Construction and characterization of H5N1-recombinant fowlpox viruses co-expressing host cytokines

Possessing a large double stranded DNA genome up to 300 kb, fowlpox virus (FWPV) has been developed to express avian influenza virus (AIV) antigens since the late 1980s. A more advanced approach would be to coexpress host cytokines from such recombinants. This thesis describes the strategy to construct H5N1-recombinant FWPV (rFWPV) coexpressing chicken Interleukin 12 (IL-12) or Interleukin 15 (IL-15), and discusses the immunogenicity of the recombinants following inoculation into specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens. Previously cloned and sequenced cDNAs encoding full-length H5 and N1 of influenza strain A/Chicken/Malaysia/5858/2004 genes were amplified by PCR and inserted into plasmid pEFL29, under the control of a copy of the vaccinia virus p7.5 early/late promoter. The expression cassettes were recombined into the genome of the FP9 strain of FWPV at the fpv002 locus. Recombinant viruses were produced by transfection of the plasmid into chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs) after infection with FP9, and isolated by six fold plaque purification on CEFs using X-Gal selection. Chicken IL-12 or IL-15 genes, under control of a synthetic/hybrid poxvirus promoter, were inserted into a ‘transient dominant selection’ recombination plasmid, pPC1.X. The cytokine expression cassettes were then recombined, at the fpPC1 (fpv030) locus, into rFWPV already carrying AIV genes. Following three rounds of passage in CEFs in the presence of mycophenolic acid (MPA), recombinant viruses carrying the gpt gene were isolated. These unstable recombinants were plaque-purified in the absence of MPA until they lost the gpt gene spontaneously, verified by their failure to replicate in the presence of MPA. Recombinant proteins were successfully detected using western blotting and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFAT). Parental and rFWPV (105 PFU) were inoculated subcutaneously into one-day-old SPF chickens. Sera from chickens immunized with rFWPV/H5 and rFWPV/H5/IL-15 demonstrated viral neutralizing activities, based on the haemagglutation inhibition (HI) test, in which reached a peak at Week 3. A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay detected N1-specific antibodies induced by rFWPV/N1 and rFWPV/N1/IL-12 at Weeks 4 and 5. Non-specific cellular immune responses were assessed by flow cytometric analysis to enumerate CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes in peripheral blood. Results of Experiment 2 showed chickens vaccinated with rFWPV/H5, rFWPV/H5/IL-15, rFWPV/N1 and rFWPV/N1/IL-12 demonstrated a higher increase in CD8+ than CD4+ T cell population, relative to control and chickens vaccinated with parental FWPV. Weekly weighing showed that chickens vaccinated with rFWPV/H5/IL-15 had the highest body weight compared to other groups, while the rFWPV/N1/IL-12 group showed the significantly lowest body weight. In summary, this study showed diverse immunogenicity of H5N1-rFWPV coexpressing IL-12 or IL-15. It also demonstrated a weight sparing effect of co-expressing IL-15 in rFWPV vaccines. The results provide the basis for future homologous challenge studies, using live H5N1 virus to evaluate the protective efficacy of the rFWPV vaccines

Assessment of ecosystem integrity of lowland dipterocarp forest ecosystem using remote sensing

Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII) is a concept to determine the quality or the health of an ecosystem. The EII development can assist forest managers and decision makers in the conservation effort and forest management in Malaysia through the development of a simple and easy-to-adopt index. The aim of this study is to assess and evaluate the EII through the development of forest structure empirical models from remotely sensed data for lowland dipterocarp forest in Malaysia. The objectives of this study are: (i) to assess the structure and composition of lowland dipterocarp forest in Malaysia, (ii) to develop empirical model for estimating stand structure from remotely sensed data, and (iii) to derive the ecosystem integrity index for lowland dipterocarp forest. Tree Basal Area (BA), aboveground biomass (AGB) and volume plot from plot data were used as dependent variables, while remote sensing data from Landsat, Pleiades and LiDAR were used as independent variables for model development. Tree plot census was carried out from 17 to 19 May 2016, while remote sensing data acquisition dates for Landsat, Pleiades and LiDAR were 13 March 2016, 24 January 2015 and April 2015 respectively. Forest Structure Modeling was carried out by means of a correlation analysis with the calibration of dependent and independent data to select the most significant and accurate remote sensing variables to derive empiric equation (model), fitting stage to select the best model with the highest coefficient of determination (R2) and the lowest root mean square error ( RMSE) validation of the final selected. The Ecosystem Integrity Index was developed by the average percentage of the predicted BA, AGB and model volume. The EII was categorised at five integrity levels as high (81–100%), medium high (61–80%), moderate (41–60%), medium low (21–40%) and low (0–20%). A total of 1035 trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 5.0 cm and above were recorded in 69.115 ha sampling areas. The total trees recorded represented 150 species from 87 genera and 34 families. Shorea macroptera (Dipterocarpaceae), S. leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae) and S. parviflora (Dipterocarpaceae) are three dominant species, with Species Important Value Index (SIVi) of 6.49%, 6.23% and 5.51%, respectively. Dipterocarpaceae is the most dominant with Family Important Value Index (FIVi) of 33.54%. The developed final model is robust and consistent with high R2 with range of 0.84 to 0.87. The final models constructed for AGB, BA and volume value of R2 are 0.85, 0.84 and 0.87 respectively. The RMSE of AGB, BA and volume model are 53.1 Mg/ha, 3.54 m2/ha and 46.4 m3/ha, respectively. The overall stand AGB, BA and volume for Sungai Menyala Forest Reserve is 282.29 Mg/ha, 17.68 m2/ha and 239.51 m3/ha. An Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII) assessment has been successfully demonstrated by this study with production of practical, multi-scaled, flexible, adjustable and policy-relevant index. The overall EII of Sungai Menyala Forest Reserve is in Category 3, which shows that the area is within the medium value

A Study into the Effect of Loading and Sliding Speed to the Tribological Properties of Brake Pad Material

Nowadays, many accidents happen because the failure of the brake to perform effectively. It is because some inferior quality brake pad can not withstand with the loading force and sliding speed between the brake pad and the disc. The friction between the brake pad and rotor are the main factors to stop the vehicle. So we can avoid the accidents if the brake systems can effectively functions. The lack of knowledge about the selection of proper material of brake pad also contributes to the accidents. In this project, a study into the effect of loading and sliding speed to the tribological properties of brake pad material will provide test data and information about the ability of the brake pad to deliver a good braking on such condition. The information obtained from this research study hopefully will provide an insight to the future development of the brake pad material

Innovative technologies for industrial wastes

This article is intended to provide several case studies of successful waste management of a few selected industries in their attempts to become “environmental-conscious” firms. In particular, this article examines the innovative waste-reduction and waste reuse processes undertaken by certain firms in the following industries - asphalt cement and concrete, ferrous metals, Portland cement and concrete, and some other that on the face of it somewhat isolated innovative technologies. For each case, the driver, the waste management technology or processes involved, as well as the associated economic benefits of the adjustments was highlighted. It is hoped that the findings of this article will provide the motivation or continue to motivate engineers and scientists to further explore processes that will help towards better management of industrial wastes

Factors affecting employee commitment in Molnlycke Health Care Sdn. Bhd. / Nurazlinda Abdul Razak and Mohammad Nazmee Abdul Razak

This chapter focuses on the background of this study which is employee commitment in manufacturing industry. It introduces the overall concept of employee commitment, and followed by problem statement, research question, research objectives, scope of study, significant of the study, and the definition of key terms and concepts that is used in this study

Quantifying 'causality' in complex systems: Understanding Transfer Entropy

'Causal' direction is of great importance when dealing with complex systems. Often big volumes of data in the form of time series are available and it is important to develop methods that can inform about possible causal connections between the different observables. Here we investigate the ability of the Transfer Entropy measure to identify causal relations embedded in emergent coherent correlations. We do this by firstly applying Transfer Entropy to an amended Ising model. In addition we use a simple Random Transition model to test the reliability of Transfer Entropy as a measure of `causal' direction in the presence of stochastic fluctuations. In particular we systematically study the effect of the finite size of data sets

KAJIAN MUTU SELAI NENAS MENGGUNAKAN PEKTIN DARI KULIT KAKAO PEKTIN DARI KULIT KAKAO KAJIAN MUTU SELAI NENAS MENGGUNAKAN PEKTIN DARI KULIT KAKAO

KAJIAN MUTU SELAI NENAS MENGGUNAKAN PEKTIN DARI KULIT KAKAO ABSTRAKBuah nenas (Anenas comosus) merupakan salah satu tanaman yang banyak diusahakan petani di Indonesia termasuk di Provinsi Aceh. Pektin merupakan golongan polimer heterosakarida yang diperoleh dari dinding sel tumbuhan darat. Selai adalah makanan setengah padat yang terbuat dari buah-buahan dan gula dengan kandungan total padatan minimal 65 %. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengaplikasikan pektin dari kulit kakao pada produk pangan selai, serta membandingkan dengan selai yang dihasilkan dengan penambahan pektin komersial. Mengingat kajian mutu pada produk selai nenas perlu dilakukan untuk melihat mutu dari selai nenas yang dihasilkan dari pektin kakao dan selai nenas dengan penambahan pektin komersil. Penelitian ini menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) pola faktorial yang terdiri atas 2 faktor, faktor pertama jumlah pektin (J), yang terdiri dari 4 taraf yaitu J1= 0 %, J2= 1 %, J3= 2 %, J4 = 3%. Faktor kedua adalah jenis pektin terdiri dari 2 taraf yaitu A1 = pektin kakao dan A2 = pektin komersil. Dengan demikian Kombinasi perlakuan dalam penelitian ini adalah 4 x 2 = 8 (delapan) kombinasi perlakuan dan menggunakan 2 (dua) kali ulangan, sehingga diperoleh 16 satuan percobaan. Analisis produk yang dilakukan pada selai nenas dari penambahan pektin kulit buah kakao dan pektin komersil dari kulit jeruk adalah uji organoleptik secara hedonik dan deskriptif, serta analisis kadar air, analisis kadar gula dan pengukuran pH. Hasil penelitian dari kajian mutu selai nenas yang menggunakan pektin dari limbah kakao menunjukkan bahwa hasil jumlah pektin (J) berpengaruh nyata terhadap selai nenas dari pektin kakao, kadar pH rata-rata pada berbagai perlakuan berkisar antara 3,78 sampai dengan 4,14. pH yang diperoleh pada berbagai perlakuan berkisar 3,78- 4,14 dengan rata-rata 3,99, dan untuk uji kadar gula diperoleh 11,75- 14,00 brix. Berdasarkan uji hedonik panelis lebih menyukai selai dari penambahan pektin kakao dan pektin komersil Sedangkan hasil uji deskriptif warna, aroma, rasa dan tekstur menunjukkan bahwa panelis umumnya mendeskripsikan yang memiliki kecenderungan paling sering muncul dari selai nenas yang menggunakan pektin kakao adalah perlakuan A1J4 (jenis pektin kakao, jumlah pektin 3%).Kata kunci :Selai nenas, Pektin kakao, pektin komersial,uji organoleptik hedonik, uji organoleptik deskriptif, kadar air, kadar gula dan pengukuran pH

Psychology from the Islamic perspective. By Aisha Utz. Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2011, pp. 351. ISBN: 978-603-501-108-2 (Paperback)

Psychology from the Islamic Perspective is a long awaited book that helps in satisfying the long quest endured by Muslim psychologists. Quite often, materials in this field are written from secular perspective. The author begins her book by clearly stating its objectives namely, to describe and detail Islamic perspectives on psychology, mental health and well-being, to present a number of contemporary scientific evidences that verify the miracles of the Qur’ān and to further remind readers of the potential for self-transformation that Islam offers. In line with these objectives, the author adopts an analytical and descriptive methodology