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1. Phenotypic Trait of Painting Cracks

   https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2024.2420574  

   Abu-Haifa, Mohammad; Lee, Seung Jae; Zhu, Cheng (November 2024, Studies in Conservation)

   A painting, like human skin, develops cracks on the surface as it dries and ages. The painting cracks, also known as craquelure, are often considered analogous to human fingerprints; these have been regarded as a unique signature reflective of the painting’s characteristics and are important in art authentication. Intriguingly, studies in other fields, such as geology, have observed the presence of distinctive characteristics in soil desiccation cracks. These cracks exhibit self-similarity, forming patterns that suggest broader geological processes at work. In light of this connection, the primary objective of this study is to investigate whether the painting cracks also exhibit a self-similar nature. By delving into this, we seek to shed light on the underlying properties of the painting cracks. This study also aims to investigate whether the characteristic self-similar trait of the cracks can serve as an identifier in relation to the provenances of the paintings. To this end, this study adopts the methodology originally designed to characterize the phenotypic traits of 3D particle geometries in granular materials research. This study develops a 2D equivalent concept, focusing on the phenotypic traits of the individual islands enclosed by cracks within paintings. The results successfully demonstrate that the phenotypic trait of painting cracks exhibits a self-similar nature, which can reveal characteristics associated with the provenances of paintings. The findings will offer valuable insights into the scientific examination of artworks based on painting cracks. 

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2. Phenotypic trait of particle geometries

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-022-01240-8  

   Lee, Seung Jae; Shin, Moochul; Lee, Chang Hoon; Tripathi, Priya (August 2022, Granular Matter)
3. Trait coordination and environmental filters shape functional trait distributions of forest understory herbs

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7000  

   Candeias, Matt; Fraterrigo, Jennifer (November 2020, Ecology and Evolution)

   Abstract Understanding the drivers of trait selection is critical for resolving community assembly processes. Here, we test the importance of environmental filtering and trait covariance for structuring the functional traits of understory herbaceous communities distributed along a natural environmental resource gradient that varied in soil moisture, temperature, and nitrogen availability, produced by different topographic positions in the southern Appalachian Mountains.To uncover potential differences in community‐level trait responses to the resource gradient, we quantified the averages and variances of both abundance‐weighted and unweighted values for six functional traits (vegetative height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, and leaf δ¹³C) using 15 individuals of each of the 108 species of understory herbs found at two sites in the southern Appalachians of western North Carolina, USA.Environmental variables were better predictors of weighted than unweighted community‐level average trait values for all but height and leaf N, indicating strong environmental filtering of plant abundance. Community‐level variance patterns also showed increased convergence of abundance‐weighted traits as resource limitation became more severe.Functional trait covariance patterns based on weighted averages were uniform across the gradient, whereas coordination based on unweighted averages was inconsistent and varied with environmental context. In line with these results, structural equation modeling revealed that unweighted community‐average traits responded directly to local environmental variation, whereas weighted community‐average traits responded indirectly to local environmental variation through trait coordination.Our finding that trait coordination is more important for explaining the distribution of weighted than unweighted average trait values along the gradient indicates that environmental filtering acts on multiple traits simultaneously, with abundant species possessing more favorable combinations of traits for maximizing fitness in a given environment. 

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4. Memory in Trait Macroevolution

   https://doi.org/10.1086/705992  

   Goldberg, Emma E.; Foo, Jasmine (February 2020, The American Naturalist)
5. Pavlovian occasion setting in human fear and appetitive conditioning: Effects of trait anxiety and trait depression

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2021.103986  

   Zbozinek, Tomislav D; Wise, Toby; Perez, Omar D; Qi, S; Fanselow, Michael S; Mobbs, Dean (December 2021, Behaviour research and therapy)

   Contexts and discrete stimuli often hierarchically influence the association between a stimulus and outcome. This phenomenon, called occasion setting, is central to modulation-based Pavlovian learning. We conducted two experiments with humans in fear and appetitive conditioning paradigms, training stimuli in differential conditioning, feature-positive discriminations, and feature-negative discriminations. We also investigated the effects of trait anxiety and trait depression on these forms of learning. Results from both experiments showed that participants were able to successfully learn which stimuli predicted the electric shock and monetary reward outcomes. Additionally, as hypothesized, the stimuli trained as occasion setters had little-to-no effect on simple reinforced or non-reinforced stimuli, suggesting the former were indeed occasion setters. Lastly, in fear conditioning, trait anxiety was associated with increases in fear of occasion setter/conditional stimulus compounds; in appetitive conditioning, trait depression was associated with lower expectations of monetary reward for the trained negative occasion setting compound and transfer of the negative occasion setter to the simple reinforced stimulus. These results suggest that clinically anxious individuals may have enhanced fear of occasion setting compounds, and clinically depressed individuals may expect less reward with compounds involving the negative occasion setter. 

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