Related papers: A model for exploring bird morphology
Modeling biological processes is a highly demanding task because not all processes are fully understood. Mathematical models allow us to test hypotheses about possible mechanisms of biological processes. The mathematical mechanisms…
Phylogenetic mixture models are statistical models of character evolution allowing for heterogeneity. Each of the classes in some unknown partition of the characters may evolve by different processes, or even along different trees. The…
Statistical Shape Models of faces and various body parts are heavily used in medical image analysis, computer vision and visualization. Whilst the field is well explored with many existing tools, all of them aim at experts, which limits…
The design and control of winged aircraft and drones is an iterative process aimed at identifying a compromise of mission-specific costs and constraints. When agility is required, shape-shifting (morphing) drones represent an efficient…
Many widely used models amount to an elaborate means of making up numbers--but once a number has been produced, it tends to be taken seriously and its source (the model) is rarely examined carefully. Many widely used models have little…
Ongoing investigations to introduce software techniques suitable to support new experimental requirements for multi-scale simulation are discussed.
The aerial flocking of birds, or murmurations, has fascinated observers while presenting many challenges to behavioral study and simulation. We examine how the periphery of murmurations remain well bounded and cohesive. We also investigate…
This paper describes work carried out on a model for the evolution of graph classes in complex objects. By defining evolution rules and propagation strategies on graph classes, we aim to define a user-definable means to manage data…
This text surveys different probabilistic aspects of a model which is used to describe the evolution of an object that falls apart randomly as time passes. Each point of view yields useful techniques to establish properties of such random…
With systems for acquiring 3D surface data being evermore commonplace, it has become important to reliably extract specific shapes from the acquired data. In the presence of noise and occlusions, this can be done through the use of…
Experimental approaches have been applied to address questions in understanding three-dimensional chromatin organisation and function. As datasets increase in size and complexity, it becomes a challenge to reach a mechanistic interpretation…
Understanding the growth and form of shapes is one of the most fundamental problems in biology. While many prior works have analyzed the beak shapes of Darwin's finches, other cranial features are relatively less explored. In this work, we…
We discuss prospects of using multi-dimensional time-dependent simulations to study the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and extrasolar giant planets, including the processes of convection, radiation, dust formation, and rotation. We argue that…
Birds flying across a region containing a windfarm risk death from turbine encounters. This paper describes a geometric model that helps estimate that risk and a spreadsheet that implements the model.
Tried-and-true flapping wing robot simulation is essential in developing flapping wing mechanisms and algorithms. This paper presents a novel application-oriented flapping wing platform, highly compatible with various mechanical designs and…
Motion perception is a critical capability determining a variety of aspects of insects' life, including avoiding predators, foraging and so forth. A good number of motion detectors have been identified in the insects' visual pathways.…
This research considers the task of evolving the physical structure of a robot to enhance its performance in various environments, which is a significant problem in the field of Evolutionary Robotics. Inspired by the fields of evolutionary…
The present work is concerned with the shape optimization of flapping wings in forward flight. The analysis is performed by combining a gradient-based optimizer with the unsteady vortex lattice method (UVLM). We describe the UVLM…
Modular forms are highly self-symmetric functions studied in number theory, with connections to several areas of mathematics. But they are rarely visualized. We discuss ongoing work to compute and visualize modular forms as 3D surfaces and…
We introduce here three complementary models to analyze the role of predation pressure in avian coloniality. Different explanations have been proposed for the existence of colonial breeding behavior in birds, but field studies offer no…