Marine tetrapod clades (e.g. seals, whales) independently adapted to marine life through the Mesozoic and Caenozoic, and provide iconic examples of convergent evolution. Apparent morphological convergence is often explained as the result of adaptation to similar ecological niches. However, quantitative tests of this hypothesis are uncommon. We use dietary data to classify the feeding ecology of...

background and aims: vaccination is the most effective method to prevent influenza infection. among the available vaccines, cold-adapted live-virus vaccines are suitable approach that have been produced and evaluated for recent years in few countries. the goal of this project was to derivate a cold adapted variant of the influenza a/new caledonia/20/1999(h1n1). materials and methods: influenza ...

this paper presents a strategy for using harmony search algorithm in facility layout optimization problems. in this paper an adapted harmony search algorithm is developed for solving facility layout optimization problems. this method finds an optimal facility arrangement in an existing layout. two real-world case studies are employed to demonstrate the efficiency of this model. a comparison is ...

The transport of sediment in regions with vegetation plays an important role aquatic ecosystems and landform evolution river deltas. In this study, flow parameters suspended concentration (SSC) within emergent canopy real plant morphology (Typha latifolia) were measured a laboratory channel. T. latifolia is common marsh species multiple thin leaves emerging from tight bundle (culm) at the bed. ...

This paper describes the preliminary design of a light, high stability, robotic system for elderly assistance. The mechanisms used for such assisting devices must exhibit complex mechanical functions that may change during the use. The design has also to be adapted to the morphology and/or pathology. Taking these constraints into account, the design of a robotic walker is presented which provid...

We investigate how common binary mathematical morphology operators can be adapted so that the size of the structuring element can vary across the image pixels. We show that when the structuring elements are balls of a metric, locally adaptable erosion and dilation can be efficiently implemented as a variant of distance transformation algorithms. Opening and closing are obtained by a local thres...

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) A22 Iraq 24/64 adapted to grow in BHK monolayer cells induced antibodies which neutralized many isolates belonging to the A serotype. Plaque-purified virus isolated from this stock also induced broadly reactive antibodies, showing that this property is not due to the combined response to a mixture of variants in the original stock virus. However, viruses obta...

Following Partition and the formation of Pakistan people have adapted to tremendous changes in their material circumstances and in their political, economic and social life, particularly in urban areas. Important resources that have helped support urban adaptation are the institutions of the family and its reproduction through arranging marriages1. Despite considerable change in the morphology ...

Schistosoma hippopotami were collected from the right heart chambers and pulmonary arteries of Hippopotamus amphibius culled in the Kruger National Park. The schistosomes were subjected to scanning electron microscopy as well as optical microscopy. The results indicate that S. hippopotami is not conspecific to S. mansoni as suggested in the literature. On account of the morphology of certain te...

Lunar dust effects can have a significant impact on the performance and maintenance of future exploration life support systems. Filtration systems will be challenged by the additional loading from lunar dust, and mitigation technology and strategies have to be adapted to protect sensitive equipment. An initial characterization of lunar dust and simulants was undertaken. The data emphasize the i...