arXiv subjects

Rajeev Singh

Publications and source records attributed to Rajeev Singh.

99 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

The role of cellular coupling in the spontaneous generation of electrical activity in uterine tissue

The spontaneous emergence of contraction-inducing electrical activity in the uterus at the beginning of labor remains poorly understood, partly due to the seemingly contradictory observation that isolated uterine cells are not spontaneously active. It is known, however, that the expression of gap junctions increases dramatically in the approach to parturition, which results in a significant increase in inter-cellular electrical coupling. In this paper, we build upon previous studies of the activity of electrically excitable smooth muscle cells (myocytes) and investigate the mechanism through which the coupling of these cells to electrically passive cells results in the generation of spontaneous activity in the uterus. Using a recently developed, realistic model of uterine muscle cell dynamics, we investigate a system consisting of a myocyte coupled to passive cells. We then extend our analysis to a simple two-dimensional lattice model of the tissue, with each myocyte being coupled to its neighbors, as well as to a random number of passive cells. We observe that different dynamical regimes can be observed over a range of gap junction conductances: at low coupling strength, the activity is confined to cell clusters, while the activity for high coupling may spread across the entire tissue. Additionally, we find that the system supports the spontaneous generation of spiral wave activity. Our results are both qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with observations from in vitro experiments. In particular, we demonstrate that an increase in inter-cellular electrical coupling, for realistic parameter values, strongly facilitates the appearance of spontaneous action potentials that may eventually lead to parturition.

q-bio.TO↗

arXiv2013

Extreme variability in convergence to structural balance in frustrated dynamical systems

In many complex systems, the dynamical evolution of the different components can result in adaptation of the connections between them. We consider the problem of how a fully connected network of discrete-state dynamical elements which can interact via positive or negative links, approaches structural balance by evolving its links to be consistent with the states of its components. The adaptation process, inspired by Hebb's principle, involves the interaction strengths evolving in accordance with the dynamical states of the elements. We observe that in the presence of stochastic fluctuations in the dynamics of the components, the system can exhibit large dispersion in the time required for converging to the balanced state. This variability is characterized by a bimodal distribution, which points to an intriguing non-trivial problem in the study of evolving energy landscapes.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2013

Hydrodynamic Instabilities Provide A Generic Route To Spontaneous Biomimetic Oscillations In Chemomechanically Active Filaments

Non-equilibrium processes which convert chemical energy into mechanical motion enable the motility of organisms. Bundles of inextensible filaments driven by energy transduction of molecular motors form essential components of micron-scale motility engines like cilia and flagella. The mimicry of cilia-like motion in recent experiments on synthetic active filaments supports the idea that generic physical mechanisms may be sufficient to generate such motion. Here we show, theoretically, that the competition between the destabilising effect of hydrodynamic interactions induced by force-free and torque-free chemomechanically active flows, and the stabilising effect of nonlinear elasticity, provides a generic route to spontaneous oscillations in active filaments. These oscillations, reminiscent of prokaryotic and eukaryotic flagellar motion, are obtained without having to invoke structural complexity or biochemical regulation. This minimality implies that biomimetic oscillations, previously observed only in complex bundles of active filaments, can be replicated in simple chains of generic chemomechanically active beads.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2013

Complex patterns arise through spontaneous symmetry breaking in dense homogeneous networks of neural oscillators

Recent experiments have highlighted how collective dynamics in networks of brain regions affect behavior and cognitive function. In this paper we show that a simple, homogeneous system of densely connected oscillators representing the aggregate activity of local brain regions can exhibit a rich variety of dynamical patterns emerging via spontaneous breaking of permutation or translational symmetry. Our results connect recent experimental findings and suggest that a range of complicated activity patterns seen in the brain could be explained even without a full knowledge of its wiring diagram.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Large variability in dynamical transitions in biological systems with quenched disorder

Coherent oscillatory activity can arise spontaneously as a result of increased coupling in a system of excitable and passive cells, each being quiescent in isolation. This can potentially explain the appearance of spontaneous rhythmic contractions in the pregnant uterus close to term. We investigate the transition to periodic activity using a model system comprising a lattice of excitable cells, each being coupled to a variable number of passive cells whose distribution defines a quenched realization (replica) of spatial disorder. Close to the transition between quiescent state and sustained oscillations in the system we observe large fluctuations between different replicas induced by variations in the local density of passive cells around an excitable cell. We demonstrate that the disorder-induced fluctuations can be described in terms of a simple scaling relation which involves the strength of coupling between excitable cells, the mean passive cell density, as well as the logarithm of the system size. Our results can be interpreted as suggesting that larger organs will have greater variability in the onset of persistent activity.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2012

Comment on "Growth Inside a Corner: The Limiting Interface Shape"

We examine the conjectured asymptotic shape of the three dimensional corner growth model [Olejarz et. al.,PRL, 108, 016102 (2012)] by mapping the model onto a restricted solid on solid model on a triangular lattice. By choosing appropriate boundary conditions, we are able to obtain high precision numerical results for the growth velocity using Monte Carlo simulations. We find that the numerical results are not consistent with the conjecture.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2012

Dynamical order, disorder and propagating defects in homogeneous system of relaxation oscillators

Reaction-diffusion (RD) mechanisms in chemical and biological systems can yield a variety of patterns that may be functionally important. We show that diffusive coupling through the inactivating component in a generic model of coupled relaxation oscillators give rise to a wide range of spatio-temporal phenomena. Apart from analytically explaining the genesis of anti-phase synchronization and spatially patterned oscillatory death regimes in the model system, we report the existence of a chimera state, characterized by spatial co-occurrence of patches with distinct dynamics. We also observe propagating phase defects in both one- and two-dimensional media resembling persistent structures in cellular automata, whose interactions may be used for computation in RD systems.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2012

Self-organized transition to coherent activity in disordered media

Synchronized oscillations are of critical functional importance in many biological systems. We show that such oscillations can arise without centralized coordination in a disordered system of electrically coupled excitable and passive cells. Increasing the coupling strength results in waves that lead to coherent periodic activity, exhibiting cluster, local and global synchronization under different conditions. Our results may explain the self-organized transition in a pregnant uterus from transient, localized activity initially to system-wide coherent excitations just before delivery.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2010

Chimera order in spin systems

Homogeneous populations of oscillators have recently been shown to exhibit stable coexistence of coherent and incoherent regions. Generalizing the concept of chimera states to the context of order-disorder transition in systems at thermal equilibrium, we show analytically that such complex ordering can appear in a system of Ising spins, possibly the simplest physical system exhibiting this phenomenon. We also show numerically the existence of chimera ordering in 3-dimensional spin systems that model layered magnetic materials, suggesting possible means of experimentally observing such states.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗