1,749 research outputs found

    Toll receptors and sepsis.

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    Toll-like receptors are a family of receptors that recognize components of bacteria and induce a proinflammatory response by cells, including macrophages and endothelial cells. Ten human Toll receptors differing in their specificity for microbial components have been cloned. They respond to various components, including lipopolysaccharide of Gram-negative bacteria, lipopeptides of Gram-positive cell walls, bacterial DNA, and flagella. Some Toll-like receptors require the cooperation of an adapter protein. Toll-like receptor 4 function requires the presence of the protein MD2. Recently, it has been shown that Toll-like receptors function cooperatively to increase the specificity of response to a given microbe. Human polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor genes have been discovered and are associated with hyporesponsiveness to bacterial components

    A lipopolysaccharide-deficient mutant of Neisseria meningitidis elicits attenuated cytokine release by human macrophages and signals via toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 but not via TLR4/MD2

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    Meningococcal disease severity correlates with circulating concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and proinflammatory cytokines. Disruption of the lpxA gene of Neisseria meningitidis generated a viable strain that was deficient of detectable LPS. The potency of wild-type N. meningitidis to elicit tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha production by human monocyte-derived macrophages was approximately 10-fold greater than that of the lpxA mutant. Killed wild-type N. meningitidis and its soluble products induced interleukin (IL)-8 and TNF-alpha secretion by transfected HeLa cells expressing Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4/MD2, but the lpxA mutant was inactive via this pathway. In contrast, both strains induced IL-8 promoter activity in TLR2-transfected HeLa cells. These data provide evidence that N. meningitidis contains components other than LPS that can elicit biological responses via pathways that are independent of the TLR4/MD2 receptor system, and TLR2 is one of these alternate pathways. These findings have implications for future therapeutic strategies against meningococcal disease on the basis of the blockade of TLRs and the modulation of LPS activity.</p

    Accelerated norm-optimal iterative learning control

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    This paper proposes a novel technique for accelerating the convergence of the previously published norm-optimal iterative learning control (NOILC) methodology. The basis of the results is a formal proof of an observation made by the first author, namely that the NOILC algorithm is equivalent to a successive projection algorithm between linear varieties in a suitable product Hilbert space. This leads to two proposed accelerated algorithms together with well-defined convergence properties. The results show that the proposed accelerated algorithms are capable of ensuring monotonic error norm reductions and can outperform NOILC by more rapid reductions in error norm from iteration to iteration. In particular, examples indicate that the approach can improve the performance of NOILC for the problematic case of non-minimum phase systems. Realisation of the algorithms is discussed and numerical simulations are provided for comparative purposes and to demonstrate the numerical performance and effectiveness of the proposed methods

    The treatment of Italy and Italians in D.H. Lawrence's writings

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    This thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author. Researchers can access this thesis by asking their local university, institution or public library to make a request on their behalf. Monash staff and postgraduate students can use the link in the References field

    Environmental (waste) compliance control systems for UK SMEs

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    While the ‘environment’ is often perceived as a heavily regulated area of business, in reality, directly-regulated businesses represent a small proportion of the business community. This study aimed to evaluate and outline potential improvements to compliance controls for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those involved in the waste sector. Forty-four SMEs from England were interviewed/audited between April-September 2008. Using a UK-based system as a case-in-point, the Environment Agency’s (EA) Operational Risk Appraisal (‘Opra’)/Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) system was analysed. Environmental compliance performance indicators and an initial assessment methodology for SMEs were developed. The study showed:• Compliance with permitting legislation was poor in many areas.• Regulatory authorities are either unable/failing to implement their enforcement policies or unable/failing to identify non-compliances due to the infrequency or limited nature of their inspections.• Improvements are needed to the EA Opra/CAR system – control measures are not fully taken into account when calculating risk.Recommendations to improve SME compliance controls include using internationally applicable general and specific compliance and non-compliance performance indicators, re-designing the Opra system and using an initial assessment methodology based on understanding the hazardousness of SME categories, compliance levels and operator competency.<br/

    The Importance Of Sex In Marriage Reflected In D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover Novel (1928): A Psychoanalytic Perspective

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    This study is about the importance of sex in marriage in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The objectives of the study are conducted to identify the indicators of the need for sex of the major character, to describe the major character attempt to meet the need, and to reveal the underlying reason of why the major character did viewed from the psychoanalytic perspective. The object of the study is Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. It used psychoanalytic perspective. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. The type of data in this study is a text that consists of words, phrases and sentences. There are two data sources in this study. The primary data source is Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence. The secondary data source consists of the other data, which have a relationship with the study, such as some biography of the author, and other relevant information. The result of the study shows the following conclusions. First, based on the structural analysis the author wants to deliver a message that the meeting of sexual need is important in marriage. Second, based on the psychoanalytic perspective, it clear that in this novel D.H. Lawrence describes psychological phenomena in which one is seeking for the sexual satisfaction from a person other than one‟s spouse

    DELTA.M: A tool for metropolitan designing systems

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    This research deals with the development of a tool to enable designers, decision-makers and citizens to jointly shape the physical environments they inhabit, through interaction and communication via electronic networks. The designing of physical environment becomes the collective responsibility of all interested societal actors, who together form a "designing system". This research defines a 'designing system' as a temporary alliance of people responsible for decisions about the spatial development of an area, consisting of public and private investors, and citizens. This research involved the integration of theoretical knowledge, empirical knowledge and information communication technologies (ICT) in order to develop a tool, the decision support system called "Delta M."Architectur

    Analyses on the Setting, Plot and Characters in the Novel “the Horse-Dealer’s Daughter” by D.H. Lawrence

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    As a world-famous writer, D.H. Lawrence was fairly proficient and professional in the descriptions of characters in his works. In this story, through the objective narrations of the story, the vivid image ofMabel was presented before the readers. And this paper tries to have a brief analysis of the story from the perspectives of setting, plot, characters and point of view of the author

    PISA:: Recent developments in offshore wind turbine monopile design

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    This paper provides a brief overview of the Pile Soil Analysis (PISA) project, recently completed in the UK. The research was aimed at developing new design methods for laterally loaded monopile foundations, such as those supporting offshore wind turbine structures. The paper first describes the background to the project and briefly outlines the key research elements completed. The paper concludes with a brief description of the anticipated impact of the work and describes initiatives that have followed since.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Geo-engineerin
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