Testing the Pairs-Reflection Model with X-Ray Spectral Variability and X-Ray Properties of Complete Samples of Radio-Selected BL Lacertae Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urry, C. Megan

1997-01-01

This grant was awarded to Dr. C. Megan Urry of the Space Telescope Science Institute in response to two successful ADP proposals to use archival Ginga and Rosat X-ray data for 'Testing the Pairs-Reflection model with X-Ray Spectral Variability' (in collaboration with Paola Grandi, now at the University of Rome) and 'X-Ray Properties of Complete Samples of Radio-Selected BL Lacertae Objects' (in collaboration with then-graduate student Rita Sambruna, now a post-doc at Goddard Space Flight Center). In addition, post-docs Joseph Pesce and Elena Pian, and graduate student Matthew O'Dowd, have worked on several aspects of these projects. The grant was originally awarded on 3/01/94; this report covers the full period, through May 1997. We have completed our project on the X-ray properties of radio-selected BL Lacs.

Radio constraints on the nature of BL Lacertae objects and their parent population

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kollgaard, R. I.; Wardle, J. F. C.; Roberts, D. H.; Gabuzda, D. C.

1992-01-01

5 GHz VLA observations of 17 BL Lac objects with bright radio cores at both high and low resolution are reported. Extended emission is detected around most objects. None of the sources observed at low resolution show evidence of giant halos on the scale of tens of arcmin. In general, the sources with the most luminous extended emission exhibit FR II characteristics in both morphology and polarization, and less luminous sources exhibit FR I characteristics. Thus, the parent population of the BL Lac objects contains both FR I and FR II radio sources. No BL Lac objects are found that clearly exhibit quasarlike polarization at milliarcsec resolution. This argues against the view that the more luminous BL Lac objects are simply an extension of the quasar/OVV population, or that most BL Lac objects are gravitationally microlensed images of distant quasars. Other properties are generally consistent with the view the BL Lac objects are normal radio galaxies whose jets make a small angle to the line of sight.

Radio outburst of BL Lacertae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buemi, C. S.; Leto, P.; Trigilio, C.; Umana, G.; Giroletti, M.; Orienti, M.; Raiteri, C. M.; Villata, M.; Bach, U.

2013-04-01

We report on extremely high radio flux of BL Lacertae at 43 and 8 GHz. Observations at 43 GHz with the 32 m radio telescope in Noto (Italy) revealed a flux density of 10.5 +/- 0.2 Jy on 2013 April 10.65, while observations at 8 GHz with the 32 m radio telescope in Medicina (Italy) detected a flux density of 8.2 +/- 0.7 Jy on April 12.22. These extremely high radio fluxes show that the radio activity likely correlated to the strong optical, near-infrared, and gamma-ray activity of 2011-2012 (see ATels #4028, #4031, #4155, #4271, #4277, #4349, #4565, #4600), and X-ray activity of late 2012 (ATels #4557, #4627), is far to be exhausted.

Besnoitia in a palaearctic lizard (Lacerta dugesii) from Madeira.

PubMed

Frank, W; Frenkel, J K

1981-01-01

Besnoitia cysts in the heart of a lizard (Lacerta dugesii) from the islands of Madeira are the first record of besnoitiosis in a poikilothermic animal in the Old World. The size of the cysts corresponds to those found in lizard genera (Basiliscus and Ameiva) from Panama which belong to B. darlingi. Up to now nothing is known concerning the life cycle of this species from Madeira but it seems possible that cats function as definitive hosts as well as in the other species.

IUE observations of extragalactic objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boksenberg, A.; Snijders, M. A. J.; Wilson, R.; Benvenuti, P.; Clavell, J.; Macchetto, F.; Penston, M.; Boggess, A.; Gull, T. R.; Gondhalekar, P.

1978-01-01

During the commissioning phase of IUE several extragalactic objects were observed spectrally at low dispersion in the UV range lambda lambda 1150-3200: the Seyfert galaxies NGC4151 and NGC1068, the QSO 3C273, the BL Lacertae object B2 1101+38, the giant elliptical galaxy M87 and the spiral galaxy M81. The results obtained are presented and a preliminary analysis given for all six objects, discussing the continuous spectrum, extinction, emission line spectrum and absorption line spectrum, where possible for each case. Several new or confirmatory astrophysical results are obtained.

Lack of congruence between morphometric evolution and genetic differentiation suggests a recent dispersal and local habitat adaptation of the Madeiran lizard Lacerta dugesii

PubMed Central

Brehm, António; Khadem, Mahnaz; Jesus, José; Andrade, Paula; Vicente, Luis

2001-01-01

Genetic differentiation among nine populations of the endemic lizard Lacerta dugesii Milne-Edwards 1829 (Lacertidae) from four groups of islands constituting the Archipelago of Madeira, was investigated by protein electrophoresis at 23 enzyme loci. Among twenty polymorphic loci, the total genetic diversity was due primarily to intra-population variation. The allele and genotypic frequencies among populations showed some heterogeneity, allowing the species to present a structuring pattern compatible with their geographical clustering. Some evidence suggests that selection acting on some loci in different ecological conditions may be responsible for the clustering of the populations studied. There was no apparent isolation effect expected under an "island" model of population divergence, and no correlation was found between genetic and geographic distances among populations. Morphological variation of the proposed three L. dugesii subspecies is not congruent with the allozyme analysis. This most probably suggests a rapid colonization of the islands followed by a strong effect of selection operating over the morphological characters used to define the subspecies. PMID:11742635

Clustering environments of BL Lac objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wurtz, Ronald; Ellingson, Erica; Stocke, John T.; Yee, H. K. C.

1993-01-01

We report measurements of the amplitude of the BL Lac galaxy spatial covariance function, B(gb), for the fields of five BL Lacertae objects. We present evidence for rich clusters around MS 1207+39 and MS 1407+59, and confirm high richness for the cluster containing H0414+009. We discuss the ease of 3C 66 A and find evidence for a poor cluster based on an uncertain redshift of z = 0.444. These data suggest that at least some BL Lac objects are consistent with being FR 1 radio galaxies in rich clusters.

One-milliarsecond precision parallax studies in the regions of Delta Cephei and EV Lacertae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatewood, George; De Jonge, Kiewiet Joost; Stephenson, Bruce

1993-01-01

Trigonometric parallaxes for stars in the regions of the variable stars delta Cephei and EV Lacertae are derived from data collected with the Multichannel Astrometric Photometer (MAP) and the Thaw Refractor of the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory. The weighted mean parallax of all trigonometric studies of delta Cephei is now + 0.0030 sec + or - 0.00093 sec, corresponding to a distance modulus of 7.61 + or - 0.67 mag. This indicates that this luminosity standard star is approximately one standard deviation more distance than has been generally accepted. The weighted mean trigonometric parallax of all studies of the variable star EV Lacertae (BD + 43 deg 4305) is + 0.1993 sec + or - 0.00093 sec, implying a distance modulus of - 1.498 + or - 0.0010 mag. The calculated absolute magnitude of this star is almost exactly that predicted by its (R-I)(sub Kron) magnitude and by the Gliese (R-I) main-sequence value for stars in the solar neighborhood. We also find a parallax of 0.0189 sec + or - 0.0008 sec for the FO IVn star, HR 8666 (BD + 43 sec 4300). The derived luminosity of this star is midway between that expected for luminosity class IV and V stars at the indicated temperature.

On the Location of the gamma-Ray Outburst Emission in the BL Lacertae Object AO 0235 + 164 Through Observations Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agudo, Ivan; Marscher, Alan P.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Larionov, Valeri M.; Gomez, Jose L.; Laehteenmaeki, Anne; Smith, Paul S.; Nilsson, Kari; Readhead, Anthony C. S.; Aller, Margo F.;

Optical polarization of high-energy BL Lacertae objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hovatta, T.; Lindfors, E.; Blinov, D.; Pavlidou, V.; Nilsson, K.; Kiehlmann, S.; Angelakis, E.; Fallah Ramazani, V.; Liodakis, I.; Myserlis, I.; Panopoulou, G. V.; Pursimo, T.

2016-12-01

Context. We investigate the optical polarization properties of high-energy BL Lac objects using data from the RoboPol blazar monitoring program and the Nordic Optical Telescope. Aims: We wish to understand if there are differences between the BL Lac objects that have been detected with the current-generation TeV instruments and those objects that have not yet been detected. Methods: We used a maximum-likelihood method to investigate the optical polarization fraction and its variability in these sources. In order to study the polarization position angle variability, we calculated the time derivative of the electric vector position angle (EVPA) change. We also studied the spread in the Stokes Q/I-U/I plane and rotations in the polarization plane. Results: The mean polarization fraction of the TeV-detected BL Lacs is 5%, while the non-TeV sources show a higher mean polarization fraction of 7%. This difference in polarization fraction disappears when the dilution by the unpolarized light of the host galaxy is accounted for. The TeV sources show somewhat lower fractional polarization variability amplitudes than the non-TeV sources. Also the fraction of sources with a smaller spread in the Q/I-U/I plane and a clumped distribution of points away from the origin, possibly indicating a preferred polarization angle, is larger in the TeV than in the non-TeV sources. These differences between TeV and non-TeV samples seem to arise from differences between intermediate and high spectral peaking sources instead of the TeV detection. When the EVPA variations are studied, the rate of EVPA change is similar in both samples. We detect significant EVPA rotations in both TeV and non-TeV sources, showing that rotations can occur in high spectral peaking BL Lac objects when the monitoring cadence is dense enough. Our simulations show that we cannot exclude a random walk origin for these rotations. Conclusions: These results indicate that there are no intrinsic differences in the

The complete mitochondrial genome of the green lizard Lacerta viridis viridis (Reptilia: Lacertidae) and its phylogenetic position within squamate reptiles.

PubMed

Böhme, M U; Fritzsch, G; Tippmann, A; Schlegel, M; Berendonk, T U

2007-06-01

For the first time the complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced for a member of Lacertidae. Lacerta viridis viridis was sequenced in order to compare the phylogenetic relationships of this family to other reptilian lineages. Using the long-polymerase chain reaction (long PCR) we characterized a mitochondrial genome, 17,156 bp long showing a typical vertebrate pattern with 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNA), two ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) and one major noncoding region. The noncoding region of L. v. viridis was characterized by a conspicuous 35 bp tandem repeat at its 5' terminus. A phylogenetic study including all currently available squamate mitochondrial sequences demonstrates the position of Lacertidae within a monophyletic squamate group. We obtained a narrow relationship of Lacertidae to Scincidae, Iguanidae, Varanidae, Anguidae, and Cordylidae. Although, the internal relationships within this group yielded only a weak resolution and low bootstrap support, the revealed relationships were more congruent with morphological studies than with recent molecular analyses.

Age, environment, object recognition and morphological diversity of GFAP-immunolabeled astrocytes.

PubMed

Diniz, Daniel Guerreiro; de Oliveira, Marcus Augusto; de Lima, Camila Mendes; Fôro, César Augusto Raiol; Sosthenes, Marcia Consentino Kronka; Bento-Torres, João; da Costa Vasconcelos, Pedro Fernando; Anthony, Daniel Clive; Diniz, Cristovam Wanderley Picanço

2016-10-10

Few studies have explored the glial response to a standard environment and how the response may be associated with age-related cognitive decline in learning and memory. Here we investigated aging and environmental influences on hippocampal-dependent tasks and on the morphology of an unbiased selected population of astrocytes from the molecular layer of dentate gyrus, which is the main target of perforant pathway. Six and twenty-month-old female, albino Swiss mice were housed, from weaning, in a standard or enriched environment, including running wheels for exercise and tested for object recognition and contextual memories. Young adult and aged subjects, independent of environment, were able to distinguish familiar from novel objects. All experimental groups, except aged mice from standard environment, distinguish stationary from displaced objects. Young adult but not aged mice, independent of environment, were able to distinguish older from recent objects. Only young mice from an enriched environment were able to distinguish novel from familiar contexts. Unbiased selected astrocytes from the molecular layer of the dentate gyrus were reconstructed in three-dimensions and classified using hierarchical cluster analysis of bimodal or multimodal morphological features. We found two morphological phenotypes of astrocytes and we designated type I the astrocytes that exhibited significantly higher values of morphological complexity as compared with type II. Complexity = [Sum of the terminal orders + Number of terminals] × [Total branch length/Number of primary branches]. On average, type I morphological complexity seems to be much more sensitive to age and environmental influences than that of type II. Indeed, aging and environmental impoverishment interact and reduce the morphological complexity of type I astrocytes at a point that they could not be distinguished anymore from type II. We suggest these two types of astrocytes may have different physiological roles

A Search for Low-Luminosity BL Lacertae Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rector, Travis A.; Stocke, John T.; Perlman, Eric S.

1999-05-01

Many properties of BL Lacs have become explicable in terms of the ``relativistic beaming'' hypothesis, whereby BL Lacs are FR 1 radio galaxies viewed nearly along the jet axis. However, a possible problem with this model is that a transition population between beamed BL Lacs and unbeamed FR 1 galaxies has not been detected. A transition population of ``low-luminosity BL Lacs'' was predicted to exist in abundance in X-ray-selected samples such as the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) by Browne & Marcha. However, these BL Lacs may have been misidentified as clusters of galaxies. We have conducted a search for such objects in the EMSS with the ROSAT High-Resolution Imager (HRI) here we present ROSAT HRI images, optical spectra, and VLA radio maps for a small number of BL Lacs that were previously misidentified in the EMSS catalog as clusters of galaxies. While these objects are slightly lower in luminosity than other EMSS BL Lacs, their properties are too similar to the other BL Lacs in the EMSS sample to ``bridge the gap'' between BL Lacs and FR 1 radio galaxies. Also, the number of new BL Lacs found is too low to alter significantly the X-ray luminosity function or value for the X-ray-selected EMSS BL Lac sample. Thus, these observations do not explain fully the discrepancy between the X-ray- and radio-selected BL Lac samples.

Optical and radio properties of X-ray selected BL Lacertae objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocke, J. T.; Liebert, J.; Schmidt, G.; Gioia, I. M.; Maccacaro, T.

1985-01-01

The eight BL Lac objects from the HEAO 1 A-2 all-sky survey and from the Einstein medium-sensitivity survey (MSS) form a flux-limited complete X-ray selected sample. The optical and radio properties of the MSS BL Lac objects are presented and compared with those of the HEAO 1 A-2 sample and with those of radio-selected BL Lac objects. The X-ray selected BL Lac objects possess smaller polarized fractions and less violent optical variability than radio-selected BL Lac objects. These properties are consistent with the substantial starlight fraction seen in the optical spectra of a majority of these objects. This starlight allows a determination of definite redshifts for two of four MSS BL Lac objects and a probable redshift for a third. These redshifts are 0.2, 0.3, and 0.6. Despite the differences in characteristics between the X-ray selected and radio-selected samples, it is concluded that these eight objects possess most of the basic qualities of BL Lac objects and should be considered members of that class. Moreover, as a class, these X-ray selected objects have the largest ratio of X-ray to optical flux of any active galactic nuclei yet discovered.

Probing the Innermost Regions of AGN Jets and Their Magnetic Fields with RadioAstron. I. Imaging BL Lacertae at 21 Microarcsecond Resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez, José L.; Lobanov, Andrei P.; Bruni, Gabriele; Kovalev, Yuri Y.; Marscher, Alan P.; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Mizuno, Yosuke; Bach, Uwe; Sokolovsky, Kirill V.; Anderson, James M.; Galindo, Pablo; Kardashev, Nikolay S.; Lisakov, Mikhail M.

2016-02-01

We present the first polarimetric space very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging observations at 22 GHz. BL Lacertae was observed in 2013 November 10 with the RadioAstron space VLBI mission, including a ground array of 15 radio telescopes. The instrumental polarization of the space radio telescope is found to be less than 9%, demonstrating the polarimetric imaging capabilities of RadioAstron at 22 GHz. Ground-space fringes were obtained up to a projected baseline distance of 7.9 Earth diameters in length, allowing us to image the jet in BL Lacertae with a maximum angular resolution of 21 μas, the highest achieved to date. We find evidence for emission upstream of the radio core, which may correspond to a recollimation shock at about 40 μas from the jet apex, in a pattern that includes other recollimation shocks at approximately 100 and 250 μas from the jet apex. Polarized emission is detected in two components within the innermost 0.5 mas from the core, as well as in some knots 3 mas downstream. Faraday rotation analysis, obtained from combining RadioAstron 22 GHz and ground-based 15 and 43 GHz images, shows a gradient in rotation measure and Faraday-corrected polarization vector as a function of position angle with respect to the core, suggesting that the jet in BL Lacertae is threaded by a helical magnetic field. The intrinsic de-boosted brightness temperature in the unresolved core exceeds 3× {10}12 K, suggesting, at the very least, departure from equipartition of energy between the magnetic field and radiating particles.

The Cosmic Evolution of Fermi BL Lacertae Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ajello, Marco; Gasparrini, Dario; Romani, Roger W.; Shaw, Michael S.

2014-06-01

It has been notoriously difficult in the past to measure the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs because of the challenges related to measure their redshift. Extensive optical follow-up observations of a sample of ~200 Fermi-detected BL Lac objects have provided much-needed redshift information for many of them. This stands as the largest and most complete sample of BL Lacs available in the literature and was used to determine the cosmological properties of this elusive source class. This talk will review the cosmic evolution of BL Lacs and discuss the link to their siblings flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs). Evidence suggests that BL Lacs of the high-synchrotron peaked class might be an accretion-starved end-state of an earlier merger-driven gas-rich phase.

Borrelia lusitaniae and Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis), Karst Region, Slovakia

PubMed Central

Majláth, Igor; Derdáková, Marketa; Víchová, Bronislava; Peťko, Branislav

2006-01-01

In Europe, spirochetes within the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex are transmitted by Ixodes ricinus ticks. Specific associations are described between reservoir hosts and individual genospecies. We focused on green lizard (Lacerta viridis) as a host for ticks and potential host for borreliae. In 2004 and 2005, a total of 146 green lizards infested by ticks were captured, and 469 I. ricinus ticks were removed. Borrelial infection was detected in 16.6% of ticks from lizards. Of 102 skin biopsy specimens collected from lizards, 18.6% tested positive. The most frequently detected genospecies was B. lusitaniae (77.9%–94.7%). More than 19% of questing I. ricinus collected in areas where lizards were sampled tested positive for borreliae. B. garinii was the dominant species, and B. lusitaniae represented 11.1%. The presence of B. lusitaniae in skin biopsy specimens and in ticks that had fed on green lizards implicates this species in the transmission cycle of B. lusitaniae. PMID:17326941

Patterns of cranial ontogeny in lacertid lizards: morphological and allometric disparity.

PubMed

Urošević, A; Ljubisavljević, K; Ivanović, A

2013-02-01

We explored the ontogenetic dynamics of the morphological and allometric disparity in the cranium shapes of twelve lacertid lizard species. The analysed species (Darevskia praticola, Dinarolacerta mosorensis, Iberolacerta horvathi, Lacerta agilis, L. trilineata, L. viridis, Podarcis erhardii, P. melisellensis, P. muralis, P. sicula, P. taurica and Zootoca vivipara) can be classified into different ecomorphs: terrestrial lizards that inhabit vegetated habitats (habitats with lush or sparse vegetation), saxicolous and shrub-climbing lizards. We observed that there was an overall increase in the morphological disparity (MD) during the ontogeny of the lacertid lizards. The ventral cranium, which is involved in the mechanics of jaw movement and feeding, showed higher levels of MD, an ontogenetic shift in the morphospace planes and more variable allometric patterns than more conserved dorsal crania. With respect to ecology, the allometric trajectories of the shrub-climbing species tended to cluster together, whereas the allometric trajectories of the saxicolous species were highly dispersed. Our results indicate that the ontogenetic patterns of morphological and allometric disparity in the lacertid lizards are modified by ecology and functional constraints and that the identical mechanisms that lead to intraspecific morphological variation also produce morphological divergence at higher taxonomic levels. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

On the surface density of X-ray selected BL Lacertae objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maccacaro, T.; Gioia, I. M.; Maccagni, D.; Stocke, J. T.

1984-01-01

Only a handful of BL Lac objects have been found as a result of systematic optical identification of serendipitous Einstein X-ray sources. By combining the data from two flux-limited complete X-ray surveys (the HEAO 1 A-2 and the Einstein Observatory Medium Sensitivity Survey) the surface density of X-ray emitting BL Lac objects is evaluated as a function of their X-ray flux. It is found that a single power law is not an acceptable representation of the BL Lac objects' X-ray log N-log S. The number-flux relationship is consistent with the Euclidean slope at 'high' flux levels but shows a drastic flattnring below fluxes of the order of 10 to the -12th ergs per sq cm/s. The implications of this result are briefly discussed with respect to the luminosity function, the cosmological evolution, and the X-ray to optical flux ratio in BL Lac objects.

Multiple approaches to detect outliers in a genome scan for selection in ocellated lizards (Lacerta lepida) along an environmental gradient.

PubMed

Nunes, Vera L; Beaumont, Mark A; Butlin, Roger K; Paulo, Octávio S

2011-01-01

Identification of loci with adaptive importance is a key step to understand the speciation process in natural populations, because those loci are responsible for phenotypic variation that affects fitness in different environments. We conducted an AFLP genome scan in populations of ocellated lizards (Lacerta lepida) to search for candidate loci influenced by selection along an environmental gradient in the Iberian Peninsula. This gradient is strongly influenced by climatic variables, and two subspecies can be recognized at the opposite extremes: L. lepida iberica in the northwest and L. lepida nevadensis in the southeast. Both subspecies show substantial morphological differences that may be involved in their local adaptation to the climatic extremes. To investigate how the use of a particular outlier detection method can influence the results, a frequentist method, DFDIST, and a Bayesian method, BayeScan, were used to search for outliers influenced by selection. Additionally, the spatial analysis method was used to test for associations of AFLP marker band frequencies with 54 climatic variables by logistic regression. Results obtained with each method highlight differences in their sensitivity. DFDIST and BayeScan detected a similar proportion of outliers (3-4%), but only a few loci were simultaneously detected by both methods. Several loci detected as outliers were also associated with temperature, insolation or precipitation according to spatial analysis method. These results are in accordance with reported data in the literature about morphological and life-history variation of L. lepida subspecies along the environmental gradient. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Photometric monitoring of three BL Lacertae objects in 1993-1998

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, J. M.; Xie, G. Z.; Li, K. H.; Zhang, X.; Liu, W. W.

1999-05-01

The results of optical photometric (BVRI) monitoring of three BL Lac objects over a time interval of about four years are presented. The sources are three classical radio-selected BL Lac objects, BL Lac, OJ 287 and PKS 0735+178. During our observation OJ 287 was in the stage of a large periodic outburst which consisted of at least two peaks. Almost all the observations obtained over consecutive nights detected intranight variations. In 1995 and 1996 BL Lac kept in faint states, with fewer and smaller rapid flares and fluctuations. On the contrary, in late 1997 BL Lac was at the stage of a large outburst, accompanied with much more large amplitude rapid flares and fluctuations. PKS 0735+178 was almost at its faint end from 1994 to early 1998. Over this time interval, the intraday variations and microvariations in PKS 0735+178 were rare and the amplitude was very small, except a rapid darkening of ~ 0.4 mag on 24 January 1995. Previous work by \\cite[Webb et al. (1988);]{web88} \\cite[Wagner et al. (1996);]{wag96} \\cite[Pian et al. (1997)]{pia97} also showed the same behaviour of variability as BL Lac and PKS 0735+178 in BL Lac, S5 0716+714, PKS 2155-304, respectively. We propose that the motion of orientation of the relativistic jet in a BL Lac object be responsible for these variability behaviours. Table~1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

Metabolic adaptations of overwintering European common lizards (Lacerta vivipara).

PubMed

Voituron, Y; Hérold, J P; Grenot, C

2000-01-01

The European common lizard Lacerta vivipara, a reptile of cold-temperate climates, provides us an interesting model of low-temperature adaptation. Indeed its unique cold-hardiness strategy, which employs both freeze tolerance and freeze avoidance, may be seen as the primary reason for its large distribution, which extends from Spain to beyond the Arctic circle. To study the metabolism supporting this capacity, we used three techniques: two techniques of calorimetry (oxygen consumption and thermogenesis) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. These techniques were used to examine the metabolic balance and the different molecular pathways used between three different periods through the year (September, January, and May). The results show a significant 20% augmentation of winter anaerobic metabolism compared to other periods of the year. This is mainly because of an activation of the lactic fermentation pathway leading to an increase of lactate concentration (>34% in winter). Furthermore, glucose, which increases some 245% in winter, is used as antifreeze and metabolic substrate. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that the physiological adaptations of the common lizard differ from those of other ectotherms such as Rana sylvatica. Concentrations of alanine and glycerol, commonly used as antifreeze by many overwintering ectotherms, do not increase during winter.

Mathematical morphology for automated analysis of remotely sensed objects in radar images

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Daida, Jason M.; Vesecky, John F.

1991-01-01

A symbiosis of pyramidal segmentation and morphological transmission is described. The pyramidal segmentation portion of the symbiosis has resulted in low (2.6 percent) misclassification error rate for a one-look simulation. Other simulations indicate lower error rates (1.8 percent for a four-look image). The morphological transformation portion has resulted in meaningful partitions with a minimal loss of fractal boundary information. An unpublished version of Thicken, suitable for watersheds transformations of fractal objects, is also presented. It is demonstrated that the proposed symbiosis works with SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images: in this case, a four-look Seasat image of sea ice. It is concluded that the symbiotic forms of both segmentation and morphological transformation seem well suited for unsupervised geophysical analysis.

Adaptive Morphological Feature-Based Object Classifier for a Color Imaging System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McDowell, Mark; Gray, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

Utilizing a Compact Color Microscope Imaging System (CCMIS), a unique algorithm has been developed that combines human intelligence along with machine vision techniques to produce an autonomous microscope tool for biomedical, industrial, and space applications. This technique is based on an adaptive, morphological, feature-based mapping function comprising 24 mutually inclusive feature metrics that are used to determine the metrics for complex cell/objects derived from color image analysis. Some of the features include: Area (total numbers of non-background pixels inside and including the perimeter), Bounding Box (smallest rectangle that bounds and object), centerX (x-coordinate of intensity-weighted, center-of-mass of an entire object or multi-object blob), centerY (y-coordinate of intensity-weighted, center-of-mass, of an entire object or multi-object blob), Circumference (a measure of circumference that takes into account whether neighboring pixels are diagonal, which is a longer distance than horizontally or vertically joined pixels), . Elongation (measure of particle elongation given as a number between 0 and 1. If equal to 1, the particle bounding box is square. As the elongation decreases from 1, the particle becomes more elongated), . Ext_vector (extremal vector), . Major Axis (the length of a major axis of a smallest ellipse encompassing an object), . Minor Axis (the length of a minor axis of a smallest ellipse encompassing an object), . Partial (indicates if the particle extends beyond the field of view), . Perimeter Points (points that make up a particle perimeter), . Roundness [(4(pi) x area)/perimeter(squared)) the result is a measure of object roundness, or compactness, given as a value between 0 and 1. The greater the ratio, the rounder the object.], . Thin in center (determines if an object becomes thin in the center, (figure-eight-shaped), . Theta (orientation of the major axis), . Smoothness and color metrics for each component (red, green, blue

Knowledge-based object recognition for different morphological classes of plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brendel, Thorsten; Schwanke, Joerg; Jensch, Peter F.; Megnet, Roland

1995-01-01

Micropropagation of plants is done by cutting juvenile plants and placing them into special container-boxes with nutrient-solution where the pieces can grow up and be cut again several times. To produce high amounts of biomass it is necessary to do plant micropropagation by a robotic syshoot. In this paper we describe parts of the vision syshoot that recognizes plants and their particular cutting points. Therefore, it is necessary to extract elements of the plants and relations between these elements (for example root, shoot, leaf). Different species vary in their morphological appearance, variation is also immanent in plants of the same species. Therefore, we introduce several morphological classes of plants from that we expect same recognition methods. As a result of our work we present rules which help users to create specific algorithms for object recognition of plant species.

Finding the rarest objects in the universe: A new, efficient method for discovering BL Lacertae objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stocke, John; Perlman, Eric; Granados, Arno; Schachter, Jonathan; Elvis, Martin; Urry, Meg; Impey, Chris; Smith, Paul

1993-01-01

We present a new, efficient method for discovering new BL Lac Objects based upon the results of the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS). We have found that all x-ray selected BL Lacs are radio emitters, and further, that in a 'color-color' diagram (radio/optical and optical/x-ray) the BL Lac Objects occupy an area distinct from both radio loud quasars and the radio quiet QSOs and Seyferts which dominate x-ray selected samples. After obtaining radio counterparts via VLA 'snapshot' observations of a large sample of unidentified x-ray sources, the list of candidates is reduced. These candidates then can be confirmed with optical spectroscopy and/or polarimetry. Since greater than 70 percent of these sources are expected to be BL Lacs, the optical observations are very efficient. We have tested this method using unidentified sources found in the Einstein Slew Survey. The 162 Slew Survey x-ray source positions were observed with the VLA in a mixed B/C configuration at 6 cm resulting in 60 detections within 1.5 position error circle radii. These x-ray/optical/radio sources were then plotted, and 40 BL Lac candidates were identified. To date, 10 candidates have been spectroscopically observed resulting in 10 new BL Lac objects! Radio flux, optical magnitude, and polarization statistics (obtained in white light with the Steward Observatory 2.3 m CCD polarimeter) for each are given.

Optical and UV spectroscopy of the peculiar RS CVn system RT Lacertae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huenemoerder, D. P.; Barden, S. C.

1986-01-01

H-alpha and H-beta spectra of the peculiar double-lined RS CVn binary RT Lacertae have been obtained using the IUE, together with a ground-based coude-feed telescope at KPNO. The ground-based spectra show an asymmetry related to the orbital phase in the H-alpha profile. H-beta profiles showed excess emission in one hemisphere and excess absorption in the other, with a broad Gaussian emission component superposed on the excess H-alpha line. A radial velocity curve was derived to estimate the mass ratio and geometry of the system. It is shown that the component of RT Lac fills 80-90 percent of the equilibrium Roche surface. Low-resolution ultraviolet data show that the supposed cooler component is bluer than its companion, suggesting evidence of a scattering shell or a cloud produced by the splash of a gas stream. The phase behavior of the low resolution ultraviolet data support the conclusion that RT Lac is a mass transfer system and that mass transfer is the primary cause of its activity.

Extraordinary Activity in the BL Lacertae Object OJ 287

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hughes, Philip A.; Aller, Hugh D.; Aller, Margo F.

1998-08-01

We use a continuous wavelet transform to analyze more than two decades of data for the BL Lac object OJ 287 acquired as part of the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory (UMRAO) variability program. We find clear evidence for a persistent modulation of the total flux and polarization with period ~1.66 yr and for another signal that dominates activity in the 1980s with period ~1.12 yr. The relationship between these two variations can be understood in terms of a ``shock-in-jet'' model, in which the longer timescale periodicity is associated with an otherwise quiescent jet and the shorter timescale activity is associated with the passage of a shock. The different periodicities of these two components may reflect different internal conditions of the two flow domains leading to different wave speeds or different contractions of a single underlying periodicity due to the different Doppler factors of the two flow components. We suggest that the modulation arises from a wave driven by some asymmetric disturbance close to the central engine. The periodic behavior in polarization exhibits excursions in U that correspond to a direction ~45° from the VLBI jet axis. This behavior is not explained by the random walk in the Q-U plane that is expected from models in which a pattern of randomly aligned magnetic field elements propagate across the visible portion of the flow and suggests a small amplitude, cyclic variation in the flow direction in that part of the flow that dominates centimeter wavelength emission.

The Morphology of the Rat Vibrissal Array: A Model for Quantifying Spatiotemporal Patterns of Whisker-Object Contact

PubMed Central

Gopal, Venkatesh; Solomon, Joseph H.; Hartmann, Mitra J. Z.

2011-01-01

In all sensory modalities, the data acquired by the nervous system is shaped by the biomechanics, material properties, and the morphology of the peripheral sensory organs. The rat vibrissal (whisker) system is one of the premier models in neuroscience to study the relationship between physical embodiment of the sensor array and the neural circuits underlying perception. To date, however, the three-dimensional morphology of the vibrissal array has not been characterized. Quantifying array morphology is important because it directly constrains the mechanosensory inputs that will be generated during behavior. These inputs in turn shape all subsequent neural processing in the vibrissal-trigeminal system, from the trigeminal ganglion to primary somatosensory (“barrel”) cortex. Here we develop a set of equations for the morphology of the vibrissal array that accurately describes the location of every point on every whisker to within ±5% of the whisker length. Given only a whisker's identity (row and column location within the array), the equations establish the whisker's two-dimensional (2D) shape as well as three-dimensional (3D) position and orientation. The equations were developed via parameterization of 2D and 3D scans of six rat vibrissal arrays, and the parameters were specifically chosen to be consistent with those commonly measured in behavioral studies. The final morphological model was used to simulate the contact patterns that would be generated as a rat uses its whiskers to tactually explore objects with varying curvatures. The simulations demonstrate that altering the morphology of the array changes the relationship between the sensory signals acquired and the curvature of the object. The morphology of the vibrissal array thus directly constrains the nature of the neural computations that can be associated with extraction of a particular object feature. These results illustrate the key role that the physical embodiment of the sensor array plays in the

Multiwavelength Observations of the Blazar BL Lacertae: A New Fast TeV Gamma-Ray Flare

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abeysekara, A. U.; Benbow, W.; Bird, R.; Brantseg, T.; Brose, R.; Buchovecky, M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Connolly, M. P.; Cui, W.; Daniel, M. K.; Falcone, A.; Feng, Q.; Finley, J. P.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Gillanders, G. H.; Gunawardhana, I.; Hütten, M.; Hanna, D.; Hervet, O.; Holder, J.; Hughes, G.; Humensky, T. B.; Johnson, C. A.; Kaaret, P.; Kar, P.; Kertzman, M.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; Lin, T. T. Y.; McArthur, S.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; O’Brien, S.; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Park, N.; Petrashyk, A.; Pohl, M.; Pueschel, E.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reynolds, P. T.; Richards, G. T.; Roache, E.; Rulten, C.; Sadeh, I.; Santander, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Shahinyan, K.; Wakely, S. P.; Weinstein, A.; Wells, R. M.; Wilcox, P.; Williams, D. A.; Zitzer, B.; The VERITAS Collaboration; Jorstad, S. G.; Marscher, A. P.; Lister, M. L.; Kovalev, Y. Y.; Pushkarev, A. B.; Savolainen, T.; Agudo, I.; Molina, S. N.; Gómez, J. L.; Larionov, V. M.; Borman, G. A.; Mokrushina, A. A.; Tornikoski, M.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Chamani, W.; Enestam, S.; Kiehlmann, S.; Hovatta, T.; Smith, P. S.; Pontrelli, P.

2018-04-01

Combined with measurements made by very-long-baseline interferometry, the observations of fast TeV gamma-ray flares probe the structure and emission mechanism of blazar jets. However, only a handful of such flares have been detected to date, and only within the last few years have these flares been observed from lower-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects and flat-spectrum radio quasars. We report on a fast TeV gamma-ray flare from the blazar BL Lacertae observed by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). with a rise time of ∼2.3 hr and a decay time of ∼36 min. The peak flux above 200 GeV is (4.2 ± 0.6) × 10‑6 photon m‑2 s‑1 measured with a 4-minute-binned light curve, corresponding to ∼180% of the flux that is observed from the Crab Nebula above the same energy threshold. Variability contemporaneous with the TeV gamma-ray flare was observed in GeV gamma-ray, X-ray, and optical flux, as well as in optical and radio polarization. Additionally, a possible moving emission feature with superluminal apparent velocity was identified in Very Long Baseline Array observations at 43 GHz, potentially passing the radio core of the jet around the time of the gamma-ray flare. We discuss the constraints on the size, Lorentz factor, and location of the emitting region of the flare, and the interpretations with several theoretical models that invoke relativistic plasma passing stationary shocks.

EGRET observations of the BL Lacertae objects 0716+714 and 0521-365

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, Y. C.; Bertsch, D. L.; Dingus, B. L.; Esposito, J. A.; Fichtel, C. E.; Hartman, R. C.; Hunter, S. D.; Kanbach, G.; Kniffen, D. A.; Mayer-Hasselwander, H. A.

1995-01-01

During the Compton Observatory's viewing programs Phase 1 (1991 April to 1992 November, also known as the All-Sky Survey) and Phase 2 (1992 November to 1993 September), the BL Lac object 0716+714 was in the field of view of the EGRET telescope a total of six times, three times in Phase 1 and three more times in Phase 2, while the BL Lac object 0521-365 was in the field of view of EGRET only once in Phase 1. The source 0716+714 was detected in high-energy gamma rays by EGRET at a flux level of (2.0 +/- 0.4) x 10(exp -7) photons/sq cm/s for E greater than 100 MeV with a 6 sigma significance when it was first observed by EGRET in 1992 January 10 to 23. The corresponding spectral slope of the photon number distribution is determined to be -2.04 +/- 0.33. The gamma-ray flux of 0716+714 showed considerable time variability in subsequent EGRET observations. But the spectral slope stayed about the same within the statistical uncertainties of the EGRET data. The average spectral slope of the four viewing periods during which the photon flux of 0716+714 stayed above the EGRET detection threshold is found to be -1.85 +/- 0.20 from the combined data. The source 0521+365 was detected by EGRET in 1992 May 14 to June 4 at a flux level of (1.8 +/- 0.5) x 10(exp -7) photons/sq cm/s for E greater than 100 MeV with a 4 sigma significance. The corresponding spectral slope of the photon number distribution is found to be 2.16 +/- 0.36. Details of the observations of these two BL Lac objects with the EGRET telescope are presented.

The intraday variability in the radio-selected and X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, J. M.; Xie, G. Z.; Li, K. H.; Zhang, X.; Liu, W. W.

1998-10-01

Seven BL Lac objects have been photometrically observed in an effort to study the difference of optical intraday variability between the radio-selected BL Lac objects (RBLs) and X-ray-selected BL Lac objects (XBLs). The objects we observed are selected arbitrarily. They are four RBLs, PKS 0735+178, PKS 0754+101, OJ 287 and BL Lac, and three XBLs, H 0323+022, H 0548-322 and H 2154-304. During the observation all of them exhibited microvariation, and H 0323+022 and H 0548-322 sometimes showed brightness oscillation. PKS 0735+178 and BL Lac were in their faint states and not very active. It seems that RBLs do not show microvariability more frequently than XBLs. Table 2 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5)

Location of γ-ray Flare Emission in the Jet of the BL Lacertae Object OJ287 More than 14 pc from the Central Engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agudo, Iván; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Marscher, Alan P.; Larionov, Valeri M.; Gómez, José L.; Lähteenmäki, Anne; Gurwell, Mark; Smith, Paul S.; Wiesemeyer, Helmut; Thum, Clemens; Heidt, Jochen; Blinov, Dmitriy A.; D'Arcangelo, Francesca D.; Hagen-Thorn, Vladimir A.; Morozova, Daria A.; Nieppola, Elina; Roca-Sogorb, Mar; Schmidt, Gary D.; Taylor, Brian; Tornikoski, Merja; Troitsky, Ivan S.

2011-01-01

We combine time-dependent multi-waveband flux and linear polarization observations with submilliarcsecond-scale polarimetric images at λ = 7 mm of the BL Lacertae type blazar OJ287 to locate the γ-ray emission in prominent flares in the jet of the source >14 pc from the central engine. We demonstrate a highly significant correlation between the strongest γ-ray and millimeter-wave flares through Monte Carlo simulations. The two reported γ-ray peaks occurred near the beginning of two major millimeter-wave outbursts, each of which is associated with a linear polarization maximum at millimeter wavelengths. Our very long baseline array observations indicate that the two millimeter-wave flares originated in the second of two features in the jet that are separated by >14 pc. The simultaneity of the peak of the higher-amplitude γ-ray flare and the maximum in polarization of the second jet feature implies that the γ-ray and millimeter-wave flares are cospatial and occur >14 pc from the central engine. We also associate two optical flares, accompanied by sharp polarization peaks, with the two γ-ray events. The multi-waveband behavior is most easily explained if the γ-rays arise from synchrotron self-Compton scattering of optical photons from the flares. We propose that flares are triggered by interaction of moving plasma blobs with a standing shock. The γ-ray and optical emission is quenched by inverse Compton losses as synchrotron photons from the newly shocked plasma cross the emission region. The millimeter-wave polarization is high at the onset of a flare, but decreases as the electrons emitting at these wavelengths penetrate less polarized regions.

LOCATION OF {gamma}-RAY FLARE EMISSION IN THE JET OF THE BL LACERTAE OBJECT OJ287 MORE THAN 14 pc FROM THE CENTRAL ENGINE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agudo, Ivan; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Marscher, Alan P.

We combine time-dependent multi-waveband flux and linear polarization observations with submilliarcsecond-scale polarimetric images at {lambda} = 7 mm of the BL Lacertae type blazar OJ287 to locate the {gamma}-ray emission in prominent flares in the jet of the source >14 pc from the central engine. We demonstrate a highly significant correlation between the strongest {gamma}-ray and millimeter-wave flares through Monte Carlo simulations. The two reported {gamma}-ray peaks occurred near the beginning of two major millimeter-wave outbursts, each of which is associated with a linear polarization maximum at millimeter wavelengths. Our very long baseline array observations indicate that the two millimeter-wavemore » flares originated in the second of two features in the jet that are separated by >14 pc. The simultaneity of the peak of the higher-amplitude {gamma}-ray flare and the maximum in polarization of the second jet feature implies that the {gamma}-ray and millimeter-wave flares are cospatial and occur >14 pc from the central engine. We also associate two optical flares, accompanied by sharp polarization peaks, with the two {gamma}-ray events. The multi-waveband behavior is most easily explained if the {gamma}-rays arise from synchrotron self-Compton scattering of optical photons from the flares. We propose that flares are triggered by interaction of moving plasma blobs with a standing shock. The {gamma}-ray and optical emission is quenched by inverse Compton losses as synchrotron photons from the newly shocked plasma cross the emission region. The millimeter-wave polarization is high at the onset of a flare, but decreases as the electrons emitting at these wavelengths penetrate less polarized regions.« less

Optical and UV spectroscopy of the peculiar RS CVn system, RT Lacertae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huenemoerder, D. P.; Barden, S. C.

1985-01-01

Spectra in the H-alpha and H-beta regions of the peculiar double-lined RS CVn binary, RT Lacertae, were obtained in the fall of 1984. Limited International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) long wavelength low and high resolution spectra were obtained concurrently. The ground based spectra have shown an asymmetry with orbital phase in the H-alpha profile. The H-beta profiles were consistent with the same effect. One hemisphere showed excess emission and the other excess absorption, with a broad Gaussian emission component superposed upon the excess H-alpha line. An improved radial velocity curve, giving a better determined mass ratio and geometry was derived. This combined with the radii implied by the rotational broadening of the spectra, showed one component to be 80 to 90% filling the equilibrium Roche surface. The two-faced nature is, therfore, very likely due to mass transfer from the contact component impacting upon its companion. Low resolution ultraviolet data showed that the supposed cooler component is bluer than its companion. High resolution ultraviolet data taken during secondary eclipse showed Mg II emission strength which decreased more slowly than the area visible. The phase behavior of the low resolution data support the former situation, indicating traditional chromospheric activity.

Optical and UV spectroscopy of the peculiar RS CVn system, RT Lacertae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huenemoerder, D. P.; Barden, S. C.

1985-11-01

Spectra in the H-alpha and H-beta regions of the peculiar double-lined RS CVn binary, RT Lacertae, were obtained in the fall of 1984. Limited International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) long wavelength low and high resolution spectra were obtained concurrently. The ground based spectra have shown an asymmetry with orbital phase in the H-alpha profile. The H-beta profiles were consistent with the same effect. One hemisphere showed excess emission and the other excess absorption, with a broad Gaussian emission component superposed upon the excess H-alpha line. An improved radial velocity curve, giving a better determined mass ratio and geometry was derived. This combined with the radii implied by the rotational broadening of the spectra, showed one component to be 80 to 90% filling the equilibrium Roche surface. The two-faced nature is, therfore, very likely due to mass transfer from the contact component impacting upon its companion. Low resolution ultraviolet data showed that the supposed cooler component is bluer than its companion. High resolution ultraviolet data taken during secondary eclipse showed Mg II emission strength which decreased more slowly than the area visible. The phase behavior of the low resolution data support the former situation, indicating traditional chromospheric activity.

Blind source separation based on time-frequency morphological characteristics for rigid acoustic scattering by underwater objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yang; Li, Xiukun

2016-06-01

Separation of the components of rigid acoustic scattering by underwater objects is essential in obtaining the structural characteristics of such objects. To overcome the problem of rigid structures appearing to have the same spectral structure in the time domain, time-frequency Blind Source Separation (BSS) can be used in combination with image morphology to separate the rigid scattering components of different objects. Based on a highlight model, the separation of the rigid scattering structure of objects with time-frequency distribution is deduced. Using a morphological filter, different characteristics in a Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD) observed for single auto term and cross terms can be simplified to remove any cross-term interference. By selecting time and frequency points of the auto terms signal, the accuracy of BSS can be improved. An experimental simulation has been used, with changes in the pulse width of the transmitted signal, the relative amplitude and the time delay parameter, in order to analyzing the feasibility of this new method. Simulation results show that the new method is not only able to separate rigid scattering components, but can also separate the components when elastic scattering and rigid scattering exist at the same time. Experimental results confirm that the new method can be used in separating the rigid scattering structure of underwater objects.

Promiscuity in sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) and adder snakes (Vipera berus): causes and consequences.

PubMed

Olsson, M; Madsen, T

2001-01-01

We review postcopulatory phenomena in the Swedish sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) and adder (Vipera berus), and in particular, links between female promiscuity, determinants of paternity, and offspring viability. In both species, females mate multiply and exhibit a positive relationship between the number of partners and offspring viability. We conclude that this relationship is most likely the result of variable genetic compatibility between mates arising from postcopulatory phenomena, predominantly assortative fertilization with respect to parental genotypes. However, males who were more successful at mate acquisition were also more successful in situations of sperm competition, suggesting a possible link between male (diploid and haploid) genetic quality per se and probability of fertilization. Neither the number of partners nor the number of matings influenced the risk of infertility in sand lizards, suggesting that selection for reduced risk of infertility is not a sufficient explanation for maintaining female promiscuity in this population. Finally, we conclude that the relatively low genetic variability exhibited by our study populations may have facilitated detection of genetic benefits compared to more outbred ones. However, recent work derived from outbred populations in other taxa suggest a greater generality of the principles we discuss than previously may have been appreciated.

Microchromosome polymorphism in the sand lizard, Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758 (Reptilia, Squamata)

PubMed Central

Lisachov, Artem P.; Borodin, Pavel M.

2016-01-01

Abstract Most true lizards (Lacertidae) share a conservative karyotype, consisting of 18 pairs of macrochromosomes and one microchromosome pair. Homeologues of the microchromosome are present in other squamates and even in chickens. No structural autosomal microchromosome polymorphisms have been described previously in lizards. We found homozygous and heterozygous carriers of a microchromosome variant in a Siberian population of the sand lizard, Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758. The variant microchromosome was almost twice as long as the standard one. In heterozygotes at pachytene, the microchromosomes firstly pair in proximal regions and the central part of the longer axial element undergoes foldback synapsis, then its distal region pairs with the distal region of the standard partner. At metaphase-I, the heteromorphic microchromosome bivalents have a proximal chiasma. The content of the additional segment was Ag-NOR, C-like DAPI, CMA3 negative. FISH with telomere PNA probe did not detect interstitial (TTAGGG)n sequences in the heteromorphic and any other bivalents. Both homo- and heterozygous carriers were phenotypically normal. The presence of homozygotes shows that heterozygotes are fertile. Reduction in the number of microchromosomes is a clear trend in squamate evolution, as a result of microchromosomes fusing together or with macrochromosomes. Our findings indicate that gaining additional DNA may lead to a transformation of microchromosomes into small macrochromosomes without fusion. PMID:27830048

Very high energy observations of the BL Lac objects 3C 66A and OJ 287

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindner, T.; Hanna, D. S.; Kildea, J.; Ball, J.; Bramel, D. A.; Carson, J.; Covault, C. E.; Driscoll, D.; Fortin, P.; Gingrich, D. M.; Jarvis, A.; Mueller, C.; Mukherjee, R.; Ong, R. A.; Ragan, K.; Scalzo, R. A.; Williams, D. A.; Zweerink, J.

2007-11-01

Using the Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE), we have observed the BL Lac objects 3C 66A and OJ 287. These are members of the class of low-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects (LBLs) and are two of the three LBLs predicted by Costamante and Ghisellini [L. Costamante, G. Ghisellini, Astron. Astrophys. 384 (2002) 56] to be potential sources of very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission. The third candidate, BL Lacertae, has recently been detected by the MAGIC collaboration [J. Albert et al., arXiv:astro-ph/0703084v1 (2007)]. Our observations have not produced detections; we calculate a 99% CL upper limit of flux from 3C 66A of 0.15 Crab flux units and from OJ 287 our limit is 0.52 Crab. These limits assume a Crab-like energy spectrum with an effective energy threshold of 185 GeV.

The morphological diversity of dermatoglyphic patterns on fingers: a simple and objective method for measurement.

PubMed

Buchwald, Wiesław

2015-02-01

The paper contains a proposal for a simple way of measuring the morphological diversity of patterns on fingers. The mono/polymorphism index (Imp) is the sum of 45 mutual absolute differences between the numerical values of the patterns depending on their degree of morphological complexity. Wendt's 7-degree scale was used to quantify the patterns. The value Imp=0 denotes monomorphism, i.e., the presence of the same type of pattern on all the fingers of both hands, while high values denote a mosaic of patterns of diverse morphology (polymorphism). Elements of the individual values of the Imp index comprise mutual homolateral differences (10 differences for the fingers of the left hand and 10 differences for the right), on the basis of which an assessment was made between the sides of the body, and additionally 25 heterolateral differences. Generally, greater degree of morphological diversity in patterns is found in males, and on the fingers of the right hand in both sexes. The arithmetic mean of the Imp index differs significantly between males (55.17) and females (52.08). Its values are not directly related to the degree of morphological complexity of patterns included in the Wendt's index. There were found, however, intra-familial connections for this trait. In light of the values of the indices of correlation and association, it may be concluded that there are relatively weak but statistically significant parents-offspring relations, as well as between siblings. An objective way to determine the values of the Imp index would make it possible to use it both for the morphological characterization of dermatoglyphs in different populations and also in clinical, auxological and genetic research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Morphological Variability in Interlanguage Grammars: New Evidence from the Acquisition of Gender and Number in Italian Determiner Phrases and Direct Object Pronouns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santoro, Maurizio

2012-01-01

In this paper, I investigate the phenomenon of morphological variability in the production of Italian determiners, descriptive adjectives, and direct object pronouns by adult English learners of Italian to determine whether morphological errors are the result of computational or representational difficulties. Second language acquisitionists do…

Comparative analysis of gene expression level by quantitative real-time PCR has limited application in objects with different morphology.

PubMed

Demidenko, Natalia V; Penin, Aleksey A

2012-01-01

qRT-PCR is a generally acknowledged method for gene expression analysis due to its precision and reproducibility. However, it is well known that the accuracy of qRT-PCR data varies greatly depending on the experimental design and data analysis. Recently, a set of guidelines has been proposed that aims to improve the reliability of qRT-PCR. However, there are additional factors that have not been taken into consideration in these guidelines that can seriously affect the data obtained using this method. In this study, we report the influence that object morphology can have on qRT-PCR data. We have used a number of Arabidopsis thaliana mutants with altered floral morphology as models for this study. These mutants have been well characterised (including in terms of gene expression levels and patterns) by other techniques. This allows us to compare the results from the qRT-PCR with the results inferred from other methods. We demonstrate that the comparison of gene expression levels in objects that differ greatly in their morphology can lead to erroneous results.

European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) personalities: Linking behavioural types to ecologically relevant traits at different ontogenetic stages.

PubMed

Bajer, Katalin; Horváth, Gergely; Molnár, Orsolya; Török, János; Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Herczeg, Gábor

2015-02-01

Consistent individual differences within (animal personality) and across (behavioural syndrome) behaviours became well recognized during the past decade. Nevertheless, our knowledge about the evolutionary and developmental mechanisms behind the phenomena is still incomplete. Here, we explored if risk-taking and exploration were consistent and linked to different ecologically relevant traits in wild-caught adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis) and in their 2-3 weeks old laboratory-reared offspring. Both adults and juveniles displayed animal personality, consistency being higher in juveniles. We found correlation between risk-taking and exploration (suggestive of a behavioural syndrome) only in adults. Juveniles were more explorative than adults. Large or ectoparasite-free adult males were more explorative than small or parasitized males. Juvenile females tended to be more risk-taking than males. Behaviour of fathers and their offspring did not correlate. We conclude that European green lizards show high behavioural consistency and age is an important determinant of its strength and links to traits likely affecting fitness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Object-based analysis of astroglial reaction and astrocyte subtype morphology after ischemic brain injury.

PubMed

Wagner, Daniel-Christoph; Scheibe, Johanna; Glocke, Isabelle; Weise, Gesa; Deten, Alexander; Boltze, Johannes; Kranz, Alexander

2013-01-01

The astrocytic response to ischemic brain injury is characterized by specific alterations of glial cell morphology and function. Various studies described both beneficial and detrimental aspects of activated astrocytes, suggesting the existence of different subtypes. We investigated this issue using a novel object-based approach to study characteristics of astrogliosis after stroke. Spontaneously hypertensive rats received permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion. After 96 h, brain specimens were removed, fixed and stained for GFAP, glutamine synthetase (GS), S100Beta and Musashi1 (Msh1). Three regions of interest were defined (contralateral hemisphere, ipsilateral remote zone and infarct border zone), and confocal stacks were acquired (n=5 biological with each n=4 technical replicates). The stacks were background-corrected and colocalization between the selected markers and GFAP was determined using an automated thresholding algorithm. The fluorescence and colocalization channels were then converted into 3D-objects using both intensity and volume as filters to ultimately determine the final volumes of marker expression and colocalization, as well as the morphological changes of astrocyte process arborisation. We found that both S100Beta and Msh1 determined the same GFAP-positive astroglial cell population albeit the cellular compartments differed. GFAP stained most of the astrocyte processes and is hence suitable for the analysis of qualitative characteristics of astrogliosis. Due to its peri-nuclear localization, Msh1 is appropriate to estimate the total number of astrocytes even in regions with severe reactive astrogliosis. GS expression in GFAP-positive astrocytes was high in the remote zone and low at the infarct border, indicating the existence of astrocyte subclasses.

Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) phenology in a warming world.

PubMed

Ljungström, Gabriella; Wapstra, Erik; Olsson, Mats

2015-10-08

Present-day climate change has altered the phenology (the timing of periodic life cycle events) of many plant and animal populations worldwide. Some of these changes have been adaptive, leading to an increase in population fitness, whereas others have been associated with fitness decline. Representing short-term responses to an altered weather regime, hitherto observed changes are largely explained by phenotypic plasticity. However, to track climatically induced shifts in optimal phenotype as climate change proceeds, evolutionary capacity in key limiting climate- and fitness-related traits is likely to be crucial. In order to produce realistic predictions about the effects of climate change on species and populations, a main target for conservation biologists is thus to assess the potential of natural populations to respond by these two mechanisms. In this study we use a large 15-year dataset on an ectotherm model, the Swedish sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), to investigate how higher spring temperature is likely to affect oviposition timing in a high latitude population, a trait strongly linked to offspring fitness and survival. With an interest in both the short- and potential long-term effect of rising temperatures, we applied a random regression model, which yields estimates of population-level plasticity and among-individual variation in the average, as well as the plastic, response to temperature. Population plasticity represents capacity for short-term adjustments whereas variation among individuals in a fitness-related trait indicates an opportunity for natural selection and hence for evolutionary adaptation. The analysis revealed both population-level plasticity and individual-level variation in average laying date. In contrast, we found no evidence for variation among females in their plastic responses to spring temperature, which could demonstrate a similarity in responses amongst females, but may also be due to a lack of statistical power to detect such an

CATALOG AND STATISTICAL STUDY OF X-RAY SELECTED BL LACERTAE OBJECTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kapanadze, Bidzina Z., E-mail: bidzina_kapandaze@iliauni.edu.ge

2013-02-01

This paper presents a catalog of 312 X-ray selected BL Lacerate objects (XBLs), optically identified through the end of 2011. It contains the names from different surveys, equatorial coordinates, redshifts, multifrequency flux values, and luminosities for each source. In addition, the different characteristics of XBLs are statistically investigated (redshift, radio/optical/X-ray luminosities, central black hole (BH) mass, synchrotron peak frequency, broadband spectral indices, optical flux variability). Their values are collected through an extensive bibliographic and database search or calculated by us. The redshifts range from 0.031 to 0.702 with a maximum of the distribution at z = 0.223. The 1.4 GHzmore » luminosities of XBLs log {nu}L{sub {nu}} {approx} 39-42 erg s{sup -1} while optical V and X-ray 0.1-2.4 keV bands show log {nu}L{sub {nu}} {approx} 43-46 erg s{sup -1}. The XBL hosts are elliptical galaxies with effective radii r{sub eff} = 3.2625.40 kpc and ellipticities, in = 0.040.52. Their R-band absolute magnitudes M{sub R} range from -21.11 mag to -24.86 mag with a mean value of -22.83 mag. The V - R indices of the hosts span from 0.61 to 1.52 and reveal a fourth-degree polynomial relationship with z that enables us to evaluate the redshifts of five sources whose V - R indices were determined from the observations but whose irredshifts values are either not found or not confirmed. The XBL nuclei show a wider range of 7.31 mag for M{sub R} with the highest luminosity corresponding to M{sub R} = -27.24 mag. The masses of central BHs are found in the interval log M{sub BH} = 7.39-9.30 solar masses (with distribution maximum at log M{sub BH}/M{sub Sun} = 8.30). The synchrotron peak frequencies are spread over the range log {nu}{sub peak} = 14.56-19.18 Hz with a peak of the distribution at log {nu}{sub peak} = 16.60 Hz. The broadband radio-to-optical ({alpha}{sub ro}), optical-to-X-ray ({alpha}{sub ox}), and radio-to-X-ray ({alpha}{sub rx}) spectral indices

Synthesis of superconducting magnesium diboride objects

DOEpatents

Finnemore, Douglas K.; Canfield, Paul C.; Bud'ko, Sergey L.; Ostenson, Jerome E.; Petrovic, Cedomir; Cunningham, Charles E.; Lapertot, Gerard

2003-08-15

A process to produce magnesium diboride objects from boron objects with a similar form is presented. Boron objects are reacted with magnesium vapor at a predetermined time and temperature to form magnesium diboride objects having a morphology similar to the boron object's original morphology.

Synthesis Of Superconducting Magnesium Diboride Objects.

DOEpatents

Finnemore, Douglas K.; Canfield, Paul C.; Bud'ko, Sergey L.; Ostenson, Jerome E.; Petrovic, Cedomir; Cunningham, Charles E.; Lapertot, Gerard

2003-07-08

A process to produce magnesium diboride objects from boron objects with a similar form is presented. Boron objects are reacted with magnesium vapor at a predetermined time and temperature to form magnesium diboride objects having a morphology similar to the boron object's original morphology.

Hα spectroscopy and BV photometry of RT Lacertae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frasca, A.; Çakırlı, Ö.; Catalano, S.; Ibanoǧlu, C.; Marilli, E.; Evren, S.; Taş, G.

2002-06-01

Contemporaneous spectroscopic and photometric B V observations of the RS CVn type eclipsing binary RT Lacertae were performed in summer 2000. The photometric observations were obtained at the Ege University Observatory, while the spectroscopic ones were carried out at Catania Astrophysical Observatory in the spectral range 5860-6700 Å. We obtained a high quality radial velocity curve of the system that allowed us to give more accurate values of the orbital parameters. A steady decrease of the barycentric velocity from 1920 to 2000 has been pointed out and has been discussed in the context of a third body hypothesis. Through the subtraction of a ``synthetic'' spectrum, built up with spectra of inactive standard stars, we detected Hα excess emission which fills in the photospheric absorption profiles of both components. With the exception of a few spectra, taken close to the eclipses, in which some extra absorption or a faint double-peaked broad emission appears, there is no further evidence of circumstellar matter in this system, as suggested in previous works. The hotter and more massive star appears also as the more active at a chromospheric level, since it has a Hα flux about ten times greater than the companion, on average. Rotational modulation of the Hα emission has been detected in both stars. The hemisphere of the more massive star facing the observer at phase 0fp75 appears brighter (in Hα ) than that seen at phase 0fp25 , while for the less massive G9 IV star the maximum Hα emission is seen around phase 0fp0-0fp1 . From the analysis of the contemporaneous light curve (Lanza et al. \\cite{Lanza2001}), the more massive G5 IV star results to be more active than the companion at a photospheric level, in agreement with the chromospheric behaviour observed in Hα . In addition, the starspots of the G5 IV star are mainly located in the Hα brighter hemisphere, suggesting a close spatial association of spots and plages in this star. The G9 IV star displays

Electromagnetic Scattering by a Morphologically Complex Object: Fundamental Concepts and Common Misconceptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mischenko, Michael I.; Travis, Larry D.; Cairns, Brian; Tishkovets, Victor P.; Dlugach, Janna M.; Rosenbush, Vera K.; Kiselev, Nikolai N.

2011-01-01

Following Keller(Proc Symp Appl Math 1962;13:227:46), we classify all theoretical treatments of electromagnetic scattering by a morphologically complex object into first- principle (or "honest" in Keller s terminology) and phenomenological (or "dishonest") categories. This helps us identify, analyze, and dispel several profound misconceptions widespread in the discipline of electromagnetic scattering by solitary particles and discrete random media. Our goal is not to call for a complete renunciation of phenomenological approaches but rather to encourage a critical and careful evaluation of their actual origin, virtues, and limitations. In other words, we do not intend to deter creative thinking in terms of phenomenological short-cuts, but we do want to raise awareness when we stray (often for practical reasons) from the fundamentals. The main results and conclusions are illustrated by numerically-exact data based on direct numerical solutions of the macroscopic Maxwell equations.

Coordinated observations of X-ray bright BL Lacertae objects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urry, C. M.

1986-01-01

No new International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observations were scheduled. The work on the spectral extraction routine was continued. The computer code was adapted from the RDAF PDP 11/44 computer to a VAX 11/750, in order that it run more quickly. A chapter on ultraviolet observations of blazars for a book celebrating the scientific accomplishment of IUE was written in colloboration. A copy of the final draft is attached.

The X-ray spectra of the BL Lacertae objects PKS 0548 - 322 and 3C 66A

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maccacaro, T.; Maccagni, D.; Tarenghi, M.

1983-01-01

Einstein Observatory simultaneous imaging proportional counter and monitor proportional counter data are combined in order to derive the energy spectra of the BL Lac objects PKS 0548-322 and 3C 66A between 0.2 and 10 keV. While the latter is found to be variable in both intensity and spectral shape, the former, although constant in the present data, is found to have experienced a spectrum variation in view of results from other experiments. Attention is given to the implications of flux and spectral variability in BL Lac objects for models of X-ray emission mechanisms. It is suggested that the wide spread of the spectral index distribution is due to the detection of the highly variable synchrotron-produced X-rays that are generally undetected in QSOs.

Environment-dependence of behavioural consistency in adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis).

PubMed

Horváth, Gergely; Mészáros, Boglárka; Urszán, Tamás János; Bajer, Katalin; Molnár, Orsolya; Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Herczeg, Gábor

2017-01-01

Understanding the background mechanisms affecting the emergence and maintenance of consistent between-individual variation within population in single (animal personality) or across multiple (behavioural syndrome) behaviours has key importance. State-dependence theory suggests that behaviour is 'anchored' to individual state (e.g. body condition, gender, age) and behavioural consistency emerges through behavioural-state feedbacks. A number of relevant state variables are labile (e.g. body condition, physiological performance) and expected to be affected by short-term environmental change. Yet, whether short-term environmental shifts affect behavioural consistency during adulthood remains questionable. Here, by employing a full-factorial laboratory experiment, we explored if quantity of food (low vs. high) and time available for thermoregulation (3h vs. 10h per day) had an effect on activity and risk-taking of reproductive adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis). We focussed on different components of behavioural variation: (i) strength of behavioural consistency (repeatability for animal personality; between-individual correlation for behavioural syndrome), (ii) behavioural type (individual mean behaviour) and (iii) behavioural predictability (within-individual behavioural variation). Activity was repeatable in all treatments. Risk-taking was repeatable only in the low basking treatments. We found significant between-individual correlation only in the low food × long basking time group. The treatments did not affect behavioural type, but affected behavioural predictability. Activity predictability was higher in the short basking treatment, where it also decreased with size (≈ age). Risk-taking predictability in the short basking treatment increased with size under food limitation, but decreased when food supply was high. We conclude that short-term environmental change can alter various components of behavioural consistency. The effect could be

Environment-dependence of behavioural consistency in adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis)

PubMed Central

Urszán, Tamás János; Bajer, Katalin; Molnár, Orsolya; Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Herczeg, Gábor

2017-01-01

Understanding the background mechanisms affecting the emergence and maintenance of consistent between-individual variation within population in single (animal personality) or across multiple (behavioural syndrome) behaviours has key importance. State-dependence theory suggests that behaviour is ‘anchored’ to individual state (e.g. body condition, gender, age) and behavioural consistency emerges through behavioural-state feedbacks. A number of relevant state variables are labile (e.g. body condition, physiological performance) and expected to be affected by short-term environmental change. Yet, whether short-term environmental shifts affect behavioural consistency during adulthood remains questionable. Here, by employing a full-factorial laboratory experiment, we explored if quantity of food (low vs. high) and time available for thermoregulation (3h vs. 10h per day) had an effect on activity and risk-taking of reproductive adult male European green lizards (Lacerta viridis). We focussed on different components of behavioural variation: (i) strength of behavioural consistency (repeatability for animal personality; between-individual correlation for behavioural syndrome), (ii) behavioural type (individual mean behaviour) and (iii) behavioural predictability (within-individual behavioural variation). Activity was repeatable in all treatments. Risk-taking was repeatable only in the low basking treatments. We found significant between-individual correlation only in the low food × long basking time group. The treatments did not affect behavioural type, but affected behavioural predictability. Activity predictability was higher in the short basking treatment, where it also decreased with size (≈ age). Risk-taking predictability in the short basking treatment increased with size under food limitation, but decreased when food supply was high. We conclude that short-term environmental change can alter various components of behavioural consistency. The effect could be

Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography as an objective substitute for CT morphologic response criteria in patients undergoing chemotherapy for colorectal liver metastases.

PubMed

Nishioka, Yujiro; Yoshioka, Ryuji; Gonoi, Wataru; Sugawara, Toshitaka; Yoshida, Shuntaro; Hashimoto, Masaji; Shindoh, Junichi

2018-05-01

The computed tomography (CT) morphologic response of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) after chemotherapy is reportedly correlated with pathologic response and survival outcomes of patients undergoing surgery. However, they are rather subjective criteria and not evaluable without adequate quality of contrast-enhanced CT images. This study sought the potential use of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) as an objective substitute for predicting pathological viability of CLM after chemotherapy. Predictive ability of tumor viability of ≤10% was compared between FDG-PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT in 34 patients who underwent curative surgical resection for CLM after chemotherapy. The CT morphology and response were defined according to the reported criteria (Chun YS, JAMA 2009). The mean standard uptake value (SUV-mean) in CLM was significantly lower in patients with group 1 and group 2 CT morphology (median, 2.53 and 3.00, respectively) than in group 3 (median, 3.32). The tumor SUV-mean showed moderate correlation with the tumor pathologic viability (r = 0.660, P < 0.0001). A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that both the tumor SUV-mean (area under the curve [AUC], 0.916; the cut-off value, 3.00) and the CT morphology (AUC, 0.882) have excellent predictive power for ≤10% of tumor viability, while degree of tumor shrinkage showed lower predictive power (AUC, 0.692). FDG-PET shows significant correlation with pathologic viability of CLM after chemotherapy and may offer additional objective information for estimating tumor viability when the CT morphologic response is not evaluable.

The Millimeter-Radio Emission of BL Lacertae During Two γ-ray Outbursts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Dae-Won; Trippe, Sascha; Lee, Sang-Sung; Park, Jong-Ho; Kim, Jae-Young; Algaba, Juan-Carlos; Hodgson, Jeffrey A.; Kino, Motoki; Zhao, Guang-Yao; Wajima, Kiyoaki; Kang, Sincheol; Oh, Junghwan; Lee, Taeseok; Byun, Do-Young; Kim, Soon-Wook; Kim, Jeong-Sook

2017-12-01

We present a study of the inexplicit connection between radio jet activity and γ-ray emission of BL Lacertae (BL Lac; 2200+420). We analyze the long-term millimeter activity of BL Lac via interferometric observations with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) obtained at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz simultaneously over three years (from January 2013 to March 2016); during this time, two γ-ray outbursts (in November 2013 and March 2015) can be seen in γ-ray light curves obtained from Fermi observations. The KVN radio core is optically thick at least up to 86 GHz; there is indication that it might be optically thin at higher frequencies. To first order, the radio light curves decay exponentially over the time span covered by our observations, with decay timescales of 411±85 days, 352±79 days, 310±57 days, and 283±55 days at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz, respectively. Assuming synchrotron cooling, a cooling time of around one year is consistent with magnetic field strengths B=2 μT and electron Lorentz factors γ=10,000. Taking into account that our formal measurement errors include intrinsic variability and thus over-estimate the statistical uncertainties, we find that the decay timescale τ scales with frequency ν like τ∝ν^{-0.2}. This relation is much shallower than the one expected from opacity effects (core shift), but in agreement with the (sub-)mm radio core being a standing recollimation shock. We do not find convincing radio flux counterparts to the γ-ray outbursts. The spectral evolution is consistent with the 'generalized shock model' of Valtaoja et al. (1992). A temporary increase in the core opacity and the emergence of a knot around the time of the second γ-ray event indicate that this γ-ray outburst might be an 'orphan' flare powered by the 'ring of fire' mechanism.

Quasi-simultaneous observations of the BL Lac object MK 501 in X-ray, UV, visible, IR and radio frequencies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kondo, D. M.; Worrall, D. M.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Hackney, R. L.; Hackney, K. H.; Oke, J. B.; Yee, H.; Neugebauer, G.; Matthews, K.; Feldman, P. A.

1980-01-01

Quasi-simultaneous observations of the BL Lacertae (Lac) objects MK 501 were performed for the first time at X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio frequencies. The observed spectral slope from the X-ray to UV regions is positive and continuous, but that from the mid UV to visible light region becomes gradually flat and possibly turns down toward lower frequencies; the optical radio emission can not be accounted for by a single power law. Several theoretical models were considered for the emission mechanism. A quantitative comparison was performed with the synchrotron-self-Compton model; the total spectrum is found consistent with this model. The spectrum from visible light to X-ray is consistent with synchrotron radiation or with inverse-Compton scattering by a hot thermal cloud of electrons. The continuity of the spectral slope from X-ray to UV implied by the current data suggests that the previous estimates of the total luminosity of this BL Lac object is underestimated by a factor of about three or four.

Hip2Norm: an object-oriented cross-platform program for 3D analysis of hip joint morphology using 2D pelvic radiographs.

PubMed

Zheng, G; Tannast, M; Anderegg, C; Siebenrock, K A; Langlotz, F

2007-07-01

We developed an object-oriented cross-platform program to perform three-dimensional (3D) analysis of hip joint morphology using two-dimensional (2D) anteroposterior (AP) pelvic radiographs. Landmarks extracted from 2D AP pelvic radiographs and optionally an additional lateral pelvic X-ray were combined with a cone beam projection model to reconstruct 3D hip joints. Since individual pelvic orientation can vary considerably, a method for standardizing pelvic orientation was implemented to determine the absolute tilt/rotation. The evaluation of anatomically morphologic differences was achieved by reconstructing the projected acetabular rim and the measured hip parameters as if obtained in a standardized neutral orientation. The program had been successfully used to interactively objectify acetabular version in hips with femoro-acetabular impingement or developmental dysplasia. Hip(2)Norm is written in object-oriented programming language C++ using cross-platform software Qt (TrollTech, Oslo, Norway) for graphical user interface (GUI) and is transportable to any platform.

PKS 2155-304 relativistically beamed synchrotron radiation from BL LAC object

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urry, C. M.; Mushotzky, R. F.

1981-01-01

The newly discovered BL Lacertae object, PKS 2155-304, was observed with the medium and high intensity energy detectors of the HEAO-1 A2 experiment. The variability by a factor of two in less than a day reported by Snyder, et al (1979) is confirmed. Two spectra, obtained a year apart, while the satellite was in scanning mode, are well fit by simple power laws with energy spectral index alpha sub 1 equals approximately 1.4. A third spectrum, of higher statistical quality, obtained while the satellite was pointed at its source, has has two components. An acceptable fit was obtained using a two power law model, with indices alpha sub 1 equals 2.0 (+1.2, -0.6) and alpha sub 2 equals -1.5 (+1.5, -2.3). An interpretation of the overall spectrum from radio through X-rays in terms of a synchrotron self-Compton model gives a good description of the data if allowance is made for relativistic beaming. Thus, from a consideration of the spectrum, combined with an estimate of the size of the source, the presence of jets is inferred without their observation.

The Contribution of Morphological Awareness to the Spelling of Morphemes and Morphologically Complex Words in French

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fejzo, Anila

2016-01-01

The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between morphological awareness and the spelling of morphemes and morphologically complex words among 75 third- and fourth-grade Francophone students of low socio-economic status. To reach this objective, we administered a dictation comprised of morphologically complex words with prefixes,…

THE OPTICAL MICROVARIABILITY AND SPECTRAL CHANGES OF THE BL LACERTAE OBJECT S5 0716+714

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poon, H.; Fu, J. N.; Fan, J. H.

We monitored the BL Lac object S5 0716+714 in the optical band during 2008 October and December and 2009 February with a best temporal resolution of about 5 minutes in the BVRI bands. Four fast flares were observed with amplitudes ranging from 0.3 to 0.75 mag. The source remained active during the whole monitoring campaign, showing microvariability in all days except for one. The overall variability amplitudes are {delta}B {approx} 0fm89, {delta}V {approx} 0fm80, {delta}R {approx} 0fm73, and {delta}I{approx} 0fm51. Typical timescales of microvariability range from 2 to 8 hr. The overall V - R color index ranges from 0.37more » to 0.59. Strong bluer-when-brighter chromatism was found on internight timescales. However, a different spectral behavior was found on intranight timescales. A possible time lag of {approx}11 minutes between B and I bands was found on one night. The shock-in-jet model and geometric effects can be applied to explain the source's intranight behavior.« less

Reactions of green lizards (Lacerta viridis) to major repellent compounds secreted by Graphosoma lineatum (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae).

PubMed

Gregorovičová, Martina; Černíková, Alena

2015-06-01

The chemical defence of Heteroptera is primarily based on repellent secretions which signal the potential toxicity of the bug to its predators. We tested the aversive reactions of green lizards (Lacerta viridis) towards the major compounds of the defensive secretion of Graphosoma lineatum, specifically: (i) a mixture of three aldehydes: (E)-hex-2-enal, (E)-oct-2-enal, (E)-dec-2-enal; (ii) a mixture of these three aldehydes and tridecane; (iii) oxoaldehyde: (E)-4-oxohex-2-enal; (iv) secretion extracted from metathoracic scent glands of G. lineatum adults and (v) hexane as a non-polar solvent. All chemicals were presented on a palatable food (Tenebrio molitor larvae). The aversive reactions of the green lizards towards the mealworms were evaluated by observing the approach latencies, attack latencies and approach-attack intervals. The green lizards exhibited a strong aversive reaction to the mixture of three aldehydes. Tridecane reduced the aversive reaction to the aldehyde mixture. Oxoaldehyde caused the weakest, but still significant, aversive reaction. The secretion from whole metathoracic scent glands also clearly had an aversive effect on the green lizards. Moreover, when a living specimen of G. lineatum or Pyrrhocoris apterus (another aposematic red-and-black prey) was presented to the green lizards before the trials with the aldehyde mixture, the aversive effect of the mixture was enhanced. In conclusion, the mixture of three aldehydes had the strong aversive effect and could signal the potential toxicity of G. lineatum to the green lizards. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Multifrequency observations of the BL Lacertae object PKS 0537 - 441

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maraschi, L.; Treves, A.; Schwartz, D. A.; Tanzi, E. G.

1985-01-01

PKS 0537 - 441 was repeatedly observed in the UV band with the International Ultraviolet Explorer and in the X-ray with the Einstein Observatory. On September 27, 1980, simultaneous observations in the two bands were obtained. Near-infrared photometry preceding and following the simultaneous observations by about one month is available from the literature, as is radio monitoring at 408 and 5000 MHz. Comparison of the observed X-ray flux with that predicted by the standard synchrotron self-Compton formalism, with a source dimension deduced from radio variability at 5 GHz, indicates that this component of the radio emission must be moving at relativistic speed with an effective projected Doppler beaming factor of about 10.

HESS J1943+213: A candidate extreme BL Lacertae object

DOE PAGES

Abramowski, A.; Acero, F.; Aharonian, F.; ...

2011-03-30

In this paper, we report on a newly detected point-like source, HESS J1943+213. This source coincides with an unidentified hard X-ray source IGR J19443+2117, which was proposed to have radio and infrared counterparts. Here, we combine new H.E.S.S., Fermi/LAT and Nançay Radio Telescope observations with pre-existing non-simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of IGR J19443+2117 and discuss the likely source associations as well as the interpretation as an active galactic nucleus, a gamma-ray binary or a pulsar wind nebula.

LHEA contributions to the Future of Ultraviolet Astronomy Based on Six Years of IUE Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mushotzky, R. F.; Urry, C. M.

1984-01-01

Astronomical models of galactic nuclei emission spectra are reassessed in light of ultraviolet and X-ray spectroscopic observations. Spectral analysis of BL Lacertae objects using data collected by the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and other astronomical observatories is presented.

Ondas de choque em jatos de quasares e objetos BL Lacertae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melo, F. E.; Botti, L. C. L.

2003-08-01

Este trabalho é parte de um projeto que vem sendo realizado há dois anos no CRAAM, cujos objetivos principais são analisar e aplicar um modelo generalizado de ondas de choque em jatos relativísticos de plasma, presentes em quasares e objetos BL Lacertae, para explicar a variabilidade observada nestes objetos. O método consiste em uma decomposição de curvas de luz em séries de explosões similares, em várias freqüências, baseando-se em uma evolução espectro-temporal média das explosões. A partir da evolução média, um ajuste de cada explosão é feito com base em equações empíricas, modificando-se apenas parâmetros específicos de cada explosão. Inicialmente o modelo foi aplicado ajustando-se as curvas de luz a explosões delineadas por uma evolução do choque em três estágios, segundo a predominância do processo de emissão: síncrotron, Compton e adiabático. Entretanto, nesta nova fase de projeto, visando uma parametrização mais concisa, uma otimização do algoritmo de ajuste e uma convergência mais rápida, a formulação para cada evento foi assumida com uma evolução em apenas dois estágios: subida e descida. Isto possibilitou uma ótima delineação das curvas de luz das fontes OV236, OJ287, 3C273 e BL Lac, entre 1980 e 2000, nas freqüências 4.8, 8.0, 14.5 e 22 GHz, utilizando-se dados do Observatório da Universidade de Michigan, do Observatório do Itapetinga (Atibaia SP) e do Observatório Metsähovi. Como conclusões importantes, verificou-se que: os parâmetros ajustados descrevem o comportamento do jato; os valores do índice que descreve a expansão do jato sugerem que o mesmo se expande de uma forma não-cônica; o campo magnético é turbulento atrás da frente de choque; e as peculiaridades das explosões são devidas à influência de grandezas tais como o coeficiente da distribuição espectral de energia dos elétrons, a intensidade de campo magnético e o fator de feixe Doppler, no início do choque.

Geographic variation of life-history traits in the sand lizard, Lacerta agilis: testing Darwin's fecundity-advantage hypothesis.

PubMed

Roitberg, E S; Eplanova, G V; Kotenko, T I; Amat, F; Carretero, M A; Kuranova, V N; Bulakhova, N A; Zinenko, O I; Yakovlev, V A

2015-03-01

The fecundity-advantage hypothesis (FAH) explains larger female size relative to male size as a correlated response to fecundity selection. We explored FAH by investigating geographic variation in female reproductive output and its relation to sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in Lacerta agilis, an oviparous lizard occupying a major part of temperate Eurasia. We analysed how sex-specific body size and SSD are associated with two putative indicators of fecundity selection intensity (clutch size and the slope of the clutch size-female size relationship) and with two climatic variables throughout the species range and across two widespread evolutionary lineages. Variation within the lineages provides no support for FAH. In contrast, the divergence between the lineages is in line with FAH: the lineage with consistently female-biased SSD (L. a. agilis) exhibits higher clutch size and steeper fecundity slope than the lineage with an inconsistent and variable SSD (L. a. exigua). L. a. agilis shows lower offspring size (egg mass, hatchling mass) and higher clutch mass relative to female mass than L. a. exigua, that is both possible ways to enhance offspring number are exerted. As the SSD difference is due to male size (smaller males in L. a. agilis), fecundity selection favouring larger females, together with viability selection for smaller size in both sexes, would explain the female-biased SSD and reproductive characteristics of L. a. agilis. The pattern of intraspecific life-history divergence in L. agilis is strikingly similar to that between oviparous and viviparous populations of a related species Zootoca vivipara. Evolutionary implications of this parallelism are discussed. © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2015 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

The first Fermi multifrequency campaign on BL Lacertae: Characterizing the low-activity state of the eponymous blazar

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; ...

2011-03-10

Here, we report on observations of BL Lacertae during the first 18 months of Fermi LAT science operations and present results from a 48 day multifrequency coordinated campaign from 2008 August 19 to 2008 October 7. The radio to gamma-ray behavior of BL Lac is unveiled during a low-activity state thanks to the coordinated observations of radio-band (Metsähovi and VLBA), near-IR/optical (Tuorla, Steward, OAGH, and MDM), and X-ray ( RXTE and Swift) observatories. No variability was resolved in gamma rays during the campaign, and the brightness level was 15 times lower than the level of the 1997 EGRET outburst. Moderatemore » and uncorrelated variability has been detected in UV and X-rays. The X-ray spectrum is found to be concave, indicating the transition region between the low- and high-energy components of the spectral energy distribution (SED). VLBA observation detected a synchrotron spectrum self-absorption turnover in the innermost part of the radio jet appearing to be elongated and inhomogeneous, and constrained the average magnetic field there to be less than 3 G. Over the following months, BL Lac appeared variable in gamma rays, showing flares (in 2009 April and 2010 January). There is no evidence for the correlation of gamma rays with the optical flux monitored from the ground in 18 months. The SED may be described by a single-zone or a two-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model, but a hybrid SSC plus external radiation Compton model seems to be preferred based on the observed variability and the fact that it provides a fit closest to equipartition.« less

The environment of x ray selected BL Lacs: Host galaxies and galaxy clustering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wurtz, Ron; Stocke, John T.; Ellingson, Erica; Yee, Howard K. C.

1993-01-01

Using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we have imaged a complete, flux-limited sample of Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey BL Lacertae objects in order to study the properties of BL Lac host galaxies and to use quantitative methods to determine the richness of their galaxy cluster environments.

Morphological properties of collagen fibers in porcine lamina propria

PubMed Central

Johanes, Iecun; Mihelc, Elaine; Sivasankar, Mahalakshmi; Ivanisevic, Albena

2009-01-01

Objectives Collagen influences the biomechanical properties of vocal folds. Altered collagen morphology has been implicated in dysphonia associated with aging and scarring. Documenting the morphological properties of native collagen in healthy vocal folds is essential to understand the structural and functional alterations to collagen with aging and disease. Our primary objective was to quantify the morphological properties of collagen in the vocal fold lamina propria. Our secondary exploratory objective was to investigate the effects of pepsin exposure on the morphological properties of collagen in the lamina propria. Design Experimental, in vitro study with porcine model. Methods Lamina propria was dissected from 26 vocal folds and imaged with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Morphological data on d-periodicity, diameter, and roughness of collagen fibers were obtained. To investigate the effects of pepsin exposure on collagen morphology, vocal fold surface was exposed to pepsin or sham challenge prior to lamina propria dissection and AFM imaging. Results The d-periodicity, diameter, and roughness values for native vocal fold collagen are consistent with literature reports for collagen fibers in other body tissue. Pepsin exposure on vocal fold surface did not appear to change the morphological properties of collagen fibers in the lamina propria. Conclusions Quantitative data on collagen morphology were obtained at nanoscale resolution. Documenting collagen morphology in healthy vocal folds is critical for understanding the physiological changes to collagen with aging and scarring, and for designing biomaterials that match the native topography of lamina propria. PMID:20171830

Discovery of VHE γ -ray emission from the BL Lacertae object B3 2247+381 with the MAGIC telescopes

DOE PAGES

Aleksić, J.; Alvarez, E. A.; Antonelli, L. A.; ...

2012-03-02

Here, we study the non-thermal jet emission of the BL Lac object B3 2247+381 during a high optical state. The MAGIC telescopes observed the source during 13 nights between September 30th and October 30th 2010, collecting a total of 14.2 h of good quality very high energy (VHE) γ-ray data. Simultaneous multiwavelength data was obtained with X-ray observations by the Swift satellite and optical R-band observations at the KVA-telescope. We also use high energy γ-ray (HE, 0.1-100 GeV) data from the Fermi satellite. We also dedected the BL Lac object B3 2247+381 (z = 0.119) , for the first time,more » at VHE γ-rays at a statistical significance of 5.6σ. A soft VHE spectrum with a photon index of -3.2 ± 0.6 was determined. No significant short term flux variations were found. Finally, we model the spectral energy distribution using a one-zone SSC-model, which can successfully describe our data.« less

SIMULTANEOUS B'V'R' MONITORING OF BL LACERTAE OBJECT S5 0716+714 AND DETECTION OF INTER-BAND TIME DELAY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu Jianghua; He Xiangtao; Boettcher, Markus

We present the results of our optical monitoring of the BL Lac object S5 0716+714 over seven nights in 2006 December. The monitoring was carried out simultaneously at three optical wavelengths with a novel photometric system. The object did not show large-amplitude internight variations during this period. Intranight variations were observed on four nights and probably on one more. Strong bluer-when-brighter chromatism was detected on both intranight and internight timescales. The intranight variation amplitude decreases in the wavelength sequence of B', R', and V'. Cross-correlation analyses revealed that the variability at the B' and V' bands leads that at themore » R' band by about 30 minutes on one night.« less

Catalog of SAS-2 gamma-ray observations (Fichtel, et al. 1990)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, Wayne H., Jr.

1990-01-01

The machine-readable version of the catalog, as it is currently being distributed from the Astronomical Data Center, is described. The SAS-2 gamma ray catalog contains fluxes measured with the high energy gamma ray telescope flown aboard the second NASA Small Astronomy Satellite. The objects measured include various types of galaxies, quasi-stellar, and BL Lacertae objects, and pulsars. The catalog contains separate files for galaxies, pulsars, other objects, notes, and references.

Discovery of hard-spectrum γ -ray emission from the BL Lacertae object 1ES 0414+009

DOE PAGES

Abramowski, A.

2012-02-01

1ES 0414 + 009 (z = 0.287) is a distant high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object, and has long been considered a likely emitter of very-high-energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) γ-rays due to its high X-ray and radio flux. Observations in the VHE γ-ray band and across the electromagnetic spectrum can provide insights into the origin of highly energetic particles present in the source and the radiation processes at work. Because of the distance of the source, the γ-ray spectrum might provide further limits on the level of the extragalactic background light (EBL). Methods. We report observations made between October 2005more » and December 2009 with H.E.S.S., an array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Observations at high energies (HE, 100 MeV–100 GeV) with the Fermi-LAT instrument in the first 20 months of its operation are also reported. To complete the multi-wavelength picture, archival UV and X-ray observations with the Swift satellite and optical observations with the ATOM telescope are also used. Based on the observations with H.E.S.S., 1ES 0414 + 009 is detected for the first time in the VHE band. An excess of 224 events is measured, corresponding to a significance of 7.8σ. The photon spectrum of the source is well described by a power law, with photon index of ΓVHE = 3.45 ± 0.25stat ± 0.20syst. The integral flux above 200 GeV is (1.88 ± 0.20stat ± 0.38syst) × 10-12 cm-2 s-1. Observations with the Fermi-LAT in the first 20 months of operation show a flux between 200 MeV and 100 GeV of (2.3 ± 0.2stat) × 10-9 erg cm-2 s-1, and a spectrum well described by a power-law function with a photon index ΓHE = 1.85 ± 0.18. Swift/XRT observations show an X-ray flux between 2 and 10 keV of (0.8-1) × 10-11 erg cm-2 s-1, and a steep spectrum ΓX = (2.2-2.3). Combining X-ray with optical-UV data, a fit with a log-parabolic function locates the synchrotron peak around 0.1 keV. Although the GeV–TeV observations do not provide better constraints on the EBL

X-Ray and TeV Gamma-Ray Emission from Parallel Electron-Positron or Electron-Proton Beams in BL Lacertae Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krawczynski, H.

2007-04-01

In this paper we discuss models of the X-ray and TeV γ-ray emission from BL Lac objects based on parallel electron-positron or electron-proton beams that form close to the central black hole, due to the strong electric fields generated by the accretion disk and possibly also by the black hole itself. Fitting the energy spectrum of the BL Lac object Mrk 501, we obtain tight constraints on the beam properties. Launching a sufficiently energetic beam requires rather strong magnetic fields close to the black hole (~100-1000 G). However, the model fits imply that the magnetic field in the emission region is only ~0.02 G. Thus, the particles are accelerated close to the black hole and propagate a considerable distance before instabilities trigger the dissipation of energy through synchrotron and self-Compton emission. We discuss various approaches to generate enough power to drive the jet and, at the same time, to accelerate particles to ~20 TeV energies. Although the parallel beam model has its own problems, it explains some of the long-standing problems that plague models based on Fermi-type particle acceleration, such as the presence of a very high minimum Lorentz factor of accelerated particles. We conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of the model for the difference between the processes of jet formation in BL Lac-type objects and those in quasars.

BL Lacertae: X-ray spectral evolution and a black-hole mass estimate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Titarchuk, Lev; Seifina, Elena

2017-06-01

We present an analysis of the spectral properties observed in X-rays from active galactic nucleus BL Lacertae using RXTE, Suzaku, ASCA, BeppoSAX, and Swift observations. The total time covered by these observations is approximately 20 yr. We show strong observational evidence that this source undergoes X-ray spectral transitions from the low hard state (LHS) through the intermediate state (IS) to the high soft state (HSS) during these observations. During the RXTE observations (1997-2001, 180 ks, for a total 145 datasets), the source was approximately 75%, 20% and only 5% of the time in the IS, LHS, and HSS, respectively. We also used Swift observations (470 datasets, for a total 800 ks), which occurred during 12 yr (2005-2016), the broadband (0.3-200 keV) data of BeppoSAX (1997-2000, 160 ks), and the low X-ray energy (0.3-10 keV) data of ASCA (1995-1999, 160 ks). Two observations of Suzaku (2006, 2013; 50 ks) in combinations with long-term RXTE and Swift data-sets fortunately allow us to describe all spectral states of BL Lac. The spectra of BL Lac are well fitted by the so-called bulk motion Comptonization (BMC) model for all spectral states. We have established the photon index saturation level, Γsat = 2.2 ± 0.1, in the Γ versus mass accretion rate (Ṁ) correlation. This Γ - Ṁ correlation allows us to estimate the black-hole (BH) mass in BL Lac to be MBH 3 × 107M⊙ for a distance of 300 Mpc. For the BH mass estimate, we use the scaling method taking stellar-mass Galactic BHs 4U 1543-47 and GX 339-4 as reference sources. The Γ - Ṁ correlation revealed in BL Lac is similar to those in a number of stellar-mass Galactic BHs and two recently studied intermediate-mass extragalactic BHs. It clearly shows the correlation along with the very extended Γ saturation at 2.2. This is robust observational evidence for the presence of a BH in BL Lac. We also reveal that the seed (disk) photon temperatures are relatively low, of order of 100 eV, which are consistent

Lacerta I and Cassiopeia III. Two Luminous and Distant Andromeda Satellite Dwarf Galaxies Found in the 3π Pan-STARRS1 Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, Nicolas F.; Slater, Colin T.; Schlafly, Edward F.; Morganson, Eric; Rix, Hans-Walter; Bell, Eric F.; Laevens, Benjamin P. M.; Bernard, Edouard J.; Ferguson, Annette M. N.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.; Burgett, William S.; Chambers, Kenneth C.; Hodapp, Klaus W.; Kaiser, Nicholas; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Magnier, Eugene A.; Morgan, Jeffrey S.; Price, Paul A.; Tonry, John L.; Wainscoat, Richard J.

2013-07-01

We report the discovery of two new dwarf galaxies, Lacerta I/Andromeda XXXI (Lac I/And XXXI) and Cassiopeia III/Andromeda XXXII (Cas III/And XXXII), in stacked Pan-STARRS1 r P1- and i P1-band imaging data. Both are luminous systems (MV ~ -12) located at projected distances of 20.°3 and 10.°5 from M31. Lac I and Cas III are likely satellites of the Andromeda galaxy with heliocentric distances of 756^{+44}_{-28}\\,kpc and 772^{+61}_{-56}\\,kpc, respectively, and corresponding M31-centric distances of 275 ± 7 kpc and 144^{+6}_{-4}\\,kpc. The brightest of recent Local Group member discoveries, these two new dwarf galaxies owe their late discovery to their large sizes (r_h = 4.2^{+0.4}_{-0.5} arcmin or 912^{+124}_{-93}\\,pc for Lac I r_h = 6.5^{+1.2}_{-1.0} arcmin or 1456 ± 267 pc for Cas III) and consequently low surface brightness (μ0 ~ 26.0 mag arcsec-2), as well as to the lack of a systematic survey of regions at large radii from M31, close to the Galactic plane. This latter limitation is now alleviated by the 3π Pan-STARRS1 survey, which could lead to the discovery of other distant Andromeda satellite dwarf galaxies.

Galaxy Zoo: Infrared and Optical Morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carla Shanahan, Jesse; Lintott, Chris; Zoo, Galaxy

2018-01-01

We present the detailed, visual morphologies of approximately 60,000 galaxies observed by the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey and then classified by participants in the Galaxy Zoo project. Our sample is composed entirely of nearby objects with redshifts of z ≤ 0.3, which enables us to robustly analyze their morphological characteristics including smoothness, bulge properties, spiral structure, and evidence of bars or rings. The determination of these features is made via a consensus-based analysis of the Galaxy Zoo project data in which inconsistent and outlying classifications are statistically down-weighted. We then compare these classifications of infrared morphology to the objects’ optical classifications in the Galaxy Zoo 2 release (Willett et al. 2013). It is already known that morphology is an effective tool for uncovering a galaxy’s dynamical past, and previous studies have shown significant correlations with physical characteristics such as stellar mass distribution and star formation history. We show that majority of the sample has agreement or expected differences between the optical and infrared classifications, but also present a preliminary analysis of a subsample of objects with striking discrepancies.

Intermediate BL Lac objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bondi, M.; Marchã, M. J. M.; Dallacasa, D.; Stanghellini, C.

2001-08-01

The 200-mJy sample, defined by Marchã et al., contains about 60 nearby, northern, flat-spectrum radio sources. In particular, the sample has proved effective at finding nearby radio-selected BL Lac objects with radio luminosities comparable to those of X-ray-selected objects, and low-luminosity flat-spectrum weak emission-line radio galaxies (WLRGs). The 200-mJy sample contains 23 BL Lac objects (including 6 BL Lac candidates) and 19 WLRGs. We will refer to these subsamples as the 200-mJy BL Lac sample and the 200-mJy WLRG sample, respectively. We have started a systematic analysis of the morphological pc-scale properties of the 200-mJy radio sources using VLBI observations. This paper presents VLBI observations at 5 and 1.6GHz of 14 BL Lac objects and WLRGs selected from the 200-mJy sample. The pc-scale morphology of these objects is briefly discussed. We derive the radio beaming parameters of the 200-mJy BL Lac objects and WLRGs and compare them with those of other BL Lac samples and with a sample of FR I radio galaxies. The overall broad-band radio, optical and X-ray properties of the 200-mJy BL Lac sample are discussed and compared with those of other BL Lac samples, radio- and X-ray-selected. We find that the 200-mJy BL Lac objects fill the gap between HBL and LBL objects in the colour-colour plot, and have intermediate αXOX as expected in the spectral energy distribution unification scenario. Finally, we briefly discuss the role of the WLRGs.

Multiwavelength monitoring of the BL Lacertae object PKS 2155-304. 3: Ground-based observations in 1991 November

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Courvoisier, T. J.-L.; Blecha, A.; Bouchet, P.; Bratschi, P.; Carini, M. T.; Donahue, M.; Edelson, R.; Feigelson, E. D.; Filippenko, A. V.; Glass, I. S.

1995-01-01

We present ground-based observations of the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 during 1991 November. These data were obtained as part of a large international campaign of observations spanning the electro-magnetic spectrum from the radio waves to the X-rays. The data presented here include radio and UBVRI fluxes, as well as optical polarimetry. The U to I data show the same behavior in all bands and that only upper limits to any lag can be deduced from the cross-correlation of the light curves. The spectral slope in the U-I domain remained constant on all epochs but 2. There is no correlation between changes in the spectral slope and large variations in the total or polarized flux. The radio flux variations did not follow the same pattern of variability as the optical and infrared fluxes. The polarized flux varied by a larger factor than the total flux. The variations of the polarized flux are poorly correlated with those of the total flux in the optical (and hence UV domain; see the accompanying paper by Edelson et al.) nor with those of the soft X-rays. We conclude that the variability of PKS 2155-304 in the optical and near-infrared spectral domains are easier to understand in the context of variable geometry or bulk Lorentz factor than of variable electron acceleration and cooling rates.

[Searching for Rare Celestial Objects Automatically from Stellar Spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Eight].

PubMed

Si, Jian-min; Luo, A-li; Wu, Fu-zhao; Wu, Yi-hong

2015-03-01

There are many valuable rare and unusual objects in spectra dataset of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release eight (DR8), such as special white dwarfs (DZ, DQ, DC), carbon stars, white dwarf main-sequence binaries (WDMS), cataclysmic variable (CV) stars and so on, so it is extremely significant to search for rare and unusual celestial objects from massive spectra dataset. A novel algorithm based on Kernel dense estimation and K-nearest neighborhoods (KNN) has been presented, and applied to search for rare and unusual celestial objects from 546 383 stellar spectra of SDSS DR8. Their densities are estimated using Gaussian kernel density estimation, the top 5 000 spectra in descend order by their densities are selected as rare objects, and the top 300 000 spectra in ascend order by their densities are selected as normal objects. Then, KNN were used to classify the rest objects, and simultaneously K nearest neighbors of the 5 000 rare spectra are also selected as rare objects. As a result, there are totally 21 193 spectra selected as initial rare spectra, which include error spectra caused by deletion, redden, bad calibration, spectra consisting of different physically irrelevant components, planetary nebulas, QSOs, special white dwarfs (DZ, DQ, DC), carbon stars, white dwarf main-sequence binaries (WDMS), cataclysmic variable (CV) stars and so on. By cross identification with SIMBAD, NED, ADS and major literature, it is found that three DZ white dwarfs, one WDMS, two CVs with company of G-type star, three CVs candidates, six DC white dwarfs, one DC white dwarf candidate and one BL Lacertae (BL lac) candidate are our new findings. We also have found one special DA white dwarf with emission lines of Ca II triple and Mg I, and one unknown object whose spectrum looks like a late M star with emission lines and its image looks like a galaxy or nebula.

Phylogeography and demographic history of Lacerta lepida in the Iberian Peninsula: multiple refugia, range expansions and secondary contact zones

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The Iberian Peninsula is recognized as an important refugial area for species survival and diversification during the climatic cycles of the Quaternary. Recent phylogeographic studies have revealed Iberia as a complex of multiple refugia. However, most of these studies have focused either on species with narrow distributions within the region or species groups that, although widely distributed, generally have a genetic structure that relates to pre-Quaternary cladogenetic events. In this study we undertake a detailed phylogeographic analysis of the lizard species, Lacerta lepida, whose distribution encompasses the entire Iberian Peninsula. We attempt to identify refugial areas, recolonization routes, zones of secondary contact and date demographic events within this species. Results Results support the existence of 6 evolutionary lineages (phylogroups) with a strong association between genetic variation and geography, suggesting a history of allopatric divergence in different refugia. Diversification within phylogroups is concordant with the onset of the Pleistocene climatic oscillations. The southern regions of several phylogroups show a high incidence of ancestral alleles in contrast with high incidence of recently derived alleles in northern regions. All phylogroups show signs of recent demographic and spatial expansions. We have further identified several zones of secondary contact, with divergent mitochondrial haplotypes occurring in narrow zones of sympatry. Conclusions The concordant patterns of spatial and demographic expansions detected within phylogroups, together with the high incidence of ancestral haplotypes in southern regions of several phylogroups, suggests a pattern of contraction of populations into southern refugia during adverse climatic conditions from which subsequent northern expansions occurred. This study supports the emergent pattern of multiple refugia within Iberia but adds to it by identifying a pattern of refugia coincident

Phylogeography and demographic history of Lacerta lepida in the Iberian Peninsula: multiple refugia, range expansions and secondary contact zones.

PubMed

Miraldo, Andreia; Hewitt, Godfrey M; Paulo, Octavio S; Emerson, Brent C

2011-06-17

The Iberian Peninsula is recognized as an important refugial area for species survival and diversification during the climatic cycles of the Quaternary. Recent phylogeographic studies have revealed Iberia as a complex of multiple refugia. However, most of these studies have focused either on species with narrow distributions within the region or species groups that, although widely distributed, generally have a genetic structure that relates to pre-Quaternary cladogenetic events. In this study we undertake a detailed phylogeographic analysis of the lizard species, Lacerta lepida, whose distribution encompasses the entire Iberian Peninsula. We attempt to identify refugial areas, recolonization routes, zones of secondary contact and date demographic events within this species. Results support the existence of 6 evolutionary lineages (phylogroups) with a strong association between genetic variation and geography, suggesting a history of allopatric divergence in different refugia. Diversification within phylogroups is concordant with the onset of the Pleistocene climatic oscillations. The southern regions of several phylogroups show a high incidence of ancestral alleles in contrast with high incidence of recently derived alleles in northern regions. All phylogroups show signs of recent demographic and spatial expansions. We have further identified several zones of secondary contact, with divergent mitochondrial haplotypes occurring in narrow zones of sympatry. The concordant patterns of spatial and demographic expansions detected within phylogroups, together with the high incidence of ancestral haplotypes in southern regions of several phylogroups, suggests a pattern of contraction of populations into southern refugia during adverse climatic conditions from which subsequent northern expansions occurred. This study supports the emergent pattern of multiple refugia within Iberia but adds to it by identifying a pattern of refugia coincident with the southern distribution

The phylogeny of the family Lacertidae (Reptilia) based on nuclear DNA sequences: convergent adaptations to arid habitats within the subfamily Eremiainae.

PubMed

Mayer, Werner; Pavlicev, Mihaela

2007-09-01

The family Lacertidae encompasses more than 250 species distributed in the Palearctis, Ethiopis and Orientalis. Lacertids have been subjected in the past to several morphological and molecular studies to establish their phylogeny. However, the problems of convergent adaptation in morphology and of excessively variable molecular markers have hampered the establishment of well supported deeper phylogenetic relationships. Particularly the adaptations to xeric environments have often been used to establish a scenario for the origin and radiation of major lineages within lacertids. Here we present a molecular phylogenetic study based on two nuclear marker genes and representatives of 37 lacertid genera and distinct species groups (as in the case of the collective genus Lacerta). Roughly 1600 bp of the nuclear rag1 and c-mos genes were sequenced and analyzed. While the results provide good support to the hitherto suggested main subfamilies of Gallotiinae (Gallotia and Psammodromus), Eremiainae and Lacertinae [Harris, D.J., Arnold, E.N., Thomas, R.H., 1998. Relationships of lacertid lizards (Reptilia: Lacertidae) estimated from mitochondrial DNA sequences and morphology. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 1939-1948], they also suggest unexpected relationships. In particular, the oriental genus Takydromus, previously considered the sister-group to the three subfamilies, is nested within Lacertinae. Moreover, the genera within the Eremiainae are further divided into two groups, roughly corresponding to their respective geographical distributions in the Ethiopian and the Saharo-Eurasian ranges. The results support an independent origin of adaptations to xeric conditions in different subfamilies. The relationships within the subfamily Lacertinae could not be resolved with the markers used. The species groups of the collective genus Lacerta show a bush-like topology in the inferred Bayesian tree, suggesting rapid radiation. The composition of the subfamilies Eremiainae and Lacertinae

Identification of the linkage group of the Z sex chromosomes of the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis, Lacertidae) and elucidation of karyotype evolution in lacertid lizards.

PubMed

Srikulnath, Kornsorn; Matsubara, Kazumi; Uno, Yoshinobu; Nishida, Chizuko; Olsson, Mats; Matsuda, Yoichi

2014-12-01

The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis, Lacertidae) has a chromosome number of 2n = 38, with 17 pairs of acrocentric chromosomes, one pair of microchromosomes, a large acrocentric Z chromosome, and a micro-W chromosome. To investigate the process of karyotype evolution in L. agilis, we performed chromosome banding and fluorescent in situ hybridization for gene mapping and constructed a cytogenetic map with 86 functional genes. Chromosome banding revealed that the Z chromosome is the fifth largest chromosome. The cytogenetic map revealed homology of the L. agilis Z chromosome with chicken chromosomes 6 and 9. Comparison of the L. agilis cytogenetic map with those of four Toxicofera species with many microchromosomes (Elaphe quadrivirgata, Varanus salvator macromaculatus, Leiolepis reevesii rubritaeniata, and Anolis carolinensis) showed highly conserved linkage homology of L. agilis chromosomes (LAG) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5(Z), 7, 8, 9, and 10 with macrochromosomes and/or macrochromosome segments of the four Toxicofera species. Most of the genes located on the microchromosomes of Toxicofera were localized to LAG6, small acrocentric chromosomes (LAG11-18), and a microchromosome (LAG19) in L. agilis. These results suggest that the L. agilis karyotype resulted from frequent fusions of microchromosomes, which occurred in the ancestral karyotype of Toxicofera and led to the disappearance of microchromosomes and the appearance of many small macrochromosomes.

Voting based object boundary reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Qi; Zhang, Like; Ma, Jingsheng

2005-07-01

A voting-based object boundary reconstruction approach is proposed in this paper. Morphological technique was adopted in many applications for video object extraction to reconstruct the missing pixels. However, when the missing areas become large, the morphological processing cannot bring us good results. Recently, Tensor voting has attracted people"s attention, and it can be used for boundary estimation on curves or irregular trajectories. However, the complexity of saliency tensor creation limits its applications in real-time systems. An alternative approach based on tensor voting is introduced in this paper. Rather than creating saliency tensors, we use a "2-pass" method for orientation estimation. For the first pass, Sobel d*etector is applied on a coarse boundary image to get the gradient map. In the second pass, each pixel puts decreasing weights based on its gradient information, and the direction with maximum weights sum is selected as the correct orientation of the pixel. After the orientation map is obtained, pixels begin linking edges or intersections along their direction. The approach is applied to various video surveillance clips under different conditions, and the experimental results demonstrate significant improvement on the final extracted objects accuracy.

LACERTA I AND CASSIOPEIA III. TWO LUMINOUS AND DISTANT ANDROMEDA SATELLITE DWARF GALAXIES FOUND IN THE 3{pi} PAN-STARRS1 SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martin, Nicolas F.; Laevens, Benjamin P. M.; Slater, Colin T.

We report the discovery of two new dwarf galaxies, Lacerta I/Andromeda XXXI (Lac I/And XXXI) and Cassiopeia III/Andromeda XXXII (Cas III/And XXXII), in stacked Pan-STARRS1 r{sub P1}- and i{sub P1}-band imaging data. Both are luminous systems (M{sub V} {approx} -12) located at projected distances of 20. Degree-Sign 3 and 10. Degree-Sign 5 from M31. Lac I and Cas III are likely satellites of the Andromeda galaxy with heliocentric distances of 756{sup +44}{sub -28} kpc and 772{sup +61}{sub -56} kpc, respectively, and corresponding M31-centric distances of 275 {+-} 7 kpc and 144{sup +6}{sub -4} kpc. The brightest of recent Local Groupmore » member discoveries, these two new dwarf galaxies owe their late discovery to their large sizes (r{sub h} = 4.2{sup +0.4}{sub -0.5} arcmin or 912{sup +124}{sub -93} pc for Lac I; r{sub h} = 6.5{sup +1.2}{sub -1.0} arcmin or 1456 {+-} 267 pc for Cas III) and consequently low surface brightness ({mu}{sub 0} {approx} 26.0 mag arcsec{sup -2}), as well as to the lack of a systematic survey of regions at large radii from M31, close to the Galactic plane. This latter limitation is now alleviated by the 3{pi} Pan-STARRS1 survey, which could lead to the discovery of other distant Andromeda satellite dwarf galaxies.« less

Morphological operation based dense houses extraction from DSM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.; Zhu, L.; Tachibana, K.; Shimamura, H.

2014-08-01

This paper presents a method of reshaping and extraction of markers and masks of the dense houses from the DSM based on mathematical morphology (MM). Houses in a digital surface model (DSM) are almost joined together in high-density housing areas, and most segmentation methods cannot completely separate them. We propose to label the markers of the buildings firstly and segment them into masks by watershed then. To avoid detecting more than one marker for a house or no marker at all due to its higher neighbour, the DSM is morphologically reshaped. It is carried out by a MM operation using the certain disk shape SE of the similar size to the houses. The sizes of the houses need to be estimated before reshaping. A granulometry generated by opening-by-reconstruction to the NDSM is proposed to detect the scales of the off-terrain objects. It is a histogram of the global volume of the top hats of the convex objects in the continuous scales. The obvious step change in the profile means that there are many objects of similar sizes occur at this scale. In reshaping procedure, the slices of the object are derived by morphological filtering at the detected continuous scales and reconstructed in pile as the dome. The markers are detected on the basis of the domes.

Genetic variation in parthenogenetic Caucasian rock lizards of the genus Lacerta (L. dahli, L. armeniaca, L. unisexualis) analyzed by DNA fingerprinting.

PubMed

Tokarskaya, O N; Kan, N G; Petrosyan, V G; Martirosyan, I A; Grechko, V V; Danielyan, F D; Darevsky, I S; Ryskov, A P

2001-07-01

Multilocus DNA fingerprinting has been used to study the variability of some mini- and microsatellite sequences in parthenogenetic species of Caucasian rock lizards of the genus Lacerta (L. dahli, L. armeniaca and L. unisexualis). We demonstrate that these clonally reproducing lizards possess species-specific DNA fingerprints with a low degree of intra- and interpopulation variation. Mean indices of similarity obtained using M13 DNA, (GACA)4 and (TCC)50 as probes were 0.962 and 0.966 in L. dahli and L. armeniaca, respectively. The mean index of similarity obtained using M 13 and GATA probes in L. unisexualis was estimated to be 0.95. However, despite the high degree of band-sharing, variable DNA fragments were revealed in all populations with the microsatellite probes. An particularly high level of variability was observed for (TCC)n microsatellites in populations of L. unisexualis. In fact TCC-derived DNA fingerprints were close to being individual-specific, with a mean index of similarity of 0.824. Fingerprint analysis of parthenogenetic families of L. armeniaca showed that all maternal fragments were inherited together by the progeny, and no differences in fingerprint patterns were observed. On the other hand, while identical DNA fingerprints were obtained from L. unisexualis families with M13 and (GATA)4 probes, use of the (TCC)50 probe revealed remarkable intrafamily variation in this species. It is assumed that the genetic heterogeneity observed in parthenogenetic populations may be explained, at least in part, by the existence of genetically unstable microsatellite loci. Our data serve to illustrate processes of spontaneous mutagenesis and the initial stages of clonal differentiation in natural populations of the lizard species studied.

Multimodal sexual signals in male ocellated lizards Lacerta lepida: vitamin E in scent and green coloration may signal male quality in different sensory channels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martín, José; López, Pilar

2010-06-01

The mechanisms that confer honesty to multiple sexual signals of vertebrates remain less known. We suggest that vitamin E in the scent (femoral secretions) and carotenoids in coloration of Lacerta lepida lizards might advertise quality because they are relevant in metabolism as major antioxidants and have a dietary origin. Results showed that there may be similar trade-offs between immunity and both chemical and visual signaling, as males with more vitamin E in secretions and those with more greenish, darker, and saturated carotenoid-dependent colorations had a higher immune response. This suggests that only high-quality males can divert from metabolism and allocate enough vitamin E to secretions and enough carotenoids to coloration. Therefore, information provided by visual and chemical signals is congruent. The use of multiple sensory channels may allow signaling a male quality under different circumstances or reinforce the reliability of the signal when both signals are perceived simultaneously. However, we also found that characteristics of carotenoid-dependent coloration mirror the amounts of vitamin E in secretions. This might support that carotenoids, which are not true antioxidants in the organism, would just reflect and “inform” on the actual contents of metabolic antioxidant vitamin E, which is part of the true system that prevent oxidation. We suggest that the metabolic roles of vitamins might be the actual basis of honesty of many sexual displays, and that carotenoid-based signals might be just the visible part of the whole system.

Morphological operators for enhanced polarimetric image target detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romano, João. M.; Rosario, Dalton S.

2015-09-01

We introduce an algorithm based on morphological filters with the Stokes parameters that augments the daytime and nighttime detection of weak-signal manmade objects immersed in a predominant natural background scene. The approach features a tailored sequence of signal-enhancing filters, consisting of core morphological operators (dilation, erosion) and higher level morphological operations (e.g., spatial gradient, opening, closing) to achieve a desired overarching goal. Using representative data from the SPICE database, the results show that the approach was able to automatically and persistently detect with a high confidence level the presence of three mobile military howitzer surrogates (targets) in natural clutter.

Electrogram Morphology Recurrence Patterns during Atrial Fibrillation

PubMed Central

Ng, Jason; Gordon, David; Passman, Rod S.; Knight, Bradley P.; Arora, Rishi; Goldberger, Jeffrey J.

2014-01-01

Background Traditional mapping of atrial fibrillation (AF) is limited by changing electrogram morphologies and variable cycle lengths. Objective We tested the hypothesis that morphology recurrence plot analysis would identify sites of stable and repeatable electrogram morphology patterns. Methods AF electrograms recorded from left atrial (LA) and right atrial (RA) sites in 19 patients (10 male, 59±10 years old) prior to AF ablation were analyzed. Morphology recurrence plots for each electrogram recording were created by cross-correlation of each automatically detected activation with every other activation in the recording. A recurrence percentage, the percentage of the most common morphology, and the mean cycle length of activations with the most common morphology (CLR) were computed. Results The morphology recurrence plots commonly showed checkerboard patterns of alternating high and low cross correlation values indicating periodic recurrences in morphologies. The mean recurrence percentage for all sites and all patients was 38±25%. The highest recurrence percentage per patient averaged 83±17%. The highest recurrence percentage was located in the RA in 5 patients and in the LA in 14 patients. Patients with sites of shortest CLR in the LA and RA had ablation failure rates of 25% and 100%, respectively (HR=4.95; p=0.05). Conclusions A new technique to characterize electrogram morphology recurrence demonstrated that there is a distribution of sites with high and low repeatability of electrogram morphologies. Sites with rapid activation of highly repetitive morphology patterns may be critical to sustaining AF. Further testing of this approach to map and ablate AF sources is warranted. PMID:25101485

Examples of seismic modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pamyatnykh, A. A.

2008-12-01

Findings of a few recent asteroseismic studies of the main sequence pulsating stars, as per- formed in Wojciech Dziembowski’s group in Warsaw and in Michel Breger’s group in Vienna, are briefly presented and discussed. The selected objects are three hybrid pulsators ν Eridani, 12 Lacertae and γ Pegasi, which show both β Cephei and SPB type modes, and the δ Scuti type star 44 Tauri.

Soft X-ray spectrum of BL Lacertae object AO 0235+164 as a tracer of elemental abundances at z approximately 0.5

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madejski, Greg

1994-01-01

We report the soft X-ray spectrum of BL Lac object AO 0235+164, observed with the Einstein Observatory Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC). This object (z = 0.94) has an intervening galaxy (or a protogalactic disk) at z = 0.524 present in the line of sight, producing both radio and optical absorption lines in the background BL Lac continuum. The X-ray spectrum exhibits a substantial soft X-ray cutoff, corresponding to several times that expected from our own Galaxy; we interpret that excess cutoff as due to the intervening galaxy. The comparison of the hydrogen column density inferred from the 21 cm radio data and the X-ray absorption allows, in principle, the determination of the elemental abundances in the intervening galaxy. However, the uncertainties in both the H I spin temperature and X-ray spectral parameters only loosely restrict these abundances to be 2 +/- 1 solar, which even at the lower limit appears higher than that inferred from studies of samples of optical absoprtion-line systems.

Discovery of high and very high-energy emission from the BL Lacertae object SHBL J001355.9-185406

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

H.E.S.S. Collaboration; Abramowski, A.; Acero, F.; Aharonian, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Angüner, E.; Anton, G.; Balenderan, S.; Balzer, A.; Barnacka, A.; Becherini, Y.; Becker Tjus, J.; Bernlöhr, K.; Birsin, E.; Bissaldi, E.; Biteau, J.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bordas, P.; Brucker, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bulik, T.; Carrigan, S.; Casanova, S.; Cerruti, M.; Chadwick, P. M.; Chalme-Calvet, R.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Cheesebrough, A.; Chrétien, M.; Colafrancesco, S.; Cologna, G.; Conrad, J.; Couturier, C.; Dalton, M.; Daniel, M. K.; Davids, I. D.; Degrange, B.; Deil, C.; deWilt, P.; Dickinson, H. J.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Domainko, W.; O'C. Drury, L.; Dubus, G.; Dutson, K.; Dyks, J.; Dyrda, M.; Edwards, T.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Espigat, P.; Farnier, C.; Fegan, S.; Feinstein, F.; Fernandes, M. V.; Fernandez, D.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Förster, A.; Füßling, M.; Gajdus, M.; Gallant, Y. A.; Garrigoux, T.; Gast, H.; Giebels, B.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Göring, D.; Grondin, M.-H.; Grudzińska, M.; Häffner, S.; Hague, J. D.; Hahn, J.; Harris, J.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hervet, O.; Hillert, A.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hofverberg, P.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Jacholkowska, A.; Jahn, C.; Jamrozy, M.; Janiak, M.; Jankowsky, F.; Jung, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katz, U.; Kaufmann, S.; Khélifi, B.; Kieffer, M.; Klepser, S.; Klochkov, D.; Kluźniak, W.; Kneiske, T.; Kolitzus, D.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Krakau, S.; Krayzel, F.; Krüger, P. P.; Laffon, H.; Lamanna, G.; Lefaucheur, J.; Lemoine-Goumard, M.; Lenain, J.-P.; Lennarz, D.; Lohse, T.; Lopatin, A.; Lu, C.-C.; Marandon, V.; Marcowith, A.; Maurin, G.; Maxted, N.; Mayer, M.; McComb, T. J. L.; Medina, M. C.; Méhault, J.; Menzler, U.; Meyer, M.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Moulin, E.; Murach, T.; Naumann, C. L.; de Naurois, M.; Nedbal, D.; Niemiec, J.; Nolan, S. J.; Oakes, L.; Ohm, S.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; Opitz, B.; Ostrowski, M.; Oya, I.; Panter, M.; Parsons, R. D.; Paz Arribas, M.; Pekeur, N. W.; Pelletier, G.; Perez, J.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Pita, S.; Poon, H.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raab, S.; Raue, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; de los Reyes, R.; Rieger, F.; Rob, L.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C. B.; Sahakian, V.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schüssler, F.; Schulz, A.; Schwanke, U.; Schwarzburg, S.; Schwemmer, S.; Sol, H.; Spengler, G.; Spieß, F.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Stinzing, F.; Stycz, K.; Sushch, I.; Szostek, A.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Terrier, R.; Tluczykont, M.; Trichard, C.; Valerius, K.; van Eldik, C.; Vasileiadis, G.; Venter, C.; Viana, A.; Vincent, P.; Völk, H. J.; Volpe, F.; Vorster, M.; Wagner, S. J.; Wagner, P.; Ward, M.; Weidinger, M.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Willmann, P.; Wörnlein, A.; Wouters, D.; Zacharias, M.; Zajczyk, A.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Zechlin, H.-S.

2013-06-01

The detection of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object (HBL) SHBL J001355.9-185406 (z = 0.095) at high (HE; 100 MeV < E < 300 GeV) and very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is reported. Dedicated observations were performed with the H.E.S.S. telescopes, leading to a detection at the 5.5σ significance level. The measured flux above 310 GeV is (8.3 ± 1.7stat ± 1.7sys) × 10-13 photons cm-2 s-1 (about 0.6% of that of the Crab Nebula), and the power-law spectrum has a photon index of Γ = 3.4 ± 0.5stat ± 0.2sys. Using 3.5 years of publicly available Fermi-LAT data, a faint counterpart has been detected in the LAT data at the 5.5σ significance level, with an integrated flux above 300 MeV of (9.3 ± 3.4stat ± 0.8sys) × 10-10 photons cm-2 s-1 and a photon index of Γ = 1.96 ± 0.20stat ± 0.08sys. X-ray observations with Swift-XRT allow the synchrotron peak energy in νFν representation to be located at ~1.0 keV. The broadband spectral energy distribution is modelled with a one-zone synchrotronself-Compton (SSC) model and the optical data by a black-body emission describing the thermal emission of the host galaxy. The derived parameters are typical of HBLs detected at VHE, with a particle-dominated jet.

Comparison of DNA fragmentation and color thresholding for objective quantitation of apoptotic cells

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plymale, D. R.; Ng Tang, D. S.; Fermin, C. D.; Lewis, D. E.; Martin, D. S.; Garry, R. F.

1995-01-01

Apoptosis is a process of cell death characterized by distinctive morphological changes and fragmentation of cellular DNA. Using video imaging and color thresholding techniques, we objectively quantitated the number of cultured CD4+ T-lymphoblastoid cells (HUT78 cells, RH9 subclone) displaying morphological signs of apoptosis before and after exposure to gamma-irradiation. The numbers of apoptotic cells measured by objective video imaging techniques were compared to numbers of apoptotic cells measured in the same samples by sensitive apoptotic assays that quantitate DNA fragmentation. DNA fragmentation assays gave consistently higher values compared with the video imaging assays that measured morphological changes associated with apoptosis. These results suggest that substantial DNA fragmentation can precede or occur in the absence of the morphological changes which are associated with apoptosis in gamma-irradiated RH9 cells.

Imaging Young Stellar Objects with VLTi/PIONIER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kluska, J.; Malbet, F.; Berger, J.-P.; Benisty, M.; Lazareff, B.; Le Bouquin, J.-B.; Baron, F.; Dominik, C.; Isella, A.; Juhasz, A.; Kraus, S.; Lachaume, R.; Ménard, F.; Millan-Gabet, R.; Monnier, J.; Pinte, C.; Soulez, F.; Tallon, M.; Thi, W.-F.; Thiébaut, É.; Zins, G.

2014-04-01

Optical interferometry imaging is designed to help us to reveal complex astronomical sources without a prior model. Among these complex objects are the young stars and their environments, which have a typical morphology with a point-like source, surrounded by circumstellar material with unknown morphology. To image them, we have developed a numerical method that removes completely the stellar point source and reconstructs the rest of the image, using the differences in the spectral behavior between the star and its circumstellar material. We aim to reveal the first Astronomical Units of these objects where many physical phenomena could interplay: the dust sublimation causing a puffed-up inner rim, a dusty halo, a dusty wind or an inner gaseous component. To investigate more deeply these regions, we carried out the first Large Program survey of HAeBe stars with two main goals: statistics on the geometry of these objects at the first astronomical unit scale and imaging their very close environment. The images reveal the environment, which is not polluted by the star and allows us to derive the best fit for the flux ratio and the spectral slope. We present the first images from this survey and the application of the imaging method on other astronomical objects.

The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in L2 Spanish Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martoccio, Alyssa Marie

2012-01-01

This dissertation tests a grammatical structure, differential object marking (DOM), which is particularly difficult for L2 learners to acquire. DOM is a phenomenon in which some direct objects are morphologically marked to distinguish them from subjects (Comrie, 1979). In Spanish, animate and specific direct objects are marked with the preposition…

Melting and its relationship to impact crater morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Okeefe, John D.; Ahrens, Thomas J.

1992-01-01

Shock-melting features occur on planets at scales that range from micrometers to megameters. It is the objective of this study to determine the extent of thickness, volume geometry of the melt, and relationship with crater morphology. The variation in impact crater morphology on planets is influenced by a broad range of parameters: e.g., planetary density, thermal state, strength, impact velocity, gravitational acceleration. We modeled the normal impact of spherical projectiles on a semi-infinite planet over a broad range of conditions using numerical techniques.

Integral-geometry characterization of photobiomodulation effects on retinal vessel morphology

PubMed Central

Barbosa, Marconi; Natoli, Riccardo; Valter, Kriztina; Provis, Jan; Maddess, Ted

2014-01-01

The morphological characterization of quasi-planar structures represented by gray-scale images is challenging when object identification is sub-optimal due to registration artifacts. We propose two alternative procedures that enhances object identification in the integral-geometry morphological image analysis (MIA) framework. The first variant streamlines the framework by introducing an active contours segmentation process whose time step is recycled as a multi-scale parameter. In the second variant, we used the refined object identification produced in the first variant to perform the standard MIA with exact dilation radius as multi-scale parameter. Using this enhanced MIA we quantify the extent of vaso-obliteration in oxygen-induced retinopathic vascular growth, the preventative effect (by photobiomodulation) of exposure during tissue development to near-infrared light (NIR, 670 nm), and the lack of adverse effects due to exposure to NIR light. PMID:25071966

Mandibular condylar morphology for bruxers with different grinding patterns.

PubMed

Tao, Jianxiang; Wu, Junhua; Zhang, Xuying

2015-12-29

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mandibular condylar morphology for bruxers with different grinding patterns. Condylar sectional morphology and condylar position of 30 subjects were determined by two viewers using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) image data sets. The grinding patterns during sleep bruxism (SB) were determined objectively using a Brux-checker device.Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis for the condylar morphology type between different tooth grinding patterns. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis between condylar position and the canine guidance area during SB. Theincidence of condylarmorphologicaldivergence from idealwas35%.There isa significant difference in distribution of condylar morphology type between the group grinding (GG) and GG combined with mediotrusive side grinding (MG) (Pv 0.05). There was no significant correlation between condylar position and canine guidance area during bruxism. MG during SB is associated with condylar morphology that is considered not to be ideal.

Mandibular condylar morphology for bruxers with different grinding patterns.

PubMed

Tao, Jianxiang; Wu, Junhua; Zhang, Xuying

2016-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mandibular condylar morphology for bruxers with different grinding patterns. Condylar sectional morphology and condylar position of 30 subjects were determined by two viewers using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) image data sets. The grinding patterns during sleep bruxism (SB) were determined objectively using a Brux-checker device.Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis for the condylar morphology type between different tooth grinding patterns. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used for correlation analysis between condylar position and the canine guidance area during SB. Theincidence of condylarmorphologicaldivergence from idealwas35%.There isa significant difference in distribution of condylar morphology type between the group grinding (GG) and GG combined with mediotrusive side grinding (MG) (p < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between condylar position and canine guidance area during bruxism. MG during SB is associated with condylar morphology that is considered not to be ideal.

Evolutional schemes for objects with active nuclei

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Komberg, B. V.

1979-01-01

The observational properties of quasistellar objects (QSO) reveal that they are extremely violent nuclei of distant galaxies, but the evolutionary stage of these galaxies is still undetermined. Various published attempts to classify QSO under different criteria - including the one based on the morphological type of the surrounding galaxy E- or S- are analyzed. There are evidences that radioactive quasars reside in E-, while radio-quiet quasars reside in both E- and S- systems. The latter may be evolutionary connected to Seyfert-like objects. A correlation between the nuclei activity level in systems of different morphological type and the relative amount of gas in them is noted. From the point of view of activity level and the duration of active stage of nuclei it is concluded that an interaction of galaxies with the intergalactic medium is of particular importance and must be most conspicuous in spheriodal systems of central regions of rich clusters, in tight groups and binary galaxies.

Preplanetary Nebulae: A Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Survey and a New Morphological Classification System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sahai, Raghvendra; Morris, Mark; Sanchez Contreras, Carmen; Claussen, Mark

2007-01-01

Using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST ), we have carried out a survey of candidate preplanetary nebulae (PPNs). We report here our discoveries of objects having well-resolved geometric structures, and we use the large sample of PPNs now imaged with HST (including previously studied objects in this class) to devise a comprehensive morphological classification system for this category of objects. The wide variety of aspherical morphologies which we have found for PPNs are qualitatively similar to those found for young planetary nebulae (PNs) in previous surveys. We also find prominent halos surrounding the central aspherical shapes in many of our objects; these are direct signatures of the undisturbed circumstellar envelopes of the progenitor AGB stars. Although the majority of these have surface brightness distributions consistent with a constant mass-loss rate with a constant expansion velocity, there are also examples of objects with varying mass-loss rates. As in our surveys of young PNs, we find no round PPNs. The similarities in morphologies between our survey objects and young PNs supports the view that the former are the progenitors of aspherical PNs. This suggests that the primary shaping of a PN does not occur during the PN phase via the fast radiative wind of the hot central star, but significantly earlier in its evolution.

Discovery of high and very high-energy emission from the BL Lacertae object SHBL J001355.9–185406

DOE PAGES

Abramowski, A.; Acero, F.; Aharonian, F.; ...

2013-06-05

In this paper, the detection of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object (HBL) SHBL J001355.9–185406 (z = 0.095) at high (HE; 100 MeV < E < 300 GeV) and very high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is reported. Dedicated observations were performed with the H.E.S.S. telescopes, leading to a detection at the 5.5σ significance level. The measured flux above 310 GeV is (8.3 ± 1.7 stat ± 1.7 sys) × 10 -13 photons cm -2 s -1 (about 0.6% of that of the Crab Nebula), andmore » the power-law spectrum has a photon index of Γ = 3.4 ± 0.5 stat ± 0.2 sys. Using 3.5 years of publicly available Fermi-LAT data, a faint counterpart has been detected in the LAT data at the 5.5σ significance level, with an integrated flux above 300 MeV of (9.3 ± 3.4 stat ± 0.8 sys) × 10 -10 photons cm -2 s -1 and a photon index of Γ = 1.96 ± 0.20 stat ± 0.08 sys. X-ray observations with Swift-XRT allow the synchrotron peak energy in νF ν representation to be located at ~1.0 keV. The broadband spectral energy distribution is modelled with a one-zone synchrotronself-Compton (SSC) model and the optical data by a black-body emission describing the thermal emission of the host galaxy. Lastly, the derived parameters are typical of HBLs detected at VHE, with a particle-dominated jet.« less

Early-type galaxies have been the predominant morphological class for massive galaxies since only z ˜ 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buitrago, Fernando; Trujillo, Ignacio; Conselice, Christopher J.; Häußler, Boris

2013-01-01

Present-day massive galaxies are composed mostly of early-type objects. It is unknown whether this was also the case at higher redshifts. In a hierarchical assembling scenario the morphological content of the massive population is expected to change with time from disc-like objects in the early Universe to spheroid-like galaxies at present. In this paper we have probed this theoretical expectation by compiling a large sample of massive (Mstellar ≥ 1011 h- 270 M⊙) galaxies in the redshift interval 0 < z < 3. Our sample of 1082 objects comprises 207 local galaxies selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey plus 875 objects observed with the Hubble Space Telescope belonging to the Palomar Observatory Wide-field InfraRed/DEEP2 and GOODS NICMOS Survey surveys. 639 of our objects have spectroscopic redshifts. Our morphological classification is performed as close as possible to the optical rest frame according to the photometric bands available in our observations both quantitatively (using the Sérsic index as a morphological proxy) and qualitatively (by visual inspection). Using both techniques we find an enormous change on the dominant morphological class with cosmic time. The fraction of early-type galaxies among the massive galaxy population has changed from ˜20-30 per cent at z ˜ 3 to ˜70 per cent at z = 0. Early-type galaxies have been the predominant morphological class for massive galaxies since only z ˜ 1.

Selected highlights from the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowyer, S.; Malina, R. F.

1995-01-01

We present a few scientific highlights from the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) all-sky and deep surveys, from the EUVE Righ Angle Program, and from the EUVE Guest Observer Program. The First EUVE Source Catalog includes 410 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources detected in the initial processing of the EUVE all-sky data. A program of optical identification indicates that counterparts include cool star coronae, flare stars, hot white dwarfs, central stars of planetary nebulae, B star photospheres and winds, an X-ray binary, extragalactic objects (active galactic nuclei, BL Lacertae), solar system objects (Moon, Mars, Io,), supernova remnants, and two novae.

Development of Morphological Awareness in Young Chinese Readers: Comparing Poor Comprehenders and Good Comprehenders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Haomin

2017-01-01

The present study explored the relationship between reading comprehension skill and morphological awareness among young Chinese readers. The objectives were to investigate whether morphological awareness is a critical cognitive and linguistic ability to differentiate poor comprehenders and good comprehenders and to further scrutinize the…

Astronomical image data compression by morphological skeleton transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, L.; Bijaoui, A.

A compression method adapted for exact restoring of the detected objects and based on the morphological skeleton transformation is presented. The morphological skeleton provides a complete and compact description of an object and gives an efficient compression rate. The flexibility of choosing a structuring element adapted to different images and the simplicity of the implementation are considered to be advantages of the method. The experiment was carried out on three typical astronomical images. The first two images were obtained by digitizing a Palomar Schmidt photographic plate in a coma field with the PDS microdensitometer at Nice Observatory. The third image was obtained by CCD camera at the Pic du Midi Observatory. Each pixel was coded by 16 bits and stored at a computer system (VAX785) with STII format. Each image is characterized by 256 x 256 pixels. It is found that first image represents a stellar field, the second represents a set of galaxies in the Coma, and the third image contains an elliptical galaxy.

Effect of captivity on morphology: negligible changes in external morphology mask significant changes in internal morphology

PubMed Central

Munn, Adam J.; Byrne, Phillip G.

2018-01-01

Captive breeding programmes are increasingly relied upon for threatened species management. Changes in morphology can occur in captivity, often with unknown consequences for reintroductions. Few studies have examined the morphological changes that occur in captive animals compared with wild animals. Further, the effect of multiple generations being maintained in captivity, and the potential effects of captivity on sexual dimorphism remain poorly understood. We compared external and internal morphology of captive and wild animals using house mouse (Mus musculus) as a model species. In addition, we looked at morphology across two captive generations, and compared morphology between sexes. We found no statistically significant differences in external morphology, but after one generation in captivity there was evidence for a shift in the internal morphology of captive-reared mice; captive-reared mice (two generations bred) had lighter combined kidney and spleen masses compared with wild-caught mice. Sexual dimorphism was maintained in captivity. Our findings demonstrate that captive breeding can alter internal morphology. Given that these morphological changes may impact organismal functioning and viability following release, further investigation is warranted. If the morphological change is shown to be maladaptive, these changes would have significant implications for captive-source populations that are used for reintroduction, including reduced survivorship.

Studies of BL Lacertae objects with the Einstein Observatory - The soft X-ray spectra of OJ 287 and PKS 0735+178

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madejski, Greg M.; Schwartz, Daniel A.

1988-01-01

Accurate, soft X-ray spectra of two BL Lac objects, OJ 287 and PKS 0735+178, are presented. The X-ray spectra are well described by a power-law model with a low-energy cutoff consistent with photoelectric absorption within the Galaxy. The best-fit values of the energy spectral index in the 0.2-4.0 keV band are 0.91 and 0.76 respectively. The X-ray flux from OJ 287 is variable by a ratio of three from low to high state; PKS 0735+178 shows no indication of X-ray variability. The X-ray emission in OJ 287 is interpreted to be due to the synchrotron process from a volume common with either a beamed radio component or a stationary optical component. In PKS 0735+178, where the X-ray emission is most likely due to the Compton process operating in one of the VLBI radio components. The synchrotron self-Compton process with modest kinematic Doppler factors predicts the measured X-ray flux from PKS 0735+178 and lower than the measured flux in OJ 287.

Phylogeny of kemenyan (Styrax sp.) from North Sumatra based on morphological characters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susilowati, A.; Kholibrina, C. R.; Rachmat, H. H.; Munthe, M. A.

2018-02-01

Kemenyan is the most famous local tree species from North Sumatra. Kemenyan is known as rosin producer that very valuable for pharmacheutical, cosmetic, food preservatives and vernis. Based on its history, there were only two species of kemenyan those were kemenyan durame and toba, but in its the natural distribution we also found others species showing different characteristics with previously known ones. The objectives of this research were:The objectives of this research were: (1). To determine the morphological diversity of kemenyan in North Sumatra and (2). To determine phylogeny clustering based on the morphological characters. Data was collected from direct observation and morphological characterization, based on purposive sampling technique to those samples trees atPakpak Bharat, North Sumatra. Morphological characters were examined using descriptive analysis, phenotypic variability using standard deviation, and cluster analysis. The result showed that there was a difference between 4 species kemenyen (batak, minyak, durame and toba) according to 75 observed characters including flower, fruits, leaf, stem, bark, crown type, wood and the resin. Analysis and both quantitative and qualitative characters kemenyan clustered into two groups. In which, kemenyan toba separated with other clusters.

Morpho-z: improving photometric redshifts with galaxy morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soo, John Y. H.; Moraes, Bruno; Joachimi, Benjamin; Hartley, William; Lahav, Ofer; Charbonnier, Aldée; Makler, Martín; Pereira, Maria E. S.; Comparat, Johan; Erben, Thomas; Leauthaud, Alexie; Shan, Huanyuan; Van Waerbeke, Ludovic

2018-04-01

We conduct a comprehensive study of the effects of incorporating galaxy morphology information in photometric redshift estimation. Using machine learning methods, we assess the changes in the scatter and outlier fraction of photometric redshifts when galaxy size, ellipticity, Sérsic index, and surface brightness are included in training on galaxy samples from the SDSS and the CFHT Stripe-82 Survey (CS82). We show that by adding galaxy morphological parameters to full ugriz photometry, only mild improvements are obtained, while the gains are substantial in cases where fewer passbands are available. For instance, the combination of grz photometry and morphological parameters almost fully recovers the metrics of 5-band photometric redshifts. We demonstrate that with morphology it is possible to determine useful redshift distribution N(z) of galaxy samples without any colour information. We also find that the inclusion of quasar redshifts and associated object sizes in training improves the quality of photometric redshift catalogues, compensating for the lack of a good star-galaxy separator. We further show that morphological information can mitigate biases and scatter due to bad photometry. As an application, we derive both point estimates and posterior distributions of redshifts for the official CS82 catalogue, training on morphology and SDSS Stripe-82 ugriz bands when available. Our redshifts yield a 68th percentile error of 0.058(1 + z), and a outlier fraction of 5.2 per cent. We further include a deep extension trained on morphology and single i-band CS82 photometry.

Active Sensing System with In Situ Adjustable Sensor Morphology

PubMed Central

Nurzaman, Surya G.; Culha, Utku; Brodbeck, Luzius; Wang, Liyu; Iida, Fumiya

2013-01-01

Background Despite the widespread use of sensors in engineering systems like robots and automation systems, the common paradigm is to have fixed sensor morphology tailored to fulfill a specific application. On the other hand, robotic systems are expected to operate in ever more uncertain environments. In order to cope with the challenge, it is worthy of note that biological systems show the importance of suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability to handle different kinds of sensing tasks with particular requirements. Methodology This paper presents a robotics active sensing system which is able to adjust its sensor morphology in situ in order to sense different physical quantities with desirable sensing characteristics. The approach taken is to use thermoplastic adhesive material, i.e. Hot Melt Adhesive (HMA). It will be shown that the thermoplastic and thermoadhesive nature of HMA enables the system to repeatedly fabricate, attach and detach mechanical structures with a variety of shape and size to the robot end effector for sensing purposes. Via active sensing capability, the robotic system utilizes the structure to physically probe an unknown target object with suitable motion and transduce the arising physical stimuli into information usable by a camera as its only built-in sensor. Conclusions/Significance The efficacy of the proposed system is verified based on two results. Firstly, it is confirmed that suitable sensor morphology and active sensing capability enables the system to sense different physical quantities, i.e. softness and temperature, with desirable sensing characteristics. Secondly, given tasks of discriminating two visually indistinguishable objects with respect to softness and temperature, it is confirmed that the proposed robotic system is able to autonomously accomplish them. The way the results motivate new research directions which focus on in situ adjustment of sensor morphology will also be discussed. PMID:24416094

Morphological learning in a novel language: A cross-language comparison.

PubMed

Havas, Viktória; Waris, Otto; Vaquero, Lucía; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Laine, Matti

2015-01-01

Being able to extract and interpret the internal structure of complex word forms such as the English word dance+r+s is crucial for successful language learning. We examined whether the ability to extract morphological information during word learning is affected by the morphological features of one's native tongue. Spanish and Finnish adult participants performed a word-picture associative learning task in an artificial language where the target words included a suffix marking the gender of the corresponding animate object. The short exposure phase was followed by a word recognition task and a generalization task for the suffix. The participants' native tongues vary greatly in terms of morphological structure, leading to two opposing hypotheses. On the one hand, Spanish speakers may be more effective in identifying gender in a novel language because this feature is present in Spanish but not in Finnish. On the other hand, Finnish speakers may have an advantage as the abundance of bound morphemes in their language calls for continuous morphological decomposition. The results support the latter alternative, suggesting that lifelong experience on morphological decomposition provides an advantage in novel morphological learning.

Angular trapping of anisometric nano-objects in a fluid.

PubMed

Celebrano, Michele; Rosman, Christina; Sönnichsen, Carsten; Krishnan, Madhavi

2012-11-14

We demonstrate the ability to trap, levitate, and orient single anisometric nanoscale objects with high angular precision in a fluid. An electrostatic fluidic trap confines a spherical object at a spatial location defined by the minimum of the electrostatic system free energy. For an anisometric object and a potential well lacking angular symmetry, the system free energy can further strongly depend on the object's orientation in the trap. Engineering the morphology of the trap thus enables precise spatial and angular confinement of a single levitating nano-object, and the process can be massively parallelized. Since the physics of the trap depends strongly on the surface charge of the object, the method is insensitive to the object's dielectric function. Furthermore, levitation of the assembled objects renders them amenable to individual manipulation using externally applied optical, electrical, or hydrodynamic fields, raising prospects for reconfigurable chip-based nano-object assemblies.

Multi-classification of cell deformation based on object alignment and run length statistic.

PubMed

Li, Heng; Liu, Zhiwen; An, Xing; Shi, Yonggang

2014-01-01

Cellular morphology is widely applied in digital pathology and is essential for improving our understanding of the basic physiological processes of organisms. One of the main issues of application is to develop efficient methods for cell deformation measurement. We propose an innovative indirect approach to analyze dynamic cell morphology in image sequences. The proposed approach considers both the cellular shape change and cytoplasm variation, and takes each frame in the image sequence into account. The cell deformation is measured by the minimum energy function of object alignment, which is invariant to object pose. Then an indirect analysis strategy is employed to overcome the limitation of gradual deformation by run length statistic. We demonstrate the power of the proposed approach with one application: multi-classification of cell deformation. Experimental results show that the proposed method is sensitive to the morphology variation and performs better than standard shape representation methods.

3D morphology reconstruction using linear array CCD binocular stereo vision imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Yu; Wang, Jinjiang

2018-01-01

Binocular vision imaging system, which has a small field of view, cannot reconstruct the 3-D shape of the dynamic object. We found a linear array CCD binocular vision imaging system, which uses different calibration and reconstruct methods. On the basis of the binocular vision imaging system, the linear array CCD binocular vision imaging systems which has a wider field of view can reconstruct the 3-D morphology of objects in continuous motion, and the results are accurate. This research mainly introduces the composition and principle of linear array CCD binocular vision imaging system, including the calibration, capture, matching and reconstruction of the imaging system. The system consists of two linear array cameras which were placed in special arrangements and a horizontal moving platform that can pick up objects. The internal and external parameters of the camera are obtained by calibrating in advance. And then using the camera to capture images of moving objects, the results are then matched and 3-D reconstructed. The linear array CCD binocular vision imaging systems can accurately measure the 3-D appearance of moving objects, this essay is of great significance to measure the 3-D morphology of moving objects.

Faint Blue Objects at High Galactic Latitude. VIII. Performance Characteristics of the US Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, Kenneth J.; Usher, P. D.

2004-07-01

The US survey has cataloged 3987 objects in seven high Galactic latitude fields according to their optical colors, magnitudes, and morphologies using photographic techniques. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the survey at producing finding lists for complete samples of hot stars and quasars that exhibit blue and/or ultraviolet excess (B-UVX) relative to the colors of halo F and G subdwarf stars. A table of 599 spectroscopic identifications summarizes the spectroscopic coverage of the US objects that has been accomplished to date. In addition, some of the survey plates have been reexamined for objects missed during the original selection, and the literature has been searched for all other spectroscopically identified blue stars and quasars with z<2.2 that have been selected by other surveys within the US survey areas. These results are used to estimate empirically both the accuracy of the US survey selection boundaries (in color, morphology, and brightness) and the completeness of the resulting samples of B-UVX US objects within those boundaries. In particular, it is shown that the reliability of the US color classifications is high and that the previously derived US morphological boundary for the complete selection of unresolved quasars is accurate. The contribution of color and morphological classification errors to B-UVX sample incompleteness is therefore correspondingly small. The empirical tests indicate high levels of completeness (95+1-2%) for the samples of US quasars and hot stars isolated within the stated survey selection limits. Errata and improvements to some of the published catalog data are presented in Appendices.

Form matters: morphological aspects of lateral root development

PubMed Central

Szymanowska-Pułka, Joanna

2013-01-01

Background The crucial role of roots in plant nutrition, and consequently in plant productivity, is a strong motivation to study the growth and functioning of various aspects of the root system. Numerous studies on lateral roots, as a major determinant of the root system architecture, mostly focus on the physiological and molecular bases of developmental processes. Unfortunately, little attention is paid either to the morphological changes accompanying the formation of a lateral root or to morphological defects occurring in lateral root primordia. The latter are observed in some mutants and occasionally in wild-type plants, but may also result from application of external factors. Scope and Conclusions In this review various morphological aspects of lateral branching in roots are analysed. Morphological events occurring during the formation of a typical lateral root are described. This process involves dramatic changes in the geometry of the developing organ that at early stages are associated with oblique cell divisions, leading to breaking of the symmetry of the cell pattern. Several types of defects in the morphology of primordia are indicated and described. Computer simulations show that some of these defects may result from an unstable field of growth rates. Significant changes in both primary and lateral root morphology may also be a consequence of various mutations, some of which are auxin-related. Examples reported in the literature are considered. Finally, lateral root formation is discussed in terms of mechanics. In this approach the primordium is considered as a physical object undergoing deformation and is characterized by specific mechanical properties. PMID:24190952

Properties of optically selected BL Lacertae candidates from the SDSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kügler, S. D.; Nilsson, K.; Heidt, J.; Esser, J.; Schultz, T.

2014-09-01

Context. Deep optical surveys open the avenue for finding large numbers of BL Lac objects that are hard to identify because they lack the unique properties classifying them as such. While radio or X-ray surveys typically reveal dozens of sources, recent compilations based on optical criteria alone have increased the number of BL Lac candidates considerably. However, these compilations are subject to biases and may contain a substantial number of contaminating sources. Aims: In this paper we extend our analysis of 182 optically selected BL Lac object candidates from the SDSS with respect to an earlier study. The main goal is to determine the number of bona fide BL Lac objects in this sample. Methods: We examine their variability characteristics, determine their broad-band radio-UV spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and search for the presence of a host galaxy. In addition we present new optical spectra for 27 targets with improved signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the SDSS spectra. Results: At least 59% of our targets have shown variability between SDSS DR2 and our observations by more than 0.1-0.27 mag depending on the telescope used. A host galaxy was detected in 36% of our targets. The host galaxy type and luminosities are consistent with earlier studies of BL Lac host galaxies. Simple fits to broad-band SEDs for 104 targets of our sample derived synchrotron peak frequencies between 13.5 ≤ log 10(νpeak) ≤ 16 with a peak at log 10 ~ 14.5. Our new optical spectra do not reveal any new redshift for any of our objects. Thus the sample contains a large number of bona fide BL Lac objects and seems to contain a substantial fraction of intermediate-frequency peaked BL Lacs. Based on observations collected with the NTT on La Silla (Chile) operated by the European Southern Observatory under proposal 082.B-0133.Based on observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán (CAHA), operated jointly by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie and the

Optimizing morphology through blood cell image analysis.

PubMed

Merino, A; Puigví, L; Boldú, L; Alférez, S; Rodellar, J

2018-05-01

Morphological review of the peripheral blood smear is still a crucial diagnostic aid as it provides relevant information related to the diagnosis and is important for selection of additional techniques. Nevertheless, the distinctive cytological characteristics of the blood cells are subjective and influenced by the reviewer's interpretation and, because of that, translating subjective morphological examination into objective parameters is a challenge. The use of digital microscopy systems has been extended in the clinical laboratories. As automatic analyzers have some limitations for abnormal or neoplastic cell detection, it is interesting to identify quantitative features through digital image analysis for morphological characteristics of different cells. Three main classes of features are used as follows: geometric, color, and texture. Geometric parameters (nucleus/cytoplasmic ratio, cellular area, nucleus perimeter, cytoplasmic profile, RBC proximity, and others) are familiar to pathologists, as they are related to the visual cell patterns. Different color spaces can be used to investigate the rich amount of information that color may offer to describe abnormal lymphoid or blast cells. Texture is related to spatial patterns of color or intensities, which can be visually detected and quantitatively represented using statistical tools. This study reviews current and new quantitative features, which can contribute to optimize morphology through blood cell digital image processing techniques. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Analysis of Microvariable Activity of BL Lacertae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadun, Alberto C.; Asadi-Zeydabadi, Masoud; Hindman, Lauren; Moody, J. Ward

2018-06-01

BL Lac is a low-frequency peaked blazar (LBL) which emits synchrotron radiation at near-IR and optical wavelengths. Therefore optical observations are helpful in, among other things, studying the acceleration and cooling timescales of the electrons in the relativistic jets. We have made very high cadence observations of BL Lac over a number of nights with the Remote Observatory for Variable Object Research (ROVOR). Each night shows secular drift as well as a number of microvariable events lasting only a few minutes each. These data were then processed, compiled, and analyzed in order to examine the underlying mechanism that resulted in such activity. A geometric model is introduced that has worked well in the past on other similar sources.Our relativistic jet model consists of a slowly varying beamed source that already appears bright because it lies nearly to our line of sight. From this, individual relativistic components are ejected a few degrees relative to the aforementioned beaming angle. This is what we believe is responsible for the microvariability emission.

A quantitative study of peculiarities in galaxy morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Katherine Liang-Kai

I have developed a refined version of the asymmetry parameter first presented by Abraham et al. (1996). Coupled with a simple concentration index, this pair of indices, AW-CW, is compared to Abraham et al.'s log(AA)-log(C A) algorithm. These indices are then applied to a large sample of galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field with photometric redshifts from Connolly (1999). This allows investigation of trends at redshifts which have been largely inaccessible until now. The final sample consists of ~350 objects detected by the AW-CW algorithms with first-moment radii, r1 >= 0'.2 (corresponding to F814WAB ~ 26). The distribution of objects in the AW- CW plane is found to change with redshift. The region of the AW - CW plane populated by objects out to z ~ 1.2 is roughly constant. Accounting for bandpass shifting effects, this region resembles that populated by local bright galaxies (Frei et al. 1996) cosmologically simulated at z = 0.8. Beyond z ~ 1.2, the distribution of galaxies undergoes a significant change. Highly concentrated objects disappear from the AW-C W plane, while high asymmetry objects appear. The high concentration objects below z ~ 1.2 all have early-type morphologies. Very low resolution SEDs of these galaxies created using colors from Williams et al. (1996) are used to calculate the expected appearance of these objects at higher redshifts (z = 1.5 and 2.3). Assuming their luminosities and SEDs have not changed, one-third of the z ~ 0.8 objects would be undetected at z = 1.5, and 97% would disappear by z = 2.3. Any true drop in the number density of these objects would be completely masked by such strong selection effects. An increase in the number and degree of asymmetric objects is also seen beyond z ~ 1.2. Many of these objects exhibit multiple condensations, consistent with merging. Though the shifting of the ultraviolet galaxy spectrum into the F814W-band may be partially responsible, the majority of the increase in both number and degree of

Morphology targets: What do seedling morphological attributes tell us?

Treesearch

Jeremiah R. Pinto

2011-01-01

Morphology is classically defined as the form and structure of individual organisms, as distinct from their anatomy or physiology. We use morphological targets in the nursery because they are easy to measure, and because we can often quantitatively link seedling morphological traits with survival and growth performance in the field. In the 20 years since the Target...

Abnormal aortic arch morphology in Turner syndrome patients is a risk factor for hypertension.

PubMed

De Groote, Katya; Devos, Daniël; Van Herck, Koen; Demulier, Laurent; Buysse, Wesley; De Schepper, Jean; De Wolf, Daniël

2015-09-01

Hypertension in Turner syndrome (TS) is a multifactorial, highly prevalent and significant problem that warrants timely diagnosis and rigorous treatment. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between abnormal aortic arch morphology and hypertension in adult TS patients. This was a single centre retrospective study in 74 adult TS patients (age 29.41 ± 8.91 years) who underwent a routine cardiac MRI. Patients were assigned to the hypertensive group (N = 31) if blood pressure exceeded 140/90 mmHg and/or if they were treated with antihypertensive medication. Aortic arch morphology was evaluated on MRI images and initially assigned as normal (N = 54) or abnormal (N = 20), based on the curve of the transverse arch and the distance between the left common carotid-left subclavian artery. We additionally used a new more objective method to describe aortic arch abnormality in TS by determination of the relative position of the highest point of the transverse arch (AoHP). Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension is significantly and independently associated with age, BMI and abnormal arch morphology, with a larger effect size for the new AoHP method than for the classical method. TS patients with hypertension and abnormal arch morphology more often had dilatation of the ascending aorta. There is a significant association between abnormal arch morphology and hypertension in TS patients, independent of age and BMI, and not related to other structural heart disease. We suggest that aortic arch morphology should be included in the risk stratification for hypertension in TS and propose a new quantitative method to express aortic arch morphology.

Sonic morphology: Aesthetic dimensional auditory spatial awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitehouse, Martha M.

The sound and ceramic sculpture installation, " Skirting the Edge: Experiences in Sound & Form," is an integration of art and science demonstrating the concept of sonic morphology. "Sonic morphology" is herein defined as aesthetic three-dimensional auditory spatial awareness. The exhibition explicates my empirical phenomenal observations that sound has a three-dimensional form. Composed of ceramic sculptures that allude to different social and physical situations, coupled with sound compositions that enhance and create a three-dimensional auditory and visual aesthetic experience (see accompanying DVD), the exhibition supports the research question, "What is the relationship between sound and form?" Precisely how people aurally experience three-dimensional space involves an integration of spatial properties, auditory perception, individual history, and cultural mores. People also utilize environmental sound events as a guide in social situations and in remembering their personal history, as well as a guide in moving through space. Aesthetically, sound affects the fascination, meaning, and attention one has within a particular space. Sonic morphology brings art forms such as a movie, video, sound composition, and musical performance into the cognitive scope by generating meaning from the link between the visual and auditory senses. This research examined sonic morphology as an extension of musique concrete, sound as object, originating in Pierre Schaeffer's work in the 1940s. Pointing, as John Cage did, to the corporeal three-dimensional experience of "all sound," I composed works that took their total form only through the perceiver-participant's participation in the exhibition. While contemporary artist Alvin Lucier creates artworks that draw attention to making sound visible, "Skirting the Edge" engages the perceiver-participant visually and aurally, leading to recognition of sonic morphology.

Neighborhood Variation of Sustainable Urban Morphological Characteristics.

PubMed

Lai, Poh-Chin; Chen, Si; Low, Chien-Tat; Cerin, Ester; Stimson, Robert; Wong, Pui Yun Paulina

2018-03-07

Compact cities and their urban forms have implications on sustainable city development because of high density urban settlement, increased accessibility, and a balanced land use mix. This paper uses quantitative means of understanding urban morphological characteristics with reference to the differing qualities of the urban form (i.e., street patterns, building volumes, land uses and greenery). The results, based on 89 neighborhood communities of Hong Kong, show varying degrees of regional differences in the urban built form supported by numerical statistics and graphical illustrations. This paper offers empirical evidence on some morphological characteristics that can be estimated objectively using modern geospatial technologies and applied universally to inform urban planning. However, more studies linking these quantifiable measures of the physical form with sustainable urban living are needed to account for human comfort in the totality of environmental, social, and economic responsibilities.

Neighborhood Variation of Sustainable Urban Morphological Characteristics

PubMed Central

Chen, Si; Stimson, Robert

2018-01-01

Compact cities and their urban forms have implications on sustainable city development because of high density urban settlement, increased accessibility, and a balanced land use mix. This paper uses quantitative means of understanding urban morphological characteristics with reference to the differing qualities of the urban form (i.e., street patterns, building volumes, land uses and greenery). The results, based on 89 neighborhood communities of Hong Kong, show varying degrees of regional differences in the urban built form supported by numerical statistics and graphical illustrations. This paper offers empirical evidence on some morphological characteristics that can be estimated objectively using modern geospatial technologies and applied universally to inform urban planning. However, more studies linking these quantifiable measures of the physical form with sustainable urban living are needed to account for human comfort in the totality of environmental, social, and economic responsibilities. PMID:29518956

Monsters in the sky. I mostri del cielo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maffei, P.

1980-01-01

The book treats astronomical objects and phenomena which remain unexplained or unproven by current investigators. Specific objects discussed include comets, satellite clouds surrounding the earth, tektites, the planet Vulcan (within the orbit of Mercury), Planet X (beyond Pluto), the Gum Nebula, planetary nebulae, supernovae, supernova remnants, transient X-ray sources, the possible extinction of the dinosaurs by an X-ray explosion and super-supernovae. Attention is also given to the star Eta Carinae, black holes, BL Lacertae objects, active galaxies, Markarian galaxies, N and compact galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, quasars, redshift anomalies, Stephan's quintet of galaxies, and intergalactic black holes or black dwarfs whichmore » may account for the mass necessary to bind together clusters of galaxies.« less

Landscape patterns from mathematical morphology on maps with contagion

Treesearch

Kurt Riitters; Peter Vogt; Pierre Soille; Christine Estreguil

2009-01-01

The perceived realism of simulated maps with contagion (spatial autocorrelation) has led to their use for comparing landscape pattern metrics and as habitat maps for modeling organism movement across landscapes. The objective of this study was to conduct a neutral model analysis of pattern metrics defined by morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) on maps with...

Empirical multi-wavelength prediction method for very high energy gamma-ray emitting BL Lacertae objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fallah Ramazani, V.; Lindfors, E.; Nilsson, K.

2017-12-01

Aim: We have collected the most complete multi-wavelength (6.0-6.0 × 10-18 cm) dataset of very high energy (VHE) γ-ray emitting (TeV) BL Lacs, which are the most numerous extragalactic VHE sources. Using significant correlations between different bands, we aim to identify the best TeV BL Lac candidates that can be discovered by the current and next generation of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. Methods: We formed five datasets from lower energy data, i.e. radio, mid-infrared, optical, X-rays, and GeV γ-ray, and five VHE γ-ray datasets to perform a correlation study between different bands and to construct the prediction method. The low energy datasets were averaged for individual sources, while the VHE γ-ray data were divided into subsets according to the flux state of the source. We then looked for significant correlations and determined their best-fit parameters. Using the best-fit parameters we predicted the level of VHE γ-ray flux for a sample of 182 BL Lacs, which have not been detected at TeV energies. We identified the most promising TeV BL Lac candidates based on the predicted VHE γ-ray flux for each source. Results: We found 14 significant correlations between radio, mid-infrared, optical, γ-ray, and VHE γ-ray bands. The correlation between optical and VHE γ-ray luminosity is established for the first time. We attribute this to the more complete sample and more accurate handling of host galaxy flux in our work. We found nine BL Lac candidates whose predicted VHE γ-ray flux is high enough for detection in less than 25 h with current imaging air Cherenkov telescopes. Full Tables A.1 and A.2 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/608/A68

A Tentative Application Of Morphological Filters To Time-Varying Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Billard, D.; Poquillon, B.

1989-03-01

In this paper, morphological filters, which are commonly used to process either 2D or multidimensional static images, are generalized to the analysis of time-varying image sequence. The introduction of the time dimension induces then interesting prop-erties when designing such spatio-temporal morphological filters. In particular, the specification of spatio-temporal structuring ele-ments (equivalent to time-varying spatial structuring elements) can be adjusted according to the temporal variations of the image sequences to be processed : this allows to derive specific morphological transforms to perform noise filtering or moving objects discrimination on dynamic images viewed by a non-stationary sensor. First, a brief introduction to the basic principles underlying morphological filters will be given. Then, a straightforward gener-alization of these principles to time-varying images will be pro-posed. This will lead us to define spatio-temporal opening and closing and to introduce some of their possible applications to process dynamic images. At last, preliminary results obtained us-ing a natural forward looking infrared (FUR) image sequence are presented.

Leaf micro-morphology of Lepisanthes Blume (Sapindaceae) in Peninsular Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghazalli, Mohd Norfaizal; Talib, Noraini; Mohammad, Abdul Latiff

2018-04-01

A detail comparative study on leaf micro-morphology was conducted on the genus Lepisanthes from Peninsular Malaysia, five chosen species namely as L. amoena (Hassk.) Leenh., L. fruticosa (Roxb.) Leenh., L. rubiginosa (Roxb.) Leenh., L. senegalensis (Juss. ex Poir.) Leenh. and L. tetraphylla (Vahl.) Radlk. The objective of this study is to identify the leaf micro-morphological characteristics that can give significance impact for species identification and classification. Lepisanthes is an important tropical rare fruit genus in Malaysia and it is important to characterize and documenting additional taxonomic evidences that can be useful in Sapindaceae taxonomy information which is still lacked. The methods involved dehydration process, critical point drying, gold coated and observation under scanning electron microscope. Leaf micro-morphology showed significance taxonomic value in the genus Lepisanthes and can be used as additional data for species identification. Diagnostic character was found in L. fruticosa via the presence of four different types of trichomes on the abaxial and adaxial epidermal surfaces. As a conclusion, variation in cuticular striation, stomata structure, type of waxes and trichome morphology can be used in Lepisanthes species identification.

Comparative morphology of the pollical distal phalanx.

PubMed

Shrewsbury, M M; Marzke, M W; Linscheid, R L; Reece, S P

2003-05-01

Functional analysis of human pollical distal phalangeal (PDP) morphology is undertaken to establish a basis for the assessment of fossil hominid PDP morphology. Features that contribute to the effectiveness of grips involving the distal thumb and finger pulp areas include: 1) distal thumb interphalangeal joint morphology, facilitating PDP conjunct pronation with flexion; 2) differentiation of a proximal, mobile pulp region from a distal, stable pulp region, providing for firm precision pinch grips and precision handling of objects; and 3) asymmetric attachment of the flexor pollicis longus (FPL) tendon fibers, favoring PDP conjunct pronation. A proportionately larger size of the ulnar vs. radial ungual spine suggests differential loading intensity of the ulnar side of the proximal ungual pulp and supporting nail bed. Stresses at the distal interphalangeal joint are indicated by the presence of a sesamoid bone within the volar (palmar) plate, which also increases the length of the flexor pollicis longus tendon moment arm. Dissections of specimens from six nonhuman primate genera indicate that these human features are shared variably with individuals in other species, although the full pattern of features appears to be distinctively human. Humans share variably with these other species all metric relationships examined here. The new data identify a need to systematically review long-standing assumptions regarding the range of precision and power manipulative capabilities that might reasonably be inferred from morphology of the distal phalangeal tuberosity and from the FPL tendon insertion site on the PDP. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Application of morphological associative memories and Fourier descriptors for classification of noisy subsurface signatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ortiz, Jorge L.; Parsiani, Hamed; Tolstoy, Leonid

2004-02-01

This paper presents a method for recognition of Noisy Subsurface Images using Morphological Associative Memories (MAM). MAM are type of associative memories that use a new kind of neural networks based in the algebra system known as semi-ring. The operations performed in this algebraic system are highly nonlinear providing additional strength when compared to other transformations. Morphological associative memories are a new kind of neural networks that provide a robust performance with noisy inputs. Two representations of morphological associative memories are used called M and W matrices. M associative memory provides a robust association with input patterns corrupted by dilative random noise, while the W associative matrix performs a robust recognition in patterns corrupted with erosive random noise. The robust performance of MAM is used in combination of the Fourier descriptors for the recognition of underground objects in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) images. Multiple 2-D GPR images of a site are made available by NASA-SSC center. The buried objects in these images appear in the form of hyperbolas which are the results of radar backscatter from the artifacts or objects. The Fourier descriptors of the prototype hyperbola-like and shapes from non-hyperbola shapes in the sub-surface images are used to make these shapes scale-, shift-, and rotation-invariant. Typical hyperbola-like and non-hyperbola shapes are used to calculate the morphological associative memories. The trained MAMs are used to process other noisy images to detect the presence of these underground objects. The outputs from the MAM using the noisy patterns may be equal to the training prototypes, providing a positive identification of the artifacts. The results are images with recognized hyperbolas which indicate the presence of buried artifacts. A model using MATLAB has been developed and results are presented.

Extragalactic counterparts to Einstein slew survey sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schachter, Jonathan F.; Elvis, Martin; Plummer, David; Remillard, Ron

1992-01-01

The Einstein slew survey consists of 819 bright X-ray sources, of which 636 (or 78 percent) are identified with counterparts in standard catalogs. The importance of bright X-ray surveys is stressed, and the slew survey is compared to the Rosat all sky survey. Statistical techniques for minimizing confusion in arcminute error circles in digitized data are discussed. The 238 slew survey active galactic nuclei, clusters, and BL Lacertae objects identified to date and their implications for logN-logS and source evolution studies are described.

[The morphological characteristic of the skin lesions inflicted by plastic knives with four cutting edges].

PubMed

Leonov, S V; Finkel'shtein, V T

2015-01-01

The objective of the present work was to study the morphological features of the skin lesions inflicted by the blades of the Fgx Boot Blade I knives having four cutting edges. The study revealed the signs that can be used to distinguish between morphological characteristics of the stab and lacerated wounds having the primary and secondary incisions made by the four-edge blade.

Morphology and astrometry of Infrared-Faint Radio Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Middelberg, Enno; Norris, Ray; Randall, Kate; Mao, Minnie; Hales, Christopher

2008-10-01

Infrared-Faint Radio Sources, or IFRS, are an unexpected class of object discovered in the Australia Telescope Large Area Survey, ATLAS. They are compact 1.4GHz radio sources with no visible counterparts in co-located (relatively shallow) Spitzer infrared and optical images. We have detected two of these objects with VLBI, indicating the presence of an AGN. These observations and our ATLAS data indicate that IFRS are extended on scales of arcseconds, and we wish to image their morphologies to obtain clues about their nature. These observations will also help us to select optical counterparts from very deep, and hence crowded, optical images which we have proposed. With these data in hand, we will be able to compare IFRS to known object types and to apply for spectroscopy to obtain their redshifts.

Three-dimensional analysis of facial morphology.

PubMed

Liu, Yun; Kau, Chung How; Talbert, Leslie; Pan, Feng

2014-09-01

The objectives of this study were to evaluate sexual dimorphism for facial features within Chinese and African American populations and to compare the facial morphology by sex between these 2 populations. Three-dimensional facial images were acquired by using the portable 3dMDface System, which captured 189 subjects from 2 population groups of Chinese (n = 72) and African American (n = 117). Each population was categorized into male and female groups for evaluation. All subjects in the groups were aged between 18 and 30 years and had no apparent facial anomalies. A total of 23 anthropometric landmarks were identified on the three-dimensional faces of each subject. Twenty-one measurements in 4 regions, including 19 distances and 2 angles, were not only calculated but also compared within and between the Chinese and African American populations. The Student's t-test was used to analyze each data set obtained within each subgroup. Distinct facial differences were presented between the examined subgroups. When comparing the sex differences of facial morphology in the Chinese population, significant differences were noted in 71.43% of the parameters calculated, and the same proportion was found in the African American group. The facial morphologic differences between the Chinese and African American populations were evaluated by sex. The proportion of significant differences in the parameters calculated was 90.48% for females and 95.24% for males between the 2 populations. The African American population had a more convex profile and greater face width than those of the Chinese population. Sexual dimorphism for facial features was presented in both the Chinese and African American populations. In addition, there were significant differences in facial morphology between these 2 populations.

Red and nebulous objects in dark clouds - A survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, M.

1980-01-01

A search on the NGS-PO Sky Survey photographs has revealed 150 interesting nebulous and/or red objects, mostly lying in dark clouds and not previously catalogued. Spectral classifications are presented for 55 objects. These indicate a small number of new members of the class of Herbig-Haro objects, a significant number of new T Tauri stars, and a few emission-line hot stars. It is argued that hot, high-mass stars form preferentially in the dense cores of dark clouds. The possible symbiosis of high and low mass stars is considered. A new morphology class is defined for cometary nebulae, in which a star lies on the periphery of a nebulous ring.

Microglia Morphological Categorization in a Rat Model of Neuroinflammation by Hierarchical Cluster and Principal Components Analysis

PubMed Central

Fernández-Arjona, María del Mar; Grondona, Jesús M.; Granados-Durán, Pablo; Fernández-Llebrez, Pedro; López-Ávalos, María D.

2017-01-01

It is known that microglia morphology and function are closely related, but only few studies have objectively described different morphological subtypes. To address this issue, morphological parameters of microglial cells were analyzed in a rat model of aseptic neuroinflammation. After the injection of a single dose of the enzyme neuraminidase (NA) within the lateral ventricle (LV) an acute inflammatory process occurs. Sections from NA-injected animals and sham controls were immunolabeled with the microglial marker IBA1, which highlights ramifications and features of the cell shape. Using images obtained by section scanning, individual microglial cells were sampled from various regions (septofimbrial nucleus, hippocampus and hypothalamus) at different times post-injection (2, 4 and 12 h). Each cell yielded a set of 15 morphological parameters by means of image analysis software. Five initial parameters (including fractal measures) were statistically different in cells from NA-injected rats (most of them IL-1β positive, i.e., M1-state) compared to those from control animals (none of them IL-1β positive, i.e., surveillant state). However, additional multimodal parameters were revealed more suitable for hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). This method pointed out the classification of microglia population in four clusters. Furthermore, a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) suggested three specific parameters to objectively classify any microglia by a decision tree. In addition, a principal components analysis (PCA) revealed two extra valuable variables that allowed to further classifying microglia in a total of eight sub-clusters or types. The spatio-temporal distribution of these different morphotypes in our rat inflammation model allowed to relate specific morphotypes with microglial activation status and brain location. An objective method for microglia classification based on morphological parameters is proposed. Main points Microglia undergo a quantifiable

Microglia Morphological Categorization in a Rat Model of Neuroinflammation by Hierarchical Cluster and Principal Components Analysis.

PubMed

Fernández-Arjona, María Del Mar; Grondona, Jesús M; Granados-Durán, Pablo; Fernández-Llebrez, Pedro; López-Ávalos, María D

2017-01-01

It is known that microglia morphology and function are closely related, but only few studies have objectively described different morphological subtypes. To address this issue, morphological parameters of microglial cells were analyzed in a rat model of aseptic neuroinflammation. After the injection of a single dose of the enzyme neuraminidase (NA) within the lateral ventricle (LV) an acute inflammatory process occurs. Sections from NA-injected animals and sham controls were immunolabeled with the microglial marker IBA1, which highlights ramifications and features of the cell shape. Using images obtained by section scanning, individual microglial cells were sampled from various regions (septofimbrial nucleus, hippocampus and hypothalamus) at different times post-injection (2, 4 and 12 h). Each cell yielded a set of 15 morphological parameters by means of image analysis software. Five initial parameters (including fractal measures) were statistically different in cells from NA-injected rats (most of them IL-1β positive, i.e., M1-state) compared to those from control animals (none of them IL-1β positive, i.e., surveillant state). However, additional multimodal parameters were revealed more suitable for hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). This method pointed out the classification of microglia population in four clusters. Furthermore, a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) suggested three specific parameters to objectively classify any microglia by a decision tree. In addition, a principal components analysis (PCA) revealed two extra valuable variables that allowed to further classifying microglia in a total of eight sub-clusters or types. The spatio-temporal distribution of these different morphotypes in our rat inflammation model allowed to relate specific morphotypes with microglial activation status and brain location. An objective method for microglia classification based on morphological parameters is proposed. Main points Microglia undergo a quantifiable

RAFT Aqueous Dispersion Polymerization Yields Poly(ethylene glycol)-Based Diblock Copolymer Nano-Objects with Predictable Single Phase Morphologies

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

A poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) macromolecular chain transfer agent (macro-CTA) is prepared in high yield (>95%) with 97% dithiobenzoate chain-end functionality in a three-step synthesis starting from a monohydroxy PEG113 precursor. This PEG113-dithiobenzoate is then used for the reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) aqueous dispersion polymerization of 2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate (HPMA). Polymerizations conducted under optimized conditions at 50 °C led to high conversions as judged by 1H NMR spectroscopy and relatively low diblock copolymer polydispersities (Mw/Mn < 1.25) as judged by GPC. The latter technique also indicated good blocking efficiencies, since there was minimal PEG113 macro-CTA contamination. Systematic variation of the mean degree of polymerization of the core-forming PHPMA block allowed PEG113-PHPMAx diblock copolymer spheres, worms, or vesicles to be prepared at up to 17.5% w/w solids, as judged by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy studies. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) analysis revealed that more exotic oligolamellar vesicles were observed at 20% w/w solids when targeting highly asymmetric diblock compositions. Detailed analysis of SAXS curves indicated that the mean number of membranes per oligolamellar vesicle is approximately three. A PEG113-PHPMAx phase diagram was constructed to enable the reproducible targeting of pure phases, as opposed to mixed morphologies (e.g., spheres plus worms or worms plus vesicles). This new RAFT PISA formulation is expected to be important for the rational and efficient synthesis of a wide range of biocompatible, thermo-responsive PEGylated diblock copolymer nano-objects for various biomedical applications. PMID:24400622

A Morphological Analyzer for Vocalized or Not Vocalized Arabic Language

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El Amine Abderrahim, Med; Breksi Reguig, Fethi

This research has been to show the realization of a morphological analyzer of the Arabic language (vocalized or not vocalized). This analyzer is based upon our object model for the Arabic Natural Language Processing (NLP) and can be exploited by NLP applications such as translation machine, orthographical correction and the search for information.

Does body type really matter? Relating climate change, coral morphology and resiliency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camp, M.; Shein, K. A.; Foster, K.; Hendee, J. C.

2016-02-01

Average sea temperatures in many tropical regions are rising approximately 1-2˚C per century, and are thought to be a major driver of increased frequency of coral bleaching. However, certain coral morphologies appear to be more resilient to changes in the environment, particularly to sea temperature variations resulting from global climate change. Although branching corals (e.g., Acropora cervicornis, A. palmata) are highly susceptible to coral bleaching, this morphology is commonly used in coral restoration efforts because of its fast growth rate. Massive corals show higher resistance and resilience to elevated temperature events than branching species, but are less common in coral nurseries. The objective of this study was to compare coral resilience among morphology types in Little Cayman, a remote tropical island with <200 inhabitants where it is possible to decouple environmental and anthropogenic stressors. Three morphological groups (branching, intermediary and massive) were surveyed at 17 sites to estimate the percent cover of each group. Temperature profiles were observed at six moorings around the island, allowing for direct comparison between sea surface temperature, sea temperature at the reef depths, and coral cover, per morphology. The relationship between coral morphological coverage and temperature variation at depth was assessed in the context of geographic variation around the island. Understanding the relationship between coral morphology and resilience to temperature variability will enhance current coral restoration practices by identifying which morphologies have the highest chance of long-term survivorship following outplanting, concurrently optimizing cumulative reef survivorship.

[Neotropical plant morphology].

PubMed

Pérez-García, Blanca; Mendoza, Aniceto

2002-01-01

An analysis on plant morphology and the sources that are important to the morphologic interpretations is done. An additional analysis is presented on all published papers in this subject by the Revista de Biología Tropical since its foundation, as well as its contribution to the plant morphology development in the neotropics.

The morphologic universe of melanoma.

PubMed

Jaimes, Natalia; Marghoob, Ashfaq A

2013-10-01

Differentiating dysplastic nevi from melanoma remains one of the main objectives of dermoscopy. Melanomas tend not to manifest any of the benign patterns described for nevi and instead usually display chaotic dermoscopic morphologies. Melanomas located on the face, chronically sun-damaged skin, volar surfaces, nails, and mucosal surfaces have additional features that can assist in their identification. However, some melanomas lack any defined dermoscopic structures. These so-called featureless melanomas can be identified via digital surveillance. This article reviews the melanoma-specific structures as a function of anatomic location (ie, melanomas on nonglabrous skin, face, volar surfaces, mucosae, and nails). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Polarimetry of optically selected BL Lacertae candidates from the SDSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heidt, J.; Nilsson, K.

2011-05-01

We present and discuss polarimetric observations of 182 targets drawn from an optically selected sample of 240 probable BL Lac candidates out of the SDSS compiled by Collinge et al. (2005, AJ, 129, 2542). In contrast to most other BL Lac candidate samples extracted from the SDSS, its radio- and/or X-ray properties have not been taken into account for its derivation. Thus, because its selection is based on optical properties alone, it may be less prone to selection effects inherent in other samples derived at different frequencies, so it offers a unique opportunity to extract the first unbiased BL Lac luminosity function that is suitably large in size. We found 124 out of 182 targets (68%) to be polarized, 95 of the polarized targets (77%) to be highly polarized (>4%). The low-frequency peaked BL Lac candidates in the sample are on average only slightly more polarized than the high-frequency peaked ones. Compared to earlier studies, we found a high duty cycle in high polarization (˜ 66+2-14% to be >4% polarized) in high-frequency peaked BL Lac candidates. This may come from our polarization analysis, which minimizes the contamination by host galaxy light. No evidence of radio-quiet BL Lac objects in the sample was found. Our observations show that the probable sample of BL Lac candidates of Collinge et al. (2005) indeed contains a large number of bona fide BL Lac objects. High S/N spectroscopy and deep X-ray observations are required to construct the first luminosity function of optically selected BL Lac objects and to test more stringently for any radio-quiet BL Lac objects in the sample. Based on observations collected with the NTT on La Silla (Chile) operated by the European Southern Observatory in the course of the observing proposal 082.B-0133.Based on observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán (CAHA), operated jointly by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (CSIC).Based on observations

Taking a Hands-On Approach: Apparent Grasping Ability Scales the Perception of Object Size

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linkenauger, Sally A.; Witt, Jessica K.; Proffitt, Dennis R.

2011-01-01

We examined whether the apparent size of an object is scaled to the morphology of the relevant body part with which one intends to act on it. To be specific, we tested if the visually perceived size of graspable objects is scaled to the extent of apparent grasping ability for the individual. Previous research has shown that right-handed…

Subsurface Grain Morphology Reconstruction by Differential Aperture X-ray Microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eisenlohr, Philip; Shanthraj, Pratheek; Vande Kieft, Brendan R.

A multistep, non-destructive grain morphology reconstruction methodology that is applicable to near-surface volumes is developed and tested on synthetic grain structures. This approach probes the subsurface crystal orientation using differential aperture x-ray microscopy on a sparse grid across the microstructure volume of interest. Resulting orientation data are clustered according to proximity in physical and orientation space and used as seed points for an initial Voronoi tessellation to (crudely) approximate the grain morphology. Curvature-driven grain boundary relaxation, simulated by means of the Voronoi implicit interface method, progressively improves the reconstruction accuracy. The similarity between bulk and readily accessible surface reconstruction errormore » provides an objective termination criterion for boundary relaxation.« less

Subsurface Grain Morphology Reconstruction by Differential Aperture X-ray Microscopy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eisenlohr, Philip; Shanthraj, Pratheek; Vande Kieft, Brendan R.

A multistep, non-destructive grain morphology reconstruction methodology that is applicable to near-surface volumes is developed and tested on synthetic grain structures. This approach probes the subsurface crystal orientation using differential aperture X-ray microscopy (DAXM) on a sparse grid across the microstructure volume of interest. Resulting orientation data is clustered according to proximity in physical and orientation space and used as seed points for an initial Voronoi tessellation to (crudely) approximate the grain morphology. Curvature-driven grain boundary relaxation, simulated by means of the Voronoi Implicit Interface Method (VIIM), progressively improves the reconstruction accuracy. The similarity between bulk and readily accessible surfacemore » reconstruction error provides an objective termination criterion for boundary relaxation.« less

Infants' Attribution of a Goal to a Morphologically Unfamiliar Agent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shimizu, Y. Alpha; Johnson, Susan C.

2004-01-01

How do infants identify the psychological actors in their environments? Three groups of 12-month-old infants were tested for their willingness to encode a simple approach behavior as goal-directed as a function of whether it was performed by (1) a human hand, (2) a morphologically unfamiliar green object that interacted with a confederate and…

Combining Multiobjective Optimization and Cluster Analysis to Study Vocal Fold Functional Morphology

PubMed Central

Palaparthi, Anil; Riede, Tobias

2017-01-01

Morphological design and the relationship between form and function have great influence on the functionality of a biological organ. However, the simultaneous investigation of morphological diversity and function is difficult in complex natural systems. We have developed a multiobjective optimization (MOO) approach in association with cluster analysis to study the form-function relation in vocal folds. An evolutionary algorithm (NSGA-II) was used to integrate MOO with an existing finite element model of the laryngeal sound source. Vocal fold morphology parameters served as decision variables and acoustic requirements (fundamental frequency, sound pressure level) as objective functions. A two-layer and a three-layer vocal fold configuration were explored to produce the targeted acoustic requirements. The mutation and crossover parameters of the NSGA-II algorithm were chosen to maximize a hypervolume indicator. The results were expressed using cluster analysis and were validated against a brute force method. Results from the MOO and the brute force approaches were comparable. The MOO approach demonstrated greater resolution in the exploration of the morphological space. In association with cluster analysis, MOO can efficiently explore vocal fold functional morphology. PMID:24771563

Morphology engineering - Osmolality and its effect on Aspergillus niger morphology and productivity

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is a widely used strain in a broad range of industrial processes from food to pharmaceutical industry. One of the most intriguing and often uncontrollable characteristics of this filamentous organism is its complex morphology, ranging from dense spherical pellets to viscous mycelia depending on culture conditions. Optimal productivity correlates strongly with a specific morphological form, thus making high demands on process control. Results In about 50 2L stirred tank cultivations the influence of osmolality on A. niger morphology and productivity was investigated. The specific productivity of fructofuranosidase producing strain A. niger SKAn 1015 could be increased notably from 0.5 to 9 U mg-1 h-1 around eighteen fold, by increasing the culture broth osmolality by addition of sodium chloride. The specific productivity of glucoamylase producing strain A. niger AB1.13, could be elevated using the same procedure. An optimal producing osmolality was shown to exist well over the standard osmolality at about 3.2 osmol kg-1 depending on the strain. Fungal morphology of all cultivations was examined by microscope and characterized by digital image analysis. Particle shape parameters were combined to a dimensionless Morphology number, which enabled a comprehensive characterization of fungal morphology correlating closely with productivity. A novel method for determination of germination time in submerged cultivations by laser diffraction, introduced in this study, revealed a decelerated germination process with increasing osmolality. Conclusions Through the introduction of the versatile Morphology number, this study provides the means for a desirable characterization of fungal morphology and demonstrates its relation to productivity. Furthermore, osmolality as a fairly new parameter in process engineering is introduced and found to affect fungal morphology and productivity. Osmolality might provide an auspicious and

On the holographic 3D tracking of in vitro cells characterized by a highly-morphological change.

PubMed

Memmolo, Pasquale; Iannone, Maria; Ventre, Maurizio; Netti, Paolo Antonio; Finizio, Andrea; Paturzo, Melania; Ferraro, Pietro

2012-12-17

Digital Holography (DH) in microscopic configuration is a powerful tool for the imaging of micro-objects contained into a three dimensional (3D) volume, by a single-shot image acquisition. Many studies report on the ability of DH to track particle, microorganism and cells in 3D. However, very few investigations are performed with objects that change severely their morphology during the observation period. Here we study DH as a tool for 3D tracking an osteosarcoma cell line for which extensive changes in cell morphology are associated to cell motion. Due to the great unpredictable morphological change, retrieving cell's position in 3D can become a complicated issue. We investigate and discuss in this paper how the tridimensional position can be affected by the continuous change of the cells. Moreover we propose and test some strategies to afford the problems and compare it with others approaches. Finally, results on the 3D tracking and comments are reported and illustrated.

Morphological characterization of selected balloon films and its effects on balloon performances

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Said, Magdi A.

1994-01-01

Morphological characterization of several polyethylene balloon films have been studied using various techniques. The objective is to determine, if any, differentiating structural or morphological features that can be related to the performance of these balloon film materials. The results of the study indicate that the films are composed of either linear low denstiy polyethylene (LLDPE) or low density polyethylene (LDPE). A selective examination of these data imply that films limited degree of branching and larger crystallites size (same % crystallinity) showed good mechanical properties that appear to correlate with their high level of success in balloon flights.

Experimental impact crater morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufresne, A.; Poelchau, M. H.; Hoerth, T.; Schaefer, F.; Thoma, K.; Deutsch, A.; Kenkmann, T.

2012-04-01

The research group MEMIN (Multidisciplinary Experimental and Impact Modelling Research Network) is conducting impact experiments into porous sandstones, examining, among other parameters, the influence of target pore-space saturation with water, and projectile velocity, density and mass, on the cratering process. The high-velocity (2.5-7.8 km/s) impact experiments were carried out at the two-stage light-gas gun facilities of the Fraunhofer Institute EMI (Germany) using steel, iron meteorite (Campo del Cielo IAB), and aluminium projectiles with Seeberg Sandstone as targets. The primary objectives of this study within MEMIN are to provide detailed morphometric data of the experimental craters, and to identify trends and characteristics specific to a given impact parameter. Generally, all craters, regardless of impact conditions, have an inner depression within a highly fragile, white-coloured centre, an outer spallation (i.e. tensile failure) zone, and areas of arrested spallation (i.e. spall fragments that were not completely dislodged from the target) at the crater rim. Within this general morphological framework, distinct trends and differences in crater dimensions and morphological characteristics are identified. With increasing impact velocity, the volume of craters in dry targets increases by a factor of ~4 when doubling velocity. At identical impact conditions (steel projectiles, ~5km/s), craters in dry and wet sandstone targets differ significantly in that "wet" craters are up to 76% larger in volume, have depth-diameter ratios generally below 0.19 (whereas dry craters are almost consistently above this value) at significantly larger diameters, and their spallation zone morphologies show very different characteristics. In dry craters, the spall zone surfaces dip evenly at 10-20° towards the crater centre. In wet craters, on the other hand, they consist of slightly convex slopes of 10-35° adjacent to the inner depression, and of sub-horizontal tensile

Curcuma treatment prevents cognitive deficit and alteration of neuronal morphology in the limbic system of aging rats.

PubMed

Vidal, Blanca; Vázquez-Roque, Rubén A; Gnecco, Dino; Enríquez, Raúl G; Floran, Benjamin; Díaz, Alfonso; Flores, Gonzalo

2017-03-01

Curcuma is a natural compound that has shown neuroprotective properties, and has been reported to prevent aging and improve memory. While the mechanism(s) underlying these effects are unclear, they may be related to increases in neural plasticity. Morphological changes have been reported in neuronal dendrites in the limbic system in animals and elderly humans with cognitive impairment. In this regard, there is a need to use alternative therapies that delay the onset of morphologies and behavioral characteristics of aging. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of curcuma on cognitive processes and dendritic morphology of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the CA1 and CA3 regions of the dorsal hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) of aged rats. 18-month-old rats were administered curcuma (100 mg/kg) daily for 60 days. After treatment, recognition memory was assessed using the novel object recognition test. Curcuma-treated rats showed a significant increase in the exploration quotient. Dendritic morphology was assessed by Golgi-Cox staining and followed by Sholl analysis. Curcuma-treated rats showed a significant increase in dendritic spine density and dendritic length in pyramidal neurons of the PFC, the CA1 and CA3, and the BLA. The preservation of dendritic morphology was positively correlated with cognitive improvements. Our results suggest that curcuma induces modification of dendritic morphology in the aforementioned regions. These changes may explain how curcuma slows the aging process that has already begun in these animals, preventing deterioration in neuronal morphology of the limbic system and recognition memory. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Relationship between Morphological Awareness and Morphological Decomposition among English Language Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kraut, Rachel

2015-01-01

Morphological awareness facilitates many reading processes. For this reason, L1 and L2 learners of English are often directly taught to use their knowledge of English morphology as a useful reading strategy for determining parts of speech and meaning of novel words. Over time, use of morphological awareness skills while reading develops into an…

X-Ray Morphological Analysis of the Planck ESZ Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lovisari, Lorenzo; Forman, William R.; Jones, Christine; Ettori, Stefano; Andrade-Santos, Felipe; Arnaud, Monique; Démoclès, Jessica; Pratt, Gabriel W.; Randall, Scott; Kraft, Ralph

2017-09-01

X-ray observations show that galaxy clusters have a very large range of morphologies. The most disturbed systems, which are good to study how clusters form and grow and to test physical models, may potentially complicate cosmological studies because the cluster mass determination becomes more challenging. Thus, we need to understand the cluster properties of our samples to reduce possible biases. This is complicated by the fact that different experiments may detect different cluster populations. For example, Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) selected cluster samples have been found to include a greater fraction of disturbed systems than X-ray selected samples. In this paper we determine eight morphological parameters for the Planck Early Sunyaev-Zeldovich (ESZ) objects observed with XMM-Newton. We found that two parameters, concentration and centroid shift, are the best to distinguish between relaxed and disturbed systems. For each parameter we provide the values that allow selecting the most relaxed or most disturbed objects from a sample. We found that there is no mass dependence on the cluster dynamical state. By comparing our results with what was obtained with REXCESS clusters, we also confirm that the ESZ clusters indeed tend to be more disturbed, as found by previous studies.

X-Ray Morphological Analysis of the Planck ESZ Clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lovisari, Lorenzo; Forman, William R.; Jones, Christine

2017-09-01

X-ray observations show that galaxy clusters have a very large range of morphologies. The most disturbed systems, which are good to study how clusters form and grow and to test physical models, may potentially complicate cosmological studies because the cluster mass determination becomes more challenging. Thus, we need to understand the cluster properties of our samples to reduce possible biases. This is complicated by the fact that different experiments may detect different cluster populations. For example, Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) selected cluster samples have been found to include a greater fraction of disturbed systems than X-ray selected samples. In this paper wemore » determine eight morphological parameters for the Planck Early Sunyaev–Zeldovich (ESZ) objects observed with XMM-Newton . We found that two parameters, concentration and centroid shift, are the best to distinguish between relaxed and disturbed systems. For each parameter we provide the values that allow selecting the most relaxed or most disturbed objects from a sample. We found that there is no mass dependence on the cluster dynamical state. By comparing our results with what was obtained with REXCESS clusters, we also confirm that the ESZ clusters indeed tend to be more disturbed, as found by previous studies.« less

Roma-BZCAT: a multifrequency catalogue of blazars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massaro, E.; Giommi, P.; Leto, C.; Marchegiani, P.; Maselli, A.; Perri, M.; Piranomonte, S.; Sclavi, S.

2009-02-01

We present a new catalogue of blazars based on multifrequency surveys and on an extensive review of the literature. Blazars are classified as BL Lacertae objects, as flat spectrum radio quasars or as blazars of uncertain/transitional type. Each object is identified by a root name, coded as BZB, BZQ and BZU for these three subclasses respectively, and by its coordinates. This catalogue is being built as a tool useful for the identification of the extragalactic sources that will be detected by present and future experiments for X and gamma-ray astronomy, like Swift, AGILE, Fermi-GLAST and Simbol-X. An electronic version is available from the ASI Science Data Center web site at http://www.asdc.asi.it/bzcat.

Discovery of VHE γ-ray emission and multi-wavelength observations of the BL Lacertae object 1RXS J101015.9-311909

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

H.E.S.S. Collaboration; Abramowski, A.; Acero, F.; Aharonian, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Anton, G.; Balzer, A.; Barnacka, A.; Becherini, Y.; Becker, J.; Bernlöhr, K.; Birsin, E.; Biteau, J.; Bochow, A.; Boisson, C.; Bolmont, J.; Bordas, P.; Brucker, J.; Brun, F.; Brun, P.; Bulik, T.; Büsching, I.; Carrigan, S.; Casanova, S.; Cerruti, M.; Chadwick, P. M.; Charbonnier, A.; Chaves, R. C. G.; Cheesebrough, A.; Cologna, G.; Conrad, J.; Dalton, M.; Daniel, M. K.; Davids, I. D.; Degrange, B.; Deil, C.; Dickinson, H. J.; Djannati-Ataï, A.; Domainko, W.; Drury, L. O'C.; Dubus, G.; Dutson, K.; Dyks, J.; Dyrda, M.; Egberts, K.; Eger, P.; Espigat, P.; Fallon, L.; Fegan, S.; Feinstein, F.; Fernandes, M. V.; Fiasson, A.; Fontaine, G.; Förster, A.; Füßling, M.; Gallant, Y. A.; Gast, H.; Gérard, L.; Gerbig, D.; Giebels, B.; Glicenstein, J. F.; Glück, B.; Göring, D.; Häffner, S.; Hague, J. D.; Hahn, J.; Hampf, D.; Harris, J.; Hauser, M.; Heinz, S.; Heinzelmann, G.; Henri, G.; Hermann, G.; Hillert, A.; Hinton, J. A.; Hofmann, W.; Hofverberg, P.; Holler, M.; Horns, D.; Jacholkowska, A.; de Jager, O. C.; Jahn, C.; Jamrozy, M.; Jung, I.; Kastendieck, M. A.; Katarzyński, K.; Katz, U.; Kaufmann, S.; Keogh, D.; Khélifi, B.; Klochkov, D.; Kluźniak, W.; Kneiske, T.; Komin, Nu.; Kosack, K.; Kossakowski, R.; Krayzel, F.; Laffon, H.; Lamanna, G.; Lenain, J.-P.; Lennarz, D.; Lohse, T.; Lopatin, A.; Lu, C.-C.; Marandon, V.; Marcowith, A.; Masbou, J.; Maxted, N.; Mayer, M.; McComb, T. J. L.; Medina, M. C.; Méhault, J.; Moderski, R.; Mohamed, M.; Moulin, E.; Naumann, C. L.; Naumann-Godo, M.; de Naurois, M.; Nedbal, D.; Nekrassov, D.; Nguyen, N.; Nicholas, B.; Niemiec, J.; Nolan, S. J.; Ohm, S.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; Opitz, B.; Ostrowski, M.; Oya, I.; Panter, M.; Paz Arribas, M.; Pekeur, N. W.; Pelletier, G.; Perez, J.; Petrucci, P.-O.; Peyaud, B.; Pita, S.; Pühlhofer, G.; Punch, M.; Quirrenbach, A.; Raue, M.; Rayner, S. M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Renaud, M.; de los Reyes, R.; Rieger, F.; Ripken, J.; Rob, L.; Rosier-Lees, S.; Rowell, G.; Rudak, B.; Rulten, C. B.; Sahakian, V.; Sanchez, D. A.; Santangelo, A.; Schlickeiser, R.; Schulz, A.; Schwanke, U.; Schwarzburg, S.; Schwemmer, S.; Sheidaei, F.; Skilton, J. L.; Sol, H.; Spengler, G.; Stawarz, Ł.; Steenkamp, R.; Stegmann, C.; Stinzing, F.; Stycz, K.; Sushch, I.; Szostek, A.; Tavernet, J.-P.; Terrier, R.; Tluczykont, M.; Valerius, K.; van Eldik, C.; Vasileiadis, G.; Venter, C.; Viana, A.; Vincent, P.; Völk, H. J.; Volpe, F.; Vorobiov, S.; Vorster, M.; Wagner, S. J.; Ward, M.; White, R.; Wierzcholska, A.; Zacharias, M.; Zajczyk, A.; Zdziarski, A. A.; Zech, A.; Zechlin, H.-S.

2012-06-01

1RXS J101015.9-311909 is a galaxy located at a redshift of z=0.14 hosting an active nucleus (called AGN) belonging to the class of bright BL Lac objects. Observations at high (HE, E > 100 MeV) and very high (VHE, E > 100 GeV) energies provide insights into the origin of very energetic particles present in such sources and the radiation processes at work. We report on results from VHE observations performed between 2006 and 2010 with the H.E.S.S. instrument, an array of four imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. H.E.S.S. data have been analysed with enhanced analysis methods, making the detection of faint sources more significant. VHE emission at a position coincident with 1RXS J101015.9-311909 is detected with H.E.S.S. for the first time. In a total good-quality livetime of about 49 h, we measure 263 excess counts, corresponding to a significance of 7.1 standard deviations. The photon spectrum above 0.2 TeV can be described by a power-law with a photon index of Γ = 3.08 ± 0.42stat ± 0.20sys. The integral flux above 0.2 TeV is about 0.8% of the flux of the Crab nebula and shows no significant variability over the time reported. In addition, public Fermi/LAT data are analysed to search for high energy emission from the source. The Fermi/LAT HE emission in the 100 MeV to 200 GeV energy range is significant at 8.3 standard deviations in the chosen 25-month dataset. UV and X-ray contemporaneous observations with the Swift satellite in May 2007 are also reported, together with optical observations performed with the atom telescope located at the H.E.S.S. site. Swift observations reveal an absorbed X-ray flux of F(0.3-7) keV = 1.04+0.04-0.05 × 10-11 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 0.3-7 keV range. Finally, all the available data are used to study the multi-wavelength properties of the source. The spectral energy distribution (SED) can be reproduced using a simple one-zone Synchrotron Self Compton (SSC) model with emission from a region with a Doppler factor of 30 and a

System-morphological approach: Another look at morphology research and geomorphological mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lastochkin, Alexander N.; Zhirov, Andrey I.; Boltramovich, Sergei F.

2018-02-01

A large number of studies require a clear and unambiguous morphological basis. For over thirty years, Russian scientists have been applying a system-morphological approach for the Arctic and Antarctic research, ocean floor investigation, for various infrastructure construction projects (oil and gas, sports, etc.), in landscape and environmental studies. This article is a review aimed to introduce this methodological approach to the international scientific community. The details of the methods and techniques can be found in a series of earlier papers published in the Russian language in 1987-2016. The proposed system-morphological approach includes: 1) partitioning of the Earth surface, i.e. precise identification of linear, point, and areal elements of topography considered as a two-dimensional surface without any geological substance; 2) further identification of larger formations: geomorphological systems and regions; 3) analysis of structural relations and symmetry of topography; and 4) various dynamic (litho- and glaciodynamic, tectonic, etc.) interpretations of the observed morphology. This method can be used to study the morphology of the surface topography as well as less accessible interfaces such as submarine and subglacial ones.

Image processing and machine learning in the morphological analysis of blood cells.

PubMed

Rodellar, J; Alférez, S; Acevedo, A; Molina, A; Merino, A

2018-05-01

This review focuses on how image processing and machine learning can be useful for the morphological characterization and automatic recognition of cell images captured from peripheral blood smears. The basics of the 3 core elements (segmentation, quantitative features, and classification) are outlined, and recent literature is discussed. Although red blood cells are a significant part of this context, this study focuses on malignant lymphoid cells and blast cells. There is no doubt that these technologies may help the cytologist to perform efficient, objective, and fast morphological analysis of blood cells. They may also help in the interpretation of some morphological features and may serve as learning and survey tools. Although research is still needed, it is important to define screening strategies to exploit the potential of image-based automatic recognition systems integrated in the daily routine of laboratories along with other analysis methodologies. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An Investigation of the Morphology of the Petrotympanic Fissure Using Cone-Beam Computed Tomography

PubMed Central

Syriopoulos, Konstantinos; Sens, Rogier L.; Politis, Constantinus

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Objectives The purpose of the present study was: a) to examine the visibility and morphology of the petrotympanic fissure on cone-beam computed tomography images, and b) to investigate whether the petrotympanic fissure morphology is significantly affected by gender and age, or not. Material and Methods Using Newtom VGi (QR Verona, Italy), 106 cone-beam computed tomography examinations (212 temporomandibular joint areas) of both genders were retrospectively and randomly selected. Two observers examined the images and subsequently classified by consensus the petrotympanic fissure morphology into the following three types: type 1 - widely open; type 2 - narrow middle; type 3 - very narrow/closed. Results The petrotympanic fissure morphology was assessed as type 1, type 2, and type 3 in 85 (40.1%), 72 (34.0%), and 55 (25.9%) cases, respectively. No significant difference was found between left and right petrotympanic fissure morphology (Kappa = 0.37; P < 0.001). Furthermore, no significant difference was found between genders, specifically P = 0.264 and P = 0.211 for the right and left petrotympanic fissure morphology, respectively. However, the ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that males tend to have narrower petrotympanic fissures, in particular OR = 1.58 for right and OR = 1.5 for left petrotympanic fissure. Conclusions The current study lends support to the conclusion that an enhanced multi-planar cone-beam computed tomography yields a clear depiction of the petrotympanic fissure's morphological characteristics. We have found that the morphology is neither gender nor age-related. PMID:29707183

Two Algorithms for High-throughput and Multi-parametric Quantification of Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction Morphology.

PubMed

Castells-Nobau, Anna; Nijhof, Bonnie; Eidhof, Ilse; Wolf, Louis; Scheffer-de Gooyert, Jolanda M; Monedero, Ignacio; Torroja, Laura; van der Laak, Jeroen A W M; Schenck, Annette

2017-05-03

Synaptic morphology is tightly related to synaptic efficacy, and in many cases morphological synapse defects ultimately lead to synaptic malfunction. The Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a well-established model for glutamatergic synapses, has been extensively studied for decades. Identification of mutations causing NMJ morphological defects revealed a repertoire of genes that regulate synapse development and function. Many of these were identified in large-scale studies that focused on qualitative approaches to detect morphological abnormalities of the Drosophila NMJ. A drawback of qualitative analyses is that many subtle players contributing to NMJ morphology likely remain unnoticed. Whereas quantitative analyses are required to detect the subtler morphological differences, such analyses are not yet commonly performed because they are laborious. This protocol describes in detail two image analysis algorithms "Drosophila NMJ Morphometrics" and "Drosophila NMJ Bouton Morphometrics", available as Fiji-compatible macros, for quantitative, accurate and objective morphometric analysis of the Drosophila NMJ. This methodology is developed to analyze NMJ terminals immunolabeled with the commonly used markers Dlg-1 and Brp. Additionally, its wider application to other markers such as Hrp, Csp and Syt is presented in this protocol. The macros are able to assess nine morphological NMJ features: NMJ area, NMJ perimeter, number of boutons, NMJ length, NMJ longest branch length, number of islands, number of branches, number of branching points and number of active zones in the NMJ terminal.

Video rate morphological processor based on a redundant number representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuczborski, Wojciech; Attikiouzel, Yianni; Crebbin, Gregory A.

1992-03-01

This paper presents a video rate morphological processor for automated visual inspection of printed circuit boards, integrated circuit masks, and other complex objects. Inspection algorithms are based on gray-scale mathematical morphology. Hardware complexity of the known methods of real-time implementation of gray-scale morphology--the umbra transform and the threshold decomposition--has prompted us to propose a novel technique which applied an arithmetic system without carrying propagation. After considering several arithmetic systems, a redundant number representation has been selected for implementation. Two options are analyzed here. The first is a pure signed digit number representation (SDNR) with the base of 4. The second option is a combination of the base-2 SDNR (to represent gray levels of images) and the conventional twos complement code (to represent gray levels of structuring elements). Operation principle of the morphological processor is based on the concept of the digit level systolic array. Individual processing units and small memory elements create a pipeline. The memory elements store current image windows (kernels). All operation primitives of processing units apply a unified direction of digit processing: most significant digit first (MSDF). The implementation technology is based on the field programmable gate arrays by Xilinx. This paper justified the rationality of a new approach to logic design, which is the decomposition of Boolean functions instead of Boolean minimization.

Computational Modeling of Morphological Effects in Bangla Visual Word Recognition.

PubMed

Dasgupta, Tirthankar; Sinha, Manjira; Basu, Anupam

2015-10-01

In this paper we aim to model the organization and processing of Bangla polymorphemic words in the mental lexicon. Our objective is to determine whether the mental lexicon accesses a polymorphemic word as a whole or decomposes the word into its constituent morphemes and then recognize them accordingly. To address this issue, we adopted two different strategies. First, we conduct a masked priming experiment over native speakers. Analysis of reaction time (RT) and error rates indicates that in general, morphologically derived words are accessed via decomposition process. Next, based on the collected RT data we have developed a computational model that can explain the processing phenomena of the access and representation of Bangla derivationally suffixed words. In order to do so, we first explored the individual roles of different linguistic features of a Bangla morphologically complex word and observed that processing of Bangla morphologically complex words depends upon several factors like, the base and surface word frequency, suffix type/token ratio, suffix family size and suffix productivity. Accordingly, we have proposed different feature models. Finally, we combine these feature models together and came up with a new model that takes the advantage of the individual feature models and successfully explain the processing phenomena of most of the Bangla morphologically derived words. Our proposed model shows an accuracy of around 80% which outperforms the other related frequency models.

Morphologic characterization of specific granules in Greyhound eosinophils.

PubMed

Iazbik, M C; Couto, C G

2005-06-01

"Vacuolated" eosinophils (ie, eosinophils with empty, nonstaining granules) have been described previously in normal Greyhounds. However, to our knowledge, detailed studies of granules in vacuolated and normal eosinophils in this breed have not been performed. The objective of this prospective study was to characterize some of the morphologic, ultrastructural, and cytochemical staining features of specific (primary) granules in both normal and vacuolated eosinophils in Greyhound blood. Morphologic features of eosinophils in Wright's- and Diff-Quik-stained peripheral blood smears from 49 Greyhounds were compared with 200 blood smears from non-Greyhound dogs. Transmission electron microscopy was done on blood from 3 Greyhounds with vacuolated eosinophils and 3 with normal eosinophil granules. Blood smears from 4 of these dogs also were stained cytochemically with alkaline phosphatase (AP), chloracetate esterase (CAE), and alpha naphthyl butyrate esterase (ANBE). The morphologic features and tinctorial properties of vacuolated and normal eosinophils were compared. Twenty-six Greyhounds (53%) had vacuolated eosinophils and 23 (47%) had normal granulated eosinophils in smears stained with Wright's stain. Only 1% of eosinophils were vacuolated in non-Greyhound dogs. Twenty of the 23 (85%) Greyhounds with normal granulated eosinophils on Wright's-stained smears had vacuolated eosinophils in smears stained with Diff-Quik. Ultrastructurally, no morphologic differences were observed between granules of vacuolated and normal eosinophils. Both vacuolated and normal eosinophils in Greyhounds were positive for AP and negative for CAE and ANBE, as expected for normal dogs. Vacuolated eosinophils in Greyhounds likely reflect, at least in part, differential staining properties of the specific granules with different hematologic stains. Ultrastuctural and cytochemical features of eosinophil granules were similar in normal and vacuolated eosinophils from Greyhounds.

Integrative understanding of macular morphologic patterns in diabetic retinopathy based on self-organizing map.

PubMed

Murakami, Tomoaki; Ueda-Arakawa, Naoko; Nishijima, Kazuaki; Uji, Akihito; Horii, Takahiro; Ogino, Ken; Yoshimura, Nagahisa

2014-03-28

To integrate parameters on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) based on the self-organizing map and objectively describe the macular morphologic patterns. A total of 336 consecutive eyes of 216 patients with DR for whom clear SD-OCT images were available were retrospectively reviewed. Eleven OCT parameters and the logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution (logMAR) were measured. These multidimensional data were analyzed based on the self-organizing map on which similar cases were near each other according to the degree of their similarities, followed by the objective clustering. Self-organizing maps indicated that eyes with greater retinal thickness in the central subfield had greater thicknesses in the superior and temporal subfields. Eyes with foveal serous retinal detachment (SRD) had greater thickness in the nasal or inferior subfield. Eyes with foveal cystoid spaces were arranged to the left upper corner on the two-dimensional map; eyes with foveal SRD to the left lower corner; eyes with thickened retinal parenchyma to the lower area. The following objective clustering demonstrated the unsupervised pattern recognition of macular morphologies in diabetic macular edema (DME) as well as the higher-resolution discrimination of DME per se. Multiple regression analyses showed better association of logMAR with retinal thickness in the inferior subfield in eyes with SRD and with external limiting membrane disruption in eyes with foveal cystoid spaces or thickened retinal parenchyma. The self-organizing map facilitates integrative understanding of the macular morphologic patterns and the structural/functional relationship in DR.

Root system morphology of Oregon white oak on a glacial outwash soil.

Treesearch

Warren D. Devine; Constance A. Harrington

2005-01-01

Oregon white oak is reportedly a deeply rooted species, but its rooting habit on coarse-textured soils is undocumented. In the Puget Trough of western Washington, Oregon white oak grows in coarse-textured glacial outwash soils on lowland sites. Our objective was to quantify the gross root system morphology of Oregon white oak in these soils, thereby improving our...

Morphological demosaicking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quan, Shuxue

2009-02-01

Bayer patterns, in which a single value of red, green or blue is available for each pixel, are widely used in digital color cameras. The reconstruction of the full color image is often referred to as demosaicking. This paper introduced a new approach - morphological demosaicking. The approach is based on strong edge directionality selection and interpolation, followed by morphological operations to refine edge directionality selection and reduce color aliasing. Finally performance evaluation and examples of color artifacts reduction are shown.

A New Moving Object Detection Method Based on Frame-difference and Background Subtraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Jiajia; Wang, Junping; Bai, Ruixue; Zhang, Yao; Li, Yong

2017-09-01

Although many methods of moving object detection have been proposed, moving object extraction is still the core in video surveillance. However, with the complex scene in real world, false detection, missed detection and deficiencies resulting from cavities inside the body still exist. In order to solve the problem of incomplete detection for moving objects, a new moving object detection method combined an improved frame-difference and Gaussian mixture background subtraction is proposed in this paper. To make the moving object detection more complete and accurate, the image repair and morphological processing techniques which are spatial compensations are applied in the proposed method. Experimental results show that our method can effectively eliminate ghosts and noise and fill the cavities of the moving object. Compared to other four moving object detection methods which are GMM, VIBE, frame-difference and a literature's method, the proposed method improve the efficiency and accuracy of the detection.

[Bio-objects and biological methods of space radiation effects evaluation].

PubMed

Kaminskaia, E V; Nevzgodina, L V; Platova, N G

2009-01-01

The unique conditions of space experiments place austere requirements to bio-objects and biological methods of radiation effects evaluation. The paper discusses suitability of a number of bio-objects varying in stage of evolution and metabolism for space researches aimed to state common patterns of the radiation damage caused by heavy ions (HI), and character of HI-cell interaction. Physical detectors in space experiments of the BIOBLOCK series make it possible to identify bio-objects hit by space HI and to set correlation between HI track topography and biological effect. The paper provides an all-round description of the bio-objects chosen for two BIOBLOCK experiments (population of hydrophyte Wolffia arrhiza (fam. duckweed) and Lactuca sativa seeds) and the method of evaluating effects from single space radiation HI. Direct effects of heavy ions on cells can be determined by the criteria of chromosomal aberrations and delayed morphologic abnormalities. The evaluation results are compared with the data about human blood lymphocytes. Consideration is being given to the procedures of test-objects' treatment and investigation.

Plural Formation by Heritage Bilinguals of Spanish: A Phonological Analysis of a Morphological Variable

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Tasha M.

2017-01-01

This dissertation explores Spanish nominal plural formation from a morphophonological perspective. The primary objective is to better understand heritage bilinguals' (HBs') phonological categorization of the morphological element of number in their heritage language. This is done by way of picture-naming elicitation tasks of consonant-final nouns…

Slip Morphology of Elastic Strips on Frictional Rigid Substrates.

PubMed

Sano, Tomohiko G; Yamaguchi, Tetsuo; Wada, Hirofumi

2017-04-28

The morphology of an elastic strip subject to vertical compressive stress on a frictional rigid substrate is investigated by a combination of theory and experiment. We find a rich variety of morphologies, which-when the bending elasticity dominates over the effect of gravity-are classified into three distinct types of states: pinned, partially slipped, and completely slipped, depending on the magnitude of the vertical strain and the coefficient of static friction. We develop a theory of elastica under mixed clamped-hinged boundary conditions combined with the Coulomb-Amontons friction law and find excellent quantitative agreement with simulations and controlled physical experiments. We also discuss the effect of gravity in order to bridge the difference in the qualitative behaviors of stiff strips and flexible strings or ropes. Our study thus complements recent work on elastic rope coiling and takes a significant step towards establishing a unified understanding of how a thin elastic object interacts vertically with a solid surface.

The Relationship of Morphological Analysis and Morphological Decoding to Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deacon, S. Hélène; Tong, Xiuli; Francis, Kathryn

2017-01-01

The ultimate goal of children's reading development is the full and fluid understanding of texts. Morphological structure awareness, or children's awareness of the minimal units of meaning in language, has been identified as a key skill influencing reading comprehension. Here, we evaluate the roles of morphological structure awareness and two…

An optical and X-ray survey of s-type Markarian galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hutter, D. J.; Mufson, S. L.

1981-01-01

The results of a study of 23 compact, lineless Markarian galaxies using broadband optical photometry and X-ray satellite observations are reported. The photometry shows that the sample can be broken into four groups. In one group (Mrk 180, 421, and 501) are composite objects in which a BL Lacertae object is embedded in an elliptical galaxy. For this group, the results of multiepoch X-ray observations using the HEAO-1 and -2 satellites are presented. In addition, photometry is used to decompose the optical emission into nonthermal and galactic components. In the second group are objects showing a small ultraviolet excess relative to normal galaxies. The X-ray survey indicates that the X-ray luminosity of objects in group 2 is much lower than those in group 1. This suggests that there is an intrinsic difference between objects in groups 1 and 2. The third and fourth groups are objects whose colors are indistinguishable from those of normal field galaxies and those of galactic stars, respectively. No X-ray emission was detected from objects in either of these groups.

Acoustic vibrations of metal nano-objects: Time-domain investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crut, Aurélien; Maioli, Paolo; Del Fatti, Natalia; Vallée, Fabrice

2015-01-01

Theoretical and time-domain experimental investigations of the vibrational acoustic response of nano-objects are described focusing on metallic ones. Acoustic vibrations are modeled using a macroscopic-like approach based on continuum mechanics with the proper boundary conditions, a model which yields results in excellent agreement with the experimental ones and those of atomistic calculations, down to the nanometric scale. Vibrational mode excitation and detection mechanisms and the associated mode selection in ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy are discussed, and the measured time-dependent signals in single and ensemble of nanoparticles modeled. The launched modes, their period and their damping rate are compared to experimental results obtained on ensembles of nano-objects with different composition, morphology and environment, and with size ranging from one to hundreds of nanometers. Recent extension of time-domain spectroscopy to individual nano-objects has shed new light on the vibrational responses of isolated nanoparticles, in particular on their damping, but also raises questions on the origin of its large particle to particle dispersion.

Differential morphology and image processing.

PubMed

Maragos, P

1996-01-01

Image processing via mathematical morphology has traditionally used geometry to intuitively understand morphological signal operators and set or lattice algebra to analyze them in the space domain. We provide a unified view and analytic tools for morphological image processing that is based on ideas from differential calculus and dynamical systems. This includes ideas on using partial differential or difference equations (PDEs) to model distance propagation or nonlinear multiscale processes in images. We briefly review some nonlinear difference equations that implement discrete distance transforms and relate them to numerical solutions of the eikonal equation of optics. We also review some nonlinear PDEs that model the evolution of multiscale morphological operators and use morphological derivatives. Among the new ideas presented, we develop some general 2-D max/min-sum difference equations that model the space dynamics of 2-D morphological systems (including the distance computations) and some nonlinear signal transforms, called slope transforms, that can analyze these systems in a transform domain in ways conceptually similar to the application of Fourier transforms to linear systems. Thus, distance transforms are shown to be bandpass slope filters. We view the analysis of the multiscale morphological PDEs and of the eikonal PDE solved via weighted distance transforms as a unified area in nonlinear image processing, which we call differential morphology, and briefly discuss its potential applications to image processing and computer vision.

Decreasing pelvic incidence is associated with greater risk of cam morphology

PubMed Central

Fowers, C. A.; Yuh, R. T.; Gebhart, J. J.; Salata, M. J.; Liu, R. W.

2016-01-01

Objectives The spinopelvic relationship (including pelvic incidence) has been shown to influence pelvic orientation, but its potential association with femoroacetabular impingement has not been thoroughly explored. The purpose of this study was to prove the hypothesis that decreasing pelvic incidence is associated with increased risk of cam morphology. Methods Two matching cohorts were created from a collection of cadaveric specimens with known pelvic incidences: 50 subjects with the highest pelvic incidence (all subjects > 60°) and 50 subjects with the lowest pelvic incidence (all subjects < 35°). Femoral version, acetabular version, and alpha angles were directly measured from each specimen bilaterally. Cam morphology was defined as alpha angle > 55°. Differences between the two cohorts were analysed with a Student’s t-test and the difference in incidence of cam morphology was assessed using a chi-squared test. The significance level for all tests was set at p < 0.05. Results Cam morphology was identified in 47/100 (47%) femurs in the cohort with pelvic incidence < 35° and in only 25/100 (25%) femurs in the cohort with pelvic incidence > 60° (p = 0.002). The mean alpha angle was also greater in the cohort with pelvic incidence < 35° (mean 53.7°, sd 10.7° versus mean 49.7°, sd 10.6°; p = 0.008). Conclusions Decreased pelvic incidence is associated with development of cam morphology. We propose a novel theory wherein subjects with decreased pelvic incidence compensate during gait (to maintain optimal sagittal balance) through anterior pelvic tilt, creating artificial anterior acetabular overcoverage and recurrent impingement that increases risk for cam morphology. Cite this article: W. Z. Morris, C. A. Fowers, R. T. Yuh, J. J. Gebhart, M. J. Salata, R. W. Liu. Decreasing pelvic incidence is associated with greater risk of cam morphology. Bone Joint Res 2016;5:387–392. DOI: 10.1302/2046-3758.59.BJR-2016-0028.R1. PMID:27650107

Comparing morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth using integral-geometry and neural maps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stepinski, T. F.; Coradetti, S.

2004-01-01

We compare morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth in order to confine the formation process of Martian valley networks. Basins on both planets are computationally extracted from digital topography. Integral-geometry methods are used to represent each basin by a circularity function that encapsulates its internal structure. The shape of such a function is an indicator of the style of fluvial erosion. We use the self-organizing map technique to construct a similarity graph for all basins. The graph reveals systematic differences between morphologies of basins on the two planets. This dichotomy indicates that terrestrial and Martian surfaces were eroded differently. We argue that morphologies of Martian basins are incompatible with runoff from sustained, homogeneous rainfall. Fluvial environments compatible with observed morphologies are discussed. We also construct a similarity graph based on the comparison of basins hypsometric curves to demonstrate that hypsometry is incapable of discriminating between terrestrial and Martian basins. INDEX TERMS: 1824 Hydrology: Geomorphology (1625); 1886 Hydrology: Weathering (1625); 5415 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Erosion and weathering; 6225 Planetology: Solar System Objects Mars. Citation: Stepinski, T. F., and S. Coradetti (2004), Comparing morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth using integral-ge

Morphological plasticity of bacteria—Open questions

PubMed Central

Shen, Jie-Pan

2016-01-01

Morphological plasticity of bacteria is a cryptic phenomenon, by which bacteria acquire adaptive benefits for coping with changing environments. Some environmental cues were identified to induce morphological plasticity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Physical and chemical factors causing morphological changes in bacteria have been investigated and mostly associated with potential pathways linked to the cell wall synthetic machinery. These include starvation, oxidative stresses, predation effectors, antimicrobial agents, temperature stresses, osmotic shock, and mechanical constraints. In an extreme scenario of morphological plasticity, bacteria can be induced to be shapeshifters when the cell walls are defective or deficient. They follow distinct developmental pathways and transform into assorted morphological variants, and most of them would eventually revert to typical cell morphology. It is suggested that phenotypic heterogeneity might play a functional role in the development of morphological diversity and/or plasticity within an isogenic population. Accordingly, phenotypic heterogeneity and inherited morphological plasticity are found to be survival strategies adopted by bacteria in response to environmental stresses. Here, microfluidic and nanofabrication technology is considered to provide versatile solutions to induce morphological plasticity, sort and isolate morphological variants, and perform single-cell analysis including transcriptional and epigenetic profiling. Questions such as how morphogenesis network is modulated or rewired (if epigenetic controls of cell morphogenesis apply) to induce bacterial morphological plasticity could be resolved with the aid of micro-nanofluidic platforms and optimization algorithms, such as feedback system control. PMID:27375812

Morphology and physical-chemical properties of celluloses obtained by different methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anpilova, A. Yu.; Mastalygina, E. E.; Mikhaylov, I. A.; Popov, A. A.; Kartasheva, Z. S.

2017-12-01

The morphology and structural characteristics of celluloses obtained by different methods were studied. The objects of the investigation are cellulose from pulp source, commercial celluloses produced by sodium and acid hydrolysis, laboratory produced cellulose from bleached birch kraft pulp, and cellulose obtained by thermooxidative catalytic treatment of maple leaves by peroxide. According to a complex analysis of cellulose characteristics, several types of celluloses were offered as modifying additives for polymers.

How and why to achieve greater objectivity in taxonomy, exemplified by a fossil ostracod (Amplocypris abscissa) from the Miocene Lake Pannon

PubMed Central

Danielopol, Dan L.; Gross, Martin; Harzhauser, Mathias; Minati, Klaus; Piller, Werner E.

2017-01-01

A project on fossil ostracods from Hennersdorf (Vienna Basin, Middle Pannonian “E” stage) documents the non-marine ostracod Amplocypris abscissa (Reuss 1850) as a polymorphic taxon. The high morphological variability of the valves belonging to this species and its geographic distribution in the Lake Pannon point to a widely spread fossil taxon. This traditional view emerges from the fact that A. abscissa displays few homologous “landmarks” (morphological reference points) which makes it difficult to compare morphotypes within and among populations. The present contribution offers arguments for the need of objective criteria when describing ostracods with few visible morphological traits. It is demonstrated that using a composite algorithmic approach which combines information implemented in the computer programme MORPHOMATICA for different variables, measured on interval and ratio scales, is able to define morphological traits objectively. The data analysed with multivariate statistics are further used for diagnostic profiles of clearly delineated morphotypes. The potential taxonomic value of three morphotypes here identified for Amplocypris abscissa is discussed. It is argued that this taxon represents a phylogenetic lineage within which a cluster of species with discrete morphological traits exists. Finally, it is proposed to apply similar algorithms for the necessary revision of the whole group of Amplocypris species from Lake Pannon. PMID:28090196

Comparison of SAM and OBIA as Tools for Lava Morphology Classification - A Case Study in Krafla, NE Iceland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aufaristama, Muhammad; Hölbling, Daniel; Höskuldsson, Ármann; Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg

2017-04-01

The Krafla volcanic system is part of the Icelandic North Volcanic Zone (NVZ). During Holocene, two eruptive events occurred in Krafla, 1724-1729 and 1975-1984. The last eruptive episode (1975-1984), known as the "Krafla Fires", resulted in nine volcanic eruption episodes. The total area covered by the lavas from this eruptive episode is 36 km2 and the volume is about 0.25-0.3 km3. Lava morphology is related to the characteristics of the surface morphology of a lava flow after solidification. The typical morphology of lava can be used as primary basis for the classification of lava flows when rheological properties cannot be directly observed during emplacement, and also for better understanding the behavior of lava flow models. Although mapping of lava flows in the field is relatively accurate such traditional methods are time consuming, especially when the lava covers large areas such as it is the case in Krafla. Semi-automatic mapping methods that make use of satellite remote sensing data allow for an efficient and fast mapping of lava morphology. In this study, two semi-automatic methods for lava morphology classification are presented and compared using Landsat 8 (30 m spatial resolution) and SPOT-5 (10 m spatial resolution) satellite images. For assessing the classification accuracy, the results from semi-automatic mapping were compared to the respective results from visual interpretation. On the one hand, the Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classification method was used. With this method an image is classified according to the spectral similarity between the image reflectance spectrums and the reference reflectance spectra. SAM successfully produced detailed lava surface morphology maps. However, the pixel-based approach partly leads to a salt-and-pepper effect. On the other hand, we applied the Random Forest (RF) classification method within an object-based image analysis (OBIA) framework. This statistical classifier uses a randomly selected subset of training

Morphology and behaviour: functional links in development and evolution

PubMed Central

Bertossa, Rinaldo C.

2011-01-01

Development and evolution of animal behaviour and morphology are frequently addressed independently, as reflected in the dichotomy of disciplines dedicated to their study distinguishing object of study (morphology versus behaviour) and perspective (ultimate versus proximate). Although traits are known to develop and evolve semi-independently, they are matched together in development and evolution to produce a unique functional phenotype. Here I highlight similarities shared by both traits, such as the decisive role played by the environment for their ontogeny. Considering the widespread developmental and functional entanglement between both traits, many cases of adaptive evolution are better understood when proximate and ultimate explanations are integrated. A field integrating these perspectives is evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), which studies the developmental basis of phenotypic diversity. Ultimate aspects in evo-devo studies—which have mostly focused on morphological traits—could become more apparent when behaviour, ‘the integrator of form and function’, is integrated into the same framework of analysis. Integrating a trait such as behaviour at a different level in the biological hierarchy will help to better understand not only how behavioural diversity is produced, but also how levels are connected to produce functional phenotypes and how these evolve. A possible framework to accommodate and compare form and function at different levels of the biological hierarchy is outlined. At the end, some methodological issues are discussed. PMID:21690124

Confocal Raman microscopy of morphological changes in poly(ethylene terephthalate) film induced by supercritical CO(2).

PubMed

Fleming, Oliver S; Kazarian, Sergei G

2004-04-01

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film was exposed to supercritical (sc) CO(2) and confocal Raman microscopy was used to investigate the morphological changes induced. The study evaluates the use of oil and dry objectives in confocal mode to obtain depth profiles of PET film. These results were compared with the data obtained by mapping of the film cross-section. A significant gradient of degree of crystallinity normal to the surface of PET film down to 60 microm has been observed. The gradient of the degree of morphological changes are functions of exposure time and pressure.

MR Morphology of Triangular Fibrocartilage Complex: Correlation with Quantitative MR and Biomechanical Properties

PubMed Central

Bae, Won C.; Ruangchaijatuporn, Thumanoon; Chang, Eric Y; Biswas, Reni; Du, Jiang; Statum, Sheronda

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate pathology of the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) using high resolution morphologic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and compare with quantitative MR and biomechanical properties. Materials and Methods Five cadaveric wrists (22 to 70 yrs) were imaged at 3T using morphologic (proton density weighted spin echo, PD FS, and 3D spoiled gradient echo, 3D SPGR) and quantitative MR sequences to determine T2 and T1rho properties. In eight geographic regions, morphology of TFC disc and laminae were evaluated for pathology and quantitative MR values. Samples were disarticulated and biomechanical indentation testing was performed on the distal surface of the TFC disc. Results On morphologic PD SE images, TFC disc pathology included degeneration and tears, while that of the laminae included degeneration, degeneration with superimposed tear, mucinous transformation, and globular calcification. Punctate calcifications were highly visible on 3D SPGR images and found only in pathologic regions. Disc pathology occurred more frequently in proximal regions of the disc than distal regions. Quantitative MR values were lowest in normal samples, and generally higher in pathologic regions. Biomechanical testing demonstrated an inverse relationship, with indentation modulus being high in normal regions with low MR values. The laminae studied were mostly pathologic, and additional normal samples are needed to discern quantitative changes. Conclusion These results show technical feasibility of morphologic MR, quantitative MR, and biomechanical techniques to characterize pathology of the TFCC. Quantitative MRI may be a suitable surrogate marker of soft tissue mechanical properties, and a useful adjunct to conventional morphologic MR techniques. PMID:26691643

Morphological computation and morphological control: steps toward a formal theory and applications.

PubMed

Füchslin, Rudolf M; Dzyakanchuk, Andrej; Flumini, Dandolo; Hauser, Helmut; Hunt, Kenneth J; Luchsinger, Rolf H; Reller, Benedikt; Scheidegger, Stephan; Walker, Richard

2013-01-01

Morphological computation can be loosely defined as the exploitation of the shape, material properties, and physical dynamics of a physical system to improve the efficiency of a computation. Morphological control is the application of morphological computing to a control task. In its theoretical part, this article sharpens and extends these definitions by suggesting new formalized definitions and identifying areas in which the definitions we propose are still inadequate. We go on to describe three ongoing studies, in which we are applying morphological control to problems in medicine and in chemistry. The first involves an inflatable support system for patients with impaired movement, and is based on macroscopic physics and concepts already tested in robotics. The two other case studies (self-assembly of chemical microreactors; models of induced cell repair in radio-oncology) describe processes and devices on the micrometer scale, in which the emergent dynamics of the underlying physical system (e.g., phase transitions) are dominated by stochastic processes such as diffusion.

In Vitro Morphological Characteristics of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis Isolates from Several Algerian Agro-Ecological Zones

PubMed Central

Benslimane, Hamida; Aouali, Souhila; Khalfi, Assia; Ali, Shaukat; Bouznad, Zouaoui

2017-01-01

Tan spot caused by the fungus Pyrenophora triticirepentis is a serious disease of wheat, which is on increase in recent years in Mediterranean region. In the field this fungus produces a diamond-shaped necrotic lesions with a yellow halo on wheat foliage. The objective of this study was to characterize and compare several monospore isolates of P. tritici-repentis collected from different infected wheat fields in various locations of Algeria, and find the morphological differences between them, if any. The results revealed wide morphologically variation among the isolates based on colony colors and texture, mycelial radial growth and conidial size. PMID:28381957

Spatially variant morphological restoration and skeleton representation.

PubMed

Bouaynaya, Nidhal; Charif-Chefchaouni, Mohammed; Schonfeld, Dan

2006-11-01

The theory of spatially variant (SV) mathematical morphology is used to extend and analyze two important image processing applications: morphological image restoration and skeleton representation of binary images. For morphological image restoration, we propose the SV alternating sequential filters and SV median filters. We establish the relation of SV median filters to the basic SV morphological operators (i.e., SV erosions and SV dilations). For skeleton representation, we present a general framework for the SV morphological skeleton representation of binary images. We study the properties of the SV morphological skeleton representation and derive conditions for its invertibility. We also develop an algorithm for the implementation of the SV morphological skeleton representation of binary images. The latter algorithm is based on the optimal construction of the SV structuring element mapping designed to minimize the cardinality of the SV morphological skeleton representation. Experimental results show the dramatic improvement in the performance of the SV morphological restoration and SV morphological skeleton representation algorithms in comparison to their translation-invariant counterparts.

Associations of serum adiponectin with skeletal muscle morphology and insulin sensitivity.

PubMed

Ingelsson, Erik; Arnlöv, Johan; Zethelius, Björn; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Flyvbjerg, Allan; Frystyk, Jan; Berne, Christian; Hänni, Arvo; Lind, Lars; Sundström, Johan

2009-03-01

Skeletal muscle morphology and function are strongly associated with insulin sensitivity. The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that circulating adiponectin is associated with skeletal muscle morphology and that adiponectin mediates the relation of muscle morphology to insulin sensitivity. This was a cross-sectional investigation of 461 men aged 71 yr, participants of the community-based Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men study. Measures included serum adiponectin, insulin sensitivity measured with euglycemic insulin clamp technique, and capillary density and muscle fiber composition determined from vastus lateralis muscle biopsies. In multivariable linear regression models (adjusting for age, physical activity, fasting glucose, and pharmacological treatment for diabetes), serum adiponectin levels rose with increasing capillary density (beta, 0.30 per 50 capillaries per square millimeter increase; P = 0.041) and higher proportion of type I muscle fibers (beta, 0.27 per 10% increase; P = 0.036) but declined with a higher proportion of type IIb fibers (beta, -0.39 per 10% increase; P = 0.014). Using bootstrap methods to examine the potential role of adiponectin in associations between muscle morphology and insulin sensitivity and the associations of capillary density (beta difference, 0.041; 95% confidence interval 0.001, 0.085) and proportion of type IIb muscle fibers (beta difference, -0.053; 95% confidence interval -0.107, -0.002) with insulin sensitivity were significantly attenuated when adiponectin was included in the models. Circulating adiponectin concentrations were higher with increasing skeletal muscle capillary density and in individuals with higher proportion of slow oxidative muscle fibers. Furthermore, our results indicate that adiponectin could be a partial mediator of the relations between skeletal muscle morphology and insulin sensitivity.

Two new species of Oswaldocruzia (Nematoda, Molineidae) parasitising lizards in Ukraine.

PubMed

Svitin, Roman

2017-05-09

Two new species, Oswaldocruzia lisnykiensis sp. n. and Oswaldocruzia lacertica sp. n., are described from Anguis fragilis L. (Reptilia: Anquidae) and Lacerta agilis L. (Reptilia: Lacertidae) respectively. Both species belong to the Palaearctic group of species which have spicules divided in three main branches (blade, fork and shoe) with fork division above its distal third. The new species differs from all previously known Palaearctic species by several morphological characters: type of caudal bursa (type III in O. lisnykiensis and type I in O. lacertica), shape of spicules (blade distally divided into four tips and specific shape of shoe) and synlophe structure (narrow cervical alae consist of three crests in both species). Illustrated descriptions of O. lisnykiensis and O. lacertica based on 63 and 38 specimens respectively are presented. Host specificity and geographical distribution of the species are discussed. O. dispar is considered as a species inquirenda.

THE PARADOX OF SIGN LANGUAGE MORPHOLOGY

PubMed Central

Aronoff, Mark; Meir, Irit; Sandler, Wendy

2011-01-01

Sign languages have two strikingly different kinds of morphological structure: sequential and simultaneous. The simultaneous morphology of two unrelated sign languages, American and Israeli Sign Language, is very similar and is largely inflectional, while what little sequential morphology we have found differs significantly and is derivational. We show that at least two pervasive types of inflectional morphology, verb agreement and classifier constructions, are iconically grounded in spatiotemporal cognition, while the sequential patterns can be traced to normal historical development. We attribute the paucity of sequential morphology in sign languages to their youth. This research both brings sign languages much closer to spoken languages in their morphological structure and shows how the medium of communication contributes to the structure of languages.* PMID:22223926

Morphology of a Wetland Stream

PubMed

Jurmu; Andrle

1997-11-01

/ Little attention has been paid to wetland stream morphology in the geomorphological and environmental literature, and in the recently expanding wetland reconstruction field, stream design has been based primarily on stream morphologies typical of nonwetland alluvial environments. Field investigation of a wetland reach of Roaring Brook, Stafford, Connecticut, USA, revealed several significant differences between the morphology of this stream and the typical morphology of nonwetland alluvial streams. Six morphological features of the study reach were examined: bankfull flow, meanders, pools and riffles, thalweg location, straight reaches, and cross-sectional shape. It was found that bankfull flow definitions originating from streams in nonwetland environments did not apply. Unusual features observed in the wetland reach include tight bends and a large axial wavelength to width ratio. A lengthy straight reach exists that exceeds what is typically found in nonwetland alluvial streams. The lack of convex bank point bars in the bends, a greater channel width at riffle locations, an unusual thalweg location, and small form ratios (a deep and narrow channel) were also differences identified. Further study is needed on wetland streams of various regions to determine if differences in morphology between alluvial and wetland environments can be applied in order to improve future designs of wetland channels.KEY WORDS: Stream morphology; Wetland restoration; Wetland creation; Bankfull; Pools and riffles; Meanders; Thalweg

[The morphological features of skin wounds inflicted by joinery hand saws designed for different types of sawing].

PubMed

Sarkisian, B A; Azarov, P A

2014-01-01

The objective of the present work was to study the morphological features of skin wounds inflicted by joinery hand saws designed for longitudinal, transverse, and mixed sawing. A total of 60 injuries to the thigh skin inflicted by the recurring and reciprocating saw movements were simulated. The hand saws had 5 mm high "sharp" and "blunt"-tipped teeth. The analysis of the morphological features of the wounds revealed differences in their length and depth, shape of edge cuts and defects, and the relief of the walls depending on the sawtooth sharpness and the mode of sawing. It is concluded that morphological features of the wounds may be used to determine the type of the saw, the sharpness of its teeth, the direction and frequency of its movements.

Classifying Physical Morphology of Cocoa Beans Digital Images using Multiclass Ensemble Least-Squares Support Vector Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawi, Armin; Adhitya, Yudhi

2018-03-01

The objective of this research is to determine the quality of cocoa beans through morphology of their digital images. Samples of cocoa beans were scattered on a bright white paper under a controlled lighting condition. A compact digital camera was used to capture the images. The images were then processed to extract their morphological parameters. Classification process begins with an analysis of cocoa beans image based on morphological feature extraction. Parameters for extraction of morphological or physical feature parameters, i.e., Area, Perimeter, Major Axis Length, Minor Axis Length, Aspect Ratio, Circularity, Roundness, Ferret Diameter. The cocoa beans are classified into 4 groups, i.e.: Normal Beans, Broken Beans, Fractured Beans, and Skin Damaged Beans. The model of classification used in this paper is the Multiclass Ensemble Least-Squares Support Vector Machine (MELS-SVM), a proposed improvement model of SVM using ensemble method in which the separate hyperplanes are obtained by least square approach and the multiclass procedure uses One-Against- All method. The result of our proposed model showed that the classification with morphological feature input parameters were accurately as 99.705% for the four classes, respectively.

Spatial/Spectral Identification of Endmembers from AVIRIS Data using Mathematical Morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Plaza, Antonio; Martinez, Pablo; Gualtieri, J. Anthony; Perez, Rosa M.

2001-01-01

During the last several years, a number of airborne and satellite hyperspectral sensors have been developed or improved for remote sensing applications. Imaging spectrometry allows the detection of materials, objects and regions in a particular scene with a high degree of accuracy. Hyperspectral data typically consist of hundreds of thousands of spectra, so the analysis of this information is a key issue. Mathematical morphology theory is a widely used nonlinear technique for image analysis and pattern recognition. Although it is especially well suited to segment binary or grayscale images with irregular and complex shapes, its application in the classification/segmentation of multispectral or hyperspectral images has been quite rare. In this paper, we discuss a new completely automated methodology to find endmembers in the hyperspectral data cube using mathematical morphology. The extension of classic morphology to the hyperspectral domain allows us to integrate spectral and spatial information in the analysis process. In Section 3, some basic concepts about mathematical morphology and the technical details of our algorithm are provided. In Section 4, the accuracy of the proposed method is tested by its application to real hyperspectral data obtained from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) imaging spectrometer. Some details about these data and reference results, obtained by well-known endmember extraction techniques, are provided in Section 2. Finally, in Section 5 we expose the main conclusions at which we have arrived.

Natural Genetic Variation and Candidate Genes for Morphological Traits in Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Carreira, Valeria Paula; Mensch, Julián; Hasson, Esteban; Fanara, Juan José

2016-01-01

Body size is a complex character associated to several fitness related traits that vary within and between species as a consequence of environmental and genetic factors. Latitudinal and altitudinal clines for different morphological traits have been described in several species of Drosophila and previous work identified genomic regions associated with such variation in D. melanogaster. However, the genetic factors that orchestrate morphological variation have been barely studied. Here, our main objective was to investigate genetic variation for different morphological traits associated to the second chromosome in natural populations of D. melanogaster along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in Argentina. Our results revealed weak clinal signals and a strong population effect on morphological variation. Moreover, most pairwise comparisons between populations were significant. Our study also showed important within-population genetic variation, which must be associated to the second chromosome, as the lines are otherwise genetically identical. Next, we examined the contribution of different candidate genes to natural variation for these traits. We performed quantitative complementation tests using a battery of lines bearing mutated alleles at candidate genes located in the second chromosome and six second chromosome substitution lines derived from natural populations which exhibited divergent phenotypes. Results of complementation tests revealed that natural variation at all candidate genes studied, invected, Fasciclin 3, toucan, Reticulon-like1, jing and CG14478, affects the studied characters, suggesting that they are Quantitative Trait Genes for morphological traits. Finally, the phenotypic patterns observed suggest that different alleles of each gene might contribute to natural variation for morphological traits. However, non-additive effects cannot be ruled out, as wild-derived strains differ at myriads of second chromosome loci that may interact

Bio-Liquid Morphological Analysis

PubMed Central

Shatokhina, S.N.; Shabalin, V.N.; Buzoverya, M.E.; Punin, V.T.

2004-01-01

Information is presented on the new scientific line in medicine and biology: bio-liquid morphology. The interdisciplinary character of the given research area is emphasized. The problems and prospects of bio-liquid morphological analysis development both in applied and fundamental aspects are discussed. PMID:15349509

Regional Differences in Rat Vaginal Smooth Muscle Contractility and Morphology

PubMed Central

Skoczylas, Laura C.; Jallah, Zegbeh; Sugino, Yoshio; Stein, Suzan E.; Feola, Andrew; Yoshimura, Naoki

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to define the regional differences in rat vaginal smooth muscle contractility and morphology. We evaluated circumferential segments from the proximal, middle, and distal rat vagina (n = 21) in vitro. Contractile responses to carbachol, phenylephrine, potassium chloride, and electrical field stimulation (EFS) were measured. Immunohistochemical analyses were also performed. The dose–response curves for carbachol- and phenylephrine-dependent contractions were different in the distal (P = .05, P = .04) compared to the proximal/middle regions. Adjusted for region-dependent changes in contractility, the distal vagina generated lower force in response to carbachol and higher force in response to phenylephrine. There was less force with increasing EFS frequency in the distal (P = .03), compared to the proximal/middle regions. Cholinergic versus adrenergic nerves were more frequent in the proximal region (P = .03). In summary, the results indicate that functional and morphological differences in smooth muscle and nerve fibers of the distal versus proximal/middle regions of the vagina exist. PMID:23298869

Object Oriented Learning Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Ed

2005-01-01

We apply the object oriented software engineering (OOSE) design methodology for software objects (SOs) to learning objects (LOs). OOSE extends and refines design principles for authoring dynamic reusable LOs. Our learning object class (LOC) is a template from which individualised LOs can be dynamically created for, or by, students. The properties…

Small impact craters in the lunar regolith - Their morphologies, relative ages, and rates of formation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moore, H.J.; Boyce, J.M.; Hahn, D.A.

1980-01-01

Apparently, there are two types of size-frequency distributions of small lunar craters (???1-100 m across): (1) crater production distributions for which the cumulative frequency of craters is an inverse function of diameter to power near 2.8, and (2) steady-state distributions for which the cumulative frequency of craters is inversely proportional to the square of their diameters. According to theory, cumulative frequencies of craters in each morphologic category within the steady-state should also be an inverse function of the square of their diameters. Some data on frequency distribution of craters by morphologic types are approximately consistent with theory, whereas other data are inconsistent with theory. A flux of crater producing objects can be inferred from size-frequency distributions of small craters on the flanks and ejecta of craters of known age. Crater frequency distributions and data on the craters Tycho, North Ray, Cone, and South Ray, when compared with the flux of objects measured by the Apollo Passive Seismometer, suggest that the flux of objects has been relatively constant over the last 100 m.y. (within 1/3 to 3 times of the flux estimated for Tycho). Steady-state frequency distributions for craters in several morphologic categories formed the basis for estimating the relative ages of craters and surfaces in a system used during the Apollo landing site mapping program of the U.S. Geological Survey. The relative ages in this system are converted to model absolute ages that have a rather broad range of values. The range of values of the absolute ages are between about 1/3 to 3 times the assigned model absolute age. ?? 1980 D. Reidel Publishing Co.

Influence of container size on Wyoming big sagebrush seedling morphology and cold hardiness

Treesearch

Kayla R. Herriman; Anthony S. Davis; R. Kasten Dumroese

2009-01-01

Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is a key component of sagebrush steppe ecosystems and is a dominant shrub throughout the western United States. Our objective was to identify the effect of container size on plant morphology of Wyoming big sagebrush. We used three different stocktypes (45/340 ml [20 in3], 60/250 ml [15 in3], 112/105 ml [6....

Morphologic and proteomic characterization of exosomes released by cultured extravillous trophoblast cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Atay, Safinur; Gercel-Taylor, Cicek; Kesimer, Mehmet

Exosomes represent an important intercellular communication vehicle, mediating events essential for the decidual microenvironment. While we have demonstrated exosome induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, to date, no extensive characterization of trophoblast-derived exosomes has been provided. Our objective was to provide a morphologic and proteomic characterization of these exosomes. Exosomes were isolated from the conditioned media of Swan71 human trophoblast cells by ultrafiltration and ultracentrifugation. These were analyzed for density (sucrose density gradient centrifugation), morphology (electron microscopy), size (dynamic light scattering) and protein composition (Ion Trap mass spectrometry and western immunoblotting). Based on density gradient centrifugation, microvesicles from Sw71 cells exhibit amore » density between 1.134 and 1.173 g/ml. Electron microscopy demonstrated that microvesicles from Sw71 cells exhibit the characteristic cup-shaped morphology of exosomes. Dynamic light scattering showed a bell-shaped curve, indicating a homogeneous population with a mean size of 165 nm {+-} 0.5 nm. Ion Trap mass spectrometry demonstrated the presence of exosome marker proteins (including CD81, Alix, cytoskeleton related proteins, and Rab family). The MS results were confirmed by western immunoblotting. Based on morphology, density, size and protein composition, we defined the release of exosomes from extravillous trophoblast cells and provide their first extensive characterization. This characterization is essential in furthering our understanding of 'normal' early pregnancy.« less

Spectral interferometry for morphological imaging in in vitro fertilization (IVF) (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yizheng; Li, Chengshuai

2016-03-01

Morphological assessment of spermatozoa is of critical importance for in vitro fertilization (IVF), especially intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)-based IVF. In ICSI, a single sperm cell is selected and injected into an egg to achieve fertilization. The quality of the sperm cell is found to be highly correlated to IVF success. Sperm morphology, such as shape, head birefringence and motility, among others, are typically evaluated under a microscope. Current observation relies on conventional techniques such as differential interference contrast microscopy and polarized light microscopy. Their qualitative nature, however, limits the ability to provide accurate quantitative analysis. Here, we demonstrate quantitative morphological measurement of sperm cells using two types of spectral interferometric techniques, namely spectral modulation interferometry and spectral multiplexing interferometry. Both are based on spectral-domain low coherence interferometry, which is known for its exquisite phase determination ability. While spectral modulation interferometry encodes sample phase in a single spectrum, spectral multiplexing interferometry does so for sample birefringence. Therefore they are capable of highly sensitive phase and birefringence imaging. These features suit well in the imaging of live sperm cells, which are small, dynamic objects with only low to moderate levels of phase and birefringence contrast. We will introduce the operation of both techniques and demonstrate their application to measuring the phase and birefringence morphology of sperm cells.

Double Object Constructions in L3 English: An Exploratory Study of Morphological and Semantic Constraints

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agirre, Ainara Imaz; García Mayo, María del Pilar

2014-01-01

The present study examines the acquisition of double object constructions (DOCs) ("Susan gave Peter an apple") by 90 Basque/Spanish learners of English as a third language (L3). The aim of this study was to explore whether (i) learners established a distinction when accepting DOCs vs. prepositional phrase constructions (PPCs)…

Resolving power of diffraction imaging with an objective: a numerical study.

PubMed

Wang, Wenjin; Liu, Jing; Lu, Jun Qing; Ding, Junhua; Hu, Xin-Hua

2017-05-01

Diffraction imaging in the far-field can detect 3D morphological features of an object for its coherent nature. We describe methods for accurate calculation and analysis of diffraction images of scatterers of single and double spheres by an imaging unit based on microscope objective at non-conjugate positions. A quantitative study of the calculated diffraction imaging in spectral domain has been performed to assess the resolving power of diffraction imaging. It has been shown numerically that with coherent illumination of 532 nm in wavelength the imaging unit can resolve single spheres of 2 μm or larger in diameters and double spheres separated by less than 300 nm between their centers.

Linking hydro-morphology with invertebrate ecology in diverse morphological units of a large river-floodplain system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blettler, Martín. C. M.; Amsler, Mario L.; Eberle, Eliana G.; Szupiany, Ricardo; Latosinski, Francisco G.; Abrial, Elie; Oberholster, Paul J.; Espinola, Luis A.; Paira, Aldo; Poza, Ailen; Rodrigues Capítulo, Alberto

2016-12-01

Interdisciplinary research in the fields of ecohydrology and ecogeomorphology is becoming increasingly important as a way to understand how biological and physical processes interact with each other in river systems. The objectives of the current study were 1) to determine changes in invertebrate community due to hydrological stages, 2) to link local physical features [flow configuration, sediment composition and morphological feature) with the ecological structure between and within dissimilar morphological units (meander and confluence), and 3) to determine the existence and the origin of bed hydro-geomorphic patches, determining their ecological structure. Results were discussed in the frame of prevailing ecological models and concepts. The study site extends over a floodplain area of the large Paraná River (Argentina), including minor and major secondary channels as well as the main channel. Overall results suggested that hydrodynamics was the driving force determining distribution patterns of benthic assemblages in the floodplain. However, while the invertebrates living in minor secondary channels seem to benefit from flooding, this hydrological phase had the opposite effect on organisms from the main and major secondary channels. We also found a clear linkage between physical features and invertebrate ecology, which caused a dissimilar fauna structure between and within the meander and the confluence. Furthermore, several sandy-patches were recorded in the confluence. These patches were colonized by the particular benthic assemblage recorded in the main channel, supported the view of rivers as patchy discontinua, under uncertain ecological equilibrium.

X-ray Flaring Activity in HBL Source PKS 2155-304

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapanadze, Bidzina

2013-08-01

We report an increasing X-ray flux through 0.3-10 keV band in the high-energy peaked BL Lacertae source PKS 2155-304 (z=0.117) which has been observed three times between 2013 July 25 and August 3 with the X-ray Telescope (XRT) onboard the Swift satellite. Using the data provided at the website http://www.swift.psu.edu/monitoring/ we have found that the object increased its 0.3-10 keV flux almost 3-times from 0.98+/-0.06 cts/s (July 25, ObsID=00030795114) to 2.85+/-0.08 cts/s corresponding to the observation performed July 31. The last pointing performed on August 3 (ObsID0008028002) shows even higher flux of 3.08+/-05 cts/s. No subhour flux variability at 99.9% confidence are detected from each observation, lasting 0.7 ks - 2.1 ks. On the basis of our recent study of long-term X-ray flux variability in this source (Kapanadze et al. 2013, submitted to the Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society) we suggest that the similar situation was generally an indicator of the! onset of a longer-term flare with weeks-months duration. Therefore, further densely sampled observations with Swift-XRT and other X-ray instruments are highly recommended. Since X-ray flares in BL Lacertae sources are mostly followed by those in other spectral bands, we encourage intensive multiwavelength observations of PKS 2155-304.

Morphology, sociality, and ecology: can morphology predict pairing behavior in coral reef fishes?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandl, S. J.; Bellwood, D. R.

2013-09-01

Morphology can contain valuable information about the ecological performance of reef fishes, but it has rarely been used in combination with social traits. Social behavior is known to influence the ecological role of fishes; however, the ecological basis for pairing in reef fishes is not well understood. Field observations of 2,753 individuals, in 47 species in six families of biting reef fishes (Acanthuridae, Chaetodontidae, Kyphosidae, Labridae, Pomacanthidae, Siganidae), were used in combination with six morphological measurements, to examine the morphology of fishes in different social systems. A principal components analysis of morphological traits segregated species with high proportions of pairing individuals from non-pairing species along principal component 1, explaining 40.8 % of the variation. Pairing species were characterized by large eyes, concave foreheads, pointed snouts, deep bodies, and small maximum sizes. There was a significant positive relationship between these morphological traits (i.e., scores on PC1) and the prevalence of pairing within the Chaetodontidae ( r 2 = 0.59; P = 0.026), Siganidae ( r 2 = 0.72; P = 0.004), and Acanthuridae ( r 2 = 0.82; P < 0.001). This was consistent when traits were corrected for phylogenetic effects. No pattern was evident in the scarine Labridae ( r 2 = 0.15; P = 0.17). The morphological characteristics found among pairing species suggest that pairing species share common ecological traits, including foraging for small prey items in micro-topographically complex environments such as reef crevices. These ecological traits may have played a role in the evolution of pairing behavior and subsequently led to the development of reproductive patterns based on monogamy.

The Limits on Trypanosomatid Morphological Diversity

PubMed Central

Wheeler, Richard John; Gluenz, Eva; Gull, Keith

2013-01-01

Cell shape is one, often overlooked, way in which protozoan parasites have adapted to a variety of host and vector environments and directional transmissions between these environments. Consequently, different parasite life cycle stages have characteristic morphologies. Trypanosomatid parasites are an excellent example of this in which large morphological variations between species and life cycle stage occur, despite sharing well-conserved cytoskeletal and membranous structures. Here, using previously published reports in the literature of the morphology of 248 isolates of trypanosomatid species from different hosts, we perform a meta-analysis of the occurrence and limits on morphological diversity of different classes of trypanosomatid morphology (trypomastigote, promastigote, etc.) in the vertebrate bloodstream and invertebrate gut environments. We identified several limits on cell body length, cell body width and flagellum length diversity which can be interpreted as biomechanical limits on the capacity of the cell to attain particular dimensions. These limits differed for morphologies with and without a laterally attached flagellum which we suggest represent two morphological superclasses, the ‘juxtaform’ and ‘liberform’ superclasses. Further limits were identified consistent with a selective pressure from the mechanical properties of the vertebrate bloodstream environment; trypanosomatid size showed limits relative to host erythrocyte dimensions. This is the first comprehensive analysis of the limits of morphological diversity in any protozoan parasite, revealing the morphogenetic constraints and extrinsic selection pressures associated with the full diversity of trypanosomatid morphology. PMID:24260255

Channel morphology [Chapter 5

Treesearch

Jonathan W. Long; Alvin L. Medina; Daniel G. Neary

2012-01-01

Channel morphology has become an increasingly important subject for analyzing the health of rivers and associated fish populations, particularly since the popularization of channel classification and assessment methods. Morphological data can help to evaluate the flows of sediment and water that influence aquatic and riparian habitat. Channel classification systems,...

Professional soccer is associated with radiographic cam and pincer hip morphology.

PubMed

Falotico, Guilherme Guadagnini; Arliani, Gustavo Gonçalves; Yamada, André Fukunishi; Fernandes, Artur da Rocha Correa; Ejnisman, Benno; Cohen, Moises

2018-06-06

Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome is characterized by a triad: symptoms, clinical signs and imaging findings. Some individuals, especially athletes, have only imaging alterations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of cam and pincer morphology in professional soccer players compared with a control group of non-athletes and to investigate the association between the age at which players start playing competitive soccer more than three times per week and duration of the soccer career with the prevalence of these radiographic findings. The prevalence of cam and pincer morphology in sixty professional adult male soccer players and thirty-two male controls was determined using pelvic anteroposterior radiography. Data were recorded for all hips and correlated with the age at which the players started competitive soccer practice and with the duration of their soccer career. The prevalence of morphological FAI in the soccer players was 92.5% versus 28.1% in the controls (p < 0.001). The duration of the soccer career was positively correlated with the alpha angle (p = 0.033) and negatively correlated with the retroversion index (p = 0.009). The age at which competitive play began was inversely correlated with the alpha angle (p < 0.001). The study showed a high prevalence of cam and pincer morphology in Brazilian professional soccer players compared with controls. The duration of the soccer career was associated with an increased alpha angle and a decreased retroversion index, and the age at which competitive soccer participation began was negatively associated with alpha angle values. Finally, this manuscript provides data about the association between greater exposure to soccer and cam and pincer morphological changes in the hip; specifically, cam morphology was more common in patients who began participating in sports at earlier ages. This information serves as an alert for coaches of youth teams to manage the training

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Faint blue objects at high galactic latitude (Mitchell+, 2004)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mitchell, K. J.; Usher, P. D.

2006-11-01

The US (UV-excess Starlike) survey has cataloged 3987 objects in 7 high Galactic latitude fields according to their optical colors, magnitudes, and morphologies using photographic techniques. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the survey at producing finding lists for complete samples of hot stars and quasars that exhibit blue and/or ultraviolet excess (B-UVX) relative to the colors of halo F and G subdwarf stars. A table of 599 spectroscopic identifications summarizes the spectroscopic coverage of the US objects that has been accomplished to date. (6 data files).

Martian deltas: Morphology and distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rice, J. W., Jr.; Scott, D. H.

1993-01-01

Recent detailed mapping has revealed numerous examples of Martian deltas. The location and morphology of these deltas are described. Factors that contribute to delta morphology are river regime, coastal processes, structural stability, and climate. The largest delta systems on Mars are located near the mouths of Maja, Maumee, Vedra, Ma'adim, Kasei, and Brazos Valles. There are also several smaller-scale deltas emplaced near channel mouths situated in Ismenius Lacus, Memnonia, and Arabia. Delta morphology was used to reconstruct type, quantity, and sediment load size transported by the debouching channel systems. Methods initially developed for terrestrial systems were used to gain information on the relationships between Martian delta morphology, river regime, and coastal processes.

Assessing Restoration Effects on River Hydromorphology Using the Process-based Morphological Quality Index in Eight European River Reaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belletti, B.; Nardi, L.; Rinaldi, M.; Poppe, M.; Brabec, K.; Bussettini, M.; Comiti, F.; Gielczewski, M.; Golfieri, B.; Hellsten, S.; Kail, J.; Marchese, E.; Marcinkowski, P.; Okruszko, T.; Paillex, A.; Schirmer, M.; Stelmaszczyk, M.; Surian, N.

2018-01-01

The Morphological Quality Index (MQI) and the Morphological Quality Index for monitoring (MQIm) have been applied to eight case studies across Europe with the objective of analyzing the hydromorphological response to various restoration measures and of comparing the results of the MQI and MQIm as a morphological assessment applied at the reach scale, with a conventional site scale physical-habitat assessment method. For each restored reach, the two indices were applied to the pre-restoration and post-restoration conditions. The restored reach was also compared to an adjacent, degraded reach. Results show that in all cases the restoration measures improved the morphological quality of the reach, but that the degree of improvement depends on many factors, including the initial morphological conditions, the length of the restored portion in relation to the reach length, and on the type of intervention. The comparison with a conventional site scale physical-habitat assessment method shows that the MQI and MQIm are best suited for the evaluation of restoration effects on river hydromorphology at the geomorphologically-relevant scale of the river reach.

Assessing Restoration Effects on River Hydromorphology Using the Process-based Morphological Quality Index in Eight European River Reaches.

PubMed

Belletti, B; Nardi, L; Rinaldi, M; Poppe, M; Brabec, K; Bussettini, M; Comiti, F; Gielczewski, M; Golfieri, B; Hellsten, S; Kail, J; Marchese, E; Marcinkowski, P; Okruszko, T; Paillex, A; Schirmer, M; Stelmaszczyk, M; Surian, N

2018-01-01

The Morphological Quality Index (MQI) and the Morphological Quality Index for monitoring (MQIm) have been applied to eight case studies across Europe with the objective of analyzing the hydromorphological response to various restoration measures and of comparing the results of the MQI and MQIm as a morphological assessment applied at the reach scale, with a conventional site scale physical-habitat assessment method. For each restored reach, the two indices were applied to the pre-restoration and post-restoration conditions. The restored reach was also compared to an adjacent, degraded reach. Results show that in all cases the restoration measures improved the morphological quality of the reach, but that the degree of improvement depends on many factors, including the initial morphological conditions, the length of the restored portion in relation to the reach length, and on the type of intervention. The comparison with a conventional site scale physical-habitat assessment method shows that the MQI and MQIm are best suited for the evaluation of restoration effects on river hydromorphology at the geomorphologically-relevant scale of the river reach.

Morphology Is a Link to the Past: Examining Formative and Secular Galactic Evolution through Morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galloway, Melanie A.

Galaxy morphology is one of the primary keys to understanding a galaxy's evolutionary history. External mechanisms (environment/clustering, mergers) have a strong impact on the formative evolution of the major galactic components (disk, bulge, Hubble type), while internal instabilities created by bars, spiral arms, or other substructures drive secular evolution via the rearrangement of material within the disk. This thesis will explore several ways in which morphology impacts the dynamics and evolution of a galaxy using visual classifications from several Galaxy Zoo projects. The first half of this work will detail the motivations of using morphology to study galaxy evolution, and describe how morphology is measured, debiased, and interpreted using crowdsourced classification data via Galaxy Zoo. The second half will present scientific studies which make use of these classifications; first by focusing on the morphology of galaxies in the local Universe (z < 0.2) using data from Galaxy Zoo 2 and Galaxy Zoo UKIDSS. Last, the high-redshift Universe will be explored by examining populations of morphologies at various lookback times, from z = 0 out to z = 1 using data from Galaxy Zoo Hubble. The investigation of the physical implications of morphology in the local Universe will first be presented in Chapter 4, in a study of the impact of bars on the fueling of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using a sample of 19,756 disk galaxies at 0.01 < z < 0.05 imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and morphologically classified by Galaxy Zoo 2 (GZ2), the difference in AGN fraction in barred and unbarred disks was measured. A weak, but statistically significant, effect was found in that the population of AGN hosts exhibited a 16.0% increase in bar fraction as compared to their unbarred counterparts at fixed mass and color. These results are consistent with a cosmological model in which bar-driven fueling contributes to the growth of black holes, but other dynamical mechanisms

Are some BL Lacs artefacts of gravitational lensing?

PubMed

Ostriker, J P; Vietri, M

1990-03-01

WE suggested in 1985 that a significant fraction of BL Lacertae objects, a kind of lineless quasar, seen in nearby galaxies are in fact images, gravitationally lensed and substantially amplified by stars in the nearby galaxy, of background objects, optically violent variable (OVV) quasars at redshifts z > 1 (ref. 1). This hypothesis was made on the basis of certain general similarities between BL Lacs and O Ws, but for two recently observed BL Lacs(2,3) a strong case can be made that the accompanying elliptical galaxy is a foreground object. In addition, we argue that the distribution of BL Lac redshifts is hard to understand without gravitational lensing, unless we happen to be at a very local maximum of the spatial cosmic distribution of BL Lacs. Our analysis also indicates that the galaxies whose stars are likely to act as microlenses will be found in two peaks, one nearby, with redshift 0.05-0.10, and the other near the distant quasar.

Anthropometric Study of Three-Dimensional Facial Morphology in Malay Adults

PubMed Central

Majawit, Lynnora Patrick; Mohd Razi, Roziana

2016-01-01

Objectives To establish the three-dimensional (3D) facial soft tissue morphology of adult Malaysian subjects of the Malay ethnic group; and to determine the morphological differences between the genders, using a non-invasive stereo-photogrammetry 3D camera. Material and Methods One hundred and nine subjects participated in this research, 54 Malay men and 55 Malay women, aged 20–30 years old with healthy BMI and with no adverse skeletal deviation. Twenty-three facial landmarks were identified on 3D facial images captured using a VECTRA M5-360 Head System (Canfield Scientific Inc, USA). Two angular, 3 ratio and 17 linear measurements were identified using Canfield Mirror imaging software. Intra- and inter-examiner reliability tests were carried out using 10 randomly selected images, analyzed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out to investigate morphologic differences between genders. Results ICC scores were generally good for both intra-examiner (range 0.827–0.987) and inter-examiner reliability (range 0.700–0.983) tests. Generally, all facial measurements were larger in men than women, except the facial profile angle which was larger in women. Clinically significant gender dimorphisms existed in biocular width, nose height, nasal bridge length, face height and lower face height values (mean difference > 3mm). Clinical significance was set at 3mm. Conclusion Facial soft tissue morphological values can be gathered efficiently and measured effectively from images captured by a non-invasive stereo-photogrammetry 3D camera. Adult men in Malaysia when compared to women had a wider distance between the eyes, a longer and more prominent nose and a longer face. PMID:27706220

Structure, morphology and functionality of acetylated and oxidised barley starches.

PubMed

El Halal, Shanise Lisie Mello; Colussi, Rosana; Pinto, Vânia Zanella; Bartz, Josiane; Radunz, Marjana; Carreño, Neftali Lenin Villarreal; Dias, Alvaro Renato Guerra; Zavareze, Elessandra da Rosa

2015-02-01

Acetylation and oxidation are chemical modifications which alter the properties of starch. The degree of modification of acetylated and oxidized starches is dependent on the catalyst and active chlorine concentrations, respectively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of acetylation and oxidation on the structural, morphological, physical-chemical, thermal and pasting properties of barley starch. Barley starches were acetylated at different catalyst levels (11%, 17%, and 23% of NaOH solution) and oxidized at different sodium hypochlorite concentrations (1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% of active chlorine). Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractograms, thermal, morphological, and pasting properties, swelling power and solubility of starches were evaluated. The degree of substitution (DS) of the acetylated starches increased with the rise in catalyst concentration. The percentage of carbonyl (CO) and carboxyl (COOH) groups in oxidized starches also increased with the rise of active chlorine level. The presence of hydrophobic acetyl groups, carbonyl and carboxyl groups caused a partial disorganization and depolymerization of starch granules. The structural, morphological and functional changes in acetylated and oxidized starches varied according to reaction conditions. Acetylation makes barley starch more hydrophobic by the insertion of acetyl groups. Also the oxidation promotes low retrogradation and viscosity. All these characteristics are important for biodegradable film production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measurement and significance of sperm morphology

PubMed Central

Menkveld, Roelof; Holleboom, Cas AG; Rhemrev, Johann PT

2011-01-01

The measurement or evaluation and clinical significance of human sperm morphology has always been and still is a controversial aspect of the semen analysis for the determination of a male's fertility potential. In this review the background of the development of the evaluation criteria for sperm morphology will be discussed. Aspects of criticism on the strict criteria definition and use of the criteria for sperm morphology evaluation will be discussed as well as possible reasons for the decline in normal sperm morphology values and how we can compromise for this phenomenon resulting in the very low normal reference value as published in the 2010 WHO manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen. One of the possible solutions may be to give more attention to a limited number of abnormal sperm morphology categories and the inclusion of sperm morphology patterns. It is concluded in this review that if done correctly and with care and with strict application of existing guidelines as outlined in the 2010 WHO manual, sperm morphology measurement still has a very important role to play in the clinical evaluation of male fertility potential. PMID:21076438

Multi-wavelength Observations of the Flaring Gamma-ray Blazar 3C 66A in 2008 October

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; Baldini, L.; Ballet, J.; Barbiellini, G.; Bastieri, D.; Bechtol, K.; Bellazzini, R.; Berenji, B.; Blandford, R. D.; Bonamente, E.; Borgland, A. W.; Bouvier, A.; Bregeon, J.; Brez, A.; Brigida, M.; Bruel, P.; Buehler, R.; Buson, S.; Caliandro, G. A.; Cameron, R. A.; Caraveo, P. A.; Carrigan, S.; Casandjian, J. M.; Cavazzuti, E.; Cecchi, C.; Çelik, Ö.; Charles, E.; Chekhtman, A.; Cheung, C. C.; Chiang, J.; Ciprini, S.; Claus, R.; Cohen-Tanugi, J.; Conrad, J.; Costamante, L.; Cutini, S.; Davis, D. S.; Dermer, C. D.; de Palma, F.; Digel, S. W.; do Couto e Silva, E.; Drell, P. S.; Dubois, R.; Dumora, D.; Favuzzi, C.; Fegan, S. J.; Fortin, P.; Frailis, M.; Fuhrmann, L.; Fukazawa, Y.; Funk, S.; Fusco, P.; Gargano, F.; Gasparrini, D.; Gehrels, N.; Germani, S.; Giglietto, N.; Giommi, P.; Giordano, F.; Giroletti, M.; Glanzman, T.; Godfrey, G.; Grenier, I. A.; Grove, J. E.; Guillemot, L.; Guiriec, S.; Hadasch, D.; Hayashida, M.; Hays, E.; Horan, D.; Hughes, R. E.; Itoh, R.; Jóhannesson, G.; Johnson, A. S.; Johnson, T. J.; Johnson, W. N.; Kamae, T.; Katagiri, H.; Kataoka, J.; Knödlseder, J.; Kuss, M.; Lande, J.; Latronico, L.; Lee, S.-H.; Longo, F.; Loparco, F.; Lott, B.; Lovellette, M. N.; Lubrano, P.; Makeev, A.; Mazziotta, M. N.; McEnery, J. E.; Mehault, J.; Michelson, P. F.; Mizuno, T.; Moiseev, A. A.; Monte, C.; Monzani, M. E.; Morselli, A.; Moskalenko, I. V.; Murgia, S.; Nakamori, T.; Naumann-Godo, M.; Nestoras, I.; Nolan, P. L.; Norris, J. P.; Nuss, E.; Ohsugi, T.; Okumura, A.; Omodei, N.; Orlando, E.; Ormes, J. F.; Ozaki, M.; Paneque, D.; Panetta, J. H.; Parent, D.; Pelassa, V.; Pepe, M.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Piron, F.; Porter, T. A.; Rainò, S.; Rando, R.; Razzano, M.; Reimer, A.; Reimer, O.; Reyes, L. C.; Ripken, J.; Ritz, S.; Romani, R. W.; Roth, M.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Sanchez, D.; Sander, A.; Scargle, J. D.; Sgrò, C.; Shaw, M. S.; Smith, P. D.; Spandre, G.; Spinelli, P.; Strickman, M. S.; Suson, D. J.; Takahashi, H.; Tanaka, T.; Thayer, J. B.; Thayer, J. G.; Thompson, D. J.; Tibaldo, L.; Torres, D. F.; Tosti, G.; Tramacere, A.; Usher, T. L.; Vandenbroucke, J.; Vasileiou, V.; Vilchez, N.; Vitale, V.; Waite, A. P.; Wang, P.; Winer, B. L.; Wood, K. S.; Yang, Z.; Ylinen, T.; Ziegler, M.; Acciari, V. A.; Aliu, E.; Arlen, T.; Aune, T.; Beilicke, M.; Benbow, W.; Böttcher, M.; Boltuch, D.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Bugaev, V.; Byrum, K.; Cannon, A.; Cesarini, A.; Christiansen, J. L.; Ciupik, L.; Cui, W.; de la Calle Perez, I.; Dickherber, R.; Errando, M.; Falcone, A.; Finley, J. P.; Finnegan, G.; Fortson, L.; Furniss, A.; Galante, N.; Gall, D.; Gillanders, G. H.; Godambe, S.; Grube, J.; Guenette, R.; Gyuk, G.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Hui, C. M.; Humensky, T. B.; Imran, A.; Kaaret, P.; Karlsson, N.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Konopelko, A.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; LeBohec, S.; Maier, G.; McArthur, S.; McCann, A.; McCutcheon, M.; Moriarty, P.; Mukherjee, R.; Ong, R. A.; Otte, A. N.; Pandel, D.; Perkins, J. S.; Pichel, A.; Pohl, M.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Reynolds, P. T.; Roache, E.; Rose, H. J.; Schroedter, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Senturk, G. Demet; Smith, A. W.; Steele, D.; Swordy, S. P.; Tešić, G.; Theiling, M.; Thibadeau, S.; Varlotta, A.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Vincent, S.; Wakely, S. P.; Ward, J. E.; Weekes, T. C.; Weinstein, A.; Weisgarber, T.; Williams, D. A.; Wissel, S.; Wood, M.; Villata, M.; Raiteri, C. M.; Gurwell, M. A.; Larionov, V. M.; Kurtanidze, O. M.; Aller, M. F.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Chen, W. P.; Berduygin, A.; Agudo, I.; Aller, H. D.; Arkharov, A. A.; Bach, U.; Bachev, R.; Beltrame, P.; Benítez, E.; Buemi, C. S.; Dashti, J.; Calcidese, P.; Capezzali, D.; Carosati, D.; Da Rio, D.; Di Paola, A.; Diltz, C.; Dolci, M.; Dultzin, D.; Forné, E.; Gómez, J. L.; Hagen-Thorn, V. A.; Halkola, A.; Heidt, J.; Hiriart, D.; Hovatta, T.; Hsiao, H.-Y.; Jorstad, S. G.; Kimeridze, G. N.; Konstantinova, T. S.; Kopatskaya, E. N.; Koptelova, E.; Leto, P.; Ligustri, R.; Lindfors, E.; Lopez, J. M.; Marscher, A. P.; Mommert, M.; Mujica, R.; Nikolashvili, M. G.; Nilsson, K.; Palma, N.; Pasanen, M.; Roca-Sogorb, M.; Ros, J. A.; Roustazadeh, P.; Sadun, A. C.; Saino, J.; Sigua, L. A.; Sillanää, A.; Sorcia, M.; Takalo, L. O.; Tornikoski, M.; Trigilio, C.; Turchetti, R.; Umana, G.; Belloni, T.; Blake, C. H.; Bloom, J. S.; Angelakis, E.; Fumagalli, M.; Hauser, M.; Prochaska, J. X.; Riquelme, D.; Sievers, A.; Starr, D. L.; Tagliaferri, G.; Ungerechts, H.; Wagner, S.; Zensus, J. A.; Fermi LAT Collaboration; VERITAS Collaboration; GASP-WEBT Consortium

2011-01-01

The BL Lacertae object 3C 66A was detected in a flaring state by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and VERITAS in 2008 October. In addition to these gamma-ray observations, F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, PAIRITEL, MDM, ATOM, Swift, and Chandra provided radio to X-ray coverage. The available light curves show variability and, in particular, correlated flares are observed in the optical and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray band. The resulting spectral energy distribution can be well fitted using standard leptonic models with and without an external radiation field for inverse Compton scattering. It is found, however, that only the model with an external radiation field can accommodate the intra-night variability observed at optical wavelengths.

The morphological changes of mucous membrane of stomach and duodenum of contractor organization personnel, which works in radiation hazard conditions at the object Shelter of Chornobyl NPP.

PubMed

Sushko, V O; Nezgovorova, G A; Degtjarova, L V; Kolosynska, O O; Gromadska, V M

2015-12-01

Аim: The determination of morphological features of stomach and duodenum mucous of membrane (MM) damage at a personnel that works in radiation hazard conditions at the object of "Shelter" of Chornobyl NPP (OS) by the endoscopic monitoring with biopsy material inspection from a gastro-duodenal zone on the stages of check - in (InC) and the special medical control (SpC). the complex clinical-endoscopic and morphological examination with the biopsy of MM of stomach and duodenum in 126 workers of OS (man in the age from 20 to 59) was carried out. Doses of external radiation exposure were from 0,14 to 79,6 mSv, доза internal radiation exposure were from 0,1 to 3 mSv/Results: For the personnel of OS contract organisations differently directed pathomorphological changes of MM at InC and increase of frequency of their exposure at an inspection during SC, that generally correspond to chronic H.pylori-associated pangastritis with violation of microcirculation and trophism, disregeneration changes of epithelial layer. for the personnel of contract organizations, which participated in radiation hazard works on ОS a presence of chronic H.pylori-associated pangastritis with the increase of frequency of atrophic changes of MM (nonmetaplastic or metaplastic type) and development of erosive-ulcerous defects of gastro-duodenal zone was founded out.For workers, who had previous influence of ionizing irradiation the greater frequency of disregeneration (hyperplasia / intestinal metaplasia) changes of epithelium that accordingly promotes the risk of neoplasmes transformations was clarified.Providing of EGDFS (at a necessity with the biopsy of MM) is at InC and next stages of medical control for personnel, that executes radiation hazard works on ОS is the highly informative evidential and necessary method of inspection for determination of form and degree of pathological changes of overhead departments of gastrointestinal tract for warning of progress of disease and development

Electrogram morphology recurrence patterns during atrial fibrillation.

PubMed

Ng, Jason; Gordon, David; Passman, Rod S; Knight, Bradley P; Arora, Rishi; Goldberger, Jeffrey J

2014-11-01

Traditional mapping of atrial fibrillation (AF) is limited by changing electrogram morphologies and variable cycle lengths. We tested the hypothesis that morphology recurrence plot analysis would identify sites of stable and repeatable electrogram morphology patterns. AF electrograms recorded from left atrial (LA) and right atrial (RA) sites in 19 patients (10 men; mean age 59 ± 10 years) before AF ablation were analyzed. Morphology recurrence plots for each electrogram recording were created by cross-correlation of each automatically detected activation with every other activation in the recording. A recurrence percentage, the percentage of the most common morphology, and the mean cycle length of activations with the most recurrent morphology were computed. The morphology recurrence plots commonly showed checkerboard patterns of alternating high and low cross-correlation values, indicating periodic recurrences in morphologies. The mean recurrence percentage for all sites and all patients was 38 ± 25%. The highest recurrence percentage per patient averaged 83 ± 17%. The highest recurrence percentage was located in the RA in 5 patients and in the LA in 14 patients. Patients with sites of shortest mean cycle length of activations with the most recurrent morphology in the LA and RA had ablation failure rates of 25% and 100%, respectively (hazard ratio 4.95; P = .05). A new technique to characterize electrogram morphology recurrence demonstrated that there is a distribution of sites with high and low repeatability of electrogram morphologies. Sites with rapid activation of highly repetitive morphology patterns may be critical to sustaining AF. Further testing of this approach to map and ablate AF sources is warranted. Copyright © 2014 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Virtual Surveyor based Object Extraction from Airborne LiDAR data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habib, Md. Ahsan

Topographic feature detection of land cover from LiDAR data is important in various fields - city planning, disaster response and prevention, soil conservation, infrastructure or forestry. In recent years, feature classification, compliant with Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) methodology has been gaining traction in remote sensing and geographic information science (GIS). In OBIA, the LiDAR image is first divided into meaningful segments called object candidates. This results, in addition to spectral values, in a plethora of new information such as aggregated spectral pixel values, morphology, texture, context as well as topology. Traditional nonparametric segmentation methods rely on segmentations at different scales to produce a hierarchy of semantically significant objects. Properly tuned scale parameters are, therefore, imperative in these methods for successful subsequent classification. Recently, some progress has been made in the development of methods for tuning the parameters for automatic segmentation. However, researchers found that it is very difficult to automatically refine the tuning with respect to each object class present in the scene. Moreover, due to the relative complexity of real-world objects, the intra-class heterogeneity is very high, which leads to over-segmentation. Therefore, the method fails to deliver correctly many of the new segment features. In this dissertation, a new hierarchical 3D object segmentation algorithm called Automatic Virtual Surveyor based Object Extracted (AVSOE) is presented. AVSOE segments objects based on their distinct geometric concavity/convexity. This is achieved by strategically mapping the sloping surface, which connects the object to its background. Further analysis produces hierarchical decomposition of objects to its sub-objects at a single scale level. Extensive qualitative and qualitative results are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of this hierarchical segmentation approach.

Assessment of resin-dentin interfacial morphology of two ethanol-based universal adhesives: A scanning electron microscopy study

PubMed Central

Awad, Mohamed Moustafa

2017-01-01

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the resin-dentin interfacial morphology created by two universal adhesives using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Materials and Methods: The occlusal surfaces of ten (n = 5) molars were reduced to expose a flat surface of dentin. Two universal adhesives, Scotchbond Universal Adhesive and Tetric N-Bond Universal, were independently applied to air-dried dentin. Light-cured resin-based composite restorative materials were used to incrementally build a composite “buildup.” The specimen was sectioned mesiodistally to expose the resin-dentin interface. The inner surfaces of the specimens were polished. Samples were immersed in hydrochloric acid and then rinsed using distilled water. This was followed by immersion of the samples in 1% sodium hypochlorite solution. Then, samples were thoroughly rinsing with distilled water. Dehydration of samples was performed using ascending concentration of ethyl alcohol. Prepared samples were observed SEM at magnifications ×1500 and x4000. Results: Both universal adhesives could penetrate dentin-forming well-defined resin tags, lateral branches as well as a uniform hybrid layer. Conclusions: Two tested universal adhesives applied in self-etch mode can infiltrate into dentin-producing high-quality interfacial morphology. Similar interfacial morphology may be due to the similarity in composition and application mode. PMID:28729794

Comparison of morphological and genetic analyses reveals cryptic divergence and morphological plasticity in Stylophora (Cnidaria, Scleractinia)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefani, Fabrizio; Benzoni, F.; Yang, S.-Y.; Pichon, M.; Galli, P.; Chen, C. A.

2011-12-01

A combined morphological and genetic study of the coral genus Stylophora investigated species boundaries in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen. Two mitochondrial regions, including the hypervariable IGS9 spacer and the control region, and a fragment of rDNA were used for phylogenetic analysis. Results were compared by multivariate analysis on the basis of branch morphology and corallite morphometry. Two species were clearly discriminated by both approaches. The first species was characterised by small corallites and a low morphological variability and was ascribed to a new geographical record of Stylophora madagascarensis on the basis of its phylogenetic distinction and its morphological similarity to the type material. The second species was characterised by larger corallite size and greater morphological variability and was ascribed to Stylophora pistillata. The analysis was extended to the intrageneric level for other S. pistillata populations from the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Strong internal divergence was evident in the genus Sty lophora. S. pistillata populations were split into two highly divergent Red Sea/Gulf of Aden and western Pacific lineages with significant morphological overlap, which suggests they represent two distinct cryptic species. The combined use of morphological and molecular approaches, so far proved to be a powerful tool for the re-delineation of species boundaries in corals, provided novel evidence of cryptic divergence in this group of marine metazoans.

First report of changes in leukocyte morphology in response to inflammatory conditions in Asian and African elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana).

PubMed

Stacy, Nicole I; Isaza, Ramiro; Wiedner, Ellen

2017-01-01

Although the hematology of healthy elephants has been well-described, published information on hematological changes during disease is limited. The objective of this study was to describe qualitative morphological changes in the leukocytes of Asian and African elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana) diagnosed with a variety of inflammatory conditions. Twenty-five of 27 elephants had morphological changes in their leukocytes, although only 16 of these had a concurrent inflammatory leukogram. Morphological changes included heterophil left-shifting with or without concurrent dysgranulopoiesis, toxicity, or hypersegmentation, reactive lymphocytes, plasma cells, and/or vacuolated monocytes. Although the observed leukocyte morphological changes are non-specific, their early recognition upon blood film evaluation may provide important, clinically-relevant information, particularly if the leukogram is normal. This case series is the first description of qualitative morphological changes in the leukocytes of elephants in association with inflammation.

First report of changes in leukocyte morphology in response to inflammatory conditions in Asian and African elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana)

PubMed Central

Isaza, Ramiro; Wiedner, Ellen

2017-01-01

Although the hematology of healthy elephants has been well-described, published information on hematological changes during disease is limited. The objective of this study was to describe qualitative morphological changes in the leukocytes of Asian and African elephants (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta africana) diagnosed with a variety of inflammatory conditions. Twenty-five of 27 elephants had morphological changes in their leukocytes, although only 16 of these had a concurrent inflammatory leukogram. Morphological changes included heterophil left-shifting with or without concurrent dysgranulopoiesis, toxicity, or hypersegmentation, reactive lymphocytes, plasma cells, and/or vacuolated monocytes. Although the observed leukocyte morphological changes are non-specific, their early recognition upon blood film evaluation may provide important, clinically-relevant information, particularly if the leukogram is normal. This case series is the first description of qualitative morphological changes in the leukocytes of elephants in association with inflammation. PMID:28934325

Morphological awareness and reading comprehension: Examining mediating factors.

PubMed

Levesque, Kyle C; Kieffer, Michael J; Deacon, S Hélène

2017-08-01

The relation between morphological awareness-defined as the awareness of and ability to manipulate the smallest units of meaning in language-and reading comprehension remains in need of specification. In this study, we evaluated four potential intervening variables through which morphological awareness may contribute indirectly to reading comprehension. We assessed word reading and vocabulary as well as children's ability to read and analyze the meaning of morphologically complex words (morphological decoding and morphological analysis, respectively). Controls of phonological awareness and nonverbal ability were included in the model. Participants were 221 English-speaking children in Grade 3. Multivariate path analyses revealed evidence of two indirect relations and one direct relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. In the first indirect path, morphological awareness contributed to morphological decoding, which then influenced word reading and finally reading comprehension. In a second indirect path, morphological awareness contributed to morphological analysis, which contributed to reading comprehension. Finally, in a direct path, morphological awareness contributed to reading comprehension beyond all other variables. These findings inform as to the potential mechanisms underlying the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in children. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Action and object word writing in a case of bilingual aphasia.

PubMed

Kambanaros, Maria; Messinis, Lambros; Anyfantis, Emmanouil

2012-01-01

We report the spoken and written naming of a bilingual speaker with aphasia in two languages that differ in morphological complexity, orthographic transparency and script Greek and English. AA presented with difficulties in spoken picture naming together with preserved written picture naming for action words in Greek. In English, AA showed similar performance across both tasks for action and object words, i.e. difficulties retrieving action and object names for both spoken and written naming. Our findings support the hypothesis that cognitive processes used for spoken and written naming are independent components of the language system and can be selectively impaired after brain injury. In the case of bilingual speakers, such processes impact on both languages. We conclude grammatical category is an organizing principle in bilingual dysgraphia.

Metal oxide nanostructures with hierarchical morphology

DOEpatents

Ren, Zhifeng; Lao, Jing Yu; Banerjee, Debasish

2007-11-13

The present invention relates generally to metal oxide materials with varied symmetrical nanostructure morphologies. In particular, the present invention provides metal oxide materials comprising one or more metallic oxides with three-dimensionally ordered nanostructural morphologies, including hierarchical morphologies. The present invention also provides methods for producing such metal oxide materials.

The algorithm for automatic detection of the calibration object

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artem, Kruglov; Irina, Ugfeld

2017-06-01

The problem of the automatic image calibration is considered in this paper. The most challenging task of the automatic calibration is a proper detection of the calibration object. The solving of this problem required the appliance of the methods and algorithms of the digital image processing, such as morphology, filtering, edge detection, shape approximation. The step-by-step process of the development of the algorithm and its adopting to the specific conditions of the log cuts in the image's background is presented. Testing of the automatic calibration module was carrying out under the conditions of the production process of the logging enterprise. Through the tests the average possibility of the automatic isolating of the calibration object is 86.1% in the absence of the type 1 errors. The algorithm was implemented in the automatic calibration module within the mobile software for the log deck volume measurement.

Morphological Awareness and Children's Writing: Accuracy, Error, and Invention

PubMed Central

McCutchen, Deborah; Stull, Sara

2014-01-01

This study examined the relationship between children's morphological awareness and their ability to produce accurate morphological derivations in writing. Fifth-grade U.S. students (n = 175) completed two writing tasks that invited or required morphological manipulation of words. We examined both accuracy and error, specifically errors in spelling and errors of the sort we termed morphological inventions, which entailed inappropriate, novel pairings of stems and suffixes. Regressions were used to determine the relationship between morphological awareness, morphological accuracy, and spelling accuracy, as well as between morphological awareness and morphological inventions. Linear regressions revealed that morphological awareness uniquely predicted children's generation of accurate morphological derivations, regardless of whether or not accurate spelling was required. A logistic regression indicated that morphological awareness was also uniquely predictive of morphological invention, with higher morphological awareness increasing the probability of morphological invention. These findings suggest that morphological knowledge may not only assist children with spelling during writing, but may also assist with word production via generative experimentation with morphological rules during sentence generation. Implications are discussed for the development of children's morphological knowledge and relationships with writing. PMID:25663748

Quantification of mitral valve morphology with three-dimensional echocardiography--can measurement lead to better management?

PubMed

Lee, Alex Pui-Wai; Fang, Fang; Jin, Chun-Na; Kam, Kevin Ka-Ho; Tsui, Gary K W; Wong, Kenneth K Y; Looi, Jen-Li; Wong, Randolph H L; Wan, Song; Sun, Jing Ping; Underwood, Malcolm J; Yu, Cheuk-Man

2014-01-01

The mitral valve (MV) has complex 3-dimensional (3D) morphology and motion. Advance in real-time 3D echocardiography (RT3DE) has revolutionized clinical imaging of the MV by providing clinicians with realistic visualization of the valve. Thus far, RT3DE of the MV structure and dynamics has adopted an approach that depends largely on subjective and qualitative interpretation of the 3D images of the valve, rather than objective and reproducible measurement. RT3DE combined with image-processing computer techniques provides precise segmentation and reliable quantification of the complex 3D morphology and rapid motion of the MV. This new approach to imaging may provide additional quantitative descriptions that are useful in diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making. Quantitative analysis of the MV using RT3DE has increased our understanding of the pathologic mechanism of degenerative, ischemic, functional, and rheumatic MV disease. Most recently, 3D morphologic quantification has entered into clinical use to provide more accurate diagnosis of MV disease and for planning surgery and transcatheter interventions. Current limitations of this quantitative approach to MV imaging include labor-intensiveness during image segmentation and lack of a clear definition of the clinical significance of many of the morphologic parameters. This review summarizes the current development and applications of quantitative analysis of the MV morphology using RT3DE.

Hemodynamic and morphological characteristics of unruptured posterior communicating artery aneurysms with oculomotor nerve palsy.

PubMed

Lv, Nan; Yu, Ying; Xu, Jinyu; Karmonik, Christof; Liu, Jianmin; Huang, Qinghai

2016-08-01

OBJECT Unruptured posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysms with oculomotor nerve palsy (ONP) have a very high risk of rupture. This study investigated the hemodynamic and morphological characteristics of intracranial aneurysms with high rupture risk by analyzing PCoA aneurysms with ONP. METHODS Fourteen unruptured PCoA aneurysms with ONP, 33 ruptured PCoA aneurysms, and 21 asymptomatic unruptured PCoA aneurysms were included in this study. The clinical, morphological, and hemodynamic characteristics were compared among the different groups. RESULTS The clinical characteristics did not differ among the 3 groups (p > 0.05), whereas the morphological and hemodynamic analyses showed that size, aspect ratio, size ratio, undulation index, nonsphericity index, ellipticity index, normalized wall shear stress (WSS), and percentage of low WSS area differed significantly (p < 0.05) among the 3 groups. Furthermore, multiple comparisons revealed that these parameters differed significantly between the ONP group and the asymptomatic unruptured group and between the ruptured group and the asymptomatic unruptured group, except for size, which differed significantly only between the ONP group and the asymptomatic unruptured group (p = 0.0005). No morphological or hemodynamic parameters differed between the ONP group and the ruptured group. CONCLUSIONS Unruptured PCoA aneurysms with ONP demonstrated a distinctive morphological-hemodynamic pattern that was significantly different compared with asymptomatic unruptured PCoA aneurysms and was similar to ruptured PCoA aneurysms. The larger size, more irregular shape, and lower WSS might be related to the high rupture risk of PCoA aneurysms.

Cryptic diversity: Two morphologically similar species of invasive apple snail in Peninsular Malaysia.

PubMed

Rama Rao, Suganiya; Liew, Thor-Seng; Yow, Yoon-Yen; Ratnayeke, Shyamala

2018-01-01

Invasive snails in the genus Pomacea have spread across Southeast Asia including Peninsular Malaysia. Their effects on natural and agricultural wetlands are appreciable, but species-specific effects are less clear because of morphological similarity among the species. Our objective was to establish diagnostic characteristics of Pomacea species in Malaysia using genetic and morphological criteria. The mitochondrial COI gene of 52 adult snails from eight localities in Peninsular Malaysia was amplified, sequenced, and analysed to verify species and phylogenetic relationships. Shells were compared using geometric morphometric and covariance analyses. Two monophyletic taxa, P. canaliculata and P. maculata, occurred in our samples. The mean ratio of shell height: aperture height (P = 0.042) and shell height: shell width (P = 0.007) was smaller in P. maculata. P. maculata co-occurred with P. canaliculata in five localities, but samples from three localities contained only P. canaliculata. This study is the first to confirm the presence of two of the most invasive species of Pomacea in Peninsular Malaysia using a molecular technique. P. canaliculata appears to be the more widespread species. Despite statistical differences, both quantitative and qualitative morphological characteristics demonstrated much interspecific overlap and intraspecific variability; thus, shell morphology alone cannot reliably verify species identity. Molecular techniques for distinguishing between these two highly invasive Pomacea species are needed to understand their specific ecological niches and to develop effective protocols for their management.

Cryptic diversity: Two morphologically similar species of invasive apple snail in Peninsular Malaysia

PubMed Central

Liew, Thor-Seng; Yow, Yoon-Yen; Ratnayeke, Shyamala

2018-01-01

Invasive snails in the genus Pomacea have spread across Southeast Asia including Peninsular Malaysia. Their effects on natural and agricultural wetlands are appreciable, but species-specific effects are less clear because of morphological similarity among the species. Our objective was to establish diagnostic characteristics of Pomacea species in Malaysia using genetic and morphological criteria. The mitochondrial COI gene of 52 adult snails from eight localities in Peninsular Malaysia was amplified, sequenced, and analysed to verify species and phylogenetic relationships. Shells were compared using geometric morphometric and covariance analyses. Two monophyletic taxa, P. canaliculata and P. maculata, occurred in our samples. The mean ratio of shell height: aperture height (P = 0.042) and shell height: shell width (P = 0.007) was smaller in P. maculata. P. maculata co-occurred with P. canaliculata in five localities, but samples from three localities contained only P. canaliculata. This study is the first to confirm the presence of two of the most invasive species of Pomacea in Peninsular Malaysia using a molecular technique. P. canaliculata appears to be the more widespread species. Despite statistical differences, both quantitative and qualitative morphological characteristics demonstrated much interspecific overlap and intraspecific variability; thus, shell morphology alone cannot reliably verify species identity. Molecular techniques for distinguishing between these two highly invasive Pomacea species are needed to understand their specific ecological niches and to develop effective protocols for their management. PMID:29734361

Factors influencing gypsum crystal morphology within a flue gas desulfurization vessel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Kinsey M.

Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is utilized by the coal--powered generating industry to safely eliminate sulfur dioxide. A FGD vessel (scrubber) synthetically creates gypsum crystals by combining limestone (CaCO3), SO2 flue gas, water and oxygen resulting in crystalline gypsum (CaSO4 · 2H2O), which can be sold for an economic return. Flat disk--like crystals, opposed to rod--like crystals, are hard to dewater, lowering economic return. The objectives were to investigate the cause of varying morphologies, understand the environment of precipitation, as well as identify correlations between operating conditions and resulting unfavorable gypsum crystal growth. Results show evidence supporting airborne impurities due to the onsite coal pile, the abundance and size of CaCO 3 and high Ca:SO4 ratios within the scrubber as possible factors controlling gypsum crystal morphology. In conclusion, regularly purging the system and incorporating a filter on the air intake valve will provide an economic byproduct avoiding costly landfill deposits.

[Survivability and morphologic anomalies in higher plants wolffia arrhiza following exposure to heavy ions of the galactic space radiation].

PubMed

Nevzgodina, L V; Kaminskaia, E V; Maksimova, E N; Fatsius, R; Sherrer, K; Shtraukh, V

2000-01-01

Experimental data on the effects of spaceflight factors, space radiation in particular, on higher plant Wolffia arrhiza firstly exposed in the "Bioblock" assembly and measurements made by physical track detectors of heavy ions (HI) are presented. Death of individual Wolffia plants and morphologic anomalies were the basic evaluation criteria. The peculiar feature of this biological object consists in the possibility to reveal delayed effects after 1-2 months since space flight as Wolffia has a high rate of vegetative reproduction. German investigators through microscopic examination of track detectors performed identification of individual plants affected by HI. With specially developed software and a coordinate system of supposition of biolayers and track detectors with the accuracy of 1 micron, tracks and even separate sections of individual HI tracks were determined in biological objects. Thereafter each Wolffia plant hit by HI was examined and data were compared with other variants. As a result, correlation between Wolffia death rate and morphologic anomalies were determined at different times post flight and topography of HI tracks was found. It is hypothesized that morphological anomalies in Walffia were caused by direct hits of plant germs by heavy ions or close passage of particles.

The Pearson-Readhead Survey of Compact Extragalactic Radio Sources from Space. II. Analysis of Source Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lister, M. L.; Tingay, S. J.; Preston, R. A.

2001-06-01

We have performed a multidimensional correlation analysis on the observed properties of a statistically complete core-selected sample of compact radio-loud active galactic nuclei based on data from the VLBI Space Observing Programme (Paper I) and previously published studies. Our sample is drawn from the well-studied Pearson-Readhead (PR) survey and is ideally suited for investigating the general effects of relativistic beaming in compact radio sources. In addition to confirming many previously known correlations, we have discovered several new trends that lend additional support to the beaming model. These trends suggest that the most highly beamed sources in core-selected samples tend to have (1) high optical polarizations; (2) large parsec- kiloparsec-scale jet misalignments; (3) prominent VLBI core components; (4) one-sided, core, or halo radio morphology on kiloparsec scales; (5) narrow emission line equivalent widths; and (6) a strong tendency for intraday variability at radio wavelengths. We have used higher resolution space and ground-based VLBI maps to confirm the bimodality of the jet misalignment distribution for the PR survey and find that the sources with aligned parsec- and kiloparsec-scale jets generally have arcsecond-scale radio emission on both sides of the core. The aligned sources also have broader emission line widths. We find evidence that the BL Lacertae objects in the PR survey are all highly beamed and have very similar properties to the high optically polarized quasars, with the exception of smaller redshifts. A cluster analysis on our data shows that after partialing out the effects of redshift, the luminosities of our sample objects in various wave bands are generally well correlated with each other but not with other source properties.

Phonological bases for L2 morphological learning.

PubMed

Hu, Chieh-Fang

2010-08-01

Two experiments examined the hypothesis that L1 phonological awareness plays a role in children's ability to extract morphological patterns of English as L2 from the auditory input. In Experiment 1, 84 Chinese-speaking third graders were tested on whether they extracted the alternation pattern between the base and the derived form (e.g., inflate - inflation) from multiple exposures. Experiment 2 further assessed children's ability to use morphological cues for syntactic categorization through exposures to novel morphologically varying forms (e.g., lutate vs. lutant) presented in the corresponding sentential positions (noun vs. verb). The third-grade EFL learners revealed emergent sensitivity to the morphological cues in the input but failed in fully processing intraword variations. The learners with poorer L1 PA were likely to encounter difficulties in identifying morphological alternation rules and in discovering the syntactic properties of L2 morphology. In addition to L1 PA, L2 vocabulary knowledge also contributed significantly to L2 morphological learning.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Cladosporium cladosporioides species complex causing pecan tree leaf spot.

PubMed

Walker, C; Muniz, M F B; Rolim, J M; Martins, R R O; Rosenthal, V C; Maciel, C G; Mezzomo, R; Reiniger, L R S

2016-09-16

The objective of this study was to characterize species of the Cladosporium cladosporioides complex isolated from pecan trees (Carya illinoinensis) with symptoms of leaf spot, based on morphological and molecular approaches. Morphological attributes were assessed using monosporic cultures on potato dextrose agar medium, which were examined for mycelial growth, sporulation, color, and conidia and ramoconidia size. Molecular characterization comprised isolation of DNA and subsequent amplification of the translation elongation factor 1α (TEF-1α) region. Three species of the C. cladosporioides complex were identified: C. cladosporioides, Cladosporium pseudocladosporioides, and Cladosporium subuliforme. Sporulation was the most important characteristic differentiating species of this genus. However, morphological features must be considered together with molecular analysis, as certain characters are indistinguishable between species. TEF-1αcan be effectively used to identify and group isolates belonging to the C. cladosporioides complex. The present study provides an important example of a methodology to ascertain similarity between isolates of this complex causing leaf spot in pecan trees, which should facilitate future pathogenicity studies.

The effect of filler loading and morphology on the mechanical properties of contemporary composites.

PubMed

Kim, Kyo-Han; Ong, Joo L; Okuno, Osamu

2002-06-01

Little information exists regarding the filler morphology and loading of composites with respect to their effects on selected mechanical properties and fracture toughness. The objectives of this study were to: (1) classify commercial composites according to filler morphology, (2) evaluate the influence of filler morphology on filler loading, and (3) evaluate the effect of filler morphology and loading on the hardness, flexural strength, flexural modulus, and fracture toughness of contemporary composites. Field emission scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to classify 3 specimens from each of 14 commercial composites into 4 groups according to filler morphology. The specimens (each 5 x 2.5 x 15 mm) were derived from the fractured remnants after the fracture toughness test. Filler weight content was determined by the standard ash method, and the volume content was calculated using the weight percentage and density of the filler and matrix components. Microhardness was measured with a Vickers hardness tester, and flexural strength and modulus were measured with a universal testing machine. A 3-point bending test (ASTM E-399) was used to determine the fracture toughness of each composite. Data were compared with analysis of variance followed by Duncan's multiple range test, both at the P<.05 level of significance. The composites were classified into 4 categories according to filler morphology: prepolymerized, irregular-shaped, both prepolymerized and irregular-shaped, and round particles. Filler loading was influenced by filler morphology. Composites containing prepolymerized filler particles had the lowest filler content (25% to 51% of filler volume), whereas composites containing round particles had the highest filler content (59% to 60% of filler volume). The mechanical properties of the composites were related to their filler content. Composites with the highest filler by volume exhibited the highest flexural strength (120 to 129 MPa

Effect of pulsed Nd:YAG on dentin morphological changes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moriyama, Eduardo H.; Zangaro, Renato A.; Villaverde, Antonio G. J. B.; Watanabe-Sei, Ii; Munin, Egberto; Sasaki, Luis H.; Otsuka, Daniel K.; Lobo, Paulo D. d. C.; Pacheco, Marcos T. T.; Junior, Durval R.

2002-06-01

Infrared lasers have been used for several clinical applications in dentistry, including laser ablation, oral surgeries and dentin hypersensitivity treatment. Despite of dentin low absorption coefficient in the near infrared spectrum, Nd:YAG laser radiation ((lambda) = 1064 nm) is able to melt the human dentin surface resulting in dentin tubules closure that can suppress the symptoms of dentin hypersensitivity pathology. Objectives: This study aims to analyze, through SEM technique, the morphological changes in dentin surface after Nd:YAG laser irradiation using different parameters in energy distribution. Materials and Methods: In this study sixteen human dentin samples were submitted to Nd:YAG laser radiation using a total energy of 900mJ distributed in one, two, three or six laser pulses with energy for each pulse of 900, 450, 300 or 150 mJ respectively. All the samples were irradiated with laser pulse width of 90ms, pulse intervals of 300 ms and spot size area of 0,005 cm2. Results: SEM analysis suggests that differences in energy distribution results in morphological differences even though the same energy is used for all the samples.

Robust visual object tracking with interleaved segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abel, Peter; Kieritz, Hilke; Becker, Stefan; Arens, Michael

2017-10-01

In this paper we present a new approach for tracking non-rigid, deformable objects by means of merging an on-line boosting-based tracker and a fast foreground background segmentation. We extend an on-line boosting- based tracker, which uses axes-aligned bounding boxes with fixed aspect-ratio as tracking states. By constructing a confidence map from the on-line boosting-based tracker and unifying this map with a confidence map, which is obtained from a foreground background segmentation algorithm, we build a superior confidence map. For constructing a rough confidence map of a new frame based on on-line boosting, we employ the responses of the strong classifier as well as the single weak classifier responses that were built before during the updating step. This confidence map provides a rough estimation of the object's position and dimension. In order to refine this confidence map, we build a fine, pixel-wisely segmented confidence map and merge both maps together. Our segmentation method is color-histogram-based and provides a fine and fast image segmentation. By means of back-projection and the Bayes' rule, we obtain a confidence value for every pixel. The rough and the fine confidence maps are merged together by building an adaptively weighted sum of both maps. The weights are obtained by utilizing the variances of both confidence maps. Further, we apply morphological operators in the merged confidence map in order to reduce the noise. In the resulting map we estimate the object localization and dimension via continuous adaptive mean shift. Our approach provides a rotated rectangle as tracking states, which enables a more precise description of non-rigid, deformable objects than axes-aligned bounding boxes. We evaluate our tracker on the visual object tracking (VOT) benchmark dataset 2016.

Tailoring vessel morphology in vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gould, Daniel Joseph

Tissue engineering is a rapidly growing field which seeks to provide alternatives to organ transplantation in order to address the increasing need for transplantable tissues. One huge hurdle in this effort is the provision of thick tissues; this hurdle exists because currently there is no way to provide prevascularized or rapidly vascularizable scaffolds. To design thick, vascularized tissues, scaffolds are needed that can induce vessels which are similar to the microvasculature found in normal tissues. Angiogenic biomaterials are being developed to provide useful scaffolds to address this problem. In this thesis angiogenic and cell signaling and adhesion factors were incorporated into a biomimetic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel system. The composition of these hydrogels was precisely tuned to induce the formation of differing vessel morphology. To sensitively measure induced microvascular morphology and to compare it to native microvessels in several tissues, this thesis developed an image-based tool for quantification of scale invariant and classical measures of vessel morphology. The tool displayed great utility in the comparison of native vessels and remodeling vessels in normal tissues. To utilize this tool to tune the vessel response in vivo, Flk1::myr-mCherry fluorescently labeled mice were implanted with Platelet Derived Growth Factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF-2) containing PEG-based hydrogels in a modified mouse corneal angiogenesis assay. Resulting vessels were imaged with confocal microscopy, analyzed with the image based tool created in this thesis to compare morphological differences between treatment groups, and used to create a linear relationship between space filling parameters and dose of growth factor release. Morphological parameters of native mouse tissue vessels were then compared to the linear fit to calculate the dose of growth factors needed to induce vessels similar in morphology to native vessels

Optimization of pore structure and particle morphology of mesoporous silica for antibody adsorption for use in affinity chromatography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hikosaka, Ryouichi; Nagata, Fukue; Tomita, Masahiro; Kato, Katsuya

2016-10-01

Antibodies have received significant attention for use as antibody drugs, because they bind the objective protein (antigen) via antigen-antibody reactions. Recently, many reports have appeared on various monoclonal antibodies that recognize a single antigen. In this study, monoclonal antibodies are used as adsorbates on mesoporous silica (MPS) for affinity chromatography. MPS has high surface area and large pore volume; moreover, pore diameter, pore structure, and particle morphology are relatively easy to tune by adjusting the conditions of synthesis. The pore structure (two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal and three-dimensional cubic) and particle morphology (spherical and polyhedral) of MPS are optimized for use in a monoclonal antibody/MPS composite. When anti-IgG (one of the monoclonal antibodies) adsorbs on the MPS material and IgG (antigen) binds to anti-IgG/MPS composites, MCM-41p with a 2D-hexagonal pore structure and polyhedral particle morphology has the highest IgG binding efficiency. In addition, the antibody/MPS composites remain stable in chaotropic and low-pH solutions and can be cycled at least five times without decreasing IgG elution. In purification and removal tests, the use of the antibody/MPS composites allows only the objective protein from protein mixtures to be bound and eluted.

Self-generated morphology in lagoon reefs

PubMed Central

Hamblin, Michael G.

2015-01-01

The three-dimensional form of a coral reef develops through interactions and feedbacks between its constituent organisms and their environment. Reef morphology therefore contains a potential wealth of ecological information, accessible if the relationships between morphology and ecology can be decoded. Traditionally, reef morphology has been attributed to external controls such as substrate topography or hydrodynamic influences. Little is known about inherent reef morphology in the absence of external control. Here we use reef growth simulations, based on observations in the cellular reefs of Western Australia’s Houtman Abrolhos Islands, to show that reef morphology is fundamentally determined by the mechanical behaviour of the reef-building organisms themselves—specifically their tendency to either remain in place or to collapse. Reef-building organisms that tend to remain in place, such as massive and encrusting corals or coralline algae, produce nodular reefs, whereas those that tend to collapse, such as branching Acropora, produce cellular reefs. The purest reef growth forms arise in sheltered lagoons dominated by a single type of reef builder, as in the branching Acropora-dominated lagoons of the Abrolhos. In these situations reef morphology can be considered a phenotype of the predominant reef building organism. The capacity to infer coral type from reef morphology can potentially be used to identify and map specific coral habitat in remotely sensed images. More generally, identifying ecological mechanisms underlying other examples of self-generated reef morphology can potentially improve our understanding of present-day reef ecology, because any ecological process capable of shaping a reef will almost invariably be an important process in real time on the living reef. PMID:26175962

Foot dimensions and morphology in healthy weight, overweight and obese males.

PubMed

Price, Carina; Nester, Christopher

2016-08-01

Overweight and obesity are increasing in prevalence. However, despite reports of poor foot health, the influence of obesity and overweight on adult foot morphology has received limited attention. The objective of this work is to accurately and appropriately quantify the foot morphology of adults who are overweight and obese. The foot morphology of 23 healthy weight (BMI=22.9kg.m(-2)), overweight (27.5kg.m(-2)) and obese (32.9kg.m(-2)) age (60years) matched males was quantified using a 3D scanner (all size UK 9). Data analysis computed normalised (to foot length) standard anatomical measures, and widths, heights and circumferences of 31 evenly spaced cross-sections of right feet. Anatomical measures of foot, ball and heel width, ball and heel circumference and ball height were all greater in the obese group than the healthy weight (P<0.05). Cross-sectional measures were significantly wider than the healthy group for the majority of measures from 14 to 67% (P=0.025-1.000) of heel-to-toe length. Also, the obese group had significantly higher midfoot regions (P=0.024-0.025). This increased foot height was not evident from anatomical measures, which were not sensitive enough to detect dimensional differences in this foot region. Feet of obese adults differ from healthy and overweight individuals, notably they are wider. Data needs to avoid reliance upon discrete anatomical landmarks to describe foot morphology. In the obese, changes in foot shape do not coincide with traditional anatomical landmarks and more comprehensive foot shape data are required to inform footwear design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intraspecific Genetic Admixture and the Morphological Diversification of an Estuarine Fish Population Complex

PubMed Central

Legault, Michel

2015-01-01

The North-east American Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) is composed of two glacial races first identified through the spatial distribution of two distinct mtDNA lineages. Contemporary breeding populations of smelt in the St. Lawrence estuary comprise contrasting mixtures of both lineages, suggesting that the two races came into secondary contact in this estuary. The overall objective of this study was to assess the role of intraspecific genetic admixture in the morphological diversification of the estuarine rainbow smelt population complex. The morphology of mixed-ancestry populations varied as a function of the relative contribution of the two races to estuarine populations, supporting the hypothesis of genetic admixture. Populations comprising both ancestral mtDNA races did not exhibit intermediate morphologies relative to pure populations but rather exhibited many traits that exceeded the parental trait values, consistent with the hypothesis of transgressive segregation. Evidence for genetic admixture at the level of the nuclear gene pool, however, provided only partial support for this hypothesis. Variation at nuclear AFLP markers revealed clear evidence of the two corresponding mtDNA glacial races. The admixture of the two races at the nuclear level is only pronounced in mixed-ancestry populations dominated by one of the mtDNA lineages, the same populations showing the greatest degree of morphological diversification and population structure. In contrast, mixed-ancestry populations dominated by the alternate mtDNA lineage showed little evidence of introgression of the nuclear genome, little morphological diversification and little contemporary population genetic structure. These results only partially support the hypothesis of transgressive segregation and may be the result of the differential effects of natural selection acting on admixed genomes from different sources. PMID:25856193

The influence of morphological awareness on reading and writing: a systematic review.

PubMed

Silva, Ainoã Athaide Macedo; Martins-Reis, Vanessa de Oliveira

2017-02-16

this study aimed to perform a systematic review of national and international studies about the relationship between morphological awareness, reading/writing, reading comprehension, and spelling. a search for national and international literature was carried out using databases Medline (via PubMed) and Portal de Periódicos da Capes (Eric, PsycINFO, LILACS, SciELO) from August to September 2015. the inclusion criteria were: studies that answered the guiding question and addressed the subject matter established by the descriptors and keywords. Studies with animals, laboratories, opinion/expert pieces, case series, case reports and review studies were excluded. the following markers were considered: type and objective of the study, the skills related to morphological awareness (reading, writing, reading comprehension and spelling), tests performed, and their main results. the search carried out in the pre-established databases with descriptors and free terms resulted in 203 articles. The search in PubMed resulted in 81 studies, and in Portal de Periódicos Capes, 122. Of the total, 154 were excluded according to the title and abstract, whereas 39 were excluded upon reading the full text. This allowed for the analysis of 10 articles. children with better scores in the morphological awareness test show better results in reading and writing across all school grades.

Variation in tooth morphology of Gorilla gorilla.

PubMed

Uchida, A

1998-01-01

Gorilla gorilla exemplifies a species that shows considerable variation in habitat, behaviour, genetic structure and morphology. This study examines variation of dental morphology in gorillas. Despite the marked size dimorphism, there are no significant shape differences between the sexes within subspecies. Differences in dental morphology, including tooth cusp proportions between the western G. g. gorilla and the eastern G. g. beringei are considerable. Although more similar to G. g. beringei than to the western G. g. gorilla, G. g. graueri also shows distinct morphological features. This indicates that the morphology of G. g. graueri is not merely intermediate, and genetic isolation between the two eastern subspecies could have had a substantial influence. Such extensive variation in dental morphology in Gorilla gorilla can be considered to be the result of an interesting combination of factors, including local dietary adaptations.

Phylogenetic mapping of bacterial morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Siefert, J. L.; Fox, G. E.

1998-01-01

The availability of a meaningful molecular phylogeny for bacteria provides a context for examining the historical significance of various developments in bacterial evolution. Herein, the classical morphological descriptions of selected members of the domain Bacteria are mapped upon the genealogical ancestry deduced from comparison of small-subunit rRNA sequences. For the species examined in this study, a distinct pattern emerges which indicates that the coccus shape has arisen and accumulated independently multiple times in separate lineages and typically survived as a persistent end-state morphology. At least two other morphologies persist but have evolved only once. This study demonstrates that although bacterial morphology is not useful in defining bacterial phylogeny, it is remarkably consistent with that phylogeny once it is known. An examination of the experimental evidence available for morphogenesis as well as microbial fossil evidence corroborates these findings. It is proposed that the accumulation of persistent morphologies is a result of the biophysical properties of peptidoglycan and their genetic control, and that an evolved body-plan strategy based on peptidoglycan may have been a fate-sealing step in the evolution of Bacteria. More generally, this study illustrates that significant evolutionary insights can be obtained by examining biological and biochemical data in the context of a reliable phylogenetic structure.

Target-object integration, attention distribution, and object orientation interactively modulate object-based selection.

PubMed

Al-Janabi, Shahd; Greenberg, Adam S

2016-10-01

The representational basis of attentional selection can be object-based. Various studies have suggested, however, that object-based selection is less robust than spatial selection across experimental paradigms. We sought to examine the manner by which the following factors might explain this variation: Target-Object Integration (targets 'on' vs. part 'of' an object), Attention Distribution (narrow vs. wide), and Object Orientation (horizontal vs. vertical). In Experiment 1, participants discriminated between two targets presented 'on' an object in one session, or presented as a change 'of' an object in another session. There was no spatial cue-thus, attention was initially focused widely-and the objects were horizontal or vertical. We found evidence of object-based selection only when targets constituted a change 'of' an object. Additionally, object orientation modulated the sign of object-based selection: We observed a same-object advantage for horizontal objects, but a same-object cost for vertical objects. In Experiment 2, an informative cue preceded a single target presented 'on' an object or as a change 'of' an object (thus, attention was initially focused narrowly). Unlike in Experiment 1, we found evidence of object-based selection independent of target-object integration. We again found that the sign of selection was modulated by the objects' orientation. This result may reflect a meridian effect, which emerged due to anisotropies in the cortical representations when attention is oriented endogenously. Experiment 3 revealed that object orientation did not modulate object-based selection when attention was oriented exogenously. Our findings suggest that target-object integration, attention distribution, and object orientation modulate object-based selection, but only in combination.

Wetting morphologies on randomly oriented fibers.

PubMed

Sauret, Alban; Boulogne, François; Soh, Beatrice; Dressaire, Emilie; Stone, Howard A

2015-06-01

We characterize the different morphologies adopted by a drop of liquid placed on two randomly oriented fibers, which is a first step toward understanding the wetting of fibrous networks. The present work reviews previous modeling for parallel and touching crossed fibers and extends it to an arbitrary orientation of the fibers characterized by the tilting angle and the minimum spacing distance. Depending on the volume of liquid, the spacing distance between fibers and the angle between the fibers, we highlight that the liquid can adopt three different equilibrium morphologies: 1) a column morphology in which the liquid spreads between the fibers, 2) a mixed morphology where a drop grows at one end of the column or 3) a single drop located at the node. We capture the different morphologies observed using an analytical model that predicts the equilibrium configuration of the liquid based on the geometry of the fibers and the volume of liquid.

The correlation dimension: a useful objective measure of the transient visual evoked potential?

PubMed

Boon, Mei Ying; Henry, Bruce I; Suttle, Catherine M; Dain, Stephen J

2008-01-14

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) may be analyzed by examination of the morphology of their components, such as negative (N) and positive (P) peaks. However, methods that rely on component identification may be unreliable when dealing with responses of complex and variable morphology; therefore, objective methods are also useful. One potentially useful measure of the VEP is the correlation dimension. Its relevance to the visual system was investigated by examining its behavior when applied to the transient VEP in response to a range of chromatic contrasts (42%, two times psychophysical threshold, at psychophysical threshold) and to the visually unevoked response (zero contrast). Tests of nonlinearity (e.g., surrogate testing) were conducted. The correlation dimension was found to be negatively correlated with a stimulus property (chromatic contrast) and a known linear measure (the Fourier-derived VEP amplitude). It was also found to be related to visibility and perception of the stimulus such that the dimension reached a maximum for most of the participants at psychophysical threshold. The latter suggests that the correlation dimension may be useful as a diagnostic parameter to estimate psychophysical threshold and may find application in the objective screening and monitoring of congenital and acquired color vision deficiencies, with or without associated disease processes.

Structural and morphological approach of Co-Cr dental alloys processed by alternative manufacturing technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Porojan, Sorin; Bîrdeanu, Mihaela; Savencu, Cristina; Porojan, Liliana

2017-08-01

The integration of digitalized processing technologies in traditional dental restorations manufacturing is an emerging application. The objective of this study was to identify the different structural and morphological characteristics of Co-Cr dental alloys processed by alternative manufacturing techniques in order to understand the influence of microstructure on restorations properties and their clinical behavior. Metallic specimens made of Co-Cr dental alloys were prepared using traditional casting (CST), and computerized milling (MIL), selective laser sintering (SLS) and selective laser melting (SLM). The structural information of the samples was obtained by X-ray diffraction, the morphology and the topography of the samples were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscope. Given that the microstructure was significantly different, further differences in the clinical behavior of prosthetic restorations manufactured using additive techniques are anticipated.

Semantic processing during morphological priming: an ERP study.

PubMed

Beyersmann, Elisabeth; Iakimova, Galina; Ziegler, Johannes C; Colé, Pascale

2014-09-04

Previous research has yielded conflicting results regarding the onset of semantic processing during morphological priming. The present study was designed to further explore the time-course of morphological processing using event-related potentials (ERPs). We conducted a primed lexical decision study comparing a morphological (LAVAGE - laver [washing - wash]), a semantic (LINGE - laver [laundry - wash]), an orthographic (LAVANDE - laver [lavender - wash]), and an unrelated control condition (HOSPICE - laver [nursing home - wash]), using the same targets across the four priming conditions. The behavioral data showed significant effects of morphological and semantic priming, with the magnitude of morphological priming being significantly larger than the magnitude of semantic priming. The ERP data revealed significant morphological but no semantic priming at 100-250 ms. Furthermore, a reduction of the N400 amplitude in the morphological condition compared to the semantic and orthographic condition demonstrates that the morphological priming effect was not entirely due to the semantic or orthographic overlap between the prime and the target. The present data reflect an early process of semantically blind morphological decomposition, and a later process of morpho-semantic decomposition, which we discuss in the context of recent morphological processing theories. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using morphological awareness instruction to improve written language skills.

PubMed

Apel, Kenn; Werfel, Krystal

2014-10-01

Written English is a morphophonemic language. Researchers have documented that a conscious awareness of the morphological structure of English morphology is predictive of students' written language skills and that morphological awareness instruction leads to improvements in morphological awareness and in other written language skills. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide specific information to clinical scientists and other educators for integrating morphological awareness instruction into their written language instruction. The authors first define morphological awareness and provide an overview of the research on the effects of morphological awareness intervention on improving morphological awareness and written language skills. Measures used to assess morphological awareness ability are then discussed, followed by suggestions for how clinical scientists and other educators can provide morphological awareness instruction to improve the written language skills of the students they serve. By integrating morphological awareness instruction into the services they provide, clinical scientists and other educators will be providing their students with a strong tool to aid written language skills.

QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract: In toxicology, the role of quantitative assessment of brain morphology can be understood in the context of two types of treatment-related alterations. One type of alteration is specifically associated with treatment and is not observed in control animals. Measurement ...

Fiber-optic confocal reflectance microscope with miniature objective for in vivo imaging of human tissues.

PubMed

Sung, Kung-Bin; Liang, Chen; Descour, Michael; Collier, Tom; Follen, Michele; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

2002-10-01

We have built a fiber-optic confocal reflectance microscope capable of imaging human tissues in near real time. Miniaturization of the objective lens and the mechanical components for positioning and axially scanning the objective enables the device to be used in inner organs of the human body. The lateral resolution is 2 micrometers and axial resolution is 10 micrometers. Confocal images of fixed tissue biopsies and the human lip in vivo have been obtained at 15 frames/s without any fluorescent stains. Both cell morphology and tissue architecture can be appreciated from images obtained with this microscope.

Flexible architecture of inducible morphological plasticity.

PubMed

Kishida, Osamu; Nishimura, Kinya

2006-05-01

1. Predator-induced morphological defences are produced in response to an emergent predator regime. In natural systems, prey organisms usually experience temporal shifting of the composition of the predator assemblage and of the intensity of predation risk from each predator species. Although, a repetitive morphological change in response to a sequential shift of the predator regime such as alteration of the predator species or diminution of the predation risk may be adaptive, such flexible inducible morphological defences are not ubiquitous. 2. We experimentally addressed whether a flexible inducible morphological defence is accomplished in response to serial changes in the predation regime, using a model prey species which adopt different defensive morphological phenotypes in response to different predator species. Rana pirica (Matsui) tadpoles increased body depth and tail depth against the predatory larval salamander Hynobius retardatus (Dunn); on the other hand, they only increased tail depth against the predatory larval dragonfly Aeshna nigroflava (Martin). 3. Rana pirica tadpoles with the predator-specific phenotypes were subjected to removal or exchange of the predator species. After removal of the predator species, tadpoles with each predator-specific phenotype changed their phenotype to the nondefensive basic one, suggesting that both predator-specific phenotypes are costly to maintain. After an exchange of the predator species, tadpoles with each predator-specific phenotype reciprocally, flexibly shifted their phenotype to the now more suitable predator-specific one only by modifying their body part. The partial modification can effectively reduce time and energy expenditures involved in repetitive morphological changes, and therefore suggest that the costs of the flexible morphological changes are reduced.

Phalangeal morphology of Shanghuang fossil primates.

PubMed

Gebo, Daniel L; Dagosto, Marian; Ni, Xijun; Beard, K Christopher

2017-12-01

Here, we describe hundreds of isolated phalanges attributed to middle Eocene fossil primates from the Shanghuang fissure-fillings from southern Jiangsu Province, China. Extending knowledge based on previous descriptions of postcranial material from Shanghuang, this sample of primate finger and toe bones includes proximal phalanges, middle phalanges, and over three hundred nail-bearing distal phalanges. Most of the isolated proximal and middle phalanges fall within the range of small-bodied individuals, suggesting an allocation to the smaller haplorhine primates identified at Shanghuang, including eosimiids. In contrast to the proximal and middle phalanges from Shanghuang, there are a variety of shapes, sizes, and possible taxonomic allocations for the distal phalanges. Two distal phalangeal morphologies are numerically predominant at Shanghuang. The sample of larger bodied specimens is best allocated to the medium-sized adapiform Adapoides while the smaller ones are allocated to eosimiids on the basis of the commonality of dental and tarsal remains of these taxa at Shanghuang. The digit morphology of Adapoides is similar morphologically to that of notharctines and cercamoniines, while eosimiid digit morphology is unlike living anthropoids. Other primate distal phalangeal morphologies at Shanghuang include grooming "claws" as well as specimens attributable to tarsiids, tarsiiforms, the genus Macrotarsius, and a variety of adapiforms. One group of distal phalanges at Shanghuang is morphologically indistinguishable from those of living anthropoids. All of the phalanges suggest long fingers and toes for the fossil primates of Shanghaung, and their digit morphology implies arboreality with well-developed digital flexion and strong, grasping hands and feet. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beyond native block copolymer morphologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Doerk, Gregory S.; Yager, Kevin G.

Block copolymers self-assemble into a range of canonical morphologies. Here, we review a broad range of techniques for inducing these materials to form structures beyond the ‘native’ morphologies seen in the bulk equilibrium phase diagram. Methods that exploit intrinsic encoding (molecular design) and external enforcement (directed assembly) are compared.

Beyond native block copolymer morphologies

DOE PAGES

Doerk, Gregory S.; Yager, Kevin G.

2017-09-20

Block copolymers self-assemble into a range of canonical morphologies. Here, we review a broad range of techniques for inducing these materials to form structures beyond the ‘native’ morphologies seen in the bulk equilibrium phase diagram. Methods that exploit intrinsic encoding (molecular design) and external enforcement (directed assembly) are compared.

A Catalog of Photometric Redshift and the Distribution of Broad Galaxy Morphologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paul, Nicholas; Virag, Nicholas; Shamir, Lior

2018-06-01

We created a catalog of photometric redshift of ~3,000,000 SDSS galaxies annotated by their broad morphology. The photometric redshift was optimized by testing and comparing several pattern recognition algorithms and variable selection strategies, trained and tested on a subset of the galaxies in the catalog that had spectra. The galaxies in the catalog have i magnitude brighter than 18 and Petrosian radius greater than 5.5''. The majority of these objects are not included in previous SDSS photometric redshift catalogs such as the photoz table of SDSS DR12. Analysis of the catalog shows that the number of galaxies in the catalog that are visually spiral increases until redshift of ~0.085, where it peaks and starts to decrease. It also shows that the number of spiral galaxies compared to elliptical galaxies drops as the redshift increases. The catalog is publicly available at https://figshare.com/articles/Morphology_and_photometric_redshift_catalog/4833593

The morphology and adhesion mechanism of Octopus vulgaris suckers.

PubMed

Tramacere, Francesca; Beccai, Lucia; Kuba, Michael; Gozzi, Alessandro; Bifone, Angelo; Mazzolai, Barbara

2013-01-01

The octopus sucker represents a fascinating natural system performing adhesion on different terrains and substrates. Octopuses use suckers to anchor the body to the substrate or to grasp, investigate and manipulate objects, just to mention a few of their functions. Our study focuses on the morphology and adhesion mechanism of suckers in Octopus vulgaris. We use three different techniques (MRI, ultrasonography, and histology) and a 3D reconstruction approach to contribute knowledge on both morphology and functionality of the sucker structure in O. vulgaris. The results of our investigation are two-fold. First, we observe some morphological differences with respect to the octopus species previously studied (i.e., Octopus joubini, Octopus maya, Octopus bimaculoides/bimaculatus and Eledone cirrosa). In particular, in O. vulgaris the acetabular chamber, that is a hollow spherical cavity in other octopuses, shows an ellipsoidal cavity which roof has an important protuberance with surface roughness. Second, based on our findings, we propose a hypothesis on the sucker adhesion mechanism in O. vulgaris. We hypothesize that the process of continuous adhesion is achieved by sealing the orifice between acetabulum and infundibulum portions via the acetabular protuberance. We suggest this to take place while the infundibular part achieves a completely flat shape; and, by sustaining adhesion through preservation of sucker configuration. In vivo ultrasonographic recordings support our proposed adhesion model by showing the sucker in action. Such an underlying physical mechanism offers innovative potential cues for developing bioinspired artificial adhesion systems. Furthermore, we think that it could possibly represent a useful approach in order to investigate any potential difference in the ecology and in the performance of adhesion by different species.

The Morphology and Adhesion Mechanism of Octopus vulgaris Suckers

PubMed Central

Tramacere, Francesca; Beccai, Lucia; Kuba, Michael; Gozzi, Alessandro; Bifone, Angelo; Mazzolai, Barbara

2013-01-01

The octopus sucker represents a fascinating natural system performing adhesion on different terrains and substrates. Octopuses use suckers to anchor the body to the substrate or to grasp, investigate and manipulate objects, just to mention a few of their functions. Our study focuses on the morphology and adhesion mechanism of suckers in Octopus vulgaris. We use three different techniques (MRI, ultrasonography, and histology) and a 3D reconstruction approach to contribute knowledge on both morphology and functionality of the sucker structure in O. vulgaris. The results of our investigation are two-fold. First, we observe some morphological differences with respect to the octopus species previously studied (i.e., Octopus joubini, Octopus maya, Octopus bimaculoides/bimaculatus and Eledone cirrosa). In particular, in O. vulgaris the acetabular chamber, that is a hollow spherical cavity in other octopuses, shows an ellipsoidal cavity which roof has an important protuberance with surface roughness. Second, based on our findings, we propose a hypothesis on the sucker adhesion mechanism in O. vulgaris. We hypothesize that the process of continuous adhesion is achieved by sealing the orifice between acetabulum and infundibulum portions via the acetabular protuberance. We suggest this to take place while the infundibular part achieves a completely flat shape; and, by sustaining adhesion through preservation of sucker configuration. In vivo ultrasonographic recordings support our proposed adhesion model by showing the sucker in action. Such an underlying physical mechanism offers innovative potential cues for developing bioinspired artificial adhesion systems. Furthermore, we think that it could possibly represent a useful approach in order to investigate any potential difference in the ecology and in the performance of adhesion by different species. PMID:23750233

Morphological Type, Spatial Reference, and Language Transfer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarvis, Scott; Odlin, Terence

2000-01-01

Clarifies issues related to the transferability of bound morphology and reports on an empirical investigation of morphological transfer in the spatial expressions of Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking adolescent learners of English. Results indicate that both the bound agglutinative morphology of the Finnish spatial system and the free,…

Regular Morphology and the Lexicon.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bybee, Joan

1995-01-01

This article compares three models of morphological storage and processing: (1) the dual-processing model of Pinker, Marcus and others; (2) the connectionist model of Marchman, Plunkett, Seidenberg, and others; and (3) the network model of Bybee and Langacker. Type frequency of a morphological pattern is shown to be important in determining…

Morphological Dynamics in Compound Processing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuperman, Victor; Bertram, Raymond; Baayen, R. Harald

2008-01-01

This paper explores the time-course of morphological processing of trimorphemic Finnish compounds. We find evidence for the parallel access to full-forms and morphological constituents diagnosed by the early effects of compound frequency, as well as early effects of left constituent frequency and family size. We also observe an interaction between…

FlowerMorphology: fully automatic flower morphometry software.

PubMed

Rozov, Sergey M; Deineko, Elena V; Deyneko, Igor V

2018-05-01

The software FlowerMorphology is designed for automatic morphometry of actinomorphic flowers. The novel complex parameters of flowers calculated by FlowerMorphology allowed us to quantitatively characterize a polyploid series of tobacco. Morphological differences of plants representing closely related lineages or mutants are mostly quantitative. Very often, there are only very fine variations in plant morphology. Therefore, accurate and high-throughput methods are needed for their quantification. In addition, new characteristics are necessary for reliable detection of subtle changes in morphology. FlowerMorphology is an all-in-one software package to automatically image and analyze five-petal actinomorphic flowers of the dicotyledonous plants. Sixteen directly measured parameters and ten calculated complex parameters of a flower allow us to characterize variations with high accuracy. The program was developed for the needs of automatic characterization of Nicotiana tabacum flowers, but is applicable to many other plants with five-petal actinomorphic flowers and can be adopted for flowers of other merosity. A genetically similar polyploid series of N. tabacum plants was used to investigate differences in flower morphology. For the first time, we could quantify the dependence between ploidy and size and form of the tobacco flowers. We found that the radius of inner petal incisions shows a persistent positive correlation with the chromosome number. In contrast, a commonly used parameter-radius of outer corolla-does not discriminate 2n and 4n plants. Other parameters show that polyploidy leads to significant aberrations in flower symmetry and are also positively correlated with chromosome number. Executables of FlowerMorphology, source code, documentation, and examples are available at the program website: https://github.com/Deyneko/FlowerMorphology .

Granulated lysozyme as an alternative to antibiotics improves growth performance and small intestinal morphology of 10-day-old pigs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Lysozyme is a 1,4-ß-N-acetylmuramidase that has antimicrobial properties. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of a purified granulated lysozyme, compared to antibiotics, on growth performance, small intestinal morphology, and Campylobacter shedding in 10-d-old pigs. Forty-...

Granulated lysozyme as an alternative to antibiotics improves growth performance and small intestinal morphology of 10-day-old pigs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Lysozyme is a 1,4-ß-N-acetylmuramidase that has antimicrobial properties. The objective of this experiment was to determine the efficacy of granulated lysozyme, compared to antibiotics, on growth performance, small intestinal morphology, and Campylobacter shedding in 10-d-old pigs. Forty-eight pigs ...

Rates of morphological evolution, asymmetry and morphological integration of shell shape in scallops.

PubMed

Sherratt, Emma; Serb, Jeanne M; Adams, Dean C

2017-12-08

Rates of morphological evolution vary across different taxonomic groups, and this has been proposed as one of the main drivers for the great diversity of organisms on Earth. Of the extrinsic factors pertaining to this variation, ecological hypotheses feature prominently in observed differences in phenotypic evolutionary rates across lineages. But complex organisms are inherently modular, comprising distinct body parts that can be differentially affected by external selective pressures. Thus, the evolution of trait covariation and integration in modular systems may also play a prominent role in shaping patterns of phenotypic diversity. Here we investigate the role ecological diversity plays in morphological integration, and the tempo of shell shape evolution and of directional asymmetry in bivalved scallops. Overall, the shape of both valves and the magnitude of asymmetry of the whole shell (difference in shape between valves) are traits that are evolving fast in ecomorphs under strong selective pressures (gliders, recessers and nestling), compared to low rates observed in other ecomorphs (byssal-attaching, free-living and cementing). Given that different parts of an organism can be under different selective pressures from the environment, we also examined the degree of evolutionary integration between the valves as it relates to ecological shifts. We find that evolutionary morphological integration is consistent and surprisingly high across species, indicating that while the left and right valves of a scallop shell are diversifying in accordance with ecomorphology, they are doing so in a concerted fashion. Our study on scallops adds another strong piece of evidence that ecological shifts play an important role in the tempo and mode of morphological evolution. Strong selective pressures from the environment, inferred from the repeated evolution of distinct ecomorphs, have influenced the rate of morphological evolution in valve shape and the magnitude of asymmetry

Morphological and genetic divergence in Swedish postglacial stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) populations

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background An important objective of evolutionary biology is to understand the processes that govern phenotypic variation in natural populations. We assessed patterns of morphological and genetic divergence among coastal and inland lake populations of nine-spined stickleback in northern Sweden. Coastal populations are either from the Baltic coast (n = 5) or from nearby coastal lakes (n = 3) that became isolated from the Baltic Sea (< 100 years before present, ybp). Inland populations are from freshwater lakes that became isolated from the Baltic approximately 10,000 ybp; either single species lakes without predators (n = 5), or lakes with a recent history of predation (n = 5) from stocking of salmonid predators (~50 ybp). Results Coastal populations showed little variation in 11 morphological traits and had longer spines per unit of body length than inland populations. Inland populations were larger, on average, and showed greater morphological variation than coastal populations. A principal component analysis (PCA) across all populations revealed two major morphological axes related to spine length (PC1, 47.7% variation) and body size (PC2, 32.9% variation). Analysis of PCA scores showed marked similarity in coastal (Baltic coast and coastal lake) populations. PCA scores indicate that inland populations with predators have higher within-group variance in spine length and lower within-group variance in body size than inland populations without predators. Estimates of within-group PST (a proxy for QST) from PCA scores are similar to estimates of FST for coastal lake populations but PST >FST for Baltic coast populations. PST >FST for PC1 and PC2 for inland predator and inland no predator populations, with the exception that PST morphological and genetic variation within and between groups suggesting that these populations experience similar

Dynamics of clade diversification on the morphological hypercube

PubMed Central

Gavrilets, S.

1999-01-01

Understanding the relationship between taxonomic and morphological changes is important in identifying the reasons for accelerated morphological diversification early in the history of animal phyla. Here, a simple general model describing the joint dynamics of taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity is presented and applied to the data on the diversification of blastozoans. I show that the observed patterns of deceleration in clade diversification can be explicable in terms of the geometric structure of the morphospace and the effects of extinction and speciation on morphological disparity without invoking major declines in the size of morphological transitions or taxonomic turnover rates. The model allows testing of hypotheses about patterns of diversification and estimation of rates of morphological evolution. In the case of blastozoans, I find no evidence that major changes in evolutionary rates and mechanisms are responsible for the deceleration of morphological diversification seen during the period of this clade's expansion. At the same time, there is evidence for a moderate decline in overall rates of morphological diversification concordant with a major change (from positive to negative values) in the clade's growth rate.

Multi-wavelength observations of the flaring gamma-ray blazar 3C 66A in 2008 October

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; ...

2010-12-14

We report that Tthe BL Lacertae object 3C 66A was detected in a flaring state by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and VERITAS in 2008 October. In addition to these gamma-ray observations, F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, PAIRITEL, MDM, ATOM, Swift, and Chandra provided radio to X-ray coverage. The available light curves show variability and, in particular, correlated flares are observed in the optical and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray band. The resulting spectral energy distribution can be well fitted using standard leptonic models with and without an external radiation field for inverse Compton scattering. It is found, however, that only the model with anmore » external radiation field can accommodate the intra-night variability observed at optical wavelengths.« less

Object-based benefits without object-based representations.

PubMed

Fougnie, Daryl; Cormiea, Sarah M; Alvarez, George A

2013-08-01

Influential theories of visual working memory have proposed that the basic units of memory are integrated object representations. Key support for this proposal is provided by the same object benefit: It is easier to remember multiple features of a single object than the same set of features distributed across multiple objects. Here, we replicate the object benefit but demonstrate that features are not stored as single, integrated representations. Specifically, participants could remember 10 features better when arranged in 5 objects compared to 10 objects, yet memory for one object feature was largely independent of memory for the other object feature. These results rule out the possibility that integrated representations drive the object benefit and require a revision of the concept of object-based memory representations. We propose that working memory is object-based in regard to the factors that enhance performance but feature based in regard to the level of representational failure. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Amygdala Kindling Alters Estrus Cycle and Ovarian Morphology in the Rat

PubMed Central

Pan, Juan; Zhang, Lingwu; Wang, Feng; Liu, Dan

2014-01-01

The objective of this study is to explore the effects of amygdala kindling on estrus cycle and ovarian morphology. Thirty-five female rats at the age of 8 weeks were randomly designated to electrode kindled, sham-kindled, and normal controls. Kindled rats were implanted with kindling electrodes in the left basolateral amygdala and kindled by brief suprathreshold stimulations with a bipolar electrode. Estrous cycles were daily monitored through vaginal smears. Electrographic and behavioral seizures were recorded and ovarian morphology was evaluated by light and electron microscopies. Our results showed that the kindled rats lost their ovarian periodicity displayed significant ovarian enlargement. H&E staining revealed increased number of growing follicles and total follicles, as well as polycysts in the ovaries of the kindled animals compared to sham and control animals. Ultrastructural study detected numerous apoptotic granulosa cells in growing follicles and thecal cell hyperplasia with secretary granules in the thecal cells in the kindled rats. The results suggest that amygdala kindling is a risk factor for the development of polycystic ovary syndrome. PMID:25285307

Amygdala Kindling Alters Estrus Cycle and Ovarian Morphology in the Rat.

PubMed

Pan, Juan; Zhang, Lingwu; Wang, Feng; Liu, Dan; Li, P Andy; Sun, Tao

2013-11-01

The objective of this study is to explore the effects of amygdala kindling on estrus cycle and ovarian morphology. Thirty-five female rats at the age of 8 weeks were randomly designated to electrode kindled, sham-kindled, and normal controls. Kindled rats were implanted with kindling electrodes in the left basolateral amygdala and kindled by brief suprathreshold stimulations with a bipolar electrode. Estrous cycles were daily monitored through vaginal smears. Electrographic and behavioral seizures were recorded and ovarian morphology was evaluated by light and electron microscopies. Our results showed that the kindled rats lost their ovarian periodicity displayed significant ovarian enlargement. H&E staining revealed increased number of growing follicles and total follicles, as well as polycysts in the ovaries of the kindled animals compared to sham and control animals. Ultrastructural study detected numerous apoptotic granulosa cells in growing follicles and thecal cell hyperplasia with secretary granules in the thecal cells in the kindled rats. The results suggest that amygdala kindling is a risk factor for the development of polycystic ovary syndrome.

Contributions of Morphological Skill to Children's Essay Writing

PubMed Central

Northey, Mary; McCutchen, Deborah; Sanders, Elizabeth A.

2015-01-01

Morphological skills have previously been found to reliably predict reading skill, including word reading, vocabulary, and comprehension. However, less is known about how morphological skills might contribute to writing skill, aside from its well-documented role in the development of spelling. This correlational study examines whether morphological skill, as measured by a sentence generation task tapping both derivational morphology and meta-syntactic skills, predicts performance on a standardized essay writing task for fifth- and eighth-grade U.S. students (N = 233), after controlling for grade level, comprehension, and writing fluency. Multilevel analyses indicated that morphological skill and writing fluency were each uniquely predictive of essay quality, and this finding was consistent regardless of whether accurate spelling was required in the morphological task. Our results suggest that morphological skills play an important role in writing, as has been previously documented in reading and spelling. PMID:26957783

Imaging Implicit Morphological Processing: Evidence from Hebrew

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bick, Atira S.; Frost, Ram; Goelman, Gadi

2010-01-01

Is morphology a discrete and independent element of lexical structure or does it simply reflect a fine-tuning of the system to the statistical correlation that exists among orthographic and semantic properties of words? Hebrew provides a unique opportunity to examine morphological processing in the brain because of its rich morphological system.…

Morphological representation of order-statistics filters.

PubMed

Charif-Chefchaouni, M; Schonfeld, D

1995-01-01

We propose a comprehensive theory for the morphological bounds on order-statistics filters (and their repeated iterations). Conditions are derived for morphological openings and closings to serve as bounds (lower and upper, respectively) on order-statistics filters (and their repeated iterations). Under various assumptions, morphological open-closings and close-openings are also shown to serve as (tighter) bounds (lower and upper, respectively) on iterations of order-statistics filters. Simulations of the application of the results presented to image restoration are finally provided.

The ultrastructural surface morphology of oral cancer cells and keratinocytes after exposure to chitosan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fatimah; Sarsito, A. S.; Wimardhani, Y. S.

2017-08-01

Low-molecular-weight chitosan (LMWC) has the same selective cytotoxic effects on oral cancer cells as cisplatin. The cell deaths caused by the anticancer characteristics of chitosan show that apoptosis is not the death pathway of the primary cells involved. The interactions between LMWC and the cells need to be explored. The objective of this study was to compare the ultrastructural morphology of oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC Ca)-922 and noncancer keratinocyte HaCaT cell lines after exposure to LMWC and cisplatin. The cells were treated with LMWC and cisplatin, and their ultrastructural morphology was analyzed using scanning electron micrographs. Features of early apoptosis, seen as the loss of microvilli, were detected in the LMWC-exposed Ca9-22 cells, and there was a material surrounding the cells. In contrast, the LMWC-exposed HaCaT cells showed no changes related to apoptosis. The results were the opposite when cisplatin was used. This study confirms that there are differences in the ultrastructural surface morphology of LMWC-exposed and cisplatin-exposed oral cancer cells and keratinocytes that could be correlated with their biological activity.

[Morphological characteristic of Langerhans cells from the human epidermis in case of general hypothermia].

PubMed

Stefanenko, E V; Miadelets, O D; Kukhnovets, O A; Miadelets, V O

2009-01-01

The objective of this work was to study morphological changes in the Langerhans cells of epidermis and epithelium of hair follicles from subjects who died as a result of general hypothermia. A total of 105 cadaveric skin samples from subjects of either gender aged from 19 to 83 years were available for analysis. Postmortem examination 1-2 days after death was performed at the Department of Forensic Medical Examination for the Vitebsk region. Skin samples were frozen in liquid nitrogen and studied as cryostat sections. Langerhans cells were detected using the ATPase assay as described by Wachstein and Meisel and modified by Robins and Brendon. The Langerhans cells of subjects who died from general hypothermia were shown to undergo marked morphological changes. Moreover, their number significantly decreased as a result of disintegration and transformation into fine-grain material. Surviving cells lost many of their outgrowths and exhibited enhanced ATPase activity in pericarion. The Langerhans cells from dorsal and ventral skin as well as from interfollicular epidermis and the outer sheath of hair follicles underwent virtually identical changes. A unique morphological feature of the skin in those who died from general hypothermia was formation of intraepidermal, subepidermal, and dermal blisters.

Objects of attention, objects of perception.

PubMed

Avrahami, J

1999-11-01

Four experiments were conducted, to explore the notion of objects in perception. Taking as a starting point the effects of display content on rapid attention transfer and manipulating curvature, closure, and processing time, a link between objects of attention and objects of perception is proposed. In Experiment 1, a number of parallel, equally spaced, straight lines facilitated attention transfer along the lines, relative to transfer across the lines. In Experiment 2, with curved, closed-contour shapes, no "same-object" facilitation was observed. However, when a longer time interval was provided, in Experiment 3, a same-object advantage started to emerge. In Experiment 4, using the same curved shapes but in a non-speeded distance estimation task, a strong effect of objects was observed. It is argued that attention transfer is facilitated by line tracing but that line tracing is encouraged by objects.

Relationship between facial morphology, anterior open bite and non-nutritive sucking habits during the primary dentition stage

PubMed Central

Fialho, Melissa Proença Nogueira; Pinzan-Vercelino, Célia Regina Maio; Nogueira, Rodrigo Proença; Gurgel, Júlio de Araújo

2014-01-01

Introduction Non-nutritive sucking habits (NNSHs) can cause occlusal alterations, including anterior open bite (AOB). However, not all patients develop this malocclusion. Therefore, the emergence of AOB does not depend on deleterious habits, only. Objective Investigate a potential association between non-nutritive sucking habits (NNSHs), anterior open bite (AOB) and facial morphology (FM). Methods 176 children in the primary dentition stage were selected. Intra and extraoral clinical examinations were performed and the children's legal guardians were asked to respond to a questionnaire comprising issues related to non-nutritive sucking habits (NNSHs). Results A statistically significant relationship was found between non-nutritive sucking habits (NNSHs) and anterior open bite (AOB). However, no association was found between these factors and children's facial morphology (FM). Conclusions Non-nutritive sucking habits (NNSHs) during the primary dentition stage play a key role in determining anterior open bite (AOB) malocclusion regardless of patient's morphological facial pattern (FM). PMID:25162574

Monitoring and Morphologic Classification of Pediatric Cataract Using Slit-Lamp-Adapted Photography.

PubMed

Long, Erping; Lin, Zhuoling; Chen, Jingjing; Liu, Zhenzhen; Cao, Qianzhong; Lin, Haotian; Chen, Weirong; Liu, Yizhi

2017-11-01

To investigate the feasibility of pediatric cataract monitoring and morphologic classification using slit lamp-adapted anterior segmental photography in a large cohort that included uncooperative children. Patients registered in the Childhood Cataract Program of the Chinese Ministry of Health were prospectively selected. Eligible patients underwent slit-lamp adapted anterior segmental photography to record and monitor the morphology of their cataractous lenses. A set of assistance techniques for slit lamp-adapted photography was developed to instruct the parents of uncooperative children how to help maintain the child's head position and keep the eyes open after sleep aid administration. Briefly, slit lamp-adapted photography was completed for all 438 children, including 260 (59.4%) uncooperative children with our assistance techniques. All 746 images of 438 patients successfully confirmed the diagnoses and classifications. Considering the lesion location, pediatric cataract morphologies could be objectively classified into the seven following types: total; nuclear; polar, including two subtypes (anterior and posterior); lamellar; nuclear combined with cortical, including three subtypes (coral-like, dust-like, and blue-dot); cortical; and Y suture. The top three types of unilateral cataracts were polar (55, 42.3%), total (42, 32.3%), and nuclear (23, 17.7%); and the top three types of bilateral cataracts were nuclear (110, 35.8%), total (102, 33.2%), and lamellar (34, 11.1%). Slit lamp-adapted anterior segmental photography is applicable for monitoring and classifying the morphologies of pediatric cataracts and is even safe and feasible for uncooperative children with assistance techniques and sleep aid administration. This study proposes a novel strategy for the preoperative evaluation and evidence-based management of pediatric ophthalmology (Clinical Trials.gov, NCT02748031).

Object width modulates object-based attentional selection.

PubMed

Nah, Joseph C; Neppi-Modona, Marco; Strother, Lars; Behrmann, Marlene; Shomstein, Sarah

2018-04-24

Visual input typically includes a myriad of objects, some of which are selected for further processing. While these objects vary in shape and size, most evidence supporting object-based guidance of attention is drawn from paradigms employing two identical objects. Importantly, object size is a readily perceived stimulus dimension, and whether it modulates the distribution of attention remains an open question. Across four experiments, the size of the objects in the display was manipulated in a modified version of the two-rectangle paradigm. In Experiment 1, two identical parallel rectangles of two sizes (thin or thick) were presented. Experiments 2-4 employed identical trapezoids (each having a thin and thick end), inverted in orientation. In the experiments, one end of an object was cued and participants performed either a T/L discrimination or a simple target-detection task. Combined results show that, in addition to the standard object-based attentional advantage, there was a further attentional benefit for processing information contained in the thick versus thin end of objects. Additionally, eye-tracking measures demonstrated increased saccade precision towards thick object ends, suggesting that Fitts's Law may play a role in object-based attentional shifts. Taken together, these results suggest that object-based attentional selection is modulated by object width.

Morphological evaluation of clefts of the lip, palate, or both in dogs.

PubMed

Peralta, Santiago; Fiani, Nadine; Kan-Rohrer, Kimi H; Verstraete, Frank J M

2017-08-01

OBJECTIVE To systematically characterize the morphology of cleft lip, cleft palate, and cleft lip and palate in dogs. ANIMALS 32 client-owned dogs with clefts of the lip (n = 5), palate (23), or both (4) that had undergone a CT or cone-beam CT scan of the head prior to any surgical procedures involving the oral cavity or face. PROCEDURES Dog signalment and skull type were recorded. The anatomic form of each defect was characterized by use of a widely used human oral-cleft classification system on the basis of CT findings and clinical images. Other defect morphological features, including shape, relative size, facial symmetry, and vomer involvement, were also recorded. RESULTS 9 anatomic forms of cleft were identified. Two anatomic forms were identified in the 23 dogs with cleft palate, in which differences in defect shape and size as well as vomer abnormalities were also evident. Seven anatomic forms were observed in 9 dogs with cleft lip or cleft lip and palate, and most of these dogs had incisive bone abnormalities and facial asymmetry. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The morphological features of congenitally acquired cleft lip, cleft palate, and cleft lip and palate were complex and varied among dogs. The features identified here may be useful for surgical planning, developing of clinical coding schemes, or informing genetic, embryological, or clinical research into birth defects in dogs and other species.

An automated approach for extracting Barrier Island morphology from digital elevation models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wernette, Phillipe; Houser, Chris; Bishop, Michael P.

2016-06-01

The response and recovery of a barrier island to extreme storms depends on the elevation of the dune base and crest, both of which can vary considerably alongshore and through time. Quantifying the response to and recovery from storms requires that we can first identify and differentiate the dune(s) from the beach and back-barrier, which in turn depends on accurate identification and delineation of the dune toe, crest and heel. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multi-scale automated approach for extracting beach, dune (dune toe, dune crest and dune heel), and barrier island morphology. The automated approach introduced here extracts the shoreline and back-barrier shoreline based on elevation thresholds, and extracts the dune toe, dune crest and dune heel based on the average relative relief (RR) across multiple spatial scales of analysis. The multi-scale automated RR approach to extracting dune toe, dune crest, and dune heel based upon relative relief is more objective than traditional approaches because every pixel is analyzed across multiple computational scales and the identification of features is based on the calculated RR values. The RR approach out-performed contemporary approaches and represents a fast objective means to define important beach and dune features for predicting barrier island response to storms. The RR method also does not require that the dune toe, crest, or heel are spatially continuous, which is important because dune morphology is likely naturally variable alongshore.

Spiral Arm Morphology in Cluster Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Isaac Yeoun-Gyu; Ann, Hong Bae

2011-10-01

We examine the dependence of the morphology of spiral galaxies on the environment using the KIAS Value Added Galaxy Catalog (VAGC) which is derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. Our goal is to understand whether the local environment or global conditions dominate in determining the morphology of spiral galaxies. For the analysis, we conduct a morphological classification of galaxies in 20 X-ray selected Abell clusters up to z˜0.06, using SDSS color images and the X-ray data from the Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) catalog. We analyze the distribution of arm classes along the clustercentric radius as well as that of Hubble types. To segregate the effect of local environment from the global environment, we compare the morphological distribution of galaxies in two X-lay luminosity groups, the low-Lx clusters (Lx < 0.15×1044erg/s) and high-Lx clusters (Lx > 1.8×1044erg/s). We find that the morphology-clustercentric relation prevails in the cluster envirnment although there is a brake near the cluster virial radius. The grand design arms comprise about 40% of the cluster spiral galaxies with a weak morphology-clustercentric radius relation for the arm classes, in the sense that flocculent galaxies tend to increase outward, regardless of the X-ray luminosity. From the cumulative radial distribution of cluster galaxies, we found that the low-Lx clusters are fully virialized while the high-Lx clusters are not.

Weak localization of electromagnetic waves and opposition phenomena exhibited by high-albedo atmosphereless solar system objects.

PubMed

Mishchenko, Michael I; Rosenbush, Vera K; Kiselev, Nikolai N

2006-06-20

The totality of new and previous optical observations of a class of high-albedo solar system objects at small phase angles reveals a unique combination of extremely narrow brightness and polarization features centered at exactly the opposition. The specific morphological parameters of these features provide an almost unequivocal evidence that they are caused by the renowned effect of coherent backscattering.

Reactive underwater object inspection based on artificial electric sense.

PubMed

Lebastard, Vincent; Boyer, Frédéric; Lanneau, Sylvain

2016-07-26

Weakly electric fish can perform complex cognitive tasks based on extracting information from blurry electric images projected from their immediate environment onto their electro-sensitive skin. In particular they can be trained to recognize the intrinsic properties of objects such as their shape, size and electric nature. They do this by means of novel perceptual strategies that exploit the relations between the physics of a self-generated electric field, their body morphology and the ability to perform specific movement termed probing motor acts (PMAs). In this article we artificially reproduce and combine these PMAs to build an autonomous control strategy that allows an artificial electric sensor to find electrically contrasted objects, and to orbit around them based on a minimum set of measurements and simple reactive feedback control laws of the probe's motion. The approach does not require any simulation models and could be implemented on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with artificial electric sense. The AUV has only to satisfy certain simple geometric properties, such as bi-laterally (left/right) symmetrical electrodes and possess a reasonably high aspect (length/width) ratio.

Acquiring 3-D information about thick objects from differential interference contrast images using texture extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sierra, Heidy; Brooks, Dana; Dimarzio, Charles

2010-07-01

The extraction of 3-D morphological information about thick objects is explored in this work. We extract this information from 3-D differential interference contrast (DIC) images by applying a texture detection method. Texture extraction methods have been successfully used in different applications to study biological samples. A 3-D texture image is obtained by applying a local entropy-based texture extraction method. The use of this method to detect regions of blastocyst mouse embryos that are used in assisted reproduction techniques such as in vitro fertilization is presented as an example. Results demonstrate the potential of using texture detection methods to improve morphological analysis of thick samples, which is relevant to many biomedical and biological studies. Fluorescence and optical quadrature microscope phase images are used for validation.

Cognitive and linguistic biases in morphology learning.

PubMed

Finley, Sara

2018-05-30

Morphology is the study of the relationship between form and meaning. The study of morphology involves understanding the rules and processes that underlie word formation, including the use and productivity of affixes, and the systems that create novel word forms. The present review explores these processes by examining the cognitive components that contribute to typological regularities among morphological systems across the world's language. The review will focus on research in morpheme segmentation, the suffixing preference, acquisition of morphophonology, and acquiring morphological categories and inflectional paradigms. The review will highlight research in a range of areas of linguistics, from child language acquisition, to computational modeling, to adult language learning experiments. In order to best understand the cognitive biases that shape morphological learning, a broad, interdisciplinary approach must be taken. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Linguistic Theory Linguistics > Language Acquisition Psychology > Language. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Standardizing the nomenclature of Martian impact crater ejecta morphologies

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barlow, Nadine G.; Boyce, Joseph M.; Costard, Francois M.; Craddock, Robert A.; Garvin, James B.; Sakimoto, Susan E.H.; Kuzmin, Ruslan O.; Roddy, David J.; Soderblom, Laurence A.

2000-01-01

The Mars Crater Morphology Consortium recommends the use of a standardized nomenclature system when discussing Martian impact crater ejecta morphologies. The system utilizes nongenetic descriptors to identify the various ejecta morphologies seen on Mars. This system is designed to facilitate communication and collaboration between researchers. Crater morphology databases will be archived through the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, where a comprehensive catalog of Martian crater morphologic information will be maintained.

CCD photometry of 1218+304 1219+28 and 1727+50: Point sources, associated nebulosity and broadband spectra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weistrop, D.; Shaffer, D. B.; Mushotzky, R. F.; Reitsma, H. J.; Smith, B. A.

1981-01-01

Visual and far red surface photometry were obtained of two X-ray emitting BL Lacertae objects, 1218+304 (2A1219+305) and 1727+50 (Izw 187), as well as the highly variable object 1219+28 (ON 231, W Com). The intensity distribution for 1727+50 can be modeled using a central point source plus a de Vaucouleurs intensity law for an underlying galaxy. The broad band spectral energy distribution so derived is consistent with what is expected for an elliptical galaxy. The spectral index of the point source is alpha = 0.97. Additional VLBI and X-ray data are also reported for 1727+50. There is nebulosity associated with the recently discovered object 1218+304. No nebulosity is found associated with 1219+28. A comparison of the results with observations at X-ray and radio frequencies suggests that all the emission from 1727+50 and 1218+304 can be interpreted as due solely to direct synchrotron emission. If this is the case, the data further imply the existence of relativistic motion effects and continuous particle injection.

Heterotaxy syndrome: impact of ventricular morphology on resource utilization.

PubMed

Amula, Venugopal; Ellsworth, German L; Bratton, Susan L; Arrington, Cammon B; Witte, Madolin K

2014-01-01

Patients with heterotaxy syndrome (HS) have significant cardiac and extracardiac anomalies that impact outcome. To improve the management of this complex patient population, we performed a comprehensive analysis of their anatomic and clinical features along with an evaluation of resource utilization data. The objectives were to describe anatomic and clinical features of patients with HS syndrome treated at a single center from 1992 to 2011 focusing on the impact of ventricular morphology (univentricular [UV] vs. biventricular [BV]) on clinical outcomes and resource utilization. Clinical and echocardiographic data from patients with HS were abstracted from medical records. Health care costs were indexed to inflation. Seventy-eight patients were identified with HS ranging in age from 1 day to 29 years old. UV morphology was present in 46 patients (59 %), most commonly with right-ventricular dominance (36 of 46). The presence of extra cardiac anomalies did not differ between the UV and BV groups (82 vs. 78 %) nor did morbidities, such as need for enteral tube feedings (47 vs. 25 %) or pacemaker placement (24 vs. 25 %). Mortality was 28 % in the entire cohort: 39 % in univentricuar patients versus 10.5 % in those with biventricular anatomy. Hospital length of stay for medical illnesses was similar in both groups, but length of stay after surgery was significantly longer in UV than BV patients. Among survivors, UV patients had greater median hospital costs (TeX 67,732, p < 0.001), but when this was adjusted for mortality and variable follow-up, there were no differences in health care costs within the first year of life. Significant health care dollars are used to manage children with HS, the majority of which involve expenses related to surgical care. Although patients with biventricular morphology have better survival, morbidity and resource utilization are similar to those for UV patients especially within the first year of life.

Sizing Up Objects: The Effect of Diminutive Forms on Positive Mood, Value, and Size Judgments

PubMed Central

Parzuchowski, Michał; Bocian, Konrad; Gygax, Pascal

2016-01-01

Language (e.g., structure, morphology, and wording) can direct our attention toward the specific properties of an object, in turn influencing the mental representation of that same object. In this paper, we examined this idea by focusing on a particular linguistic form of diminution used in many languages (e.g., in Polish, Spanish, and Portuguese) to refer to an object as being “smaller.” Interestingly, although objects are usually considered “better” when they are bigger in size, objects described with linguistic diminution can also refer to those that are emotionally positive. Across three experiments conducted in Polish, we examined this lexical ambiguity in terms of mood (Experiment 1), subjective quality and monetary value (Experiment 2), and choice selection (Experiment 3). Overall, we found that people evaluate objects differently depending on the linguistic form (i.e., with or without diminution) with which they are described, and that it was related to the perceptual representation of these objects, and not their affective status. Objects described with diminution are evaluated as less satisfying and of lesser value and this effect is attributed to the way participants represent the objects (i.e., encoded and memorized). The generalizability of these effects is discussed. PMID:27721802

Morphological Integration of Soft-Tissue Facial Morphology in Down Syndrome and Siblings

PubMed Central

Starbuck, John; Reeves, Roger H.; Richtsmeier, Joan

2011-01-01

Down syndrome (DS), resulting from trisomy of chromosome 21, is the most common live-born human aneuploidy. The phenotypic expression of trisomy 21 produces variable, though characteristic, facial morphology. Although certain facial features have been documented quantitatively and qualitatively as characteristic of DS (e.g., epicanthic folds, macroglossia, and hypertelorism), all of these traits occur in other craniofacial conditions with an underlying genetic cause. We hypothesize that the typical DS face is integrated differently than the face of non-DS siblings, and that the pattern of morphological integration unique to individuals with DS will yield information about underlying developmental associations between facial regions. We statistically compared morphological integration patterns of immature DS faces (N = 53) with those of non-DS siblings (N = 54), aged 6–12 years using 31 distances estimated from 3D coordinate data representing 17 anthropometric landmarks recorded on 3D digital photographic images. Facial features are affected differentially in DS, as evidenced by statistically significant differences in integration both within and between facial regions. Our results suggest a differential affect of trisomy on facial prominences during craniofacial development. PMID:21996933

Morphological integration of soft-tissue facial morphology in Down Syndrome and siblings.

PubMed

Starbuck, John; Reeves, Roger H; Richtsmeier, Joan

2011-12-01

Down syndrome (DS), resulting from trisomy of chromosome 21, is the most common live-born human aneuploidy. The phenotypic expression of trisomy 21 produces variable, though characteristic, facial morphology. Although certain facial features have been documented quantitatively and qualitatively as characteristic of DS (e.g., epicanthic folds, macroglossia, and hypertelorism), all of these traits occur in other craniofacial conditions with an underlying genetic cause. We hypothesize that the typical DS face is integrated differently than the face of non-DS siblings, and that the pattern of morphological integration unique to individuals with DS will yield information about underlying developmental associations between facial regions. We statistically compared morphological integration patterns of immature DS faces (N = 53) with those of non-DS siblings (N = 54), aged 6-12 years using 31 distances estimated from 3D coordinate data representing 17 anthropometric landmarks recorded on 3D digital photographic images. Facial features are affected differentially in DS, as evidenced by statistically significant differences in integration both within and between facial regions. Our results suggest a differential affect of trisomy on facial prominences during craniofacial development. 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Using Morphological Awareness Instruction to Improve Written Language Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Apel, Kenn; Werfel, Krystal

2014-01-01

Purpose: Written English is a morphophonemic language. Researchers have documented that a conscious awareness of the morphological structure of English morphology is predictive of students' written language skills and that morphological awareness instruction leads to improvements in morphological awareness and in other written language…

Use of Self-to-Object and Object-to-Object Spatial Relations in Locomotion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiao, Chengli; Mou, Weimin; McNamara, Timothy P.

2009-01-01

In 8 experiments, the authors examined the use of representations of self-to-object or object-to-object spatial relations during locomotion. Participants learned geometrically regular or irregular layouts of objects while standing at the edge or in the middle and then pointed to objects while blindfolded in 3 conditions: before turning (baseline),…

Observations and analysis activities of the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shull, J. Michael

1996-01-01

The funds from this grant were used to support observations and analysis with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite telescope. The main area of scientific research concerned the variability analyses of ultraviolet spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei, primarily quasars, Seyfert galaxies, and BL Lacertae objects. The Colorado group included, at various times, the P.I. (J.M. Shull), Research Associate Dr. Rick Edelson, and graduate students Jon Saken, Elise Sachs, and Steve Penton. A portion of the work was also performed by CU undergraduate student Cheong-ming Fu. A major product of the effort was a database of all IUE spectra of active galactic nuclei. This database is being analyzed to obtain spectral indices, line fluxes, and continuum fluxes for over 500 AGN. As a by-product of this project, we implemented a new, improved technique of spectral extraction of IUE spectra, which has been used in several AGN-WATCH campaigns (on the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 and on the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304).

SNIa detection in the SNLS photometric analysis using Morphological Component Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Möller, A.; Ruhlmann-Kleider, V.; Neveu, J.

2015-04-01

Detection of supernovae (SNe) and, more generally, of transient events in large surveys can provide numerous false detections. In the case of a deferred processing of survey images, this implies reconstructing complete light curves for all detections, requiring sizable processing time and resources. Optimizing the detection of transient events is thus an important issue for both present and future surveys. We present here the optimization done in the SuperNova Legacy Survey (SNLS) for the 5-year data deferred photometric analysis. In this analysis, detections are derived from stacks of subtracted images with one stack per lunation. The 3-year analysis provided 300,000more » detections dominated by signals of bright objects that were not perfectly subtracted. Allowing these artifacts to be detected leads not only to a waste of resources but also to possible signal coordinate contamination. We developed a subtracted image stack treatment to reduce the number of non SN-like events using morphological component analysis. This technique exploits the morphological diversity of objects to be detected to extract the signal of interest. At the level of our subtraction stacks, SN-like events are rather circular objects while most spurious detections exhibit different shapes. A two-step procedure was necessary to have a proper evaluation of the noise in the subtracted image stacks and thus a reliable signal extraction. We also set up a new detection strategy to obtain coordinates with good resolution for the extracted signal. SNIa Monte-Carlo (MC) generated images were used to study detection efficiency and coordinate resolution. When tested on SNLS 3-year data this procedure decreases the number of detections by a factor of two, while losing only 10% of SN-like events, almost all faint ones. MC results show that SNIa detection efficiency is equivalent to that of the original method for bright events, while the coordinate resolution is improved.« less

Sperm morphology and chromatin integrity in Swedish warmblood stallions and their relationship to pregnancy rates

PubMed Central

Morrell, Jane M; Johannisson, Anders; Dalin, Anne-Marie; Hammar, Linda; Sandebert, Thomas; Rodriguez-Martinez, Heriberto

2008-01-01

Background Artificial insemination is not as widely used in horses as in other domestic species, such as dairy cattle and pigs, partly because of the wide variation in sperm quality between stallion ejaculates and partly due to decreased fertility following the use of cooled transported spermatozoa. Furthermore, predictive tests for sperm fertilising ability are lacking. The objective of the present study was to assess sperm morphology and chromatin integrity in ejaculates obtained from 11 warmblood breeding stallions in Sweden, and to evaluate the relationship of these parameters to pregnancy rates to investigate the possibility of using these tests predictively. Methods Aliquots from fortyone ejaculates, obtained as part of the normal semen collection schedule at the Swedish National Stud, were used for morphological analysis by light microscopy, whereas thirtyseven were used for chromatin analysis (SCSA) by flow cytometry. The outcome of inseminations using these ejaculates was made available later in the same year. Results Ranges for the different parameters were as follows; normal morphology, 27–79.5%; DNA-fragmentation index (DFI), 4.8–19.0%; standard deviation of DNA fragmentation index (SD_DFI) 41.5–98.9, and mean of DNA fragmentation index (mean_DFI), 267.7–319.5. There was considerable variation among stallions, which was statistically significant for all these parameters except for mean_DFI (P < 0.001, P < 0.01, P < 0.001 and P < 0.2 respectively). There was a negative relationship between normal morphology and DFI (P < 0.05), between normal morphology and SD_DFI (P < 0.001), and between normal morphology and mean_DFI (P < 0.05). For specific defects, there was a direct relationship between the incidence of pear-shaped sperm heads and DFI (P < 0.05), and also nuclear pouches and DFI (P < 0.001), indicating that either morphological analysis or chromatin analysis was able to identify abnormalities in spermiogenesis that could compromise DNA

The three-dimensional morphology of growing dendrites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibbs, J. W.; Mohan, K. A.; Gulsoy, E. B.

The processes controlling the morphology of dendrites have been of great interest to a wide range of communities, since they are examples of an out-of-equilibrium pattern forming system, there is a clear connection with battery failure processes, and their morphology sets the properties of many metallic alloys. We determine the three-dimensional morphology of free growing metallic dendrites using a novel X-ray tomographic technique that improves the temporal resolution by more than an order of magnitude compared to conventional techniques. These measurements show that the growth morphology of metallic dendrites is surprisingly different from that seen in model systems, the morphologymore » is not self-similar with distance back from the tip, and that this morphology can have an unexpectedly strong influence on solute segregation in castings. As a result, these experiments also provide benchmark data that can be used to validate simulations of free dendritic growth.« less

The three-dimensional morphology of growing dendrites

DOE PAGES

Gibbs, J. W.; Mohan, K. A.; Gulsoy, E. B.; ...

2015-07-03

The processes controlling the morphology of dendrites have been of great interest to a wide range of communities, since they are examples of an out-of-equilibrium pattern forming system, there is a clear connection with battery failure processes, and their morphology sets the properties of many metallic alloys. We determine the three-dimensional morphology of free growing metallic dendrites using a novel X-ray tomographic technique that improves the temporal resolution by more than an order of magnitude compared to conventional techniques. These measurements show that the growth morphology of metallic dendrites is surprisingly different from that seen in model systems, the morphologymore » is not self-similar with distance back from the tip, and that this morphology can have an unexpectedly strong influence on solute segregation in castings. As a result, these experiments also provide benchmark data that can be used to validate simulations of free dendritic growth.« less

PHOTOEVAPORATING PROPLYD-LIKE OBJECTS IN CYGNUS OB2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wright, Nicholas J.; Drake, Jeremy J.; Guarcello, Mario G.

2012-02-20

We report the discovery of 10 proplyd-like objects in the vicinity of the massive OB association Cygnus OB2. They were discovered in IPHAS H{alpha} images and are clearly resolved in broadband Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys, near-IR, and Spitzer mid-IR images. All exhibit the familiar tadpole shape seen in photoevaporating objects such as the Orion proplyds, with a bright ionization front at the head facing the central cluster of massive stars and a tail stretching in the opposite direction. Many also show secondary ionization fronts, complex tail morphologies, or multiple heads. We consider the evidence that these are eithermore » proplyds or 'evaporating gaseous globules' (EGGs) left over from a fragmenting molecular cloud, but find that neither scenario fully explains the observations. Typical sizes are 50,000-100,000 AU, larger than the Orion proplyds, but in agreement with the theoretical scaling of proplyd size with distance from the ionizing source. These objects are located at projected separations of {approx}6-14 pc from the OB association, compared to {approx}0.1 pc for the Orion proplyds, but are clearly being photoionized by the {approx}65 O-type stars in Cyg OB2. Central star candidates are identified in near- and mid-IR images, supporting the proplyd scenario, though their large sizes and notable asymmetries are more consistent with the EGG scenario. A third possibility is therefore considered that these are a unique class of photoevaporating partially embedded young stellar objects that have survived the destruction of their natal molecular cloud. This has implications for the properties of stars that form in the vicinity of massive stars.« less

Morphology-based Query for Galaxy Image Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shamir, Lior

2017-02-01

Galaxies of rare morphology are of paramount scientific interest, as they carry important information about the past, present, and future Universe. Once a rare galaxy is identified, studying it more effectively requires a set of galaxies of similar morphology, allowing generalization and statistical analysis that cannot be done when N=1. Databases generated by digital sky surveys can contain a very large number of galaxy images, and therefore once a rare galaxy of interest is identified it is possible that more instances of the same morphology are also present in the database. However, when a researcher identifies a certain galaxy of rare morphology in the database, it is virtually impossible to mine the database manually in the search for galaxies of similar morphology. Here we propose a computer method that can automatically search databases of galaxy images and identify galaxies that are morphologically similar to a certain user-defined query galaxy. That is, the researcher provides an image of a galaxy of interest, and the pattern recognition system automatically returns a list of galaxies that are visually similar to the target galaxy. The algorithm uses a comprehensive set of descriptors, allowing it to support different types of galaxies, and it is not limited to a finite set of known morphologies. While the list of returned galaxies is neither clean nor complete, it contains a far higher frequency of galaxies of the morphology of interest, providing a substantial reduction of the data. Such algorithms can be integrated into data management systems of autonomous digital sky surveys such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), where the number of galaxies in the database is extremely large. The source code of the method is available at http://vfacstaff.ltu.edu/lshamir/downloads/udat.

Automated Morphological Analysis of Microglia After Stroke.

PubMed

Heindl, Steffanie; Gesierich, Benno; Benakis, Corinne; Llovera, Gemma; Duering, Marco; Liesz, Arthur

2018-01-01

Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain and react quickly to changes in their environment with transcriptional regulation and morphological changes. Brain tissue injury such as ischemic stroke induces a local inflammatory response encompassing microglial activation. The change in activation status of a microglia is reflected in its gradual morphological transformation from a highly ramified into a less ramified or amoeboid cell shape. For this reason, the morphological changes of microglia are widely utilized to quantify microglial activation and studying their involvement in virtually all brain diseases. However, the currently available methods, which are mainly based on manual rating of immunofluorescent microscopic images, are often inaccurate, rater biased, and highly time consuming. To address these issues, we created a fully automated image analysis tool, which enables the analysis of microglia morphology from a confocal Z-stack and providing up to 59 morphological features. We developed the algorithm on an exploratory dataset of microglial cells from a stroke mouse model and validated the findings on an independent data set. In both datasets, we could demonstrate the ability of the algorithm to sensitively discriminate between the microglia morphology in the peri-infarct and the contralateral, unaffected cortex. Dimensionality reduction by principal component analysis allowed to generate a highly sensitive compound score for microglial shape analysis. Finally, we tested for concordance of results between the novel automated analysis tool and the conventional manual analysis and found a high degree of correlation. In conclusion, our novel method for the fully automatized analysis of microglia morphology shows excellent accuracy and time efficacy compared to traditional analysis methods. This tool, which we make openly available, could find application to study microglia morphology using fluorescence imaging in a wide range of brain disease models.

Live morphological analysis of taxol-induced cytoplasmic vacuolization [corrected] in human lung adenocarcinoma cells.

PubMed

Wang, Xiao-Ping; Chen, Tong-Sheng; Sun, Lei; Cai, Ji-Ye; Wu, Ming-Qian; Mok, Martin

2008-12-01

Taxol (paclitaxel), one of the most active cancer chemotherapeutic agents, can cause programmed cell death (PCD) and cytoplasmic vacuolization. The objective of this study was to analyze the morphological characteristics induced by taxol. Human lung adenocarcinoma (ASTC-a-1) cells were exposed to various concentration of taxol. CCK-8 was used to assay the cell viability. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), plasmid transfection and confocal fluorescence microscopy were performed to image the cells morphological change induced by taxol. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was used to monitor the caspase-3 activation in living cells during taxol-induced cell death. Cells treated with taxol exhibited significant swelling and cytoplasmic vacuolization which may be due to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) vacuolization. Caspase-3 was not activated during taxol-induced cytoplasmic vacuolization and cell death. These findings suggest that taxol induces caspase-3-independent cytoplasmic vacuolization, cell swelling and cell death through ER vacuolization.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE MORPHOLOGIES OF z {approx} 2 DUST-OBSCURED GALAXIES. II. BUMP SOURCES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bussmann, R. S.; Dey, Arjun; Lotz, J.

We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of 22 ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at z {approx} 2 with extremely red R - [24] colors (called dust-obscured galaxies, or DOGs) which have a local maximum in their spectral energy distribution (SED) at rest-frame 1.6 {mu}m associated with stellar emission. These sources, which we call 'bump DOGs', have star formation rates (SFRs) of 400-4000 M{sub sun} yr{sup -1} and have redshifts derived from mid-IR spectra which show strong polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission-a sign of vigorous ongoing star formation. Using a uniform morphological analysis, we look for quantifiable differences between bump DOGs, power-law DOGsmore » (Spitzer-selected ULIRGs with mid-IR SEDs dominated by a power law and spectral features that are more typical of obscured active galactic nuclei than starbursts), submillimeter-selected galaxies, and other less-reddened ULIRGs from the Spitzer Extragalactic First Look Survey. Bump DOGs are larger than power-law DOGs (median Petrosian radius of 8.4 {+-} 2.7 kpc versus 5.5 {+-} 2.3 kpc) and exhibit more diffuse and irregular morphologies (median M{sub 20} of -1.08 {+-} 0.05 versus -1.48 {+-} 0.05). These trends are qualitatively consistent with expectations from simulations of major mergers in which merging systems during the peak SFR period evolve from M{sub 20} = -1.0 to M{sub 20} = -1.7. Less-obscured ULIRGs (i.e., non-DOGs) tend to have more regular, centrally peaked, single-object morphologies rather than diffuse and irregular morphologies. This distinction in morphologies may imply that less-obscured ULIRGs sample the merger near the end of the peak SFR period. Alternatively, it may indicate that the intense star formation in these less-obscured ULIRGs is not the result of a recent major merger.« less

Lexical Morphology: Structure, Process, and Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jarmulowicz, Linda; Taran, Valentina L.

2013-01-01

Recent work has demonstrated the importance of derivational morphology to later language development and has led to a consensus that derivation is a lexical process. In this review, derivational morphology is discussed in terms of lexical representation models from both linguistic and psycholinguistic perspectives. Input characteristics, including…

Extracting hurricane eye morphology from spaceborne SAR images using morphological analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Isabella K.; Shamsoddini, Ali; Li, Xiaofeng; Trinder, John C.; Li, Zeyu

2016-07-01

Hurricanes are among the most destructive global natural disasters. Thus recognizing and extracting their morphology is important for understanding their dynamics. Conventional optical sensors, due to cloud cover associated with hurricanes, cannot reveal the intense air-sea interaction occurring at the sea surface. In contrast, the unique capabilities of spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for cloud penetration, and its backscattering signal characteristics enable the extraction of the sea surface roughness. Therefore, SAR images enable the measurement of the size and shape of hurricane eyes, which reveal their evolution and strength. In this study, using six SAR hurricane images, we have developed a mathematical morphology method for automatically extracting the hurricane eyes from C-band SAR data. Skeleton pruning based on discrete skeleton evolution (DSE) was used to ensure global and local preservation of the hurricane eye shape. This distance weighted algorithm applied in a hierarchical structure for extraction of the edges of the hurricane eyes, can effectively avoid segmentation errors by reducing redundant skeletons attributed to speckle noise along the edges of the hurricane eye. As a consequence, the skeleton pruning has been accomplished without deficiencies in the key hurricane eye skeletons. A morphology-based analyses of the subsequent reconstructions of the hurricane eyes shows a high degree of agreement with the hurricane eye areas derived from reference data based on NOAA manual work.

Action of vanillin (Vanilla planifolia) on the morphology of tibialis anterior and soleus muscles after nerve injury

PubMed Central

Peretti, Ana Luiza; Antunes, Juliana Sobral; Lovison, Keli; Kunz, Regina Inês; Castor, Lidyane Regina Gomes; Brancalhão, Rose Meire Costa; Bertolini, Gladson Ricardo Flor; Ribeiro, Lucinéia de Fátima Chasko

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the action of vanillin (Vanilla planifolia) on the morphology of tibialis anterior and soleus muscles after peripheral nerve injury. Methods Wistar rats were divided into four groups, with seven animals each: Control Group, Vanillin Group, Injury Group, and Injury + Vanillin Group. The Injury Group and the Injury + Vanillin Group animals were submitted to nerve injury by compression of the sciatic nerve; the Vanillin Group and Injury + Vanillin Group, were treated daily with oral doses of vanillin (150mg/kg) from the 3rd to the 21st day after induction of nerve injury. At the end of the experiment, the tibialis anterior and soleus muscles were dissected and processed for light microscopy and submitted to morphological analysis. Results The nerve compression promoted morphological changes, typical of denervation, and the treatment with vanillin was responsible for different responses in the studied muscles. For the tibialis anterior, there was an increase in the number of satellite cells, central nuclei and fiber atrophy, as well as fascicular disorganization. In the soleus, only increased vascularization was observed, with no exacerbation of the morphological alterations in the fibers. Conclusion The treatment with vanillin promoted increase in intramuscular vascularization for the muscles studied, with pro-inflammatory potential for tibialis anterior, but not for soleus muscle. PMID:28767917

A combinatorial approach to angiosperm pollen morphology.

PubMed

Mander, Luke

2016-11-30

Angiosperms (flowering plants) are strikingly diverse. This is clearly expressed in the morphology of their pollen grains, which are characterized by enormous variety in their shape and patterning. In this paper, I approach angiosperm pollen morphology from the perspective of enumerative combinatorics. This involves generating angiosperm pollen morphotypes by algorithmically combining character states and enumerating the results of these combinations. I use this approach to generate 3 643 200 pollen morphotypes, which I visualize using a parallel-coordinates plot. This represents a raw morphospace. To compare real-world and theoretical morphologies, I map the pollen of 1008 species of Neotropical angiosperms growing on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, onto this raw morphospace. This highlights that, in addition to their well-documented taxonomic diversity, Neotropical rainforests also represent an enormous reservoir of morphological diversity. Angiosperm pollen morphospace at BCI has been filled mostly by pollen morphotypes that are unique to single plant species. Repetition of pollen morphotypes among higher taxa at BCI reflects both constraint and convergence. This combinatorial approach to morphology addresses the complexity that results from large numbers of discrete character combinations and could be employed in any situation where organismal form can be captured by discrete morphological characters. © 2016 The Author(s).

A combinatorial approach to angiosperm pollen morphology

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Angiosperms (flowering plants) are strikingly diverse. This is clearly expressed in the morphology of their pollen grains, which are characterized by enormous variety in their shape and patterning. In this paper, I approach angiosperm pollen morphology from the perspective of enumerative combinatorics. This involves generating angiosperm pollen morphotypes by algorithmically combining character states and enumerating the results of these combinations. I use this approach to generate 3 643 200 pollen morphotypes, which I visualize using a parallel-coordinates plot. This represents a raw morphospace. To compare real-world and theoretical morphologies, I map the pollen of 1008 species of Neotropical angiosperms growing on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, onto this raw morphospace. This highlights that, in addition to their well-documented taxonomic diversity, Neotropical rainforests also represent an enormous reservoir of morphological diversity. Angiosperm pollen morphospace at BCI has been filled mostly by pollen morphotypes that are unique to single plant species. Repetition of pollen morphotypes among higher taxa at BCI reflects both constraint and convergence. This combinatorial approach to morphology addresses the complexity that results from large numbers of discrete character combinations and could be employed in any situation where organismal form can be captured by discrete morphological characters. PMID:27881756

[Origin and morphological features of small supernumerary marker chromosomes in Turner syndrome].

PubMed

Liu, Nan; Tong, Tong; Chen, Yue; Chen, Yanling; Cai, Chunquan

2018-02-10

OBJECTIVE To explore the origin and morphological features of small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMCs) in Turner syndrome. METHODS For 5 cases of Turner syndrome with a sSMC identified by conventional G-banding, dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was applied to explore their origin and morphological features. RESULTS Among the 5 cases, 3 have derived from the X chromosome, which included 2 ring chromosomes and 1 centric minute. For the 2 sSMCs derived from the Y chromosome, 1 was ring or isodicentric chromosome, while the other was an isodicentric chromosome. CONCLUSION The sSMCs found in Turner syndrome have almost all derived from sex chromosomes. The majority of sSMCs derived from the X chromosome will form ring chromosomes, while a minority will form centric minute. While most sSMC derived from Y chromosome may exist as isodicentric chromosomes, and a small number may exist as rings. For Turner syndrome patients with sSMCs, dual-color FISH may be used to delineate their origins to facilitate genetic counseling and selection of clinical regime.

Morphological Decomposition in Reading Hebrew Homographs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Paul; Liran-Hazan, Batel; Vaknin, Vered

2016-01-01

The present work investigates whether and how morphological decomposition processes bias the reading of Hebrew heterophonic homographs, i.e., unique orthographic patterns that are associated with two separate phonological, semantic entities depicted by means of two morphological structures (linear and nonlinear). In order to reveal the nature of…

The association between regular cannabis exposure and alterations of human brain morphology: an updated review of the literature.

PubMed

Lorenzetti, Valentina; Solowij, Nadia; Fornito, Alex; Lubman, Dan Ian; Yucel, Murat

2014-01-01

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, though it is unclear whether its regular use is associated with persistent alterations in brain morphology. This review examines evidence from human structural neuroimaging investigations of regular cannabis users and focuses on achieving three main objectives. These include examining whether the literature to date provides evidence that alteration of brain morphology in regular cannabis users: i) is apparent, compared to non-cannabis using controls; ii) is associated with patterns of cannabis use; and with iii) measures of psychopathology and neurocognitive performance. The published findings indicate that regular cannabis use is associated with alterations in medial temporal, frontal and cerebellar brain regions. Greater brain morphological alterations were evident among samples that used at higher doses for longer periods. However, the evidence for an association between brain morphology and cannabis use parameters was mixed. Further, there is poor evidence for an association between measures of brain morphology and of psychopathology symptoms/neurocognitive performance. Overall, numerous methodological issues characterize the literature to date. These include investigation of small sample sizes, heterogeneity across studies in sample characteristics (e.g., sex, comorbidity) and in employed imaging techniques, as well as the examination of only a limited number of brain regions. These factors make it difficult to draw firm conclusions from the existing findings. Nevertheless, this review supports the notion that regular cannabis use is associated with alterations of brain morphology, and highlights the need to consider particular methodological issues when planning future cannabis research.

Color-Space Outliers in DPOSS: Quasars and Peculiar Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djorgovski, S. G.; Gal, R. R.; Mahabal, A.; Brunner, R.; Castro, S. M.; Odewahn, S. C.; de Carvalho, R. R.; DPOSS Team

2000-12-01

The processing of DPOSS, a digital version of the POSS-II sky atlas, is now nearly complete. The resulting Palomar--Norris Sky Catalog (PNSC) is expected to contain > 5 x 107 galaxies and > 109 stars, including large numbers of quasars and other unresolved sources. For objects morphologically classified as stellar (i.e., PSF-like), colors and magnitudes provide the only additional source of discriminating information. We investigate the distribution of objects in the parameter space of (g-r) and (r-i) colors as a function of magnitude. Normal stars form a well-defined (temperature) sequence in this parameter space, and we explore the nature of the objects which deviate significantly from this stellar locus. The causes of the deviations include: non-thermal or peculiar spectra, interagalactic absorption (for high-z quasars), presence of strong emission lines in one or more of the bandpasses, or strong variability (because the plates are taken at widely separated epochs). In addition to minor contamination by misclassified compact galaxies, we find the following: (1) Quasars at z > 4; to date, ~ 100 of these objects have been found, and used for a variety of follow-up studies. They are made publicly available immediately after discovery, through http://astro.caltech.edu/ ~george/z4.qsos. (2) Type-2 quasars in the redshift interval z ~ 0.31 - 0.38. (3) Other quasars, starburst and emission-line galaxies, and emission-line stars. (4) Objects with highly peculiar spectra, some or all of which may be rare subtypes of BAL QSOs. (5) Highly variable stars and optical transients, some of which may be GRB ``orphan afterglows''. To date, systematic searches have been made only for (1) and (2); other types of objects were found serendipitously. However, we plan to explore systematically all of the statistically significant outliers in this parameter space. This illustrates the potential of large digital sky surveys for discovery of rare types of objects, both known (e.g., high

Filtering Airborne LIDAR Data by AN Improved Morphological Method Based on Multi-Gradient Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y.

2013-05-01

The technology of airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) is capable of acquiring dense and accurate 3D geospatial data. Although many related efforts have been made by a lot of researchers in the last few years, LIDAR data filtering is still a challenging task, especially for area with high relief or hybrid geographic features. In order to address the bare-ground extraction from LIDAR point clouds of complex landscapes, a novel morphological filtering algorithm is proposed based on multi-gradient analysis in terms of the characteristic of LIDAR data distribution in this paper. Firstly, point clouds are organized by an index mesh. Then, the multigradient of each point is calculated using the morphological method. And, objects are removed gradually by choosing some points to carry on an improved opening operation constrained by multi-gradient iteratively. 15 sample data provided by ISPRS Working Group III/3 are employed to test the filtering algorithm proposed. These sample data include those environments that may lead to filtering difficulty. Experimental results show that filtering algorithm proposed by this paper is of high adaptability to various scenes including urban and rural areas. Omission error, commission error and total error can be simultaneously controlled in a relatively small interval. This algorithm can efficiently remove object points while preserves ground points to a great degree.

The simultaneous low state spectral energy distribution of 1ES 2344+514 from radio to very high energies

DOE PAGES

Aleksić, J.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; ...

2013-07-31

Here, BL Lacertae objects are variable at all energy bands on time scales down to minutes. To construct and interpret their spectral energy distribution (SED), simultaneous broad-band observations are mandatory. Up to now, the number of objects studied during such campaigns is very limited and biased towards high flux states. Furthermore, we present the results of a dedicated multi-wavelength study of the high-frequency peaked BL Lacertae (HBL) object and known TeV emitter 1ES 2344+514 by means of a pre-organised campaign. The observations were conducted during simultaneous visibility windows of MAGIC and AGILE in late 2008. The measurements were complemented bymore » Metsähovi, RATAN-600, KVA+Tuorla, Swift and VLBA pointings. Additional coverage was provided by the ongoing long-term F-GAMMA and MOJAVE programs, the OVRO 40-m and CrAO telescopes as well as the Fermi satellite. The obtained SEDs are modelled using a one-zone as well as a self-consistent two-zone synchrotron self-Compton model. As a result, 1ES 2344+514 was found at very low flux states in both X-rays and very high energy gamma rays. Variability was detected in the low frequency radio and X-ray bands only, where for the latter a small flare was observed. The X-ray flare was possibly caused by shock acceleration characterised by similar cooling and acceleration time scales. MOJAVE VLBA monitoring reveals a static jet whose components are stable over time scales of eleven years, contrary to previous findings. There appears to be no significant correlation between the 15 GHz and R-band monitoring light curves. The observations presented here constitute the first multi-wavelength campaign on 1ES 2344+514 from radio to VHE energies and one of the few simultaneous SEDs during low activity states. The quasi-simultaneous Fermi-LAT data poses some challenges for SED modelling, but in general the SEDs are described well by both applied models. The resulting parameters are typical for TeV emitting HBLs

A Three-Dimensional Analysis of Morphological Evolution and Locomotor Performance of the Carnivoran Forelimb

PubMed Central

Martín-Serra, Alberto; Figueirido, Borja; Palmqvist, Paul

2014-01-01

In this study, three-dimensional landmark-based methods of geometric morphometrics are used for estimating the influence of phylogeny, allometry and locomotor performance on forelimb shape in living and extinct carnivorans (Mammalia, Carnivora). The main objective is to investigate morphological convergences towards similar locomotor strategies in the shape of the major forelimb bones. Results indicate that both size and phylogeny have strong effects on the anatomy of all forelimb bones. In contrast, bone shape does not correlate in the living taxa with maximum running speed or daily movement distance, two proxies closely related to locomotor performance. A phylomorphospace approach showed that shape variation in forelimb bones mainly relates to changes in bone robustness. This indicates the presence of biomechanical constraints resulting from opposite demands for energetic efficiency in locomotion –which would require a slender forelimb– and resistance to stress –which would be satisfied by a robust forelimb–. Thus, we interpret that the need of maintaining a trade-off between both functional demands would limit shape variability in forelimb bones. Given that different situations can lead to one or another morphological solution, depending on the specific ecology of taxa, the evolution of forelimb morphology represents a remarkable “one-to-many mapping” case between anatomy and ecology. PMID:24454891

Scaling laws for coastal overwash morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazarus, Eli D.

2016-12-01

Overwash is a physical process of coastal sediment transport driven by storm events and is essential to landscape resilience in low-lying barrier environments. This work establishes a comprehensive set of scaling laws for overwash morphology: unifying quantitative descriptions with which to compare overwash features by their morphological attributes across case examples. Such scaling laws also help relate overwash features to other morphodynamic phenomena. Here morphometric data from a physical experiment are compared with data from natural examples of overwash features. The resulting scaling relationships indicate scale invariance spanning several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, these new relationships for overwash morphology align with classic scaling laws for fluvial drainages and alluvial fans.

Determining Image Processing Features Describing the Appearance of Challenging Mitotic Figures and Miscounted Nonmitotic Objects

PubMed Central

Gandomkar, Ziba; Brennan, Patrick C.; Mello-Thoms, Claudia

2017-01-01

Context: Previous studies showed that the agreement among pathologists in recognition of mitoses in breast slides is fairly modest. Aims: Determining the significantly different quantitative features among easily identifiable mitoses, challenging mitoses, and miscounted nonmitoses within breast slides and identifying which color spaces capture the difference among groups better than others. Materials and Methods: The dataset contained 453 mitoses and 265 miscounted objects in breast slides. The mitoses were grouped into three categories based on the confidence degree of three pathologists who annotated them. The mitoses annotated as “probably a mitosis” by the majority of pathologists were considered as the challenging category. The miscounted objects were recognized as a mitosis or probably a mitosis by only one of the pathologists. The mitoses were segmented using k-means clustering, followed by morphological operations. Morphological, intensity-based, and textural features were extracted from the segmented area and also the image patch of 63 × 63 pixels in different channels of eight color spaces. Holistic features describing the mitoses' surrounding cells of each image were also extracted. Statistical Analysis Used: The Kruskal–Wallis H-test followed by the Tukey-Kramer test was used to identify significantly different features. Results: The results indicated that challenging mitoses were smaller and rounder compared to other mitoses. Among different features, the Gabor textural features differed more than others between challenging mitoses and the easily identifiable ones. Sizes of the non-mitoses were similar to easily identifiable mitoses, but nonmitoses were rounder. The intensity-based features from chromatin channels were the most discriminative features between the easily identifiable mitoses and the miscounted objects. Conclusions: Quantitative features can be used to describe the characteristics of challenging mitoses and miscounted nonmitotic

The dependence on morphology of the gas content in galactic disks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogg, D. E.; Roberts, M. S.

1993-01-01

The classification S0 was introduced by Hubble to serve as a description of galaxies whose morphological characteristics seemed to lie between the disk-dominated spirals and the spheroidal elliptical systems. Since then there has been extensive discussion as to whether this classification sequence is also an evolutionary sequence. Many studies have focussed on a particular feature such as the luminosity profile, the bulge-to-disk ratio, or the nature of the interstellar matter, but the question of the evolution remains contentious. Equally contentious is the question of the classification itself. For systems with well-developed disks there usually is no problem. Many spheroidal systems also are unambiguously classified as ellipticals in most catalogs. However, there are a number of early systems which have been reclassified following review using improved optical material. For example, Eder et al. (AJ, 102, 572, 1991) found that many of the S0 galaxies which are rich in neutral hydrogen have faint spiral features. The confusion about classification propagates into the discussion of the properties of early-type systems. Attempts to put the classification system on a quantitative basis have in general been unsuccessful. Recently Sandage (private communication) has reviewed the classification of early systems and has defined a set of sub-classes for these objects. The S0 galaxies are divided into three groups, depending on the prominence of the disk. There are six subdivisions of Sa galaxies, depending upon the relative prominence of knots and other arm-like characteristics. We have explored the total gas content in these objects to see if there is a dependence on the galaxy morphology, as denoted by these new subclasses.

Method of making controlled morphology metal-oxides

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ozcan, Soydan; Lu, Yuan

2016-05-17

A method of making metal oxides having a preselected morphology includes preparing a suspension that includes a solvent, polymeric nanostructures having multiplicities of hydroxyl surface groups and/or carboxyl surface groups, and a metal oxide precursor. The suspension has a preselected ratio of the polymeric nanostructures to the metal oxide precursor of at least 1:3, the preselected ratio corresponding to a preselected morphology. Subsequent steps include depositing the suspension onto a substrate, removing the solvent to form a film, removing the film from the substrate, and annealing the film to volatilize the polymeric nanostructures and convert the metal oxide precursor tomore » metal oxide nanoparticles having the preselected morphology or to a metal oxide nanosheet including conjoined nanoparticles having the preselected morphology.« less

Morphological Decomposition Based on the Analysis of Orthography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rastle, Kathleen; Davis, Matthew H.

2008-01-01

Recent theories of morphological processing have been dominated by the notion that morphologically complex words are decomposed into their constituents on the basis of their semantic properties. In this article we argue that the weight of evidence now suggests that the recognition of morphologically complex words begins with a rapid morphemic…

Investigations of Martian Impact Crater Morphologies and Morphometries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barlow, Nadine G.

2002-01-01

We have made substantial progress towards completion of the original objectives and are continuing to include new data from the Mars Global Surveyor MOC and TES instruments as they become available (the MOLA instrument has ceased operation as of 2002). The project funding has been used to provide salary support to the PI and several undergraduate students, cover publication charges for two papers, reimburse travel expenses to conferences and workshops incurred by the PI and students, and cover a number of other expenses such as software upgrades and production costs of slides and color prints. This study is revising the PI's Catalog of Large Martian Impact Craters with information obtained from MGS and is utilizing data in the revised Catalog to investigate which planetary factors (such as location, elevation, terrain type, etc.) primarily affect the formation of specific ejecta morphologies and morphometries.

Serine racemase deletion disrupts memory for order and alters cortical dendritic morphology

PubMed Central

DeVito, Loren M.; Balu, Darrick T.; Kanter, Benjamin R.; Lykken, Christine; Basu, Alo C.; Coyle, Joseph T.; Eichenbaum, Howard

2012-01-01

There is substantial evidence implicating N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in memory and cognition. It has also been suggested that NMDAR hypofunction might underlie the cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia since morphological changes, including alterations in the dendritic architecture of pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), have been reported in the schizophrenic brain post mortem. Here, we used a genetic model of NMDAR hypofunction, a serine racemase knockout (SR−/−) mouse in which the first coding exon of the mouse serine racemase gene has been deleted, to explore the role of d-serine in regulating cognitive functions as well as dendritic architecture. SR −/− mice exhibited a significantly disrupted representation of the order of events in distinct experiences as revealed by object recognition and odor sequence tests; however, SR −/− animals were unimpaired in the detection of novel objects and in spatial displacement, and showed intact relational memory in a test of transitive inference. In addition, SR −/− mice exhibited normal sociability and preference for social novelty. Neurons in the medial PFC of SR−/− mice displayed reductions in the complexity, total length, and spine density of apical dendrites. These findings demonstrate that d-serine is important for specific aspects of cognition, as well as in regulating dendritic morphology of pyramidal neurons in the mPFC. Moreover, they suggest that NMDAR hypofunction might, in part, be responsible for the cognitive deficits and synaptic changes associated with schizophrenia, and highlight this signaling pathway as a potential target for therapeutic intervention. PMID:21029376

Fomalhaut’s Stellar Companions as the Driver of its Morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaib, Nathan; White, Ethan; Izidoro, Andre

2018-01-01

Fomalhaut A is among the most well-studied nearby stars and has been discovered to possess a putative planetary object as well as a remarkable eccentric dust belt. This eccentric dust belt has often been interpreted as the dynamical signature of one or more planets that elude direct detection. However, the system also contains two other stellar companions residing ~100,000 AU from Fomalhaut A. Using numerical simulations of the system's dynamical evolution, we find that close encounters between Fomalhaut A and B are expected, with a ~25% probability that the two stars have passed within at least 400 AU of each other at some point. Although the outcomes of such encounter histories are extremely varied, these close encounters nearly always excite the eccentricity of Fomalhaut A's dust belt and occasionally yield morphologies very similar to the observed belt. With these results, we argue that close encounters with Fomalhaut A's stellar companions should be considered a plausible mechanism to explain its eccentric belt, especially in the absence of detected planets capable of sculpting the belt's morphology. More broadly, we can also conclude from this work that very wide binary stars may often generate asymmetries in the stellar debris disks they host.

Morphological characteristics of Street Workout practitioners.

PubMed

Sanchez-Martinez, Javier; Plaza, Paula; Araneda, Alberto; Sánchez, Patricio; Almagiâ, Atilio

2017-02-01

The determination of the morphological characteristics of the most popular sports has allowed the evaluation and comparison between athletes, which has helped to improve their performance. The Street Workout is an emerging sport based on calisthenics, which recently has become popular. Despite its popularization, neither the morphologic profile nor the morphologic characteristics of Street Workout athletes has been determined. Determine the profile and morphological characteristics of Street-Workout athletes, through anthropometry. Fourteen athletes (22.7 ± 3.26 years) were recruited from the National Calisthenics Tournament 2015 in Chile. The athletes were evaluated following the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry to determine the somatotype, body composition, as well as indices of body composition such as body mass index, waist to hip ratio, waist to height ratio, fat/muscle mass and muscle/bone mass indexes. Street Workout practitioners presented a balanced-mesomorphic somatotype, a low fat mass and a high muscular development, with upper arms and trunk predominance. Regarding body composition indices, the values obtained allow us to classify them as a low-risk population of chronic non-communicable diseases. The present study sets a first antecedent of the morphological characteristics of Street Workout, determining that the Street Workout athletes presented balanced-mesomorphic somatotype and were classified as a healthy and athletic sample by their body composition indexes.

Root canal morphology of South Asian Indian maxillary molar teeth

PubMed Central

Singh, Shishir; Pawar, Mansing

2015-01-01

Objective: The objective was to study the root canal morphology of South Asian Indian Maxillary molars using a tooth clearing technique. Materials and Methods: Hundred teeth each comprising of first, second, and third molars collected from different dental schools and clinics in India were subjected to standard dye penetration, decalcification and clearing procedure before being studied. Results: The first molar mesiobuccal roots exhibited 69% Type I, 24% Type II, 4% Type IV, 2% Type V, and 1% exhibited a Vertuccis Type VIII canal anatomy. In the group with three separate roots the second molar mesiobuccal roots in exhibited 80.6% Type I, 15.3% Type II, 2.7% Type IV, and 1.4% Type V canal anatomy while the third molars mesiobuccal roots exhibited 57.4% Type I, 32% Type II, 2.1% Type III, 8.5% Type IV, 1% had a Type V canal anatomy in the similar group. Conclusion: A varied root canal anatomy was seen in the mesiobuccal root canal of the maxillary molars. PMID:25713497

The Morphology-Density Relationship: Looking Back, Thinking Back

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dressler, A.

The work I did in the late 1970s leading to the morphology-density relation was done in a time of rising interest in how galaxies acquired different morphological types. I describe briefly here how I contributed to this effort by adding a large number of morphologies for galaxies in rich clusters and the field. The strong correlation that I discovered between galaxy type and local galaxy density ran counter to ideas at the time that emphasized processes tied to the global cluster environment. Instead, it provided some of the first evidence for a hierarchical picture - one in which the density of the environment into which a galaxy was born would be its lifetime legacy. Though often cited as a relation between galaxy morphology and the influence of present-epoch environment, the morphology-density relation was interpreted by me, from the first, as the influence of the early environment of galaxy formation, passed down by the hierarchical growth of structure. In fact, it seems increasingly likely that the more fundamental correlation of galaxy morphology is with galaxy mass, and that the morphology-density relation is basically an expression of the prevalence of more massive galaxies in regions of higher galaxy density.

Accretion and outflow in the proplyd-like objects near Cygnus OB2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guarcello, M. G.; Drake, J. J.; Wright, N. J.

2014-09-20

Cygnus OB2 is the most massive association within 2 kpc from the Sun, hosting hundreds of massive stars, thousands of young low mass members, and some sights of active star formation in the surrounding cloud. Recently, 10 photoevaporating proplyd-like objects with tadpole-shaped morphology were discovered in the outskirts of the OB association, approximately 6-14 pc away from its center. The classification of these objects is ambiguous, being either evaporating residuals of the parental cloud that are hosting a protostar inside or disk-bearing stars with an evaporating disk, such as the evaporating proplyds observed in the Trapezium Cluster in Orion. Inmore » this paper, we present a study based on low-resolution optical spectroscopic observations made with the Optical System for Imaging and low Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy, mounted on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio CANARIAS, of two of these protostars. The spectrum of one of the objects shows evidence of accretion but not of outflows. In the latter object, the spectra show several emission lines indicating the presence of an actively accreting disk with outflow. We present estimates of the mass loss rate and the accretion rate from the disk, showing that the former exceeds the latter as observed in other known objects with evaporating disks. We also show evidence of a strong variability in the integrated flux observed in these objects as well as in the accretion and outflow diagnostics.« less

Normal sperm morphology and changes of semen characteristics and abnormal morphological spermatozoa among peri-mating seasons in captive japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus).

PubMed

Okano, Tsukasa; Murase, Tetsuma; Nakamura, Sachiko; Komatsu, Takeshi; Tsubota, Toshio; Asano, Makoto

2009-04-01

The objectives of this study were to obtain morphological data for normal spermatozoa and to investigate seasonal changes (the early, mid- and post-mating seasons) in abnormal morphology of spermatozoa and the characteristics of semen in Japanese black bears. Semen was collected by electroejaculation from 34 captive male Japanese black bears a total of 74 times. Length of head, width of head, length of midpiece and total length of the spermatozoa were 6.3 +/- 0.4, 4.5 +/- 0.3, 10.4 +/- 0.7 and 69.6 +/- 3.1 mum (mean +/- SD; 20 semen, 200 spermatozoa), respectively. In the semen collected during the mid-mating season, ejaculate volume, ejaculate pH, sperm concentration, total sperm count, motility, viability and intact acrosomes were 0.46 +/- 0.36 ml, 7.3 +/- 0.4, 659 +/- 644 x 10(6)/ml, 214 +/- 208 x 10(6), 82.9 +/- 9.6%, 89.3 +/- 9.5% and 97.0 +/- 3.2% (mean +/- SD; n=21, in ejaculate pH n=8), respectively. Sperm motility and viability in the early (n=7) and mid-mating (n=21) seasons were significantly higher than in the post-mating (n=8) season. The rates of detached heads in the early and mid-mating season were significantly lower than in the post-mating season. The main abnormal morphologies observed (mean +/- SD%; n=23) were simply bent tail (19.9 +/- 22.6), distal droplets (13.5 +/- 11.7), proximal droplets (9.6 +/- 7.8), teratoid spermatozoa (6.7 +/- 10.7), knobbed acrosome (4.9 +/- 8.6), acrosome damage (3.7 +/- 2.8) and bent midpiece (3.7 +/- 5.1). The data will be useful for artificial breeding and further research on male reproductive physiology in this species.

Structural and Morphological Properties of Carbon Supports: Effect on Catalyst Degradation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patel, Anant; Artyushkova, Kateryna; Atanassov, Plamen

2010-07-01

The object of this work was to identify correlations between performance losses of Pt electrocatalysts on carbon support materials and the chemical and morphological parameters that describe them. Accelerated stress testing, with an upper potential of 1.2 V, was used to monitor changes to cathode properties, including kinetic performance and effective platinum surface area losses. The structure and chemical compositions were studied using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Digital Image Processing. As this is an ongoing study, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, though a trend between support surface area overall performance loss was foundmore » to exist.« less

Arabic morphology in the neural language system.

PubMed

Boudelaa, Sami; Pulvermüller, Friedemann; Hauk, Olaf; Shtyrov, Yury; Marslen-Wilson, William

2010-05-01

There are two views about morphology, the aspect of language concerned with the internal structure of words. One view holds that morphology is a domain of knowledge with a specific type of neurocognitive representation supported by specific brain mechanisms lateralized to left fronto-temporal cortex. The alternate view characterizes morphological effects as being a by-product of the correlation between form and meaning and where no brain area is predicted to subserve morphological processing per se. Here we provided evidence from Arabic that morphemes do have specific memory traces, which differ as a function of their functional properties. In an MMN study, we showed that the abstract consonantal root, which conveys semantic meaning (similarly to monomorphemic content words in English), elicits an MMN starting from 160 msec after the deviation point, whereas the abstract vocalic word pattern, which plays a range of grammatical roles, elicits an MMN response starting from 250 msec after the deviation point. Topographically, the root MMN has a symmetric fronto-central distribution, whereas the word pattern MMN lateralizes significantly to the left, indicating stronger involvement of left peri-sylvian areas. In languages with rich morphologies, morphemic processing seems to be supported by distinct neural networks, thereby providing evidence for a specific neuronal basis for morphology as part of the cerebral language machinery.

Morphologic Subtypes of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

PubMed

Torbenson, Michael S

2017-06-01

Hepatocellular carcinomas can be further divided into distinct subtypes that provide important clinical information and biological insights. These subtypes are distinct from growth patterns and are on based on morphologic and molecular findings. There are 12 reasonably well-defined subtypes as well as 6 provisional subtypes, together making up 35% of all hepatocellular carcinomas. These subtypes are discussed, with an emphasis on their definitions and the key morphologic findings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated quantitative 3D analysis of aorta size, morphology, and mural calcification distributions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kurugol, Sila, E-mail: sila.kurugol@childrens.harvard.edu; Come, Carolyn E.; Diaz, Alejandro A.

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop a fully automated pipeline to compute aorta morphology and calcification measures in large cohorts of CT scans that can be used to investigate the potential of these measures as imaging biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. Methods: The first step of the automated pipeline is aorta segmentation. The algorithm the authors propose first detects an initial aorta boundary by exploiting cross-sectional circularity of aorta in axial slices and aortic arch in reformatted oblique slices. This boundary is then refined by a 3D level-set segmentation that evolves the boundary to the location of nearbymore » edges. The authors then detect the aortic calcifications with thresholding and filter out the false positive regions due to nearby high intensity structures based on their anatomical location. The authors extract the centerline and oblique cross sections of the segmented aortas and compute the aorta morphology and calcification measures of the first 2500 subjects from COPDGene study. These measures include volume and number of calcified plaques and measures of vessel morphology such as average cross-sectional area, tortuosity, and arch width. Results: The authors computed the agreement between the algorithm and expert segmentations on 45 CT scans and obtained a closest point mean error of 0.62 ± 0.09 mm and a Dice coefficient of 0.92 ± 0.01. The calcification detection algorithm resulted in an improved true positive detection rate of 0.96 compared to previous work. The measurements of aorta size agreed with the measurements reported in previous work. The initial results showed associations of aorta morphology with calcification and with aging. These results may indicate aorta stiffening and unwrapping with calcification and aging. Conclusions: The authors have developed an objective tool to assess aorta morphology and aortic calcium plaques on CT scans that may be used to provide information about the presence of

Automated quantitative 3D analysis of aorta size, morphology, and mural calcification distributions.

PubMed

Kurugol, Sila; Come, Carolyn E; Diaz, Alejandro A; Ross, James C; Kinney, Greg L; Black-Shinn, Jennifer L; Hokanson, John E; Budoff, Matthew J; Washko, George R; San Jose Estepar, Raul

2015-09-01

The purpose of this work is to develop a fully automated pipeline to compute aorta morphology and calcification measures in large cohorts of CT scans that can be used to investigate the potential of these measures as imaging biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. The first step of the automated pipeline is aorta segmentation. The algorithm the authors propose first detects an initial aorta boundary by exploiting cross-sectional circularity of aorta in axial slices and aortic arch in reformatted oblique slices. This boundary is then refined by a 3D level-set segmentation that evolves the boundary to the location of nearby edges. The authors then detect the aortic calcifications with thresholding and filter out the false positive regions due to nearby high intensity structures based on their anatomical location. The authors extract the centerline and oblique cross sections of the segmented aortas and compute the aorta morphology and calcification measures of the first 2500 subjects from COPDGene study. These measures include volume and number of calcified plaques and measures of vessel morphology such as average cross-sectional area, tortuosity, and arch width. The authors computed the agreement between the algorithm and expert segmentations on 45 CT scans and obtained a closest point mean error of 0.62 ± 0.09 mm and a Dice coefficient of 0.92 ± 0.01. The calcification detection algorithm resulted in an improved true positive detection rate of 0.96 compared to previous work. The measurements of aorta size agreed with the measurements reported in previous work. The initial results showed associations of aorta morphology with calcification and with aging. These results may indicate aorta stiffening and unwrapping with calcification and aging. The authors have developed an objective tool to assess aorta morphology and aortic calcium plaques on CT scans that may be used to provide information about the presence of cardiovascular disease and its clinical impact in

Automated quantitative 3D analysis of aorta size, morphology, and mural calcification distributions

PubMed Central

Kurugol, Sila; Come, Carolyn E.; Diaz, Alejandro A.; Ross, James C.; Kinney, Greg L.; Black-Shinn, Jennifer L.; Hokanson, John E.; Budoff, Matthew J.; Washko, George R.; San Jose Estepar, Raul

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop a fully automated pipeline to compute aorta morphology and calcification measures in large cohorts of CT scans that can be used to investigate the potential of these measures as imaging biomarkers of cardiovascular disease. Methods: The first step of the automated pipeline is aorta segmentation. The algorithm the authors propose first detects an initial aorta boundary by exploiting cross-sectional circularity of aorta in axial slices and aortic arch in reformatted oblique slices. This boundary is then refined by a 3D level-set segmentation that evolves the boundary to the location of nearby edges. The authors then detect the aortic calcifications with thresholding and filter out the false positive regions due to nearby high intensity structures based on their anatomical location. The authors extract the centerline and oblique cross sections of the segmented aortas and compute the aorta morphology and calcification measures of the first 2500 subjects from COPDGene study. These measures include volume and number of calcified plaques and measures of vessel morphology such as average cross-sectional area, tortuosity, and arch width. Results: The authors computed the agreement between the algorithm and expert segmentations on 45 CT scans and obtained a closest point mean error of 0.62 ± 0.09 mm and a Dice coefficient of 0.92 ± 0.01. The calcification detection algorithm resulted in an improved true positive detection rate of 0.96 compared to previous work. The measurements of aorta size agreed with the measurements reported in previous work. The initial results showed associations of aorta morphology with calcification and with aging. These results may indicate aorta stiffening and unwrapping with calcification and aging. Conclusions: The authors have developed an objective tool to assess aorta morphology and aortic calcium plaques on CT scans that may be used to provide information about the presence of cardiovascular

Biological object recognition in μ-radiography images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prochazka, A.; Dammer, J.; Weyda, F.; Sopko, V.; Benes, J.; Zeman, J.; Jandejsek, I.

2015-03-01

This study presents an applicability of real-time microradiography to biological objects, namely to horse chestnut leafminer, Cameraria ohridella (Insecta: Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae) and following image processing focusing on image segmentation and object recognition. The microradiography of insects (such as horse chestnut leafminer) provides a non-invasive imaging that leaves the organisms alive. The imaging requires a high spatial resolution (micrometer scale) radiographic system. Our radiographic system consists of a micro-focus X-ray tube and two types of detectors. The first is a charge integrating detector (Hamamatsu flat panel), the second is a pixel semiconductor detector (Medipix2 detector). The latter allows detection of single quantum photon of ionizing radiation. We obtained numerous horse chestnuts leafminer pupae in several microradiography images easy recognizable in automatic mode using the image processing methods. We implemented an algorithm that is able to count a number of dead and alive pupae in images. The algorithm was based on two methods: 1) noise reduction using mathematical morphology filters, 2) Canny edge detection. The accuracy of the algorithm is higher for the Medipix2 (average recall for detection of alive pupae =0.99, average recall for detection of dead pupae =0.83), than for the flat panel (average recall for detection of alive pupae =0.99, average recall for detection of dead pupae =0.77). Therefore, we conclude that Medipix2 has lower noise and better displays contours (edges) of biological objects. Our method allows automatic selection and calculation of dead and alive chestnut leafminer pupae. It leads to faster monitoring of the population of one of the world's important insect pest.

Morphology engineering of high performance binary oxide electrodes.

PubMed

Chen, Kunfeng; Sun, Congting; Xue, Dongfeng

2015-01-14

Advances in materials have preceded almost every major technological leap since the beginning of civilization. On the nanoscale and microscale, mastery over the morphology, size, and structure of a material enables control of its properties and enhancement of its usefulness for a given application, such as energy storage. In this review paper, our aim is to present a review of morphology engineering of high performance oxide electrode materials for electrochemical energy storage. We begin with the chemical bonding theory of single crystal growth to direct the growth of morphology-controllable materials. We then focus on the growth of various morphologies of binary oxides and their electrochemical performances for lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors. The morphology-performance relationships are elaborated by selecting examples in which there is already reasonable understanding for this relationship. Based on these comprehensive analyses, we proposed colloidal supercapacitor systems beyond morphology control on the basis of system- and ion-level design. We conclude this article with personal perspectives on the directions toward which future research in this field might take.

First detection of very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from the extreme blazar PGC 2402248 with the MAGIC telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirzoyan, Razmik

2018-04-01

The MAGIC collaboration reports the first detection of very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from PGC 2402248, also known as 2WHSP J073326.7+515354 (Chang et al. 2016, A & A, 598, A17) with coordinates R.A.: 07:33:26.7 h, Dec: +51:53:54.99 deg. The source is classified as an extreme high-energy peaked BL Lacertae object of unknown redshift, included in the 2WHSP catalog with a synchrotron peak located at 10^17.9 Hz. PGC 2402248 was observed with the MAGIC telescopes from 2018/01/23 to 2018/04/18 (MJD 58141-58226) for about 23 h. The preliminary analysis of these data resulted in the detection of PGC 2402248 with a statistical significance of more than 6 standard deviations.

Linear and ultrafast nonlinear plasmonics of single nano-objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crut, Aurélien; Maioli, Paolo; Vallée, Fabrice; Del Fatti, Natalia

2017-03-01

Single-particle optical investigations have greatly improved our understanding of the fundamental properties of nano-objects, avoiding the spurious inhomogeneous effects that affect ensemble experiments. Correlation with high-resolution imaging techniques providing morphological information (e.g. electron microscopy) allows a quantitative interpretation of the optical measurements by means of analytical models and numerical simulations. In this topical review, we first briefly recall the principles underlying some of the most commonly used single-particle optical techniques: near-field, dark-field, spatial modulation and photothermal microscopies/spectroscopies. We then focus on the quantitative investigation of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of metallic nano-objects using linear and ultrafast optical techniques. While measured SPR positions and spectral areas are found in good agreement with predictions based on Maxwell’s equations, SPR widths are strongly influenced by quantum confinement (or, from a classical standpoint, surface-induced electron scattering) and, for small nano-objects, cannot be reproduced using the dielectric functions of bulk materials. Linear measurements on single nano-objects (silver nanospheres and gold nanorods) allow a quantification of the size and geometry dependences of these effects in confined metals. Addressing the ultrafast response of an individual nano-object is also a powerful tool to elucidate the physical mechanisms at the origin of their optical nonlinearities, and their electronic, vibrational and thermal relaxation processes. Experimental investigations of the dynamical response of gold nanorods are shown to be quantitatively modeled in terms of modifications of the metal dielectric function enhanced by plasmonic effects. Ultrafast spectroscopy can also be exploited to unveil hidden physical properties of more complex nanosystems. In this context, two-color femtosecond pump-probe experiments performed on individual

Cascade morphology transition in bcc metals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Setyawan, Wahyu; Selby, A.; Juslin, Niklas

2015-06-10

Energetic atom collisions in solids induce shockwaves with complex morphologies. In this paper, we establish the existence of a morphological transition in such cascades. The order parameter of the morphology is defined as the exponent,more » $b$, in the defect production curve as a function of cascade energy ($$N_F$$$ \\sim$$$E_{MD}^b$$). Response of different bcc metals can be compared in a consistent energy domain when the energy is normalized by the transition energy, $$\\mu$$, between the high- and the low-energy regime. Using Cr, Fe, Mo and W data, an empirical formula of $$\\mu$$ as a function of displacement threshold energy, $$E_d$$, is presented for bcc metals.« less

Morphology and petrography of volcanic ashes.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heiken, G.

1972-01-01

Study of volcanic ash samples collected from a variety of recent eruptions using petrography, chemical analyses, and scanning electron microscopy to characterize each type and to relate ash morphology to magma composition and the type of eruption. The ashes are placed in the broad genetic categories of magmatic and phreatomagmatic. The morphology of ash particles from magmatic eruptions of high viscosity magma is governed primarily by vesicle density and shape. Ash particles from eruptions of low viscosity magmas are mostly droplets. The morphology of ash particles from phreatomagmatic eruptions is controlled by stresses within the chilled magma which result in fragmentation of the glass to form small blocky or pyramidal glass ash particles.

Morphology and microstructure of composite materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tiwari, S. N.; Srinivansan, K.

1991-01-01

Lightweight continuous carbon fiber based polymeric composites are currently enjoying increasing acceptance as structural materials capable of replacing metals and alloys in load bearing applications. As with most new materials, these composites are undergoing trials with several competing processing techniques aimed at cost effectively producing void free consolidations with good mechanical properties. As metallic materials have been in use for several centuries, a considerable database exists on their morphology - microstructure; and the interrelationships between structure and properties have been well documented. Numerous studies on composites have established the crucial relationship between microstructure - morphology and properties. The various microstructural and morphological features of composite materials, particularly those accompanying different processing routes, are documented.

Template-directed control of crystal morphologies.

PubMed

Meldrum, Fiona C; Ludwigs, Sabine

2007-02-12

Biominerals are characterised by unique morphologies, and it is a long-term synthetic goal to reproduce these synthetically. We here apply a range of templating routes to investigate whether a fascinating category of biominerals, the single crystals with complex forms, can be produced using simple synthetic methods. Macroporous crystals with sponge-like morphologies identical to that of sea urchin skeletal plates were produced on templating with a sponge-like polymer membrane. Similarly, patterning of individual crystal faces was achieved from the micrometer to nanometer scale through crystallisation on colloidal particle monolayers and patterned polymer thin films. These experiments demonstrate the versatility of a templating approach to producing single crystals with unique morphologies.

Cascade morphology transition in bcc metals

DOE PAGES

Setyawan, Wahyu; Selby, Aaron P.; Juslin, Niklas; ...

2015-05-18

Energetic atom collisions in solids induce shockwaves with complex morphologies. In this paper, we establish the existence of a morphological transition in such cascades. The order parameter of the morphology is defined as the exponent, b, in the defect production curve as a function of cascade energy (N-F similar to E-MD(b)). Response of different bcc metals can be compared in a consistent energy domain when the energy is normalized by the transition energy, mu, between the high-and the low-energy regime. Using Cr, Fe, Mo and W data, an empirical formula of mu as a function of displacement threshold energy, E-d,more » is presented for bcc metals.« less

Corallite skeletal morphological variation in Hawaiian Porites lobata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tisthammer, Kaho H.; Richmond, Robert H.

2018-06-01

Due to their high morphological plasticity and complex evolutionary history, the species boundaries of many reef-building corals are poorly understood. The skeletal structures of corals have traditionally been used for species identification, but these structures can be highly variable, and currently we lack knowledge regarding the extent of morphological variation within species. Porites species are notorious for their taxonomic difficulties, both morphologically and genetically, and currently there are several unresolved species complexes in the Pacific. Despite its ubiquitous presence and broad use in coral research, Porites lobata belongs to one such unresolved species complex. To understand the degree of intraspecific variation in skeletal morphology, 120 corallites from the Hawaiian P. lobata were examined. A subset of samples from two genetically differentiated populations from contrasting high- and low-stress environments in Maunalua Bay, Hawaii, were then quantitatively analyzed using multivariate morphometrics. Our observations revealed high intraspecific variation in corallite morphology, as well as significant morphological differences between the two populations of P. lobata. Additionally, significant correlation was found between the morphological and genetic distances calculated from approximately 18,000 loci generated from restriction site-associated DNA sequencing. The unique morphological characters observed from the genetically differentiated population under environmental stress suggest that these characters may have adaptive values, but how such traits relate to fitness and how much plasticity they can exhibit remain to be determined by future studies. Relatively simple morphometric analyses used in our study can be useful in clarifying the existing ambiguity in skeletal architecture, thus contributing to resolving species issues in corals.

Morphological Evolution of Block Copolymer Particles: Effect of Solvent Evaporation Rate on Particle Shape and Morphology.

PubMed

Shin, Jae Man; Kim, YongJoo; Yun, Hongseok; Yi, Gi-Ra; Kim, Bumjoon J

2017-02-28

Shape and morphology of polymeric particles are of great importance in controlling their optical properties or self-assembly into unusual superstructures. Confinement of block copolymers (BCPs) in evaporative emulsions affords particles with diverse structures, including prolate ellipsoids, onion-like spheres, oblate ellipsoids, and others. Herein, we report that the evaporation rate of solvent from emulsions encapsulating symmetric polystyrene-b-polybutadiene (PS-b-PB) determines the shape and internal nanostructure of micron-sized BCP particles. A distinct morphological transition from the ellipsoids with striped lamellae to the onion-like spheres was observed with decreasing evaporation rate. Experiments and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations showed that the evaporation rate affected the organization of BCPs at the particle surface, which determined the final shape and internal nanostructure of the particles. Differences in the solvent diffusion rates in PS and PB at rapid evaporation rates induced alignment of both domains perpendicular to the particle surface, resulting in ellipsoids with axial lamellar stripes. Slower evaporation rates provided sufficient time for BCP organization into onion-like structures with PB as the outermost layer, owing to the preferential interaction of PB with the surroundings. BCP molecular weight was found to influence the critical evaporation rate corresponding to the morphological transition from ellipsoid to onion-like particles, as well as the ellipsoid aspect ratio. DPD simulations produced morphologies similar to those obtained from experiments and thus elucidated the mechanism and driving forces responsible for the evaporation-induced assembly of BCPs into particles with well-defined shapes and morphologies.

Methods in hair research: how to objectively distinguish between anagen and catagen in human hair follicle organ culture.

PubMed

Kloepper, Jennifer Elisabeth; Sugawara, Koji; Al-Nuaimi, Yusur; Gáspár, Erzsébet; van Beek, Nina; Paus, Ralf

2010-03-01

The organ culture of human scalp hair follicles (HFs) is the best currently available assay for hair research in the human system. In order to determine the hair growth-modulatory effects of agents in this assay, one critical read-out parameter is the assessment of whether the test agent has prolonged anagen duration or induced catagen in vitro. However, objective criteria to distinguish between anagen VI HFs and early catagen in human HF organ culture, two hair cycle stages with a deceptively similar morphology, remain to be established. Here, we develop, document and test an objective classification system that allows to distinguish between anagen VI and early catagen in organ-cultured human HFs, using both qualitative and quantitative parameters that can be generated by light microscopy or immunofluorescence. Seven qualitative classification criteria are defined that are based on assessing the morphology of the hair matrix, the dermal papilla and the distribution of pigmentary markers (melanin, gp100). These are complemented by ten quantitative parameters. We have tested this classification system by employing the clinically used topical hair growth inhibitor, eflornithine, and show that eflornithine indeed produces the expected premature catagen induction, as identified by the novel classification criteria reported here. Therefore, this classification system offers a standardized, objective and reproducible new experimental method to reliably distinguish between human anagen VI and early catagen HFs in organ culture.

Trade-off between reservoir yield and evaporation losses as a function of lake morphology in semi-arid Brazil.

PubMed

Campos, José N B; Lima, Iran E; Studart, Ticiana M C; Nascimento, Luiz S V

2016-05-31

This study investigates the relationships between yield and evaporation as a function of lake morphology in semi-arid Brazil. First, a new methodology was proposed to classify the morphology of 40 reservoirs in the Ceará State, with storage capacities ranging from approximately 5 to 4500 hm3. Then, Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to study the effect of reservoir morphology (including real and simplified conical forms) on the water storage process at different reliability levels. The reservoirs were categorized as convex (60.0%), slightly convex (27.5%) or linear (12.5%). When the conical approximation was used instead of the real lake form, a trade-off occurred between reservoir yield and evaporation losses, with different trends for the convex, slightly convex and linear reservoirs. Using the conical approximation, the water yield prediction errors reached approximately 5% of the mean annual inflow, which is negligible for large reservoirs. However, for smaller reservoirs, this error became important. Therefore, this paper presents a new procedure for correcting the yield-evaporation relationships that were obtained by assuming a conical approximation rather than the real reservoir morphology. The combination of this correction with the Regulation Triangle Diagram is useful for rapidly and objectively predicting reservoir yield and evaporation losses in semi-arid environments.

Genetic Determinism vs. Phenotypic Plasticity in Protist Morphology.

PubMed

Mulot, Matthieu; Marcisz, Katarzyna; Grandgirard, Lara; Lara, Enrique; Kosakyan, Anush; Robroek, Bjorn J M; Lamentowicz, Mariusz; Payne, Richard J; Mitchell, Edward A D

2017-11-01

Untangling the relationships between morphology and phylogeny is key to building a reliable taxonomy, but is especially challenging for protists, where the existence of cryptic or pseudocryptic species makes finding relevant discriminant traits difficult. Here we use Hyalosphenia papilio (a testate amoeba) as a model species to investigate the contribution of phylogeny and phenotypic plasticity in its morphology. We study the response of H. papilio morphology (shape and pores number) to environmental variables in (i) a manipulative experiment with controlled conditions (water level), (ii) an observational study of a within-site natural ecological gradient (water level), and (iii) an observational study across 37 European peatlands (climate). We showed that H. papilio morphology is correlated to environmental conditions (climate and water depth) as well as geography, while no relationship between morphology and phylogeny was brought to light. The relative contribution of genetic inheritance and phenotypic plasticity in shaping morphology varies depending on the taxonomic group and the trait under consideration. Thus, our data call for a reassessment of taxonomy based on morphology alone. This clearly calls for a substantial increase in taxonomic research on these globally still under-studied organisms leading to a reassessment of estimates of global microbial eukaryotic diversity. © 2017 The Author(s) Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology © 2017 International Society of Protistologists.

Objective measurement of bread crumb texture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jian; Coles, Graeme D.

1995-01-01

Evaluation of bread crumb texture plays an important role in judging bread quality. This paper discusses the application of image analysis methods to the objective measurement of the visual texture of bread crumb. The application of Fast Fourier Transform and mathematical morphology methods have been discussed by the authors in their previous work, and a commercial bread texture measurement system has been developed. Based on the nature of bread crumb texture, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods, and a third method based on features derived directly from statistics of edge density in local windows of the bread image. The analysis of various methods and experimental results provides an insight into the characteristics of the bread texture image and interconnection between texture measurement algorithms. The usefulness of the application of general stochastic process modelling of texture is thus revealed; it leads to more reliable and accurate evaluation of bread crumb texture. During the development of these methods, we also gained useful insights into how subjective judges form opinions about bread visual texture. These are discussed here.

Nanoscale Morphology Evolution Under Ion Irradiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aziz, Michael J.

We showed that the half-century-old paradigm of morphological instability under irradiation due to the curvature-dependence of the sputter yield, can account neither for the phase diagram nor the amplification or decay rates that we measure in the simplest possible experimental system -- an elemental semiconductor with an amorphous surface under noble-gas ion irradiation; We showed that a model of pattern formation based on the impact-induced redistribution of atoms that do not get sputtered away explains our experimental observations; We developed a first-principles, parameter-free approach for predicting morphology evolution, starting with molecular dynamics simulations of single ion impacts, lasting picoseconds, andmore » upscaling through a rigorous crater-function formalism to develop a partial differential equation that predicts morphology evolution on time scales more than twelve orders of magnitude longer than can be covered by the molecular dynamics; We performed the first quantitative comparison of the contributions to morphological instability from sputter removal and from impact-induced redistribution of atoms that are removed, and showed that the former is negligible compared to the latter; We established a new paradigm for impact-induced morphology evolution based on crater functions that incorporate both redistribution and sputter effects; and We developed a model of nanopore closure by irradiation-induced stress and irradiationenhanced fluidity, for the near-surface irradiation regime in which nuclear stopping predominates, and showed that it explains many aspects of pore closure kinetics that we measure experimentally.« less

Astragalar Morphology of Selected Giraffidae

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The artiodactyl astragalus has been modified to exhibit two trochleae, creating a double pullied structure allowing for significant dorso-plantar motion, and limited mediolateral motion. The astragalus structure is partly influenced by environmental substrates, and correspondingly, morphometric studies can yield paleohabitat information. The present study establishes terminology and describes detailed morphological features on giraffid astragali. Each giraffid astragalus exhibits a unique combination of anatomical characteristics. The giraffid astragalar morphologies reinforce previously established phylogenetic relationships. We find that the enlargement of the navicular head is a feature shared by all giraffids, and that the primitive giraffids possess exceptionally tall astragalar heads in relation to the total astragalar height. The sivatheres and the okapi share a reduced notch on the lateral edge of the astragalus. We find that Samotherium is more primitive in astragalar morphologies than Palaeotragus, which is reinforced by tooth characteristics and ossicone position. Diagnostic anatomical characters on the astragalus allow for giraffid species identifications and a better understanding of Giraffidae. PMID:27028515

Astragalar Morphology of Selected Giraffidae.

PubMed

Solounias, Nikos; Danowitz, Melinda

2016-01-01

The artiodactyl astragalus has been modified to exhibit two trochleae, creating a double pullied structure allowing for significant dorso-plantar motion, and limited mediolateral motion. The astragalus structure is partly influenced by environmental substrates, and correspondingly, morphometric studies can yield paleohabitat information. The present study establishes terminology and describes detailed morphological features on giraffid astragali. Each giraffid astragalus exhibits a unique combination of anatomical characteristics. The giraffid astragalar morphologies reinforce previously established phylogenetic relationships. We find that the enlargement of the navicular head is a feature shared by all giraffids, and that the primitive giraffids possess exceptionally tall astragalar heads in relation to the total astragalar height. The sivatheres and the okapi share a reduced notch on the lateral edge of the astragalus. We find that Samotherium is more primitive in astragalar morphologies than Palaeotragus, which is reinforced by tooth characteristics and ossicone position. Diagnostic anatomical characters on the astragalus allow for giraffid species identifications and a better understanding of Giraffidae.

Galaxy morphology - An unsupervised machine learning approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schutter, A.; Shamir, L.

2015-09-01

Structural properties poses valuable information about the formation and evolution of galaxies, and are important for understanding the past, present, and future universe. Here we use unsupervised machine learning methodology to analyze a network of similarities between galaxy morphological types, and automatically deduce a morphological sequence of galaxies. Application of the method to the EFIGI catalog show that the morphological scheme produced by the algorithm is largely in agreement with the De Vaucouleurs system, demonstrating the ability of computer vision and machine learning methods to automatically profile galaxy morphological sequences. The unsupervised analysis method is based on comprehensive computer vision techniques that compute the visual similarities between the different morphological types. Rather than relying on human cognition, the proposed system deduces the similarities between sets of galaxy images in an automatic manner, and is therefore not limited by the number of galaxies being analyzed. The source code of the method is publicly available, and the protocol of the experiment is included in the paper so that the experiment can be replicated, and the method can be used to analyze user-defined datasets of galaxy images.

Tracing the developmental origin of a lizard skull: Chondrocranial architecture, heterochrony, and variation in lacertids.

PubMed

Yaryhin, Oleksandr; Werneburg, Ingmar

2018-06-08

The sand lizard, Lacerta agilis, is a classical model species in herpetology. Its adult skull anatomy and its embryonic development are well known. The description of its fully formed primordial skull by Ernst Gaupp, in 1900, was a key publication in vertebrate morphology and influenced many comparative embryologists. Based on recent methodological considerations, we restudied the early cranial development of this species starting as early as the formation of mesenchymal condensations up to the fully formed chondrocranium. We traced the formation of the complex chondrocranial architecture in detail, clarified specific homologies for the first time, and uncovered major differences to old textbook descriptions. Comparison with other lacertid lizards revealed a very similar genesis of the primordial skull. However, we detected shifts in the developmental timing of particular cartilaginous elements, mainly in the nasal region, which may correlate to specific ecological adaptation in the adults. Late timing of nasal elements might be an important innovation for the successful wide range distribution of the well-known sand lizard. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Non-native three-dimensional block copolymer morphologies

DOE PAGES

Rahman, Atikur; Majewski, Pawel W.; Doerk, Gregory; ...

2016-12-22

Self-assembly is a powerful paradigm, wherein molecules spontaneously form ordered phases exhibiting well-defined nanoscale periodicity and shapes. However, the inherent energy-minimization aspect of self-assembly yields a very limited set of morphologies, such as lamellae or hexagonally packed cylinders. Here, we show how soft self-assembling materials—block copolymer thin films—can be manipulated to form a diverse library of previously unreported morphologies. In this iterative assembly process, each polymer layer acts as both a structural component of the final morphology and a template for directing the order of subsequent layers. Specifically, block copolymer films are immobilized on surfaces, and template successive layers throughmore » subtle surface topography. As a result, this strategy generates an enormous variety of three-dimensional morphologies that are absent in the native block copolymer phase diagram.« less

Non-native three-dimensional block copolymer morphologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rahman, Atikur; Majewski, Pawel W.; Doerk, Gregory

Self-assembly is a powerful paradigm, wherein molecules spontaneously form ordered phases exhibiting well-defined nanoscale periodicity and shapes. However, the inherent energy-minimization aspect of self-assembly yields a very limited set of morphologies, such as lamellae or hexagonally packed cylinders. Here, we show how soft self-assembling materials—block copolymer thin films—can be manipulated to form a diverse library of previously unreported morphologies. In this iterative assembly process, each polymer layer acts as both a structural component of the final morphology and a template for directing the order of subsequent layers. Specifically, block copolymer films are immobilized on surfaces, and template successive layers throughmore » subtle surface topography. As a result, this strategy generates an enormous variety of three-dimensional morphologies that are absent in the native block copolymer phase diagram.« less

Dynamics of genetic and morphological variability within Neandertals.

PubMed

Hawks, John

2012-01-01

Paleogenomics may suggest changes to the way anthropologists have discussed the dynamics and morphological diversity among Neandertals. Genetic comparisons show that later Neandertals had relatively low autosomal genetic variation compared to recent humans. The known mitochondrial sample from Neandertals covers a broader geographic and temporal range, and shows greater diversity. This review addresses how genetic data compare to morphological and archaeological evidence about Neandertal variation and dynamics. Traditional views emphasized the morphological differences between western and eastern Neandertal populations, and between early and later Neandertals. Genomes broadly support these groupings, without resolving the outstanding question of the affinities of specimens from southwest Asia. However, the pattern of genetic variation appears to reject a long, in situ transformation of Neandertal groups over time, suggesting instead a more rapid process of regional dispersal and partial population replacement. Archaeological indicators sample dynamics on a much finer timescale than morphological or genetic evidence, and point to dispersal and turnover among Neandertals on a regional scale. In this way, genetic evidence may provide a bridge between the timescales relevant to morphological and archaeological comparisons. New ways of looking at the morphology of Neandertals may yield a better picture of their interactions and movements.

Evaluating the morphological completeness of a training image.

PubMed

Gao, Mingliang; Teng, Qizhi; He, Xiaohai; Feng, Junxi; Han, Xue

2017-05-01

Understanding the three-dimensional (3D) stochastic structure of a porous medium is helpful for studying its physical properties. A 3D stochastic structure can be reconstructed from a two-dimensional (2D) training image (TI) using mathematical modeling. In order to predict what specific morphology belonging to a TI can be reconstructed at the 3D orthogonal slices by the method of 3D reconstruction, this paper begins by introducing the concept of orthogonal chords. After analyzing the relationship among TI morphology, orthogonal chords, and the 3D morphology of orthogonal slices, a theory for evaluating the morphological completeness of a TI is proposed for the cases of three orthogonal slices and of two orthogonal slices. The proposed theory is evaluated using four TIs of porous media that represent typical but distinct morphological types. The significance of this theoretical evaluation lies in two aspects: It allows special morphologies, for which the attributes of a TI can be reconstructed at a special orthogonal slice of a 3D structure, to be located and quantified, and it can guide the selection of an appropriate reconstruction method for a special TI.

Implications of stunting on morphology of freshwater fishes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chizinski, C.J.; Pope, K.L.; Wilde, G.R.; Strauss, R.E.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess morphological differences between stunted and non-stunted white perch Morone americana and green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus. Few female M. americana were captured; thus, morphological differences between adult males and juveniles were assessed for M. americana. Similarly, few immature (juvenile) L. cyanellus were captured for the stunted morphotype; thus, male and female morphological differences were assessed for L. cyanellus. Features of the head tended to be relatively larger in stunted fish of both species, whereas the mid-body tended to be relatively larger in non-stunted M. americana, but not in non-stunted L. cyanellus. Adult and juvenile morphology overlapped considerably in non-stunted M. americana, but there was a clear distinction between adult and juvenile morphology of stunted M. americana. There was little sexual dimorphism in shape in stunted L. cyanellus, whereas sexual dimorphism was evident in non-stunted L. cyanellus. It appears that selective forces imposed by predation and food limitation may contribute to morphological diversification between stunted and non-stunted fishes. ?? 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation ?? 2010 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Nematode taxonomy: from morphology to metabarcoding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, M.; Sapp, M.; Prior, T.; Karssen, G.; Back, M.

2015-11-01

Nematodes represent a species rich and morphologically diverse group of metazoans inhabiting both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Their role as biological indicators and as key players in nutrient cycling has been well documented. Some groups of nematodes are also known to cause significant losses to crop production. In spite of this, knowledge of their diversity is still limited due to the difficulty in achieving species identification using morphological characters. Molecular methodology has provided very useful means of circumventing the numerous limitations associated with classical morphology based identification. We discuss herein the history and the progress made within the field of nematode systematics, the limitations of classical taxonomy and how the advent of high throughput sequencing is facilitating advanced ecological and molecular studies.

Growth and Morphology of Phase Separating Supercritical Fluids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hegseth, John; Beysens, Daniel; Perrot, Francoise; Nikolayev, Vadim; Garrabos, Yves

1996-01-01

The scientific objective is to study the relation between the morphology and the growth kinetics of domains during phase separation. We know from previous experiments performed near the critical point of pure fluids and binary liquids that there are two simple growth laws at late times. The 'fast' growth appears when the volumes of the phases are nearly equal and the droplet pattern is interconnected. In this case the size of the droplets grows linearly in time. The 'slow' growth appears when the pattern of droplets embedded in the majority phase is disconnected. In this case the size of the droplets increases in proportion to time to the power 1/3. The volume fraction of the minority phase is a good candidate to determine this change of behavior. All previous attempts to vary the volume fraction in a single experimental cell have failed because of the extreme experimental difficulties.

Comparison of different morphological parameters with duration of obstruction created experimentally in unilateral upper ureters: an animal model.

PubMed

Panda, Shasanka Shekhar; Bajpai, Minu; Mallick, Saumyaranjan; Sharma, Mehar C

2014-01-01

The objective of the following study is to determine and to compare the different morphological parameters with duration of obstruction created experimentally in unilateral upper ureters of rats. Unilateral upper ureteric obstruction was created in 60 adult Wistar rats that were reversed after predetermined intervals. Rats were sacrificed and ipsilateral kidneys were subjected for analysis of morphological parameters such as renal height, cranio-caudal diameter, antero-posterior diameter, lateral diameter, volume of the pelvis and average cortical thickness: Renal height. Renal height and cranio-caudal diameter of renal pelvis after ipsilateral upper ureteric obstruction started rising as early as 7 days of creating obstruction and were affected earlier than antero-posterior and lateral diameter and also were reversed earlier than other parameters after reversal of obstruction. Renal cortical thickness and volume of the pelvis were affected after prolonged obstruction (> 3 weeks) and were the late parameters to be reversed after reversal of obstruction. Cranio-caudal diameter and renal height were the early morphological parameters to be affected and reversed after reversal of obstruction in experimentally created ipsilateral upper ureteric obstruction.

Morphological priming by itself: a study of Portuguese conjugations.

PubMed

Veríssimo, João; Clahsen, Harald

2009-07-01

Does the language processing system make use of abstract grammatical categories and representations that are not directly visible from the surface form of a linguistic expression? This study examines stem-formation processes and conjugation classes, a case of 'pure' morphology that provides insight into the role of grammatical structure in language processing. We report results from a cross-modal priming experiment examining 1st and 3rd conjugation verb forms in Portuguese. Although items were closely matched with respect to a range of non-morphological factors, distinct priming patterns were found for 1st and 3rd conjugation stems. We attribute the observed priming patterns to different representations of conjugational stems, combinatorial morphologically structured ones for 1st conjugation and un-analyzed morphologically unstructured ones for 3rd conjugation stems. Our findings underline the importance of morphology for language comprehension indicating that morphological analysis goes beyond the identification of grammatical morphemes.

Volcanology and morphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bryan, W. B.

1976-01-01

Apollo 15 photographs of the southern parts of Serenitatis and Imbrium were used for a study of the morphology and distribution of wrinkle ridges. Volcanic and structural features along the south margin of Serenitatis were also studied, including the Dawes basalt cinder cones. Volcanic and structural features in crater Aitken were investigated as well. Study of crater Goclenius showed a close relationship between morphology of the impact crater and grabens which tend to parallel directions of the lunar grid. Similar trends were observed in the walls of crater Tsiolkovsky and other linear structures. Small craters of possible volcanic origin were also studied. Possible cinder cones were found associated with the Dawes basalt and in the floor of craters Aitken and Goclenius. Small pit craters were observed in the floors of these craters. Attempts were made to obtain contour maps of specific small features and to compare Orbiter and Apollo photographs to determine short term changes associated with other processes.

[Development and application of morphological analysis method in Aspergillus niger fermentation].

PubMed

Tang, Wenjun; Xia, Jianye; Chu, Ju; Zhuang, Yingping; Zhang, Siliang

2015-02-01

Filamentous fungi are widely used in industrial fermentation. Particular fungal morphology acts as a critical index for a successful fermentation. To break the bottleneck of morphological analysis, we have developed a reliable method for fungal morphological analysis. By this method, we can prepare hundreds of pellet samples simultaneously and obtain quantitative morphological information at large scale quickly. This method can largely increase the accuracy and reliability of morphological analysis result. Based on that, the studies of Aspergillus niger morphology under different oxygen supply conditions and shear rate conditions were carried out. As a result, the morphological responding patterns of A. niger morphology to these conditions were quantitatively demonstrated, which laid a solid foundation for the further scale-up.

Morphology and rheology in filamentous cultivations.

PubMed

Wucherpfennig, T; Kiep, K A; Driouch, H; Wittmann, C; Krull, R

2010-01-01

Because of their metabolic diversity, high production capacity, secretion efficiency, and capability of carrying out posttranslational modifications, filamentous fungi are widely exploited as efficient cell factories in the production of metabolites, bioactive substances, and native or heterologous proteins, respectively. There is, however, a complex relationship between the morphology of these microorganisms, transport phenomena, the viscosity of the cultivation broth, and related productivity. The morphological characteristics vary between freely dispersed mycelia and distinct pellets of aggregated biomass, every growth form having a distinct influence on broth rheology. Hence, the advantages and disadvantages for mycelial or pellet cultivation have to be balanced out carefully. Because of the still inadequate understanding of the morphogenesis of filamentous microorganisms, fungal morphology is often a bottleneck of productivity in industrial production. To obtain an optimized production process, it is of great importance to gain a better understanding of the molecular and cell biology of these microorganisms as well as the relevant approaches in biochemical engineering. In this chapter, morphology and growth of filamentous fungi are described, with special attention given to specific problems as they arise from fungal growth forms; growth and mass transfer in fungal biopellets are discussed as an example. To emphasize the importance of the flow behavior of filamentous cultivation broths, an introduction to rheology is also given, reviewing important rheological models and recent studies concerning rheological parameters. Furthermore, current knowledge on morphology and productivity in relation to the environom is outlined in the last section of this review. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Morphological Consequences of Frustration in ABC Triblock Polymers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Radlauer, Madalyn R.; Sinturel, Christophe; Asai, Yusuke

2016-12-19

Three poly(styrene)-block-poly(isoprene)-block-poly(lactide) (PS-b-PI-b-PLA, SIL) triblock terpolymers were synthesized and characterized in the bulk and as thin films. The pronounced incompatibility of the covalently connected PI and PLA led to significant frustration and the tendency to minimize their intermaterial dividing surface area. This resulted in the formation of a core–shell cylinder morphology with exaggerated nonconstant mean curvature from triblock polymers with equal block volume fractions rather than the more typical lamellar morphology. The effect of frustration was magnified in thin films by both confinement and interfacial interactions such that the PI domains became discontinuous. Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) calculations emphasize thatmore » the marked difference in the PS/PI and PI/PLA interaction parameters promotes the formation of nonlamellar morphologies. However, SCFT predicts that lamellar morphology is more stable than the observed cylindrical morphology, demonstrating a limitation that arises from the underlying assumptions.« less

Morphological processing with deficient phonological short-term memory.

PubMed

Kavé, Gitit; Ze'ev, Hagit Bar; Lev, Anita

2007-07-01

This paper investigates the processing of Hebrew derivational morphology in an individual (S.E.) with deficient phonological short-term memory. In comparison to 10 age- and education-matched men, S.E. was impaired on digit span tasks and demonstrated no recency effect in word list recall. S.E. had low word retention span, but he exhibited phonological similarity and word length effects. His ability to make lexical decisions was intact. In a paired-associate test S.E. successfully learned semantically and morphologically related pairs but not phonologically related pairs, and his learning of nonwords was facilitated by the presence of Hebrew consonant roots. Semantic and morphological similarity enhanced immediate word recall. Results show that S.E. is capable of conducting morphological decomposition of Hebrew-derived words despite his phonological deficit, suggesting that transient maintenance of morphological constituents is independent of temporary storage and rehearsal of phonological codes, and that each is processed separately within short-term memory.

Species richness and morphological diversity of passerine birds

PubMed Central

Ricklefs, Robert E.

2012-01-01

The relationship between species richness and the occupation of niche space can provide insight into the processes that shape patterns of biodiversity. For example, if species interactions constrained coexistence, one might expect tendencies toward even spacing within niche space and positive relationships between diversity and total niche volume. I use morphological diversity of passerine birds as a proxy for diet, foraging maneuvers, and foraging substrates and examine the morphological space occupied by regional and local passerine avifaunas. Although independently diversified regional faunas exhibit convergent morphology, species are clustered rather than evenly distributed, the volume of the morphological space is weakly related to number of species per taxonomic family, and morphological volume is unrelated to number of species within both regional avifaunas and local assemblages. These results seemingly contradict patterns expected when species interactions constrain regional or local diversity, and they suggest a larger role for diversification, extinction, and dispersal limitation in shaping species richness. PMID:22908271

Uncertainty in the use of MAMA software to measure particle morphological parameters from SEM images

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schwartz, Daniel S.; Tandon, Lav

The MAMA software package developed at LANL is designed to make morphological measurements on a wide variety of digital images of objects. At LANL, we have focused on using MAMA to measure scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of particles, as this is a critical part of our forensic analysis of interdicted radiologic materials. In order to successfully use MAMA to make such measurements, we must understand the level of uncertainty involved in the process, so that we can rigorously support our quantitative conclusions.

Enhanced X-ray Activity of the UHBL Source 1ES 0033+595

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapanadze, Bidzina

2018-04-01

The TeV-detected ultra-high-energy peaked BL Lacertae source (UHBL) 1ES 0033+595 was observed 87 times with X-Ray Telescope (XRT) onboard the Neil Geherels Swift Observatory since 2005 April 1 with a total exposure of 117 ks (Mostly, in the framework of our ToO requests).

Parasitic helminths of reptiles (Reptilia) in South Moravia (Czech Republic).

PubMed

Borkovcová, M; Kopriva, J

2005-01-01

An helminthological investigation of 104 reptile species was carried out in south Moravia (Czech Republic). We examined Lacerta viridis, L. agilis, Anguis fragilis, Natrix natrix, Coronella austriaca and Vipera berus. Twelve species of parasites were found. Among these, Nematoda occurred most often, followed by Trematoda and Cestoda. No Acanthocephala were detected.

Importance Rat Liver Morphology and Vasculature in Surgical Research.

PubMed

Vdoviaková, Katarína; Vdoviaková, Katarína; Petrovová, Eva; Krešáková, Lenka; Maloveská, Marcela; Teleky, Jana; Jenčová, Janka; Živčák, Jozef; Jenča, Andrej

2016-12-02

BACKGROUND The laboratory rat is one of the most popular experimental models for the experimental surgery of the liver. The objective of this study was to investigate the morphometric parameters, physiological data, differences in configuration of liver lobes, biliary system, and vasculature (arteries, veins, and lymphatic vessels) of the liver in laboratory rats. In addition, this study supports the anatomic literature and identified similarities and differences with human and other mammals. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty laboratory rats were dissected to prepare corrosion casts of vascular system specimens (n=20), determine the lymph vessels and lymph nodes (n=10), and for macroscopic anatomical dissection (n=10) of the rat liver. The results are listed in percentages. The anatomical nomenclature of the liver morphology, its arteries, veins, lymph nodes, and lymphatic vessels are in accordance with Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria. RESULTS We found many variations in origin, direction, and division of the arterial, venous, and lymphatic systems in rat livers, and found differences in morphometric parameters compared to results reported by other authors. The portal vein was formed by 4 tributaries in 23%, by 3 branches in 64%, and by 2 tributaries in 13%. The liver lymph was drained to the 2 different lymph nodes. The nomenclature and morphological characteristics of the rat liver vary among authors. CONCLUSIONS Our results may be useful for the planing of experimental surgery and for cooperation with other investigation methods to help fight liver diseases in human populations.

Importance Rat Liver Morphology and Vasculature in Surgical Research

PubMed Central

Vdoviaková, Katarína; Petrovová, Eva; Krešáková, Lenka; Maloveská, Marcela; Teleky, Jana; Jenčová, Janka; Živčák, Jozef; Jenča, Andrej

2016-01-01

Background The laboratory rat is one of the most popular experimental models for the experimental surgery of the liver. The objective of this study was to investigate the morphometric parameters, physiological data, differences in configuration of liver lobes, biliary system, and vasculature (arteries, veins, and lymphatic vessels) of the liver in laboratory rats. In addition, this study supports the anatomic literature and identified similarities and differences with human and other mammals. Material/Methods Forty laboratory rats were dissected to prepare corrosion casts of vascular system specimens (n=20), determine the lymph vessels and lymph nodes (n=10), and for macroscopic anatomical dissection (n=10) of the rat liver. The results are listed in percentages. The anatomical nomenclature of the liver morphology, its arteries, veins, lymph nodes, and lymphatic vessels are in accordance with Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria. Results We found many variations in origin, direction, and division of the arterial, venous, and lymphatic systems in rat livers, and found differences in morphometric parameters compared to results reported by other authors. The portal vein was formed by 4 tributaries in 23%, by 3 branches in 64%, and by 2 tributaries in 13%. The liver lymph was drained to the 2 different lymph nodes. The nomenclature and morphological characteristics of the rat liver vary among authors. Conclusions Our results may be useful for the planing of experimental surgery and for cooperation with other investigation methods to help fight liver diseases in human populations. PMID:27911356

Semantic transparency affects morphological priming . . . eventually.

PubMed

Heyer, Vera; Kornishova, Dana

2018-05-01

Semantic transparency has been in the focus of psycholinguistic research for decades, with the controversy about the time course of the application of morpho-semantic information during the processing of morphologically complex words not yet resolved. This study reports two masked priming studies with English - ness and Russian - ost' nominalisations, investigating how semantic transparency modulates native speakers' morphological priming effects at short and long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). In both languages, we found increased morphological priming for nominalisations at the transparent end of the scale (e.g. paleness - pale) in comparison to items at the opaque end of the scale (e.g. business - busy) but only at longer prime durations. The present findings are in line with models that posit an initial phase of morpho-orthographic (semantically blind) decomposition.

Effects of Morphological Awareness on Second Language Vocabulary Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbulut, Fatma Demiray

2017-01-01

This research has analysed the impact of morphological treatment in English morphological awareness task. The main aim of this study is to understand the relationship between morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge of university preparatory class students. In second language learning environment, fifty-two preparatory class students have…

Morphology captures diet and locomotor types in rodents.

PubMed

Verde Arregoitia, Luis D; Fisher, Diana O; Schweizer, Manuel

2017-01-01

To understand the functional meaning of morphological features, we need to relate what we know about morphology and ecology in a meaningful, quantitative framework. Closely related species usually share more phenotypic features than distant ones, but close relatives do not necessarily have the same ecologies. Rodents are the most diverse group of living mammals, with impressive ecomorphological diversification. We used museum collections and ecological literature to gather data on morphology, diet and locomotion for 208 species of rodents from different bioregions to investigate how morphological similarity and phylogenetic relatedness are associated with ecology. After considering differences in body size and shared evolutionary history, we find that unrelated species with similar ecologies can be characterized by a well-defined suite of morphological features. Our results validate the hypothesized ecological relevance of the chosen traits. These cranial, dental and external (e.g. ears) characters predicted diet and locomotion and showed consistent differences among species with different feeding and substrate use strategies. We conclude that when ecological characters do not show strong phylogenetic patterns, we cannot simply assume that close relatives are ecologically similar. Museum specimens are valuable records of species' phenotypes and with the characters proposed here, morphology can reflect functional similarity, an important component of community ecology and macroevolution.

Recent Advances in Morphology Optimization for Organic Photovoltaics.

PubMed

Lee, Hansol; Park, Chaneui; Sin, Dong Hun; Park, Jong Hwan; Cho, Kilwon

2018-06-19

Organic photovoltaics are an important part of a next-generation energy-harvesting technology that uses a practically infinite pollutant-free energy source. They have the advantages of light weight, solution processability, cheap materials, low production cost, and deformability. However, to date, the moderate photovoltaic efficiencies and poor stabilities of organic photovoltaics impede their use as replacements for inorganic photovoltaics. Recent developments in bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaics mean that they have almost reached the lower efficiency limit for feasible commercialization. In this review article, the recent understanding of the ideal bulk-heterojunction morphology of the photoactive layer for efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport is described, and recent attempts as well as early-stage trials to realize this ideal morphology are discussed systematically from a morphological viewpoint. The various approaches to optimizing morphologies consisting of an interpenetrating bicontinuous network with appropriate domain sizes and mixed regions are categorized, and in each category, the recent trends in the morphology control on the multilength scale are highlighted and discussed in detail. This review article concludes by identifying the remaining challenges for the control of active layer morphologies and by providing perspectives toward real application and commercialization of organic photovoltaics. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Object-processing neural efficiency differentiates object from spatial visualizers.

PubMed

Motes, Michael A; Malach, Rafael; Kozhevnikov, Maria

2008-11-19

The visual system processes object properties and spatial properties in distinct subsystems, and we hypothesized that this distinction might extend to individual differences in visual processing. We conducted a functional MRI study investigating the neural underpinnings of individual differences in object versus spatial visual processing. Nine participants of high object-processing ability ('object' visualizers) and eight participants of high spatial-processing ability ('spatial' visualizers) were scanned, while they performed an object-processing task. Object visualizers showed lower bilateral neural activity in lateral occipital complex and lower right-lateralized neural activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The data indicate that high object-processing ability is associated with more efficient use of visual-object resources, resulting in less neural activity in the object-processing pathway.

The subjective experience of object recognition: comparing metacognition for object detection and object categorization.

PubMed

Meuwese, Julia D I; van Loon, Anouk M; Lamme, Victor A F; Fahrenfort, Johannes J

2014-05-01

Perceptual decisions seem to be made automatically and almost instantly. Constructing a unitary subjective conscious experience takes more time. For example, when trying to avoid a collision with a car on a foggy road you brake or steer away in a reflex, before realizing you were in a near accident. This subjective aspect of object recognition has been given little attention. We used metacognition (assessed with confidence ratings) to measure subjective experience during object detection and object categorization for degraded and masked objects, while objective performance was matched. Metacognition was equal for degraded and masked objects, but categorization led to higher metacognition than did detection. This effect turned out to be driven by a difference in metacognition for correct rejection trials, which seemed to be caused by an asymmetry of the distractor stimulus: It does not contain object-related information in the detection task, whereas it does contain such information in the categorization task. Strikingly, this asymmetry selectively impacted metacognitive ability when objective performance was matched. This finding reveals a fundamental difference in how humans reflect versus act on information: When matching the amount of information required to perform two tasks at some objective level of accuracy (acting), metacognitive ability (reflecting) is still better in tasks that rely on positive evidence (categorization) than in tasks that rely more strongly on an absence of evidence (detection).

Morphological transformations in the magnetite biomineralizing protein Mms6 in iron solutions: A small-angle x-ray scattering study

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Honghu; Liu, Xunpei; Feng, Shuren; ...

2015-02-10

In this study, magnetotactic bacteria that produce magnetic nanocrystals of uniform size and well-defined morphologies have inspired the use of biomineralization protein Mms6 to promote formation of uniform magnetic nanocrystals in vitro. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies in physiological solutions reveal that Mms6 forms compact globular three-dimensional (3D) micelles (approximately 10 nm in diameter) that are, to a large extent, independent of concentration. In the presence of iron ions in the solutions, the general micellar morphology is preserved, however, with associations among micelles that are induced by iron ions. Compared with Mms6, the m2Mms6 mutant (with the sequence ofmore » hydroxyl/carboxyl containing residues in the C-terminal domain shuffled) exhibits subtle morphological changes in the presence of iron ions in solutions. The analysis of the SAXS data is consistent with a hierarchical core–corona micellar structure similar to that found in amphiphilic polymers. The addition of ferric and ferrous iron ions to the protein solution induces morphological changes in the micellar structure by transforming the 3D micelles into objects of reduced dimensionality of 2, with fractal-like characteristics (including Gaussian-chain-like) or, alternatively, platelet-like structures.« less

Multiple beam interference confocal microscopy: a tool for morphological investigation of living cells and tissues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joshi, Narahari V.; Medina, Honorio

2000-05-01

Multiple beam interference system is used in conjunction with a conventional scanning confocal microscope to examine the morphology and construction of 3D images of Histolytic Ameba and parasite Candida Albicans. The present combination permits to adjoin advantages of both systems, namely the vertical high contrast and optical sectioning. The interference pattern obtained from a multiple internal reflection of a simple, sandwiched between the glass plate and the cover plate, was focussed on an objective of a scanning confocal microscope. According to optical path differences, morphological details were revealed. The combined features, namely improved resolution in z axis, originated from the interference pattern and the optical sectioning of the confocal scanning system, enhance the resolution and contrast dramatically. These features permitted to obtain unprecedented images of Histolytic Ameba and parasite Candida Albicans. Because of the improved contrast, several details like double wall structure of candida, internal structure of ameba are clearly visible.

Documentation for the machine-readable version of the Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies (MCG) of Vorontsov-Velyaminov et al, 1962-1968

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Warren, W. H., Jr.

1982-01-01

Modifications, corrections, and the record format are provided for the machine-readable version of the "Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies.' In addition to hundreds of individual corrections, a detailed comparison of the machine-readable with the published catalogue resulted in the addition of 116 missing objects, the deletion of 10 duplicate records, and a format modification to increase storage efficiency.

Global study of holistic morphological effectors in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed

Suzuki, Godai; Wang, Yang; Kubo, Karen; Hirata, Eri; Ohnuki, Shinsuke; Ohya, Yoshikazu

2018-02-20

The size of the phenotypic effect of a gene has been thoroughly investigated in terms of fitness and specific morphological traits in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but little is known about gross morphological abnormalities. We identified 1126 holistic morphological effectors that cause severe gross morphological abnormality when deleted, and 2241 specific morphological effectors with weak holistic effects but distinctive effects on yeast morphology. Holistic effectors fell into many gene function categories and acted as network hubs, affecting a large number of morphological traits, interacting with a large number of genes, and facilitating high protein expression. Holistic morphological abnormality was useful for estimating the importance of a gene to morphology. The contribution of gene importance to fitness and morphology could be used to efficiently classify genes into functional groups. Holistic morphological abnormality can be used as a reproducible and reliable gene feature for high-dimensional morphological phenotyping. It can be used in many functional genomic applications.

Morphology characterization of organic solar cell materials and blends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roehling, John Daniel

The organization of polymers and fullerenes, both in their pure states and mixed together, have a large impact on their macroscopic properties. For mixtures used in organic solar cells, the morphology of the mixture has a very large impact upon the mixture's ability to efficiently convert sunlight into useful electrical energy. Understanding how the morphology can change under certain processing conditions and in turn, affect the characteristics of the solar cell is therefore important to improving the function of organic solar cells. Conventional poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) solar cells have served as a staple system to study organic solar cell function for nearly a decade. Much of the understanding of how to make these "poorly"conductive organic materials efficiently convert sunlight into electricity has come from the study of P3HT:PCBM. It has long been understood that in order for a polymer:fullerene (electron donor and acceptor, respectively) mixture to function well as a solar cell, two major criteria for the morphology must be met; first, the interface between the two materials must be large to efficiently create charges, and secondly, there must be continous pathways through the "pure" materials for charges to be efficiently collected at the electrodes. This makes it advantageous for OPV materials to phase-separate into interconnected domains with very small domain sizes, a structure that P3HT:PCBM seems to naturally self-assemble. Despite P3HT:PCBM's ability to reach an optimal morphology, a complete understanding of exactly how the morphology affects device performance has not been realized. Completely different morphological models can end up predicting the same device performance characteristics. Much of the problem comes from the assumed morphology within a particular model, which can often be incorrect. The problem lies in the fact that obtaining real, accurate morphological information is difficult. An often

Relationship between increasing concentrations of two carcinogens and statistical image descriptors of foci morphology in the cell transformation assay.

PubMed

Callegaro, Giulia; Corvi, Raffaella; Salovaara, Susan; Urani, Chiara; Stefanini, Federico M

2017-06-01

Cell Transformation Assays (CTAs) have long been proposed for the identification of chemical carcinogenicity potential. The endpoint of these in vitro assays is represented by the phenotypic alterations in cultured cells, which are characterized by the change from the non-transformed to the transformed phenotype. Despite the wide fields of application and the numerous advantages of CTAs, their use in regulatory toxicology has been limited in part due to concerns about the subjective nature of visual scoring, i.e. the step in which transformed colonies or foci are evaluated through morphological features. An objective evaluation of morphological features has been previously obtained through automated digital processing of foci images to extract the value of three statistical image descriptors. In this study a further potential of the CTA using BALB/c 3T3 cells is addressed by analysing the effect of increasing concentrations of two known carcinogens, benzo[a]pyrene and NiCl 2 , with different modes of action on foci morphology. The main result of our quantitative evaluation shows that the concentration of the considered carcinogens has an effect on foci morphology that is statistically significant for the mean of two among the three selected descriptors. Statistical significance also corresponds to visual relevance. The statistical analysis of variations in foci morphology due to concentration allowed to quantify morphological changes that can be visually appreciated but not precisely determined. Therefore, it has the potential of providing new quantitative parameters in CTAs, and of exploiting all the information encoded in foci. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Moving object localization using optical flow for pedestrian detection from a moving vehicle.

PubMed

Hariyono, Joko; Hoang, Van-Dung; Jo, Kang-Hyun

2014-01-01

This paper presents a pedestrian detection method from a moving vehicle using optical flows and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG). A moving object is extracted from the relative motion by segmenting the region representing the same optical flows after compensating the egomotion of the camera. To obtain the optical flow, two consecutive images are divided into grid cells 14 × 14 pixels; then each cell is tracked in the current frame to find corresponding cell in the next frame. Using at least three corresponding cells, affine transformation is performed according to each corresponding cell in the consecutive images, so that conformed optical flows are extracted. The regions of moving object are detected as transformed objects, which are different from the previously registered background. Morphological process is applied to get the candidate human regions. In order to recognize the object, the HOG features are extracted on the candidate region and classified using linear support vector machine (SVM). The HOG feature vectors are used as input of linear SVM to classify the given input into pedestrian/nonpedestrian. The proposed method was tested in a moving vehicle and also confirmed through experiments using pedestrian dataset. It shows a significant improvement compared with original HOG using ETHZ pedestrian dataset.

Tidal controls on river delta morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoitink, A. J. F.; Wang, Z. B.; Vermeulen, B.; Huismans, Y.; Kästner, K.

2017-09-01

River delta degradation has been caused by extraction of natural resources, sediment retention by reservoirs, and sea-level rise. Despite global concerns about these issues, human activity in the world’s largest deltas intensifies. Harbour development, construction of flood defences, sand mining and land reclamation emerge as key contemporary factors that exert an impact on delta morphology. Tides interacting with river discharge can play a crucial role in the morphodynamic development of deltas under pressure. Emerging insights into tidal controls on river delta morphology suggest that--despite the active morphodynamics in tidal channels and mouth bar regions--tidal motion acts to stabilize delta morphology at the landscape scale under the condition that sediment import during low flows largely balances sediment export during high flows. Distributary channels subject to tides show lower migration rates and are less easily flooded by the river because of opposing non-linear interactions between river discharge and the tide. These interactions lead to flow changes within channels, and a more uniform distribution of discharge across channels. Sediment depletion and rigorous human interventions in deltas, including storm surge defence works, disrupt the dynamic morphological equilibrium and can lead to erosion and severe scour at the channel bed, even decades after an intervention.

Pollen morphology and viability in Bromeliaceae.

PubMed

Souza, Everton H; Souza, Fernanda V D; Rossi, Mônica L; Packer, Renan M; Cruz-Barros, Maria Amelia V; Martinelli, Adriana P

2017-01-01

Pollen morphology characterization is important in taxonomy, conservation and plant breeding, and pollen viability studies can support breeding programs. This study investigated pollen morphology and male fertility in 18 species of Bromeliaceae with ornamental potential. For morphological characterization, pollen grains were acetolyzed and characterization of exine was done using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Pollen viability was investigated by in vitro germination and histochemical tests. Species belonging to Aechmea and Ananas genera presented medium size pollen, except for Ae. fasciata, with large pollen. Al. nahoumii, P. sagenarius and the Vriesea species analyzed showed large pollen, except for V. carinata, with very large pollen. Pollen of Aechmea, Ananas and P. sagenarius presented bilateral symmetry, diporate, exine varying from tectate to semitectate. Al. nahoumii and Vriesea species presented pollen with bilateral symmetry, monocolpate; exine was semitectate, reticulate and heterobrochate. Germination percentage and tube growth were greater in SM and BKM media. Histochemical tests showed pollen viability above 70% for all species, except for Ananas sp. (40%). Pollen morphology is important for the identification of species, especially in this family, which contains a large number of species. High rates of viability favor fertilization and seed production, essential for efficient hybrid production and conservation.

Morphology and dynamics of explosive vents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gisler, Galen R.; Galland, Olivier; Haug, Øystein T.

2014-05-01

Eruptive processes in nature produce a wide variety of morphologies, including cone sheets, dykes, sills, and pipes. The choice of a particular eruptive style is determined partly by local inhomogeneities, and partly by the gross overall properties of the country rock and the physical properties of the eruptive fluid. In this study we report on experimental and numerical designed to capture a range of morphologies in an eruptive system. Using dimensional analysis we link the experimental and numerical work together and draw implications for field studies. Our experimental work uses silica flour in a Hele-Shaw cell, with air as the eruptive fluid. A phase diagram demonstrates a separation between two distinct morphologies, with vertical structures occurring at high pressure or low depth of fill and diagonal ones at low pressure or high depth of fill. In the numerical work the eruptive fluid is a mixture of basaltic magma, supercritical water, and carbon dioxide, and the ambient material is a fill of basalt with varying material properties. In the numerical work we see three distinct morphologies: vertical pipes are produced at high pressures and softer backgrounds, diagonal pipes at lower pressures and stiffer backgrounds, while horizontal sills are produced in intermediate regimes.

Object-based warping: an illusory distortion of space within objects.

PubMed

Vickery, Timothy J; Chun, Marvin M

2010-12-01

Visual objects are high-level primitives that are fundamental to numerous perceptual functions, such as guidance of attention. We report that objects warp visual perception of space in such a way that spatial distances within objects appear to be larger than spatial distances in ground regions. When two dots were placed inside a rectangular object, they appeared farther apart from one another than two dots with identical spacing outside of the object. To investigate whether this effect was object based, we measured the distortion while manipulating the structure surrounding the dots. Object displays were constructed with a single object, multiple objects, a partially occluded object, and an illusory object. Nonobject displays were constructed to be comparable to object displays in low-level visual attributes. In all cases, the object displays resulted in a more powerful distortion of spatial perception than comparable non-object-based displays. These results suggest that perception of space within objects is warped.

Sediment transport and channel morphology of small, forested streams.

Treesearch

Marwan A. Hassan; Michael Church; Thomas E. Lisle; Francesco Brardinoni; Lee Benda; Gordon E. Grant

2005-01-01

This paper reviews sediment transport and channel morphology in small, forested streams in the Pacific Northwest region of North America to assess current knowledge of channel stability and morphology relevant to riparian management practices around small streams. Small channels are defined as ones in which morphology and hydraulics may be significantly influenced by...

An object-based approach for tree species extraction from digital orthophoto maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamil, Akhtar; Bayram, Bulent

2018-05-01

Tree segmentation is an active and ongoing research area in the field of photogrammetry and remote sensing. It is more challenging due to both intra-class and inter-class similarities among various tree species. In this study, we exploited various statistical features for extraction of hazelnut trees from 1 : 5000 scaled digital orthophoto maps. Initially, the non-vegetation areas were eliminated using traditional normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) followed by application of mean shift segmentation for transforming the pixels into meaningful homogeneous objects. In order to eliminate false positives, morphological opening and closing was employed on candidate objects. A number of heuristics were also derived to eliminate unwanted effects such as shadow and bounding box aspect ratios, before passing them into the classification stage. Finally, a knowledge based decision tree was constructed to distinguish the hazelnut trees from rest of objects which include manmade objects and other type of vegetation. We evaluated the proposed methodology on 10 sample orthophoto maps obtained from Giresun province in Turkey. The manually digitized hazelnut tree boundaries were taken as reference data for accuracy assessment. Both manually digitized and segmented tree borders were converted into binary images and the differences were calculated. According to the obtained results, the proposed methodology obtained an overall accuracy of more than 85 % for all sample images.

Arabic Morphology in the Neural Language System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boudelaa, Sami; Pulvermuller, Friedemann; Hauk, Olaf; Shtyrov, Yury; Marslen-Wilson, William

2010-01-01

There are two views about morphology, the aspect of language concerned with the internal structure of words. One view holds that morphology is a domain of knowledge with a specific type of neurocognitive representation supported by specific brain mechanisms lateralized to left fronto-temporal cortex. The alternate view characterizes morphological…

Brain Bases of Morphological Processing in Young Children

PubMed Central

Arredondo, Maria M.; Ip, Ka I; Hsu, Lucy Shih-Ju; Tardif, Twila; Kovelman, Ioulia

2017-01-01

How does the developing brain support the transition from spoken language to print? Two spoken language abilities form the initial base of child literacy across languages: knowledge of language sounds (phonology) and knowledge of the smallest units that carry meaning (morphology). While phonology has received much attention from the field, the brain mechanisms that support morphological competence for learning to read remain largely unknown. In the present study, young English-speaking children completed an auditory morphological awareness task behaviorally (n = 69, ages 6–12) and in fMRI (n = 16). The data revealed two findings: First, children with better morphological abilities showed greater activation in left temporo-parietal regions previously thought to be important for supporting phonological reading skills, suggesting that this region supports multiple language abilities for successful reading acquisition. Second, children showed activation in left frontal regions previously found active in young Chinese readers, suggesting morphological processes for reading acquisition might be similar across languages. These findings offer new insights for developing a comprehensive model of how spoken language abilities support children’s reading acquisition across languages. PMID:25930011

Vitrification versus slow freezing gives excellent survival, post warming embryo morphology and pregnancy outcomes for human cleaved embryos.

PubMed

Rezazadeh Valojerdi, Mojtaba; Eftekhari-Yazdi, Poopak; Karimian, Leila; Hassani, Fatemeh; Movaghar, Bahar

2009-06-01

The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of vitrification and slow freezing for the cryopreservation of human cleavage stage embryos in terms of post-warming survival rate, post-warming embryo morphology and clinical outcomes. The embryos of 305 patients at cleavage stages were cryopreserved either with vitrification (153 patients) or slow-freezing (152 patients) methods. After warming; the survival rate, post-warmed embryo morphology, clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were evaluated and compared between the two groups. In the vitrification group versus slow freezing group, the survival rate (96.9% vs. 82.8%) and the post-warmed excellent morphology with all blastomeres intact (91.8% vs. 56.2%) were higher with an odds ratio of 6.607 (95% confidence interval; 4.184-10.434) and 8.769 (95% confidence interval; 6.460-11.904), respectively. In this group, the clinical pregnancy rate (40.5% vs. 21.4%) and the implantation rate (16.6% vs. 6.8%) were also higher with an odds ratio of 2.427 (95%confidence interval; 1.461-4.033) and 2.726 (95% confidence interval; 1.837-4.046), respectively. Vitrification in contrast to slow freezing is an efficient method for cryopreservation of human cleavage stage embryos. Vitrification provides a higher survival rate, minimal deleterious effects on post-warming embryo morphology and it can improve clinical outcomes.

Separability of Lexical and Morphological Knowledge: Evidence from Language Minority Children

PubMed Central

Shahar-Yames, Daphna; Eviatar, Zohar; Prior, Anat

2018-01-01

Lexical and morphological knowledge of school-aged children are correlated with each other, and are often difficult to distinguish. One reason for this might be that many tasks currently used to assess morphological knowledge require children to inflect or derive real words in the language, thus recruiting their vocabulary knowledge. The current study investigated the possible separability of lexical and morphological knowledge using two complementary approaches. First, we examined the correlations between vocabulary and four morphological tasks tapping different aspects of morphological processing and awareness, and using either real-word or pseudo-word stimuli. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that different morphological tasks recruit lexical knowledge to various degrees. Second, we compared the Hebrew vocabulary and morphological knowledge of 5th grade language minority speaking children to that of their native speaking peers. This comparison allows us to ask whether reduced exposure to the societal language might differentially influence vocabulary and morphological knowledge. The results demonstrate that indeed different morphological tasks rely on lexical knowledge to varying degrees. In addition, language minority students had significantly lower performance in vocabulary and in morphological tasks that recruited vocabulary knowledge to a greater extent. In contrast, both groups performed similarly in abstract morphological tasks with a lower vocabulary load. These results demonstrate that lexical and morphological knowledge may rely on partially separable learning mechanisms, and highlight the importance of distinguishing between these two linguistic components. PMID:29515486

Combining High Spatial Resolution Optical and LIDAR Data for Object-Based Image Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, R.; Zhang, T.; Geng, R.; Wang, L.

2018-04-01

In order to classify high spatial resolution images more accurately, in this research, a hierarchical rule-based object-based classification framework was developed based on a high-resolution image with airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. The eCognition software is employed to conduct the whole process. In detail, firstly, the FBSP optimizer (Fuzzy-based Segmentation Parameter) is used to obtain the optimal scale parameters for different land cover types. Then, using the segmented regions as basic units, the classification rules for various land cover types are established according to the spectral, morphological and texture features extracted from the optical images, and the height feature from LiDAR respectively. Thirdly, the object classification results are evaluated by using the confusion matrix, overall accuracy and Kappa coefficients. As a result, a method using the combination of an aerial image and the airborne Lidar data shows higher accuracy.

Mackenzie River Delta morphological change based on Landsat time series

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vesakoski, Jenni-Mari; Alho, Petteri; Gustafsson, David; Arheimer, Berit; Isberg, Kristina

2015-04-01

Arctic rivers are sensitive and yet quite unexplored river systems to which the climate change will impact on. Research has not focused in detail on the fluvial geomorphology of the Arctic rivers mainly due to the remoteness and wideness of the watersheds, problems with data availability and difficult accessibility. Nowadays wide collaborative spatial databases in hydrology as well as extensive remote sensing datasets over the Arctic are available and they enable improved investigation of the Arctic watersheds. Thereby, it is also important to develop and improve methods that enable detecting the fluvio-morphological processes based on the available data. Furthermore, it is essential to reconstruct and improve the understanding of the past fluvial processes in order to better understand prevailing and future fluvial processes. In this study we sum up the fluvial geomorphological change in the Mackenzie River Delta during the last ~30 years. The Mackenzie River Delta (~13 000 km2) is situated in the North Western Territories, Canada where the Mackenzie River enters to the Beaufort Sea, Arctic Ocean near the city of Inuvik. Mackenzie River Delta is lake-rich, productive ecosystem and ecologically sensitive environment. Research objective is achieved through two sub-objectives: 1) Interpretation of the deltaic river channel planform change by applying Landsat time series. 2) Definition of the variables that have impacted the most on detected changes by applying statistics and long hydrological time series derived from Arctic-HYPE model (HYdrologic Predictions for Environment) developed by Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. According to our satellite interpretation, field observations and statistical analyses, notable spatio-temporal changes have occurred in the morphology of the river channel and delta during the past 30 years. For example, the channels have been developing in braiding and sinuosity. In addition, various linkages between the studied

Assessing Two-Year-Olds' Knowledge of Number Agreement Morphology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blossom, Megan

2013-01-01

Previous research in the area of children's knowledge of number agreement morphology has yielded mixed results. Some researchers have found evidence for sensitivity to agreement morphology at as early as 16 months, while others report that children do not comprehend number agreement morphology until as late as five or six years old. Studies of…

Comparative analysis of Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846) from different biotopes of the Black Sea based on its morphological characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kos'yan, A. R.

2013-02-01

The Asian whelk Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846) (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda: Muricidae), being tolerant to wide variations in the temperature, salinity, and oxygen concentration, successfully settled down in the Black Sea and eventually became one of the dominant species in the benthic ecosystems. The whelk inhabits all types of grounds all over the Black sea demonstrating a wide spectrum of morphological modifications. The objective of this research is to compare 10 samples of R. venosa from different biotopes of the Black Sea coast from the western Crimea to Sochi. The results of the statistical comparison based on 15 morphological characteristics showed that most of the samples differed from each other with high statistical significance ( p < 0.001). The material fell into five groups on the discriminant analysis diagram corresponding to the biotope in which each was collected. The main ecological factor influencing the morphological variability of the rapa whelk populations is the characteristics of prey items they feed on, i.e., the bivalve species ( Mytilus galloprovincialis, Anadara sp., Chamelea gallina), the prevailing prey size, and its abundance.

Biomass Morphology Subjected to Different Chemical Treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutan, Norsuzailina Mohamed; Masjida Mazlan, Siti; Taib, Siti Noor Linda; Lee, Delsye Teo Ching; Hassan, Alsidqi; Kudnie Sahari, Siti; Mohamad Said, Khairul Anwar; Rahman Sobuz, Habibur

2018-03-01

A growing interest of sugarcane bagasse fibre composite has been observed in recent years due to its attractiveness properties such as low specific weight, renewable source and producible with low investment at low cost. However, these materials have a low interfacial adhesion between fibre and matrix which lead to reduction in certain mechanical properties of the composite. To overcome this problem, studies show that certain chemical treatments on the surface of the fibres are some alternatives that significantly increase the adhesion reinforcement/matrix, in some cases improving its mechanical properties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different type of chemical treatment which are alkali and acid treatment on sugarcane bagasse fibre surface morphology. Seeking to improve the adhesion fibre matrix, the fibre has been treated with 5% of NaOH and 5% of HCL solution with added of bagasse fibre used in the range of 0% to 3% of cement weight respectively. Through SEM investigation, it is confirmed that chemical treatment helps to remove hemicelluloses from raw bagasse fiber as well as improved fibre matrix adhesion.

The Syntax-Semantics Interface in Distributed Morphology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Justin Robert

2013-01-01

Distributed Morphology (DM; Halle & Marantz 1993; Marantz 1997) is founded on the premise that the syntax is the only computational component of the grammar. Much research focuses on how this premise is relevant to the syntax-morphology interface in DM. In this dissertation, I examine theory-internal issues related to the syntax-semantics…

Object Manipulation Facilitates Kind-Based Object Individuation of Shape-Similar Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kingo, Osman S.; Krojgaard, Peter

2011-01-01

Five experiments investigated the importance of shape and object manipulation when 12-month-olds were given the task of individuating objects representing exemplars of kinds in an event-mapping design. In Experiments 1 and 2, results of the study from Xu, Carey, and Quint (2004, Experiment 4) were partially replicated, showing that infants were…

Automated Morphological and Morphometric Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Imaging Data: Application to Biomarker Discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Picard de Muller, Gaël; Ait-Belkacem, Rima; Bonnel, David; Longuespée, Rémi; Stauber, Jonathan

2017-12-01

Mass spectrometry imaging datasets are mostly analyzed in terms of average intensity in regions of interest. However, biological tissues have different morphologies with several sizes, shapes, and structures. The important biological information, contained in this highly heterogeneous cellular organization, could be hidden by analyzing the average intensities. Finding an analytical process of morphology would help to find such information, describe tissue model, and support identification of biomarkers. This study describes an informatics approach for the extraction and identification of mass spectrometry image features and its application to sample analysis and modeling. For the proof of concept, two different tissue types (healthy kidney and CT-26 xenograft tumor tissues) were imaged and analyzed. A mouse kidney model and tumor model were generated using morphometric - number of objects and total surface - information. The morphometric information was used to identify m/z that have a heterogeneous distribution. It seems to be a worthwhile pursuit as clonal heterogeneity in a tumor is of clinical relevance. This study provides a new approach to find biomarker or support tissue classification with more information. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Organizing and Typing Persistent Objects Within an Object-Oriented Framework

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madany, Peter W.; Campbell, Roy H.

1991-01-01

Conventional operating systems provide little or no direct support for the services required for an efficient persistent object system implementation. We have built a persistent object scheme using a customization and extension of an object-oriented operating system called Choices. Choices includes a framework for the storage of persistent data that is suited to the construction of both conventional file system and persistent object system. In this paper we describe three areas in which persistent object support differs from file system support: storage organization, storage management, and typing. Persistent object systems must support various sizes of objects efficiently. Customizable containers, which are themselves persistent objects and can be nested, support a wide range of object sizes in Choices. Collections of persistent objects that are accessed as an aggregate and collections of light-weight persistent objects can be clustered in containers that are nested within containers for larger objects. Automated garbage collection schemes are added to storage management and have a major impact on persistent object applications. The Choices persistent object store provides extensible sets of persistent object types. The store contains not only the data for persistent objects but also the names of the classes to which they belong and the code for the operation of the classes. Besides presenting persistent object storage organization, storage management, and typing, this paper discusses how persistent objects are named and used within the Choices persistent data/file system framework.

Sexing California Clapper Rails using morphological measurements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Overton, Cory T.; Casazza, Michael L.; Takekawa, John Y.; Rohmer, Tobias M.

2009-01-01

California Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) have monomorphic plumage, a trait that makes identification of sex difficult without extensive behavioral observation or genetic testing. Using 31 Clapper Rails (22 females, 9 males), caught in south San Francisco Bay, CA, and using easily measurable morphological characteristics, we developed a discriminant function to distinguish sex. We then validated this function on 33 additional rails. Seven morphological measurements were considered, resulting in three which were selected in the discriminate function: culmen length, tarsometatarsus length, and flat wing length. We had no classification errors for the development or testing datasets either with resubstitution or cross-validation procedures. Male California Clapper Rails were 6-22% larger than females for individual morphological traits, and the largest difference was in body mass.  Variables in our discriminant function closely match variables developed for sexing Clapper Rails of Gulf Coast populations. However, a universal discriminant function to sex all Clapper Rail subspecies is not likely because of large and inconsistent differences in morphological traits among subspecies. 

Biogenic twinned crystals exhibiting unique morphological symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hirsch, Anna; Gur, Dvir; Palmer, Ben; Addadi, Lia; Leiserowitz, Leslie; Kronik, Leeor

Guanine crystals are widely used in nature as components of multilayer reflectors. Organisms control the size, morphology, and arrangement of these crystals, to obtain a variety of optical ''devices''. The reflection systems found in the lens of the scallop eye and in the copepod cuticle are unique in that the multilayered reflectors are tiled together to form a contiguous packed array. In the former, square crystals are tiled to form a reflecting mirror. In the latter, hexagonal crystals are closely packed to produce brilliant colors. Based on electron diffraction, morphology considerations, and density functional theory, these crystals were shown to possess similar monoclinic crystal symmetry, which we have previously identified as different from that of synthetic anhydrous guanine. However, the crystals are different in that multiple twinning about the {012} and the {011} crystallographic planes results in square and hexagonal morphology, respectively. This is a unique example where controlled twinning is used as a strategy to form a morphology with higher symmetry than that of the underlying crystal, allowing for tilling that facilitates optical functionality.

Opportunities and challenges for digital morphology

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Advances in digital data acquisition, analysis, and storage have revolutionized the work in many biological disciplines such as genomics, molecular phylogenetics, and structural biology, but have not yet found satisfactory acceptance in morphology. Improvements in non-invasive imaging and three-dimensional visualization techniques, however, permit high-throughput analyses also of whole biological specimens, including museum material. These developments pave the way towards a digital era in morphology. Using sea urchins (Echinodermata: Echinoidea), we provide examples illustrating the power of these techniques. However, remote visualization, the creation of a specialized database, and the implementation of standardized, world-wide accepted data deposition practices prior to publication are essential to cope with the foreseeable exponential increase in digital morphological data. Reviewers This article was reviewed by Marc D. Sutton (nominated by Stephan Beck), Gonzalo Giribet (nominated by Lutz Walter), and Lennart Olsson (nominated by Purificación López-García). PMID:20604956

Developmental ethanol exposure alters the morphology of mouse prefrontal neurons in a layer-specific manner.

PubMed

Louth, Emma L; Luctkar, Hanna D; Heney, Kayla A; Bailey, Craig D C

2018-01-01

Chronic developmental exposure to ethanol can lead to a wide variety of teratogenic effects, which in humans are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Individuals affected by FASD may exhibit persistent impairments to cognitive functions such as learning, memory, and attention, which are highly dependent on medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) circuitry. The objective of this study was to determine long-term effects of chronic developmental ethanol exposure on mPFC neuron morphology, in order to better-understand potential neuronal mechanisms underlying cognitive impairments associated with FASD. C57BL/6-strain mice were exposed to ethanol or an isocaloric/isovolumetric amount of sucrose (control) via oral gavage, administered both to the dam from gestational day 10-18 and directly to pups from postnatal day 4-14. Brains from male mice were collected at postnatal day 90 and neurons were stained using a modified Golgi-Cox method. Pyramidal neurons within layers II/III, V and VI of the mPFC were imaged, traced in three dimensions, and assessed using Sholl and branch structure analyses. Developmental ethanol exposure differentially impacted adult pyramidal neuron morphology depending on mPFC cortical layer. Neurons in layer II/III exhibited increased size and diameter of dendrite trees, whereas neurons in layer V were not affected. Layer VI neurons with long apical dendrites had trees with decreased diameter that extended farther from the soma, and layer VI neurons with short apical dendrite trees exhibited decreased tree size overall. These layer-specific alterations to mPFC neuron morphology may form a novel morphological mechanism underlying long-term mPFC dysfunction and resulting cognitive impairments in FASD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Karyolysus--a neglected but common parasite infecting some European lizards.

PubMed

Haklová-Kočíková, Božena; Hižňanová, Adriana; Majláth, Igor; Račka, Karol; Harris, David James; Földvári, Gábor; Tryjanowski, Piotr; Kokošová, Natália; Malčeková, Beáta; Majláthová, Viktória

2014-12-10

Blood parasites of the genus Karyolysus Labbé, 1894 (Apicomplexa: Adeleida: Karyolysidae) represent the protozoan haemogregarines found in various genera of lizards, including Lacerta, Podarcis, Darevskia (Lacertidae) and Mabouia (Scincidae). The vectors of parasites are gamasid mites from the genus Ophionyssus. A total of 557 individuals of lacertid lizards were captured in four different localities in Europe (Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) and blood was collected. Samples were examined using both microscopic and molecular methods, and phylogenetic relationships of all isolates of Karyolysus sp. were assessed for the first time. Karyolysus sp. 18S rRNA isolates were evaluated using Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood analyses. A total of 520 blood smears were examined microscopically and unicellular protozoan parasites were found in 116 samples (22.3% prevalence). The presence of two Karyolysus species, K. latus and K. lacazei was identified. In total, of 210 samples tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the presence of parasites was observed in 64 individuals (prevalence 30.5%). Results of phylogenetic analyses revealed the existence of four haplotypes, all part of the same lineage, with other parasites identified as belonging to the genus Hepatozoon. Classification of these parasites using current taxonomy is complex - they were identified in both mites and ticks that typically are considered to host Karyolysus and Hepatozoon respectively. Furthermore although distortions to the intermediate host erythrocyte nuclei were observed, the defining characteristic of Karyolysus, the haplotypes were nearly identical to those reported from lizards in the Iberian Peninsula, where such distortions were not reported and which were thus identified as Hepatozoon. Based on the phylogenetic analyses, neither vertebrate host, nor geographical patterns of the studied blood parasites could be established.

Portable image analysis system for characterizing aggregate morphology.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

In the last decade, the application of image-based evaluation of particle shape, angularity and texture has been widely researched to characterize aggregate morphology. These efforts have been driven by the knowledge that the morphologic characterist...

Morphological characteristics of waste polyethylene/polypropylene plastics during pyrolysis and representative morphological signal characterizing pyrolysis stages.

PubMed

Wang, H; Chen, D; Yuan, G; Ma, X; Dai, X

2013-02-01

In this work, the morphological characteristics of waste polyethylene (PE)/polypropylene (PP) plastics during their pyrolysis process were investigated, and based on their basic image changing patterns representative morphological signals describing the pyrolysis stages were obtained. PE and PP granules and films were used as typical plastics for testing, and influence of impurities was also investigated. During pyrolysis experiments, photographs of the testing samples were taken sequentially with a high-speed infrared camera, and the quantitative parameters that describe the morphological characteristics of these photographs were explored using the "Image Pro Plus (v6.3)" digital image processing software. The experimental results showed that plastics pyrolysis involved four stages: melting, two stages of decomposition which are characterized with bubble formation caused by volatile evaporating, and ash deposition; and each stage was characterized with its own phase changing behaviors and morphological features. Two stages of decomposition are the key step of pyrolysis since they took up half or more of the reaction time; melting step consumed another half of reaction time in experiments when raw materials were heated up from ambient temperatures; and coke-like deposition appeared as a result of decomposition completion. Two morphological signals defined from digital image processing, namely, pixel area of the interested reaction region and bubble ratio (BR) caused by volatile evaporating were found to change regularly with pyrolysis stages. In particular, for all experimental scenarios with plastics films and granules, the BR curves always exhibited a slowly drop as melting started and then a sharp increase followed by a deep decrease corresponding to the first stage of intense decomposition, afterwards a second increase - drop section corresponding to the second stage of decomposition appeared. As ash deposition happened, the BR dropped to zero or very low

Differences of skin morphology in Bos indicus, Bos taurus, and their crossbreds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jian, Wang; Duangjinda, M.; Vajrabukka, C.; Katawatin, Suporn

2014-08-01

Cutaneous evaporation is the main avenue by which cattle dissipate heat via the involvement of sweat glands and other skin components. The difference in skin morphology between B. indicus and B. taurus has been recognized, as well as differences in their ability to tolerate heat. The objective of this study was to compare skin morphology between B. indicus, B. taurus, and their crossbreds. Skin samples of Sahiwal ( B. indicus) ( n = 10, reddish brown skin) and Holstein Friesian (HF) ( B. taurus) ( n = 10, black and white skin) and crossbred of HF75% ( n = 10, black and white skin) and HF87.5 % ( n = 10, black and white skin) were biopsied for histological study, followed by measurement of skin components. The results indicated that breed significantly affected sweat gland morphology. The shape of the sweat gland, as indicated by the ratio of length/diameter, in Sahiwal was baggier in shape compared to HF (5.99 and 9.52) while values for crossbreds were intermediate (7.82, 8.45). The density and volume of sweat glands in Sahiwal (1,058 glands/cm2; 1.60 μ3 × 10-6) were higher than in HF (920 glands/cm2; 0.51 μ3x10-6) and crossbreds, both HF 75 % (709 glands/cm2; 0.68 μ3 × 10-6) and HF 87.5 % (691 glands/cm2; 0.61 μ3 × 10-6) respectively. However, capillary surface area was greater for HF (2.07 cm2) compared to Sahiwal (1.79 cm2); accordingly, the lower genetic fraction of HF in crossbred cattle showed less capillary surface area (1.83 and 1.9 cm2 for HF75% and HF87.5 %) ( P < 0.01). Nerve density was not significantly different between Sahiwal and HF but was higher in the crossbred ( P < 0.01) cattle. Moreover, the effect of skin color (black and white) was evaluated and it was found that there was an interaction ( P < 0.01) between breed and skin color on the skin components. This study reveals that there are differences in skin morphology among B. indicus, B. taurus and their crossbreds, with these differences being more or less related to the genetic

Evolutionary developmental genetics of fruit morphological variation within the Solanaceae

PubMed Central

Wang, Li; Li, Jing; Zhao, Jing; He, Chaoying

2015-01-01

Morphological variations of fruits such as shape and size, and color are a result of adaptive evolution. The evolution of morphological novelties is particularly intriguing. An understanding of these evolutionary processes calls for the elucidation of the developmental and genetic mechanisms that result in particular fruit morphological characteristics, which determine seed dispersal. The genetic and developmental basis for fruit morphological variation was established at a microevolutionary time scale. Here, we summarize the progress on the evolutionary developmental genetics of fruit size, shape and color in the Solanaceae. Studies suggest that the recruitment of a pre-existing gene and subsequent modification of its interaction and regulatory networks are frequently involved in the evolution of morphological diversity. The basic mechanisms underlying changes in plant morphology are alterations in gene expression and/or gene function. We also deliberate on the future direction in evolutionary developmental genetics of fruit morphological variation such as fruit type. These studies will provide insights into plant developmental processes and will help to improve the productivity and fruit quality of crops. PMID:25918515

Morphology of LDPE-poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ol'khov, A. A.; Vlasov, S. V.; Shibryaeva, L. S.; Kosenko, R. Yu.; Iordanskii, A. L.

2012-07-01

The structure and morphology of biodegradable extruded polymeric films based on LDPE and (PHB) were studied by a combination of methods including polarization IR spectroscopy, DSC, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The components of LDPE-PHB blends containing 1-32% PHB are immiscible and form morphological structures (phases) with well distinguishable phase boundaries between dispersed phase and dispersion matrix.

Evidence for Early Morphological Decomposition: Combining Masked Priming with Magnetoencephalography

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehtonen, Minna; Monahan, Philip J.; Poeppel, David

2011-01-01

Are words stored as morphologically structured representations? If so, when during word recognition are morphological pieces accessed? Recent masked priming studies support models that assume early decomposition of (potentially) morphologically complex words. The electrophysiological evidence, however, is inconsistent. We combined masked…

Morphology of Dwarf Galaxies in Isolated Satellite Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ann, Hong Bae

2017-08-01

The environmental dependence of the morphology of dwarf galaxies in isolated satellite systems is analyzed to understand the origin of the dwarf galaxy morphology using the visually classified morphological types of 5836 local galaxies with z ≲ 0.01. We consider six sub-types of dwarf galaxies, dS0, dE, dE_{bc}, dSph, dE_{blue}, and dI, of which the first four sub-types are considered as early-type and the last two as late-type. The environmental parameters we consider are the projected distance from the host galaxy (r_{p}), local and global background densities, and the host morphology. The spatial distributions of dwarf satellites of early-type galaxies are much different from those of dwarf satellites of late-type galaxies, suggesting the host morphology combined with r_{p} plays a decisive role on the morphology of the dwarf satellite galaxies. The local and global background densities play no significant role on the morphology of dwarfs in the satellite systems hosted by early-type galaxies. However, in the satellite system hosted by late-type galaxies, the global background densities of dE and dSph satellites are significantly different from those of dE_{bc}, dE_{blue}, and dI satellites. The blue-cored dwarf satellites (dE_{bc}) of early-type galaxies are likely to be located at r_{p} > 0.3 Mpc to keep their cold gas from the ram pressure stripping by the hot corona of early-type galaxies. The spatial distribution of dE_{bc} satellites of early-type galaxies and their global background densities suggest that their cold gas is intergalactic material accreted before they fall into the satellite systems.

Gross morphology and histology of the alimentary tract of the convict cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata.

PubMed

Hopperdietzel, C; Hirschberg, R M; Hünigen, H; Wolter, J; Richardson, K; Plendl, J

2014-11-01

The primary objectives of this study were to document the macroscopic and histological structure of the alimentary tract (AT) of the convict cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata, because there are no data available for this omnivorous freshwater fish of the family Cichlidae. The morphology of the AT of A. nigrofasciata resembles that of related species. While having morphological criteria of the AT typical of most omnivorous fishes, such as a blind sac stomach and medium length intestine, A. nigrofasciata also has some structural peculiarities: the oesophagus is lined by a uniform stratified squamous epithelial layer with interspersed goblet cells along its entire length. Additionally, it has well-developed layers of the tunica muscularis including muscle fibre bundles that ascend into its mucosal folds. Occasionally, taste buds are present. In the transitional area between oesophagus and stomach, a prominent torus-like closure device is present. The mucosa of the stomach cannot be divided into different regions according to mucosal and morphological properties. The simple pattern of intestinal loops of A. nigrofasciata has few variations, irrespective of sex, mass and length of the individual fish. The first segment of the intestine is characterized by the largest mucososerosal ratio and the most complex mucosal surface architecture. A distinction of midgut and hindgut was not possible in A. nigrofasciata due to lack of defining structural components as described for other fish species. © 2014 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Object-based attention: strength of object representation and attentional guidance.

PubMed

Shomstein, Sarah; Behrmann, Marlene

2008-01-01

Two or more features belonging to a single object are identified more quickly and more accurately than are features belonging to different objects--a finding attributed to sensory enhancement of all features belonging to an attended or selected object. However, several recent studies have suggested that this "single-object advantage" may be a product of probabilistic and configural strategic prioritizations rather than of object-based perceptual enhancement per se, challenging the underlying mechanism that is thought to give rise to object-based attention. In the present article, we further explore constraints on the mechanisms of object-based selection by examining the contribution of the strength of object representations to the single-object advantage. We manipulated factors such as exposure duration (i.e., preview time) and salience of configuration (i.e., objects). Varying preview time changes the magnitude of the object-based effect, so that if there is ample time to establish an object representation (i.e., preview time of 1,000 msec), then both probability and configuration (i.e., objects) guide attentional selection. If, however, insufficient time is provided to establish a robust object-based representation, then only probabilities guide attentional selection. Interestingly, at a short preview time of 200 msec, when the two objects were sufficiently different from each other (i.e., different colors), both configuration and probability guided attention selection. These results suggest that object-based effects can be explained both in terms of strength of object representations (established at longer exposure durations and by pictorial cues) and probabilistic contingencies in the visual environment.

CN MORPHOLOGY STUDIES OF COMET 103P/HARTLEY 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Knight, Matthew M.; Schleicher, David G., E-mail: knight@lowell.edu

2011-06-15

We report on narrowband CN imaging of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 obtained at Lowell Observatory on 39 nights from 2010 July until 2011 January. We observed two features, one generally to the north and the other generally to the south. The CN morphology varied during the apparition: no morphology was seen in July; in August and September, the northern feature dominated and appeared as a mostly face-on spiral; in October, November, and December, the northern and southern features were roughly equal in brightness and looked like more side-on corkscrews; in January, the southern feature was dominant but the morphology was indistinctmore » due to very low signal. The morphology changed smoothly during each night and similar morphology was seen from night to night. However, the morphology did not exactly repeat each rotation cycle, suggesting that there is a small non-principal axis rotation. Based on the repetition of the morphology, we find evidence that the fundamental rotation period was increasing: 16.7 hr from August 13 to 17, 17.2 hr from September 10 to 13, 18.2 hr from October 12 to 19, and 18.7 hr from October 31 to November 7. We conducted Monte Carlo jet modeling to constrain the pole orientation and locations of the active regions based on the observed morphology. Our preliminary, self-consistent pole solution has an obliquity of 10{sup 0} relative to the comet's orbital plane (i.e., it is centered near R.A. = 257{sup 0} and decl. = +67{sup 0} with an uncertainty around this position of about 15{sup 0}) and has two mid-latitude sources, one in each hemisphere.« less

CN Morphology Studies of Comet 103P/Hartley 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knight, Matthew M.; Schleicher, David G.

2011-06-01

We report on narrowband CN imaging of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 obtained at Lowell Observatory on 39 nights from 2010 July until 2011 January. We observed two features, one generally to the north and the other generally to the south. The CN morphology varied during the apparition: no morphology was seen in July; in August and September, the northern feature dominated and appeared as a mostly face-on spiral; in October, November, and December, the northern and southern features were roughly equal in brightness and looked like more side-on corkscrews; in January, the southern feature was dominant but the morphology was indistinct due to very low signal. The morphology changed smoothly during each night and similar morphology was seen from night to night. However, the morphology did not exactly repeat each rotation cycle, suggesting that there is a small non-principal axis rotation. Based on the repetition of the morphology, we find evidence that the fundamental rotation period was increasing: 16.7 hr from August 13 to 17, 17.2 hr from September 10 to 13, 18.2 hr from October 12 to 19, and 18.7 hr from October 31 to November 7. We conducted Monte Carlo jet modeling to constrain the pole orientation and locations of the active regions based on the observed morphology. Our preliminary, self-consistent pole solution has an obliquity of 10° relative to the comet's orbital plane (i.e., it is centered near R.A. = 257° and decl. = +67° with an uncertainty around this position of about 15°) and has two mid-latitude sources, one in each hemisphere.

Phenotypic engineering unveils the function of genital morphology.

PubMed

Hotzy, Cosima; Polak, Michal; Rönn, Johanna L; Arnqvist, Göran

2012-12-04

The rapidly evolving and often extraordinarily complex appearance of male genital morphology of internally fertilizing animals has been recognized for centuries. Postcopulatory sexual selection is regarded as the likely evolutionary engine of this diversity, but direct support for this hypothesis is limited. We used two complementary approaches, evolution through artificial selection and microscale laser surgery, to experimentally manipulate genital morphology in an insect model system. We then assessed the competitive fertilization success of these phenotypically manipulated males and studied the fate of their ejaculate in females using high-resolution radioisotopic labeling of ejaculates. Males with longer genital spines were more successful in gaining fertilizations, providing experimental evidence that male genital morphology influences success in postcopulatory reproductive competition. Furthermore, a larger proportion of the ejaculate moved from the reproductive tract into the female body following mating with males with longer spines, suggesting that genital spines increase the rate at which seminal fluid passes into the female hemolymph. Our results show that genital morphology affects male competitive fertilization success and imply that sexual selection on genital morphology may be mediated in part through seminal fluid. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Theoretical and experimental morphologies of 4-aminobenzophenone (ABP) crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qingwu; Sheen, D. B.; Shepherd, E. E. A.; Sherwood, J. N.; Simpson, G. S.; Hammond, R. B.

1997-11-01

The lattice energy (Elatt), slice energies (Eslice) and attachment energies (Eatt) of the different habit faces of ABP crystals have been calculated using the computer program HABIT. On the basis of the attachment energies of different crystal faces, the morphology was defined as {1 0 0}, {0 0 1}, {1 1 0}, {11bar0} and {1 01bar}. To confirm this theoretical prediction, we have grown ABP films and ABP crystals from the vapour phase. In both cases, the morphologically most important face was defined as {1 0 0} face using X-ray diffraction techniques. The remaining faces of the vapour-grown crystals were defined using a projection method, while the crystallites in the films were morphologically analysed by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM). The experimental morphologies are basically in agreement with the computation. Deviations from the equilibrium morphology can be ascribed to departure from equilibrium conditions during growth. For completeness, the results are compared with those for crystals grown from solutions for which deviations in morphology from the theoretical predictions can be ascribed to interaction between the crystal faces and solvent molecules.

Leukemia in Iran: Epidemiology and Morphology Trends.

PubMed

Koohi, Fatemeh; Salehiniya, Hamid; Shamlou, Reza; Eslami, Soheyla; Ghojogh, Ziyaeddin Mahery; Kor, Yones; Rafiemanesh, Hosein

2015-01-01

Leukemia accounts for 8% of total cancer cases and involves all age groups with different prevalence and incidence rates in Iran and the entire world and causes a significant death toll and heavy expenses for diagnosis and treatment processes. This study was done to evaluate epidemiology and morphology of blood cancer during 2003-2008. This cross- sectional study was carried out based on re- analysis of the Cancer Registry Center report of the Health Deputy in Iran during a 6-year period (2003 - 2008). Statistical analysis for incidence time trends and morphology change percentage was performed with joinpoint regression analysis using the software Joinpoint Regression Program. During the studied years a total of 18,353 hematopoietic and reticuloendothelial system cancers were recorded. Chi square test showed significant difference between sex and morphological types of blood cancer (P-value<0.001). Joinpoint analysis showed a significant increasing trend for the adjusted standard incidence rate (ASIR) for both sexes (P-value<0.05). Annual percent changes (APC) for women and men were 18.7 and 19.9, respectively. The most common morphological blood cancers were ALL, ALM, MM and CLL which accounted for 60% of total hematopoietic system cancers. Joinpoint analyze showed a significant decreasing trend for ALM in both sexes (P-value<0.05). Hematopoietic system cancers in Iran demonstrate an increasing trend for incidence rate and decreasing trend for ALL, ALM and CLL morphology.

Hip morphologic measurements in an Egyptian population.

PubMed

Aly, Tarek A

2011-04-11

The study of acetabular morphology has shown that there are geographic differences in the morphology and prevalence of acetabular dysplasia among different ethnic groups. However, few data exist on the shape of the acetabulum in various populations around the world. In this study, we examined samples of pelvic radiographs from Egyptian adults. Acetabular dysplasia in adults is characterized by a shallow and relatively vertical acetabulum.The aim of this study was to examine acetabular morphology to determine the prevalence of hip dysplasia in adult Egyptians. This included 244 adults, 134 men and 110 women between 18 and 60 years, who were used to measure center edge angle, acetabular Sharp angle, acetabular head index on anteroposterior radiographic views of the hip joints, and vertical center anterior margin angle on false profile views. The radiographs were taken of patients with no hip complaints at Tanta University Hospital.The results were statistically studied according to the age, height, and weight of patients. The prevalence of acetabular dysplasia was 2.25% for Egyptian men and 3.6% for women with respect to center edge angles, vertical center anterior margin angle, and acetabular head index.We concluded that gender variations in the morphology of the acetabulum and sex influences geometrical measurements of the acetabulum. Egyptian women were more dysplastic than men using the 4 parameters of hip measurements. There are also racial variations in hip morphology. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

Orbital Evolution and Physical Characteristics of Object "Peggy" at the Edge of Saturn's A Ring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, C.; Cooper, N. J.; Noyelles, B.; Renner, S.; Araujo, N.

2016-12-01

Images taken with the Cassini ISS instrument on 2013 April 15 showed the presence of a bright, extended object at the edge of Saturn's A ring. The gravitational signature of the object often appears as a discontinuity in the azimuthal profile of the ring edge and a subsequent analysis revealed that the object (nicknamed "Peggy") was detectable in ISS images as far back as 2012. The morphology of the signature is a function of the orbital phase suggesting that the object has a relative eccentricity or periapse with respect to the surrounding ring material. Tracking the signature allows a determination of the object's semi-major axis and following the initial detection this has varied by as much as 5 km. At no stage has the object been as bright as it was at the time of its discovery, suggesting that a collisional event had recently occurred. Here we report on the latest Cassini ISS observations of "Peggy" and their interpretation. These will include the calculated changes in its semi-major axis since 2013, constraints on its mass based on numerical integrations of its perturbing effect on adjacent ring particles, and what has been learned from a recent 8 h sequence of high resolution ISS images specially designed to track "Peggy" for more than half an orbital period.

The better to eat you with: the comparative feeding morphology of phocid seals (Pinnipedia, Phocidae).

PubMed

Kienle, Sarah S; Berta, Annalisa

2016-03-01

One adaptation crucial to the survival of mammalian lineages that secondarily transitioned from land to water environments was the ability to capture and consume prey underwater. Phocid seals have evolved diverse feeding strategies to feed in the marine environment, and the objectives of this study were to document the specialized feeding morphologies and identify feeding strategies used by extant phocids. This study used principal component analysis (PCA) to determine the major axes of diversification in the skull for all extant phocid taxa and the recently extinct Caribbean monk seal (n = 19). Prey data gathered from the literature and musculoskeletal data from dissections were included to provide a comprehensive description of each feeding strategy. Random Forest analysis was used to determine the morphological, ecological and phylogenetic variables that best described each feeding strategy. There is morphological evidence for four feeding strategies in phocids: filter; grip and tear; suction; and pierce feeding. These feeding strategies are supported by quantitative cranial and mandibular characters, dietary information, musculoskeletal data and, for some species, behavioral observations. Most phocid species are pierce feeders, using a combination of biting and suction to opportunistically catch prey. Grip and tear and filter feeding are specialized strategies with specific morphological adaptations. These unique adaptations have allowed leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga) to exploit novel ecological niches and prey types. This study provides the first cranial and mandibular morphological evidence for the use of specialized suction feeding in hooded seals (Cystophora cristata), northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) and southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina). The most important variables in determining the feeding strategy of a given phocid species were cranial and mandibular shape, diet, and phylogeny

Novel multiform morphologies of hydroxyapatite: Synthesis and growth mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mary, I. Reeta; Sonia, S.; Viji, S.; Mangalaraj, D.; Viswanathan, C.; Ponpandian, N.

2016-01-01

Morphological evolution of materials becomes a prodigious challenge due to their key role in defining their functional properties and desired applications. Herein, we report the synthesis of hydroxyapatite (HAp) microstructures with multiform morphologies, such as spheres, cubes, hexagonal rods and nested bundles constructed from their respective nanoscale building blocks via a simple cost effective hydro/solvothermal method. A possible formation mechanism of diverse morphologies of HAp has been presented. Structural analysis based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirms the purity of the HAp microstructures. The multiform morphologies of HAp were corroborated by using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM).

An Electrophysiological Investigation of Early Effects of Masked Morphological Priming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Joanna; Grainger, Jonathan; Holcomb, Phillip J.

2008-01-01

This experiment examined event-related responses to targets preceded by semantically transparent morphologically related primes (e.g., farmer-farm), semantically opaque primes with an apparent morphological relation (corner-corn), and orthographically, but not morphologically, related primes (scandal-scan) using the masked priming technique…

Trajectory-based morphological operators: a model for efficient image processing.

PubMed

Jimeno-Morenilla, Antonio; Pujol, Francisco A; Molina-Carmona, Rafael; Sánchez-Romero, José L; Pujol, Mar

2014-01-01

Mathematical morphology has been an area of intensive research over the last few years. Although many remarkable advances have been achieved throughout these years, there is still a great interest in accelerating morphological operations in order for them to be implemented in real-time systems. In this work, we present a new model for computing mathematical morphology operations, the so-called morphological trajectory model (MTM), in which a morphological filter will be divided into a sequence of basic operations. Then, a trajectory-based morphological operation (such as dilation, and erosion) is defined as the set of points resulting from the ordered application of the instant basic operations. The MTM approach allows working with different structuring elements, such as disks, and from the experiments, it can be extracted that our method is independent of the structuring element size and can be easily applied to industrial systems and high-resolution images.

Bi-stage time evolution of nano-morphology on inductively coupled plasma etched fused silica surface caused by surface morphological transformation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Xiaolong; Zhang, Lijuan; Bai, Yang; Liu, Ying; Liu, Zhengkun; Qiu, Keqiang; Liao, Wei; Zhang, Chuanchao; Yang, Ke; Chen, Jing; Jiang, Yilan; Yuan, Xiaodong

2017-07-01

In this work, we experimentally investigate the surface nano-roughness during the inductively coupled plasma etching of fused silica, and discover a novel bi-stage time evolution of surface nano-morphology. At the beginning, the rms roughness, correlation length and nano-mound dimensions increase linearly and rapidly with etching time. At the second stage, the roughening process slows down dramatically. The switch of evolution stage synchronizes with the morphological change from dual-scale roughness comprising long wavelength underlying surface and superimposed nano-mounds to one scale of nano-mounds. A theoretical model based on surface morphological change is proposed. The key idea is that at the beginning, etched surface is dual-scale, and both larger deposition rate of etch inhibitors and better plasma etching resistance at the surface peaks than surface valleys contribute to the roughness development. After surface morphology transforming into one-scale, the difference of plasma resistance between surface peaks and valleys vanishes, thus the roughening process slows down.

Using GIS to appraise structural control of the river bottom morphology near hydrotechnical objects on Alluvial rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habel, Michal; Babinski, Zygmunt; Szatten, Dawid

2017-11-01

The paper presents the results of analyses of structural changes of the Vistula River bottom, in a section of direct influence of the bridge in Torun (Northern Poland) fitted with one pier in the form of a central island. The pier limits a free water flow by reducing the active width of the riverbed by 12%. In 2011, data on the bottom morphology was collected, i.e. before commencing bridge construction works, throughout the whole building period - 38 measurements. Specific river depth measurements are carried out with SBES and then bathymetric maps are drawn up every two months. The tests cover the active Vistula river channel of 390 - 420 metres in width, from 730+40 to 732+30 river kilometre. The paper includes the results of morphometric analyses of vertical and horizontal changes of the river bottom surrounded by the bridge piers. The seasonality of scour holes and inclination of accumulative forms (sand bars) in the relevant river reach was analysed. Morphometric analyses were performed on raster bases with GIS tools, including the Map Algebra algorithm. The obtained results shown that scour holes/pools of up to 10 metres in depth and exceeding 1200 metres in length are formed in the tested river segment. Scour holes within the pier appeared in specific periods. Constant scour holes were found at the riverbank, and the rate of their movement down the river was 0.6 to 1.3 m per day. The tests are conducted as part of a project ordered by the City of Torun titled `Monitoring Hydrotechniczny Inwestycji Mostowej 2011 - 2014' (Hydrotechnical Monitoring of the Bridge Investment, period 2011 - 2014).

Evolution of pollen morphology in Loranthaceae

PubMed Central

Grímsson, Friðgeir; Grimm, Guido W.; Zetter, Reinhard

2018-01-01

Abstract Earlier studies indicate a strong correlation of pollen morphology and ultrastructure with taxonomy in Loranthaceae. Using high-resolution light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy imaging of the same pollen grains, we document pollen types of 35 genera including 15 studied for the first time. Using a molecular phylogenetic framework based on currently available sequence data with good genus-coverage, we reconstruct trends in the evolution of Loranthaceae pollen and pinpoint traits of high diagnostic value, partly confirming earlier intuitive hypotheses based on morphological observations. We find that pollen morphology in Loranthaceae is strongly linked to phylogenetic relationships. Some pollen types are diagnostic for discrete genera or evolutionary lineages, opening the avenue to recruit dispersed fossil pollen as age constraints for dated phylogenies and as independent data for testing biogeographic scenarios; so far based exclusively on modern-day data. Correspondences and discrepancies between palynological and molecular data and current taxonomic/systematic concepts are identified and suggestions made for future palynological and molecular investigations of Loranthaceae. PMID:29386990

Juvenile morphology in baleen whale phylogeny.

PubMed

Tsai, Cheng-Hsiu; Fordyce, R Ewan

2014-09-01

Phylogenetic reconstructions are sensitive to the influence of ontogeny on morphology. Here, we use foetal/neonatal specimens of known species of living baleen whales (Cetacea: Mysticeti) to show how juvenile morphology of extant species affects phylogenetic placement of the species. In one clade (sei whale, Balaenopteridae), the juvenile is distant from the usual phylogenetic position of adults, but in the other clade (pygmy right whale, Cetotheriidae), the juvenile is close to the adult. Different heterochronic processes at work in the studied species have different influences on juvenile morphology and on phylogenetic placement. This study helps to understand the relationship between evolutionary processes and phylogenetic patterns in baleen whale evolution and, more in general, between phylogeny and ontogeny; likewise, this study provides a proxy how to interpret the phylogeny when fossils that are immature individuals are included. Juvenile individuals in the peramorphic acceleration clades would produce misleading phylogenies, whereas juvenile individuals in the paedomorphic neoteny clades should still provide reliable phylogenetic signals.

[Morphology and diagnostics of mechanisms of chest bone fractures and their use in analyzing forensic medicine results].

PubMed

Sobol, Julia; Kordel, Krzysztof; Kołowski, Janusz; Kis-Wojciechowska, Margit; Przybylski, Zygmunt

2007-01-01

The study presents the analysis of 343 available protocols of autopsy results. In the reviewed material, the authors noted that of 343 autopsies performed in 2005, in 92 cases, rib fractures were present. The study reviews the articles on the morphology and determination of the mechanism of rib fracturing. The authors describe the majority of factors that influence the type of fracture, as well as the current views on the possibility of applying the knowledge of morphology and mechanisms of rib fracturing in opinionating in traffic accidents, injuries inflicted to victims of assault and battery, in interpreting autopsy findings in victims of falls from high altitude or crushing by heavy objects, as well as in differentiating between primary and secondary injuries, and also identifying fractures occurring during resuscitation. Fractures in children are presented separately. The authors also analyze the issue of establishing the sequence of fractures.

Multi-objective optimization of an industrial penicillin V bioreactor train using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm.

PubMed

Lee, Fook Choon; Rangaiah, Gade Pandu; Ray, Ajay Kumar

2007-10-15

Bulk of the penicillin produced is used as raw material for semi-synthetic penicillin (such as amoxicillin and ampicillin) and semi-synthetic cephalosporins (such as cephalexin and cefadroxil). In the present paper, an industrial penicillin V bioreactor train is optimized for multiple objectives simultaneously. An industrial train, comprising a bank of identical bioreactors, is run semi-continuously in a synchronous fashion. The fermentation taking place in a bioreactor is modeled using a morphologically structured mechanism. For multi-objective optimization for two and three objectives, the elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is chosen. Instead of a single optimum as in the traditional optimization, a wide range of optimal design and operating conditions depicting trade-offs of key performance indicators such as batch cycle time, yield, profit and penicillin concentration, is successfully obtained. The effects of design and operating variables on the optimal solutions are discussed in detail. Copyright 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Process depending morphology and resulting physical properties of TPU

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frick, Achim, E-mail: achim.frick@hs-aalen.de; Spadaro, Marcel, E-mail: marcel.spadaro@hs-aalen.de

2015-12-17

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is a rubber like material with outstanding properties, e.g. for seal applications. TPU basically provides high strength, low frictional behavior and excellent wear resistance. Though, due to segmented structure of TPU, which is composed of hard segments (HSs) and soft segments (SSs), physical properties depend strongly on the morphological arrangement of the phase separated HSs at a certain ratio of HSs to SSs. It is obvious that the TPU deforms differently depending on its bulk morphology. Basically, the morphology can either consist of HSs segregated into small domains, which are well dispersed in the SS matrix ormore » of few strongly phase separated large size HS domains embedded in the SS matrix. The morphology development is hardly ruled by the melt processing conditions of the TPU. Depending on the morphology, TPU provides quite different physical properties with respect to strength, deformation behavior, thermal stability, creep resistance and tribological performance. The paper deals with the influence of important melt processing parameters, such as temperature, pressure and shear conditions, on the resulting physical properties tested by tensile and relaxation experiments. Furthermore the morphology is studied employing differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), transmission light microscopy (TLM), scanning electron beam microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron beam microscopy (TEM) investigations. Correlations between processing conditions and resulting TPU material properties are elaborated. Flow and shear simulations contribute to the understanding of thermal and flow induced morphology development.« less

Orthogonal P-wave morphology is affected by intra-atrial pressures.

PubMed

Petersson, Richard; Smith, J Gustav; Larsson, David A; Reitan, Öyvind; Carlson, Jonas; Platonov, Pyotr; Holmqvist, Fredrik

2017-12-06

It has previously been shown that the morphology of the P-wave neither depends on atrial size in healthy subjects with physiologically enlarged atria nor on the physiological anatomical variation in transverse orientation of the left atrium. The present study aimed to investigate if different pressures in the left and right atrium are associated with different P-wave morphologies. 38 patients with isolated, increased left atrial pressure, 51 patients with isolated, increased right atrial pressure and 76 patients with biatrially increased pressure were studied. All had undergone right heart catheterization and had 12-lead electrocardiographic recordings, which were transformed into vectorcardiograms for detailed P-wave morphology analysis. Normal P-wave morphology (type 1) was more common in patients with isolated increased pressure in the right atrium while abnormal P-wave morphology (type 2) was more common in the groups with increased left atrial pressure (P = 0.032). Moreover, patients with increased left atrial pressure, either isolated or in conjunction with increased right atrial pressure, had significantly more often a P-wave morphology with a positive deflection in the sagittal plane (P = 0.004). Isolated elevated right atrial pressure was associated with normal P-wave morphology while left-sided atrial pressure elevation, either isolated or in combination with right atrial pressure elevation, was associated with abnormal P-wave morphology.

Erythrocyte Stiffness during Morphological Remodeling Induced by Carbon Ion Radiation

PubMed Central

Zhang, Baoping; Liu, Bin; Zhang, Hong; Wang, Jizeng

2014-01-01

The adverse effect induced by carbon ion radiation (CIR) is still an unavoidable hazard to the treatment object. Thus, evaluation of its adverse effects on the body is a critical problem with respect to radiation therapy. We aimed to investigate the change between the configuration and mechanical properties of erythrocytes induced by radiation and found differences in both the configuration and the mechanical properties with involving in morphological remodeling process. Syrian hamsters were subjected to whole-body irradiation with carbon ion beams (1, 2, 4, and 6 Gy) or X-rays (2, 4, 6, and 12 Gy) for 3, 14 and 28 days. Erythrocytes in peripheral blood and bone marrow were collected for cytomorphological analysis. The mechanical properties of the erythrocytes were determined using atomic force microscopy, and the expression of the cytoskeletal protein spectrin-α1 was analyzed via western blotting. The results showed that dynamic changes were evident in erythrocytes exposed to different doses of carbon ion beams compared with X-rays and the control (0 Gy). The magnitude of impairment of the cell number and cellular morphology manifested the subtle variation according to the irradiation dose. In particular, the differences in the size, shape and mechanical properties of the erythrocytes were well exhibited. Furthermore, immunoblot data showed that the expression of the cytoskeletal protein spectrin-α1 was changed after irradiation, and there was a common pattern among its substantive characteristics in the irradiated group. Based on these findings, the present study concluded that CIR could induce a change in mechanical properties during morphological remodeling of erythrocytes. According to the unique characteristics of the biomechanical categories, we deduce that changes in cytomorphology and mechanical properties can be measured to evaluate the adverse effects generated by tumor radiotherapy. Additionally, for the first time, the current study provides a new

Erythrocyte stiffness during morphological remodeling induced by carbon ion radiation.

PubMed

Zhang, Baoping; Liu, Bin; Zhang, Hong; Wang, Jizeng