Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion
By virtue of its complexity, realistic approaches to describe diffusion in cellular media require the employment of computational methods. Among others, this type of studies has shown that the apparent diffusion coefficient of a macromolecular solute through a cytoplasmic-like medium exhibits a powe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2014-01-01
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| Series: | The Scientific World Journal |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/150826 |
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| _version_ | 1832564162846261248 |
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| author | Julio A. Hernández |
| author_facet | Julio A. Hernández |
| author_sort | Julio A. Hernández |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | By virtue of its complexity, realistic approaches to describe diffusion in cellular media require the employment of computational methods. Among others, this type of studies has shown that the apparent diffusion coefficient of a macromolecular solute through a cytoplasmic-like medium exhibits a power-law dependence with the excluded volume. Power laws are ubiquitous findings in diverse systems, such as metabolic processes, population dynamics, and communication networks, and have been the object of many interpretative formal approaches. This study introduces a diagrammatic algorithm, inspired in previous ones employed to analyze multicyclic chemical systems, to derive expressions for nonhomogeneous diffusion coefficients and to study the effects of volume exclusion. A most noteworthy result of this work is that midsize diagrams of nonhomogeneous diffusion are already able to exhibit an approximate power-law dependence of the diffusion coefficient with the excluded volume. The employment of the diagrammatic method for the analysis of simple situations may thus prove useful to interpret some properties of larger network systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f590ccfeb7984b148bb27049af54fd18 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2356-6140 1537-744X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Scientific World Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-f590ccfeb7984b148bb27049af54fd182025-02-03T01:11:48ZengWileyThe Scientific World Journal2356-61401537-744X2014-01-01201410.1155/2014/150826150826Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous DiffusionJulio A. Hernández0Sección Biofísica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá Esq. Mataojo, 11400 Montevideo, UruguayBy virtue of its complexity, realistic approaches to describe diffusion in cellular media require the employment of computational methods. Among others, this type of studies has shown that the apparent diffusion coefficient of a macromolecular solute through a cytoplasmic-like medium exhibits a power-law dependence with the excluded volume. Power laws are ubiquitous findings in diverse systems, such as metabolic processes, population dynamics, and communication networks, and have been the object of many interpretative formal approaches. This study introduces a diagrammatic algorithm, inspired in previous ones employed to analyze multicyclic chemical systems, to derive expressions for nonhomogeneous diffusion coefficients and to study the effects of volume exclusion. A most noteworthy result of this work is that midsize diagrams of nonhomogeneous diffusion are already able to exhibit an approximate power-law dependence of the diffusion coefficient with the excluded volume. The employment of the diagrammatic method for the analysis of simple situations may thus prove useful to interpret some properties of larger network systems.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/150826 |
| spellingShingle | Julio A. Hernández Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion The Scientific World Journal |
| title | Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion |
| title_full | Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion |
| title_fullStr | Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion |
| title_short | Diagrammatic Analysis of Nonhomogeneous Diffusion |
| title_sort | diagrammatic analysis of nonhomogeneous diffusion |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/150826 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT julioahernandez diagrammaticanalysisofnonhomogeneousdiffusion |