Sexual size dimorphism is a conspicuous trait of many wild bird species. Differences in body size between the sexes might reflect selective pressures and trade-offs to optimize performance. Here, we analyze the size dimorphism of the Galápagos Dove (Zenaida galapagoensis) using principal component and discriminant analyses with samples obtained from six islands: Santiago, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, ...

The objectives of this study were to (1) describe the host range for 6 tetraphyllidean species and quantify their host specificity using 5 specificity indices; (2) determine the role of morphological determinants in the host specificity of tetraphyllideans by comparing villar and bothridial measurements of species examined herein; and (3) determine the role of a physiological component in the h...

Traditionally, the clinical diagnosis of a respiratory disease is made from a careful clinical examination including chest auscultation. Objective analysis and automatic interpretation of the lung sound based on its physical characters are strongly warranted to assist clinical practice. In this paper, a new method is proposed to distinguish between the normal and the abnormal subjects using the...

A two-band (B and V) wide–field imaging survey of a complete, all–sky X–ray selected sample of 78 clusters in the redshift range z=0.04–0.07 is presented. The aim of this survey is to provide the astronomical community with a complete set of homogeneous, CCD–based surface photometry and morphological data of nearby cluster galaxies located within 1.5 Mpc from the cluster center. The data collec...

Fine-scale population estimation is essential in emergency response and epidemiological applications as well as urban planning and management. However, representing populations in heterogeneous urban regions with a finer resolution is a challenge. This study aims to obtain fine-scale population distribution based on 3D reconstruction of urban residential buildings with morphological operations ...

The king oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) is one of the most popular mushrooms in Asia, Europe and North America. Its growth is influenced by environmental conditions, particularly air temperature and humidity. Using traditional methods of cultivation in plastic greenhouses, P. eryngii can be grown only in spring and autumn. However, mass cultivation using modern commercial methods is unrest...

OBJECTIVE To measure morphological indices and wall shear stress (WSS) of aneurysms and parent artery surface in order to explore the relationship of morphological characteristics and WSS. METHODS Data from 47 events of consecutive cerebral saccular aneurysms from 39 patients which were referred to the interventional Neuroradiology service of the Shaoxing People`s Hospital, Shaoxing, China be...

The prospect of finding macroevolutionary trends and rules in the history of life is tremendously appealing, but very few pervasive trends have been found. Here, we demonstrate a parallel increase in the morphological complexity of most of the deep lineages within a major clade. We focus on the Crustacea, measuring the morphological differentiation of limbs. First, we show a clear trend of incr...

In an effort to link quantitative morphometric information with molecular data on the population level, we have analysed 19 populations of the conchologically variable land snail Candidula unifasciata from across the species range for variation in quantitative shell traits and at the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal (r)DNA locus. In genetic analysis, including 21 additional populations, we observed ...

Animal genitalia show two striking but incompletely understood evolutionary trends: a great evolutionary divergence in the shape of genitalic structures, and characteristic structural complexity. Both features are thought to result from sexual selection, but explicit comparative tests are hampered by the fact that it is difficult to quantify both morphological complexity and divergence in shape...