Vultures are nature's most successful scavengers, and they provide an array of ecological, economic, and cultural services. As the only known obligate scavengers, vultures are uniquely adapted to a scavenging lifestyle. Vultures' unique adaptations include soaring flight, keen eyesight, and extremely low pH levels in their stomachs. Presently, 14 of ...

Lymphatic filariasis is known to be endemic in Gambella Region, western Ethiopia, but the full extent of its endemicity in other regions is unknown. A national mapping program for Ethiopia was initiated in 2008. This report summarizes initial data on the prevalence of Wuchereria bancrofti antigenaemia based on surveys carried ...

Sexual reproduction can promote genetic diversity in eukaryotes, and yet many pathogenic fungi have been labeled as obligate asexual species. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that cryptic sexual programs may exist in some species, and that efficient mating requires the necessary developmental switch to be triggered. In this study ...

The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence, characteristics, triggers, and consequences of skin picking (SP) in a sample of Turkish university students, with an emphasis on gender differences. A total of 245 students from two universities in Turkey were assessed by using the Skin Picking Inventory. In ...

The present research focuses on the party related drinking behaviors of college students and explores the differences in these behaviors based on students' host status (i.e. party host vs. party attendee). Furthermore, we examine if the differences in party hosts and attendees' drinking behaviors vary as a function of the ...

Volunteer-based citizen monitoring has increasingly become part of the natural resources monitoring framework, but it is often unclear whether the data quality from these programs is sufficient for integration with traditional efforts conducted by professional scientists. At present, the biological and physical characteristics of California's rocky reef kelp forests are ...

For some endangered parrot species, captive breeding may be the only insurance for their survival. However, many individuals in captivity do not reproduce. Artificial insemination (AI) may help overcome reproductive failures or geographic distance. For semen collection in birds, massage is the most commonly used method. However, this process, which ...

In order to succeed in biological control programs, not only is it crucial to understand the number of natural enemies to be released but also on how many sites per area this releasing must be performed. These variables might differ deeply among egg parasitoid species and crops worked. Therefore, these ...

A seasonal rodent-borne disease surveillance program was established at Dagmar North Training Area located near the demilitarized zone, Republic of Korea, from 2001 through 2005. Selected habitats surveyed included earthen banks separating rice paddies, fighting positions along a 5 m rock-faced earthen berm, and extensive tall grasses with various degrees ...

Beginning in November 2007 and continuing until December 2009, weekly stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), surveillance was conducted at four equine facilities near Ocala, FL, by using alsynite sticky traps for adults and by searching immature developmental sites for pupae. Adult stable fly trap captures were highly variable throughout the ...

Maternally transmitted symbionts can spread in host populations if they provide a fitness benefit to their hosts. Hamiltonella defensa, a bacterial endosymbiont of aphids, protects hosts against parasitoids but only occurs at moderate frequencies in most aphid populations. This suggests that harbouring this symbiont is also associated with costs, yet ...

• Premise of the study: Despite numerous recommendations for various aspects of the design and monitoring of habitat conservation plans, there remains a need to synthesize existing guidelines into a comprehensive scheme and apply it to real-world conservation programs. • Methods: We review tools for systematic conservation planning and elements ...

Decevania Huben currently comprises 13 species, the females of which are known for only four. Herein an additional Neotropical Decevania is newly described: Decevania feitosai Kawada, sp. n. from Colombia. The description and identification key were made using the DELTA program. A pictorial key to females of Decevania is provided. ...

Invasive alien mammals are the major driver of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation on islands. Over the past three decades, invasive mammal eradication from islands has become one of society's most powerful tools for preventing extinction of insular endemics and restoring insular ecosystems. As practitioners tackle larger islands for restoration, ...

There has been a recent acceleration in the development and testing of programs for computer-assisted cognitive-behavioral therapy (CCBT). Programs are now available for treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and other psychiatric conditions. Technology for delivery of CCBT includes multimedia programs, virtual reality, and handheld devices. Research on CCBT generally has ...

For species with declining populations, captive rearing with subsequent release into natural habitats ("head-starting") is often used as part of a conservation strategy. One challenge to head-starting programs is that head-started individuals can suffer high rates of postrelease predation. Head-starting programs are currently being established for hellbenders (Cryptobrancus alleganeinsis), large ...

This work presents a computer program for computing the 3D fractal dimension (3DFD) from magnetic-resonance images of the brain. The program is based on an algorithm that calculates the 3D box counting of the entire volume of the brain, and also of its 3D skeletonization. The validity and accuracy of ...

Institutions using a clinical information system which feeds an electronic medical record system must consider evaluation programs that measure the nurse's ability to use and understand the clinical data in the clinical information system. By measuring and tracking the nurse's level of computer literacy, training programs and system enhancements can ...

Examinees of the first Certifying Examination in Cardiovascular Computed Tomography were surveyed regarding their training and experience in cardiac computed tomography. The results support the current training pathways within the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association competency criteria that include either experience-based or formal training program in cardiovascular computed tomography. ...

Advances in the video gaming industry have led to the production of low-cost, high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs) that possess more memory bandwidth and computational capability than central processing units (CPUs), the standard workhorses of scientific computing. With the recent release of generalpurpose GPUs and NVIDIA's GPU programming language, CUDA, ...

We taught seven preschoolers with developmental disabilities to point-and-click with a computer mouse. The computer-based training program consisted of three parts, based on a task analysis of the behavioral prerequisites to point-and-click. Training 1 was designed to shape moving the mouse. Training 2 was designed to build eye-hand coordination by ...

Abstract A computer-based program is presented to be used with digitized frontal and basal photographs. SymNose enables the user to quantify asymmetry of the front view of the lip and nose and of the nose from the base view, using the area of mismatch of one side reflected over the ...

Our recently developed predoctoral training program in pharmacology and systems biology prepares students to become experts in systems-level models of disease that identify therapeutic targets and predict adverse effects or new uses of existing therapeutics. Multiple computational modeling modes are introduced throughout a curriculum that integrates basic cell and molecular ...

Technology has a great impact on nursing practice. With the increasing numbers of older Americans using computers and the Internet in recent years, nurses have the capability to deliver effective and efficient health education to their patients and the community. Based on the theoretical framework of Bandura's self-efficacy theory, the ...

This study evaluated whether two people with multiple disabilities who could not easily use a computer through a standard input device (i.e., mouse or trackball) would be able to improve their pointing performance using thumb poke with a standard trackball through a Dynamic Trackball-Pointing Assistive Program (DTPAP) and a newly ...

Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) has shown increased popularity recently and there are many studies showing promise for this approach for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, there are no between-subject studies to date assessing the efficacy of CAI with this population. In this study, 47 preschool and K-1 students ...

We provide an overview of the key architectural features of recent microprocessor designs and describe the programming model and abstractions provided by OpenCL, a new parallel programming standard targeting these architectures.

Nanoscale devices such as carbon nanotube and nanowires based transistors, memristors and molecular devices are expected to play an important role in the development of new computing architectures. While their size represents a decisive advantage in terms of integration density, it also raises the critical question of how to efficiently ...

A labial flue pipe is a well known tone generator, which is familiar and easily recognizable as the organ pipes seen in many concert halls and churches. However, the design and understanding of the sounding mechanism of such pipes are fraught with difficulty. Traditionally labial pipes are constructed from age-old ...

The theoretical basis of reactive oxygen species and their impact on health issues are relatively easy to understand by biomedical students. The detection of reactive oxygen species requires expensive equipment, the procedures are time consuming and costly, and the results are hard to interpret. Moreover, cause-and-effect relationships in the living ...

Ruminants have been utilised extensively to investigate the developmental origins of health and disease, with the sheep serving as the model species of choice to complement dietary studies in the rat and mouse. Surprisingly few studies, however, have investigated delayed effects of maternal undernutrition during pregnancy on adult offspring health ...

To adapt an existing computer-assisted program to help a post-coma man with extensive multiple disabilities choose between stimulus events. An adapted version of the program assessed in this study presented the man with 7-second samples of preferred and non-preferred stimuli, without questions, and allowed him to choose any of them ...

The teaching of anatomy to medical undergraduates continues to develop. Medical imaging can accurately demonstrate anatomy. 'disect' is a computer program which manipulates and reconstructs real CT images in 3-D. To implement and assess a novel computer-based imaging resource. Third-year undergraduate medical students at the University of East Anglia were ...

BACKGROUND: Portable computers are widely used by medical trainees, but there is a lack of data on how these devices are used in clinical education programs. PURPOSES: The objective is to define the current use of portable computing in internal medicine clerkships and to determine medicine clerkship directors' perceptions of ...

RNA pseudoknots are important for function. Three-dimensional structural information is available, insights into factors affecting pseudoknot stability are being reported, and computer programs are available for predicting pseudoknots.

We present VOSviewer, a freely available computer program that we have developed for constructing and viewing bibliometric maps. Unlike most computer programs that are used for bibliometric mapping, VOSviewer pays special attention to the graphical representation of bibliometric maps. The functionality of VOSviewer is especially useful for displaying large bibliometric ...

The EFAST (extended focused assessment with sonography for trauma) is part of the recommended curriculum for Emergency Medicine and Surgery residents. Computer-based lectures may represent a time-efficient alternative to traditional lectures. Our hypothesis was that computer lectures in basic ultrasound and the EFAST are not inferior to classroom lectures in ...

In serial computation, program profiling is often helpful for optimization of key sections of code. When moving to parallel computation, not only does the code execution need to be considered but also communication between the different processes which can induce delays that are detrimental to performance. As the number of ...

The classification of bacteria by using genomic methods or expensive biochemical-based commercial kits is sometimes beyond the reach of many laboratories that need to perform numerous classifications of unknown bacterial strains in a fast, cheap, and reliable way. A new computer program, Identax, for the computer-assisted identification of microorganisms by ...

An innovative experiment to develop and evaluate a public library computer training program to teach older adults to access and use high-quality Internet health information involved a productive collaboration among public libraries, the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ...

Across a broad range of medical disciplines, learning how to use an optical or light microscope has been a mandatory inclusion in the undergraduate curriculum. The development of virtual microscopy (VM) technology during the past 10 years has called into question the use of the optical microscope in educational contexts. ...

To develop an interactive computer program that facilitates uniformity and accuracy in the collection and assessment of spinal cord-impairment data. A computer program that captures and processes clinical examination information in graphical form using the 2002 American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) guidelines. This program calculates motor and sensory level, neurological ...

Computeen, a preventive technology and psychosocial skills development program for at-risk adolescents, was designed to improve computer skills, self-esteem, and school attitudes, and reduce behavior problems, by combining elements of community-based and empirically supported prevention programs. Fifty-five mostly Latino adolescents from 12 to 16 years old who were living in ...

PURPOSE: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the accuracy of computer programs in predicting skeletal changes after orthognathic surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A systematic computerized database search was conducted with the help of a health sciences librarian. Specific selection criteria were used to select articles, reference lists ...

INTRODUCTION: The University of the West Indies (UWI) Dental School is planning to implement computer-based information systems to manage student and patient data. In order to measure the acceptance of the proposed implementation and to determine the degree of training that would be required, a survey was undertaken of the ...

The process of cross-cultural migration may be particularly difficult for students travelling overseas for further or higher education, especially where qualitative differences exist between the home and host nations. The present study examined the sociocultural adjustment of sojourning Malaysian students in Britain. Eighty-one Malay and 110 Chinese students enrolled in ...

OBJECTIVES: To create a 3-dimensional (3D) educational computer model of the larynx, to assess the feasibility of this learning module on a Web-based platform, and to obtain student feedback on the module. DESIGN: Male and female adult cadaveric necks were scanned with microcomputed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scanners. Key ...

With the intention of bridging the 'digital divide' many programmes have been launched to provide computers for educational institutions, ranging from refurbishing second hand computers to delivering low cost new computers. The fast and economical provision of large quantities of equipment is one of the many challenges faced by such ...

Adult human subjects engaged in a simulated Rock/Paper/Scissors game against a computer opponent. The computer opponent's responses were determined by programmed probabilities that differed across 10 blocks of 100 trials each. Response allocation in Experiment 1 was well described by a modified version of the generalized matching equation, with undermatching ...

The use of computer interpretations of electrocardiograms(ECGs) as an aid to physician interpretations is widespread. Computer misinterpretations are common and negatively affect physician interpretations. To measure the effect of computer ECG misinterpretations on clinical decision making. Quasi-randomized trial. Resident teaching conferences. Included 105 internal and emergency medicine residents. After a ...