Development of an Amplicon-Based Next-Generation Sequencing Protocol to Identify Leishmania Species and Other Trypanosomatids in Leishmaniasis Endemic Areas

Traditionally, there has been a frequent, yet incorrect assumption that phlebotomine vectors, animal reservoirs, and human hosts are susceptible to Leishmania infection by a single parasite species. However, current evidence supports that these new vector-parasite-reservoir associations lend vectors and reservoirs greater permissiveness to certain Leishmania species, thus promoting the appearance of coinfection events, particularly in disease-endemic regions.

There is nothing to identity

Several have denied that there is, specifically, a criterion of identity for persons and some deny that there are, for any kind, diachronic criteria of identity. I argue, however, that there are no criteria of identity, either synchronic or diachronic, for any kind whatsoever (and could be none). I begin by elaborating the notion of a criterion of identity in order to clarify what exactly is being denied when I maintain there are none. I examine the motivation of those who qualify in some way the general claim that there are synchronic and diachronic criteria of identity for every kind, then present my direct and categorical argument against such criteria. I next evaluate the objections of those who argue that rejecting criteria of identity has untenable results. These objections are ineffective, each based on the incorrect assumption that if there is no criterion of identity for a kind, the identity of an instance of that kind is independent of its qualities. I conclude by considering some of the upshots of rejecting criteria of identity and the insight doing so provides into things in general and the limits of ontological inquiry.

A synopsis of Plagiocheilus (Compositae: Astereae)

SummaryA synopsis of Plagiocheilus (Compositae: Astereae) is provided, giving full synonymy, type citations and the location of known types, together with relevant notes and commentary, and the currently accepted distribution of each taxon; the distribution of taxa is also tabulated. Six species are recognised, one containing three subspecies. A key to species is presented. One author citation is corrected following an incorrect assumption by de Candolle when describing Plagiocheilus tanacetoides. The synonymy of Polygyne inconspicua, under Eclipta prostrata, is précised once again. An index to names associated with Plagiocheilus is given, and the nomen nudum of Plagiocheilus herzogii commented upon.

Radiation Dose Audit Failures: Truth and Consequences

The validation of a radiation sterilization dose involves an initial sterilization dose determination as well as maintenance of that sterilization dose. The procedures for maintenance of the sterilization dose typically include the periodic use of two types of tests: bioburden and dose audits. The details for the procedures are outlined in the ISO radiation sterilization standards. These documents also provide guidelines for recommended actions in response to the results of the two tests. The results for the dose audit are based on the number of positive tests of sterility (TOS) for products that have been irradiated at a verification or experimental dose. When the dose audit yields TOS positives, it is often thought that they indicate a sterilization failure and nonsterile product. The belief that any TOS positive is a failure is an incorrect assumption because of the statistical basis used for the determination of the sterilization dose. This article will outline the truth of what dose audit TOS positives mean in terms of the sterility assurance of product, as well as the consequences of TOS positives.

The Dates of the 587/6 BCE Capture and Destruction of Jerusalem

The present article examines the dates of the 587/6 BCE capture and destruction of Jerusalem, which differ across the parallel accounts in 2 Kgs 24:18–25:21 and Jer 52:1–30. I argue that the Masoretic Text of Jer 52:6 gives the correct date of Jerusalem’s capture, even though the relevant phrase is a later insertion. In addition, I propose a new solution for the problem of the variant dates of the city’s destruction. According to this solution, the original date has been preserved by 2 Kgs 25:8, while the date given in Jer 52:12 has been influenced by an incorrect assumption about the date of the capture.

Modelling the distributions of white dwarf atmospheric pollution: a low Mg abundance for accreted planetesimals?

The accretion of planetesimals onto white dwarf atmospheres allows determination of the composition of this polluting material. This composition is usually inferred from observed pollution levels by assuming it originated from a single body. This paper instead uses a stochastic model wherein polluting planetesimals are chosen randomly from a mass distribution, finding that the single body assumption is invalid in ${>20\%}$ of cases. Planetesimal compositions are modelled assuming parent bodies that differentiated into core, mantle and crust components. Atmospheric levels of Ca, Mg and Fe in the model are compared to a sample of 230 DZ white dwarfs for which such pollution is measured. A good fit is obtained when each planetesimal has its core, mantle and crust fractions chosen independently from logit-normal distributions which lead to average mass fractions of fCru = 0.15, fMan = 0.49 and fCor = 0.36. However, achieving this fit requires a factor 4 depletion of Mg relative to stellar material. This depletion is unlikely to originate in planetesimal formation processes, but might occur from heating while the star is on the giant branch. Alternatively the accreted material has stellar abundance, and either the inferred low Mg abundance was caused by an incorrect assumption that Mg sinks slower than Ca and Fe, or there are unmodelled biases in the observed sample. Finally, the model makes predictions for the timescale on which the observed pollutant composition varies, which should be the longer of the sinking and disc timescales, implying variability on decadal timescales for DA white dwarfs.

The Effects of Unexpected Circumstances—Impossibility, Impracticability, and Frustration

In unexpected circumstances cases relief normally should be granted to the adversely affected party if the parties shared a tacit incorrect assumption that the nonoccurrence of some circumstance during the life of the contract was certain rather than problematic, and the incorrectness of that assumption would have provided a basis for judicial relief if the assumption had been explicit rather than tacit. Relief should also normally be granted to the adversely affected party if as a result of a dramatic and unexpected general rise in prices, and therefore costs, performance would result in an unbargained-for loss to a promisor. Where judicial relief is based on a shared tacit assumption the promisor should not be liable for expectation damages. Where relief is based on an unbargained-for risk the promisor should be liable for a modified form of expectation damages.

How to monitor your safety instrumented system performance

With the impending release of Edition 2 of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standard 61511 in Australia, it is timely to revisit the topic of safety instrumented system (SIS) performance monitoring. Operators need to monitor the performance of their SISs to ensure that design assumptions are correct. Any incorrect assumption or error introduced during operation can result in an unsafe plant situation. Questions to consider include: how do operators know their plants are adequately protected; are protection systems performing as required, and do operators need to re-assess the safety of their plant’s process vis-à-vis the implemented safety instrumented systems; what are end-user obligations; how and is it possible to meet these obligations; and what additional requirements are there, and how much more prescriptive is Edition 2? If any of the above questions are of concern, or if plant personnel are aware of their obligation to maintain and monitor the SIS during operations but are still not 100% sure if they are on the right track or need to do more, then this paper will prove useful. In addition to knowing all the requirements to comply, actual implementation and maintenance of a program to monitor the performance of SIS can prove overwhelming. Not only do you need to be adept in maintaining a database, but you also need to understand how to consolidate various critical information sources in order to make sense of all the data collected. Fortunately, there are solutions in the market to help end-users overcome these hurdles to effectively monitor SIS performance. This paper looks at some key areas that a complete solution should cover and what some of the features of such a solution are.

500 years of reformation: The history of Martin Luther's pathography and its ethical implications

IntroductionIn the context of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, it is time to take a survey of the history of Martin Luther's (1483–1546) pathography.MethodRelevant writings were evaluated.ResultsWhile in a 1035 page work written in German between 1937 and 1941, the Dane Paul Reiter retrospectively diagnosed Luther as manic-depressive, Kretschmer (1888–1964) in 1955 saw in Luther “a great polemic and organizer”. In 1956, Grossmann was unable to prove persistent synchronicity of depressive mood and reduced motivation in Luther in the key years 1527 and 1528, which led him to conclude that Luther had a cyclothymic personality with a pyknic constitution. In Roper's view in 2016, Luther suffered from “a condition […], that we would call depression today”.DiscussionIn 1948, Werner concluded that Reiter's pathography was based on an incorrect assumption: Luther's solution of the cloister conflict as a dilemma situation between paternal and clerical authority was not a flight into “the mysticism of despair”. Hamm adopted this interpretation in 2015 in viewing the escalation of the emotional conflict potential as a logical consequence of an interiorized and individualized intensified piety. In 2015, Scott saw a cyclothymic temperament in Luther starting in about 1519, but emphasized the elasticity of Luther's emotional reserves: “For the rest of his life, Luther oscillated between euphoria and dejection but not to the point of dysfunction”.ConclusionLuther can be used as an example of the importance of religiousness as a curative resource for the psyche.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Modified Approach for Optimization of Real Life Transportation Problem in Neutrosophic Environment

To the best of our knowledge, there is only one approach for solving neutrosophic cost minimization transportation problems. Since neutrosophic transportation problems are a new area of research, other researchers may be attracted to extend this approach for solving other types of neutrosophic transportation problems like neutrosophic solid transportation problems, neutrosophic time minimization transportation problems, neutrosophic transshipment problems, and so on. However, after a deep study of the existing approach, it is noticed that a mathematical incorrect assumption has been used in these existing approaches; therefore there is a need to modify these existing approaches. Keeping the same in mind, in this paper, the existing approach is modified. Furthermore, the exact results of some existing transportation problems are obtained by the modified approach.