Swimming Efficiency of Bacterium Escherichia Coli

We use in vivo measurements of swimming bacteria in an optical trap to determine fundamental properties of bacterial propulsion. In particular, we determine the propulsion matrix, which relates the angular velocity of the flagellum to the torques and forces propelling the bacterium. From the propulsion matrix dynamical properties such as forces, torques, swimming speed and power can be obtained from measurements of the angular velocity of the motor. We find significant heterogeneities among different individuals even though all bacteria started from a single colony. The propulsive efficiency, defined as the ratio of the propulsive power output to the rotary power input provided by the motors, is found to be 0.2%.Comment: 6 page

The Bacterial Chemotactic Response Reflects a Compromise Between Transient and Steady State Behavior

Swimming bacteria detect chemical gradients by performing temporal comparisons of recent measurements of chemical concentration. These comparisons are described quantitatively by the chemotactic response function, which we expect to optimize chemotactic behavioral performance. We identify two independent chemotactic performance criteria: in the short run, a favorable response function should move bacteria up chemoattractant gradients, while in the long run, bacteria should aggregate at peaks of chemoattractant concentration. Surprisingly, these two criteria conflict, so that when one performance criterion is most favorable, the other is unfavorable. Since both types of behavior are biologically relevant, we include both behaviors in a composite optimization that yields a response function that closely resembles experimental measurements. Our work suggests that the bacterial chemotactic response function can be derived from simple behavioral considerations, and sheds light on how the response function contributes to chemotactic performance.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure

The role of body rotation in bacterial flagellar bundling

In bacterial chemotaxis, E. coli cells drift up chemical gradients by a series of runs and tumbles. Runs are periods of directed swimming, and tumbles are abrupt changes in swimming direction. Near the beginning of each run, the rotating helical flagellar filaments which propel the cell form a bundle. Using resistive-force theory, we show that the counter-rotation of the cell body necessary for torque balance is sufficient to wrap the filaments into a bundle, even in the absence of the swirling flows produced by each individual filament

Anterosuperior Glenoid Impingement Syndrome

Anterosuperior glenoid impingement is a well documented cause of shoulder pain. It occurs when there is deep tearing of the subscapularis, with fibers becoming embedded between the anterosuperior glenoid and humeral head. To our knowledge, this has not been described in radiologic literature and we present MRI findings depicting this entit

Twirling Elastica: Kinks, Viscous Drag, and Torsional Stress

Biological filaments such as DNA or bacterial flagella are typically curved in their natural states. To elucidate the interplay of viscous drag, twisting, and bending in the overdamped dynamics of such filaments, we compute the steady-state torsional stress and shape of a rotating rod with a kink. Drag deforms the rod, ultimately extending or folding it depending on the kink angle. For certain kink angles and kink locations, both states are possible at high rotation rates. The agreement between our macroscopic experiments and the theory is good, with no adjustable parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

SLIP-Based Control of Bipedal Walking Based on Two-Level Control Strategy

In this research, we propose a two-level control strategy for simultaneous gait generation and stable control of planar walking of the Assume The Robot Is A Sphere (ATRIAS) biped robot with unlocked torso, utilizing active spring-loaded inverted pendulum (ASLIP) as reference models. The upper level consists of an energy-regulating control calculated using the ASLIP model, producing reference ground reaction forces (GRFs) for the desired gait. In the lower level controller, PID force controllers for the motors ensure tracking of the reference GRFs for ATRIAS direct dynamics. Meanwhile, ATRIAS torso angle is controlled stably to make it able to follow a point mass template model. Advantages of the proposed control strategy include simplicity and efficiency. Simulation results using ATRIAS’s complete dynamic model show that the proposed two-level controller can reject initial condition disturbances while generating stable and steady walking motion