| Topic: |
Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" |
| Date: |
13 Apr 2004 01:14:51 PM |
| Object: |
PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
Sci Tech
Patterns in fingerprints, cacti predicted
The forces imposed during ridge formation
influence the way a pattern is formed, regardless
whether it is a fingerprint or a plant.
By Our Bureau
The Hindu
Thursday, April 8, 2004
The growing layer in plants buckles inward toward the
softer inner layer of tissue. Ridges are formed on the
surface as a result.
IN MANY cases, little is understood about how and why
patterns form though in nature they can be seen everyday.
Now a way to predict natural patterns, including
fingerprints and spirals seen in cacti has been found by
mathematicians.
A mathematical model that can reproduce fingerprint
patterns, has been developed by University of Arizona
graduate student Michael Kuecken, while UA graduate
student Patrick Shipman created a mathematical model to
explain the arrangement of repeated units in various
plants. Shipman's report on his work appears in the
journal Physical Review Letters.
Human skin has multiple layers, including the outermost
epidermis and the inner dermis. Separating the outer and
inner layers is the basal layer, which is composed of
constantly dividing cells. In a similar fashion in plants
growth occurs as plants have areas of continuous growth
such as the tip of a cactus, that allow the plant to grow
larger.
Because basal skin grows faster than surface skin, which
then buckles, forming ridges, human fingerprint patterns
are created.
The basal layer in human skin and the equivalent layer in
plant skin grow at a faster rate than either the surface
layers or the thick dermis layer. Pressure increases as
the basal layer continues to grow. The growing layer in
both plants and fingertips, buckles inward toward the
softer inner layer of tissue, relieving the stress.
Ridges are formed on the surface as a result.
Basal skin grows faster than surface skin, which then
buckles, forming ridges and human fingerprint patterns
are created.
Fingerprints and various patterns in plants, from the
ridges in saguaro cacti to the hexagons in pineapples are
formed by the undulations. The forces imposed during
ridge formation influence the way a pattern is formed,
regardless whether it is a fingerprint or a plant. The
basic properties responsible for the mechanism of
buckling in plants and fingerprints happen in other
materials as well. Kuecken and Shipman's graduate
advisor, UA professor of mathematics Alan Newell, said,
"In material science, high-temperature superconductors
seem to be connected with stresses that compress to build
the structures in various high-temperature materials.
Indeed, the idea that buckling and surface stresses would
have something to do with the patterns you see in plants
is fairly recent."
Kuecken developed a mathematical model that can reproduce
fingerprint patterns, like this one.
Discrete elevations of the skin on the fingertips, called
volar pads, which first appear in human embryos at about
six and a half weeks influence ridge formation. The volar
pads are located where the epidermal ridges for
fingerprints will arise later in development.
As the volar pads shrink, stress is placed on the skin
layers, Kuecken explained. The ridges are then formed
perpendicular to this stress. In response to the
different directions of stress caused by shrinking of the
volar pads three basic patterns of fingerprints known as
arches, loops and whorls are formed.
If a person has a high, rounded volar pad, they will end
up with a whorl pattern, other research on ridge
formation has already shown. Reproduction of these large
patterns, as well as the little intricacies that make an
individual fingerprint unique was enabled by Kuecken's
mathematical model.
Stresses that influenced ridge formation were taken into
account by Shipman's model, like Kuecken's. Forces acting
in multiple directions result in complex patterns in
plants. When buckling occurs in three different
directions, all three ridges will appear together and
form a hexagonal pattern, for example.
When a line is drawn from sticker to sticker on a cactus
in a clockwise or in a counter-clockwise direction, the
line ends up spiralling around the plant.
This occurs in many plants, including pineapples and
cauliflower. When these spirals are counted, it results
in numbers that belong to the Fibonacci sequence, a
series of numbers that appears frequently when scientists
and mathematicians analyze natural patterns. Shipman
found that cactus stickers predictably align in spiral
patterns.
From his model, Shipman found that the initial curvature
of a plant near its growth tip influences whether it will
form ridges or hexagons.
He found that plants with a flat top, or less curved top,
such as saguaro cacti, will always form ridges and tend
not to have Fibonacci sequences. Plants that have a high
degree of curvature will produce hexagonal
configurations, such as those in pinecones, and the
number of spirals will always be numbers in the Fibonacci
sequence.
More at:
http://www.hindu.com/seta/2004/04/08/stories/2004040800071800.htm
Jai Maharaj
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| User: "Uncle Al" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
13 Apr 2004 01:38:09 PM |
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"Dr. Jai Maharaj" wrote:
Sci Tech
Patterns in fingerprints, cacti predicted
[snip]
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Troll FAQ for Jai Maharaj (Hindi for "cracked athletic cup")
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/effete6.jpg
By Our Bureau
The Hindu
Thursday, April 8, 2004
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets. No lines. Draw your own conclusions (and watch where you
step).
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/eotvos.htm
(Do something naughty to physics)
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| User: "harmony" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
14 Apr 2004 06:00:51 PM |
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"Uncle Al" <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> wrote in message
news:407C3391.BE1EA37E@hate.spam.net...
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" wrote:
Sci Tech
Patterns in fingerprints, cacti predicted
[snip]
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Troll FAQ for Jai Maharaj (Hindi for "cracked athletic cup")
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/effete6.jpg
By Our Bureau
The Hindu
Thursday, April 8, 2004
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets. No lines. Draw your own conclusions (and watch where you
step).
isn't that a challenging science project for your einsteiness to solve?
you can do it, uncle al, just give it a try.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/eotvos.htm
(Do something naughty to physics)
.
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| User: "Richard Herring" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
15 Apr 2004 09:02:30 AM |
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In message <407C3391.BE1EA37E@hate.spam.net>, Uncle Al
<UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> writes
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant...
http://www.censusindia.net
--
Richard Herring
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| User: "Uncle Al" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
15 Apr 2004 10:03:39 AM |
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Richard Herring wrote:
In message <407C3391.BE1EA37E@hate.spam.net>, Uncle Al
<UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> writes
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant...
http://www.censusindia.net
http://www.censusindia.net/2001housing/S00-017.html
No latrine:
122,078,136 households
63.6% of all households
Closed drainage
23,925,761
12.5% of all households
1.1 billion East Indians nominal, therefore at least 87.5% or
962,500,000 East Indians directly discharge their feces into the
streets (when there are streets) each day. Conservatively assigning
one pound of feces/person-day (cholera and rampant diarrhea will
spiral that upwards) gives a total annual shitstorm of 1.6x10^11
kilograms of human ***** covering India each year. Add cows shitting
in the streets and pray for a bountiful monsoon to flush it all....
well, not away but perhaps downstream.
BTW, 400 million Eat Indian cows and buffloes drop meadow patties each
day. One sixth of the world's cows and one half of the world's
buffaloes live in India. Say two kilos/bovine-day *****
conservatively. Now the total shitstorm is 4.5x10^11 kilograms of raw
***** covering India each year. How much ***** is that? Look up the
*habitable* area of India and divide. On the average, there isn't any
place you can scrape your shoe.
Hindus have 300 million gods (30 crores of gods). Each god is then
apportioned 1.5 metric tonnes of *****/year. If religion were worth
anything at all, one would expect at least one of those omnisicent,
omnipresent, omnibenevolent deities would have divine shut of it.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
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| User: "Richard Herring" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
15 Apr 2004 11:08:39 AM |
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In message <407EA44B.96135857@hate.spam.net>, Uncle Al
<UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> writes
Richard Herring wrote:
In message <407C3391.BE1EA37E@hate.spam.net>, Uncle Al
<UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> writes
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good rant...
http://www.censusindia.net
http://www.censusindia.net/2001housing/S00-017.html
No latrine:
122,078,136 households
63.6% of all households
Water closet
34,598,446 households
More than "1 million (with an "m")" by a factor of 35.
Closed drainage
23,925,761
12.5% of all households
More than "1 million (with an "m")" by a factor of 24.
Multiply by the number per household: those who can afford one can
probably afford more than one.
And you haven't even begun to count all the non-"household" buildings
(factories, hotels, offices etc.)
So much for your "1 million (with an "m")" .
--
Richard Herring
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| User: "bobber" |
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| Title: Re: PATTERNS IN FINGERPRINTS, CACTI PREDICTED |
14 Apr 2004 01:39:49 AM |
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Uncle *****, yo trailer has flush too?
Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> wrote in message news:<407C3391.BE1EA37E@hate.spam.net>...
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" wrote:
Sci Tech
Patterns in fingerprints, cacti predicted
[snip]
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Troll FAQ for Jai Maharaj (Hindi for "cracked athletic cup")
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/effete6.jpg
By Our Bureau
The Hindu
Thursday, April 8, 2004
1.1 billion (with a "b") East Indians, 1 million (with an "m") flush
toilets. No lines. Draw your own conclusions (and watch where you
step).
.
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