Future Logistics: What to Expect, How to Adapt

As a result of global societal and economic as well as technological developments logistics and supply chains face unprecedented challenges. Climate change, the need for more sustainable products and processes, major political changes, the advance of “Industry 4.0” and cyber-physical system are some of the challenges that require radical solutions, but also present major opportunities. The authors argue that logistics has to reinvent itself, not only to address these chal-lenges but also to cope with mass individualization on the one hand while exploit-ing broad-fielded business applications of artificial intelligence on the other hand. An essential challenge will be to find a compromise between these two develop-ments – in line and in combination with the known triple-bottom line for sustaina-bility – that will define supply chains and logistics concepts of the future

Coverage, Continuity and Visual Cortical Architecture

The primary visual cortex of many mammals contains a continuous representation of visual space, with a roughly repetitive aperiodic map of orientation preferences superimposed. It was recently found that orientation preference maps (OPMs) obey statistical laws which are apparently invariant among species widely separated in eutherian evolution. Here, we examine whether one of the most prominent models for the optimization of cortical maps, the elastic net (EN) model, can reproduce this common design. The EN model generates representations which optimally trade of stimulus space coverage and map continuity. While this model has been used in numerous studies, no analytical results about the precise layout of the predicted OPMs have been obtained so far. We present a mathematical approach to analytically calculate the cortical representations predicted by the EN model for the joint mapping of stimulus position and orientation. We find that in all previously studied regimes, predicted OPM layouts are perfectly periodic. An unbiased search through the EN parameter space identifies a novel regime of aperiodic OPMs with pinwheel densities lower than found in experiments. In an extreme limit, aperiodic OPMs quantitatively resembling experimental observations emerge. Stabilization of these layouts results from strong nonlocal interactions rather than from a coverage-continuity-compromise. Our results demonstrate that optimization models for stimulus representations dominated by nonlocal suppressive interactions are in principle capable of correctly predicting the common OPM design. They question that visual cortical feature representations can be explained by a coverage-continuity-compromise.Comment: 100 pages, including an Appendix, 21 + 7 figure

Cross-modal visuo-haptic mental rotation: comparing objects between senses

The simple experience of a coherent percept while looking and touching an object conceals an intriguing issue: different senses encode and compare information in different modality-specific reference frames. We addressed this problem in a cross-modal visuo-haptic mental rotation task. Two objects in various orientations were presented at the same spatial location, one visually and one haptically. Participants had to identify the objects as same or different. The relative angle between viewing direction and hand orientation was manipulated (Aligned versus Orthogonal). In an additional condition (Delay), a temporal delay was introduced between haptic and visual explorations while the viewing direction and the hand orientation were orthogonal to each other. Whereas the phase shift of the response time function was close to 0° in the Aligned condition, we observed a consistent phase shift in the hand’s direction in the Orthogonal condition. A phase shift, although reduced, was also found in the Delay condition. Counterintuitively, these results mean that seen and touched objects do not need to be physically aligned for optimal performance to occur. The present results suggest that the information about an object is acquired in separate visual and hand-centered reference frames, which directly influence each other and which combine in a time-dependent manner

Measurement of Exclusive B Decays to Final States Containing a Charmed Baryon

Using data collected by the CLEO detector in the Upsilon(4S) region, we report new measurements of the exclusive decays of B mesons into final states of the type Lambda_c^+ p-bar n(pi), where n=0,1,2,3. We find signals in modes with one, two and three pions and an upper limit for the two body decay Lambda_c^+ pbar. We also make the first measurements of exclusive decays of B mesons to Sigma_c p-bar n(pi), where n=0,1,2. We find signals in modes with one and two pions and an upper limit for the two body decay Sigma_c p-bar. Measurements of these modes shed light on the mechanisms involved in B decays to baryons.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR

Hepatitis B vaccinations among Koreans: Results from 2005 Korea National Cancer Screening Survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Liver cancer is one of most commonly diagnosed cancers among Koreans. Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk factor for liver cancer. HBV infection can be prevented by effective screening and vaccination programs. The purpose of this study is to examine the status of HBV infection and the predictors associated with HBV vaccination.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study population was derived from the 2005 Korea National Cancer Screening Survey (KNCSS). The KNCSS is an annual cross-sectional survey that uses a nationally-representative random sampling to investigate cancer screening rates. A total of 1,786 Koreans over 40 years of age participated in this study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of all the participants, 5.9% reported HBV positive (HBsAg+, HBsAb-), 41.8% were HBV negative but protected (HBsAg-, HBsAb+), and 52.3% were unprotected (HBsAg-, HBsAb-). Among unprotected individuals (n = 934), 23.1% reported to have received the vaccination. About half of those who had vaccinations completed the 3-shot vaccine series. In multiple analyses, education, having private cancer insurance, alcohol use, having regular check-up, and doing regular exercise were associated with completed HBV vaccination.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study result suggests that we need a liver cancer education program to increase HBV awareness and to increase the liver cancer prevention message among low educated populations.</p

Characterization of mercury bioremediation by transgenic bacteria expressing metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of transgenic bacteria has been proposed as a suitable alternative for mercury remediation. Ideally, mercury would be sequestered by metal-scavenging agents inside transgenic bacteria for subsequent retrieval. So far, this approach has produced limited protection and accumulation. We report here the development of a transgenic system that effectively expresses metallothionein (<it>mt-1</it>) and polyphosphate kinase (<it>ppk</it>) genes in bacteria in order to provide high mercury resistance and accumulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, bacterial transformation with transcriptional and translational enhanced vectors designed for the expression of metallothionein and polyphosphate kinase provided high transgene transcript levels independent of the gene being expressed. Expression of polyphosphate kinase and metallothionein in transgenic bacteria provided high resistance to mercury, up to 80 μM and 120 μM, respectively. Here we show for the first time that metallothionein can be efficiently expressed in bacteria without being fused to a carrier protein to enhance mercury bioremediation. Cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry analyzes revealed that the <it>mt-1 </it>transgenic bacteria accumulated up to 100.2 ± 17.6 μM of mercury from media containing 120 μM Hg. The extent of mercury remediation was such that the contaminated media remediated by the <it>mt-1 </it>transgenic bacteria supported the growth of untransformed bacteria. Cell aggregation, precipitation and color changes were visually observed in <it>mt-1 </it>and <it>ppk </it>transgenic bacteria when these cells were grown in high mercury concentrations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The transgenic bacterial system described in this study presents a viable technology for mercury bioremediation from liquid matrices because it provides high mercury resistance and accumulation while inhibiting elemental mercury volatilization. This is the first report that shows that metallothionein expression provides mercury resistance and accumulation in recombinant bacteria. The high accumulation of mercury in the transgenic cells could present the possibility of retrieving the accumulated mercury for further industrial applications.</p

Health Disparities Between Appalachian and Non-Appalachian Counties in Virginia USA

The examination of health disparities among people within Appalachian counties compared to people living in other counties is needed to find ways to strategically target improvements in community health in the United States of America (USA). Methods: A telephone survey of a random sample of adults living in households within communities of all counties of the state of Virginia (VA) in the USA was conducted. Findings: Health status was poorer among those in communities within Appalachian counties in VA and health insurance did not make a difference. Health perception was significantly worse in residents within communities in Appalachian counties compared to non-Appalachian community residents (30.5 vs. 17.4% rated their health status as poor/fair), and was worse even among those with no chronic diseases. Within communities in Appalachian counties, black residents report significantly better health perception than do white residents. Conclusion: Residents living in communities in Appalachian counties in VA are not receiving adequate health care, even among those with health insurance. More research with a larger ethnic minority sample is needed to investigate the racial/ethnic disparities in self-reported health and health care utilization within communities

Knowing the enemy: ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires

Ant control is difficult in systems even where a variety of control strategies and compounds are allowed; in sensitive places such as hospitals, where there are often restrictions on the methods and toxicants to be applied, the challenge is even greater. Here we report the methods and results of how we faced this challenge of controlling ants in a pediatric hospital using baits. Our strategy was based on identifying the species present and analyzing their behavior. On the one hand, we evaluated outdoors in the green areas of the hospital, the relative abundance of ant genera, their food preferences and the behavioral dominances. On the other hand, control treatments were performed using separately two boron compounds added to sucrose solution which was not highly concentrated to avoid constrains due to the viscosity. Most of the species in the food preference test accepted sugary food; only one species was recorded to visit it less than the protein foods. This result was consistent with the efficacy of control treatments by sugary baits within the rooms. For species that showed good acceptance of sugar solutions in the preference test outdoors, sugar bait control indoors was 100& effective. Conversely, for the only species that foraged significantly less on sugar food, the bait treatment was ineffective. This work reveals the importance of considering the behavior and feeding preferences of the species to be controlled by toxic baits.Fil: Josens, Roxana Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Sola, Francisco Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Marchisio, Nahuel Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Di Renzo, María Agostina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio del Grupo de Estudio de Insectos Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Giacometti, Alina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentin

The Earliest Post-Paleozoic Freshwater Bivalves Preserved in Coprolites from the Karoo Basin, South Africa

Background: Several clades of bivalve molluscs have invaded freshwaters at various times throughout Phanerozoic history. The most successful freshwater clade in the modern world is the Unionoida. Unionoids arose in the Triassic Period, sometime after the major extinction event at the End-Permian boundary and are now widely distributed across all continents except Antarctica. Until now, no freshwater bivalves of any kind were known to exist in the Early Triassic. Principal Findings: Here we report on a faunule of two small freshwater bivalve species preserved in vertebrate coprolites from the Olenekian (Lower Triassic) of the Burgersdorp Formation of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Positive identification of these bivalves is not possible due to the limited material. Nevertheless they do show similarities with Unionoida although they fall below the size range of extant unionoids. Phylogenetic analysis is not possible with such limited material and consequently the assignment remains somewhat speculative. Conclusions: Bivalve molluscs re-invaded freshwaters soon after the End-Permian extinction event, during the earliest part of the recovery phase during the Olenekian Stage of the Early Triassic. If the specimens do represent unionoids then these Early Triassic examples may be an example of the Lilliput effect. Since the oldest incontrovertible freshwater unionoids are also from sub-Saharan Africa, it is possible that this subcontinent hosted the initial freshwater radiation of the Unionoida. This find also demonstrates the importance of coprolites as microenvironments of exceptional preservation that contai

A prospective longitudinal study of Pasireotide in Nelson's syndrome

PURPOSE: Nelson's syndrome is a challenging condition that can develop following bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing's disease, with high circulating ACTH levels, pigmentation and an invasive pituitary tumor. There is no established medical therapy. The aim of the study was to assess the effects of pasireotide on plasma ACTH and tumor volume in Nelson's syndrome. METHODS: Open labeled multicenter longitudinal trial in three steps: (1) a placebo-controlled acute response test; (2) 1 month pasireotide 300-600 μg s.c. twice-daily; (3) 6 months pasireotide long-acting-release (LAR) 40-60 mg monthly. RESULTS: Seven patients had s.c. treatment and 5 proceeded to LAR treatment. There was a significant reduction in morning plasma ACTH during treatment (mean ± SD; 1823 ± 1286 ng/l vs. 888.0 ± 812.8 ng/l during the s.c. phase vs. 829.0 ± 1171 ng/l during the LAR phase, p < 0.0001). Analysis of ACTH levels using a random intercept linear mixed-random effects longitudinal model showed that ACTH (before the morning dose of glucocorticoids) declined significantly by 26.1 ng/l per week during the 28-week of treatment (95% CI - 45.2 to - 7.1, p < 0.01). An acute response to a test dose predicted outcome in 4/5 patients. Overall, there was no significant change in tumor volumes (1.4 ± 0.9 vs. 1.3 ± 1.0, p = 0.86). Four patients withdrew during the study. Hyperglycemia occurred in 6 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Pasireotide lowers plasma ACTH levels in patients with Nelson's syndrome. A longer period of treatment may be needed to assess the effects of pasireotide on tumor volume. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials.gov ID, NCT01617733