Buckling of a linear chain of hard spheres in a harmonic confining potential: Numerical and analytical results for low and high compression.

A linear chain of spheres confined by a transverse harmonic potential experiences localized buckling under compression. Here we present simple experiments using gas bubbles in a liquid-filled tube to demonstrate this phenomenon. Our findings are supported semi-quantitatively by numerical simulations. In particular we demonstrate the existence of a critical value of compression for the onset of buckling.

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Infant mortality, by which we understand the postnatal stage during which mortality is declining, is a manifestation and embodiment of congenital abnormalities. Severe defects will translate into death occurring shortly after birth whereas slighter anomalies may contribute to death much later, possibly only in adult age. While for many species birth defects would be nearly impossible to identify, infant mortality provides a convenient global assessment. In the present paper we examine a broad range of species from mammals to fish to gastropods to insects. One of the objectives of our comparative analysis is to test a conjecture suggested by reliability engineering according to which the frequency of defects tends to increase together with the complexity of organisms. For that purpose, we set up experiments specially designed to measure infant mortality. In particular, we two species commonly used as model species in biological laboratories, namely the zebrafish Danio rerio and the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. For the second, whose number of cells is about hundred times smaller than for the first, we find as expected that the screening effect of the infant phase is of much smaller amplitude. Our analysis also raises a number of challenging questions for which further investigation is necessary. For instance, why is the infant death rate of beetles and molluscs falling off exponentially rather than as a power law as observed for most other species? A possible research agenda is discussed in the conclusion of the paper. Main observations and questions Agenda for future comparative research Appendix A: Previous studies of the mortality of rotifers Main features Comments about variability What conclusions can one draw with respect to infant mortality? Appendix B: Methodology of the rotifer experiment Procedures Operational definition of death Appendix C: Correct estimate of the initial death rateThis paper is the second leg of an exploration in three parts; the two others are Bois et al. (2019a,b). Despite the connections, the three papers can be read independently from each other.

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