The Structure of a Tandem Pair of Spectrin Repeats of Plectin Reveals a Modular Organization of the Plakin Domain

The first comprehensive synthesis on development and evolution: it applies to all aspects of development, at all levels of organization and in all organisms, taking advantage of modern findings on behavior, genetics, endocrinology, molecular biology, evolutionary theory and phylogenetics to show the connections between developmental mechanisms and evolutionary change. This book solves key problems that have impeded a definitive synthesis in the past. It uses new concepts and specific examples to show how to relate environmentally sensitive development to the genetic theory of adaptive evolution and to explain major patterns of change. In this book development includes not only embryology and the ontogeny of morphology, sometimes portrayed inadequately as governed by "regulatory genes," but also behavioral development and physiological adaptation, where plasticity is mediated by genetically complex mechanisms like hormones and learning. The book shows how the universal qualities of phenotypes--modular organization and plasticity--facilitate both integration and change. Here you will learn why it is wrong to describe organisms as genetically programmed; why environmental induction is likely to be more important in evolution than random mutation; and why it is crucial to consider both selection and developmental mechanism in explanations of adaptive evolution. This book satisfies the need for a truly general book on development, plasticity and evolution that applies to living organisms in all of their life stages and environments. Using an immense compendium of examples on many kinds of organisms, from viruses and bacteria to higher plants and animals, it shows how the phenotype is reorganized during evolution to produce novelties, and how alternative phenotypes occupy a pivotal role as a phase of evolution that fosters diversification and speeds change. The arguments of this book call for a new view of the major themes of evolutionary biology, as shown in chapters on gradualism, homology, environmental induction, speciation, radiation, macroevolution, punctuation, and the maintenance of sex. No other treatment of development and evolution since Darwin's offers such a comprehensive and critical discussion of the relevant issues. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution is designed for biologists interested in the development and evolution of behavior, life-history patterns, ecology, physiology, morphology and speciation. It will also appeal to evolutionary paleontologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and teachers of general biology.

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The Feeding Network of Aplysia

The Oxford Handbook of Invertebrate Neurobiology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190456757.013.19 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 400-422

Author(s):

Elizabeth C. Cropper ◽

Jian Jing ◽

Klaudiusz R. Weiss

Keyword(s):

Motor Activity ◽

Task Switching ◽

Neural Control ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Distinctive Features ◽

Afferent Activation ◽

And Behaviors ◽

And Behavior ◽

Activation Phase

This review focuses on the neural control of feeding in Aplysia. Its purpose is to highlight distinctive features of the behavior and to describe their neural basis. In a number of molluscs, food is grasped by a radula that protracts, retracts, and hyperretracts. In Aplysia, however, hyperretraction can require afferent activation. Phase-dependent regulation of sensorimotor transmission occurs in this context. Aplysia also open and close the radula, generating egestive as well as ingestive responses. Thus, the feeding network multitasks. It has a modular organization, and behaviors are constructed by combinations of behavior-specific and behavior-independent neurons. When feeding is initially triggered in Aplysia, responses are poorly defined. Motor activity is not properly configured unless responses are repeatedly induced and modulatory neurotransmitters are released from inputs to the central patter generator (CPG). Persistent effects of modulation have interesting consequences for task switching.

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The modular organization of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) body during ontogeny: the effects of sex and habitat

Frontiers in Zoology ◽

10.1186/s12983-018-0283-8 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Svetlana Milošević-Zlatanović ◽

Tanja Vukov ◽

Srđan Stamenković ◽

Marija Jovanović ◽

Nataša Tomašević Kolarov

Keyword(s):

Roe Deer ◽

Capreolus Capreolus ◽

Modular Organization

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The unbalanced reorganization of weaker functional connections induces the altered brain network topology in schizophrenia

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-94825-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Rossana Mastrandrea ◽

Fabrizio Piras ◽

Andrea Gabrielli ◽

Nerisa Banaj ◽

Guido Caldarelli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Resting State ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Functional Integration ◽

Brain Network ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Node Degree ◽

Imaging Data ◽

Brain Disorder ◽

Functional Connections ◽

The Brain

AbstractNetwork neuroscience shed some light on the functional and structural modifications occurring to the brain associated with the phenomenology of schizophrenia. In particular, resting-state functional networks have helped our understanding of the illness by highlighting the global and local alterations within the cerebral organization. We investigated the robustness of the brain functional architecture in 44 medicated schizophrenic patients and 40 healthy comparators through an advanced network analysis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. The networks in patients showed more resistance to disconnection than in healthy controls, with an evident discrepancy between the two groups in the node degree distribution computed along a percolation process. Despite a substantial similarity of the basal functional organization between the two groups, the expected hierarchy of healthy brains' modular organization is crumbled in schizophrenia, showing a peculiar arrangement of the functional connections, characterized by several topologically equivalent backbones. Thus, the manifold nature of the functional organization’s basal scheme, together with its altered hierarchical modularity, may be crucial in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. This result fits the disconnection hypothesis that describes schizophrenia as a brain disorder characterized by an abnormal functional integration among brain regions.

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The Modular Organization of Pain Brain Networks: An fMRI Graph Analysis Informed by Intracranial EEG

Cerebral Cortex Communications ◽

10.1093/texcom/tgaa088 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Camille Fauchon ◽

David Meunier ◽

Isabelle Faillenot ◽

Florence B Pomares ◽

Hélène Bastuji ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Integration ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Brain Connectivity ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Noxious Heat ◽

Intracranial Eeg ◽

Brain Connectome ◽

Posterior Parietal ◽

The Brain

Abstract Intracranial EEG (iEEG) studies have suggested that the conscious perception of pain builds up from successive contributions of brain networks in less than 1 s. However, the functional organization of cortico-subcortical connections at the multisecond time scale, and its accordance with iEEG models, remains unknown. Here, we used graph theory with modular analysis of fMRI data from 60 healthy participants experiencing noxious heat stimuli, of whom 36 also received audio stimulation. Brain connectivity during pain was organized in four modules matching those identified through iEEG, namely: 1) sensorimotor (SM), 2) medial fronto-cingulo-parietal (default mode-like), 3) posterior parietal-latero-frontal (central executive-like), and 4) amygdalo-hippocampal (limbic). Intrinsic overlaps existed between the pain and audio conditions in high-order areas, but also pain-specific higher small-worldness and connectivity within the sensorimotor module. Neocortical modules were interrelated via “connector hubs” in dorsolateral frontal, posterior parietal, and anterior insular cortices, the antero-insular connector being most predominant during pain. These findings provide a mechanistic picture of the brain networks architecture and support fractal-like similarities between the micro-and macrotemporal dynamics associated with pain. The anterior insula appears to play an essential role in information integration, possibly by determining priorities for the processing of information and subsequent entrance into other points of the brain connectome.

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Species functional traits and abundance as drivers of multiplex ecological networks: first empirical quantification of inter-layer edge weights

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2020.2127 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 287 (1939) ◽

pp. 20202127

Author(s):

S. Hervías-Parejo ◽

C. Tur ◽

R. Heleno ◽

M. Nogales ◽

S. Timóteo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Traits ◽

Abundant Species ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Vertebrate Species ◽

Multilayer Network ◽

Functional Roles ◽

Different Types ◽

Seed Dispersers ◽

Natural Communities

Many vertebrate species act as both plant pollinators and seed-dispersers, thus interconnecting these processes, particularly on islands. Ecological multilayer networks are a powerful tool to explore interdependencies between processes; however, quantifying the links between species engaging in different types of interactions (i.e. inter-layer edges) remains a great challenge. Here, we empirically measured inter-layer edge weights by quantifying the role of individually marked birds as both pollinators and seed-dispersers of Galápagos plant species over an entire year. Although most species (80%) engaged in both functions, we show that only a small proportion of individuals actually linked the two processes, highlighting the need to further consider intra-specific variability in individuals' functional roles. Furthermore, we found a high variation among species in linking both processes, i.e. some species contribute more than others to the modular organization of the multilayer network. Small and abundant species are particularly important for the cohesion of pollinator seed-dispersal networks, demonstrating the interplay between species traits and neutral processes structuring natural communities.

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Case Study on Modeling Fire Action Complexity in Fire Safety Engineering of Structures

Advanced Engineering Forum ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/aef.21.102 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 ◽

pp. 102-107

Author(s):

Constantin Sorin Scutarasu ◽

Dan Diaconu-Şotropa ◽

Marinela Barbuta

Keyword(s):

Numerical Simulation ◽

Fire Safety ◽

Simulation Software ◽

Dynamics Simulation ◽

Structural Safety ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Field Of Study ◽

Safety Design ◽

Fire Safety Design ◽

Technical Regulations

Important goals in the fire safety design, such as preventing loss of life and goods damage, are achieved by maintaining the stability of structures exposed to fire for a period of time established by norms and standards. Real fire scenarios confirm that the specific technical regulations which actually have a prescriptive character (both national and international) do not deal with sufficient possibilities regarding the assessment of structural fire safety. The new approach on structural safety, based on engineering notions, gives us additional prospects on it and it is included in the issues of the fire safety design of structures. A relatively new field of study, known by a few professionals focused on fire safety (but well acknowledged in the research area), fire safety design met with lots of changes and restructuring of the governing concepts and procedures and of the information with which they operate, due to the fast accumulation of experience in this area of engineering activity. Consequently, after countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zeeland or USA provided towards professionals specific technical regulations for fire safety design, groups of experts in these aforementioned countries have joined their forces to try to diminish the differences that exists between those regulations and to give a unitary character to them, a better conceptualized engineering approach of the fire safety design. The result: occurrence of the publication International Fire Engineering Guidelines (last edition from 2005). The systematic approach of fire safety design in constructions pointed, once again, the possibility of modular organization of this field of study, the relations between modules being established according to the objective or objectives in the fire safety design for a specified building. This article aims to put forward, from this modularized perspective, the study of the fire safety design of a building exposed to fire; hence, the practical part of the article exhibits the numerical simulation of initialization and development of the fire process for a large scale religious building. The main features of the building represent the amount of space that facilitates the spreading of smoke and warm gases and which increases the risk of damaging the structural reinforced concrete elements. Application calls to specific numerical simulation with a higher degree of credibility, such as those realized by the FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulation) software.

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