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Porous bioceramics for bone repair should ideally mimic the micro-architectural characteristics of bone and promote the growth of regenerated tissue inside their pores. Assessment of the similarity between scaffold and bone in a quantitative and reliable way still remains an open challenge that we tackled in this work. We produced glass-ceramic scaffolds with two different nominal porosities by polymer sponge replication and characterized their three-dimensional architecture through non-destructive X-ray micro-computed tomography. Six key independent features were measured, namely total porosity, pore interconnectivity, pore size distribution, specific surface area, connectivity density and degree of anisotropy. In order to enable quantitative and objective comparison between bioceramic scaffolds and bone, each of the above-mentioned independent characteristics measured in the scaffold was compared to the corresponding feature in human trabecular bone. A multiparametric score, which comprises all the estimated features, was also developed and used to evaluate the similarity between the produced scaffolds. These quantitative comparisons can allow researchers to identify reliably the scaffold that more closely resembles the bone micro-architecture, suggesting the possible use of this approach to guide the design, manufacturing and selection of biomimetic ceramic scaffolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I consider the questions: what is an intelligent building, and what could make a building ‘intelligent’. The answer to this question turns on the more fundamental question: what is intelligence? I propose that two metaphors for intelligence are informative. On the one hand is intelligence through top-down engineered computation and code, what might be called the executive metaphor for intelligence. On the other is emergent intelligence, in which intelligence emerges as the outcome of an infinitude of negotiations between multitudinous cognitive agents. Emergent intelligence is the logic of the core biological principle of homeostasis: the emergence of persistent and low-entropy disequilibria. Architecture and engineering, in contrast, have long been immersed in the executive metaphor for intelligence. I suggest architects and engineers will be able to build a truly intelligent building when they embody within their constructions the emergent metaphor for intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Phenotypic similarity between unrelated organisms, known asconvergence, is a result of shared problems of adaptation to similar environments and limited ecological range. Their separate genetic histories imply a developmental route to biological innovation.Convergenceas a model of evolutionary change has been applied to biological evolutionary reasoning and functional studies. We propose its application to biologically drivenconvergencefor innovations in design. This route necessitates at least the comparability of architecture with biology on three levels: (1) evolutionary design reasoning (2)convergenceof design solutions and (3) ecological niche concept. These combine in ArchiTRIZ, which is introduced as a derivative of TRIZ (a Russian system of inventive problem-solving) in architecture. We are building an ontology ofconvergencebased on wood and ceramics on a ArchiTRIZ model framework called Material-Ontology [MatOnt]. As a computational design tool, MatOnt can activate systematic transfer of knowledge from biology to architecture and integrate data to develop material-based structural systems with multi-functional and adaptive properties that can be adapted for locally specific architectural applications.Convergencegives direction by highlighting natural models with potential for innovative design, some of which are discussed briefly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a brief review of aspects of biology relevant to architectural design, a number of biological organisms are considered, delivering design ideas for the improvement of tree structures in the Sagrada Familia; better insulation (ideas from penguin feathers and birds’ nests) and cooling of buildings in a hot climate; light but stiff floor plates (derived from the morphology of cuttlebone); supply of fluid through a branching system of pipes and a better fire extinguisher using ideas from the spray mechanism of the bombardier beetle. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research is in the field of biological design; more specifically it deals with the decoding of geometrical patterns of ecological shape and their transfer to architectural design. The transfer of these qualities is made through the construction of a geometric design tool, based on biological organization principles (growth). The morphologic pattern is decoded using two distinct drawing tools: shape grammars and Voronoi diagrams. The design tool allows the separation of biologic design from its ecologic references (biological structures), by generating a wide range of human structures with their morphological identity. The tool aims at reaching a morphological coherence between biological and human structures by introducing in human design certain qualities of biological morphology, such as evolutionary balance, integration ability in the environment, structural fluidity and structural multifunctionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemidesmosomes are multiprotein complexes that facilitate the stable adhesion of basal epithelial cells to the underlying basement membrane. The mechanical stability of hemidesmosomes relies on multiple interactions of a few protein components that form a membrane-embedded tightly-ordered complex. The core of this complex is provided by integrin α6β4 and P1a, an isoform of the cytoskeletal linker protein plectin that is specifically associated with hemidesmosomes. Integrin α6β4 binds to the extracellular matrix protein laminin-332, whereas P1a forms a bridge to the cytoplasmic keratin intermediate filament network. Other important components are BPAG1e, the epithelial isoform of bullous pemphigoid antigen 1, BPAG2, a collagen-type transmembrane protein and CD151. Inherited or acquired diseases in which essential components of the hemidesmosome are missing or structurally altered result in tissue fragility and blistering. Modulation of hemidesmosome function is of crucial importance for a variety of biological processes, such as terminal differentiation of basal keratinocytes and keratinocyte migration during wound healing and carcinoma invasion. Here, we review the molecular characteristics of the proteins that make up the hemidesmosome core structure and summarize the current knowledge about how their assembly and turnover are regulated by transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Turnover of actin networks in cells requires the fast disassembly of aging actin structures. While ADF/cofilin and Aip1 have been identified as central players, how their activities are modulated by the architecture of the networks remains unknown. Using our ability to reconstitute a diverse array of cellular actin organizations, we found that ADF/cofilin binding and ADF/cofilin-mediated disassembly both depend on actin geometrical organization. ADF/cofilin decorates strongly and stabilizes actin cables, whereas its weaker interaction to Arp2/3 complex networks is correlated with their dismantling and their reorganization into stable architectures. Cooperation of ADF/cofilin with Aip1 is necessary to trigger the full disassembly of all actin filament networks. Additional experiments performed at the single-molecule level indicate that this cooperation is optimal above a threshold of 23 molecules of ADF/cofilin bound as clusters along an actin filament. Our results indicate that although ADF/cofilin is able to dismantle selectively branched networks through severing and debranching, stochastic disassembly of actin filaments by ADF/cofilin and Aip1 represents an efficient alternative pathway for the full disassembly of all actin networks. Our data support a model in which the binding of ADF/cofilin is required to trigger a structural change of the actin filaments, as a prerequisite for their disassembly by Aip1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

541I.541II.542III.546IV.547V.552552References553 Summary: The architecture of trees greatly impacts the productivity of orchards and forestry plantations. Amassing greater knowledge on the molecular genetics that underlie tree form can benefit these industries, as well as contribute to basic knowledge of plant developmental biology. This review describes the fundamental components of branch architecture, a prominent aspect of tree structure, as well as genetic and hormonal influences inferred from studies in model plant systems and from trees with non‐standard architectures. The bulk of the molecular and genetic data described here is from studies of fruit trees and poplar, as these species have been the primary subjects of investigation in this field of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a novel method to design various helical tubular structures using the DNA origami method. The size-controlled tubular structures which have 192, 256, and 320 base pairs for one turn of the tube were designed and prepared. We observed the formation of the expected short tubes and unexpected long ones. Detailed analyses of the surface patterns of the tubes showed that the short tubes had mainly a left-handed helical structure. The long tubes mainly formed a right-handed helical structure and extended to the directions of the double helical axes as structural isomers of the short tubes. The folding pathways of the tubes were estimated by analyzing the proportions of short and long tubes obtained at different annealing conditions. Depending on the number of base pairs involved in one turn of the tube, the population of left-/right-handed and short/long tubes changed. The bending stress caused by the stiffness of the bundled double helices and the non-natural helical pitch determine the structural variety of the tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nucleic acids have been used to create diverse synthetic structural and dynamic systems. Toehold-mediated strand displacement has enabled the construction of sophisticated circuits, motors, and molecular computers. Yet it remains challenging to demonstrate complex structural reconfiguration in which a structure changes from a starting shape to another arbitrarily prescribed shape. To address this challenge, we have developed a general structural-reconfiguration method that utilizes the modularly interconnected architecture of single-stranded DNA tile and brick structures. The removal of one component strand reveals a newly exposed toehold on a neighboring strand, thus enabling us to remove regions of connected component strands without the need to modify the strands with predesigned external toeholds. By using this method, we reconfigured a two-dimensional rectangular DNA canvas into diverse prescribed shapes. We also used this method to reconfigure a three-dimensional DNA cuboid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The convergence of advanced technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, information and cognitive (NBIC) technologies is opening up the possibilities of working in architecture with lifelike systems and detailing dynamic matter. Here Rachel Armstrong, a co-director of the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architectural Research (AVATAR) group at the University of Greenwich, London, explores the potentials and limits of these emerging 'Oceanic Ontologies'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Translation’ is dealt with in this paper as a descriptor of the transformation that occurs as a concept, structure, image or notion is appropriated from one discipline to another. This understanding of translation as process or movement, rather than a field of overlap between disciplines, is facilitated by the work of the philosopher Michel Foucault. Foucault considers disciplinarity as the structural demarcation of knowledge and information (discourse) and the demarcations that are disciplined by knowledge. This understanding may be expressed as: disciplines as a disciplining. Foucault rejects the idea of disciplines as bounded self-similar content, arguing instead that disciplinarity lies in the framing of logics applied to content. The disciplines in question are considered in their contingency and temporality yet are not entirely bound by them. Thus, a coherent and organised discipline such as biology dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Before then its subject matters either were comprehended within other disciplinary frameworks (natural history) or were considered outside science itself (natural theology). In The Order of Things (1966), Foucault groups several naturalists, including Buffon (French eighteenth century) and Darwin (British nineteenth century), as belonging to the same ‘discourse’ or discursive family. Separating disciplinarity from the origin of ideas and time of writing fosters the productive translation of concepts, images and artefacts between disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To modify the surface properties of segmented polyurethane (SPU), effects of the molecular architecture of the 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) poly-mers on the performance of the SPU/MPC polymer membrane were investigated. We combined the random-type, block-type, and graft-type of the MPC polymers with a typical SPU, Tecoflex* using double solution casting procedure. The graft-type MPC polymers composed of a poly(MPC) main chain and poly(2-ethylhexyl methacrylate (EHMA)) side chains were synthesized through the combination of two different liv-ing radical polymerization techniques to regulate the density and chain length of the side chains. The SPU membranes modified with the MPC polymers were character-ized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectros-copy. The results revealed that the MPC units were located on the SPU surface. Although the breaking strength of the SPU membranes modified with block-type poly(MPC-block-EHMA) and graft-type poly(MPC-graft-EHMA) was lower than that of SPU membranes modified with random-type poly(MPC-random-EHMA), their breaking strengths were adequate for manufacturing medical devices. On the other hand, better stability was observed in the MPC polymer layer on the SPU membrane after immersion in an aqueous medium, wherein the SPU membrane had been modified with the poly(MPC-gra//-EHMA). This was because of the intermix-ing of the hydrophobic poly(EHMA) segments in the domain of the hard segments in the SPU membrane. After this modification, each SPU/MPC polymer membrane showed hydrophilic nature based on the MPC polymers and a dramatic suppression of protein adsorption. From these results, we concluded that the SPU membrane modified with the poly(MPC-gre/?-EHMA) was one of the promising polymeric biomaterials for making blood-contacting medical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The architecture of eukaryotic cells is underpinned by complex arrrays of microtubules that stem from an organizing center, referred to as the MTOC. With few exceptions, MTOCs consist of two basal bodies that anchor flagellar axonemes and different configurations of microtubular roots. Variations in the structure of this cytoskeletal system, also referred to as the 'flagellar apparatus', reflect phylogenetic relationships and provide compelling evidence for inferring the overall tree of eukaryotes. However, reconstructions and subsequent comparisons of the flagellar apparatus are challenging, because these studies require sophisticated microscopy, spatial reasoning and detailed terminology. In an attempt to understand the unifying features of MTOCs and broad patterns of cytoskeletal homology across the tree of eukaryotes, we present a comprehensive overview of the eukaryotic flagellar apparatus within a modern molecular phylogenetic context. Specifically, we used the known cytoskeletal diversity within major groups of eukaryotes to infer the unifying features (ancestral states) for the flagellar apparatus in the Plantae, Opisthokonta, Amoebozoa, Stramenopiles, Alveolata, Rhizaria, Excavata, Cryptophyta, Haptophyta, Apusozoa, Breviata and Collodictyonidae. We then mapped these data onto the tree of eukaryotes in order to trace broad patterns of trait changes during the evolutionary history of the flagellar apparatus. This synthesis suggests that: (i) the most recent ancestor of all eukaryotes already had a complex flagellar apparatus, (ii) homologous traits associated with the flagellar apparatus have a punctate distribution across the tree of eukaryotes, and (iii) streamlining (trait losses) of the ancestral flagellar apparatus occurred several times independently in eukaryotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A hexamer of the bacteriophage T4 tail terminator protein, gp15, attaches to the top of the phage tail stabilizing the contractile sheath and forming the interface for binding of the independently assembled head. Here we report the crystal structure of the gp15 hexamer, describe its interactions in T4 virions that have either an extended tail or a contracted tail, and discuss its structural relationship to other phage proteins. The neck of T4 virions is decorated by the “collar” and “whiskers”, made of fibritin molecules. Fibritin acts as a chaperone helping to attach the long tail fibers to the virus during the assembly process. The collar and whiskers are environment-sensing devices, regulating the retraction of the long tail fibers under unfavorable conditions, thus preventing infection. Cryo-electron microscopy analysis suggests that twelve fibritin molecules attach to the phage neck with six molecules forming the collar and six molecules forming the whiskers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The ceramic crown structures under occlusal contact are idealized as flat multilayered structures that are deformed under Hertzian contact loading. Those multilayers consist of a crown-like ceramic top layer, an adhesive layer and the dentin-like substrate. Bio-inspired design of the adhesive layer proposed functionally graded multilayers (FGM) that mimic the dentin–enamel junction in natural teeth. This paper examines the effects of FGM layer architecture on the contact-induced deformation of bio-inspired dental multilayers. Finite element modeling was used to explore the effects of thickness and architecture on the contact-induced stresses that are induced in bio-inspired dental multilayers. A layered nanocomposite structure was then fabricated by the sequential rolling of micro-scale nanocomposite materials with local moduli that increase from the side near the soft dentin-like polymer composite foundation to the side near the top ceramic layer. The loading rate dependence of the critical failure loads is shown to be well predicted by a slow crack growth model, which integrates the actual mechanical properties that are obtained from nanoindentation experiments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the last decade, biotechnical architecture has become one of the most fertile areas for speculative architecture. Guest-Editor Pia Ednie-Brown traces the recent lineage of this field, highlighting the work of Ginger Krieg Dosier and Michael Dosier of Vergelabs, which has pushed biotechnical architecture further towards actualisation; their company bioMASON specialises in the biomanufacture of building material and its architectural applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing power of design software, the widespread availability of digital fabrication and growing complexity of our built environment are in stark contrast to the inefficient techniques that currently plague the construction industry. Today's processes of assembly can be fundamentally re-imagined by looking at biological systems that are building structures with far more complexity, information capacity and assembly instructions than even the most advanced structures possible with current technologies. Skylar Tibbits explains that the key ingredient embedded within these natural systems is self-assembly. He outlines four principles for designing systems that build themselves, and shows a number of projects that demonstrate first steps towards this new mode of architectural production. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baubotanik - the construction method that uses living plants for load bearing in architectural structures - provides a surprising ability to anticipate the latent convergence of non-living and living systems in architecture. Through interdisciplinary research by architects, engineers and biologists it aims to synthesise architectural qualities, constructive requirements and biological properties in living structures. In this article, Ferdinand Ludwig, Hannes Schwertfeger and Oliver Storz of the Baubotanik research group at the Institute for Architectural Theory and Design (IGMA) at the University of Stuttgart explain how living and non-living building elements can be designed to develop into vegetal-technical compound structures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architects' view of nature tends to rest on the assumption that it is inherently efficient in its use of materials and energy, and essentially ingenious and elegant in its solutions. This perception in science is one that has been propounded through Darwinism: the notion that refinement of 'design' is achieved through repetitive selection, variation and mutation. The renowned biologist J Scott Turner argues here that there is little evidence that living design actually comes about in this way. Instead, looking to Darwin's French contemporary Claude Bernard and his theory of homeostasis, he proposes that living systems converge on effective design much faster and more predictably than a simple regime of natural selection alone would suggest. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protocell architecture inverts the current economic and procurement processes of construction with their emphasis on cost, speed and quantifiable outcomes. Wet, semi-living and symbiotic with ecological systems and materials, protocell systems promise a pargadigm that is the very antithesis of existing practice and will require the employment of very different skills sets and approaches. To ease the intellectual transition from hard engineering to chemical solutions, investigates the enduring notion of alchemy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research Laboratory (AVATAR) was founded in 2004 at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL). The original remit was to provide a forum for staff and their units to exchange and share their explorations into the digital and visceral terrain. With Neil Spiller's appointment in September 2011 as Dean of the School of Architecture and Construction at the University of Greenwich, the centre of research has shifted south to Greenwich. Here, one of the principle proponents of AVATAR, describes why, given the present economic and political situation, Protocell Architecture has provided the group with such a fecund field of research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is engaged on the Material-Based Computation project. It takes an approach that can be regarded as analogous to protocells. It places a similar emphasis on material properties as intermediary agents for the built environment, containing the information for behaviour and evolution. Here she outlines three methods that define her research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the protocell require too great a leap in scalar imagination for architects? A detail of a building is manageable but what about something smaller than the microscopic? encourages designers to scale down to the diminutive level of the nanoscale by providing them with some inspiring precedents in architectural theory and popular culture. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housed in the Canadian Pavilion in the Giardini in Venice during the 2010 Architecture Biennale, the Hylozoic Ground project provided visitors with the unique experience of interacting with a responsive and 'live' textile matrix. and describe the extraordinary 'soil-less' environment that they collaborated on and how it provides a new model for a synthetic but evolutionary ecology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

of IwamotoScott Architecture describes how the Line Array project was developed as a means of proposing a new range of structural surface formations in which protocells could be applied to architecture. She specifically speculates on how materials might behave morphologically, responding in a fluid manner to varying surface geometries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

explains why living systems with their own metabolisms provide more exciting and far-reaching solutions than conventional building materials. She also explicitly explains why the pursuit of protocell technology, which enables us to artificially design living systems, is so much more promising than established methods, such as incorporating high-maintenance biological features - green walls or roofs - into existing urban context or applying biomimicry to traditional materials. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a danger that in inventing protocells we are turning away too quickly from nature's own 'beautifully engineered self-assembly system'? , a partner at Max Fordham Consulting Engineers, asks us to take another look at the possibilities of biology for creating a wholly sustainable architecture that takes its aesthetic prompts from natural forms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the University of Glasgow, is leading a group of scientists that are pioneering the engineering of a fundamentally new approach to building materials, which scales up from the nano scale to the micro. Cronin reflects on the possibilities of this new paradigm that gives inorganic cellular materials the potential to be 'programmed' to sense environmental changes, generate power, self-repair, shift properties and even compete with other building materials for resources. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

provides a typological prototype for the protocell, the Protocell Tower. Does it, however, already look familiar? Though a breathtaking chemical innovation, could protocell technology actually be behind the curve of architecture? Could it be that architects have already been playing with the aesthetics of this unrealised matter for the last 15 years? Preissner suggests some urban approaches that might enable us to use protocells to rejuvenate existing architecture. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes some of our efforts in designing and synthesizing bio-functional layers at solid/solution interfaces, characterizing their structure and dynamics, and optimizing their functional properties. We explore different materials and architectures, focusing here on hydrogels and lipid bilayer membranes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article addresses the question whether architecture can embody living systems and if it is possible for concrete craft of physical architecture to transform and move closer to acting within life itself. It notes the possibility for a revolutionary living architecture to emerge by integrating emerging living technologies in computation and synthetic biology with next-generation physical structures. It notes a model of involved research creation that can change how architecture is built.

Morphogenomics, a relatively new research area, involves understanding the role played by information regulation in the emergence of diverse natural and artificially generated morphologies. Performative building skin systems as a bottom-up parametric formation of context aware interdependent, ubiquitously communicating components leading to the development of continually performative systems is one of the multi-scalar derivations of the aforementioned Morphogenomic understanding. The agenda of adaptations for these building skins specifically corresponds to three domains of adaptation: structural, behavioral and physiological adaptations resulting in kinetic adaptability, energy generation, conservation, transport and usage principles as well as material property based changes per component. The developed skins adapt in real time via operating upon ubiquitous communication and data-regulation protocols for sensing and processing contextual information. Computational processes and information technology based tools and techniques such as parametric design, real-time simulation using game design software, environmental information mapping, sensing and actuating systems coupled with inbuilt control systems as well as manufacturing physical models in collaboration with praxis form a vital part of these skin systems. These experiments and analysis based on developing intrinsic inter-dependencies between contextual data, structure and material logistics thus lay the foundation for a new era of continually performing, self powering, real-time adaptive intelligent building skin systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design stage of an on-going research project for the construction of a pavilion that mimics the bone structures of Radiolarians. In the process, several constructive and generative algorithms are developed, together with geometric and trigonometric functions, all implemented in RhinoScript and a math plug-in for the NURBS modeler Rhinoceros. There has been considerable emphasis on the generation of the Radiolarian cell that is tessellated along a stereographic surface with a honeycomb-based algorithm. It combines design strategies from biomimetics, mathematical functions, generative scripting, process automation and versioning, all integrated into an algorithmic methodology for creating a non-standard structure, capable of being manufactured with CNC technology, and doing so, setting a precedent in the academic and professional environment in which it will be located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the three distinct levels at which architectural patterns can be translated from biology to architecture. It notes that direct copying of biological objects is the level in which biological structures and mechanisms do not use many primary patterns because they can be torn from their context with little realisation of their reliance on adjunct features. It is stated that the recognition of patterns in the way problems are solved in biology and engineering is the level in which the major part of design is the recognition, solution and elimination of problems. Finally, it cites that the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) system has patterns that are more abstract and problems are solved in a framework based on a large number of patents.

Systems architecture is seeking to cooperate with the creative processes characteristic of life on earth for novel and sustainable design outcomes. To achieve this, new design methodologies are needed to create structures and processes that are composed of the inanimate and the living – the physical, the biological and the artificial – to differing degrees. The principle of symbiosis is presented as a biologically inspired model for some of the design challenges, and design ethics, in systems architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root architecture is a crucial part of plant adaptation to soil heterogeneity and is mainly controlled by root branching. The process of root system development can be divided into two successive steps: lateral root initiation and lateral root development/emergence which are controlled by different fluxes of the plant hormone auxin. While shoot architecture appears to be highly regular, following rules such as the phyllotactic spiral, root architecture appears more chaotic. We used stochastic modeling to extract hidden rules regulating root branching in Arabidopsis thaliana. These rules were used to build an integrative mechanistic model of root ramification based on auxin. This model was experimentally tested using plants with modified rhythm of lateral root initiation or mutants perturbed in auxin transport. Our analysis revealed that lateral root initiation and lateral root development/emergence are interacting with each other to create a global balance between the respective ratio of initiation and emergence. A mechanistic model based on auxin fluxes successfully predicted this property and the phenotype alteration of auxin transport mutants or plants with modified rythms of lateral root initiation. This suggests that root branching is controlled by mechanisms of lateral inhibition due to a competition between initiation and development/emergence for auxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Here, we show that the most basic features of tree and forest architecture can be put on a unifying theoretical basis, which is provided by the constructal law. Key is the integrative approach to understanding the emergence of “designedness” in nature. Trees and forests are viewed as integral components (along with dendritic river basins, aerodynamic raindrops, and atmospheric and oceanic circulation) of the much greater global architecture that facilitates the cyclical flow of water in nature (Fig. 1) and the flow of stresses between wind and ground. Theoretical features derived in this paper are: the tapered shape of the root and longitudinally uniform diameter and density of internal flow tubes, the near-conical shape of tree trunks and branches, the proportionality between tree length and wood mass raised to 1/3, the proportionality between total water mass flow rate and tree length, the proportionality between the tree flow conductance and the tree length scale raised to a power between 1 and 2, the existence of forest floor plans that maximize ground-air flow access, the proportionality between the length scale of the tree and its rank raised to a power between −1 and −1/2, and the inverse proportionality between the tree size and number of trees of the same size. This paper further shows that there exists an optimal ratio of leaf volume divided by total tree volume, trees of the same size must have a larger wood volume fraction in windy climates, and larger trees must pack more wood per unit of tree volume than smaller trees. Comparisons with empirical correlations and formulas based on ad hoc models are provided. This theory predicts classical notions such as Leonardo''s rule, Huber''s rule, Zipf''s distribution, and the Fibonacci sequence. The difference between modeling (description) and theory (prediction) is brought into evidence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and Aims: The dynamical system of plant growth GREENLAB was originally developed for individual plants, without explicitly taking into account interplant competition for light. Inspired by the competition models developed in the context of forest science for mono-specific stands, we propose to adapt the method of crown projection onto the x–y plane to GREENLAB, in order to study the effects of density on resource acquisition and on architectural development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and Aims: To model plasticity of plants in their environment, a new version of the functional–structural model GREENLAB has been developed with full interactions between architecture and functioning. Emergent properties of this model were revealed by simulations, in particular the automatic generation of rhythms in plant development. Such behaviour can be observed in natural phenomena such as the appearance of fruit (cucumber or capsicum plants, for example) or branch formation in trees. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The contribution of vegetation to shallow-slope stability is of major importance in landslide-prone regions. However, existing slope stability models use only limited plant root architectural parameters. This study aims to provide a chain of tools useful for determining the contribution of tree roots to soil reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Modelling plant growth allows us to test hypotheses and carry out virtual experiments concerning plant growth processes that could otherwise take years in field conditions. The visualization of growth simulations allows us to see directly and vividly the outcome of a given model and provides us with an instructive tool useful for agronomists and foresters, as well as for teaching. Functional–structural (FS) plant growth models are nowadays particularly important for integrating biological processes with environmental conditions in 3-D virtual plants, and provide the basis for more advanced research in plant sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background and Aims: AmapSim is a tool that implements a structural plant growth model based on a botanical theory and simulates plant morphogenesis to produce accurate, complex and detailed plant architectures. This software is the result of more than a decade of research and development devoted to plant architecture. New advances in the software development have yielded plug-in external functions that open up the simulator to functional processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors discuss the sustainable approaches that synthetic biology could offer to the built environment. It says that the tools of synthetic biology are developing new forms of architecture which respond directly to environment. It states that fabricating accurate scaffoldings for the production of engineered tissue and materials is the most challenging in the application of synthetic biology to architecture. It adds that application assures to solve major environmental problems.

The article presents a new learning architecture applied to humanoid stability control based on pluridisciplinary bibliographical study. The study shows that the proposed intelligent control is designed to reproduce the central nervous system (CNS) hierarchical architecture and the different areas functioning mode. Moreover, multi-level multi-layered modules have able to deal the change of gait through weighted signals.