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Maintenance costs are a significant part of the total operating cost of all manufacturing plants. Condition monitoring is a key element of the maintenance program. Most comprehensive predictive maintenance programs use vibration as the primary parameter to monitor. However, the typical process of vibration monitoring relies too much on the human factor and has limitations. To overcome these shortcomings, a method is proposed in this paper. Moreover, the potential IoT using for smart maintenance is demonstrated. Additionally, it is explained how it can shape the maintenance toward the Industry 4.0. and how industrial IoT can help the condition monitoring of rotating machinery using vibration analysis. In this way, a method is proposed to make rotating machinery to IoT enabled devices by adding hardware to them. This hardware was designed and developed based on the requirements. Moreover, a new generation of accelerometer sensors has been introduced to measure the vibrations. For this purpose, a data acquisition web application is developed to evaluate the hardware. The evaluations show the quite precise of the results.

PurposeApproximately 20% of cancers are estimated to have a viral etiology. We aimed to investigate whether DNA of 8 human parvoviruses [bocavirus 1-4 (HBoV1-4), parvovirus B19 (B19V), protoparvoviruses (bufa-, tusa-, and cutavirus)] and 13 human polyomaviruses (HPyV) can be detected in oropharyngeal and oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC/OSCC), and in juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) tissue samples.MethodsFresh samples of seven JNA tissues and ten paired tissues of OSCC/OPSCC tumor and adjacent healthy tissues were collected. DNA extraction and real-time PCRs were performed to detect HBoV1-4, B19V, bufa- tusa- and cutavirus, and HPyV genomes.ResultsJNA specimens were negative for all parvoviruses tested, whereas one JNA sample was Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) DNA positive. The OSCC/OPSCC samples were negative for the human protoparvoviruses, HBoV1-4, and all human polyomaviruses, except for one patient that was MCPyV DNA positive in both healthy and tumor tissues. Seven OSCC/OPSCC patients were positive for B19V DNA, three of them in both healthy and cancerous tissues and three in only healthy tissues. Three of the B19V DNA-positive patients harbored viral genotype 1, three genotype 2, and one genotype 3B.ConclusionsThese are the first reports of MCPyV and B19V DNA being detected in JNA and OPSCC. The significance of viral DNA positivity is unclear. B19V DNA is known to remain in the tissues lifelong, however, it is of interest that there are some patients with B19 DNA in healthy tissue, but not in the corresponding cancer tissue.

Standard clinical questionnaire. A written form to collect information concerning the form of living before hospitalization, the hospital unit the patient was coming from, chronic diseases, influenza vaccination status, height, weight, smoking habits and physical activity. (DOCX 15 kb)

The quality of water in different usages especially drinking water has an important role on human health. As increasing the urban population and developing the industries, the releasing different materials into water cause various pollutions and problems for human cycles. The important goal of the present study is analyzing the mercury existence and pollution on different part of urban built environment especially drinking water. Incompatible association between residential areas and other functions have been recently examined and studied. Being adjacent of the residential and industrial areas could generate various pollution, high road traffic, noise, emissions, wastes and wastewaters with heavy metals. For achieving the goal, an important hypothesis was considered, “the existence of industries next to the residential land use, cause to increasing the mercury contents in drinking water”. The method of this study was analytic-descriptive and experimental procedure for examining the mercury pollution. Alborz industrial city was the case study. Its drinking water was selected for examining the existence of mercury. The results show that the mercury contents in this area are critical more than WHO guidelines for drinking-water quality. Therefore some important recommendations for decreasing the mercury contents were presented.

Timely and reliable detection of viruses is of key importance in early diagnosis of infection(s) following allogeneic HSCT. Among the immunocompetent, infections with BKPyV and JCPyV are mostly subclinical, while post-HSCT, the former may cause HC and the latter PML. The epidemiology and clinical impact of the newly identified KIPyV, WUPyV, MCPyV, and TSPyV in this context remain to be defined. To assess the incidence and clinical impact of BKPyV, JCPyV, KIPyV, WUPyV, MCPyV, and TSPyV infections, we performed longitudinal molecular surveillance for DNAemias of these HPyVs among 53 pediatric HSCT recipients. Surveillance pre-HSCT and for three months post-HSCT revealed BKPyV DNAemia in 20 (38%) patients. Our data demonstrate frequent BKPyV DNAemia among pediatric patients with HSCT and the confinement of clinical symptoms to high copy numbers alone. MCPyV and JCPyV viremias occurred at low and TSPyV viremia at very low prevalences. KIPyV or WUPyV viremias were not demonstrable in this group of immunocompromised patients.

Chemical modifications of small interfering (si)RNAs are used to enhance their stability and potency, and to reduce possible off-target effects, including immunogenicity. We have earlier introduced highly effective antiviral siRNA swarms against herpes simplex virus (HSV), targeting 653 bp of the essential UL29 viral gene. Here, we report a method for enzymatic production and antiviral use of 2′-fluoro-modified siRNA swarms. Utilizing the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from bacteriophage phi6, we produced 2′-F-siRNA swarms containing either all or a fraction of modified adenosine, cytidine or uridine residues in the antisense strand of the UL29 target. The siRNA containing modified pyrimidines demonstrated high resistance to RNase A and the antiviral potency of all the UL29-specific 2′-F-siRNA swarms was 100-fold in comparison with the unmodified counterpart, without additional cytotoxicity. Modest stimulation of innate immunity signaling, including induced expression of both type I and type III interferons, as well as interferon-stimulated gene 54, by 2′-F-cytidine and 2′-F-uridine modified siRNA swarms occurred at early time points after transfection while the 2′-F-adenosine-containing siRNA was similar to the unmodified antiviral siRNA swarm in this respect. The antiviral efficacy of the 2′-F-siRNA swarms and the elicited cellular innate responses did not correlate suggesting that innate immunity pathways do not significantly contribute to the observed enhanced antiviral activity of the modified siRNAs. The results support further applications of enzymatically produced siRNA molecules with incorporated adenosine nucleotides, carrying fluoro-modification on ribose C2′ position, for further antiviral studies in vitro and in vivo., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • Phage phi6 polymerase can use 2′-F-dNTP substrates to produce 2′-F-modified dsRNA. • SiRNAs containing 2′-F-modified pyrimidine nucleotides demonstrate resistance to RNase A. • Enzymatically produced 2′-F-siRNA swarms display low cytotoxicity. • Antiviral activity of 2′-F-siRNAs against HSV exceeds that of the unmodified siRNAs. • Innate immunity induction by 2′-F-siRNAs is similar to that of unmodified siRNAs.

To date 14 human polyomaviruses (HPyVs) have been identified. The newly found HPyVs have not been examined with regard to post-transplant skin carcinogenesis. To determine the occurrences in skin and possible pathological associations of the HPyVs, we studied their genoprevalences in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in situ or actinic keratosis and benign skin in liver transplant recipients (LiTRs); and of healthy skin in immunocompetent adults. We used highly sensitive and specific HPyV PCRs of two types. Overall, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), human polyomavirus 6 (HPyV6), human polyomavirus 7 (HPyV7), trichodysplasia spinulosa polyomavirus (TSPyV), and Lyon IARC polyomavirus (LIPyV) were found in 58/221 (26.2%) skin biopsies. MCPyV DNA was detected in 5/14 (35.7%) premalignant vs. 32/127 (25.2%) benign skin of LiTRs, and in 12/80 (15%) healthy skin of immunocompetent adults, with no statistically significant difference in viral DNA prevalence or load. TSPyV DNA was found in a single skin lesion. LIPyV, HPyV6 and HPyV7 DNAs occurred exclusively in benign skin. Overall, the viral findings in premalignant versus benign skin were alike. The occurrences of HPyVs in skin of LiTRs and immunocompetent individuals speak against a role for any of the 14 HPyVs in SCC development.

Master production scheduling is an effective phase of production planning which leads to scheduling and magnitude of different products production in a company. This problem requires investigating a wide range of parameters, regarding demand, manufacturing resource usage and costs. Uncertainty is an intrinsic characteristic of these parameters. In this paper, a model is developed for master production scheduling under uncertainty, in which demands, as time-dependent variables, are considered as stochastic variables, while cost and utilization parameters, with cognitive ambiguity, are expressed as fuzzy numbers. A hybrid approach is also proposed to solve the extended model. The application of the proposed method is examined in a practical problem of a polyethylene pipe and fitting Co. in Iran. The result showed a high degree of applicability.

Formation and institutionalization of sustainable and democratic society requires serious attention to the citizenship rights. Citizenship is a status which is including a set of rights, duties and obligations and emphasis on equality, justice and independence. On the other hand urban has an undeniable role for citizenship rights which will be attained with proper and justice planning. Hence, the primary aim of this study is, Defining and prioritizing the effective urban planning parameters on the citizenship rights. To accomplish the above target, more or less significant concepts such as citizenship, civic rights, urban planning and targets were determined as a theoretical framework by utilizing the analytical method. Then, Islamic Republic of Iran has been studied based on its constitution as a case study. Then the effective urban planning parameters of the citizenship rights were defined and prioritized by using Analytic hierarchy process evaluation method (AHP) and Expert choice software. The results indicate that urban infrastructure and public spaces with a weight of about 70 percent has the highest impact on the citizenship rights.

The historic city of Sana'a is an example of Islamic cities which is known as one of the most valuable historical city center of Islamic culture. In this regard, recognition of the structure and the historic city form of Sana'a, with emphasis on Islamic culture is analyzed and examined in this study. The important issue is that, the structures and architectural style of Islamic cities around the world, beside the common features, have difference and diversities which is also not recognized. The purpose of this study, is the recognition of the structure and form of the ancient city of Sana'a, with emphasis on Islamic culture. “What is the chief role of Islamic culture on the formation of Sana'a?” is the main question of this study. The theoretical framework of this study emphasizes on this fact that Islamic culture has played an important role in the organization of ancient cities. Descriptive-analytical method was selected which the independent and the dependent variables are the formation of Islamic culture in the city and important elements, respectively. Documentation and studying in the library are the best method for collecting data and data analyzing was don with examining the other documents such as drawings and related photographs to the different time intervals of urban spaces Sana'a. The results indicated that, the mosque, market and the other religious institutions have shaped the main axis of city culture and there's a close bilateral relations between the Islamic culture, the structure and the form of the ancient city of Sana'a.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. Serum samples collected from 88 Peruvians with unexplained fever were analyzed for viral sequences using metagenomics. Nucleic acids of anelloviruses, pegivirus A (GBV-C), HIV, Dengue virus, and Oropouche virus were detected. We also characterized from two sera the RNA genomes of new species of partitivirus and dicistrovirus belonging to viral families known to infect fungi or arthropod, respectively. Genomic DNA of a putative fungal cellular host could be PCR amplified from the partitivirus-containing serum sample. The detection in human serum of nucleic acids from viral families not known to infect vertebrates may indicate contamination during sample collection and aliquoting or human infection by their presumed cellular host, here a fungus. The role, if any, of the non-vertebrate infecting viruses detected in serum in inducing fever is unknown. Revisión por pares

Metagenomic analysis of diarrhea samples revealed the presence of numerous human enteric viruses and small circular Rep-encoding single-stranded DNA (CRESS-DNA) genomes. One such genome was related to smacoviruses, while eight others were related to genomes reported in the feces of different mammals. The tropism of these CRESS-DNA viruses remains unknown.

In an automotive environment the presence of reflecting surfaces cannot be avoided. The electromagnetic wave returning from a target vehicle can get reflected on those surfaces causing a non existing so-called ghost target. For driver assistance systems ghost targets can lead to false decisions and, therefore, they should be detected and avoided. In this paper a model for describing those ghost targets and a procedure to distinguish them from real targets using the orientation and the motion state of a vehicle is presented.

Viral infections remain the cause of key complications following haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The impact of multiple, concurrent viral reactivations/infections remains to be delineated.The clinical correlates of single or multiple viremic infections following HSCT and especially the occurrence of respiratory viruses in the bloodstream were investigated. We retrospectively searched for 23 viruses in a total of 184 sera from 53 paediatric patients. The time-points of interest were pre-HSCT, one, two and three months post-HSCT, and at discharge or death. The viruses were analyzed by quantitative or qualitative PCR.Of the 53 patients, 13 (25%) had viraemias by multiple viruses and 27 (51%) by a single virus. Thirteen patients (25%) had no viruses detected by PCR during the study period. In the children with viremic co-infections, polyomaviruses predominated over herpes viruses. Nearly half the patients, 24/53 (45%) had a polyomavirus in their serum at one or more time-points. At 12/15 time-points and in 11/13 patients with co-infections polyomaviruses were involved, compared with 6/15 time-points and 6/13 patients for cytomegalovirus. Acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and steroid use were significant risk factors for the viraemias caused by more than one virus.Viral co-detection is a common finding in children undergoing HSCT. With large-scale viral screening also viruses other than CMV could be found as potential pathogens. In this study, BKPyV predominated over CMV as a contributor in viraemias caused by multiple viruses in children receiving HSCT.

JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a debilitating, often fatal brain disease in immunocompromised patients. JCPyV-seropositive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with natalizumab have a 2- to 10-fold increased risk of developing PML. Therefore, JCPyV serology has been recommended for PML risk stratification. However, different antibody tests may not be equivalent. To study intra- and interlaboratory variability, sera from 398 healthy blood donors were compared in 4 independent enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) measurements generating >1,592 data points. Three data sets (Basel1, Basel2, and Basel3) used the same basic protocol but different JCPyV virus-like particle (VLP) preparations and introduced normalization to a reference serum. The data sets were also compared with an independent method using biotinylated VLPs (Helsinki1). VLP preadsorption reducing ≥35% activity was used to identify seropositive sera. The results indicated that Basel1, Basel2, Basel3, and Helsinki1 were similar regarding overall data distribution ( P = 0.79) and seroprevalence (58.0, 54.5, 54.8, and 53.5%, respectively; P = 0.95). However, intra-assay intralaboratory comparison yielded 3.7% to 12% discordant results, most of which were close to the cutoff (0.080 < optical density [OD] < 0.250) according to Bland-Altman analysis. Introduction of normalization improved overall performance and reduced discordance. The interlaboratory interassay comparison between Basel3 and Helsinki1 revealed only 15 discordant results, 14 (93%) of which were close to the cutoff. Preadsorption identified specificities of 99.44% and 97.78% and sensitivities of 99.54% and 95.87% for Basel3 and Helsinki1, respectively. Thus, normalization to a preferably WHO-approved reference serum, duplicate testing, and preadsorption for samples around the cutoff may be necessary for reliable JCPyV serology and PML risk stratification.

Since urban growth and converting the agricultural lands to urban area, green space applications are threatened seriously. One of the key elements of development is accessing and spending the leisure time in green and open space easily. Actually Green space is one of the ways to reduce several different kinds of pollutants efficiently such as gaseous pollutants, environmental pollution, noise, unpleasant odors and other pollutants which are found in air, water and soil and provides a healthier environment for human. According to population growth and urban space, pocket parks are a new and appropriate idea because of less space and availability for local people. In this study pocket park is defining and some important criteria such as locating on the side street, A local use, Easy access for local people(less distance to location), applied freely for the public in all ages, Which are introducing and prioritizing by using Expert choice software and Andisheh Park is our case study.

The attention to sustainable urban development, participated urban planning, the consideration of territory as nonrenewable resource, sustainable mobility and so on has been characterizing also the investigation in the field of urban and regional sciences. This paper focuses on the crucial role for sustainable energy planning in creating the context and conditions for integrating and optimizing clean and efficient energy use within the urban built environment. The paper seeks to codify a new process of sustainable town planning which is able to indicate the real actions to operate on the city. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part expresses some definitions that were extracted from various projects. The second part explains and describes The Process of Energy Planning. Finally, strategic policies and actions are proposed for urban planning that can help to reach energy saving and Sustainable Energy Planning.

Lost urban spaces are unique spaces inside the city which have not been used at all or significantly. In other words, they are unpleasant urban areas which have no positive relationship with surrounding environment and users in redesigning process of spaces. Hence, organization and reclamation of lost and left spaces through performance injection from resources and wealth which give identity is a part of technologies which can be experienced and tested by experts in order to provide places for presence, spending time, observing and be seen from these excluded urban spaces. With this description and the importance of the subject, the present paper sought to introduce urban lost spaces and consider criteria in order to revive identity in these spaces using Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) model and also to consider the succeeded level of the recovery plan of identity in Akhoond district in Qazvin using a descriptive-analytical method. The results of the present study indicated that the recovery plan of identity in Akhoond district was not successful due to the lack of attention to main criteria of giving identity to spaces and it has not transferred identity, mobility and fixation to its residents.

World cities are now in a competition with other places to reach attention of investors, visitors, skillful workers and events. City branding is a strategic way of local government to win this competition and to attain economic, politics and socio-cultural objectives. Unfortunately Iranian cities haven't been able to take a part in this competition in spite of its inherent potentials and all efforts which they have done. City branding could be the best solution to Iranian cities' lack of popularity in today's globalized world and is studied in this research as a tool to improve Iranian cities' global image and show all their hidden values. First the definition of city brand, the way which is created and then some factors to evaluate the branding potentials of cities was identified to be used in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine which Iranian city has the most potentials to be successfully branded. The results shows that Isfahan, compared with other cities such as Shiraz and Mashhad with the final priority of 0.438 is chosen as the best and at the end Isfahan was selected among the Iranian cities to be introduced as a global level, hospitable environment and tourism destination, because of its popularity and potential.

In this age of transition from decades of turmoil and instability in urban areas, urban centers validate their prestige and importance as a commercial, cultural and recreational center. Urban centers as the housing and shelter for millions of people and visitors will facilitate and improve human interaction. Since the city is very complex, existence and attendance of cycles of declining and wane, reform and reconstruction are obvious. At the best form, appearance of a city will be realized from its center & heart. Recently, in western countries, having vibrant and dynamic urban centers has caught the attention of many scholars. Actually creating an environment where social interaction is high and gives people a sense of vitality. On the other hand, to include such dynamism in context of an urban center, it needs adequate respondents. Therefore, in this paper, at firs the criteria for responsive environments, characters of a vibrant city center and the main & common features between them is introduced, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), criteria are weighted and prioritized. The results show that, sustaining the above criteria and codifying proposed policies and strategies, helps to recreate the historic core of Qazvin city.

Synthesis, characterization, spectrophotometric studies of three mercury (II) complexes of 1-(2-ethoxyphenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl) triazene (ENT) are reported in this article and it was characterized by means of NMR, FT-IR, UV spectroscopy and CHN analysis, then determination of Hg(II) was performed by spectrophotometric determination using chemo metric techniques and new triazen ligand which was prepared by us. The calibration graphs of individual components were linear in the ranges of 1 -5.25 mg·L -1 . The root means square errors of prediction (RMSEP) were 4.4 х10 -3 The proposed method are simple, fast, inexpensive and do not need to any separation or preparation method.

Iran is a country with great tourism potentials. Having ecological and cultural diversity, ancient history, beautiful historical and architectural urban spaces and buildings, natural resources, tourism attractions and hospitable residents could have benefited Iran in the globalization process if it had a globally positive image and sense of place. Branding cities is a tool that assists to make a region, country or city widely recognized and is studied in this paper as a means to better Iran's global reputation and image. In the end it was concluded that the key to branding Iran is in the hands of its own residents and governors.

Computer communications were developed by industrial revolution and then by improving the network communication as an internet, a new space was made for city that it's called virtual city or electronic city. Accidental events are a kind of critical and managing them as soon as possible is so necessary. Since electronic cities help the manager to have necessary information at critical periods, it plays a significant role for crisis management. This study aimed at developing the electronic city and gas lifelines and managing them by electronic technology. Since, lifelines are fundamental construction and commonly are linear circuit network, which can produce the people lives' necessities. If they're damaged several different accidents and critical will be happened. So in this article gas lifelines were examined practically with Iran conditions and several different designs against critical was presented by using information technology.

The silica supported palladium nano particle were synthesized by using the sol-gel method. The possibility of using palladium (II) nitrate dehydrates as Pd precursor and effect of metal precursor concentration on the final Pd nanoparticle size was investigated. A stable silica sol was prepared via hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a metal alchoxide and condensation reaction.Subsequently, Palladium (II) nitrate dehydrates was added to sol to form the Pd/silica sol. After drying and calcination of the sol, the Pd/SiO2 nanocpmposite has been obtained. Crystallographic information and crystalline size of the synthesized Pd/SiO2 were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. Morphology of the nanoparticles and hydrogen-bonding interaction between silanol groups and amine ligands were characterized by SEM and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, respectively. Finally, the distribution and size of the palladium nanoparticles in the silica was evaluated.

As developing countries to become industrialized and urbanized, heavy metal pollution is likely to reach disturbing levels. These countries should learn from the mistakes of the developed nations and recognize that rapid deterioration of the environment can occur. There is a lack of data on the nature and extent of metal pollution either at local and regional level, particularly to assist in the understanding of metal cycling in the environment. Although most countries recognize the need to combat pollution, environmental, controls are either nonexistence or inadequate. So in this article we emphasized on one of the most important environment pollutant (Hg) and effect of mercury on the human health and at the end of the article some important and easy ways for preventing mercury hazards will be recommended.

“Strategy implementation” is an inseparable part of strategic management process. Transformation strategies to typical operations and daily functions of staff exert a significant role in organization success. Balanced scorecard (BSC) and strategy map help senior managers to perfectly implement and monitor the accomplishment of the strategies by transforming strategies into operational programs. Using BSC and strategy map, the strategies are translated into some action plans which help the achievement of organizational goals and strategies. Due to shortage of resources, usually all organization's action plans cannot be implemented completely; therefore, managers should make use of some tools for assigning and selecting more efective action plans. In this paper, a procedure is suggested on the basis of grey TOPSIS to determine the preference of action plans to better aid managers in selection of the most effective action plans in a group decision making process.

The number of polyomaviruses causing infections in humans is as high as thirteen. The BK and JC polyomaviruses and the diseases caused by them are best known. For the present, the Merkel cell polyomavirus is the only human polyomavirus considered to be a causative agent of cancer. Other disease associations of polyomaviruses are also subject to active research. All polyomavirus infections are usually harmless respiratory or intestinal infections of childhood. Polyomaviruses, remain in the body for the rest of life, i.e. they persist as part of the body microbiome. Upon weakening of cell-mediated immunity they can also become reactivated and cause clinical problems.

Aggregate planning is a medium-range capacity planning that suggests the production strategies in order to meet the forecasted demand considering the capacity constraints. As the period of planning length increases, the uncertainty of information will grow. Regarding this point, in this paper, a multi-objective model is proposed for aggregate planning problem in which the parameters of the model are expressed in the form of grey numbers. The suggested grey multi-objective model is solved based on a goal programming problem with fuzzy aspiration levels. The model is applied in a real-world problem, and its results are illustrated. The obtained results give a range for decision variables, and decision makers can handle the inevitable uncertainty of information by using these ranges.

Nowadays most required products and services of companies are provided through other organisations. Outsourcing as a new approach has a significant role in management literature. Supplier should be selected by executives, when the organization decides to acquire a product or service from other organizations. Concerning supplier selection, the managers should consider more than one factor or criterion, which may be inconsistent and contradictory. Therefore, supplier selection is a multi-criteria decision-making issue. Analytic network process (ANP) is a technique to solve multi-criteria decision-making problems in which the criteria affect each other and have nonlinear correlation. In this study, the goal is to use ANP to select the supplier in a group decision-making.

The Optimization utilization of raw material and components is one of the main challenges in production and project management success. Executives usually face with waste and shortage of raw material which cause delay and cost, however the material and required components are usually provided more than needed. Therefore planning to provide these components from existing spools of material is one of these challenges especially when the number of the needed material pieces and the existing spools are high. For instance, in power plant projects cables are usually provided in form of spools which later cut down to required pieces in the project location. Extraction of each needed piece of cable from specific existing spool is a decision to be made. In this paper, a heuristic method based on integrating Integer Goal Programming and Taguchi Method is suggested to optimize cutting down process of these materials.

Aleutian disease virus (ADV) and closely related (ADV-like) viruses are Parvoviridae members (genus Amdoparvovirus) that primarily infect farmed mustelids and have been detected in humans and free-ranging Carnivora from North America. We describe ADV-like/Amdoparvovirus sp. infection in four free-ranging striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) from the Midwestern US.

Human bocaviruses (HBoVs) 1–4 are recently discovered, antigenically similar parvoviruses. We examined the hypothesis that the antigenic similarity of these viruses could give rise to clinically and diagnostically important immunological interactions. IgG and IgM EIAs as well as qPCR were used to study ~2000 sera collected from infancy to early adolescence at 3–6-month intervals from 109 children whose symptoms were recorded. We found that HBoV1-4-specific seroprevalences at age 6 years were 80%, 48%, 10%, and 0%, respectively. HBoV1 infections resulted in significantly weaker IgG responses among children who had pre-existing HBoV2 IgG, and vice versa. Furthermore, we documented a complete absence of virus type-specific immune responses in six viremic children who had pre-existing IgG for another bocavirus, indicating that not all HBoV infections can be diagnosed serologically. Our results strongly indicate that interactions between consecutive HBoV infections affect HBoV immunity via a phenomenon called “original antigenic sin”, cross-protection, or both; however, without evident clinical consequences but with important ramifications for the serodiagnosis of HBoV infections. Serological data is likely to underestimate human exposure to these viruses. Public Library of Science open access

This paper reports on the first low power (10.4 mW) and ultrasensitive linear Hall-effect integrated circuits (LHEICs) using GaAs–InGaAs–AlGaAs 2D electron gas technology. These LHEICs have a state-of-the-art sensitivity of $533~\mu $ V/ $\mu $ T and are capable of detecting magnetic fields as low as 177 nT (in a 10-Hz bandwidth), at frequencies from 500 Hz to 200 kHz. This provides at least an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity and a factor of four improvements in detectability of small fields, compared with commercial Si linear Hall ICs.

We used comprehensive serodiagnostic methods (IgM, IgG, and IgG avidity) and PCR to study Merkel cell polyomavirus and trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated polyomavirus infections in children observed from infancy to adolescence. Comparing seroconversion intervals with previous and subsequent intervals, we found that primary infections with these 2 viruses were asymptomatic in childhood.

Companies pursuing extension of their activities and new companies in establishment phase are using various concepts and techniques to consider location decision, because location greatly affects both fixed and variable costs and on the overall profit of the company. This paper suggests a new use of quality function deployment (QFD) for facility location selection problem instead of applying it to traditional product quality promotion. Fuzzy sets concept is also incorporated to deal with imprecise nature of the linguistic judgments of decision makers. First, fuzzy QFD as a stand-alone approach is presented to address international facility location selection decision. To consider resource limitations and operational constraints, fuzzy goal programming is combined with fuzzy quality function deployment to present a developed approach to deal with global facility location-allocation decision. A demonstration of the applicability of proposed methodologies in a real-world problem is presented.

Background The trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated polyomavirus (TSPyV), a recently discovered species of the family Polyomaviridae , is associated with development of trichodysplasia spinulosa (TS), a rare follicular skin disease of immunocompromised individuals. The viral seroprevalence in the general population is ∼70%, with little known of its route of transmission, latency, or primary infection site. Objectives We aimed to determine whether the viral DNA is detectable in tonsillar tissue of constitutionally healthy individuals, and what the corresponding antiviral seroreactivities are. Study design We tested 229 matched pairs of tonsillar tissue biopsies and serum samples from asymptomatic donors for TSPyV DNA by real-time quantitative PCR with primer pairs and Taq-Man probes targeting the VP1 and LT genes. The sera were studied by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for TSPyV-VP1-IgG and the PCR-positive individuals also for -IgM and -IgG-avidity. Results TSPyV DNA was detectable in 8 (3.5%) of 229 tonsillar tissues, and in none of the corresponding sera. TSPyV IgG seroprevalence among children was 39% and among adults 70%. Each of the 8 PCR-positive subjects had antiviral IgG of high avidity but not IgM. Conclusions TSPyV PCR positivity of tonsillar samples of individuals with long-term immunity provides the first evidence of TSPyV in tonsils and suggests lymphoid tissue as a latency site of this emerging human pathogen.

An immunosuppressed 61-year-old man went to the hospital with fever, nonproductive cough, and increasing shortness of breath. The subject died 8 days later of respiratory complications. PCR of respiratory samples as well as a blood sample revealed exceptionally high DNA levels of the emerging pathogen, human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1), a recently found pathogen associated with respiratory symptoms in young children. We describe the clinical progression of the case and discuss the potential role of HBoV1 in the outcome.

The present study, using genetic algorithm, tries to improve material flow management in supply chain. Consequently, in this paper, an integrated supply-production and distribution planning (SPDP) is considered despite the fact that in most of the Iranian industrial firms, SPDP is done independently. The effective use of integrated SPDP not only enhances the performance rather decreases inventory cost, holding cost, shortage cost and overall supply chain costs. A quantitative mathematical model is used to the problem articulation, and then it is solved by applying heuristic genetic algorithm (GA) method. The proposed model with genetic algorithm could provide the best satisfactory result with the minimum cost. The reliability test was carried by comparing the model results with that of the amount of variables.

Background Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) and trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated polyomavirus (TSPyV) are recently found pathogens causing two rare skin disorders, Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) and trichodysplasia spinulosa (TS). MCC is proportionally common in the elderly and most often is associated with immunosuppression. TS is a folliculocentric infection seen in patients in an immunocompromised state. Little or no baseline information exists, however, on the prevalences of these two viruses among the elderly. Epidemiologic data on this population could help in understanding their natural biology. We wished to determine the occurrences and blood levels of MCPyV and TSPyV DNAs among the elderly and any association between the prevalences of their corresponding antiviral IgG antibodies. Methods From 394 hospitalized elderly individuals (age ≥65 years) with respiratory symptoms, cardiovascular, and other diseases, we studied 621 serum samples by four different real-time quantitative (q) PCRs, two for the DNAs of MCPyV and two for TSPyV. The IgG antibodies for both viruses among 481 serum samples of 326 subjects were measured with enzyme immunoassays (EIAs), using as antigen recombinant virus-like particles (VLPs). Results Of the 394 patients, 39 (9.9%) were positive at least once for MCPyV DNA by the LT PCR, and 33 (8.4%) by the VP1 PCR, while 6 (1.5%) were positive by both PCR assays. In general, the viral DNA copy numbers were low. In sharp contrast, no TSPyV DNA was detectable with qPCRs for the corresponding genomic regions. The IgG seroprevalence of MCPyV was 59.6% and of TSPyV, 67.3%. Conclusions MCPyV DNA, unlike TSPyV DNA, occurs in low copy number in serum samples from a notable proportion of aging individuals. Whether this reflects enhanced viral replication possibly due to waning immune surveillance, and is associated with increased MCC risk, deserves exploration.

The polyomaviruses WUPyV and KIPyV were recently discovered. We expressed their structural proteins VP1, VP2, and VP3, and the corresponding proteins of BKV and JCV, for immunoblotting of IgG antibodies from 115 wheezing young children and 25 asymptomatic adults. Furthermore, nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) and sera from the children were examined by PCR for viral DNA. The overlapping minor proteins VP2 and VP3 of WUPyV and KIPyV were more reactive in immunoblots than the major protein VP1; of 100 NPA PCR-negative wheezing children agedor = 4 y, 31 (31%) and 31 (31%) were positive for WUPyV and KIPyV VP2/VP3, compared to only 3 (3%) and 5 (5%) for VP1, respectively. For comparison, the respective WUPyV and KIPyV IgG seroprevalences as determined by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with nondenatured VP1 were 80% and 54%, respectively, among 50 NPA PCR-negative children agedor = 2 y. This difference shows the importance of conformational VP1 antigenicity. Of the 25 adults, 52% and 68% were IgG-positive in immunoblots for VP2/VP3 of WUPyV and KIPyV, and 8% and 12% were for VP1, respectively. Of the 192 NPA samples studied by PCR, 7 (3.6%) were positive for WUPyV, and 3 (1.5%) were positive for KIPyV DNA. Unlike the NPA samples, none of the corresponding 443 sera contained WUPyV or KIPyV DNA. Together with the high VP2/VP3 IgG prevalence, this points to a paucity or brevity of KIPyV and WUPyV viremias among immunocompetent children. Our results indicate the significance of protein conformation in immunoreactivity of VP1, and show the antigenic importance of the WUPyV and KIPyV minor proteins VP2 and VP3. The high and rapidly increasing IgG prevalence rates observed in this study for WUPyV and KIPyV support the notion that these novel polyomaviruses are widespread and are acquired early in childhood.

Background Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) was discovered recently. It is considered a potential causative agent of Merkel cell carcinoma, a life-threatening skin cancer. Objectives To study the prevalence of MCPyV in a large number of clinical samples of various types. Most of the samples were examined also for the other newly found polyomaviruses KI (KIPyV) and WU (WUPyV). Study design Altogether 1390 samples from immunocompetent or immunocompromised patients, including (i) tonsillar tissues and sera from tonsillectomy patients; (ii) nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) and sera from wheezing children and (iii) nasal swabs, sera and stools from febrile leukemic children were studied for MCPyV. The tonsils, nasal swabs and stools were also studied for KIPyV and WUPyV. Results MCPyV DNA was detected in 14 samples altogether; 8 of 229 (3.5%) tonsillar tissues, 3 of 140 (2.1%) NPAs, 2 of 106 (1.9%) nasal swabs and 1 of 840 (0.1%) sera. WUPyV and KIPyV were detected in 5 (2.2%) and 0 tonsils, 1 (0.9%) and 4 (3.8%) nasal swabs and 0 and 2 (2.7%) fecal samples, respectively. The patients carrying in tonsils MCPyV were of significantly higher age (median 42 years) than those carrying WUPyV (4 years, p Conclusions MCPyV DNA occurs in tonsils more frequently in adults than in children. By contrast, WUPyV DNA is found preferentially in children. MCPyV occurs also in nasal swabs and NPAs, in a frequency similar to that of KIPyV and WUPyV. The tonsil may be an initial site of WUPyV infection and a site of MCPyV persistence.

According to Gunasekaran and Ngai (2004), global market is completely connected and dynamic in nature. Therefore, companies are trying to improve their agility level with the objective of being flexible and responsive in order to meet the changing market requirements. In this effort, many companies have decentralized their value-adding activities by outsourcing and developing virtual enterprise (VE). All of these facts highlight the importance of information technology (IT) in integrating suppliers/partnering firms in virtual enterprise and supply chain. Supply chain management (SCM) is an approach that has evolved out of the integration of these considerations. Simchi-Levi et al. (2000) defined SCM as a set of approaches utilized to effectively integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers, so that goods are produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations, and at the right time, in order to minimize total cost while satisfying service level requirements.