Convergent evolution is characterized by the independent evolution of similar phenotypes within similar selective environments. Previous work on Trinidadian killifish, Rivulus hartii, demonstrated repeatable life-history differences across communities that differ in predation intensity. These studies were performed in rivers located on the south slope of Trinidad's Northern Range Mountains. The...

The orienteering route choice problem involves finding the fastest route between two given points, with running speed determined by various properties of the terrain. In this study we consider only the effect of climbing or descent on running speed. If a runner’s pace p (the reciprocal of running speed) varies linearly with gradient m, the straight-line route is always fastest. This may be a re...

Landslides that occur near residential regions are most commonly a result of shallow slope failure, which takes place as consequence heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, causing loss to human life and property. In this study, characteristics volumetric water content (VWC) gradient were analyzed predict failure was reproduced based on flume experiments performed at various conditions. The V...

Abstract This paper presents a quantitative account of vegetation–environmental factor relationships in arid rangelands. Vegetation cover was recorded using Braun-Blanquet combined abundance-cover scale in each quadrat. Within each quadrat, one profile was dug and soil samples being taken at 0-20cm and 20-100cm depths. Under study physical-chemical characteristics included texture, lime, orga...

this study aims to investigate and optimize the effects of the main parameters including the particle size, gravity and magnetic separation combination, high gradient magnetic separation, magnetic field intensity, shaking table slope, washing water flow, and electrostatic separation upon the rare earth element (ree) recoveries from iron mine waste. the electron microprobe showed that high amoun...

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing number of studies attempting to model population growth in various organisms, we still know relatively little about the population dynamics of long-lived species that reproduce only in the later stages of their life cycle, such as trees. Predictions of the dynamics of these species are, however, urgently needed for planning management actions when species are e...

Biologists have long searched for mechanisms responsible for the increase in species richness with decreasing latitude. The strong correlation between species richness and climate is frequently interpreted as reflecting a causal link via processes linked to energy or evolutionary rates. Here, we investigate how the aggregation of clades, as dictated by phylogeny, can give rise to significant cl...

We performed a behavioral experiment to demonstrate the effect of spectral slope on the perception of speaker size, and we developed an auditory model based on the dynamic compressive gammachirp filterbank (dcGC-FB) to explain the results. STRAIGHT was used to generate “unvoiced” and “whispered” versions of naturally recorded words; the only difference was that the spectral slope of the whisper...