1,246 research outputs found
Direction Detector on an Excitable Field: Field Computation with Coincidence Detection
Living organisms process information without any central control unit and
without any ruling clock. We have been studying a novel computational strategy
that uses a geometrically arranged excitable field, i.e., "field computation."
As an extension of this research, in the present article we report the
construction of a "direction detector" on an excitable field. Using a numerical
simulation, we show that the direction of a input source signal can be detected
by applying the characteristic as a "coincidence detector" embedded on an
excitable field. In addition, we show that this direction detection actually
works in an experiment using an excitable chemical system. These results are
discussed in relation to the future development of "field computation."Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
On the Accuracy of A.C. Flux Leakage, Eddy Current, EMAT and Ultrasonic Methods of Measuring Surface Connecting Flaws in Seamless Steel Tubing
The objective of this study was to perform a comparative experimental evaluation to determine the detection sensitivity, classification (fJaw type) and depth sizing accuracy of A.C. flux leakage, single-frequency eddy current, electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) generated surface waves, and broadband ultrasonic methods for the measurement of complex surface connecting flaws in hot rolled, seamless, ferritic tubing. Since it was of interest to invest NDE techniques over a wide range of capabilities, tubing having flaw depths far exceeding industry standards was tested and evaluated. Results of the study will be used to provide a benchmark assessment of these NDE methods, from which decisions concerning production test systems can be made
Use of soil moisture information in yield models
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Avalanche of Bifurcations and Hysteresis in a Model of Cellular Differentiation
Cellular differentiation in a developping organism is studied via a discrete
bistable reaction-diffusion model. A system of undifferentiated cells is
allowed to receive an inductive signal emenating from its environment.
Depending on the form of the nonlinear reaction kinetics, this signal can
trigger a series of bifurcations in the system. Differentiation starts at the
surface where the signal is received, and cells change type up to a given
distance, or under other conditions, the differentiation process propagates
through the whole domain. When the signal diminishes hysteresis is observed
Noise-induced inhibitory suppression of malfunction neural oscillators
Motivated by the aim to find new medical strategies to suppress undesirable
neural synchronization we study the control of oscillations in a system of
inhibitory coupled noisy oscillators. Using dynamical properties of inhibition,
we find regimes when the malfunction oscillations can be suppressed but the
information signal of a certain frequency can be transmitted through the
system. The mechanism of this phenomenon is a resonant interplay of noise and
the transmission signal provided by certain value of inhibitory coupling.
Analyzing a system of three or four oscillators representing neural clusters,
we show that this suppression can be effectively controlled by coupling and
noise amplitudes.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure
Convective Fingering of an Autocatalytic Reaction Front
We report experimental observations of the convection-driven fingering
instability of an iodate-arsenous acid chemical reaction front. The front
propagated upward in a vertical slab; the thickness of the slab was varied to
control the degree of instability. We observed the onset and subsequent
nonlinear evolution of the fingers, which were made visible by a {\it p}H
indicator. We measured the spacing of the fingers during their initial stages
and compared this to the wavelength of the fastest growing linear mode
predicted by the stability analysis of Huang {\it et. al.} [{\it Phys. Rev. E},
{\bf 48}, 4378 (1993), and unpublished]. We find agreement with the thickness
dependence predicted by the theory.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex with 3 eps figures. To be published in Phys Rev E,
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Vortex Dynamics in Dissipative Systems
We derive the exact equation of motion for a vortex in two- and three-
dimensional non-relativistic systems governed by the Ginzburg-Landau equation
with complex coefficients. The velocity is given in terms of local gradients of
the magnitude and phase of the complex field and is exact also for arbitrarily
small inter-vortex distances. The results for vortices in a superfluid or a
superconductor are recovered.Comment: revtex, 5 pages, 1 encapsulated postscript figure (included), uses
aps.sty, epsf.te
Incorporating Inductances in Tissue-Scale Models of Cardiac Electrophysiology
In standard models of cardiac electrophysiology, including the bidomain and
monodomain models, local perturbations can propagate at infinite speed. We
address this unrealistic property by developing a hyperbolic bidomain model
that is based on a generalization of Ohm's law with a Cattaneo-type model for
the fluxes. Further, we obtain a hyperbolic monodomain model in the case that
the intracellular and extracellular conductivity tensors have the same
anisotropy ratio. In one spatial dimension, the hyperbolic monodomain model is
equivalent to a cable model that includes axial inductances, and the relaxation
times of the Cattaneo fluxes are strictly related to these inductances. A
purely linear analysis shows that the inductances are negligible, but models of
cardiac electrophysiology are highly nonlinear, and linear predictions may not
capture the fully nonlinear dynamics. In fact, contrary to the linear analysis,
we show that for simple nonlinear ionic models, an increase in conduction
velocity is obtained for small and moderate values of the relaxation time. A
similar behavior is also demonstrated with biophysically detailed ionic models.
Using the Fenton-Karma model along with a low-order finite element spatial
discretization, we numerically analyze differences between the standard
monodomain model and the hyperbolic monodomain model. In a simple benchmark
test, we show that the propagation of the action potential is strongly
influenced by the alignment of the fibers with respect to the mesh in both the
parabolic and hyperbolic models when using relatively coarse spatial
discretizations. Accurate predictions of the conduction velocity require
computational mesh spacings on the order of a single cardiac cell. We also
compare the two formulations in the case of spiral break up and atrial
fibrillation in an anatomically detailed model of the left atrium, and [...].Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure
A minimal model for chaotic shear banding in shear-thickening fluids
We present a minimal model for spatiotemporal oscillation and rheochaos in
shear-thickening complex fluids at zero Reynolds number. In the model, a
tendency towards inhomogeneous flows in the form of shear bands combines with a
slow structural dynamics, modelled by delayed stress relaxation. Using
Fourier-space numerics, we study the nonequilibrium `phase diagram' of the
fluid as a function of a steady mean (spatially averaged) stress, and of the
relaxation time for structural relaxation. We find several distinct regions of
periodic behavior (oscillating bands, travelling bands, and more complex
oscillations) and also regions of spatiotemporal rheochaos. A low-dimensional
truncation of the model retains the important physical features of the full
model (including rheochaos) despite the suppression of sharply defined
interfaces between shear bands. Our model maps onto the FitzHugh-Nagumo model
for neural network dynamics, with an unusual form of long-range coupling.Comment: Revised version (in particular, new section III.E. and Appendix A
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