The adhesion and traction behavior of leukemia cells in their microenvironment is directly linked to their migration, which is a prime issue affecting the release of cancer cells from the bone marrow and hence metastasis. In assessing the effectiveness of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) treatment, the conventional batch-cell transwell-migration assay may not indicate the intrinsic effect ...

Transmigration of leukocytes across the endothelial barrier is a tightly controlled process involving multiple steps, including rolling adhesion, firm adhesion, and then penetration of leukocytes through the endothelial monolayer. While the key molecular signals have been described in great detail, we are only just beginning to unveil the mechanical forces involved in this process. Here, using ...

During cell migration, forces generated by the actin cytoskeleton are transmitted through adhesion complexes to the substrate. To investigate the mechanism of force generation and transmission, we analyzed the relationship between actin network velocity and traction forces at the substrate in a model system of persistently migrating fish epidermal keratocytes. Front and lateral sides of the cel...

lar interactions and their local environment. Cell traction force microscopy (CTFM) was utilised to determine the exerted traction forces of individual cells on a coated elastic substrate. From knowledge of the elasticity of the gel (Young’s modulus) the displacement of the gel surface was used to calculate traction fields using finite element analysis (FEA). This initial data are being refined...

The United States Army began developing Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) in the early 1900’s. Concurrently, researchers developed and enhanced passenger and commercial ground vehicles. Although significant progress has been made for improving vehicle mobility for all ground vehicles throughout the past century, mobility has lacked a concise mutually agreed definition and analytical standardized c...

...................................................................................................................... iii PREFACE .......................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v DEDICATION ................

lar interactions and their local environment. Cell traction force microscopy (CTFM) was utilised to determine the exerted traction forces of individual cells on a coated elastic substrate. From knowledge of the elasticity of the gel (Young’s modulus) the displacement of the gel surface was used to calculate traction fields using finite element analysis (FEA). This initial data are being refined...

lar interactions and their local environment. Cell traction force microscopy (CTFM) was utilised to determine the exerted traction forces of individual cells on a coated elastic substrate. From knowledge of the elasticity of the gel (Young’s modulus) the displacement of the gel surface was used to calculate traction fields using finite element analysis (FEA). This initial data are being refined...

Mobile robots are increasingly being developed for highrisk missions in rough terrain situations, such as planetary exploration. Here a rough-terrain control (RTC) methodology is presented that exploits the actuator redundancy found in multi-wheeled mobile robot systems to improve ground traction and reduce power consumption. The methodology “chooses” an optimization criterion based on the loca...