BIOLOGICAL SHAPE ANALYSIS (ISBSA)

This volume represents an ongoing series entitled Biological Shape Analysis, of which this is the 4th Edition. These proceedings represent state-of-the-art research in the field of biology, broadly-based, that deal with the quantitative analysis of the shape of the biological form. These numerical analyses include Fourier analytic methods, wavelets, neural networks, machine vision, machine learning, median axis transforms, spectral clustering, genome-wide association studies, 3D surface mapping, as well as more traditional morphometric approaches. Studies included are drawn from research in agricultural genetics, anatomy, anthropology, botany, dentistry, entomology, forensics, human evolution, paleontology, primatology, to name a few.

The shape of forms can be considered of central importance in terms of identification, comparison, and classification of biological organisms. These proceedings, of which this is the fourth one, are unique in that they deal extensively with a wide range of organisms in biology, including both fauna and flora. They bring together diverse practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines. This represents a major departure from the current emphasis on specialization in the biological sciences. It is of particular importance to note that these issues dealing with shape analysis of biological structures are found to be common across very diverse disciplines and these proceedings are the first ones to highlight this.

There are no volumes currently available that are as broadly-based as these proceedings in dealing with the quantification of shape analysis. (1) These volumes are unique in their diversity in covering the biological disciplines; (2) The emphasis on numerical approaches; and (3) the numerous state-of-the-art research papers.

• Toward a Science of Form: From Shape Measurement to Representation of Underlying Biological Processes (Dwight W Read)
• Leaf-Based Automated Species Classification Using Image Processing and Neural Networks (Jonathan Y Clark, David P A Corney and Paul Wilkin)
• Shape Analysis of Plant Leaves Using Complex Networks for Species Identification (Dalcimar Casanova, Nübia Rosa Da Silva, Douglas Farias Cordeirod, Rosana Marta Kolb and Odemir Martinez Bruno)
• A Novel Exploratory Shape Analysis Method to Identify Spatial Variation of Fungi Infection Level on Wheat Kernels (Chyngyz Erkinbaev, Jason Morrison and Jitendra Paliwal)
• Preliminary Studies of Acoustic Discrimination between an Endangered Cicadinae Species, Platypleura albivannata, and a Closely Related Species Platypleura yayeyamana (Haruki Tatsuta, Ryo Yokokura and Takeshi Sasaki)
• Quantitative Genetic and Environmental Mapping and Visual Exploration for Leaf Shape Variation (Xiotian Dai, Jürgen Symanzik, Abbass Sharif and Guifang Fu)
• A Contour- and Skeleton-Based Analysis of Biological Shapes (Guiliani Donatella)
• On the Use of Machine Learning in Morphometric Analysis (Norman Macleod)
• From Elliptical Fourier Functions to Wavelets: Three Decades of Boundary Morphometrics (Pete E Lestrel)
• From an Elliptical Fourier Representation of a Shape Boundary to a Curvature Representation with Applications Using the Cranial Outline from Archaic Homo Species (Dwight W Read and Michael L Merrill)
• A Phenotypically Driven Segmentation for 3-D Facial Morphology: Modularity of 3D Faces Through Spectral Clustering (Dzemila Sero, Mark Shriver, Dirk Vandermeulen and Peter Claes)
• Representation of the Mandible and Maxilla in 3-Space: Clinical Applications (Reena Khullar, Pete E Lestrel, Won Moon and Charles A Wolfe)
• Quantification of the 3-D Outline of the Maxilla, Cranial Base, and Orbital-Zygomatic Using Computed Tomography and Elliptical Fourier Functions (Thais M Soares, Pete E Lestrel Won Moon, Reena Khullar, Charles A Wolfe and Jay H Sung)
• The Quantitative Assessment of the Korean Adult Skull in 3-D: A Pilot Study (Peter Lee, Boris Gutman, Ryan McComb, Jay Sung and Won Moon)
• Landmark-Free Three-Dimensional Quantification of Morphological Variation and Shape Change in the Mouse Mandible: Methodological Development and Application (Chuck Carlson, Boris Gutman, Sotirios Tetradis, Aldonis J Lusis and Won Moon)
• Whole Body Shape of European and Japanese Females: Fourier Descriptors (Pete E Lestrel, Albert Bodt and Charles A Wolfe)
• Age and Sex Differences in Whole Body Shape: Fourier Descriptors (Albert Bodt, Pete E Lestrel and Charles A Wolfe)