48,370 research outputs found
A Unified Term for Directed and Undirected Motility in Collective Cell Invasion
In this paper we develop mathematical models for collective cell motility.
Initially we develop a model using a linear diffusion-advection type equation
and fit the parameters to data from cell motility assays. This approach is
helpful in classifying the results of cell motility assay experiments. In
particular, this model can determine degrees of directed versus undirected
collective cell motility. Next we develop a model using a nonlinear diffusion
term that is able capture in a unified way directed and undirected collective
cell motility. Finally we apply the nonlinear diffusion approach to a problem
in tumor cell invasion, noting that neither chemotaxis or haptotaxis are
present in the system under consideration in this article
A model of ant route navigation driven by scene familiarity
In this paper we propose a model of visually guided route navigation in ants that captures the known properties of real behaviour whilst retaining mechanistic simplicity and thus biological plausibility. For an ant, the coupling of movement and viewing direction means that a familiar view specifies a familiar direction of movement. Since the views experienced along a habitual route will be more familiar, route navigation can be re-cast as a search for familiar views. This search can be performed with a simple scanning routine, a behaviour that ants have been observed to perform. We test this proposed route navigation strategy in simulation, by learning a series of routes through visually cluttered environments consisting of objects that are only distinguishable as silhouettes against the sky. In the first instance we determine view familiarity by exhaustive comparison with the set of views experienced during training. In further experiments we train an artificial neural network to perform familiarity discrimination using the training views. Our results indicate that, not only is the approach successful, but also that the routes that are learnt show many of the characteristics of the routes of desert ants. As such, we believe the model represents the only detailed and complete model of insect route guidance to date. What is more, the model provides a general demonstration that visually guided routes can be produced with parsimonious mechanisms that do not specify when or what to learn, nor separate routes into sequences of waypoints
Analytic calculation of Witten index in D=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills quantum mechanics
We propose a method for the evaluation of Witten index in D=2 supersymmetric
Yang-Mills quantum mechanics. We rederive a known result for the SU(2) gauge
group and generalize it to any SU(N) gauge group.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
Seasonal variability in ichthyoplankton abundance and assemblage composition in the northern Gulf of Mexico off Alabama
Multiyear ichthyoplankton surveys used to monitor larval fish seasonality, abundance, and assemblage structure can provide early indicators of regional ecosystem changes.
Numerous ichthyoplankton surveys have been conducted in the northern Gulf of Mexico, but few have had high levels of temporal resolution and sample replication. In this study, ichthyoplankton samples were collected monthly (October 2004–October 2006) at a single station off the coast of
Alabama as part of a long-term biological survey. Four seasonal periods were identified from observed and
historic water temperatures, including a relatively long (June–October) “summer” period (water temperature >26°C). Fish egg abundance, total larval abundance, and larval
taxonomic diversity were significantly related to water temperature (but not salinity), with peaks in the spring,
spring–summer, and summer periods, respectively. Larvae collected during the survey represented 58 different
families, of which engraulids, sciaenids, carangids, and clupeids were the most prominent. The most abundant taxa collected were unidentified engraulids (50%), sand seatrout
(Cynoscion arenarius, 7.5%), Atlantic bumper (Chloroscombrus chrysurus, 5.4%), Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus, 4.4%), Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus, 3.8%), and unidentified gobiids (3.6%). Larval
concentrations for dominant taxa were highly variable between years, but the timing of seasonal occurrence for
these taxa was relatively consistent. Documented increases in sea surface temperature on the Alabama shelf may have various implications for larval fish dynamics, as indicated by the presence of tropical larval forms (e.g., fistularids, labrids, scarids, and acanthurids) in our ichthyoplankton collections and in recent juvenile surveys
of Alabama and northern Gulf of Mexico seagrass habitats
Freezing line of the Lennard-Jones fluid: a Phase Switch Monte Carlo study
We report a Phase Switch Monte Carlo (PSMC) method study of the freezing line
of the Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid. Our work generalizes to soft potentials the
original application of the method to hard sphere freezing, and builds on a
previous PSMC study of the LJ system by Errington (J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 120},
3130 (2004)). The latter work is extended by tracing a large section of the
Lennard-Jones freezing curve, the results for which we compare to a previous
Gibbs-Duhem integration study. Additionally we provide new background regarding
the statistical mechanical basis of the PSMC method and extensive
implementation details.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure
Modeling Self-Subtraction in Angular Differential Imaging: Application to the HD 32297 Debris Disk
We present a new technique for forward-modeling self-subtraction of spatially
extended emission in observations processed with angular differential imaging
(ADI) algorithms. High-contrast direct imaging of circumstellar disks is
limited by quasi-static speckle noise and ADI is commonly used to suppress
those speckles. However, the application of ADI can result in self-subtraction
of the disk signal due to the disk's finite spatial extent. This signal
attenuation varies with radial separation and biases measurements of the disk's
surface brightness, thereby compromising inferences regarding the physical
processes responsible for the dust distribution. To compensate for this
attenuation, we forward-model the disk structure and compute the form of the
self-subtraction function at each separation. As a proof of concept, we apply
our method to 1.6 and 2.2 micron Keck AO NIRC2 scattered-light observations of
the HD 32297 debris disk reduced using a variant of the "locally optimized
combination of images" (LOCI) algorithm. We are able to recover disk surface
brightness that was otherwise lost to self-subtraction and produce simplified
models of the brightness distribution as it appears with and without
self-subtraction. From the latter models, we extract radial profiles for the
disk's brightness, width, midplane position, and color that are unbiased by
self-subtraction. Our analysis of these measurements indicates a break in the
brightness profile power law at r~110 AU and a disk width that increases with
separation from the star. We also verify disk curvature that displaces the
midplane by up to 30 AU towards the northwest relative to a straight fiducial
midplane.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 20 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl
Passive Versus Active Tuberculosis Case Finding and Isoniazid Preventive Therapy Among Household Contacts in a Rural District of Malawi.
SETTING: Thyolo district, rural Malawi. OBJECTIVES: To compare passive with active case finding among household contacts of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients for 1) TB case detection and 2) the proportion of child contacts aged under 6 years who are placed on isoniazid (INH) preventive therapy. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: Passive and active case finding was conducted among household contacts, and the uptake of INH preventive therapy in children was assessed. RESULTS: There were 189 index TB cases and 985 household contacts. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence among index cases was 69%. Prevalence of TB by passive case finding among 524 household contacts was 0.19% (191/100000), which was significantly lower than with active finding among 461 contacts (1.74%, 1735/100000, P = 0.01). Of 126 children in the passive cohort, 22 (17%) received INH, while in the active cohort 25 (22%) of 113 children received the drug. Transport costs associated with chest X-ray (CXR) screening were the major reason for low INH uptake. CONCLUSIONS: Where the majority of TB patients are HIV-positive, active case finding among household contacts yields nine times more TB cases and is an opportunity for reducing TB morbidity and mortality. The need for a CXR is an obstacle to the uptake of INH prophylaxis
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