scholarly journals The Organismal Form and Function Lab-Course: A New CURE for a Lack of Authentic Research Experiences in Organismal Biology

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Oufiero
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Student Body ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Organismal Biology ◽  
High Speed Cinematography ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
And Function

Synopsis There are many benefits to engaging students in authentic research experiences instead of traditional style lectures and “cookbook” labs. Many Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been developed that provide research experiences to a more inclusive and diverse student body, allow more students to obtain research experiences, and expose students to the scientific process. Most CUREs in the biological sciences focus on cellular and molecular biology, with few being developed in ecology, evolution, and organismal biology. Here, I present a one-semester CURE focused on organismal form and function. The goal of the course was to have students develop their own research questions and hypotheses in relation to invertebrate form and movement, using high-speed cinematography to collect their data. In this paper, I describe the motivation for the course, provide the details of teaching the course, including rubrics for several assignments, the outcomes of the course, caveats, and ways a similar course can be implemented at other institutions. The course was structured to use a scaffolding approach during the first half of the semester to provide the content of form–function relationships and allow students to acquire the laboratory skills to quantify animal movement. The second half of the course focused on student-driven inquiry, with class time dedicated to conducting research. As there is a push to engage more students in research, I hope this course will inspire others to implement similar classes at other universities, providing a network of collaboration on integrative organismal student-driven research.

scholarly journals Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants

PLoS Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. e3001031
Author(s):  
Douglas B. Booher ◽  
Joshua C. Gibson ◽  
Cong Liu ◽  
John T. Longino ◽  
Brian L. Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Traits ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Phylogenetic Reconstruction ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Function Change ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
History Of ◽  
Spring Mechanism ◽  
And Function

Evolutionary innovations underlie the rise of diversity and complexity—the 2 long-term trends in the history of life. How does natural selection redesign multiple interacting parts to achieve a new emergent function? We investigated the evolution of a biomechanical innovation, the latch-spring mechanism of trap-jaw ants, to address 2 outstanding evolutionary problems: how form and function change in a system during the evolution of new complex traits, and whether such innovations and the diversity they beget are repeatable in time and space. Using a new phylogenetic reconstruction of 470 species, and X-ray microtomography and high-speed videography of representative taxa, we found the trap-jaw mechanism evolved independently 7 to 10 times in a single ant genus (Strumigenys), resulting in the repeated evolution of diverse forms on different continents. The trap mechanism facilitates a 6 to 7 order of magnitude greater mandible acceleration relative to simpler ancestors, currently the fastest recorded acceleration of a resettable animal movement. We found that most morphological diversification occurred after evolution of latch-spring mechanisms, which evolved via minor realignments of mouthpart structures. This finding, whereby incremental changes in form lead to a change of function, followed by large morphological reorganization around the new function, provides a model for understanding the evolution of complex biomechanical traits, as well as insights into why such innovations often happen repeatedly.

scholarly journals Understanding the urbanization impacts of high-speed rail in China

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Anthony Perl ◽  
Taotao Deng ◽  
Leandro Correa ◽  
Dandan Wang ◽  
Yulin Yan
Keyword(s):  
Urban Form ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
National Network ◽  
Rail Network ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
And Function

Advances in transport technology have been shown to play a vital role in urban development over millennia. From the engineering and pavement innovations of the Roman road network to the aerospace breakthroughs that enabled jet aircraft, cities have been reshaped by the mobility changes resulting from new designs for moving people and goods. This article explores the urbanization impacts of High-Speed Rail’s introduction in China, which has built the world’s largest High-Speed Rail network in record time. Since High-Speed Rail was launched in Japan in 1964, this technology has worked to reshape intercity travel as a revolutionary transportation alternative. High-Speed Rail has developed steadily across Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland during the 1970s and 1980s. It expanded to Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Sweden in the 1990s. In the 21st century, China began developing High-Speed Rail on an unprecedented scale, and now has a national network that is longer than the totality of the rest of the world’s High-Speed Rail operations combined. China’s High-Speed Rail operation is exerting a transformative influence on urban form and function. This article synthesizes secondary research results to analyse the impacts of HSR on urbanization. These effects include population redistribution, urban spatial expansion and industrial development. We offer a typol-ogy that considers the urban effects of High-Speed Rail at three spatial levels: the station area, the urban jurisdiction, and the regional agglomeration. When organized through our typology, research findings demonstrate that High-Speed Rail influences urban population size, urban spatial layout and industrial development by changing the acces-sibility of cities. We highlight the processes by which High-Speed Rail ultimately affects the urbanization process for people, land use, and industrial development. However, High-Speed Rail’s impacts on urbanization are not always positive. While leveraging the development opportunity enabled by High-Speed Rail, governments around the world should also avoid potential negative impacts by drawing lessons from the experience of High-Speed Rail’s rapid de-ployment in China.

Functional Morphology of Animals

Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan J. Irschick
Keyword(s):  
Functional Morphology ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Functional Anatomy ◽  
Heart Tissue ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Morphological Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
1960S And 1970S

As a field, functional morphology aims to understand how morphological form is related to function in the broadest sense. The goals of functional morphology are twofold. The first goal is to understand whether different body forms and physical structures (e.g., bone dimensions) match in a logical way with the functions that they appear well suited for (e.g., locomotion, feeding), and whether such matching makes sense in an evolutionary and ecological context. A second goal is mechanistic; namely, to understand how basic functions, such as locomotion, occur by examining lower-level components, such as muscles, bones, and heart tissue. However, the field of functional morphology is heterogeneous and has several subfields, each of which has its own history and traditions, and each of which adds generally to the broad goal of relating form to function. These subfields include functional anatomy, biomechanics, ecomorphology, and evolutionary functional morphology. Functional anatomy predominated for many centuries, and it aimed to infer function from structure. While it remains today as a conceptual tool, it has largely been supplanted by direct measurements of animal function. Biomechanics unites the science of material properties and physics to understand animal movement. Ecomorphology represents an infusion of functional morphological techniques into the field of ecology, and it is useful for understanding specializations to different habitats. Finally, evolutionary functional morphology integrates principles of evolutionary theory with functional morphology. Evolutionary functional morphology has blossomed in particular over the last several decades. The field of functional morphology in its present form came fully into existence in the 1950s and 1960s, but underlying ideas about how form relates to function have been in existence at least since the time of Aristotle. An exact timeline is challenging, but the field was dominated for many years by anatomists, who inferred how form related to function. The advent of technological innovations in the 1950s and 1960s that allowed the visualization of movement and the monitoring of internal structures such as muscles allowed the field to mature such that both form and function could be empirically studied. Whereas research in the 1960s and 1970s was limited to a few model species that could be examined using only a few techniques, the modern field employs a wide array of techniques, both in the field and in the laboratory, and examines many kinds of animal species. The field has evolved from simple descriptions of external form, anatomy, or movement to highly detailed empirical analyses of body movements using high-speed video (kinematics), and force plates (kinetics). Functional morphology is inherently comparative, and it examines many kinds of species (e.g., birds, lizards, mammals) that occur in different environments (e.g., aquatic, terrestrial).

Early Maya Ceremonial Architecture at Pacbitun, Belize

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 836-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry G. Powis ◽  
George J. Micheletti ◽  
Kaitlin Crow ◽  
Sheldon Skaggs ◽  
Norbert Stanchly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Design ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
And Function ◽  
Cayo District ◽  
Ceremonial Architecture

The development of Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) ceremonial architecture is receiving more attention by archaeologists conducting research in the Maya Lowlands. Although a few examples have been partially excavated, there is still a dearth of information on how and why monumental constructions were originally built. This is largely because early structures often lie below several layers of sequential architecture, making them difficult to locate. Even when Middle Preclassic architecture is identified, exposure is often too limited to fully investigate its form and function. A well-preserved and accessible Middle Preclassic platform would be a rare find and could greatly enhance our knowledge and understanding of the subject. At Pacbitun, Cayo District, Belize, such a discovery has been made beneath the artificially raised surface of the main plaza. To make the most of this opportunity, five seasons of excavation worked to expose this massive building in its entirety. In this article, we provide details concerning the structural design of the platform and its abandonment, as well as present potential architectural comparisons. We conclude by reevaluating complexity at Pacbitun.

The Air-Driven Dental Unit: Form and Function at a Mechanical Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-208
Author(s):  
Jane E. Pegg ◽  
Chad Lothamer ◽  
Jennifer E. Rawlinson
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Fiber Optic ◽  
Low Speed ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Unit Form ◽  
And Function ◽  
Maintenance Requirements

The goal of this article is to provide an overview at a mechanical level of how the dental machine functions. A description of the low-speed handpiece and its air-driven micromotor as well as the high-speed handpiece and turbine will be provided. The compressor, rheostat, air–water syringe, suction, fiber-optic light, and handpiece couplings will also be discussed. It is important to understand the function of equipment to allow for troubleshooting problems and understanding maintenance requirements to keep equipment functioning optimally.

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of DNA and RNA

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 34-35
Author(s):  
Patricia G. Arscott ◽  
Gil Lee ◽  
Victor A. Bloomfield ◽  
D. Fennell Evans
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Resolving Power ◽  
Scanning Tunneling ◽  
Tunneling Microscopy ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Dna And Rna ◽  
Calf Thymus ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).

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