232,112 research outputs found
Hysteretic and chaotic dynamics of viscous drops in creeping flows with rotation
It has been shown in our previous publication
(Blawzdziewicz,Cristini,Loewenberg,2003) that high-viscosity drops in two
dimensional linear creeping flows with a nonzero vorticity component may have
two stable stationary states. One state corresponds to a nearly spherical,
compact drop stabilized primarily by rotation, and the other to an elongated
drop stabilized primarily by capillary forces. Here we explore consequences of
the drop bistability for the dynamics of highly viscous drops. Using both
boundary-integral simulations and small-deformation theory we show that a
quasi-static change of the flow vorticity gives rise to a hysteretic response
of the drop shape, with rapid changes between the compact and elongated
solutions at critical values of the vorticity. In flows with sinusoidal
temporal variation of the vorticity we find chaotic drop dynamics in response
to the periodic forcing. A cascade of period-doubling bifurcations is found to
be directly responsible for the transition to chaos. In random flows we obtain
a bimodal drop-length distribution. Some analogies with the dynamics of
macromolecules and vesicles are pointed out.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures. submitted to Journal of Fluid Mechanic
Micro-Capsules in Shear Flow
This paper deals with flow-induced shape transitions of elastic capsules. The
state of the art concerning both theory and experiments is briefly reviewed
starting with dynamically induced small deformation of initially spherical
capsules and the formation of wrinkles on polymerized membranes. Initially
non-spherical capsules show tumbling and tank-treading motion in shear flow.
Theoretical descriptions of the transition between these two types of motion
assuming a fixed shape are at variance with the full capsule dynamics obtained
numerically. To resolve the discrepancy, we expand the exact equations of
motion for small deformations and find that shape changes play a dominant role.
We classify the dynamical phase transitions and obtain numerical and analytical
results for the phase boundaries as a function of viscosity contrast, shear and
elongational flow rate. We conclude with perspectives on timedependent flow, on
shear-induced unbinding from surfaces, on the role of thermal fluctuations, and
on applying the concepts of stochastic thermodynamics to these systems.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figure
A multistage hierarchical algorithm for hand shape recognition
This paper represents a multistage hierarchical algorithm for hand shape recognition using principal component analysis (PCA) as a dimensionality reduction and a feature extraction method. The paper discusses the effect of image blurring to build data manifolds using PCA and the different ways to construct these manifolds. In_order to classify the hand shape of an incoming sign object and to be invariant to linear transformations like translation and rotation, a multistage hierarchical classifier structure is used. Computer generated images for different Irish Sign Language shapes are used in testing. Experimental results are given to show the accuracy and performance of the proposed algorithm
Nonlinear physics of electrical wave propagation in the heart: a review
The beating of the heart is a synchronized contraction of muscle cells
(myocytes) that are triggered by a periodic sequence of electrical waves (action
potentials) originating in the sino-atrial node and propagating over the atria and
the ventricles. Cardiac arrhythmias like atrial and ventricular fibrillation (AF,VF)
or ventricular tachycardia (VT) are caused by disruptions and instabilities of these
electrical excitations, that lead to the emergence of rotating waves (VT) and turbulent
wave patterns (AF,VF). Numerous simulation and experimental studies during the
last 20 years have addressed these topics. In this review we focus on the nonlinear
dynamics of wave propagation in the heart with an emphasis on the theory of pulses,
spirals and scroll waves and their instabilities in excitable media and their application
to cardiac modeling. After an introduction into electrophysiological models for action
potential propagation, the modeling and analysis of spatiotemporal alternans, spiral
and scroll meandering, spiral breakup and scroll wave instabilities like negative line
tension and sproing are reviewed in depth and discussed with emphasis on their impact
in cardiac arrhythmias.Peer ReviewedPreprin
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