The evolution of building codes typically produce design provisions that are expected to create safer and more accurate designs. We as engineers expect building codes to advance the state of the art with each successive edition. The 2009 International Building Code (IBC) and the Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-08) have significant revisions affecting the design of ti...

paracobitis vignai is a nemacheilid loach endemic to the sistan basin. it occurs in helmand river and its related reservoirs in sistan-va-baluchistan province in southeastern iran and probably in afghanistan. this species is currently endangered due to habitat loss or degradation, damming and droughts. therefore, this paper reviews the available data on taxonomy and distribution of p. vignai , ...

this study was performed to determine the genetic diversity of hla class i and ii alleles among two ethnic groups in southeastern iran. hla profiles were determined in 71 iranian populations (41 zaboli and 30 baloch). the frequencies of hla-a02 (p=0.017), -cw4 (p=0.003), and -dr8 (p=0.025) in the zaboli populations were significantly higher than that in baloch ethnic group. in contrast, the fre...

erythraeus (zaracarus) coleopterus mortazavi, hajiqanbar & saboori, 2012 (acari: parasitengona: erythraeidae) was described based on a single specimen from kerman province, southeastern iran, associated with a scarabaeid beetle, cyphonoxia sp. (coleoptera: scarabaeidae). this species reports for the second time from stored grain (off host) in saqqez and baneh cities, kurdistan province, western...

we report observations on the natural history of lizards in the gando protected area, within the sistan and baluchestan province, iran. the identity of the lizards is recorded, along with remarks on some meristic characteristics. brief descriptions of their habitats are also given with a distribution map. lizards (n = 132) were collected and photographed in 2008-09. twelve species belonging to ...

The southern and tropical southeastern regions of the Yunnan Province in southwestern China have similar monsoonal climates and lowland tropical rain forest vegetations. The floras of both regions are dominated by tropical floristic elements (78.3% in southern Yunnan and 68.83% in southeastern Yunnan), and both belong to the Indo-Malaysian flora at the northern margin of tropical Asia. However,...

This paper estimates reduced-form Phillips curves for Brazil with a framework of time series with unobserved components, in the spirit of Harvey (2011). However, we allow for expectations to play a key role using data from the Central Bank of Brazil’s Focus survey. Besides GDP, we also use industrial capacity utilization rate and IBC-Br index, as measures of economic activity. Our findings supp...

To improve accuracy and reliability, Boolean combination (BC) can efficiently integrate the responses of multiple biometric systems in the ROC space. However, BC techniques assume that recognition systems are conditionally-independent and that their ROC curves are convex. These assumptions are rarely valid in practice, where systems face complex environments, and are designed using limited enro...