Dislocations in vertical grain boundaries were observed to move essentially horizontally, while the horizontal grain boundaries were primarily stationary; the horizontal movement in the vertical grain boundary is directly responsible for the changes in the growth rate and size of the domain walls. The authors manage to clearly present this primary finding, but the implications and import of this discovery are not made abundantly clear in their discussion. The interactions of distortions are more adequately examined and explained. A study smaller and more basic in scope that focused more on the decay of various patterns rather than the growth and persistence of their distortions provides some greater insights into the primary study reviewed herein. Huang and Vinals (2007) identify wave variations and nodal placement as primary causes behind topographic distortions, which is an area not addressed in Kamaga, Ibrahim, and Dennin (2008). This calls their research somewhat into question, as the complexity of their findings is contrasted to the relative simplicity of the wave explanation for longitudinal shifts and changes in the domain walls and boundary distances, however the difference in the...

2008).
Gomez-Salon and Boyer (2007) also manage to put forth a simpler and more easily understood view of the basic problem in determining the shifts and domains within striped systems. The systematic and almost purely mathematical approach to the issue used by these authors may in fact have oversimplified the matter to some degree, a fact which the authors themselves seem to be aware of and even account for with further predictions and continuing research recommendations (Gomez-Salon & Boyer 2007). The implications of this mathematical approach on the primary research study critiqued herein are minimal, as the investigation in Kamaga et al. (2008) made extensive use of similar mathematical models.

References

Gomez-Solano, J. & Boyer, D. (2007). "Coarsening in potential and nonpotential models of oblique stripe patterns." Physical review 76, pp. 041131(1)-(12).

Huang, Z. & Vinals, J. (2007). "Grain boundary dynamics in stripe phases of nonpotential systems." Physical review 75, pp. 056202(1)-(7).

Kanaga, C.; Ibrahim, F. & Dennin, M. (2008). "Dislocation Dynamics in an Anisotropic Stripe Pattern."