Nonetheless, the role of flexibility and its impact on an object's load-bearing potential is one that did receive attention until the mid-2000s and onward. In an initial study, Vella studied the load supported by a raft composed of thin, rigid strips. Specifically, he compared the case of floating individual strips to floating an aggregation of strips, wherein the aggregate structure causes portions of the meniscus (and hence, resulting surface tension force) to disappear. By extending his analysis to consider a similar system composed of thin strips of some finite bending stiffness, he found that this later case in fact was able support a greater load.