding Reviewers for Soft Matter in 2019

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,3845-3845
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM90069A, Editorial

We would like to take this opportunity to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Soft Matter in 2019, as selected by the editorial team for their significant contribution to the journal.
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Modeling atomic force microscopy and shell mechanical properties estimation of coated microbubbles

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00300J, Paper
Alkmini Lytra, Vassilis Sboros, Antonios Giannakopoulos, Nikos Pelekasis
We present an extensive comparison with experimental data of our theoretical/numerical model for the static response of coated microbubbles (MBs) subject to compression from an atomic force microscope (afm). The...
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Insight into the Unwrapping of the Dinucleosome

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00161A, Paper
Fatemeh Khodabandeh, Hashem Fatemi, Farshid Mohammad-Rafiee
Dynamics of nucleosomes, the building blocks of the chromatin, has crucial effects on expression, replication and repair of genomes in eukaryotes. Beside constant movements of nucleosomes by thermal fluctuations, ATP-dependent...
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Assessing the Extent of Structural and Dynamic Modulation of Membrane Lipids due to Pore Forming Toxins: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00086H, Paper
Vadhana Varadarajan, Rajat Desikan, Ganapathy Ayappa
Infections in many virulent bacterial strains are triggered by the release of pore forming toxins (PFTs), which form oligomeric transmembrane pore complexes on the target plasma membrane. The spatial extent...
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Marangoni puffs: dramatically enhanced dissolution of droplets with an entrapped bubble

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00093K, Paper
José M. Encarnación Escobar, Jaap Nieland, Arie van Houselt, Xuehua Zhang, Detlef Lohse
We present a curious effect observed during the dissolution process of water-immersed long-chain alcohol drops with an entrapped bubble. When the drop-water interface and the air bubble contact each other, a rapid cyclic motion that accelerates the drop's dissolution is found. We name this eye-catching phenomenon puffing.
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Self similarity of liquid droplet coalescence in a quasi-2D free-standing liquid-crystal film

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00457J, Paper
Christoph Klopp, Torsten Trittel, Ralf Stannarius
Flat droplets coalescing on smectic free-standing films show self-similar dynamics.
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Quantifying the non-equilibrium activity of an active colloid

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00398K, Paper
Sarah Eldeen, Ryan Muoio, Paris Blaisdell-Pijuan, Ngoc La, Mauricio Gomez, Alex Vidal, Wylie Ahmed
Active matter systems exhibit rich emergent behavior due to constant injection and dissipation of energy at the level of individual agents. We characterize the dissipation of single active colloids.
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Structural universality in disordered packings with size and shape polydispersity

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00110D, Paper
Ye Yuan, Wei Deng, Shuixiang Li
Normalized free volume collapses on normalized particle size in polydisperse-sized packings for a given non-spherical particle.
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Formation of Fibrillar Crystals Strongly Accelerates the Form II to I Transformation of Polybutene-1

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00572J, Paper
Jiaqi Zhang, Chang Liu, Xintong Zhao, Zhijie Zhang, Quan Chen
This study examines shear-induced formation of fibrillar form II crystals and subsequent form II to I transformation of an isotactic polybutene-1 sample through a combination of rheology, polarized optical microscope...
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Review and reproducibility of forming adsorbed layers from solvent washing of melt annealed films

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00565G, Paper
Michael F. Thees, Jennifer A. McGuire, Connie B. Roth
Efforts to reproduce the “Guiselin’s experiment” procedure finds hads(t) curves to be far less reliable than implied in the literature, being strongly dependent on solvent washing conditions, consistent with how adsorption in solution is understood.
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Investigating the Role of Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) in Piezoelectric Performance of PVDF/KNN based Flexible Electrospun Nanogenerator

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00438C, Paper
Satyaranjan Bairagi, Wazed Ali
In the present study, the effect of varying concentrations of carbon nanotube (CNT) on the piezoelectric performance of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/potassium sodium niobate (KNN) based electrospun nanocomposite has been...
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Developing Super Tough Gelatin-based Hydrogels by Incorporating Linear Poly(methacrylic Acid) to Facilitate Sacrificial Hydrogen Bonding

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00422G, Communication
Hui Jie Zhang, Li Ni Wang, Xuechuan Wang, Qingxin Han, Xiangyou You
Mechanically robust protein-based hydrogels are strongly desired but their construction remains a significant challenge. In this work, gelatin, together with methacrylic acid, is used to construct a novel hydrogen-bonded hydrogel...
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Coalescence of isotropic droplets in overheated free standing smectic films

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02292A, Paper
Elena S. Pikina, Boris I. Ostrovskii, Sergey A. Pikin
A theoretical study of the interaction and coalescence of isotropic droplets in overheated free-standing smectic films (FSSF) is presented.
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On the pressure dependence of the thermodynamical scaling exponent γ

Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00254B, Paper
R. Casalini, T. C. Ransom
In materials with a constant scaling parameter γS, the Isomorph γI is found to vary with pressure, demonstrating γSγI.
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Layering of bidisperse charged nanoparticles in sedimentation

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00588F, Communication
Open Access
Xufeng Xu, Maarten Biesheuvel, Helmut Cölfen, Evan Spruijt
Binary mixtures of charged nanoparticles become layered upon centrifugation as a result of minimization of the system free energy in sedimentation-diffusion equilibrium. Different factors were investigated experimentally for their effects...
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Simultaneous determination of interfacial molarities of an alcohol, bromide ion, and water during an alcohol induced microstructural transition: The difference between medium and long chain alcohols.

Soft Matter, 2020, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00665C, Paper
Kaixin Yao, Lijie Sun, Xiaoxuan Ding, Yuzhao Wang, Tianze Liu, Changyao Liu, Jiajing Tan, Li Zhao, Baocai Xu, Laurence S. Romsted
The transitions between surfactant aggregate structures are triggered by changes in chemical or physical stimulations, including addition of additives. Effects of added alcohols on aggregate morphologies correlate strongly with alcohol...
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Controlled shape morphing of solvent free thermoresponsive soft actuators

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4162-4172
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00020E, Paper
Vadakkumnalath Prakasan Anju, Raghunandan Pratoori, Deepak Kumar Gupta, Rajendra Joshi, Ratna Kumar Annabattula, Pijush Ghosh
Reconfigurable actuators are designed based on chitosan and pNipam which has the capability to attain precise and programmable actuation. The current approach offers a feasible way to fabricate soft actuators with repeatable and reversible actuation.
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Pinning dislocations in colloidal crystals with active particles that seek stacking faults

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4182-4191
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02514F, Paper
Bryan VanSaders, Sharon C. Glotzer
By designing the shape of an active particle, its transport through a dense crystal can be tailored, as well as its interaction with dislocation defects present in the host crystal.
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Geometry underlies the mechanical stiffening and softening of an indented floating film

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4121-4130
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00250J, Paper
Open Access
Monica M. Ripp, Vincent Démery, Teng Zhang, Joseph D. Paulsen
Using experiments, simulations, and theory, we map out the remarkably rich mechanical response of a floating polymer film to indentation.
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Lipid-core/polymer-shell hybrid nanoparticles: synthesis and characterization by fluorescence labeling and electrophoresis

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4173-4181
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00077A, Paper
Sophie Bou, Xinyue Wang, Nicolas Anton, Redouane Bouchaala, Andrey S. Klymchenko, Mayeul Collot
New hybrid nanoparticles have been obtained by simple nanoprecipitation using fluorescent labeling of both the oily core (BODIPY) and the polymeric shell (rhodamine) thus allowing the use of electrophoresis to assess their formation and stability.
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Characterizing the fluid–matrix affinity in an organogel from the growth dynamics of oil stains on blotting paper

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4200-4209
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM01965K, Paper
Open Access
Qierui Zhang, Frieder Mugele, Piet M. Lugt, Dirk van den Ende
Fluid–matrix affinity in an organogel is characterized by capillarity-induced oil release using absorbing paper.
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Phenylalanine dimer assembly structure as the basic building block of an amyloid like photoluminescent nanofibril network

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4105-4109
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00387E, Communication
Prabhjot Singh, Nishima Wangoo, Rohit K. Sharma
Self-assembled phenylalanine dimer as the basic supramolecular structure of β-amyloid like photoluminescent nanofibrils.
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A theory for the temperature effect on the chain length dependence of the diffusivity of oligomers

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4283-4289
DOI: 10.1039/C9SM02505G, Paper
Chi Pui Jeremy Wong, Phillip Choi
Temperature effect on the size dependence of the diffusivity of oligomers is explained by free volume theory.
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Ordering of binary colloidal crystals by random potentials

Soft Matter, 2020, 16,4267-4273
DOI: 10.1039/D0SM00208A, Paper
André S. Nunes, Sabareesh K. P. Velu, Iryna Kasianiuk, Denis Kasyanyuk, Agnese Callegari, Giorgio Volpe, Margarida M. Telo da Gama, Giovanni Volpe, Nuno A. M. Araújo
A random potential can control the number of defects in a binary colloidal crystal.
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