Multiscalar Architectures

Many of the great advances in modern computing are supplied by modeling architectures that practice a crucial division in descriptive labor by asking distinct forms of submodeling to work together in cooperative harmony without engaging in a straightforward amalgamation of conclusions. Commonly these distinct submodels are aligned with characteristic scale lengths within their target systems so that a preliminary modeling (Δ‎H) that calculates how a system normally behaves upon a macroscopic scale becomes subjected to corrective suggestions arising from a lower-scale modeling (Δ‎L) that focuses upon the local factors that occasionally upset the behavioral presumptions codified within the Δ‎H scheme. The syntactic safeguards within this technique that avert inconsistency and an unmanageable explosion in computational complexity keep their various levels of submodeling isolated from one another. They only pass corrective messages of a specialized character (called “homogenizations”) amongst themselves without attempting to fully amalgamate their localized conclusions into a shared narrative. The computational architecture merely demands that the various submodels reach accord with respect to the homogenization messages that they exchange amongst themselves. This book argues that unnoticed reasoning arrangements of this kind provide the proper diagnosis of the “Mystery of Physics 101” tensions that troubled Hertz (the distinct usages of “force” he noticed operate upon distinct size scales in the manner of a modern multiscalar scheme). It is then suggested that the natural development of many forms of linguistic attainment lead to reasoning architectures of this general character, although we often fail to recognize the subtle strategies that undergird their operations.

Centromere size scales with genome size across Eukaryotes

Previous studies on grass species suggested that the total centromere size (sum of all centromere sizes in a cell) may be determined by the genome size, possibly because stable scaling is important for proper cell division. However, it is unclear whether this relationship is universal. Here we analyze the total centromere size using the CenH3-immunofluorescence area as a proxy in 130 taxa including plants, animals, fungi, and protists. We verified the reliability of our methodological approach by comparing our measurements with available ChIP-seq-based measurements of the size of CenH3-binding domains. Data based on these two independent methods showed the same positive relationship between the total centromere size and genome size. Our results demonstrate that the genome size is a strong predictor (R-squared = 0.964) of the total centromere size universally across Eukaryotes. We also show that this relationship is independent of phylogenetic relatedness and centromere type (monocentric, metapolycentric, and holocentric), implying a common mechanism maintaining stable total centromere size in Eukaryotes.

No Evidence for Effects of Ecological and Behavioral Factors on Eye Size Evolution in Anurans

Eye size varies markedly among taxonomic levels, and this variation is often related to the patterns shaped by phylogeny and ecological and behavioral factors. The selective pressures underlying eye size evolution are especially studied in fishes, anurans, birds, and mammals. However, selective pressures underlying the eye size evolution in anurans have inconsistent scaling rules. Here, we investigated the links between eye size and both ecological (e.g., light availability and habitat type) and behavioral factors (e.g., activity time, foraging mobility, defensive strategy, and mating system) among 252 species of anurans by using phylogenetically controlled generalized least-squared (PGLS) regression. Results show that anuran eye size scales hypo-allometrically with body size. However, eye size was not significantly influenced by ecological and behavioral factors, including habitat type, activity time, light availability, foraging mobility, defensive strategy, and mating system. Therefore, neither ecology nor behavior plays a key role in promoting eye size evolution in frogs.

Flow-induced Folding in Multi-scaled Bulk Forming of Flanged Parts and its Prediction and Avoidance

The quality of manufactured parts and the efficiency of forming processes are crucial in deformation-based manufacturing. In product miniaturization and micro-manufacturing, size effect induces many unknowns. Flow-induced folding related to size effect is one of them and has not yet been fully studied. In this research, the formation mechanism of folding defects in axisymmetric bulk forming was investigated, and a design-based method was employed to evaluate different tooling and process route designs for making a case-study multi-flanged part with three features and to explore the design-based avoidance of folding defects. In addition, a design evaluating framework of folding-free bulk forming was proposed, implemented and validated. Via analysis of the material flow, energy consumption, folding formation, and product precision of the four proposed forming processes for the case-study part, an upsetting-extrusion forming method via using a nested punch was found to be the most desirable. It was then implemented in the physical forming with three size scales. The results revealed that the flow-induced folding in the macropart was severe and regularly circuitous, but it is slight and irregular in meso and microscale. These findings are useful in the defect-free forming of multi-flanged structures and multi-scaled axisymmetric parts

Sizing Up Swords: Correlated Evolution of Antlers and Tusks in Ungulates

Most sexual weapons in sexual combat and visual displays of dominance (e.g., antlers, horns) show positively allometry with body size for both growth during development and evolution across species, but allometry in species with more than one sexual weapon is unstudied. We examined the allometric relationships between body size and tusks (pure combat weapons) and/or antlers (both a visual signal and combat weapon) from forty-three artiodactyl species including the muntjaks (Muntiacinae), which uniquely have both antlers and tusks. We found that in Muntiacinae antler length scales positively allometrically with skull length, whereas tusk size scales isometrically suggesting greater energy investment in antlers as signals over tusks as combative weapons when both are present. Interspecifically, we found that species who possess only one weapon (either solely tusked or solely antlered) scaled positively allometrically with body mass, and the latter relationship levels off at larger body sizes. In our tusk analysis, when we included Muntiacinae species the positive allometric trend was not conserved resulting in an isometric relationship suggesting the possession of antlers negatively affect the energy investment in tusks as weapons. Overall, our findings show that species that possess dual weapons unproportionally invest energy in the development and maintenance of their multiple weapons.

Rigorous light-scattering simulations of space-weathering effects on reflectance spectra

<p>We present a multi-scale light-scattering model that is capable of simulating the reflectance spectra of a regolith layer. In particular, the model can be applied to a case where the regolith grains have varying amounts of nanophase inclusions due to space weathering of the material. As different simulation tools are employed for different size scales of the target geometry (roughly, nano-, micro-, and millimeter scales), the particle size effects, the surface reflections, and the volume scattering can all be properly accounted for. Our results with olivine grains and nanophase iron inclusions verify the role of the nanoinclusions in the reflectance spectra of space-weathered materials. Together with the simulation results, we give simplified explanations for the space-weathering effects based on light scattering, namely the decrease of albedo, the general increase of the red spectral slope, and the dampening of the spectral bands. We also consider the so-called ultraviolet bluing effect and show how the change in the spectral slope over the ultraviolet-visual wavelengths is due to the decrease of reflectance in the visual wavelengths rather than the increase of reflectance in the ultraviolet part.</p>

Centromere Size Scales With Genome Size Across Eukaryotes

Previous studies on grass species suggested that the total centromere size (sum of all centromere sizes in a cell) may be determined by the genome size, possibly because stable scaling is important for proper cell division. Here we analyze the total centromere size using the CenH3-immunofluorescence area as a proxy in 130 taxa including plants, animals, fungi, and protists. We verified the reliability of our methodological approach by comparing our measurements with available ChIP-seq-based measurements of the size of CenH3-binding domains. Data based on these two independent methods showed the same positive relationship between the total centromere size and genome size. Our results demonstrate that the genome size is a strong predictor (R-squared = 0.964) of the total centromere size universally across Eukaryotes. We also show that this relationship is independent of phylogenetic relatedness and centromere type (monocentric, metapolycentric, and holocentric), implying a common mechanism maintaining stable total centromere size in Eukaryotes.