Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Constructing Tools for the Description of Cell Dynamics Jean-Francois Joanny Jacques Prost
1 Introduction 1
2 Hydrodynamic theory of active gels 2
3 Material science aspects 5
4 Cell motility 9
5 Cell oscillations 16
6 Wound healing and cytokinesis 21
7 Conclusion 28
References 30
A Physical Model of Cellular Symmetry Breaking Jasper van der Gucht Cécile Sykes
1 Introduction 33
2 The actin cortex and polarization 34
3 Build-up and release of tension in actin cortices grown around beads 36
4 Modeling of actin shell growth and rupture around beads 38
5 Comparison of symmetry breaking in cells and around beads 40
6 Symmetry can break from one point or from multiple points 41
7 Stress-induced polarization in other systems 42
8 Conclusion 43
References 43
Motor Proteins as Nanomachines: The Roles of Thermal Fluctuations in Generating Force and Motion Jonathon Howard
The force-generation problem 47
Rectified-diffusion model 49
Flashing-ratchet model 51
Huxley 1957 and powerstroke models 52
Hand-over-hand models 55
Open questions 56
References 57
Fluctuation Relations for Molecular Motors David Lacoste Kirone Mallick
1 Introduction 61
2 Stochastic models of molecular motors 63
3 Fluctuation relations in models of molecular motors 74
4 Conclusions 84
References 85
Studies of DNA-Replication at the Single Molecule Level Using Magnetic Tweezers Maria Manosas Timothée Lionnet Élise Praly Ding Fangyuan Jean-François Allemand David Bensimon Vincent Croquette
1 Introduction 89
2 Magnetic tweezers 90
3 How stretching and twisting DNA helps to track replication process 93
4 Study of the Replisome 98
5 Characterizing the helicase activity 101
6 Behaviour of the primosome: coupling activity of the helicase and the primase 107
7 DNA synthesis 114
8 Conclusions 118
References 119
Evolution of Biological Complexity Raymond E. Goldstein
1 Introduction 123
2 Volvox and its relatives as model organisms 125
3 The advection-diffusion problem 127
4 Allometric scaling of flagella-driven flows 129
5 Phototactic steering 133
6 Flagellar synchronization 134
7 Conclusions 137
References 137
Conscious and Nonconscious Processes: Distinct Forms of Evidence Accumulation" Stanislas Dehaene
An experimental strategy for exploring consciousnes 141
How do we measure whether conscious access occurred" 142
Subliminal processing and evidence accumulation models 144
Subliminal perception 145
Subliminal semantic processing 147
Subliminal accumulation of evidence towards a decision 147
Role of instruction and attention in subliminal processing 149
Modulation by instructions 150
Modulation by executive attention 150
Modulation of subliminal priming by temporal attention 150
Modulation by spatial attention 152
Recent evidence for extended subliminal processing 152
Limits to subliminal processing 153
Durable and explicit information maintenance 154
Global access and novel combinations of operations 154
Intentional action 155
Cerebral bases of conscious and nonconscious computations 155
A global workspace model of conscious access 157
Accounting for subliminal processing 160
A distinct state of preconscious processing 161
Conclusion: Conscious access as a solution to von Neumann's problem" 163
References 164