Crumpling of a stiff tethered membrane

first-principles numerical simulation model for crumpling of a stiff tethered membrane is introduced. In our model membranes, wrinkles, ridge formation, ridge collapse, as well as the initiation of stiffness divergence, are observed. The ratio of the amplitude and wave length of the wrinkles, and the scaling exponent of the stiffness divergence, are consistent with both theory and experiment. We observe that close to the stiffness divergence there appears a crossover beyond which the elastic behavior of a tethered membrane becomes similar to that of dry granular media. This suggests that ridge formation in membranes and force-chain network formation in granular packings are different manifestations of a single phenomenon.Comment: For full resolution figures, please send us an emai

The Visibility Of Information Science And Library Science Research In Bibliometric Mapping Of The Lis Field

The relation between information science and library science has been debated for decades, and even attempts at utilizing methods generally acknowledged as robust for the purpose of mapping research fields have yielded results with large variations. The

Brittle fracture down to femto-Joules - and below

We analyze large sets of energy-release data created by stress-induced brittle fracture in a pure sapphire crystal at close to zero temperature where stochastic fluctuations are minimal. The waiting-time distribution follows that observed for fracture in rock and for earthquakes. Despite strong time correlations of the events and the presence of large-event precursors, simple prediction algorithms only succeed in a very weak probabilistic sense. We also discuss prospects for further cryogenic experiments reaching close to single-bond sensitivity and able to investigate the existence of a transition-stress regime.Comment: REVTeX, new figure added, minor modifications to tex

The Dynamics of Hybrid Metabolic-Genetic Oscillators

The synthetic construction of intracellular circuits is frequently hindered by a poor knowledge of appropriate kinetics and precise rate parameters. Here, we use generalized modeling (GM) to study the dynamical behavior of topological models of a family of hybrid metabolic-genetic circuits known as "metabolators." Under mild assumptions on the kinetics, we use GM to analytically prove that all explicit kinetic models which are topologically analogous to one such circuit, the "core metabolator," cannot undergo Hopf bifurcations. Then, we examine more detailed models of the metabolator. Inspired by the experimental observation of a Hopf bifurcation in a synthetically constructed circuit related to the core metabolator, we apply GM to identify the critical components of the synthetically constructed metabolator which must be reintroduced in order to recover the Hopf bifurcation. Next, we study the dynamics of a re-wired version of the core metabolator, dubbed the "reverse" metabolator, and show that it exhibits a substantially richer set of dynamical behaviors, including both local and global oscillations. Prompted by the observation of relaxation oscillations in the reverse metabolator, we study the role that a separation of genetic and metabolic time scales may play in its dynamics, and find that widely separated time scales promote stability in the circuit. Our results illustrate a generic pipeline for vetting the potential success of a potential circuit design, simply by studying the dynamics of the corresponding generalized model

On the Selection of Tuning Methodology of FOPID Controllers for the Control of Higher Order Processes

In this paper, a comparative study is done on the time and frequency domain tuning strategies for fractional order (FO) PID controllers to handle higher order processes. A new fractional order template for reduced parameter modeling of stable minimum/non-minimum phase higher order processes is introduced and its advantage in frequency domain tuning of FOPID controllers is also presented. The time domain optimal tuning of FOPID controllers have also been carried out to handle these higher order processes by performing optimization with various integral performance indices. The paper highlights on the practical control system implementation issues like flexibility of online autotuning, reduced control signal and actuator size, capability of measurement noise filtration, load disturbance suppression, robustness against parameter uncertainties etc. in light of the above tuning methodologies.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure

Ciprofloxacin enhances the stimulation of matrix metalloproteinase 3 expression by interleukin-1beta in human tendon-derived cells

To determine whether the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin, which can cause tendon pain and rupture in a proportion of treated patients, affects the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in human tendon-derived cells in culture. Cell cultures were derived from 6 separate tendon explants, and were incubated in 6-well culture plates for 2 periods of 48 hours each, with ciprofloxacin (or DMSO in controls) and interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), alone and in combination. Samples of supernatant medium from the second 48-hour incubation were assayed for MMPs 1, 2, and 3 by Western blotting. RNA was extracted from the cells and assayed for MMP messenger RNA (mRNA) by semiquantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, with normalization for GAPDH mRNA. Unstimulated tendon cells expressed low or undetectable levels of MMP-1 and MMP-3, and substantial levels of MMP-2. IL-1ß induced a substantial output of both MMP-1 and MMP-3 into cell supernatants, reflecting increases (typically 100-fold) in MMP mRNA, but had only minor effects on MMP-2 expression. Ciprofloxacin had no detectable effect on MMP output in unstimulated cells. Preincubation with ciprofloxacin potentiated IL-1ß–stimulated MMP-3 output, reflecting a similar effect on MMP-3 mRNA expression. Ciprofloxacin also potentiated IL-1ß–stimulated MMP-1 mRNA expression, but did not potentiate the output of MMP-1, and had no significant effects on MMP-2 mRNA expression or output. Ciprofloxacin can selectively enhance MMP expression in tendon-derived cells. Such effects might compromise tendon microstructure and integrity