scholarly journals Examples of Weak, If Not Absent, Form-Function Relations in the Vertebrate Heart

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjarke Jensen ◽  
Theodoor Smit
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Coronary Circulation ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Blood Clots ◽  
Salient Function ◽  
And Function

That form and function relates, is the maxim to anatomy and physiology. Yet form-function relations can be difficult to establish. Human subjects with excessive trabeculated myocardium in the left ventricle, for example, are diagnosed with non-compaction cardiomyopathy, but the extent of trabeculations may be without relation to ejection fraction. Rather than rejecting a relation between form and function, we may ask whether the salient function is assessed; is there a relation to electrical propagation, mean arterial blood pressure, propensity to form blood clots, or all? And how should extent of trabeculated muscle be assessed? While reviewing literature on trabeculated muscle, we applied Tinbergen’s four types of causation - how does it work, why does it work, how is it made, and why did it evolve - to better parse what is meant by form and function. The paper is structured around cases that highlight advantages and pitfalls of applying Tinbergen’s questions. It further uses the evolution of lunglessness in amphibians to argue lung reduction can impact on chamber septation, and it considers the evolution of an arterial outflow in fishes to argue that reductions in energy consumption may drive structural changes with little consequences to function. Concerning trabeculations, we argue they relate to pump function in the embryo in the couple of weeks before the onset of coronary circulation. In fetal and postnatal stages, a spectrum of trabeculated-to-compact myocardium makes no difference to cardiac function and in this period form and function may appear unrelated.

scholarly journals Examples of Weak, If Not Absent, Form-Function Relations in the Vertebrate Heart

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjarke Jensen ◽  
Theodoor H. Smit
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Arterial Blood ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Blood Clots ◽  
Salient Function ◽  
And Function ◽  
Pumping Function

That form and function are related is a maxim of anatomy and physiology. Yet, form-function relations can be difficult to prove. Human subjects with excessive trabeculated myocardium in the left ventricle, for example, are diagnosed with non-compaction cardiomyopathy, but the extent of trabeculations may be without relation to ejection fraction. Rather than rejecting a relation between form and function, we may ask whether the salient function is assessed. Is there a relation to electrical propagation, mean arterial blood pressure, or propensity to form blood clots? In addition, how should the extent of trabeculated muscle be assessed? While reviewing literature on trabeculated muscle, we applied Tinbergen’s four types of causation—how does it work, why does it work, how is it made, and why did it evolve—to better parse what is meant by form and function. The paper is structured around cases that highlight advantages and pitfalls of applying Tinbergen’s questions. It further uses the evolution of lunglessness in amphibians to argue that lung reduction impacts on chamber septation and it considers the evolution of an arterial outflow in fishes to argue that reductions in energy consumption may drive structural changes with little consequences to function. Concerning trabeculations, we argue they relate to pumping function in the embryo in the few weeks before the onset of coronary circulation. In human fetal and postnatal stages, a spectrum of trabeculated-to-compact myocardium makes no difference to cardiac function and in this period, form and function may appear unrelated.

Environmental–biomechanical reciprocity and the evolution of plant material properties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl J Niklas ◽  
Frank W Telewski
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Abiotic Factors ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Cellular Solids ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Evolutionary Innovation ◽  
Plant Form ◽  
And Function ◽  
Abiotic Environmental Factors

Abstract Abiotic–biotic interactions have shaped organic evolution since life first began. Abiotic factors influence growth, survival, and reproductive success, whereas biotic responses to abiotic factors have changed the physical environment (and indeed created new environments). This reciprocity is well illustrated by land plants who begin and end their existence in the same location while growing in size over the course of years or even millennia, during which environment factors change over many orders of magnitude. A biomechanical, ecological, and evolutionary perspective reveals that plants are (i) composed of materials (cells and tissues) that function as cellular solids (i.e. materials composed of one or more solid and fluid phases); (ii) that have evolved greater rigidity (as a consequence of chemical and structural changes in their solid phases); (iii) allowing for increases in body size and (iv) permitting acclimation to more physiologically and ecologically diverse and challenging habitats; which (v) have profoundly altered biotic as well as abiotic environmental factors (e.g. the creation of soils, carbon sequestration, and water cycles). A critical component of this evolutionary innovation is the extent to which mechanical perturbations have shaped plant form and function and how form and function have shaped ecological dynamics over the course of evolution.

scholarly journals An integrative method for testing form–function linkages and reconstructed evolutionary pathways of masticatory specialization

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (107) ◽  
pp. 20150184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Jack Tseng ◽  
John J. Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Integrate Form ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Evolutionary Pathways ◽  
And Function

Morphology serves as a ubiquitous proxy in macroevolutionary studies to identify potential adaptive processes and patterns. Inferences of functional significance of phenotypes or their evolution are overwhelmingly based on data from living taxa. Yet, correspondence between form and function has been tested in only a few model species, and those linkages are highly complex. The lack of explicit methodologies to integrate form and function analyses within a deep-time and phylogenetic context weakens inferences of adaptive morphological evolution, by invoking but not testing form–function linkages. Here, we provide a novel approach to test mechanical properties at reconstructed ancestral nodes/taxa and the strength and direction of evolutionary pathways in feeding biomechanics, in a case study of carnivorous mammals. Using biomechanical profile comparisons that provide functional signals for the separation of feeding morphologies, we demonstrate, using experimental optimization criteria on estimation of strength and direction of functional changes on a phylogeny, that convergence in mechanical properties and degree of evolutionary optimization can be decoupled. This integrative approach is broadly applicable to other clades, by using quantitative data and model-based tests to evaluate interpretations of function from morphology and functional explanations for observed macroevolutionary pathways.

Heartfelt images: learning cardiac science artistically

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Ann Courneya
Keyword(s):  
Dental Students ◽  
Dental Student ◽  
Visual Metaphor ◽  
Art Making ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Process Understanding ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Function

There are limited curricular options for medical students to engage in art-making during their training. Yet, it is known that art-making confers a variety of benefits related to learning. This qualitative study utilises a visual methodology to explore students’ art-making in the context of the cardiovascular sciences. The existence of a multiyear repository of medical/dental student generated, cardiac-inspired art, collected over 6 years, provided the opportunity to explore the nature of the art made. The aim was to categorise the art produced, as well as the depth and breadth of understanding required to produce the art. The data set included a wide variety of titled art (paintings, photographs, sketches, sculptures, collages, poetry and music/dance). Systematic curation of the collection, across all media, yielded three main categories: anatomical renderings, physiology/pathophysiology renderings and kinesthetic creations (music/dance/tactile). Overall (medical and dental) student-generated art suggested a high level of content/process understanding, as illustrated by attention to scientific detail, integration of form and function as well as the sophisticated use of visual metaphor and word play. Dental students preferentially expressed their understanding of anatomy and physiology kinesthetically, creating art that required manual dexterity as well as through choreography and dance. Combining art-making with basic science curricular learning invited the medical and dentistry students to link their understanding to different modes of expression and a non-biomedical way of knowing. Subsequent incorporation of the student-generated cardiac art into lectures exposed the entire class to creative pictorial expressions of anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology.

Cleft Sentences: Form, Function, and Translation

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Semantic Transparency ◽  
Semantic Equivalence ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Sentence Construction ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
And Function

Although cleft sentences are possible constructions in both English and German, they are far more frequent in English texts. Durrell (2002: 479) observes in his Hammer's German Grammar and Usage that “with the exception of the type Er war es, der mich davon abhielt […], cleft sentence constructions sound unnatural in German and should be avoided.” The article discusses the form and function of cleft sentences in the context of other focusing devices. It shows that, although German and English cleft sentences have the same information structure, their stylistic value is very different. Using a short translation, Durrell's observation is confirmed: in translating cleft sentences into German, semantic equivalence is often sacrificed for stylistic appropriateness. Although structural features of both languages are the ultimate cause of the contrast, they cannot explain choices in each individual case. The article argues that structural typology should be complemented with a typology of parole: the respective frequencies of cleft sentences in both languages reflect neatly into the more verbal style, more hierarchical sentence construction and, in certain respects, greater semantic transparency of English texts (by comparison with their German counterparts).*

scholarly journals Search for the Relation of Form and Function Using the ForFun Database

2018 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Marie Mikulová ◽  
Eduard Bejček ◽  
Eva Hajičová ◽  
Jarmila Panevová
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Theoretical Linguistics ◽  
And Function ◽  
Annotated Corpora ◽  
Function Relation

Abstract The aim of the contribution is to introduce a database of linguistic forms and their functions built with the use of the multi-layer annotated corpora of Czech, the Prague Dependency Treebanks. The purpose of the Prague Database of Forms and Functions (ForFun) is to help the linguists to study the form-function relation, which we assume to be one of the principal tasks of both theoretical linguistics and natural language processing. We demonstrate possibilities of the exploitation of the ForFun database. This article is largely based on a paper presented at the 16th International Workshop on Treebanks and Linguistic Theories in Prague (Bejček et al., 2017).

Form and function in the acquisition of Korean wh-questions

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia M. Clancy
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Korean Children ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
Acquisition Order ◽  
And Function ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACTIn this paper the order in which wh-questions are acquired in the production and comprehension of two Korean children, aged 1;8–2;8 and 1;10–2; 10, is analysed and compared with the available crosslinguistic data. Consistencies in acquisition order are hypothesized to be based on universals of cognitive development, which constrain the comprehension and production of wh-forms and influence the order in which mothers introduce them, and on functionally based similarities in the input of form/function pairs across children and languages. Discrepancies in acquisition order are attributed to differences in interactive style across caregivers and children, leading to different input frequencies of particular forms and individual children's selection of different forms for use.

Form and function in early clause-combining

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYLE LUSTIGMAN ◽  
RUTH A. BERMAN
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Communicative Function ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
General Properties ◽  
Form Function ◽  
And Function ◽  
Clause Combining ◽  
Developmental Phases ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe study characterizes developmental trends in early Hebrew clause-combining (CC) by analyzing the interplay between linguistic form and communicative function in different interactional settings. Analysis applied to all utterances produced by three children aged 2;0–3;0 who combined two or more clauses, either self-initiated or on the basis of adult input. Ten types of CC were analyzed for marking by connectives (e.g. the Hebrew equivalents of ‘and’, ‘that’, ‘so’). Four shared consecutive developmental phases emerged: non-marking; partial marking by ‘and’ and ‘that’; use of ‘but’ and ‘because’, favored significantly in interlocutor-supported contexts; marking of adverbial relations and more varied use ofše-‘that’. These CC processes are interpreted as reflecting general properties of language development, in the form of gradually increasing specification of form–function relations under the impact of interlocutor–child interactive support combined with Hebrew-particular typological factors.

Stray Feathers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Olsen AM ◽  
Leo Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Australian Birds ◽  
Living Together ◽  
Barn Owls ◽  
The Senses ◽  
And Function

Stray Feathers showcases some of the remarkable adaptations of Australian birds. A brief introduction describes how evolution shapes form and function, followed by a series of vignettes illustrating the wondrous variety of forms and functions shaped by evolution. For example, did you know that Barn Owls can hunt in absolute darkness and that cuckoos commence incubation before their egg is laid? Sections include anatomy and physiology; the senses; giving voice; tongues talking; plumage; getting around; finding and handling food; optimising foraging and feeding; reducing competition; using ‘tools’; communicating; quality vs quantity; courtship; nests; parental care; chicks; and living together. The book is superbly illustrated with black and white drawings of a range of birds, making it a worthy addition to the bookshelves of bird lovers everywhere.

scholarly journals Ecomorphology of Neotropical Electric Fishes: An Integrative Approach to Testing the Relationships between Form, Function, and Trophic Ecology

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K M Evans ◽  
L Y Kim ◽  
B A Schubert ◽  
J S Albert
Keyword(s):  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Trophic Ecology ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Electric Fishes ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship

SynopsisThe relationship between form and function is thought to play an integral role in structuring broad-scale patterns of morphological evolution and resource utilization. In ecomorphological studies, mechanical performance is widely understood to constrain the evolution of form and function. However, the relationship between form, function, and resource utilization is less clear. Additionally, seasonal fluctuations in resource availability may further complicate patterns of resource use. How organisms cope with these complexities, and the effect of these factors on broadscale patterns of morphological evolution is also poorly understood. Here we use three-dimensional geometric morphometrics, biomechanics, stable isotope analysis, and gut-content analysis to study trophic evolution in a clade of riverine-adapted electric fishes from a region with high seasonal variability; the Amazon River. We find significant and phylogenetically structured relationships among measures of trophic ecology and skull shape. We also recover a significant relationship between the mechanical advantage of the mandible and trophic position, where species feeding at higher trophic levels have narrower jaws with lower mechanical advantages, and species feeding at lower trophic levels have deeper jaws with higher mechanical advantages. Our results indicate that selection is driving the evolution of mandible shape and performance toward specialization on different trophic ecologies.

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