Unicellular algal growth: A biomechanical approach to cell wall dynamics

We present a model for unicellular algal growth as motivated by several experiments implicating the importance of calcium ions and ``loosening'' enzymes in morphogenesis. A growing cell at rest in a diffusive calcium solution is viewed as an elastic shell on short timescales. For a given turgor pressure, we calculate the stressed shapes of the wall elements whose elastic properties are determined by Young's modulus and the thickness of the wall. The local enzyme concentration then determines the rate at which the unstressed shape of a wall element relaxes toward its stressed shape. The local wall thickness is calculated from the calcium-mediated addition of material and thinning due to elongation. We use this model to calculate growth rates for small perturbations to a circular cell. We find an instability related to modulations of the wall thickness, leading to growth rates which peak at a finite wave number.Comment: 5 pages, 2 embedded figure

A Phase-Field Model of Spiral Dendritic Growth

Domains of condensed-phase monolayers of chiral molecules exhibit a variety of interesting nonequilibrium structures when formed via pressurization. To model these domain patterns, we add a complex field describing the tilt degree of freedom to an (anisotropic) complex-phase-field solidification model. The resulting formalism allows for the inclusion of (in general, non-reflection symmetric) interactions between the tilt, the solid-liquid interface, and the bond orientation. Simulations demonstrate the ability of the model to exhibit spiral dendritic growth.Comment: text plus Four postscript figure file

Measuring and Comparing Party Ideology and Heterogeneity

Estimates of party ideological positions in Western Democracies yield useful party-level information, but lack the ability to provide insight into intraparty politics. In this paper, we generate comparable measures of latent individual policy positions from elite survey data which enable analysis of elite-level party ideology and heterogeneity. This approach has advantages over both expert surveys and approaches based on behavioral data, such as roll call voting and is directly relevant to the study of party cohesion. We generate a measure of elite positions for several European countries using a common space scaling approach and demonstrate its validity as a measure of party ideology. We then apply these data to determine the sources of party heterogeneity, focusing on the role of intraparty competition in electoral systems, nomination rules, and party goals. We find that policy-seeking parties and centralized party nomination rules reduce party heterogeneity. While intraparty competition has no effect, the presence of these electoral rules conditions the effect of district magnitude