Reactive Flows in Deformable, Complex Media

Many processes of highest actuality in the real life are described through systems of equations posed in complex domains. Of particular interest is the situation when the domain is changing in time, undergoing deformations that depend on the unknown quantities of the model. Such kind of problems are encountered as mathematical models in the subsurface, material science, or biological systems.The emerging mathematical models account for various processes at different scales, and the key issue is to integrate the domain deformation in the multi-scale context. The focus in this workshop was on novel techniques and ideas in the mathematical modelling, analysis, the numerical discretization and the upscaling of problems as described above

Advances in biophysical methods for protein detection and characterisation

Proteins are the building blocs of life and mediate nearly every function in the cell. They are therefore a major and incredibly wide research topic. Their functions and malfunctions have serious impacts on a wide range of diseases. Proteins may be used as extremely versatile tools for biology such as for gene editing or biological medical products. Developing novel methods for protein detection and characterisation may thus have a tremendous impact on modern medicine and research. The present thesis discusses advances in biophysical methods for protein detection and characterisation. First, the possibility of detecting proteins label-free is addressed. A label may change the behaviour of the target protein. Two approaches are investigated: An ultraviolet light based autofluorescence microscope is described; and scattering based detection is explored by expending on the existing interferometric scattering (iSCAT) technique. An oblique illumination approach helps with increasing the contrast of the data, and a time correlation technique is used for local sizing on chip. Second, microfluidic techniques are routinely used to create protein assays. These assays minimise the amount of sample required and the absence of turbulences enable new techniques. A method to easily add nanofluidics elements to microfluidic designs is discussed. Finally, three characterisation methods are described. First, diffusional sizing uses a microfluidic chip to create a concentration gradient. The protein diffusion coefficient is extracted from the time evolution of this gradient. Second, the diffusiophoretic coefficient of the protein can be extracted by diffusiophoresis, which is the motion of proteins driven by the concentration gradient of another solute. This could be an important protein motion mechanism, as many gradients are present in cells and in living beings. Finally, the spatial propagation of the protein amyloid-beta 1-42, a protein associated to neurodegenerative disorders, is observed in a capillary

Ono: an open platform for social robotics

In recent times, the focal point of research in robotics has shifted from industrial ro- bots toward robots that interact with humans in an intuitive and safe manner. This evolution has resulted in the subfield of social robotics, which pertains to robots that function in a human environment and that can communicate with humans in an int- uitive way, e.g. with facial expressions. Social robots have the potential to impact many different aspects of our lives, but one particularly promising application is the use of robots in therapy, such as the treatment of children with autism. Unfortunately, many of the existing social robots are neither suited for practical use in therapy nor for large scale studies, mainly because they are expensive, one-of-a-kind robots that are hard to modify to suit a specific need. We created Ono, a social robotics platform, to tackle these issues. Ono is composed entirely from off-the-shelf components and cheap materials, and can be built at a local FabLab at the fraction of the cost of other robots. Ono is also entirely open source and the modular design further encourages modification and reuse of parts of the platform

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY2010 Annual Report

A premier applied-science laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has at its core a primary national security mission - to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing, and to prevent and counter the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, chemical, and biological. The Laboratory uses the scientific and engineering expertise and facilities developed for its primary mission to pursue advanced technologies to meet other important national security needs - homeland defense, military operations, and missile defense, for example - that evolve in response to emerging threats. For broader national needs, LLNL executes programs in energy security, climate change and long-term energy needs, environmental assessment and management, bioscience and technology to improve human health, and for breakthroughs in fundamental science and technology. With this multidisciplinary expertise, the Laboratory serves as a science and technology resource to the U.S. government and as a partner with industry and academia. This annual report discusses the following topics: (1) Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation; (2) Biological Sciences; (3) Chemistry; (4) Earth and Space Sciences; (5) Energy Supply and Use; (6) Engineering and Manufacturing Processes; (7) Materials Science and Technology; Mathematics and Computing Science; (8) Nuclear Science and Engineering; and (9) Physics

Laboratory Directed Research and Development FY2010 Annual Report

A premier applied-science laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has at its core a primary national security mission - to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing, and to prevent and counter the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, chemical, and biological. The Laboratory uses the scientific and engineering expertise and facilities developed for its primary mission to pursue advanced technologies to meet other important national security needs - homeland defense, military operations, and missile defense, for example - that evolve in response to emerging threats. For broader national needs, LLNL executes programs in energy security, climate change and long-term energy needs, environmental assessment and management, bioscience and technology to improve human health, and for breakthroughs in fundamental science and technology. With this multidisciplinary expertise, the Laboratory serves as a science and technology resource to the U.S. government and as a partner with industry and academia. This annual report discusses the following topics: (1) Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation; (2) Biological Sciences; (3) Chemistry; (4) Earth and Space Sciences; (5) Energy Supply and Use; (6) Engineering and Manufacturing Processes; (7) Materials Science and Technology; Mathematics and Computing Science; (8) Nuclear Science and Engineering; and (9) Physics

controlling colloidal assembly and phase behavior via morphing energy landscapes

Controlling assembly of colloidal particles into different phases and microstructures could provide bases to understand and manufacture novel materials with non-trivial properties and numerous potential applications. A common strategy is to direct the assembly with prefabricated topographical or chemical patterns. This approach is useful in rapid assembly of massive materials but is inherently an irreversible process and is unable to achieve reconfigurable control. Field mediated self-assembly, on the other side, directs the process through interaction with external fields, including optical, magnetic, and electric, and provides a promising path for more sophisticated microstructures. One of the most imminent research goals in this area is to design novel external field patterns and control strategies with an aim for a scalable assembly. In this dissertation, MHz AC electric fields are used to generate reconfigurable and multi-dimensional fields and to accomplish three goals: 1) understanding equilibrium phase behaviors under multi-dimensional external fields, 2) controlling assembly of defect-free colloidal crystal with optimal strategy, and 3) scale up the assembly control to hierarchical colloid structures. Equilibrium behavior of particles under external field is critical in understanding phase transition and nonuniform distribution of colloidal systems; it is also important practically in investigating novel control mechanisms. Equilibrium particle concentration profile can be derived by considering the interaction between particles and field and by balancing the interactions with osmotic pressure due to inhomogeneous particle concentration. Equation of states for effective hard disks can be used to relate osmotic pressure with particle concentration, so that we can derive a general relationship between the external energy landscape and particle concentration distribution. Based on the theory, we successfully predicted local and global phase transitions as well as two-dimensional particle distribution under external fields. Our findings also provide foundations for the following dynamic control problems. For the second goal, we rely on morphing electric fields and energy landscapes to control the self-assembly of particles into defect-free crystals with circular morphology. We first observed that morphology changes in response to applied electric fields enhance the diffusion of grain boundaries and formation of perfect crystals. We derived an optimal feedback control strategy based on the initial observation and a reinforcement learning study. We showed that the assembly of perfect crystal is most efficient when the applied anisotropic field is aligned with grain boundary orientation. The control strategy achieves 100% yield of perfect crystals within an order of magnitude shorter time compared to precedent works. We also demonstrated the scalability of our approach in assembly of larger colloidal systems. Finally, we extend our knowledge in design an assembly strategy for hierarchical structures. Our specific goal is to achieve periodic colloidal crystals with perfect structure and circular morphology. We design an electrode array with independently activated poles, which can dynamically generate multiple DC and MHz AC electric fields. Through computer simulations, we showed a control process includes coarse partitioning particles into separate clusters, equalizing cluster size by particle redistribution, removing grain boundaries in all clusters, and restoring circular morphologies for the periodic structures. We demonstrated the scalability of the control to various cluster sizes. We also discussed potential applications of electrode array and field mediate assembly in other scenarios