Related papers: Active shape control by plants in dynamic environm…
We formulate general plant-herbivore interaction models with monotone plant growth functions (rates). We study the impact of monotone plant growth functions in general plant-herbivore models on their dynamics. Our study shows that all…
In this paper, we consider the problem of set-point tracking for a discrete-time plant with unknown plant parameters belonging to a convex and compact uncertainty set. We carry out parameter estimation for an associated auxiliary plant, and…
Morphogenesis involves the transformation of initially simple shapes, such as multicellular spheroids, into more complex $3D$ shapes. These shape changes are governed by mechanical forces including molecular motor-generated forces as well…
We extend the notions of multipole and subsystem symmetries to more general {\it spatially modulated} symmetries. We uncover two instances with exponential and (quasi)-periodic modulations, and provide simple microscopic models in one, two…
Growth pattern dynamics lie at the heart of morphogenesis. Here, we investigate the growth of plant leaves. We compute the conformal transformation that maps the contour of a leaf at a given stage onto the contour of the same leaf at a…
The dynamics of chiral nuclei is investigated for the first time with the time-dependent and tilted axis cranking covariant density functional theories on a three-dimensional space lattice in a microscopic and self-consistent way. The…
We investigate the mechanical interplay between the spatial organization of the actin cytoskeleton and the shape of animal cells adhering on micropillar arrays. Using a combination of analytical work, computer simulations and in vitro…
Controlling the shape of deformable linear objects using robots and constraints provided by environmental fixtures has diverse industrial applications. In order to establish robust contacts with these fixtures, accurate estimation of the…
Collective cell motions underlie structure formation during embryonic development. Tissues exhibit emergent multicellular characteristics such as jamming, rigidity transitions, and glassy dynamics, but there remain questions about how those…
Living organisms have mastered the dynamic control of internal stresses to perform an array of functions, such as change shape and locomote. State-of-the-art attempts to replicate this ability in synthetic materials are rudimentary in…
Foam is a canonical example of disordered soft matter where local force balance leads to the competition of many metastable configurations. Here we present an experimental and theoretical framework for "active foam" where an individual…
We explore the pressure of active particles on curved surfaces and its relation to other interfacial properties. We use both direct simulations of the active systems as well as simulations of an equilibrium system with effective (pair)…
Fluid-structure interactions between active and passive components are important for many biological systems to function. A particular example is chromatin in the cell nucleus, where ATP-powered processes drive coherent motions of the…
Natural slender structures, such as plant leaves, petals, and tendrils, often exhibit complex three-dimensional (3D) morphologies-including twisting, helical coiling, and saddle-bending-driven by differential growth. The resulting internal…
External fields can decidedly alter the free energy landscape of soft materials and can be exploited as a powerful tool for the assembly of targeted nanostructures and colloidal materials. Here, we use computer simulations to demonstrate…
The motility of a cell can be triggered or inhibited not only by an applied force but also by a mechanically neutral force couple. This type of loading, represented by an applied stress and commonly interpreted as either squeezing or…
Climate change is a major threat to crop potential and is characterized by both long-term shifts in temperature and precipitation patterns as well as increased occurrence of extreme weather events, these extreme weather events are the most…
The dynamical relaxation and scaling properties of three different variants of the contact process in two spatial dimensions are analysed. Dynamical contact processes capture a variety of contagious processes such as the spreading of…
The mechanics of a foam typically depends on the bubble geometry, topology, and the material at hand, be it metallic or polymeric, for example. While the foam energy functional for each bubble is typically minimization of surface area for a…
We introduce a general theoretical framework to study the shape dynamics of actively growing and remodeling surfaces. Using this framework we develop a physical model for growing bacterial cell walls and study the interplay of cell shape…