Character distributions

H. Li, F. Czerwinski, J.A. Szpunar. The role of oxide grain boundary character distribution in nickel oxidation kinetics // Defect Diffusion Forum.- 2001.- V. 194-199.-P.1683-1688. 

R. Ishibashi, T. Horiuchi, J. Kuniya, M. Yamamoto, S. Tsurekawa, H. Kokawa, T. Watanabe, T. Shoji, Effect of grain boundary character distribution on stress corrosion cracking behavior in austenitic stairUess steels. Mater. Sci. Forum 475-479 (2005) 3863—3866. 

M. Shimada, H. Kokawa, ZJ. Wang, Y.S. Sato, I. Karibe, Optimization of grain boundary character distribution for intergranular corrosion resistant 304 stainless steel by twin-induced grain boundary engineering, Acta Mater. 50 (2002) 2331—2341. 

The central tenets of the falsificationist philosophy of Karl R. Popper are reviewed in detail, and the way they do or do not apply to systematics and phylogeny reconstruction is analyzed. Cladistic analysis, cast in either maximum parsimony or in maximum likelihood approaches, is not compatible with Popperian falsificationism. The main reasons are the absence of a deductive link between a hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships and character distribution on a tree, which translates into the absence of the basic asymmetry of falsification versus verification. This sets Popper s philosophy of science apart from inductive systems. In cladistic analysis, falsification (disconfirmation) is symmetrical to verification (confirmation), which reveals an inductive and hence probabilistic background. The basic problem of systematics as an empirical science resides in character conceptualization and its critical evaluation. 

From a Popperian perspective we cannot decide empirically (i.e., by its application to the world of experience using parsimony) whether the structure of the logically subordinated hierarchy as such (not a specific hypothesis of relationship) is a priori, that is, empirically unfalsifiable, or whether and when it may fail in the world of experience. The ultimate reason for this is simply that there exists no deductive connection between phylogenetic hypotheses and character distributions, or conversely, that any phylogenetic hypothesis will always be compatible with any character distribution — at least to some minimal degree (Sober, 1988 135). 

Because many named brachiopod orders appear to be paraphyletic (Fig. 26.1), many suborders (whose exemplars are the terminal taxa here) are likely to be paraphyletic as well, and could thus be ancestral to other higher taxa. PAUP does not allow taxa to occupy internal nodes, because it constructs patterns of character distribution among taxa (cladograms), rather than patterns of evolution over time (evolutionary trees), so it cannot represent these types of relationships directly. ANOP requires that internal nodes be occupied by included taxa, allowing them to function as ancestors, and thus provides an alternative to standard cladistic methods in yet another sense. 

Hedenas, L. (1989) Some neglected character distribution patterns among the pleurocarpous mosses. Bryologist, 92 157-163. 

It is clear that additional tests of Calcichordate Theory are necessary. In addition to the refinement and re-analysis of character distributions, it would be useful if this... 

But an integrated approach to understanding early vertebrate evolution requires more than just evidence of character distributions and combinations. If we are to attempt to understand the causal basis of character distributions in cladograms, and general principles in the evolution of form, then functional data are critical (Lauder 1990). Consequently, many of the most influential and widely cited hypotheses or... 

It represents the most parsimonious hypothesis of character distribution ... 

T. Watanabe, Y. Suzuki, S. Tanii and H. Oikawa, The Effect of Magnetic Annealing on Recrystallization and Grain Boundary Character Distribution (GBCD) in Iron-Cobalt Alloy Polyciystals, Phil. Mag. Letters, 62,9-17 (1990). 

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