Elucidating the ultimate and proximate mechanisms of melanistic color pattern formation has become an important focus of evolutionary biology. There are relatively few studies, however, examining the composition and architecture of pigment cells in melanistic reptiles. The typical color pattern of the skink Plestiodon latiscutatus, which inhabits the Izu Islands and Izu Peninsula of Japan, consist

The avian genus Calandrella (larks) was recently suggested to be non-monophyletic, and was divided into two genera, of which Calandrella sensu stricto comprises 4–5 species in Eurasia and Africa. We analysed mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) and nuclear Restriction-site Associated DNA (RAD) sequences from all species, and for cytb we studied 21 of the 22 recognised subspecies, with the aim to clar

After mating, spermatophores of signal crayfish are stored on the body of the female for a period before fertilization. This study compared the post-mating protein profile and pattern of protein tyrosine phosphorylation of the signal crayfish spermatophore to that of the freshly ejaculated spermatophore and found substantial differences. Two major bands of tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins of molec

1. The biogenic amines dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), octopamine (OA), serotonin (5-HT) and the amino acid dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) have been identified and quantitatively measured in the crayfish nervous system and in haemolymph employing high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).2. The substances occurred in the nervous system in amounts ranging between 0.1 and 0.7 μg/g w/w.3. The h

Electron microscopy of normal human epidermiscomprising very large series of sections in combination withtilting of the sections has revealed that all "indeterminatecells" carry the specific markers of either melanocytes orLangerhans cells. The term "indeterminate cells" can thusbe abandoned. In addition, it is suggested that an epidermaldendritic cell lacking specific markers in the section under

When the Langerhans cells (LC) are prepared forelectron microscopy with an osmotically balanced prefixative,they display their classical criteria, but in additionthey are provided with numerous microvilli and containpinocytotic vesicles. In cross-sections the specific discshapedgranules are visualized as rod-like profiles limited bya trilaminar membrane similar to the cell membrane. Inface-on proj

The basement membrane of the compound eye of four insect species and three crustacean species was investigated employing electron microscopy. The basement membrane consists of an extracellular (basal lamina) and a cellular portion, the latter being composed of the flattened terminal extensions of cone cells and accessory pigment cells in insects and distal pigment cells in crustaceans. Other cells

The amphipod species Haploops tubicola has an unusual compound eye that is divided into three separate parts, each with one common cuticular lens. The dorso-frontal eyepair has, in addition to the lens, a so-called vitreous body, which is constructed like a dioptric lens and is inserted in the ray-path. The ‘vitreous body’ is actually — and for which evidence is presented — a secretory product for

The ultrastructure of the compound eyes of 13 amphipod species has been investigated. An amphipod type of compound eye can be characterized by the constellation and consistency of a number of morphological features, most of which are also found in other compound eyes. The amphipod eye falls into four sub-categories (types). The ampeliscid type has a tripartite aberrant lens eye; the lysianassid ty

1. The depletion and uptake of exogenous catecholamines into the central nervous system of crustaceans were investigated by the Falck & Hillarp histochemical fluorescence method. 2. Depletion experiments with reserpine showed an almost complete disappearance of the fluorescence in the optic ganglia and the brain. 3. Some monoaminergic fibres in the photocerebrum and medulla terminals appeare

Automatic detection of five language components, which are all relevant for expressing opinions and for stance taking, was studied: positive sentiment, negative sentiment, speculation, contrast and condition. A resource-aware approach was taken, which included manual annotation of 500 training samples and the use of limited lexical resources. Active learning was compared to random selection of tra

Topic-independent expressions for conveying agreement and disagreement were annotated in a corpus of web forum debates, in order to evaluate a classifier trained to detect these two categories. Among the 175 expressions annotated in the evaluation set, 163 were unique, which shows that there is large variation in expressions used. This variation might be one of the reasons why the task of automati

Buildings are one of the largest consumers of energy and materials, and hence they are also one of the largest contributors to negative environmental impacts. Traditionally, energy consumed by buildings during their operation phase was the most significant in their lifecycles and far exceeded the embodied energy. However, in contemporary low-energy buildings, the embodied energy is proportionally

To evaluate the explanation of change blindness in terms of misrepresentation and determine its role for David Rosenthal’s higher-order thought theory of consciousness, we present an alternative account of change blindness that affords an independent outlook and provides a viable alternative. First we describe Rosenthal’s actualism and the notion of misrepresentation, then introduce change blindne

Background: The macroscopic appearance of the normal squamocolumnar junction (SCJ) is often described as serrated with short projections of columnar mucosa that extend into the esophagus. As studies of the normal SCJ are sparse, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the normal SCJ is even and that irregularities are manifestations of acid reflux. Method: Fifty asymptomatic subjects