Formation of a tethered polymer layer by attaching reactive ends of preformed chains to a surface. The chains can be characterized before attachment, but inserting further coils into an existing polymer brush costs conformational entropy and produces a coverage-dependent barrier. Reaction chemistry and surface accessibility also limit the final grafting density.

Formation of a tethered polymer layer by growing chains from reactive sites on a surface. Small monomers reach the growth sites without inserting an entire preformed coil, making high grafting density more accessible than in grafting-to. Initiator availability, termination and control of chain-length distribution remain important.

The temperature assigned to a glass transition under specified measurement conditions.

A specialized cytoplasmic structure in relevant fly germline cells associated with localization of cell-cycle regulators. Its organization must not be assumed identical in every stem-cell system.

Mechanisms protecting the inherited genome from transposable elements and other threats. Suppression of transposon RNA, chromatin repression and removal of damaged cells are different protective strategies.

The geostrophic wind is the horizontal flow for which the pressure gradient force balances the Coriolis force. It runs along atmospheric isobars and has speed proportional to their pressure gradient, at fixed density and nonzero Coriolis parameter. Curvature, friction and small spatial scales can invalidate that approximation.

The gradient wind retains the centripetal acceleration of a curved flow as well as the Coriolis force and horizontal pressure gradient force. For cyclonic circular flow in the northern hemisphere, $v^2/r+fv={\rho }^{-1}dp/dr$, with $r$ increasing away from the low-pressure centre.

An atmospheric isobar is a line of equal pressure on a specified atmospheric map. Its spacing indicates the horizontal pressure gradient at that map's reference level; a closer spacing means a larger gradient for the same contour interval.

The Rossby number compares advective acceleration with Coriolis acceleration, and the second ratio compares local time dependence with it. Both should be small when pressure and Coriolis terms dominate horizontal momentum. Surface stress, sharp curvature, small scales, rapid evolution and the near-equatorial region can invalidate the approximation. The vertical hydrostatic equilibrium assumption is a separate scale approximation.