147 research outputs found
Modeling the Role of the Cell Cycle in Regulating Proteus mirabilis Swarm-Colony Development
We present models and computational results which indicate that the spatial
and temporal regularity seen in Proteus mirabilis swarm-colony development is
largely an expression of a sharp age of dedifferentiation in the cell cycle
from motile swarmer cells to immotile dividing cells (also called swimmer or
vegetative cells.) This contrasts strongly with reaction-diffusion models of
Proteus behavior that ignore or average out the age structure of the cell
population and instead use only density-dependent mechanisms. We argue the
necessity of retaining the explicit age structure, and suggest experiments that
may help determine the underlying mechanisms empirically. Consequently, we
advocate Proteus as a model organism for a multiscale understanding of how and
to what extent the life cycle of individual cells affects the macroscopic
behavior of a biological system
The three- and four-nucleon systems from chiral effective field theory
Recently developed chiral nucleon-nucleon (NN) forces at next-to-leading
order (NLO) that describe NN phase shifts up to about 100 MeV fairly well have
been applied to 3N and 4N systems. Faddeev-Yakubovsky equations have been
solved rigorously. The chiral NLO forces depend on a momentum cut-off \Lambda
lying between 540-600 MeV/c. The resulting 3N and 4N binding energies are in
the same range as found using standard NN potentials. In additon, low-energy 3N
scattering observables are very well reproduced like for standard NN forces.
Surprisingly, the long standing A_y-puzzle is resolved at NLO. The cut-off
dependence of the scattering observables is rather mild.Comment: 4 pp, revtex, 3 figure
Theory of periodic swarming of bacteria: application to Proteus mirabilis
The periodic swarming of bacteria is one of the simplest examples for pattern
formation produced by the self-organized collective behavior of a large number
of organisms. In the spectacular colonies of Proteus mirabilis (the most common
species exhibiting this type of growth) a series of concentric rings are
developed as the bacteria multiply and swarm following a scenario periodically
repeating itself. We have developed a theoretical description for this process
in order to get a deeper insight into some of the typical processes governing
the phenomena in systems of many interacting living units. All of our
theoretical results are in excellent quantitative agreement with the complete
set of available observations.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Population Dynamics and Non-Hermitian Localization
We review localization with non-Hermitian time evolution as applied to simple
models of population biology with spatially varying growth profiles and
convection. Convection leads to a constant imaginary vector potential in the
Schroedinger-like operator which appears in linearized growth models. We
illustrate the basic ideas by reviewing how convection affects the evolution of
a population influenced by a simple square well growth profile. Results from
discrete lattice growth models in both one and two dimensions are presented. A
set of similarity transformations which lead to exact results for the spectrum
and winding numbers of eigenfunctions for random growth rates in one dimension
is described in detail. We discuss the influence of boundary conditions, and
argue that periodic boundary conditions lead to results which are in fact
typical of a broad class of growth problems with convection.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure
N-d scattering above the deuteron breakup threshold
The complex Kohn variational principle and the (correlated) Hyperspherical
Harmonics technique are applied to study the N--d scattering above the deuteron
breakup threshold. The configuration with three outgoing nucleons is explicitly
taken into account by solving a set of differential equations with outgoing
boundary conditions. A convenient procedure is used to obtain the correct
boundary conditions at values of the hyperradius fm. The
inclusion of the Coulomb potential is straightforward and does not give
additional difficulties. Numerical results have been obtained for a simple
s-wave central potential. They are in nice agreement with the benchmarks
produced by different groups using the Faddeev technique. Comparisons are also
done with experimental elastic N--d cross section at several energies.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, 3 figure
Three-Nucleon Forces from Chiral Effective Field Theory
We perform the first complete analysis of nd scattering at
next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory including the
corresponding three-nucleon force and extending our previous work, where only
the two-nucleon interaction has been taken into account. The three-nucleon
force appears first at this order in the chiral expansion and depends on two
unknown parameters. These two parameters are determined from the triton binding
energy and the nd doublet scattering length. We find an improved description of
various scattering observables in relation to the next-to-leading order results
especially at moderate energies (E_lab = 65 MeV). It is demonstrated that the
long-standing A_y-problem in nd elastic scattering is still not solved by the
leading 3NF, although some visible improvement is observed. We discuss
possibilities of solving this puzzle. The predicted binding energy for the
alpha-particle agrees with the empirical value.Comment: 36 pp, 20 figure
The cross section minima in elastic Nd scattering: a ``smoking gun'' for three nucleon force effects
Neutron-deuteron elastic scattering cross sections are calculated at
different energies using modern nucleon-nucleon interactions and the
Tucson-Melbourne three-nucleon force adjusted to the triton binding energy.
Predictions based on NN forces only underestimate nucleon-deuteron data in the
minima at higher energies starting around 60 MeV. Adding the three-nucleon
forces fills up those minima and reduces the discrepancies significantly.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Micro-patterned surfaces that exploit stigmergy to inhibit biofilm expansion
Twitching motility is a mode of surface translocation that is mediated by the extension and retraction of type IV pili and which, depending on the conditions, enables migration of individual cells or can manifest as a complex multicellular collective behavior that leads to biofilm expansion. When twitching motility occurs at the interface of an abiotic surface and solidified nutrient media, it can lead to the emergence of extensive self-organized patterns of interconnected trails that form as a consequence of the actively migrating bacteria forging a furrow network in the substratum beneath the expanding biofilm. These furrows appear to direct bacterial movements much in the same way that roads and footpaths coordinate motor vehicle and human pedestrian traffic. Self-organizing systems such as these can be accounted for by the concept of stigmergy which describes self-organization that emerges through indirect communication via persistent signals within the environment. Many bacterial communities are able to actively migrate across solid and semi-solid surfaces through complex multicellular collective behaviors such as twitching motility and flagella-mediated swarming motility. Here, we have examined the potential of exploiting the stigmergic behavior of furrow-mediated trail following as a means of controlling bacterial biofilm expansion along abiotic surfaces. We found that incorporation of a series of parallel micro-fabricated furrows significantly impeded active biofilm expansion by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris. We observed that in both cases bacterial movements tended to be directed along the furrows. We also observed that narrow furrows were most effective at disrupting biofilm expansion as they impeded the ability of cells to self-organize into multicellular assemblies required for escape from the furrows and migration into new territory. Our results suggest that the implementation of micro-fabricated furrows that exploit stigmergy may be a novel approach to impeding active biofilm expansion across abiotic surfaces such as those used in medical and industrial settings
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