Mixing upper level undergraduates majoring in engineering with those majoring in biology, we have devised a course on biologically-inspired design (BID) that provides practical training in methods and techniques that facilitate the identification and translation of biological principles into solutions…

ABSTRACTApplication of renewal process most commonly requires the knowledge of the mean value function and the variance function. In this study, Xie's RS method (1) is adapted to the computation of the variance function for the both ordinary and stationary…

This paper is based on the analysis of job advertisements by Turkish furniture companies that appeared in main daily newspapers in Turkey between April 1998 and May 2002. During this period, a total of 204 advertisements for different positions in…

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan forced a revolution in military thinking that brought
stability operations to the forefront while coloring the military as one-part warrior, onepart
reluctant architect of peace. Despite years of experience in stability operations of
this…

Tardigrades constitute one of three clades of Xenarthra. Whereas modern tree sloths are common in the Amazonian Basin, their giant ground sloth "kin" were abundant throughout the Americas. During the Miocene, sloths were conspicuous faunal elements in Patagonia, generally considered…

Recent contributions to the knowledge of Gondwanan cynodonts highlight the presence in Africa of taxa previously recognized in South America and vice-versa. This is the case for the Middle Triassic Namibian fauna from the upper Omingonde Formation, where the first…

Talampaya and Tarjados Formations correspond to the initial stage of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin filling, and record the oldest post-Permian events in the region. The sequence consists of red beds deposited essentially by ephemeral alluvial and fluvial systems, and overlay…

Lakes are excellent sensors of environmental change, including climate change. Chironomids (Insecta, Diptera) and ostracods (Crustacea) are among the most useful biological indicators for paleoenvironmental reconstruction found in lake sediments, due to their sensitiveness to environmental variables. However, the use…

During the last years the knowledge about derived eusuchian crocodiles has been increased. Anatomical and phylogenetic approaches as well as new fossil records have lighted the evolutive and biogeographic history of several groups. In this way, paleontological research on Miocene-Pliocene…

Component Based Software Development (CBSD) relies upon utilization of previously developed software components OTS (Off-The-Shelf), which are appropriately merged to satisfy particular system requirements. However, wide acceptance of this paradigm at industry requires efficient component identification and selection, aspects which…