Proceedings for the 10th International Symposium on Poisonous Plants (ISOPP).

The 10th International Symposium on Poisonous Plants (ISOPP) was held on September 16-20, 2018 at the Red Lion Conference Center in St. George, Utah, USA. The meeting was truly international with 55 attendees from across the globe. The attendees were a diverse mix of research scientists, academicians, students, veterinarians, private industry representatives, extension agents and government regulators. Dr. Joseph Betz, Acting Director of the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institutes of Health, was the plenary speaker for the symposium, wherein he spoke regarding the safety of botanical supplements. There were six sessions of oral presentations including sessions on Global Perspectives on Poisonous Plants, Natural Toxins and the Systems They Affect, Emerging Poisonous Plant Problems, Diagnostics, and Advances in Research. Two posters sessions provided a great opportunity for interaction and discussion. The highlight of the meeting was an evening banquet whereupon Drs. Anthony Knight, Kip Panter, Steven Colegate, and Franklin Riet-Correa were honored with the ISOPP Lifetime Achievement Award. These four individuals dedicated their scientific careers to studying poisonous plants. They were also key players in many of the previous ISOPPs. There was also time for networking and socializing during a bus tour of Southern Utah / Northern Arizona to observe the natural plant communities in these areas as well as during a Dutch oven dessert social one evening. We are already looking forward to the next ISOPP, which is going to be held at the veterinary school campus in Lyon, France in July of 2021 or 2022. Stay tuned for further developments. We hope to see you all there

The Development of a Comprehensive Logistics and Transportation Software Technology Survey Instrument

In this paper, we developed a comprehensive survey instrument that will be distributed to the leading U.S. Logistics and Transportation schools. We describe the specific procedures that were followed to build the preliminary version of our survey. We hope that this survey will help the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida learn about the leading software technology adoption patterns at our peer institutions

Engineering Agile Big-Data Systems

To be effective, data-intensive systems require extensive ongoing customisation to reflect changing user requirements, organisational policies, and the structure and interpretation of the data they hold. Manual customisation is expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. In large complex systems, the value of the data can be such that exhaustive testing is necessary before any new feature can be added to the existing design. In most cases, the precise details of requirements, policies and data will change during the lifetime of the system, forcing a choice between expensive modification and continued operation with an inefficient design.Engineering Agile Big-Data Systems outlines an approach to dealing with these problems in software and data engineering, describing a methodology for aligning these processes throughout product lifecycles. It discusses tools which can be used to achieve these goals, and, in a number of case studies, shows how the tools and methodology have been used to improve a variety of academic and business systems

Engineering Agile Big-Data Systems

To be effective, data-intensive systems require extensive ongoing customisation to reflect changing user requirements, organisational policies, and the structure and interpretation of the data they hold. Manual customisation is expensive, time-consuming, and error-prone. In large complex systems, the value of the data can be such that exhaustive testing is necessary before any new feature can be added to the existing design. In most cases, the precise details of requirements, policies and data will change during the lifetime of the system, forcing a choice between expensive modification and continued operation with an inefficient design.Engineering Agile Big-Data Systems outlines an approach to dealing with these problems in software and data engineering, describing a methodology for aligning these processes throughout product lifecycles. It discusses tools which can be used to achieve these goals, and, in a number of case studies, shows how the tools and methodology have been used to improve a variety of academic and business systems

Bioresorbable Film for the Prevention of Adhesion to the Anterior Spine After Anterolateral Discectomy

Background context The development of scar tissue and adhesions postoperatively is a natural consequence of healing but can be associated with medical complications and render reoperation difficult. Many biocompatible products have been evaluated as barriers or deterrents to adhesions. Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of a bioresorbable polylactide film as a barrier to adhesion formation after anterolateral discectomy. Study design Experimental study. Methods Seven, skeletally mature female sheep underwent a retroperitoneal approach to the anterolateral lumbar spine. A discectomy was performed at two levels with an intervening unoperated disc site. One site was treated with a polylactide film barrier (Hydrosorb Shield; MacroPore Biosurgery, San Diego, CA) affixed with tacks manufactured from the same material. The second site was left untreated. Treatment and control sites were randomly assigned. Postmortem analysis included scar tenacity scoring on five spines and histological evaluation on two spines. Results The application of the Hydrosorb film barrier allowed a definite dissection plane during scar tenacity scoring and there was a significant difference in the development of adhesions to the disc between the control and treated sites. Histological evaluation revealed evidence of barrier formation to scar tissue and no significant adverse inflammatory reactions. Conclusions Hydrosorb Shield appears to be an effective postoperative barrier to scar tissue adhesion after anterolateral discectomy. The use of polylactide tacks was beneficial to affix the barrier film in place. Safety issues associated with delayed healing or adverse response to the film or tacks were not observed. Hydrosorb film may be useful as an antiadhesion barrier facilitating dissection during surgical revision in anterior approaches to the spine. Further studies are indicated to evaluate the performance of the bioresorbable material as an antiadhesion barrier in techniques of spinal fusion and disc replacement