scholarly journals A comparison of metrics for quantifying cranial suture complexity

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (171) ◽  
pp. 20200476
Author(s):  
Heather E. White ◽  
Julien Clavel ◽  
Abigail S. Tucker ◽  
Anjali Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Shape Variation ◽  
Sinuosity Index ◽  
Box Counting ◽  
Variation Function ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Spectrum Density ◽  
Comprehensive Comparison ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
And Function ◽  
Short Time

Cranial sutures play critical roles in facilitating postnatal skull development and function. The diversity of function is reflected in the highly variable suture morphology and complexity. Suture complexity has seldom been studied, resulting in little consensus on the most appropriate approach for comparative, quantitative analyses. Here, we provide the first comprehensive comparison of current approaches for quantifying suture morphology, using a wide range of two-dimensional suture outlines across extinct and extant mammals ( n = 79). Five complexity metrics (sinuosity index (SI), suture complexity index (SCI), fractal dimension (FD) box counting, FD madogram and a windowed short-time Fourier transform with power spectrum density (PSD) calculation) were compared with each other and with the shape variation in the dataset. Analyses of suture shape demonstrate that the primary axis of variation captured attributes other than complexity, supporting the use of a complexity metric over raw shape data for sutural complexity analyses. Each approach captured different aspects of complexity. PSD successfully discriminates different sutural features, such as looping patterns and interdigitation amplitude and number, while SCI best-captured variation in interdigitation number alone. Therefore, future studies should consider the relevant attributes for their question when selecting a metric for comparative analysis of suture variation, function and evolution.

scholarly journals Intelligent Medical System with Low-Cost Wearable Monitoring Devices to Measure Basic Vital Signals of Admitted Patients

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 918
Author(s):  
Siraporn Sakphrom ◽  
Thunyawat Limpiti ◽  
Krit Funsian ◽  
Srawouth Chandhaket ◽  
Rina Haiges ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Time Delay ◽  
Body Temperature ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
And Function ◽  
Short Time

This article presents the design of a low-cost Wireless Body Sensor Network (WBSN) for monitoring vital signs including a low-cost smart wristwatch that contains an ESP-32 microcontroller and three sensors: heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and body temperature (BT), and an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The vital signs data are processed and displayed on an OLED screen of the patient’s wristwatch and sent the data over a wireless connection (Wi-Fi) and a Cloud Thing Board system, to store and manage the data in a data center. The data can be analyzed and notified to medical staff when abnormal signals are received from the sensors based on a set parameters from specialists. The proposed low-cost system can be used in a wide range of applications including field hospitals for asymptotic or mild-condition COVID-19 patients as the system can be used to screen those patients out of symptomatic patients who require more costly facilities in a hospital with considerably low expense and installation time, also suitable for bedridden patients, palliative care patients, etc. Testing experiments of a 60-person sample size showed an acceptable accuracy level compared with standard devices when testing with 60 patient-samples with the mean errors heart rate of 1.22%, systolic blood pressure of 1.39%, diastolic blood pressure of 1.01%, and body temperature of 0.13%. According to testing results with 10 smart devices connected with the platform, the time delay caused by the distance between smart devices and the router is 10 s each round with the longest outdoor distance of 200 m. As there is a short-time delay, it does not affect the working ability of the smart system. It is still making the proposed system be able to show patient’s status and function in emergency cases.

Chaperonin as the normal controls and pathological anti-stress response in the human reproductive system

2016 ◽  
pp. 126-129
Author(s):  
M. Makarenko ◽  
◽  
D. Hovsyeyev ◽  
L. Sydoryk ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive System ◽  
Stress Proteins ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Reproductive Function ◽  
Intercellular Signaling ◽  
Toll Like Receptors ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Protein Functions ◽  
And Function

Different kinds of physiological stress cause mass changes in the cells, including the changes in the structure and function of the protein complexes and in separate molecules. The protein functions is determined by its folding (the spatial conclusion), which depends on the functioning of proteins of thermal shock- molecular chaperons (HSPs) or depends on the stress proteins, that are high-conservative; specialized proteins that are responsible for the correct proteinaceous folding. The family of the molecular chaperones/ chaperonins/ Hsp60 has a special place due to the its unique properties of activating the signaling cascades through the system of Toll-like receptors; it also stimulates the cells to produce anti- inflammatory cytokines, defensins, molecules of cell adhesion and the molecules of MHC; it functions as the intercellular signaling molecule. The pathological role of Hsp60 is established in a wide range of illnesses, from diabetes to atherosclerosis, where Hsp60 takes part in the regulation of both apoptosis and the autoimmune processes. The presence of the HSPs was found in different tissues that are related to the reproductive system. Key words: molecular chaperons (HSPs), Toll-like receptors, reproductive function, natural auto antibody.

Possession and Repetition

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 243-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohan Yoo
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Sacred Texts ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Lay Buddhists ◽  
Iconic Status ◽  
And Function ◽  
To Receive

This article demonstrates the need for the iconic status and function of Buddhist scripture to receive more attention by illuminating how lay Korean Buddhists try to appropriate the power of sutras. The oral and aural aspects of scripture, explained by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, provide only a limited understanding of the characteristics of scripture. It should be noted that, before modern times, most lay people, not only in Buddhist cultures but also in Christian and other traditions, neither had the chance to recite scriptures nor to listen to their recitations regularly. Several clear examples demonstrate contemporary Korean Buddhists’ acceptance of the iconic status of sutras and their attempt to appropriate the power and status of those sacred texts. In contemporary Korea, lay Buddhists try to claim the power of scriptures in their daily lives by repeating and possessing them. Twenty-first century lay believers who cannot read or recite in a traditional style have found new methods of repetition, such as internet programs for copying sacred texts and for playing recordings of their recitations. In addition, many Korean Buddhists consider the act of having sutras in one’s possession to be an effective way of accessing the sacred status and power of these texts. Hence, various ways of possessing them have been developed in a wide range of products, from fancy gilded sutras to sneakers embroidered with mantras.

The Art of Love Poetry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Gray
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Love Poetry ◽  
Erotic Love ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Meaning And Function ◽  
Comprehensive History

Love begets poetry; poetry begets love. These two propositions have seemed evident to thinkers and poets across the Western literary tradition. Plato writes that “anyone that love touches instantly becomes a poet.” And even today, when poetry has largely disappeared from the mainstream of popular culture, it retains its romantic associations. But why should this be so—what are the connections between poetry and erotic love that lead us to associate them so strongly with one another? An examination of different theories of both love and poetry across the centuries reveals that the connection between them is not merely an accident of cultural history—the result of our having grown up hearing, or hearing about, love poetry—but something more intrinsic. Even as definitions of them have changed, the two phenomena have consistently been described in parallel terms. Love is characterized by paradox. Above all, it is both necessarily public, because interpersonal, and intensely private; hence it both requires expression and resists it. In poetry, especially lyric poetry, which features its own characteristic paradoxes and silences, love finds a natural outlet. This study considers both the theories and the love poems themselves, bringing together a wide range of examples from different eras in order to examine the major structures that love and poetry share. It does not aim to be a comprehensive history of Western love poetry, but an investigation into the meaning and function of recurrent tropes, forms, and images employed by poets to express and describe erotic love.

scholarly journals TOWARDS FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURAL DECOMPOSITION OF CONSTRAINED LAYER INFLATABLE SYSTEMS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 3219-3228
Author(s):  
Koray Benli ◽  
Jonathan Luntz ◽  
Diann Brei ◽  
Wonhee Kim ◽  
Paul Alexander ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Systematic Understanding ◽  
And Function

AbstractPneumatically activated systems enable myriad types of highly functional inflatables employing a wide range of architectural approaches affecting their form and function, making systematic conceptual design difficult. A new architectural class of pneumatically activated systems, constrained layer inflatable systems, consists of hierarchically architected flat layers of thin airtight bladders that are internally and/or externally constrained to generate a variety of functionalities. The highly hierarchical architectural structure of constrained layer inflatable systems coincides with the hierarchy of produced functions, providing an opportunity for the development of a functional architectural decomposition, capturing the inherent relationship between architectural and functional hierarchies. The basis of the approach is conveyed through the design of an example constrained layer inflatable system. This approach empowers the systematic understanding of the interrelated architectural and functional breakdown of constrained layer inflatable systems, enabling designers to iteratively analyze, synthesize, and re-synthesize the components of the system improving existing designs and exploring new concepts.

scholarly journals Effects of local isolates of Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin on the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cenk Yucel
Keyword(s):  
Tetranychus Urticae ◽  
Beauveria Bassiana ◽  
Spider Mite ◽  
Lethal Effect ◽  
Probit Analysis ◽  
Plant Feeding ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Two Spotted Spider Mite ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Tetranychus Urticae Koch

Abstract Background The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Koch) (Acari: Tetranychidae), is a widely distributed plant-feeding pest that causes significant yield losses in a wide range of crops. Newly developed or improved environmentally friendly biocontrol agents serve as an alternative to traditional pest control tools. Experiment of the effects of 2 local fungal isolates of Beauveria bassiana (BGF14 and BCA32) was carried out against T. urticae under laboratory conditions. Results Both tested isolates had lethal effect in a short time after application, and this effect increased as time progressed. BGF14 and BCA32 isolates caused T. urticae mortality rates ranging from 25.88 to 61.92 and 32.36 to 62.03% when applied at the concentrations between 1×105 and 1×108 conidia/ml, respectively. According to the Probit analysis performed on the effect of fungi on T. urticae adults, the LC50 values of BGF14 and BCA32 isolates on the 7th day after inoculation were 2.6×106 and 6.3×104 conidia/ml, respectively, and the LT50 values for both fungi applied at a concentration of 108 conidia/ml were 2.14 and 2.23 days, respectively. Conclusions The 2 isolates of B. bassiana (BGF14 and BCA32) had the potentials to suppress T. urticae population and can be recommended as promising biocontrol agent candidates for control of T. urticae.

scholarly journals A developmentally descriptive method for quantifying shape in gastropod shells

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (163) ◽  
pp. 20190721
Author(s):  
J. Larsson ◽  
A. M. Westram ◽  
S. Bengmark ◽  
T. Lundh ◽  
R. K. Butlin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Shell Shape ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Littorina Saxatilis ◽  
Shape Variation ◽  
Gastropod Shell ◽  
Geometric Morphometric ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Descriptive Method

The growth of snail shells can be described by simple mathematical rules. Variation in a few parameters can explain much of the diversity of shell shapes seen in nature. However, empirical studies of gastropod shell shape variation typically use geometric morphometric approaches, which do not capture this growth pattern. We have developed a way to infer a set of developmentally descriptive shape parameters based on three-dimensional logarithmic helicospiral growth and using landmarks from two-dimensional shell images as input. We demonstrate the utility of this approach, and compare it to the geometric morphometric approach, using a large set of Littorina saxatilis shells in which locally adapted populations differ in shape. Our method can be modified easily to make it applicable to a wide range of shell forms, which would allow for investigations of the similarities and differences between and within many different species of gastropods.

scholarly journals Breeding Strategies to Improve Miscanthus as a Sustainable Source of Biomass for Bioenergy and Biorenewable Products

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 673 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Clifton-Brown ◽  
Kai-Uwe Schwarz ◽  
Danny Awty-Carroll ◽  
Antonella Iurato ◽  
Heike Meyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
Germplasm Collections ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Yield Quality ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Commercial Expansion

Miscanthus, a C4 perennial grass native to Eastern Asia, is being bred to provide biomass for bioenergy and biorenewable products. Commercial expansion with the clonal hybrid M. × giganteus is limited by low multiplication rates, high establishment costs and drought sensitivity. These limitations can be overcome by breeding more resilient Miscanthus hybrids propagated by seed. Naturally occurring fast growing indigenous Miscanthus species are found in diverse environments across Eastern Asia. The natural diversity provides for plant breeders, the genetic resources to improve yield, quality, and resilience for a wide range of climates and adverse abiotic stresses. The challenge for Miscanthus breeding is to harness the diversity through selections of outstanding wild types, parents, and progenies over a short time frame to deploy hybrids that make a significant contribution to a world less dependent on fossil resources. Here are described the strategies taken by the Miscanthus breeding programme at Aberystwyth, UK and its partners. The programme built up one of the largest Miscanthus germplasm collections outside Asia. We describe the initial strategies to exploit the available genetic diversity to develop varieties. We illustrate the success of combining diverse Miscanthus germplasm and the selection criteria applied across different environments to identify promising hybrids and to develop these into commercial varieties. We discuss the potential for molecular selections to streamline the breeding process.

A Novel Versatile Process for the Production of Polymer Foams

1998 ◽  
Vol 550 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.P. Shastri ◽  
I. Martin ◽  
R. Langer
Keyword(s):  
Water Soluble ◽  
Wound Dressings ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Polymer Foams ◽  
Polymer Foam ◽  
Water Soluble Polymers ◽  
Soluble Polymers ◽  
Great Utility ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Short Time

AbstractPorous polymeric media are used in several applications such as solid supports for separations and catalysis, as well as biomedical applications such as vascular grafts and wound dressings. We have developed a novel versatile process to produce polymeric cellular solids. This process which is based on a phase extraction-co-polymer precipitation is applicable to a wide range of polymer systems including water soluble polymers. It is capable of yielding polymer foams of high porosity (> 90%) and excellent mechanical characteristics in a very short time (less than 2 hours) without limitations in foam thickness. Polymer foam with such characteristics have great utility in tissue engineering applications. We have successfully explored polymer foams of biocompatible polymers produced by the presented approach for bone and cartilage engineering using bone marrow stromal cells.

TETRASPORE is required for male meiotic cytokinesis in Arabidopsis thaliana

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (13) ◽  
pp. 2645-2657 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Spielman ◽  
D. Preuss ◽  
F.L. Li ◽  
W.E. Browne ◽  
R.J. Scott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽  
Pollen Development ◽  
Male Meiosis ◽  
Pollen Grain ◽  
Flowering Plants ◽  
External Wall ◽  
Normal Pollen ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Asymmetric Divisions ◽  
And Function

In flowering plants, male meiosis occurs in the microsporocyte to produce four microspores, each of which develops into a pollen grain. Here we describe four mutant alleles of TETRASPORE (TES), a gene essential for microsporocyte cytokinesis in Arabidopsis thaliana. Following failure of male meiotic cytokinesis in tes mutants, all four microspore nuclei remain within the same cytoplasm, with some completing their developmental programmes to form functional pollen nuclei. Both of the mitotic divisions seen in normal pollen development take place in tes mutants, including the asymmetric division required for the differentiation of gametes; some tes grains perform multiple asymmetric divisions in the same cytoplasm. tes pollen shows a variety of abnormalities subsequent to the cytokinetic defect, including fusion of nuclei, formation of ectopic internal walls, and disruptions to external wall patterning. In addition, ovules fertilized by tes pollen often abort, possibly because of excess paternal genomes in the endosperm. Thus tes mutants not only reveal a gene specific to male meiosis, but aid investigation of a wide range of processes in pollen development and function.

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