Spectral Analysis and Metastable Absorption Measurements of High Pressure Capacitively and Inductively Coupled Radio-Frequency Argon Helium Discharges

Characterization of the excited state argon population in an argon-helium discharge is of crucial importance to the development of a continuous wave Discharge Assisted Noble Gas Laser. Experiments were conducted in the Richard W. Davis Advanced Laser Facility at AFRL on Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM. During these tests the capability to maintain a capactively-coupled and inductively-coupled radio-frequency discharge at pressures of 300 Torr was demonstrated. Optical Emission Spectroscopy experiments were conducted in order to examine the population distribution of the p-state in argon. The population distributions for these high-pressure and high-power cases were compared to a low-pressure, low-power pure argon discharge to examine the influence of helium on an argon discharge. Tuneable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy experiments were also performed on the inductively coupled discharge to examine the column density of the s5 and s3 metastable states for different discharge parameters. The absorption data was fit to an approximated Voigt profile from which pressure broadening rates of 18 + or - 8 MHz/Torr and 22 ±2 MHz/Torr were calculated for the 801.48 nm p8 yields s5 and 794.82 nm p4 yields s3 transitions, respectively

Studies of Bacterial Branching Growth using Reaction-Diffusion Models for Colonial Development

Various bacterial strains exhibit colonial branching patterns during growth on poor substrates. These patterns reflect bacterial cooperative self-organization and cybernetic processes of communication, regulation and control employed during colonial development. One method of modeling is the continuous, or coupled reaction-diffusion approach, in which continuous time evolution equations describe the bacterial density and the concentration of the relevant chemical fields. In the context of branching growth, this idea has been pursued by a number of groups. We present an additional model which includes a lubrication fluid excreted by the bacteria. We also add fields of chemotactic agents to the other models. We then present a critique of this whole enterprise with focus on the models' potential for revealing new biological features.Comment: 1 latex file, 40 gif/jpeg files (compressed into tar-gzip). Physica A, in pres

Modeling branching and chiral colonial patterning of lubricating bacteria

In nature, microorganisms must often cope with hostile environmental conditions. To do so they have developed sophisticated cooperative behavior and intricate communication capabilities, such as: direct cell-cell physical interactions via extra-membrane polymers, collective production of extracellular "wetting" fluid for movement on hard surfaces, long range chemical signaling such as quorum sensing and chemotactic (bias of movement according to gradient of chemical agent) signaling, collective activation and deactivation of genes and even exchange of genetic material. Utilizing these capabilities, the colonies develop complex spatio-temporal patterns in response to adverse growth conditions. We present a wealth of branching and chiral patterns formed during colonial development of lubricating bacteria (bacteria which produce a wetting layer of fluid for their movement). Invoking ideas from pattern formation in non-living systems and using ``generic'' modeling we are able to reveal novel survival strategies which account for the salient features of the evolved patterns. Using the models, we demonstrate how communication leads to self-organization via cooperative behavior of the cells. In this regard, pattern formation in microorganisms can be viewed as the result of the exchange of information between the micro-level (the individual cells) and the macro-level (the colony). We mainly review known results, but include a new model of chiral growth, which enables us to study the effect of chemotactic signaling on the chiral growth. We also introduce a measure for weak chirality and use this measure to compare the results of model simulations with experimental observations.Comment: 50 pages, 24 images in 44 GIF/JPEG files, Proceedings of IMA workshop: Pattern Formation and Morphogenesis (1998

Clique of functional hubs orchestrates population bursts in developmentally regulated neural networks

It has recently been discovered that single neuron stimulation can impact network dynamics in immature and adult neuronal circuits. Here we report a novel mechanism which can explain in neuronal circuits, at an early stage of development, the peculiar role played by a few specific neurons in promoting/arresting the population activity. For this purpose, we consider a standard neuronal network model, with short-term synaptic plasticity, whose population activity is characterized by bursting behavior. The addition of developmentally inspired constraints and correlations in the distribution of the neuronal connectivities and excitabilities leads to the emergence of functional hub neurons, whose stimulation/deletion is critical for the network activity. Functional hubs form a clique, where a precise sequential activation of the neurons is essential to ignite collective events without any need for a specific topological architecture. Unsupervised time-lagged firings of supra-threshold cells, in connection with coordinated entrainments of near-threshold neurons, are the key ingredients to orchestrateComment: 39 pages, 15 figures, to appear in PLOS Computational Biolog