Related papers: Towards a facile method to protect shorelines
Ocean acidification is a threat to deep-sea corals and could lead to dramatic and rapid loss of the reef framework habitat they build. Weakening of structurally critical parts of the coral reef framework can lead to physical habitat…
Robots have become increasingly prevalent in dynamic and crowded environments such as airports and shopping malls. In these scenarios, the critical challenges for robot navigation are reliability and timely arrival at predetermined…
We investigate certain aspects of the physical mechanisms of root growth in a granular medium and how these roots adapt to changes in water distribution induced by the presence of structural inhomogeneities in the form of solid intrusions.…
Structured waves are ubiquitous for all areas of wave physics, both classical and quantum, where the wavefields are inhomogeneous and cannot be approximated by a single plane wave. Even the interference of two plane waves, or a single…
Microbes thrive in diverse porous environments -- from soil and riverbeds to human lungs and cancer tissues -- spanning multiple scales and conditions. Short- to long-term fluctuations in local factors induce spatio-temporal…
Connectivity patterns of ecological elements are often the core concern of ecologists working at multiple levels of organization (e.g., populations, ecosystems, and landscapes) because these patterns often reflect the forces shaping the…
Soils and sediments are soft, amorphous materials with complex microstructures and mechanical properties, that are also building blocks for industrial materials such as concrete. These Earth-mediated materials evolve under prolonged…
The combined effect of tidal forcing and aquifer heterogeneity leads to intricate transport patterns in coastal aquifers that impact both on solute residence times and mixing dynamics. We study these patterns through detailed numerical…
Fluid transport networks are important in many natural settings and engineering applications, from animal cardiovascular and respiratory systems to plant vasculature to plumbing networks and chemical plants. Understanding how network…
Superhydrophobic surfaces with multi-scale topographies offer exceptionally high apparent water contact angles and low contact angle hysteresis by virtue of the small liquid{\textendash}solid contact fractions they enable. Natural…
Complex network approaches have been successfully applied for studying transport processes in complex systems ranging from road, railway or airline infrastructure over industrial manufacturing to fluid dynamics. Here, we utilize a generic…
Amphiphiles are molecules which have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. In water- and/or oil-like solvent, they self-assemble into extended sheet-like structures due to the hydrophobic effect. The free energy of an amphiphilic system…
This article explores the dynamics of savanna ecosystems with grazing, browsing, and migration effects. Covering over one-eighth of the Earth's land area and supporting about one-fifth of the global population, the savanna is an ecological…
The interaction of waves with structural barriers such as dams breaking plays a critical role in flood defense and tsunami disasters. In this work, we explore the dynamic changes in wave surfaces impacting various structural shapes, e.g.,…
What do the ocean surface and a swaying flag have in common? Both are deformable surfaces exhibiting chaotic motion when exposed to turbulent flows. Whether such motion is primarily driven by flow turbulence or by nonlinear dynamics…
Green infrastructure has potential to alleviate the environmental impact of rapidly growing cities. This potential has inspired laws in Toronto that require the inclusion of rooftops with large vegetation beds, called green roofs, into…
How motile bacteria move near a surface is a problem of fundamental biophysical interest and is key to the emergence of several phenomena of biological, ecological and medical relevance, including biofilm formation. Solid boundaries can…
Using underwater robots instead of humans for the inspection of coastal piers can enhance efficiency while reducing risks. A key challenge in performing these tasks lies in achieving efficient and rapid path planning within complex…
Aquatic creatures exhibit remarkable adaptations of their body to efficiently interact with the surrounding fluid. The tight coupling between their morphology, motion, and the environment are highly complex but serves as a valuable example…
Humans are increasingly stressing ecosystems via habitat destruction, climate change and global population movements leading to the widespread loss of biodiversity and the disruption of key ecological services. Ecosystems characterized…