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HIV infection affects 37 million people and about 1.7 million are infected annually. Among the phase III clinical trials only the RV144 vaccine trial elicited significant protection against HIV-1 acquisition, but the efficacy and immune memory were inadequate. To boost these vaccine functions we studied T stem cell memory (TSCM) and innate immunity. TSCM cells were identified by phenotypic markers of CD4 + T cells and they were further characterised into 4 subsets. These expressed the common IL-2/IL-15 receptors and another subset of APOBEC3G anti-viral restriction factors, both of which were upregulated. In contrast, CD4 + TSCM cells expressing CCR5 co-receptors and α4β7 mucosal homing integrins were decreased. A parallel increase in CD4 + T cells was recorded with IL-15 receptors, APOBEC3G and CC chemokines, the latter downmodulating CCR5 molecules. We suggest a novel mechanism of dual memory stem cells; the established sequential memory pathway, TSCM →Central →Effector memory CD4 + T cells and the innate pathway consisting of the 4 subsets of TSCM. Both pathways are likely to be activated by endogenous HSP70. The TSCM memory stem cell and innate immunity pathways have to be optimised to boost the efficacy and immune memory of protection against HIV-1 in the clinical trial.

Background: The efficacy by which passive antibodies can reach the lungs could be important for the outcome of immunotherapy of respiratory pulmonary infections. We examined how transmission to a number of mucosal sites is affected by the route of inoculation. Methods: Transmission of newly raised IgA class Mabs against mycobacterial surface antigens to saliva, lung or vaginal lavage, bile and serum of BALB/c mice was compared with existing IgG Mabs. ELISA was used for testing body fluids obtained 1–24 h after intranasal or intravenous inoculation and 1–7 days following back-pack tumour growth of hybridomas. Results: Intranasal inoculation resulted in a rapid rise and high levels of both IgA and IgG class Mabs in lung lavage. In contrast, following intravenous Mab injection or back-pack tumour growth of hybridoma cells, effective lung transmission was observed for the IgG1 and IgG2b MAbs, but not for the IgA Mabs. The secretory component was acquired by the transmitted IgA MAbs in the mucosal fluids, but not in the serum. Nevertheless, the time course of mucosal IgA antibody levels was similar to that of the tested IgG Mabs. Furthermore, the relative proportion of transmission to saliva and bile varied between individual Mabs indicating a role of tissue-specific, immunoglobulin class-unrelated mechanisms. Conclusions: Intranasal, rather than parenteral inoculation of mice is required for the efficient delivery of IgA antibodies against respiratory pulmonary pathogens. Interestingly, IgA-secretory component complexing of intranasally applied Mabs did not significantly influence their persistence in the lungs.

The approach that Saturn took towards its information technology platform was revolutionary at the time: to get out of the business of report generation and into the business of data management. To do that, Saturn had to bridge its various islands of information and provide a seamless connection among all the links of the manufacturing chain. Now, any Saturn employee can use any computer in the manufacturing division to get the information needed to make decisions and share data with colleagues. This level of connectivity has helped to streamline operations and improve overall efficiency, driving Saturn's competitive position in the market. Saturn began the process of integrating its information systems at a time when the concept was relatively new to the manufacturing industry. Consultants and analysts were singing the praises of supply chain management and common technology platforms but few companies were actually practicing it. Early adopters like Saturn came up against significant challenges on both the technology and business fronts. How does the technology solution map to the business? Where does the plant fit into the overall enterprise picture? Can the benefits of an integrated technology system extend to the plant floor? Do the benefits outweigh the initial costs? As Saturn discovered, the benefits of an integrated technology infrastructure are clear. Manufacturing companies can extend seamless connectivity to their customers, suppliers and partners, linking the entire supply chain. Bringing together a number of disparate systems enables employees to track the entire manufacturing process in real time, from ordering parts to implementing design changes according to customer feedback. At the same time, suppliers and partners can access up-to-date information on the status of orders and shipments. As integration extends to the plant, adding another critical link in the supply chain, manufacturing companies will become even more adept at responding to individual needs of customers and unexpected changes in the market.

Ceria is a wide bandgap semiconductor oxide, however, by introducing oxygen vacancies (V o ), the electronic structure of ceria can be precisely tuned, resulting in a narrowed band gap and improved charge transport. Doping with lower-valent cations introduces V o to maintain charge neutrality, thereby imparting robust chemiresistive and semiconducting properties. These vacancies act as active sites for analyte adsorption and are crucial for enhancing sensing performance. In this study, samaria-doped ceria was synthesized using a modified co-precipitation method. Structural analysis such as XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and HR-TEM confirm the formation of cubic fluorite-type structure in all samples. PL and UV–Vis spectroscopy show the enhanced defect levels with increase in Sm doping. XPS validated the presence of Vₒ and the oxidation states of Ce 4+ and Sm 3+ . I-V characterization confirmed the ohmic conductance behaviour, while chemiresistive measurements show selectivity and sensitivity towards acetone. Additionally, kinetic parameters were extracted via Langmuir–Hinshelwood modeling, confirms the importance of oxygen vacancies in acetone sensing. Additionally, DFT based calculation shows that Sm-doping in ceria modulates its electronic structure by Fermi level shifting towards conduction band causing substantial availability of electrons inducing the formation of V o .

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate experimentally the influence of different surface roughness of the contacting disc on tribological performance of the non-asbestos brake friction material (BFM). Design/methodology/approach Taguchi method was applied to design an experiment using three different discs of gray cast iron with different surface roughness, which is measured using optical profilometer. These discs were subjected to sliding against pins prepared with the developed non-asbestos BFM, using pin on disc friction and wear monitor. Findings The experimental results shows that the disc 2 (Ra = 3.77 µm) gives wear of 22.78 µm and coefficient of friction of 0.462, which is recommended for extreme brake performance. Analysis of Taguchi design revealed that the disc surface was most significant parameter among the parameters under study. Practical implications During braking, continuous sliding between the BFM and brake disc or drum not only results into wear of BFM but also changes the surface finish of the brake drum or disc. This leads to variation in surface topography of the drum or disc surface with application of brakes, which further affects the characteristics of the BFM. Originality/value The tribological performance of BFM depends upon the topography of the surface on which it was sliding. To get best performance of the non-asbestos friction materials, disc having moderate surface finish is recommended. Scanning electron microscope micrographs had shown the different plateaus formed and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy spectra identified presence of different chemical elements prior to sliding of the pins surface over different discs surface topography. Peer review The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2020-0120/

Friction lining materials should possess high coefficient of friction at the same time should have high wear resistance. Moreover, it should be stable at elevated temperature encountered due to sliding friction. One has to think of many functional requirements in order to develop a friction material, which gives motivation to optimize the friction materials for multiple objectives. In this work, three variant (CSP0, CSP15 and CSP30) of friction lining materials with nano-coconut shell powder are developed and subjected chase friction testing. Specimen preparation is done at Universal brakes Jalgaon (MS, India) and Chase friction test is conducted at Indian Friction Material Engineering Company, Delhi (India). The results of the test are then used in multi-objective decision making for the selection using Grey Relation Analysis (GRA). It is applied based on the temperature sensitivity performance of Coefficient of friction (CoF) of the specimens, through six different criterions in parallel. It is observed that CSP30 has ranked 1 according to GRA with six criterions.

Purpose Online learning is essential in today’s world. The COVID-19 has resulted in shutting down all the universities across the globe. Countries like India and Turkey (lower-income countries) are suffering a lot in giving the best classroom practice to their students through online mode. The entire way of teaching-learning has changed drastically, and it is a need of an hour. Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay. It is therefore important to understand from student’s perspectives about learning online. The paper systematically surveys the perception of learning online for Indian and Turkan students. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this goal, 594 samples of students (from India and Turkey country) have been taken into considerations, and through statistical measures, the results were analyzed. The set of four research questions comprising of effect of study on COVID-19 pandemic, perception of learning online in COVID-19 pandemic, perception of different genders in learning online and perception of Indians over Turkan students in learning online were analyzed through statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation and so on. Findings The descriptive statistics of various responses across various dimensions (gender, country) reveals that there is no effect in learning online as compared to classroom-based teaching. On the other hand, there is no significant difference in gender and country in learning online. Originality/value Online learning has become crucial in higher education as far as pandemic situation is concerned. Many higher education institutions across different countries are suffering various problems from student point of view. Middle-income countries who are with limited assets and less advancements in higher education need to adhere to certain guidelines in online learning. This empirical study will help to understand the perception of students in online learning across India and Turkey.

Brake is a crucial part of an automobile, whose performance evaluation is always, been an important task industry people are looking for. The evaluation of performance of the brake experimentally is very complex and un-economical for each and every time. This led to development of a model using soft-computing to accurately assess the brake every time. This paper presents development of such a model for drum brake using FEA and experimentally validating it for its feasibility and reliability. An automotive drum brake is chosen for study and a FEA model is developed, deformation characteristics of the brake liner surface is drawn from it and presented in terms of mean nodal height at twenty different points on its surface. The brake liner with available material (composition) is subjected to experimentation using a test set up and its surface wear is measured using a height gauge and a holding fixture. Percentage of wear is evaluated by considering initial height (new surface) and final height (weared surface). The developed FEA model is remarkably close to the exact conditions, which can be confirmed through the experimental results.

Introduction Spontaneous rupture of uterus during pregnancy is a rare occurrence.1,2 The diagnosis is not always obvious and morbidity and maternal and fetal mortality is high.3 We report an unusual case of spontaneous uterine rupture at term with fetal death which was confused on ultrasound with placenta praevia, the diagnosis of rupture being confirmed on CT scan. Laboratory investigations revealed a hemoglobin level of 8.5 grams per deciliter, haematocrit of 28% and a white blood cell count of 21 000 per cubic millimeter. To confirm the findings an urgent non-contrast CT scan was done, which revealed uterine rupture with expulsion of the fetus in the peritoneal cavity; the site of rupture being located anteriorly in the lower segment of the uterus (Figures 3 and 4).

There is a lack of information on the molecular characterization of Ocimum species and hence, efforts have been made under the present study to characterize 17 Ocimum genotypes belonging to 5 different species ( O. basilicum, O. americanum, O. sanctum, O. gratissimum and O. Polystachyon ) through random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers. PCR amplification using 20 RAPD primers generated a total of 506 loci, of which 490 (96.47 %) loci were found polymorphic. The PIC value for RAPD ranged from 0.907 (OPF 14) to 0.954 (OPC 11) with an average of 0.937. The ISSR primers generated a total of 238 loci, of them 234 (98.17 %) loci were polymorphic. The PIC value ranged from 0.892 (UBC 808) to 0.943 (ISSR A12) with an average of 0.923. The average Jaccard’s similarity coefficient based on RAPD and ISSR analysis was 0.58 and 0.52, respectively. Clustering pattern of dendrogram generated using the pooled RAPD and ISSR data showed all Ocimum genotypes in their respective species groups at a cutoff value of 0.49 and 0.42, respectively. Many unique species-specific alleles were amplified by RAPD and ISSR markers. In both marker systems, a maximum number of unique alleles were observed in O. sanctum . The results of the present investigation provided valid guidelines for collection, conservation and characterization of Ocimum genetic resources.