Softshell turtles (Trionychidae) display characteristic pits and ridges, or “sculpturing,” on the bony carapace. Variation in sculpturing pattern may be useful in classifying fossilized shell ...fragments. Although past attempts could discern qualitative differences in certain best‐case scenarios, many early taxonomic uses of sculpturing traits have been reevaluated as unreliable in the face of intraspecific variation. The potential of sculpturing to contain consistently reliable, quantitative, taxonomically informative traits remains underexplored. Here, we revisit this idea by quantifying trionychid shell patterning with topographic measurement techniques more commonly applied to nonhomologous quantification of mammalian teeth and geographic surface topography. We assess potential sources of variation and accuracy of these metrics for species identification. Carapaces of extant specimens used in this study included members of the species Apalone ferox, Apalone spinifera, and Amyda cartilaginea and were obtained from the herpetology collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 3D scans of shells were systematically sampled to create digital “fragments.” These fragments were quantified using three topographic measurements: Dirichlet Normal Energy (DNE), Relief Index (RFI), and Orientation Patch Count Rotated (OPCR). A nested MANOVA suggests there is significant variation at the species, individual, and carapace location levels of analysis. Linear discriminant analysis correctly predicts a sample's species identity from DNE, RFI, and OPCR 75.2% of the time. These promising results indicate that topographic measures may provide a method for identifying shell fragments that are currently identifiable only as Trionychidae indet. Future work should explore this approach in additional species and account for ontogenetic changes.
Milka D Madhale,1 Sanjay Shinde,2 Sharon V Londhe3 1Department of Nursing, College of Health and Medical Science, Arsi University, Asella, Ethiopia; 2Faculty of Health and Allied Sciences, KAAF ...University College, Accra, Ghana; 3Junior Research Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, IndiaCorrespondence: Milka D Madhale, Department of Nursing, College of Health and Medical Science, Arsi University, Asella, Ethiopia, Email milkam1770@gmail.com
Birosettes Are Model Flexors Gor’kavyi, V. A.; Milka, A. D.
Ukrainian mathematical journal,
12/2018, Letnik:
70, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A new family of polyhedra called birosettes is presented. The geometric features of birosettes are analyzed. The model flexibility of birosettes is explained.
This paper is a revised and an extended version of the article A.D. Milka, Linear bending of star-like pyramids, Comptes Rendus Mecanique 331 (12) (2003) 805–810. A family of polyhedra possessing ...unusual deformation properties is found. On one hand, models of these polyhedra admit free continuous large reversible bendings without visible distortions of the material. On the other hand, the polyhedra themselves are mathematically rigid and do not admit continuous bendings in the sense of O. Cauchy. The found polyhedra are called model flexors in order to distinguish them from theoretical flexors of R. Connelly. Bendings of the models are asymptotically exactly approximated by linear bendings of polyhedra. They represent a non-rigid, soft or retarded, loss of stability which corresponds to the loss of stability “in the small” in the sense of L. Euler. This new phenomenon in mechanics of deformable solid bodies may be considered as an original geometric catastrophe machine which supplements known physical models by E.C. Ziman and T. Poston.
Introduction: Diabetic foot ulcer is a major source of morbidity and a leading cause of hospitalization. It is estimated that approximately 20% of hospital admissions among patients with diabetes ...mellitus are due to diabetic foot ulcer. It can lead to infection, gangrene, amputation, and even death if appropriate care is not provided. Overall, the lower limb amputation in diabetic patients is 15 times higher than in non-diabetics. In the majority of cases, the cause for the foot ulcer is the altered architecture of the foot due to neuropathy resulting in abnormal pressure points on the soles. Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop low cost, lightweight foot pressure scanner and check its reliability and validity which can help to prevent foot ulceration. Design/Methodology/Approach: In the present study, a low cost, lightweight foot pressure scanner is developed, and dynamic plantar pressures in a group of 110 Indian patients with diabetes with or without neuropathy and foot ulcers are measured. Practical Implications: If these pressure points can be detected, ulcers can be prevented by providing offloading footwear. Originality/Value: Differences are found in dynamic foot pressures in different study groups, namely, diabetic patients, patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy, patients with foot ulcers, and nondiabetics. The differences are significant (P < 0.01), which showed the validity of the tool. Reliability and consistency of the tool was checked by test-retest method. Paper Type: Original Research work. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it is concluded that the scanner is successfully developed and it can measure foot pressures. It is a novel device to proactively monitor foot health in diabetics in an effort to prevent and reduce diabetic foot complications.
Unidentified Egyptian geometry Milka, Anatoliy D.
European journal of combinatorics,
05/2010, Letnik:
31, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The theorems that we will discuss are well-known in mathematics. They are related to the foundations of geometry, to geometry “in the large” and to the history of geometry. Namely, we are dealing ...with three beautiful ancient theorems whose authors are Archimedes (the theorem on the dropping of a stone), Euclid and an Egyptian writer, Ahmes (problems from Egyptian papyruses). It seems astonishing that the aforementioned theorem of Euclid went unnoticed as a generalization of the fundamental uniqueness theorems of A. Cauchy and H. Minkowski concerning convex closed polyhedra. The three theorems discussed are absolutely flawless, but their theoretical and historical interpretations are still rather inadequate. In our opinion, these theorems belong to the ancient civilizations of Babylon, Egypt and Sumer which were superior to our modern civilization in numerous aspects. This opinion will be supported by generalizations, proofs and a precise reconstruction of ancient theorems.
Final grain dry weight, a component of yield in wheat, is dependent on the duration and the rate of grain filling. The purpose of the study was to compare the grain filling patterns between common ...wheat, (Triticum aestivum L.), and durum wheat, (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum), and investigate relationships among grain filling parameters, yield components and the yield itself. The most important variables in differentiating among grain filling curves were final grain dry weight (W) for common wheat genotypes and grain filling rate (R) for durum wheat genotypes; however, in all cases the sets of variables important in differentiating among grain filling curves were extended to either two or all three parameters. Furthermore, in one out of three environmental conditions and for both groups of genotypes, the most important parameter in the set was grain filling duration (T). It indicates significant impact of environmental conditions on dry matter accumulation and the mutual effect of grain filling duration and its rate on the final grain dry weight. The medium early anthesis date could be associated with further grain weight and yield improvements in wheat. Grain filling of earlier genotypes occurs in more temperate environments, which provides enough time for gradual grain fill and avoids the extremes of temperature and the stress of dry conditions.
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