Previously, the changes in phagocyte functions such as adherence, chemotaxis or TNFa production were found to be associated with oxidative stress in endotoxin-induced septic shock. However, in this type of oxidative stress the lymphocyte involvement has rarely been studied. In the present report, we analyzed the above functions in peritoneal lymphocytes from male and female BALB/c mice with a lethal endotoxic shock caused by intraperitoneal injection of E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (100 mg/kg), male and female Swiss mice with lethal endotoxic shock caused by intraperitoneal injection of LPS (150 and 250 mg/kg, respectively) or non-lethal endotoxic shock (100 mg/kg). In peritoneal lymphocytes obtained at 0, 2, 4, 12 or 24 h after LPS injection, the first two functions of these cells in the immune response, i.e. adherence to tissues and directed migration (chemotaxis), were studied. At 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 4, 12 and 24 h after LPS injection, TNFa released by lymphocytes was also analyzed. The results show that endotoxic shock increases the adherence and TNFa release, and decreases the chemotaxis of peritoneal lymphocytes. These changes were more significant in mice with lethal than with non-lethal endotoxic shock, a fact that confirms the important role of lymphocytes during endotoxic shock., V. M. Víctor, D. Rubio, M. De la Fuente., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Increase of harmful radiation to the Earth’s surface due to ozone depletion results in higher exposure to harmful ultraviolet- B radiation (UV), while fluctuations in seawater salinity may alter water density, ionic concentration, nutrient uptake, and osmotic pressure. This study evaluated the effects of salinity and UV on metabolism and morphology of Acanthophora spicifera (M.Vahl) Børgesen. Water with 30 and 37 psu [g(salt) kg-1(sea water)] was used for experiments during 7 d of exposure to UV (3 h per day). We demonstrated that UV treatment predisposed, irrespective of salinity, A. spicifera to a decrease in its growth rate and cell viability, as well as affected its morphological parameters. After exposure to PAR + UVA + UVB (PAB), samples showed structural changes and damage, such as increasing cell wall thickness and chloroplast disruption. Our results indicate that UV led to dramatic metabolic changes and cellular imbalances, but more remarkable changes were seen in samples exposed to high salinity., D. T. Pereira, C. Simioni, L. C. Ouriques, F. Ramlov, M. Maraschin, N. Steiner, F. Chow, Z. L. Bouzon, É. C. Schmidt., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The epidermis of the amphibious mudskipper fish, Boleophthalmus pectinirostris, consists of three layers: the outermost layer, middle layer and stratum germinativum. The outermost layer consists of polygonal cells or rather flattened cells arranged in one to eight layers. In between these cells, round small cells and mucous cells are present. The round small cells are ovoid to round with an inclusion of fine granules, which are weakly positive to acid chemical reaction. The mucous cells are predominantly acid mucopolysaccharide in nature. The middle layer consists of 1 to 50 layers of small or voluminous cells swollen by epidermal cells. Owing to various sizes and layers of the swollen cell, the middle layer shows a web-like structure. The stratum germinativum consists of a single layer of cuboidal cells, or more or less columnar cells. A dermal bulge is located at each apical area of the epidermis of the body regions, but does not exist in all the fins or in the sucking disc. In the epidermis of the body regions, the dermal bulges are sparsely occupied by dermal tissue and have dermal capillaries just beneath the stratum germinativum. The value of the diffusion distance is the lowest in the top of the head (mean 5.5 μm) and the highest in the ventral region (mean 44.3 μm).
The posterior attachment organ (sucker) of Temnocephala sp. is located ventrally attached to the posterior end of the body by a well defined stalk; those of Udonella caligorum Johnston and Anoplodiscus cirrusspiralis Roubal, Armitage et Rohde are extensions of the posterior end facing posteriorly. In Philophthalmus, the sucker is ventrally embedded in the main body. The sucker of Temnocephala is lined by an epidermis, its ventral part separated from the adjacent epidermis by a septate junction. The epidermis resembles that of the body proper, containing nuclei and numerous dense bodies, its surface enlarged by short microvilli, traversed by glandular ducts of two types and by sensory receptors, and based on a basal lamina with a thick underlying fibrous matrix. The stalk of the sucker contains many muscle fibres extending from the main body into the sucker. The posterior surface of the sucker of Udonella is separated from the adjacent tegument by a septate junction; it consists of numerous microvilli arising from the basal lamina and does not represent a tegument; glandular ducts of two types open through it, and muscle fibres extend from the body proper into the sucker. The posterior surface of the sucker of Anoplodiscus consists of a thin tegument not separated from the adjacent tegument by a septate junction, drawn out into a very large number of densely packed, long microvilli, some branching from a thick cross-striated base; large glandular ducts open postero-laterally. The ventral sucker of Philophthalmus is embedded in the body proper but clearly bounded by a “capsule” of basal lamina; it is lined by a tegument continuous with that of the main body and lacking microvilli except in a small band around the ventral sucker opening. There is no evidence from ultrastructure that the stickers of the four taxa are homologous. Since there is no convincing other evidence for the homology of the posterior attachment organs of the major groups of parasitic Platyhelminthes (Neodermata) and the Temnocephalida, a “cercomer theory” assuming such homology cannot be accepted as proven.
The paper deals with practical aspects of decision making under uncertainty on finite sets. The model is based on {\em marginal problem}. Numerical behaviour of 10 different algorithms is compared in form of a study case on the data from the field of rheumatology. (Five of the algorithms types were suggested by A. Perez.) The algorithms (expert systems, inference engines) are studied in different {\em situations} (combinations of parameters).
This paper makes a plea for a new form of international comparative housing research, in which not countries (national housing regimes) but cities or regions (local housing regimes) are the unit of analysis. Why do we need such a new comparative research approach? How can a local housing regime be conceptualised? By answering these questions, the paper attempts to lay the conceptual foundation for international comparative housing research 2.0.
Monitoring changes in populations is fundamental for effective management. The West European hedgehog (Erinaceus europeaus) is of conservation concern in the UK because of recent substantial declines. Surveying hedgehogs is, however, problematic because of their nocturnal, cryptic behaviour. We compared the effectiveness of three methods (infra-red thermal camera, specialist search dog, spotlight) for detecting hedgehogs in three different habitats. Significantly more hedgehogs were detected, and at greater distance, using the camera and dog than the spotlight in amenity grassland and pasture; no hedgehogs were detected in woodland. Increasing ground cover reduced detection distances, with most detections (59.6%) associated with bare soil or mown grass; the dog was the only method that detected hedgehogs in vegetation taller than the target species' height. The additional value of surveying with a detection dog is most likely to be realised in areas where badgers (Meles meles), an intra-guild predator, are and/or where sufficient ground cover is present; both would allow hedgehogs to forage further from refuge habitats such as hedgerows. Further consideration of the effectiveness of detection dogs for finding hedgehogs in nests, as well as developing techniques for monitoring this species in woodland, is warranted.
Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has been considered a powerful method for GNSS data processing. The essential input products, such as precise satellite orbits and clocks, are provided within the International GNSS Service (IGS) with a sufficient quality for estimating receiver coordinates with centimeter level accuracy. However, the IGS satellite clocks enable users to estimate ambiguities only as float values. An additional product for satellite phase biases is necessary for an integer ambiguity resolution (PPP AR). Another approach is the backward smoothing algorithm utilizing already precise and converged parameters for improving those parameters estimated at previous epochs. All the three approaches for ambiguity estimation are compared and assessed in terms of advantages and disadvantages, achieved coordinates precision, and flexibility. The comparison are performed through a processing of GNSS data from selected IGS permanent stations during 30 days in 2018, and a processing of high rate GNSS observations of the station STRF in Greece collected during the seismic event occurred on October 25, 2018. The backward smoothing improved the float solution similarly like the PPP AR, and therefore can be considered an alternative approach providing easier implementation and no dependency on additional satellites products. We utilized two different products for phase biases in the PPP AR, namely Integer Recovery Clocks (IRC) provided by the Centre National d’Études Spatiales/Collecte Localisation Satellites (CNES/CLS) analyses center and Fractional Cycle Biases (FCB) which were estimated at the Geodetic Observatory Pecny (GOP) analyses. The IRC is based on the assimilation phase biases into satellite clocks, while the FCB products are distributed in terms of wide-lane and narrow-lane biases. A similar accuracy obtained from our comparison indicates an interoperability of products when using different strategies and even different software.
Groundwater and surface water interaction play an important role for groundwater recharge, drought management and water quality issues. Based on a case study in Lower Austria different techniques for estimation of riverbed infiltration were applied. The aim was to assess the impact of upstream release flow directions for the downstream sections. Due to the fact of large streambed conductivities, infiltration losses considerably contribute to the water balance of the system. The applied methods dealt with empirical infiltration formulas based on sediment particle size distribution, soil physical analysis, difference discharge measurements along river branches and point measurements of infiltration by means of double ring infiltrometer and riverbed lysimeter. Awaring the fact that the infiltration processes vary in space and time the gained results formed a basis for definition of potential values of infiltration. It could be concluded, that for the investigated environment the different methods exhibited comparable results with the exception of the empirical formulas, which tend to significantly overestimate the average values. and Vzájemná interakce povrchové a podzemní vody je velmi důležitá pro hodnocení zdrojů podzemních vod, hospodaření s vodou a její kvalitu. Na základě zkušeností s řešením projektu v Dolním Rakousku byly použity pro odhad infiltrace říčním korytem dále uvedené metody. Cílem řešení bylo mimo jiné stanovit vliv průtoku a směru pohybu vody v horní části toku na profily v spodní části toku. Vzhledem k vysoké hydraulické vodivosti dna toku se ztráty infiltrací výrazně podílejí na vodní bilanci systému. Pro odhad infiltrace byly použity jednak empirické rovnice (na základě granulometrického složení), fyzikální rozbory půdních vzorků, terénní lysimetrická měření ve dně toku a ''bodová'' měření dvouválcovou metodou. Uvážíme-li, že infiltrace je časově a prostorově proměnná, dosažené výsledky jsou základem pro určení potenciální hodnoty infiltrace. Závěrem je možno konstatovat, že v daných podmínkách použité metody poskytly srovnatelné výsledky, s výjimkou empirických rovnic, jejichž výsledky byly systematicky řádově vyšší.
In this study Active Learning Method (ALM) as a novel fuzzy modeling approach is compared with optimized Support Vector Machine (SVM) using simple Genetic Algorithm (GA), as a well known datadriven model for long term simulation of daily streamflow in Karoon River. The daily discharge data from 1991 to 1996 and from 1996 to 1999 were utilized for training and testing of the models, respectively. Values of the Nash-Sutcliffe, Bias, R2 , MPAE and PTVE of ALM model with 16 fuzzy rules were 0.81, 5.5 m3 s -1, 0.81, 12.9%, and 1.9%, respectively. Following the same order of parameters, these criteria for optimized SVM model were 0.8, -10.7 m3 s-1, 0.81, 7.3%, and -3.6%, respectively. The results show appropriate and acceptable simulation by ALM and optimized SVM. Optimized SVM is a well-known method for runoff simulation and its capabilities have been demonstrated. Therefore, the similarity between ALM and optimized SVM results imply the ability of ALM for runoff modeling. In addition, ALM training is easier and more straightforward than the training of many other data driven models such as optimized SVM and it is able to identify and rank the effective input variables for the runoff modeling. According to the results of ALM simulation and its abilities and properties, it has merit to be introduced as a new modeling method for the runoff modeling. and Cieľom štúdie bolo porovnať možnosti dlhodobej simulácie denných prietokov v rieke Karoon pomocou novovyvinutej fuzzy metódy aktívneho učenia (Active Learning Method - ALM) a známej metódy vektormi podporených strojov (Support Vector Machine - SVM), optimalizovanej genetickým algoritmom (GA). Na tréning a testovanie modelov boli použité časové rady denných prietokov za obdobie rokov 1991 až 1996 a 1996 až 1999. Hodnoty parametrov Nash-Sutcliffe, Bias, R2 , MPAE a PTVE pre model ALM boli 0,81; 5,5 m3 s-1; 0,81; 12,9% a 1,9%. Parametre v tom istom poradí pre model SVM boli 0,8 -10,7 m3 s-1, 0,81; 7,3%; a -3,6%. Z výsledkov simulácií vyplýva, že aplikáciou metód ALM a SVM možno získať porovnateľné a akceptovateľné výsledky. Podobnosť výsledkov medzi ALM a SVM implikuje vhodnosť novovyvinutej metódy ALM pre simuláciu odtoku. Tréning ALM je ľahší a jednoduchší ako je tréning ďalších dátami riadených modelov podobného typu. Navyše algoritmus ALM je schopný identifikovať a zoradiť efektívne vstupné premenné pre modelovanie odtoku. Na základe dosiahnutých výsledkov možno metódu ALM zaradiť medzi nové, alternatívne metódy modelovania odtoku.