100,086 research outputs found
Isolation of anaerobic, extremely thermophilic, sulphur metabolising archaebacteria from New Zealand hot springs
No full textEnrichments of New Zealand geo-thermal samples, initiated in anaerobic sulphur-containing media and incubated at temperatures above 85°C, yielded rod and coccal shaped organisms which possessed archaebacterial characteristics. Pure cultures were isolated and characterised. Five of the seven isolates, which were rod-shaped organisms and did not have an obligate requirement for sulphur respiration, were similar to Ther-moproteus sp. but had more neutral pH optima for growth. Three of these five Thermoproteus sp. were obligate heterotrophs, which has not previously been reported. The two coccal isolates had an obligate requirement for sulphur as an electron acceptor and were similar to Desulfurococcus sp. but again with more neutral pH optima for growth
Anti-inflammatory role of the murine formyl-peptide receptor 2: ligand-specific effects on leukocyte responses and experimental inflammation.Dufton N, Hannon R, Brancaleone V, Dalli J, Patel HB, Gray M, D'Acquisto F, Buckingham JC, Perretti M, Flower RJ.
No full textLaunching a successful robotic program
No full textIn spite of the substantial benefits of robotic surgery (RS) over standard laparoscopy, performing robotic surgery still requires for the surgeon to undergo a necessary learning curve (LC), in order to ensure the safe introduction of this technology. In this setting the adoption of RS at any institution requires the establishment of a well-structured plan and certain key elements to be in place to ensure successful implementation of a robotics program. A thorough initial design and implementation lead to the execution of clinical services, which meet previously established goals. Once the execution phase is established, the next step is to focus on maintenance and growth to maximize the benefits of the program We portray the necessary phases for creating a successful robotic program, paying special attention to the aspects that allowed our facility to create a profitable robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy program The true success and durability of RS will depend on long-term outcomes. For individual programs, a thorough infrastructure is necessary to approachoverall profitability and efficiency. Initial planning is dependent on a risk/benefit analysis, economic model, and lead surgeon. Realistic early expectations often require a substantial initial investment An OR team, hospital administration support, possible OR modification, and continued marketing become the next agenda. Each focus area should be established prior to the launch of the program. Finally, it is important to frequently review the goals of the program in the initial phase because early identification of problem areas, possible changes to improve efficiency or outcomes, and justification for the risk/cost of a program can all be obtained and handled ahead of tim
Draposa subhadrae Patel & Reddy 1993
No full textDraposa subhadrae (Patel & Reddy, 1993) Figs 1–18 Pardosa subhadrae Patel & Reddy, 1993: 128, fig. 5 a–g (♂♀). Draposa subhadrae: Kronestedt 2010: 49, figs 7, 27, 32, 42–43, 53 (♀). Material examined. 2 ♂, 2 ♀ (ZMMU), SRI LANKA, Southern Province, Hambantota District, 6 ° 8 'N 81 ° 8 'E, 9 – 10.01.2012 (M.M. Omelko). Diagnosis. Male of this species differs from D. atropalpis (Gravely, 1924), a species with similarly modified embolus, by having three-branched subpaleal sclerite (two-branched in D. atropalpis), lack of subapical protrusion of the tegular apophysis, known in all other Draposa species, and the lamella of the tegular apophysis with numerous fine teeth. According to Kronested (2010), the female of D. subhadrae is most similar to D. lyrivulva (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906). These two species can be distinguished by the longer scape in D. subhadrae, which is half the length of epigynal atrium, and less than 1 / 2 of the atrium in similar species. Description. Male. Total length 5.25, carapace 2.58 long, 2.10 wide. Carapace light yellow with two lateral darkbrown, wavy bands and a median band and poorly distinct broken sublateral stripes formed by dark setae (Fig. 1). Yellow parts of carapace covered with short black and white hairs. Ocular area and eyes black. Chelicerae yellow with darkbrown longitudinal bands (Fig. 3). Endites and labium yellow. Sternum yellow in one male and black in another. Femur and tibia of male palp with black basal parts; patella yellow. Leg segments except tarsus with blackish spots and half rings. Spination of leg I: femur 3 d, 2 p, 3 r; patella 1 p, 1 r; tibia 3 d, 2 p, 2 r, 2 - 2 v; metatarsus 2 p, 2 r, 2 - 2 v. Leg measurements in Table 1. Palp as in Figs 4–10 and 14–18. Basal 2 / 3 of cymbium black, terminal 1 / 3 yellowish. Tegular apophysis (Ta) with wide lamella (Tl) armed with numerous fine teeth (Te), subapical protrusion of the tegular apophysis absent; subpaleal sclerite with three processes (branches), the apical one (Ap), the middle process (Pp) and conductor-like (Co). Embolus modified, widened in distal part before tapering to apex (Figs 15, 17–18). Female. Described by Kronestedt (2010). Habitus as in Fig. 2, pattern similar to male but with more distinct sublateral dark stripes. Epigyne as in Figs 11–13; scape thin, about 3 times longer than wide, its length about 2 / 3 the atrial height; atrium rhomboidal, widest at the middle. Distribution. The species is known from Southeast India and Sri Lanka (Kronestedt 2010).Published as part of Marusik, Yuri M. & Omelko, Mikhail M., 2016, Redescription of Draposa subhadrae (Patel & Reddy, 1993) (Araneae: Lycosidae, Pardosinae), pp. 89-92 in Zootaxa 4107 (1) on pages 91-92, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4107.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/25463
Thermal expansion anomalies of R(Fe, M)(12) (R=Y, Nd; M=Mo and Si)
No full textStructural and thermal-expansion anomaly studies on R(Fe,M)(12) (R=Nd and and Y, M=Mo and Si) compounds were performed by x-ray diffraction. Mo atoms occupy the 8i site. While Si atoms occupy the 8f and 8j sites but not the 8i site. Thermal-expansion anomaly shows only in ab plane in the Mo compounds, while becomes very weak and along with only the c axis in the Si compounds. The anomaly was attributed to the contribution of the interactions of short Fe-Fe distances similar to the previous explanation on other R-Fe intermetallics and that of other strongly positive interactions such as 8j-8j. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000230168300025&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Physics, AppliedSCI(E)EICPCI-S(ISTP)
Emerging techniques in biomedical research and their application to alcohol toxicity
No full textThis article represents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2002 RSA-ISBRA Meeting in San Francisco. The chairs were Vinood B. Patel and Victor R. Preedy. The presentations were (1) Macromolecular structural analysis, by Vinood B. Patel; (2) Profiling and imaging of proteins in tissue sections using mass spectrometry as a discovery tool in biological research, by Pierre Chaurand and Richard M. Caprioli; (3) The use of SELDI ProteinChip(TM) arrays, by Brian M. Austen, Emma R. Frears, Francesca Manca, and Huw Davies; (4) DNA hybridization array technologies, by Kent E. Vrana; and (5) Adeno- and adeno-associated viral mediated gene transfer approaches for alcoholic liver disease, by Michael Wheeler. Concluding remarks were by Victor R. Preedy
Nonlinear microtearing modes in MAST and their stochastic layer formation
No full textFirst nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of microtearing modes in the core of a MAST case are performed on two surfaces of the high-collisionality discharge used in Valovič et al (2011 Nucl. Fusion 51 073045) to obtain the favorable energy confinement scaling with collisionality, τ E ∝ ν ∗ − 1 . On the considered surfaces microtearing modes dominate linearly at binormal length scales of the order of the ion Larmor radius. While the effect of electron collision frequency is moderate in linear simulations, a strong dependence on this parameter is found in nonlinear simulations at r / a = 0.5 , where r and a are the surface and tokamak minor radius, respectively. The dynamics of magnetic islands generated by microtearing modes is analysed, showing that the radial extent of the stochastic region caused by islands overlapping plays an important role in determining the saturation level of the microtearing mode driven heat flux. Local nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations show that the microtearing mode driven heat flux, Q e M T M , is largely dominated by magnetic flutter and depends strongly on the magnetic shear, s ˆ . Comparing two surfaces, r / a = 0.5 and r / a = 0.6 , reveals that Q e M T M is negligible at r / a = 0.5 ( s ˆ = 0.34 ), with the electron temperature gradient (ETG) driven heat flux, Q e E T G , comparable to the experimental electron heat flux, Q e e x p , while Q e M T M is significantly larger and comparable to Q e E T G and Q e e x p at r / a = 0.6 ( s ˆ = 1.1 ). Microtearing modes cause more experimentally significant transport in higher s ˆ regions and may influence (together with ETG modes) the observed scaling of energy confinement time with collisionality (Valovič et al 2011 Nucl. Fusion 51 073045)
Letter from Thomas R. Bodine, American Friends Service Committee Seattle office, to Mary M. Kimber, May 25, 1942
No full textLetter from Thomas R. Bodine to Mary M. Kimber, asking Kimber to visit individuals from the Puget Sound area incarcerated at Pinedale Assembly Center: Rev. Daisuke Kitigawa, Waichi Oyanagi, Chisako Higuchi, Mutsuo Hasiguchi and Mrs. Matsuoka, Makato Kobukata, the Hirabayashi family, and Violet Yokoyama. A note in pencil at the top of the page: "Burcham." A response letter from Grace and Calvin Coke to Thomas R. Bodine is found in item: chs_ms840_0306.Personal correspondence, organizational records, government documents, publications, and other papers created or collected by Joseph R. Goodman documenting the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as organized resistance to incarceration. Included in the collection are records of the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association and the Japanese American Citizens' League in San Francisco, including papers of the Japanese YMCA's executive secretary Lincoln Kanai; Sakai family papers; Goodman's correspondence to and from Japanese American incarcerees, organizations opposing forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, the War Relocation Authority, and others; publications, photographs, and ephemera from the Topaz Relocation Center, where Goodman taught high school; War Relocation Authority records and publications; and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and reports about forced removal and incarceration created by various government, religious, and civic organizations, in California and nationwide
A Trust and Reputation Model for Agent-Based Virtual Organisations
No full textThe aim of this research is to develop a model of trust that will endeavour to assure good interactions amongst autonomous software agents in complex, networked environments. In this context, we identify the following as key characteristics. Firstly, such environments are open, meaning that agents are free to enter and exit the system at their will, so an agent cannot be aware of all of its interaction partners. Furthermore, there is a possibility that these interaction partners may be malicious or colluding agents. Secondly, the openness and dynamism of these environments means agents will need to interact with other agents, with which they have had no past experience. Even in this context, an agent must be able to accurately assess the trustworthiness of another. Thirdly, the distributed and heterogeneous nature of these systems influences any model or application developed for such environments. Specifically, this often requires models and applications to be decentralised. Lastly, many of the interactions that occur between agents in such systems are in the context of a virtual organisation (VO). Here VOs are viewed as collections of agents belonging to different organisations, in which each agent has a specific problem solving capability which when combined provides a particular service to meet the requirements of an end user. Now, VOs are social structures, and the presence of certain inter-agent relationships may influence the behaviour of certain members. For this reason it is important to consider not only personal experiences with an individual to determine its behaviour, but to also examine the social relationships that it has with other agents. Against this background, we have developed TRAVOS (A Trust and Reputation Model for Agent-Based Virtual Organisations) which focuses, in particular, on providing a measure of trust for an agent to place in an interaction partner. This measure of trust is calculated by considering the past experiences between the agent and its interaction partner. In instances when there is no personal experience, the model substitutes past experience with reputation information gathered from other agents in the society or from special reputation broker agents. Reputation is gathered in a way that filters out biased or false opinions. In addition to this, the model is constrained by issues of scalability and decentralisation. Furthermore, by extending TRAVOS we developed a set of mechanisms (TRAVOS-R) related to learning and exploiting the social relationships present in VO-rich environments. More specifically, TRAVOS-R presents a novel approach to learning the type of relationship present between two agents, and uses this knowledge to adjust the opinions obtained from one agent about the other. The TRAVOS models have been tested empirically and have significantly outperformed other similar models. Moreover, to further evaluate the applicability of our approach a realistic system evaluation was also carried out, which involved applying our models in an industrial application of agent-based VOs. In undertaking this research, we have shown that trust is a key component of networked systems and that a computational trust model can be used by agents in large, dynamic, uncertain and open environments to account for the uncertainty inherent in their social decision-making processes. More specifically, we have shown that by using personal experience, opinions from others, and knowledge of social relationships, an agent is able to arrive at a more accurate trust value, and, as a consequence, that it can interact in a more effective manner
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