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Florian Voss

Publications and source records attributed to Florian Voss.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Gradient dynamics model for chemically driven running drops

We present a thermodynamically consistent model for chemically driven running drops on a solid substrate with reversible substrate adsorption of a wettability-changing chemical species. We consider drops confined to a vertical gap, thereby allowing us to first obtain a gradient dynamics description of the closed system, corresponding to a set of coupled dynamical equations for the drop profile and the chemical concentration profiles of species on the substrate and in both fluids (drop, ambient medium). Chemostatting the species in the drop and the ambient medium, we then derive a reduced model for the dynamics of the drop and the adsorbate on the substrate. When the externally imposed chemical potentials are distinct, the system is driven away from thermodynamic equilibrium, allowing for sustained drop self-propulsion across the substrate due to a wettability contrast maintained by chemical reactions. We numerically study the resulting running drops and show how they emerge from drift-pitchfork bifurcations.

cond-mat.soft

From bipedal to chaotic motion of chemically fueled partially wetting liquid drops

We employ a thermodynamically consistent out-of-equilibrium continuum model to study the motion patterns of partially wetting liquid drops covered by autocatalytically reacting surfactants. When ambient chemostats feed a chemomechanical feedback loop involving a nonlinear reaction network, surface stresses caused by the Marangoni effect and the ensuing hydrodynamic motion, drops show a variety of increasingly complex biomimetic motility modes including shuttling, bipedal, rotational, intermittently chaotic and chaotic motion. We determine the corresponding nonequilibrium phase diagram and show that the complexity of the motion arises from competing length scales.

nlin.AO

Chemomechanical motility modes of partially wetting liquid droplets

We consider a simple thermodynamically consistent model that captures the self-organized chemomechanical coupling resulting from the interplay between autocatalytically reacting surfactants, the Marangoni effect and wetting dynamics. An ambient bath of surfactant acts as a chemostat and provides the system with chemical fuel, thereby driving it away from thermodynamic equilibrium. We find that a positive feedback loop between the local reactions and the Marangoni effect induces surface tension gradients that allow for self-propelled droplets. Besides simple directional motion, we find crawling and shuttling droplets as well as droplets performing random walks, thus exploring the entire substrate. We study the occurring chemomechanical motility modes and show how the observed dynamic states emerge from local and global bifurcations. Due to the underlying generic thermodynamic structure, we expect that our results are relevant not only to directly related biomimetic droplet systems but also to structurally similar systems like chemically active phase-separating mixtures.

cond-mat.soft

Gradient dynamics approach to reactive thin-film hydrodynamics

Wetting and dewetting dynamics of simple and complex liquids is described by kinetic equations in gradient dynamics form that incorporates the various coupled dissipative processes in a fully thermodynamically consistent manner. After briefly reviewing this, we also review how chemical reactions can be captured by a related gradient dynamics description, assuming detailed balanced mass action type kinetics. Then, we bring both aspects together and discuss mesoscopic reactive thin-film hydrodynamics illustrated by two examples, namely, models for reactive wetting and reactive surfactants. These models can describe the approach to equilibrium but may also be employed to study out-of-equilibrium chemo-mechanical dynamics. In the latter case, one breaks the gradient dynamics form by chemostatting to obtain active systems. In this way, for reactive wetting we recover running drops that are driven by chemically sustained wettability gradients and for drops covered by autocatalytic reactive surfactants we find complex forms of self-propulsion and self-excited oscillations.

physics.flu-dyn

Survival analysis for AdVerse events with VarYing follow-up times (SAVVY) -- estimation of adverse event risks

The SAVVY project aims to improve the analyses of adverse event (AE) data in clinical trials through the use of survival techniques appropriately dealing with varying follow-up times and competing events (CEs). Although statistical methodologies have advanced, in AE analyses often the incidence proportion, the incidence density, or a non-parametric Kaplan-Meier estimator (KME) are used, which either ignore censoring or CEs. In an empirical study including randomized clinical trials from several sponsor organisations, these potential sources of bias are investigated. The main aim is to compare the estimators that are typically used in AE analysis to the Aalen-Johansen estimator (AJE) as the gold-standard. Here, one-sample findings are reported, while a companion paper considers consequences when comparing treatment groups. Estimators are compared with descriptive statistics, graphical displays and with a random effects meta-analysis. The influence of different factors on the size of the bias is investigated in a meta-regression. Comparisons are conducted at the maximum follow-up time and at earlier evaluation time points. CEs definition does not only include death before AE but also end of follow-up for AEs due to events possibly related to the disease course or the treatment. Ten sponsor organisations provided 17 trials including 186 types of AEs. The one minus KME was on average about 1.2-fold larger than the AJE. Leading forces influencing bias were the amount of censoring and of CEs. As a consequence, the average bias using the incidence proportion was less than 5%. Assuming constant hazards using incidence densities was hardly an issue provided that CEs were accounted for. There is a need to improve the guidelines of reporting risks of AEs so that the KME and the incidence proportion are replaced by the AJE with an appropriate definition of CEs.

stat.AP

On estimands and the analysis of adverse events in the presence of varying follow-up times within the benefit assessment of therapies

The analysis of adverse events (AEs) is a key component in the assessment of a drug's safety profile. Inappropriate analysis methods may result in misleading conclusions about a therapy's safety and consequently its benefit-risk ratio. The statistical analysis of AEs is complicated by the fact that the follow-up times can vary between the patients included in a clinical trial. This paper takes as its focus the analysis of AE data in the presence of varying follow-up times within the benefit assessment of therapeutic interventions. Instead of approaching this issue directly and solely from an analysis point of view, we first discuss what should be estimated in the context of safety data, leading to the concept of estimands. Although the current discussion on estimands is mainly related to efficacy evaluation, the concept is applicable to safety endpoints as well. Within the framework of estimands, we present statistical methods for analysing AEs with the focus being on the time to the occurrence of the first AE of a specific type. We give recommendations which estimators should be used for the estimands described. Furthermore, we state practical implications of the analysis of AEs in clinical trials and give an overview of examples across different indications. We also provide a review of current practices of health technology assessment (HTA) agencies with respect to the evaluation of safety data. Finally, we describe problems with meta-analyses of AE data and sketch possible solutions.

stat.OT

Scaling limits for shortest path lengths along the edges of stationary tessellations - Supplementary material

We consider spatial stochastic models, which can be applied e.g. to telecommunication networks with two hierarchy levels. In particular, we consider two Cox processes concentrated on the edge set of a random tessellation, where the points can describe the locations of low-level and high-level network components, respectively, and the edge set the underlying infrastructure of the network, like road systems, railways, etc. Furthermore, each low-level component is marked with the shortest path along the edge set to the nearest high-level component. We investigate the typical shortest path length of the resulting marked point process, which is an important characteristic e.g. in performance analysis and planning of telecommunication networks. In particular, we show that its distribution converges to simple parametric limit distributions if a certain scaling factor converges to zero and infinity, respectively. This can be used to approximate the density of the typical shortest path length by analytical formulae.

math.PR