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\"Poodling is a vernacular approach to pruning shrubbery: a negotiation between gardener and shrub that pits human aesthetic intention against the genetic forces that guide the plant's natural development. Topiary shears shrubs into a singular form geometric or figur e; poodling, in contrast, treats each branch individually and shapes its leaves or needles into the forms that remain at their ends. In this informed, if light-hearted, telling of the story, noted landscape historian Marc Treib traces the evolution and characteristics of topiary, espalier, and other forms of plant guidance such as poodling, proposing that what began as functional horticultural practices was transformed into a vehicle for artistic expression. Poodling catalogs the forms of pruning we encounter today and their probable origin in Japan during the eighteenth century. Noting the parallels, he compares the forms of poodling (vegetal) with those of the canine species poodle (animal), and the manne rs by which the dog's hair has been clipped. Richly illustrated with photographs by the author taken in many countries over three decades, this is an informative book that everyone can enjoy.\"--Publisher's website.

To answer the most important questions of our age, we must understand size. Neither bacteria nor empires are immune to its laws. Measuring it is challenging, especially where complex systems like economies are concerned, yet mastering it offers rich rewards: the rise of the West, for example, was a direct result of ever more accurate and standardized measurements. Using the interdisciplinary approach that has won him a wide readership, Smil draws upon history, earth science, psychology, art, and more to offer fresh insight into some of our biggest challenges, including income inequality, the spread of infectious disease, and the uneven impacts of climate change. Size explains the regularities--and peculiarities--of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages). We also learn the rules governing beauty, why a biosphere needs diversity, why bigger animals need proportionately less food, and why people in hotter climates have longer legs.

Body size acts as a proxy for many fitness-related traits. Body size is also subject to directional selection from various anthropogenic stressors such as increasing water temperature, decreasing dissolved oxygen, fisheries, as well as natural predators. Changes in individual body size correlate with changes in fecundity, behaviour, and survival and can propagate through populations and ecosystems by truncating age and size structures and changing predator–prey dynamics. In this review, we will explore the causes and consequences of changing body size in fish in the light of recent literature and relevant theories. We will investigate the central role of body size in ecology by first discussing the main selective agents that influence body size: fishing, increasing water temperature, decreasing dissolved oxygen, and predation. We will then explore the impacts of these changes at the individual, population, and ecosystem levels. Considering the relatively high heritability of body size, we will discuss how a change in body size can leave a genetic signature in the population and translate to a change in the evolutionary potential of the species.

\"Are YOU small? This tiny question allows readers to zoom in from an average-sized kid down to a single quark\"-- Provided by publisher.

Atmospheric dry and wet deposition of particulate matter controls its lifetime in air and contributes to the environmental burden of toxic pollutants, and thus has important implications on human and ecosystem health. This synthesis review focused on atmospheric wet deposition of particulate elements and analyzed their scavenging ratios (i.e. concentration in precipitation to that in ambient air), solubility and wet deposition flux measurements based on published studies in literature, aiming to gather updated knowledge that can be used for modeling their wet deposition. Our analysis finds that scavenging ratios of a specific element have a narrow range. Overall, elemental scavenging ratios for snow are ~3 times higher than those for rain. Elements that are bound to coarse (PM2.5-10) particles have larger scavenging ratios than those bound to fine (PM2.5) particles except for Fe and Si. Solubility of elements in rainwater range from 8% (Fe) to 94% (Ca). Solubility is moderately correlated with scavenging ratio possibly explaining the lower scavenging ratios of Fe and Si compared to other elements with similar fine fraction. Data collected from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia show that the wet fluxes of Al and Fe are orders of magnitude greater than those of routinely-monitored anthropogenic elements (Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, Cr). Wet deposition fluxes of particulate elements in the Middle East exceed those in other regions, likely due to regional transport of dust and soil resuspension. Fluxes from all regions are a factor of 2-3 greater in industrialized and urban locations than rural and remote locations because of industrial, vehicular and soil and mineral dust emissions. Dry deposition fluxes are usually greater than wet deposition fluxes although to varying degrees according to co-located measurements. Based on the relationships between scavenging ratio and elemental PM2.5 fraction under rain and snow conditions, we derived regression equations for estimating scavenging ratios of particulate elements whose measurements are limited. Such knowledge and data improves the quantification of atmospheric deposition fluxes for an expanded list of metals and metalloids and the understanding of pathways contributing to ecological risk.

Some days Toby feels big, like when he pours his own milk. But other days, he feels little, like when he spills it ...

This work aimed to examine whether the spatial representations of actions depend on the spatial features of the body components involved in those actions. I proposed that this is possible, but only when the responses cannot be spatially coded based on the spatial features of the actions' goal. I presented participants with large and small objects and instructed them to respond with either their palm-hand or index-digit based on the colour of the objects. Palm-hand or index-digit responses represented large and small responses, respectively, considering the size of the effector part used. The collected data confirmed this hypothesis. I found a size-based Simon effect, indicating that participants code the size of their responses based on the relative size of the body part used for responding (i.e., palm-hand vs. index-digit). This finding therefore suggests that the size-based Simon effect could serve as a valuable tool for implicitly assessing the metrics of body representation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Description of the subject. This paper discusses the influence of amplicon length on real-time PCR results.Objectives. The aim of the experiments was to show that amplicon size has an influence on detection.Method. Tests were performed on genomic and plasmid DNA. Double-dye probes and SYBR® Green were used for detection by real-time PCR. Primers were selected in order to produce fragments with increasing sizes. Experiments dealt with two targets: an endogenous target for soybean (part of the lectin gene) and a transgenic target (junction P35S-CTP of the MON40-3-2 soybean).Results. The results show that the kinetics of amplification curves evolve as a function of amplicon length, and smaller amplicons yield a higher level of fluorescence for the plateau phase. DNA degradation within the sample as well as the principles of fluorescence acquisition as a function of the chemistry used can also be factors. Conclusions. It was experimentally shown that the observed effect is linked to the suboptimal elongation temperature used in real-time PCR. Detection using SYBR® Green is less impacted as the loss of efficiency is partially compensated by the greater integration of SYBR® Green molecules in the larger fragments. Influence de la taille de l’amplicon sur les résultats obtenus par PCR en temps réelDescription du sujet. Cet article traite de l’influence de la taille de l’amplicon sur les résultats obtenus par PCR en temps réel.Objectifs. Le but des expériences menées vise à montrer que la taille de la région ciblée a une influence sur la détection.Méthode. Les expériences ont été réalisées sur de l’ADN génomique et plasmidique. Les techniques d’amplification par PCR en temps réel ont été effectuées soit au moyen de sondes d’hybridation ou de SYBR® Green. Des amorces ont été sélectionnées de manière à produire des fragments de tailles croissantes. Les expériences ont été réalisées sur deux cibles : une cible endogène au soja (portion du gène de la lectine) et une cible transgénique (jonction P35S-CTP de la construction du soja MON40-3-2).Résultats. Les résultats ont montré que la cinétique d’amplification évolue en fonction de la taille de l’amplicon et que les plus petits amplicons atteignent un plus haut niveau de fluorescence en phase plateau. L’utilisation d’un ADN dégradé ainsi que la chimie utilisée ont un impact sur les résultats.Conclusions. Il a été démontré expérimentalement que l’effet observé est lié à la température d’élongation suboptimale utilisée en PCR en temps réel. Le format de PCR utilisant le SYBR® Green est cependant moins impacté car la perte d’efficience est partiellement compensée par l’intégration d’un nombre de molécules de SYBR® Green plus important dans les plus grands fragments.

Not since Edward Wood's Giants and Dwarfs published in 1868 has the subject been the focus of a scholarly study in English. Treating the topic afresh, this volume offers new insights into the vogue for giants and dwarfs that flourished in late-medieval and early modern Europe. From chapters dealing with the real dwarfs and giants in the royal and princely courts, to the imaginary giants and dwarfs that figured in the crafting of nationalistic and ancestral traditions, to giants and dwarfs used as metaphorical expression, scholars discuss their role in art, literature, and ephemeral display. Some essays examine giants and dwarfs as monsters and marvels and collectibles, while others show artists and writers emphasizing contrasts in scale to inspire awe or for comic effect. As these investigations reveal, not all court dwarfs functioned as jesters, and giant figures might equally be used to represent heroes, anti-heroes, and even a saint.