Photomorphic analysis techniques: An interim spatial analysis using satellite remote sensor imagery and historical data

The use of machine scanning and/or computer-based techniques to provide greater objectivity in the photomorphic approach was investigated. Photomorphic analysis and its application in regional planning are discussed. Topics included: delineation of photomorphic regions; inadequacies of existing classification systems; tonal and textural characteristics and signature analysis techniques; pattern recognition and Fourier transform analysis; and optical experiments. A bibliography is included

The Cost of Sex: Quantifying Energetic Investment in Gamete Production by Males and Females

The relative energetic investment in reproduction between the sexes forms the basis of sexual selection and life history theories in evolutionary biology. It is often assumed that males invest considerably less in gametes than females, but quantifying the energetic cost of gamete production in both sexes has remained a difficult challenge. For a broad diversity of species (invertebrates, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, birds, and mammals), we compared the cost of gamete production between the sexes in terms of the investment in gonad tissue and the rate of gamete biomass production. Investment in gonad biomass was nearly proportional to body mass in both sexes, but gamete biomass production rate was approximately two to four orders of magnitude higher in females. In both males and females, gamete biomass production rate increased with organism mass as a power law, much like individual metabolic rate. This suggests that whole-organism energetics may act as a primary constraint on gamete production among species. Residual variation in sperm production rate was positively correlated with relative testes size. Together, these results suggest that understanding the heterogeneity in rates of gamete production among species requires joint consideration of the effects of gonad mass and metabolism

How 911 callers and call‐takers impact police encounters with the public: The case of the Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrest

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156456/2/capp12508_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156456/1/capp12508.pd

The Distribution of Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate in Acinar Cells of Rat Pancreas Revealed with the Freeze-Fracture Replica Labeling Method

Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] is a phospholipid that has been implicated in multiple cellular activities. The distribution of PI(4,5)P2 has been analyzed extensively using live imaging of the GFP-coupled phospholipase C-δ1 pleckstrin homology domain in cultured cell lines. However, technical difficulties have prevented the study of PI(4,5)P2 in cells of in vivo tissues. We recently developed a method to analyze the nanoscale distribution of PI(4,5)P2 in cultured cells by using the quick-freezing and freeze-fracture replica labeling method. In principle, this method can be applied to any cell because it does not require the expression of artificial probes. In the present study, we modified the method to study cells of in vivo tissues and applied it to pancreatic exocrine acinar cells of the rat. We found that PI(4,5)P2 in the plasma membrane is distributed in an equivalent density in the apical and basolateral domains, but exists in a significantly higher concentration in the gap junction. The intracellular organelles did not show labeling for PI(4,5)P2. The results are novel or different from the reported distribution patterns in cell lines and highlight the importance of studying cells differentiated in vivo

Biological Stoichiometry in Human Cancer

A growing tumor in the body can be considered a complex ecological and evolutionary system. A new eco-evolutionary hypothesis (the "Growth Rate Hypothesis", GRH) proposes that tumors have elevated phosphorus (P) demands due to increased allocation to P-rich nucleic acids, especially ribosomal RNA, to meet the protein synthesis demands of accelerated proliferation.We determined the elemental (C, N, P) and nucleic acid contents of paired malignant and normal tissues from colon, lung, liver, or kidney for 121 patients. Consistent with the GRH, lung and colon tumors were significantly higher (by approximately two-fold) in P content (fraction of dry weight) and RNA content and lower in nitrogen (N):P ratio than paired normal tissue, and P in RNA contributed a significantly larger fraction of total biomass P in malignant relative to normal tissues. Furthermore, patient-specific differences for %P between malignant and normal tissues were positively correlated with such differences for %RNA, both for the overall data and within three of the four organ sites. However, significant differences in %P and %RNA between malignant and normal tissues were not seen in liver and kidney and, overall, RNA contributed only approximately 11% of total tissue P content.Data for lung and colon tumors provide support for the GRH in human cancer. The two-fold amplification of P content in colon and lung tumors may set the stage for potential P-limitation of their proliferation, as such differences often do for rapidly growing biota in ecosystems. However, data for kidney and liver do not support the GRH. To account for these conflicting observations, we suggest that local environments in some organs select for neoplastic cells bearing mutations increasing cell division rate ("r-selected," as in colon and lung) while conditions elsewhere may select for reduced mortality rate ("K-selected," as in liver and kidney)

Amplified surface temperature response of cold, deep lakes to inter-annual air temperature variability

Summer lake surface water temperatures (LSWTs) have previously been shown to respond more rapidly to climatic warming compared to local summer surface air temperatures (SATs). In a global- scale analysis, we explore the factors underpinning the observation of an amplified response of summer LSWT to SAT variability using 20 years of satellite-derived temperatures from 144 lakes. We demonstrate that the degree of amplification in inter-annual summer LSWT is variable, and is greater for cold lakes (e.g. high latitude and high altitude), which are characterised by a short warming season, and deep lakes, that exhibit long correlation timescales of temperature anomalies due to increased thermal inertia. Such lakes are more likely to display responses in excess of local inter-annual summer SAT variability. Climatic modification of LSWT has numerous consequences for water quality and lake ecosystems, so quantifying this amplified response at a global scale is important

Emergence of linguistic laws in human voice

Submitted for publicationSubmitted for publicatio

A New Computational Tool for the Phenomenological Analysis of Multipassage Tumor Growth Curves

Multipassage experiments are performed by subcutaneous implantation in lab animals (usually mice) of a small number of cells from selected human lines. Tumor cells are then passaged from one mouse to another by harvesting them from a growing tumor and implanting them into other healthy animals. This procedure may be extremely useful to investigate the various mechanisms involved in the long term evolution of tumoral growth. It has been observed by several researchers that, contrary to what happens in in vitro experiments, there is a significant growth acceleration at each new passage. This result is explained by a new method of analysis, based on the Phenomenological Universalities approach. It is found that, by means of a simple rescaling of time, it is possible to collapse all the growth curves, corresponding to the successive passages, into a single curve, belonging to the Universality Class U2. Possible applications are proposed and the need of further experimental evidence is discussed

Sizing Up Allometric Scaling Theory

Metabolic rate, heart rate, lifespan, and many other physiological properties vary with body mass in systematic and interrelated ways. Present empirical data suggest that these scaling relationships take the form of power laws with exponents that are simple multiples of one quarter. A compelling explanation of this observation was put forward a decade ago by West, Brown, and Enquist (WBE). Their framework elucidates the link between metabolic rate and body mass by focusing on the dynamics and structure of resource distribution networks—the cardiovascular system in the case of mammals. Within this framework the WBE model is based on eight assumptions from which it derives the well-known observed scaling exponent of 3/4. In this paper we clarify that this result only holds in the limit of infinite network size (body mass) and that the actual exponent predicted by the model depends on the sizes of the organisms being studied. Failure to clarify and to explore the nature of this approximation has led to debates about the WBE model that were at cross purposes. We compute analytical expressions for the finite-size corrections to the 3/4 exponent, resulting in a spectrum of scaling exponents as a function of absolute network size. When accounting for these corrections over a size range spanning the eight orders of magnitude observed in mammals, the WBE model predicts a scaling exponent of 0.81, seemingly at odds with data. We then proceed to study the sensitivity of the scaling exponent with respect to variations in several assumptions that underlie the WBE model, always in the context of finite-size corrections. Here too, the trends we derive from the model seem at odds with trends detectable in empirical data. Our work illustrates the utility of the WBE framework in reasoning about allometric scaling, while at the same time suggesting that the current canonical model may need amendments to bring its predictions fully in line with available datasets