Spiral calcium wave propagation and annihilation in Xenopus laevis oocytes

Intracellular calcium (Ca2+) is a ubiquitous second messenger. Information is encoded in the magnitude, frequency, and spatial organization of changes in the concentration of cytosolic free Ca2+. Regenerative spiral waves of release of free Ca2+ were observed by confocal microscopy in Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes. This pattern of Ca2+ activity is characteristic of an intracellular milieu that behaves as a regenerative excitable medium. The minimal critical radius for propagation of focal Ca2+ waves (10.4 micrometers) and the effective diffusion constant for the excitation signal (2.3 x 10(-6) square centimeters per second) were estimated from measurements of velocity and curvature of circular wavefronts expanding from foci. By modeling Ca2+ release with cellular automata, the absolute refractory period for Ca2+ stores (4.7 seconds) was determined. Other phenomena expected of an excitable medium, such as wave propagation of undiminished amplitude and annihilation of colliding wavefronts, were observed.     

Design and control of wave propagation patterns in excitable media

Intricate patterns of wave propagation are exhibited in a chemical reaction-diffusion system with spatiotemporal feedback. Wave behavior is controlled by feedback-regulated excitability gradients that guide propagation in specified directions. Waves interacting with boundaries and with other waves are observed when interaction terms are incorporated into the control algorithm. Spatiotemporal feedback offers wide flexibility for designing and controlling wave behavior in excitable media.     

Anisotropy and spiral organizing centers in patterned excitable media

Chemical wave behavior in a patterned Belousov-Zhabotinsky system prepared by printing the catalyst of the reaction on membranes with an ink jet printer is described. Cellular inhomogeneities give rise to global anisotropy in wave propagation, with specific local patterns resulting in hexagonal, diamond, and pentagonal geometries. Spiral wave sources appear spontaneously and serve as organizing centers of the surrounding wave activity. The experimental methodology offers flexibility for studies of excitable media with made-to-order spatial inhomogeneities.     

Continuous wave acoustic method for determination of moisture content in agricultural soil

This work deals with the problem of measuring moisture content in agricultural soil by means of an on-site, easy to use and real-time acoustic wave system. The method is based on the propagation of an acoustic continuous wave (CW) with frequencies below 900 Hz through the soil. Speed of these acoustic waves enables estimation of water content and degree of saturation in the agricultural soil. It is argued that the change in the speed of sound in relation to the moisture content of the soil can be used for a continuous monitoring and control of irrigation of crops, thus leading to minimum use of irrigation water for optimal crop growth and to other associated advantages. The agreement between the experimental results obtained from the laboratory prototype and those obtained theoretically from Brutsaert's model for elastic wave propagation in soil-air-water system is presented.     

The structure of the core of the spiral wave in the belousov-zhabotinskii reaction

The quantitative structure of the core of the spiral-shaped traveling wave of chemical activity appearing in a thin excitable layer of the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction, in which the oxidation and decarboxylation of malonic acid by bromate ions is catalyzed by ferroin, was analyzed experimentally. Light absorption by ferroin as the reduced reaction catalyst and indicator was measured by means of a video-and computer-based two-dimensional spectrophotometer with 10-micrometer spatial, 2-second temporal, and 256-digital units intensity resolution. The spiral core is a singular site (diameter, 30 micrometers or less) at which intensity modulations due to ferroin-ferriin distributions are at least ten times smaller than in the surrounding area of spiral propagation. Archimedian spirals were fitted to isoconcentration lines.     

Wave-making by whirligig beetles (gyrinidae)

Swimming whirligig beetles (Dineutes carolinus) either make no waves at all or make conspicuous circular or vee-shaped patterns of capillary waves. The beetle's swimming speed can be determined from these wave patterns (or lack of them). Capillary waves precede the beetle for several body lengths, and their reflections may help the beetle avoid solid objects by echolocation. The gravity waves produced by a beetle are always longer than the beetle's hull length. Hence the waves do not interact with the hull to impose an upper limit on speed as they do with conventional ships. Although the beetles swim at high speeds, they apparently do not hydroplane.     

Taming Winfree turbulence of scroll waves in excitable media

Winfree turbulence of scroll waves is a special kind of spatiotemporal chaos that exists exclusively in three-dimensional excitable media and is currently considered one of the principal mechanisms of cardiac fibrillation. A chaotic wave pattern develops through the negative-tension instability of vortex filaments, which tend to spontaneously stretch, bend, loop, and produce an expanding tangle that fills up the volume. We demonstrate that such turbulence can readily be controlled by weak nonresonant modulation of the medium excitability. Depending on the forcing frequency, either suppression or induction of turbulence can be achieved.     

Heat storage in the oceanic upper mixed layer inferred from landsat data

From the spacing of internal wave packets generated by tidal flow over topography, one can determine their propagation speed. The propagation speed depends upon the density anomaly and depth of the upper mixed layer. Attributing the density anomaly to temperature only, one can calculate the heat storage in the upper oceanic layer. On the basis of Landsat images of the New England continental shelf, the heat storage calculated from satellite data has been compared with available in situ observations. The data show that the method may have merit and is deserving of further refinement.     

Curvature and propagation velocity of chemical waves

The collision of circular chemical waves in an excitable medium, the Belousov-Zhabotinskii reaction, leads to characteristic cusplike structures. The high curvatures of these structures are especially suitable for experimentally verifying the predicted proportionality between the velocity and the shape of traveling waves. A computerized spectrophotometric video technique with microscopic resolution was used to determine the proportionality factor (2 x 10(-5) square centimeter per second), which in this case is the diffusion coefficient of the autocatalytic species of the reaction system. A numerical calculation of the spatiotemporal evolution of the cusp structure is in good agreement with the experimental observations.     

瞬态波在非均匀损伤混凝土介质中的传播

研究了瞬态波在非均匀损伤混凝土介质中的传播,将连续非均匀损伤混凝土介质进行分层均匀损伤的近似处理,利用波谱系数传递矩阵和信号处理手段,计算了3种典型损伤模型对近似脉冲输入信号的时域响应.计算结果表明,由于损伤的存在,将导致响应波的波幅增大,波形畸变,损伤越大,这种增大和畸变的影响程度越明显.     

Seismic anisotropy: tracing plate dynamics in the mantle

Elastic anisotropy is present where the speed of a seismic wave depends on its direction. In Earth's mantle, elastic anisotropy is induced by minerals that are preferentially oriented in a directional flow or deformation. Earthquakes generate two seismic wave types: compressional (P) and shear (S) waves, whose coupling in anisotropic rocks leads to scattering, birefringence, and waves with hybrid polarizations. This varied behavior is helping geophysicists explore rock textures within Earth's mantle and crust, map present-day upper-mantle convection, and study the formation of lithospheric plates and the accretion of continents in Earth history.     

The motion of untwisted untorted scroll waves in belousov-zhabotinsky reagent

Rotating waves of activity are seen in various biological phenomena and in chemical mixtures. In thin layers of these media, the waves often appear as spirals spinning around a pivot point, but actually they are scroll-shaped waves rotating around curved filament in three-space. The filament about which the scroll rotates is not stationary, but rather moves through space until it achieves a stable configuration or disappears altogether. Some features of the temporal evolution of a planar scroll wave filament can be understood in terms of the simple equation N = Dkappa, where N is the velocity of the filament in the direction of its principal normal, kappa is the curvature of the filament, and D is the diffusion coefficient of the active chemical species. This equation of motion implies that a scroll ring shrinks in size and collapses in finite time, that an elongated spiral evolves into a symmetric spiral, and that an elongated target pattern becomes more symmetrical and vanishes in finite time. Characteristic times for these processes are estimated. In each case, good quantitative agreement is found between implications of the model and observations of scroll-wave evolution in shallow layers of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reagent.     

Navigating complex labyrinths: optimal paths from chemical waves

The properties of excitable media are exploited to find minimum-length paths in complex labyrinths. Optimal pathways are experimentally determined by the collection of time-lapse position information on chemical waves propagating through mazes prepared with the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The corresponding velocity fields provide maps of optimal paths from every point in an image grid to a particular target point. Collisions of waves that were temporarily separated by obstacles mark boundary lines between Significantly different paths with the same absolute distance. The pathfinding algorithm is tested in very complex mazes with a simple reaction-diffusion model.     

不同频率声波对小球藻繁殖的影响

[目的]研究声波对小球藻繁殖速度的影响,探寻适用于小球藻生长最佳频率。[方法]通过在不同频率的声波条件下对小球藻进行7 d的培养试验,并设置空白对照组,研究不同频率的声波对小球藻生长繁殖的影响。[结果]声波对小球藻生长具有明显的促进作用,尤其是400 Hz的声波作用效果最好。[结论]一定范围频率的声波可以有效促进小球藻的繁殖。     

基于单端行波法的输电线路故障测距系统的设计

快速准确故障定位是保证电力系统安全运行的有效途径之一。文章根据单端行波测距原理,设计出专门的硬件启动电路进行故障检测,采用高速、高精度的A/D转换芯片进行数据转换,高速数据处理芯片DSP进行数据处理和故障波头的提取,实现了输电线路故障点的快速、准确的定位。     

波在局部损伤混凝土介质中的传播

对弹性波在损伤介质中的传播理论进行研究 .利用弹性动力学基本原理和损伤力学模型建立了损伤介质中的波动方程 .求得了波动方程的基本解 ,并进行了实例计算分析 .由于损伤的存在 ,结构的波动响应在波形、波幅、传播时间等各方面都产生了明显的变化 .为进一步的波动反分析和无损检测的研究提供依据     

Global Measurements of Stratospheric Mountain Waves from Space

Temperatures acquired by the Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes for the Atmosphere (CRISTA) during shuttle mission STS-66 have provided measurements of stratospheric mountain waves from space. Large-amplitude, long-wavelength mountain waves at heights of 15 to 30 kilometers above the southern Andes Mountains were observed and characterized, with vigorous wave breaking inferred above 30 kilometers. Mountain waves also occurred throughout the stratosphere (15 to 45 kilometers) over a broad mountainous region of central Eurasia. The global distribution of mountain wave activity accords well with predictions from a mountain wave model. The findings demonstrate that satellites can provide the global data needed to improve mountain wave parameterizations and hence global climate and forecast models.     

Fiber-optical analog of the event horizon

The physics at the event horizon resembles the behavior of waves in moving media. Horizons are formed where the local speed of the medium exceeds the wave velocity. We used ultrashort pulses in microstructured optical fibers to demonstrate the formation of an artificial event horizon in optics. We observed a classical optical effect: the blue-shifting of light at a white-hole horizon. We also showed by theoretical calculations that such a system is capable of probing the quantum effects of horizons, in particular Hawking radiation.     

Communication through a diffusive medium: coherence and capacity

Coherent wave propagation in disordered media gives rise to many fascinating phenomena as diverse as universal conductance fluctuations in mesoscopic metals and speckle patterns in light scattering. Here, the theory of electromagnetic wave propagation in diffusive media is combined with information theory to show how interference affects the information transmission rate between antenna arrays. Nontrivial dependencies of the information capacity on the nature of the antenna arrays are found, such as the dimensionality of the arrays and their direction with respect to the local scattering medium. This approach provides a physical picture for understanding the importance of scattering in the transfer of information through wireless communications.     

Propagation of seismic ground motion in the Kanto Basin, Japan

The pattern of ground motion for a magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Tokyo was captured by 384 strong ground motion instruments across the Kanto sedimentary basin and its surroundings. The records allow the visualization of the propagation of long-period ground motion in the basin and show the refraction of surface waves at the basin edge. The refracted wave does not travel directly from the earthquake epicenter, but traverses the basin obliquely to the edge. The surface wave inside the basin propagates more slowly than that outside such that the wavefronts separate from each other, and the refracted wave heals the discrepancy in the speed of advance of the wavefronts inside and outside the basin. The refracted arrival is dominant near the edge of the Kanto basin.