INTEGRATING MECHANICAL CONTROL THEORY INTO MODELS OF BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT — ANALYTICAL REVIEW

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (04) ◽  
pp. 713-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALKO PETROV ◽  
CHRISTOF AEGERTER

This paper presents both a general review on developmental biomechanics and a concrete proposition for the computation of a symmetry breaking instability of a model of biological development in terms of self-organization theory. The necessary biological and physical facts taken from the literature are described and discussed in the context of a unified statement of the problems for mathematical modeling of pattern formation. This is then applied to planar cell polarization (PCP) of the Drosophila wing. In this way, the process is modeled by an elastopolarization equation. In terms of this statement, the mechanical specificity (interaction with basal plate) of wing PCP is characterized. Some aspects of modeling somite formation as well as other developmental processes are also concerned.

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (13) ◽  
pp. 3551-3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Getzin ◽  
Hezi Yizhaq ◽  
Bronwyn Bell ◽  
Todd E. Erickson ◽  
Anthony C. Postle ◽  
...  

Vegetation gap patterns in arid grasslands, such as the “fairy circles” of Namibia, are one of nature’s greatest mysteries and subject to a lively debate on their origin. They are characterized by small-scale hexagonal ordering of circular bare-soil gaps that persists uniformly in the landscape scale to form a homogeneous distribution. Pattern-formation theory predicts that such highly ordered gap patterns should be found also in other water-limited systems across the globe, even if the mechanisms of their formation are different. Here we report that so far unknown fairy circles with the same spatial structure exist 10,000 km away from Namibia in the remote outback of Australia. Combining fieldwork, remote sensing, spatial pattern analysis, and process-based mathematical modeling, we demonstrate that these patterns emerge by self-organization, with no correlation with termite activity; the driving mechanism is a positive biomass–water feedback associated with water runoff and biomass-dependent infiltration rates. The remarkable match between the patterns of Australian and Namibian fairy circles and model results indicate that both patterns emerge from a nonuniform stationary instability, supporting a central universality principle of pattern-formation theory. Applied to the context of dryland vegetation, this principle predicts that different systems that go through the same instability type will show similar vegetation patterns even if the feedback mechanisms and resulting soil–water distributions are different, as we indeed found by comparing the Australian and the Namibian fairy-circle ecosystems. These results suggest that biomass–water feedbacks and resultant vegetation gap patterns are likely more common in remote drylands than is currently known.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 340-351
Author(s):  
Georgy G. Malinetsky

In the 1950s, Charles Snow wrote about the growing gap between the humanities and natural science cultures. He saw this as a great danger both for science itself and for all humankind. In Russia, it was complemented by a crisis of humanitarian knowledge. The article considers the ways to overcome this crisis and build a bridge between cultures.The solution of these problems is associated with the development of interdisciplinary approaches in general, and the theory of self-organization in particular. Synergetics today represents an approach that lies at the intersection of subject knowledge, philosophical reflection and mathematical modeling. It allows you to solve problems that go beyond individual scientific disciplines. Many of them require an analysis of processes and factors in rational, emotional and intuitive spaces.The article shows that the ongoing humanitarian and technological revolution, the tasks of designing the future, increase the role of humanitarian knowledge. The author substantiates the importance of a civilizational approach to humanitarian culture and considers the cultural issues of the unique civilization of Russia. There is outlined a number of specific steps to overcome the crisis of Russian humanitarian knowledge.The concept of cultural challenge is of particular importance among the problems for which solutions are proposed. The transition from the industrial to the post-industrial phase of the civilization development and the widespread use of artificial intelligence systems will free from work about half of people. The social stability and prospects for the civilization development are determined by the ability of culture to make their life complete, meaningful and creative. The use of interdisciplinary approaches in the education system of Russia is of fundamental importance in the course of the humanitarian and technological revolution. The organizational and financial reforms of the last thirty years have led education to a deep crisis. The interdisciplinary approaches are needed in order to balance the wishes of the programs authors, the opportunities of students and to correlate the training received with the prospects for the country’s development. The revision of the content and forms of education today is becoming a problem not only for teachers and scientists, but also for the entire national culture.The imperative of our country’s cultural development is the image of the future. In the industrial era, there was an idea of universality of the ways of social systems development. In the postindustrial reality, the world becomes more complex, diversity increases. At the current point of bifurcation, several development paths open up. A civilization’s cultural choice, based on tradition, scientific forecasting and the image of the future, becomes fundamental. Interdisciplinary approaches can play a fundamental role in shaping such a cultural choice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (supplement1-2) ◽  
pp. S104
Author(s):  
Yukinobu Arata ◽  
Michio Hiroshima ◽  
Chan-gi Pack ◽  
Tetsuya J. Kobayashi ◽  
Tatsuo Shibata ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Yi Yang ◽  
Hong-yan Yan ◽  
Ze-yun Yang

Mutual guarantee systems (MGS) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are complex system mainly serving the SMEs, including the mutual guarantee institutions formed by SMEs, financial institutions, industry associations and credit re-guarantee institutions. From the perspective of system theory, this paper illuminates the self-organization mechanisms and the self-organization characteristics of openness, far-from-equilibrium, nonlinearity and fluctuation of mutual guarantee systems of SMEs. The implication of self-organization theory is that under some conditions, mutual guarantee systems have the internal tendencies of autopoietic, self-evolution and evolution from disorder to order and from low level to high level to solve SMEs’ financing problems. Using self-organization theory, this paper proposes suggestions and measures to improve the operation efficiency of mutual guarantee systems in China.


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