Tolerance to mutations in the foot-and-mouth disease virus integrin-binding RGD region is different in cultured cells and in vivo and depends on the capsid sequence context.

Engineered RNAs carrying substitutions in the integrin receptor-binding Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) region of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) were constructed (aa 141-147 of VP1 capsid protein) and their infectivity was assayed in cultured cells and suckling mice. The effect of these changes was studied in the capsid proteins of two FMDVs, C-S8c1, which enters cells through integrins, and 213hs(-), a derivative highly adapted to cell culture whose ability to infect cells using the glycosaminoglycan heparan sulfate (HS) as receptor, acquired by multiple passage on BHK-21 cells, has been abolished. The capsid sequence context determined infectivity in cultured cells and directed the selection of additional replacements in structural proteins. Interestingly, a viral population derived from a C-S8c1/L144A mutant, carrying only three substitutions in the capsid, was able to expand tropism to wild-type (wt) and mutant (mt)glycosaminoglycan-deficient CHO cells. In contrast, the 213hs(-) capsid tolerated all substitutions analysed with no additional mutations, and the viruses recovered maintained the ability of the 213hs(-) parental virus to infect wt and mt CHO cells. Viruses derived from C-S8c1 with atypical RGD regions were virulent and transmissible for mice with no other changes in the capsid. Substitution of Asp143 for Ala in the C-S8c1 capsid eliminated infectivity in cultured cells and mice. Co-inoculation with a neutralizing monoclonal antibody directed against the type C FMDV RGD region abolished infectivity of C-S8c1 virus on suckling mice, suggesting that FMDV can infect mice using integrins. Sequence requirements imposed for viral entry in vitro and in vivo are discussed

Alvira : comparative genomics of viral strains

The Alvira tool is a general purpose multiple sequence alignment viewer with a special emphasis on the comparative analysis of viral genomes. This new tool has been devised specifically to address the problem of the simultaneous analysis of a large number of viral strains. The multiple alignment is embedded in a graph that can be explored at different levels of resolution

System Reliability Evaluation Using Concurrent Multi-Level Simulation of Structural Faults

This paper provides a methodology that leverages state-of-the-art techniques for efficient fault simulation of structural faults together with transaction level modeling. This way it is possible to accurately evaluate the impact of the faults on the entire hardware/software syste

NAWIG News: The Quarterly Newsletter of the Native American Wind Interest Group, Spring 2008

The United States is home to more than 700 American Indian tribes and Native Alaska villages and corporations located on 96 million acres. Many of these tribes and villages have excellent wind resources that could be commercially developed to meet their electricity needs or for electricity export. The Wind Powering America program engages Native Americans in wind energy development, and as part of that effort, the NAWIG newsletter informs readers of events in the Native American/wind energy community. This issue features an interview with Steven J. Morello, director of DOE's newly formed Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, and a feature on the newly installed Vestas V-47 turbine at Turtle Mountain Community College

Efficient Simulation of Structural Faults for the Reliability Evaluation at System-Level

In recent technology nodes, reliability is considered a part of the standard design ¿ow at all levels of embedded system design. While techniques that use only low-level models at gate- and register transfer-level offer high accuracy, they are too inefficient to consider the overall application of the embedded system. Multi-level models with high abstraction are essential to efficiently evaluate the impact of physical defects on the system. This paper provides a methodology that leverages state-of-the-art techniques for efficient fault simulation of structural faults together with transaction-level modeling. This way it is possible to accurately evaluate the impact of the faults on the entire hardware/software system. A case study of a system consisting of hardware and software for image compression and data encryption is presented and the method is compared to a standard gate/RT mixed-level approac

Datana drexelii (Lepidoptera: Notododontidae) occurrence and larval survival on highbush blueberry cultivars

Plant genotype influences plant suitability to herbivores; domesticated plants selected for properties such as high fruit yield may be particularly vulnerable to herbivory. Cultivated strains of highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L. can be high-quality hosts for larvae of the gregariously-feeding notodontid Datana drexelii (Hy. Edwards). We conducted an experiment assessing D. drexelii larval survival and pupal weight when fed foliage from five blueberry cultivars: ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Bluetta’, ‘Blueray’, ‘Lateblue’, and ‘Jersey’. We complemented this experimental work with repeated bush-level surveys of a managed blueberry patch for naturally occurring D. drexelii larval clusters. Larval survival and pupal weight were significantly higher on ‘Lateblue’ foliage than from the ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Bluetta’, and ‘Jersey’ cultivars. The blueberry patch surveys found more D. drexelii larval clusters on ‘Bluehaven’, ‘Collins’, and ‘Darrow’ bushes than on the cultivars ‘Earliblue’ and ‘Jersey’. The low D. drexelii occurrence and performance on the ‘Jersey’ cultivar suggests that this variety may be appropriate for areas where this pest is common; conversely, their high occurrence on ‘Bluehaven’ ‘Collins’, and ‘Darrow’ suggests that these cultivars may be particularly vulnerable. Cultivar-level variation in herbivore vulnerability highlights how understanding plant-pest interactions can help manage agricultural species

Anomaly detection and mode identification in multimode processes using the field Kalman filter

A process plant can have multiple modes of operation due to varying demand, availability of resources or the fundamental design of a process. Each of these modes is considered as normal operation. Anomalies in the process are characterised as deviations away from normal operation. Such anomalies can be indicative of developing faults which, if left unresolved, can lead to failures and unplanned downtime. The Field Kalman Filter (FKF) is a model-based approach, which is adopted in this paper for monitoring a multimode process. Previously, the FKF has been applied in process monitoring to differentiate normal operation from known faulty modes of operation. This paper extends the FKF so that it may detect occurrences of anomalies and differentiate them from the various normal modes of operation. A method is proposed for offline training an FKF monitoring model and on-line monitoring. The off-line part comprises training an FKF model based on Multivariate Autoregressive State-Space (MARSS) models fitted to historical process data. A monitoring indicator is also introduced. On-line monitoring, on the basis of the FKF for anomaly detection and mode identification, is demonstrated using a simulated multimode process. The performance of the proposed method is also demonstrated using data obtained from a pilot scale multiphase flow facility. The results show that the method can be applied successfully for anomaly detection and mode identification

Experiences of gender-based violence in women asylum seekers from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala

Introduction: Every year, thousands of women flee gender-based violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala (sometimes collectively referred to as the Northern Triangle) in an attempt to seek asylum in the United States. Once in the United States, their legal teams may refer them for a psychological evaluation as part of their application for asylum. Licensed clinicians conduct in-depth interviews in order to document the psychological impact of the reported human rights violations. Method: Using archival de-identified data from a human rights program, this study gathered the experiences of gender-based violence reported by 70 asylum-seeking women from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala who participated in pro bono psychological evaluation. Descriptive data were analyzed using a modified consensual qualitative research (CQR-M) method.Results: These asylum seekers reported exposure to systemic violence, including severe intimate partner violence, as well as physical and sexual assaults, and threats of death by organized criminal groups in their communities. Additionally, over a third of women reported experiences of violence during their migration. The majority of asylum seekers endorsed symptoms associated with anxiety (80%) and depression (91%), as well as trauma-and stressor-related symptoms (80%). Discussion: The results of this study elucidate the manyforms of gender-based violence experienced by women in this region, the physical and psychological sequelae of this persecution, and the systemic forces that prevent them from remaining in their countries of origin. The research results also highlight the potential impact of trauma on the women’s ability to testify effectively during asylum legal hearings, elucidate factors that may contribute to their resilience in light of the human rights violations they survived, and suggest implications for clinical practice