This thesis explores the use of Genetic Algorithms in approaching the Snake-In-The-Box problem in dimension 8. It discusses methods for improving the solutions found by reducing the representation space for the problem. It presents a representation scheme called FrequencyBased Transition Reassignment (FBTR), which creates a unified interpretation of individuals to prune the search space. FBTR i...

The present study used experimental infections to compare the life cycles and life histories of 6 Rhabdias spp. infecting snakes and anurans. Free-living development of anuran lungworms was primarily limited to heterogonic reproduction, and females utilized matricidal endotoky exclusively, whereas snake lungworms primarily reproduced homogonically and, when heterogonic reproduction occurred, fe...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The current study examines effects of exposure in multiple contexts on fear reduction and renewal and the moderating effect of baseline threat-specific and nonspecific emotionality. METHODS Snake-fearful participants received a negative or neutral emotion induction and were randomized to video exposure to a snake in a single context, multiple context, or a no exposur...

Sea snake envenomation is a serious occupational hazard in tropical waters. In Malaysia, the beaked sea snake (Hydrophis schistosus, formerly known as Enhydrina schistosa) and the spine-bellied sea snake (Hydrophis curtus, formerly known as Lapemis curtus or Lapemis hardwickii) are two commonly encountered species. Australian CSL sea snake antivenom is the definitive treatment for sea snake env...

BACKGROUND The pathogenic mechanism of snake-bite induced acute kidney injury (AKI) remains unclear. Analyzing the risk factors for snake-bite induced AKI may provide the guidance needed for AKI prevention and early treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective study included 119 snake-bite patients who were hospitalized at the emergency department of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital f...

Recent polarized proton beam experiments in the IUCF Cooler Ring found an evidence for a second-order snake depolarizing resonance, when the vertical betatron tune was inadvertently set near a quarter-integer. We have also studied the possibility of spin-flipping the beam polarization in the presence of a full Siberian snake using an rf solenoid. By varying the rf solenoid’s ramp time and frequ...

This paper presents an efficient interpolation attack using a computer algebra system. The interpolation attack proposed by Jakobsen and Knudsen was shown to be effective for attacking ciphers that use simple algebraic functions. However, there was a problem that the complexity and the number of pairs of plaintexts and ciphertexts required for the attack can be overestimated. We solve this prob...

Complete or nearly complete mitochondrial DNA sequences were determined from four lizards (Western fence lizard, Warren's spinytail lizard, Terrestrial arboreal alligator lizard, and Chinese crocodile lizard) and a snake (Texas blind snake). These genomes had a typical gene organization found in those of most mammals and fishes, except for a translocation of the glutamine tRNA gene in the blind...

Snake bite is one of the most neglected public health issues in poor rural communities living in the tropics. Because of serious misreporting, the true worldwide burden of snake bite is not known. South Asia is the world's most heavily affected region, due to its high population density, widespread agricultural activities, numerous venomous snake species and lack of functional snake bite contro...

Snake venom gene evolution has been studied intensively over the past several decades, yet most previous studies have lacked the context of complete snake genomes and the full context of gene expression across diverse snake tissues. We took a novel approach to studying snake venom evolution by leveraging the complete genome of the Burmese python, including information from tissue-specific patte...