Contributions to the Geology and Paleontology of the Canal Zone, Panama, and geologically related areas in central America and the West Indies. Part 11: The biologic character and geologic correlations of the sedimentary formations of Panama in their relation to the geologic history of Central America and the West Indies

The paper presents: 1) biologic summaries for each of the formations for which paleontologic data are available, with brief discussions of the geologic age; 2) geologic correlations of the formations and the distribution of their age-equivalents in Central America, the West Indies, and the southeastern United States; 3) an outline of the paleogeography of middle America. The biologic summaries are based on the paleontologic memoirs in this vol. by Messars. Howe, Berry, Chuchman, Jackson, Canu and Bassler and Pilsbry, Miss Rathbun and myself.

Relatório apresentado a S. Ex. o Sr. Ministro da Industria, Viação e Obras Públicas =Rapport présenté a Son Ex. M. le Ministre de l'Industrie, de la Voirie et des Travaux Publics /por L. Cruls. --Relatório da Comissão Exploradora do Planalto Central do Brazil = Rapport de la Commission d'Exploration du Plateau Central du Brésil

Documento com duas páginas-de-rosto, em português e francês. Título em francês : Rapport présenté a Son Ex. M. le Ministre de l'Industrie, de la Voirie et des Travaux Publics

Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Priacanthid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

The family Priacanthidae contains four genera and four species that occur in the western central North Atlantic (Starnes, 1988). Pristigenys alta is distributed in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and along the east coast of North America. Although juveniles have been reported from as far north as southern New England waters, adults are not reported north of Cape Hatteras, NC. Priacanthus arenatus is distributed in tropical and tropically influenced areas of the western central North Atlantic in insular and continental shelf waters. Adult P. arenatus are distributed north to North Carolina and Bermuda, juveniles have been collected as far north as Nova Scotia. Cookeolus japonicus and Heteropriacanthus cruentatus are circumglobally distributed species and are both common in insular habitats. In the western central North Atlantic, C. japonicus ranges from New Jersey to Argentina; H. cruentatus from New Jersey and northern Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil (Starnes, 1988). (PDF contains 6 pages)

Preliminary guide to the identification of the early life history stages of Gerreid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

The family Gerreidae contains four genera and 13 species that occur in the western central North Atlantic. Adult gerreids are small to medium size fishes that are abundant in coastal waters, bays, and estuaries in tropical and warm temperate regions and sometimes occur in freshwaters. They are generally associate~ with grassy or open bottoms, but not with reefs. Gerreids are silvery fishes, with deeply forked tails, and extremely protrusible mouth that points downward when protracted. They apparently feed on bottom-dwelling organisms and at least one species (Eucinostomus gula) shows a distinct transition, during the juvenile period, from a planktivore (exclusively copepods) to a carnivore that includes a diet of almost solely polychaetes (Carr & Adams, 1973; Robins and Ray, 1987; Murdy et al., 1997). (PDF contains 10 pages)

An algorithm for coarse particle sedimentation simulation by Stokesian dynamics

Coarse Particle sedimentation is studied by using an algorithm with no adjustable parameters based on stokesian dynamics. Only inter-particle interactions of hydrodynamic force and gravity are considered. The sedimentation of a simple cubic array of spheres is used to verify the computational results. The scaling and parallelism with OpenMP of the method are presented. Random suspension sedimentation is investigated with Mont Carlo simulation. The computational results are shown in good agreement with experimental fitting at the lower computational cost of O(N In N).

Preliminary guide to the indentification of the early life history stages of Callionymid fishes of the Western Central Atlantic

Callionymidae, along with the Draconettidae and Gobiesocidae, previously were placed in the order Gobiesociformes (Allen, 1984). Recently, Nelson (1994) placed the Callionymidae and Draconettidae in the percifonn suborder Callionymoidei. The family is represented by three species in the western central North Atlantic Ocean, Diplogrammus pauciradiatus, Paradiplogrammus bairdi and Foetorepus agassizi (Davis, 1966; Robins and Ray, 1986). A detailed review ofthe family including early life history infonnation is given by Houde (1984) and Watson (1996). (PDF contains 11 pages)

A Biogeographic Assessment off North/Central California: To Support the Joint Management Plan Review for Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones, and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries: Phase I - Marine Fishes, Birds and Mammals.

In the spring of 2001, NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), in consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), launched a 24-month effort to define and assess biogeographic patterns of selected marine species found within and adjacent to the boundaries of three west coast National Marine Sanctuaries. These sanctuaries, Monterey Bay, Gulf of the Farallones, and Cordell Bank are conducting a joint review process to update sanctuary management plans. The management plans for these sanctuaries have not been updated for over ten years and the status of the natural resources and their management issues in and around the sanctuaries may have changed. In addition, significant accomplishments in research and resource assessments have been made within the region. Thus, it is important to incorporate new and expanding knowledge into the revised management plans for these Sanctuaries.

Ecological linkages: Marine and estuarine ecosystems of Central and Northern California

Three of California’s four National Marine Sanctuaries, Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones, and Monterey Bay, are currently undergoing a comprehensive management plan review. As part of this review, NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP) has collaborated with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to conduct a biogeographic assessment of selected marine resources using geographic information system (GIS) technology. This report complements the analyses conducted for this effort by providing an overview of the physical and biological characteristics of the region. Key ecosystems and species occurring in estuarine and marine waters are highlighted and linkages between them discussed. In addition, this report describes biogeographic processes operating to affect species’ distributional patterns. The biogeographic analyses build upon this background to further understanding of the biogeography of this region. (PDF contaons 172 pages)

A comparison of seafloor habitats and associated benthic fauna in areas open and closed to bottom trawling along the central California Continental Shelf

Executive Summary: A number of studies have shown that mobile, bottom-contact fishing gear (such as otter trawls) can alter seafloor habitats and associated biota. Considerably less is known about the recovery of these resources following such disturbances, though this information is critical for successful management. In part, this paucity of information can be attributed to the lack of access to adequate control sites – areas of the seafloor that are closed to fishing activity. Recent closures along the coast of central California provide an excellent opportunity to track the recovery of historically trawled areas and to compare recovery rates to adjacent areas that continue to be trawled. In June 2006 we initiated a multi-year study of the recovery of seafloor microhabitats and associated benthic fauna inside and outside two new Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) closures within the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries. Study sites inside the EFH closure at Cordell Bank were located in historically active areas of fishing effort, which had not been trawled since 2003. Sites outside the EFH closure in the Gulf of Farallones were located in an area that continues to be actively trawled. All sites were located in unconsolidated sands at equivalent water depths. Video and still photographic data collected via a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) were used to quantify the abundance, richness, and diversity of microhabitats and epifaunal macro-invertebrates at recovering and actively trawled sites, while bottom grabs and conductivity/temperature/depth (CTD) casts were used to quantify infaunal diversity and to characterize local environmental conditions. Analysis of still photos found differences in common seafloor microhabitats between the recovering and actively trawled areas, while analysis of videographic data indicated that biogenic mound and biogenic depression microhabitats were significantly less abundant at trawled sites. Each of these features provides structure with which demersal fishes, across a wide range of size classes, have been observed to associate. Epifaunal macro-invertebrates were sparsely distributed and occurred in low numbers in both treatments. However, their total abundance was significantly different between treatments, which was attributable to lower densities at trawled sites. In addition, the dominant taxa were different between the two sites. Patchily-distributed buried brittle stars dominated the recovering site, and sea whips (Halipteris cf. willemoesi) were most numerous at the trawled site though they occurred in only five of ten transects. Numerical classification (cluster analysis) of the infaunal samples also revealed a clear difference between benthic assemblages in the recovering vs. trawled areas due to differences in the relative abundances of component species. There were no major differences in infaunal species richness, H′ diversity, or J′ evenness between recovering vs. trawled site groups. However, total infaunal abundance showed a significant difference attributable to much lower densities at trawled sites. This pattern was driven largely by the small oweniid polychaete Myriochele gracilis, which was the most abundant species in the overall study region though significantly less abundant at trawled sites. Other taxa that were significantly less abundant at trawled sites included the polychaete M. olgae and the polychaete family Terebellidae. In contrast, the thyasirid bivalve Axinopsida serricata and the polychaetes Spiophanes spp. (mostly S. duplex), Prionospio spp., and Scoloplos armiger all had significantly to near significantly higher abundances at trawled sites. As a result of such contrasting species patterns, there also was a significant difference in the overall dominance structure of infaunal assemblages between the two treatments. It is suggested that the observed biological patterns were the result of trawling impacts and varying levels of recovery due to the difference in trawling status between the two areas. The EFH closure was established in June 2006, within a month of when sampling was conducted for the present study, however, the stations within this closure area are at sites that actually have experienced little trawling since 2003, based on National Marine Fishery Service trawl records. Thus, the three-year period would be sufficient time for some post-trawling changes to have occurred. Other results from this study (e.g., similarly moderate numbers of infaunal species in both areas that are lower than values recorded elsewhere in comparable habitats along the California continental shelf) also indicate that recovery within the closure area is not yet complete. Additional sampling is needed to evaluate subsequent recovery trends and persistence of effects. Furthermore, to date, the study has been limited to unconsolidated substrates. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to characterize the recovery trajectories of a wide spectrum of seafloor habitats and communities and to link that recovery to the dynamics of exploited marine fishes. (PDF has 48 pages.)

Study of an object recognition algorithm

This project introduces an improvement of the vision capacity of the robot Robotino operating under ROS platform. A method for recognizing object class using binary features has been developed. The proposed method performs a binary classification of the descriptors of each training image to characterize the appearance of the object class. It presents the use of the binary descriptor based on the difference of gray intensity of the pixels in the image. It shows that binary features are suitable to represent object class in spite of the low resolution and the weak information concerning details of the object in the image. It also introduces the use of a boosting method (Adaboost) of feature selection al- lowing to eliminate redundancies and noise in order to improve the performance of the classifier. Finally, a kernel classifier SVM (Support Vector Machine) is trained with the available database and applied for predictions on new images. One possible future work is to establish a visual servo-control that is to say the reac- tion of the robot to the detection of the object.

Papel do escritório central de processos da Câmara dos Deputados : Relatório de Intervenção

Avalia o contexto de atuação da Coordenação de Gestão de Processos (Cogepro) da Assessoria de Projetos e Gestão da Câmara dos Deputados (CD), tendo como escopo os processos internos do Escritório, os serviços prestados aos clientes internos e o papel na disseminação da cultura de gestão de processos no ambiente da CD. Busca-se identificar fragilidades e oportunidades de melhoria, bem como apresentar sugestões de intervenção para as situações verificadas