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Single-dose BNT162b2 vaccine protects against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection
Michael Weekes
Nick K. Jones1,2*, Lucy Rivett1,2*, Chris Workman3, Mark Ferris3, Ashley Shaw1, Cambridge COVID-19 Collaboration1,4, Paul J. Lehner1,4, Rob Howes5, Giles Wright3, Nicholas J. Matheson1,4,6¶, Michael P. Weekes1,7¶1 Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK2 Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, UK3 Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK4 Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK5 Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre and AstraZeneca, Anne Mclaren Building, Cambridge, UK6 NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, UK7 Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK*Joint first authorship¶Joint last authorshipCorrespondence: mpw1001@cam.ac.ukThe UK has initiated mass COVID-19 immunisation, with healthcare workers (HCWs) given early priority because of the potential for workplace exposure and risk of onward transmission to patients. The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has recommended maximising the number of people vaccinated with first doses at the expense of early booster vaccinations, based on single dose efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease.1-3At the time of writing, three COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorisation in the UK, including the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech). A vital outstanding question is whether this vaccine prevents or promotes asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, rather than symptomatic COVID-19 disease, because sub-clinical infection following vaccination could continue to drive transmission. This is especially important because many UK HCWs have received this vaccine, and nosocomial COVID-19 infection has been a persistent problem.Through the implementation of a 24 h-turnaround PCR-based comprehensive HCW screening programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT), we previously demonstrated the frequent presence of pauci- and asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs during the UK's first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.4 Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and cycle threshold (Ct) values in the asymptomatic arm of our programme, which now offers weekly screening to all staff.Vaccination of HCWs at CUHNFT began on 8th December 2020, with mass vaccination from 8th January 2021. Here, we analyse data from the two weeks spanning 18thto 31st January 2021, during which: (a) the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst HCWs remained approximately constant; and (b) we screened comparable numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated HCWs. Over this period, 4,408 (week 1) and 4,411 (week 2) PCR tests were performed from individuals reporting well to work. We stratified HCWs <12 days or > 12 days post-vaccination because this was the point at which protection against symptomatic infection began to appear in phase III clinical trial.226/3,252 (0·80%) tests from unvaccinated HCWs were positive (Ct<36), compared to 13/3,535 (0·37%) from HCWs <12 days post-vaccination and 4/1,989 (0·20%) tests from HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination (p=0·023 and p=0·004, respectively; Fisher's exact test, Figure). This suggests a four-fold decrease in the risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination, compared to unvaccinated HCWs, with an intermediate effect amongst HCWs <12 days post-vaccination.A marked reduction in infections was also seen when analyses were repeated with: (a) inclusion of HCWs testing positive through both the symptomatic and asymptomatic arms of the programme (56/3,282 (1·71%) unvaccinated vs 8/1,997 (0·40%) ≥12 days post-vaccination, 4·3-fold reduction, p=0·00001); (b) inclusion of PCR tests which were positive at the limit of detection (Ct>36, 42/3,268 (1·29%) vs 15/2,000 (0·75%), 1·7-fold reduction, p=0·075); and (c) extension of the period of analysis to include six weeks from December 28th to February 7th 2021 (113/14,083 (0·80%) vs 5/4,872 (0·10%), 7·8-fold reduction, p=1x10-9). In addition, the median Ct value of positive tests showed a non-significant trend towards increase between unvaccinated HCWs and HCWs > 12 days post-vaccination (23·3 to 30·3, Figure), suggesting that samples from vaccinated individuals had lower viral loads.We therefore provide real-world evidence for a high level of protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection after a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, at a time of predominant transmission of the UK COVID-19 variant of concern 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7), and amongst a population with a relatively low frequency of prior infection (7.2% antibody positive).5This work was funded by a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellowship to MPW (108070/Z/15/Z), a Wellcome Principal Research Fellowship to PJL (210688/Z/18/Z), and an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship (MR/P008801/1) and NHSBT workpackage (WPA15-02) to NJM. Funding was also received from Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust and the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. We also acknowledge contributions from all staff at CUHNFT Occupational Health and Wellbeing and the Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre.
SFGAN: Unsupervised Generative Adversarial Learning of 3D Scene Flow from the 3D Scen...
Guangming Wang
Scene flow tracks the three-dimensional (3D) motion of each point in adjacent point clouds. It provides fundamental 3D motion perception for autonomous driving and server robot. Although the Red Green Blue Depth (RGBD) camera or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) capture discrete 3D points in space, the objects and motions usually are continuous in the macro world. That is, the objects keep themselves consistent as they flow from the current frame to the next frame. Based on this insight, the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) is utilized to self-learn 3D scene flow with no need for ground truth. The fake point cloud of the second frame is synthesized from the predicted scene flow and the point cloud of the first frame. The adversarial training of the generator and discriminator is realized through synthesizing indistinguishable fake point cloud and discriminating the real point cloud and the synthesized fake point cloud. The experiments on Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Toyota Technological Institute (KITTI) scene flow dataset show that our method realizes promising results without ground truth. Just as human, the proposed method can identify the similar local structures of two adjacent frames even without knowing the ground truth scene flow. Then, the local correspondence can be correctly estimated, and further the scene flow is correctly estimated. Corresponding author(s) Email: wanghesheng@sjtu.edu.cn
Artificial Intelligence Enabled Reagent-free Imaging Hematology Analyzer
Xin Shu
Leukocyte differential test is a widely performed clinical procedure for screening infectious diseases. Existing hematology analyzers require labor-intensive work and a panel of expensive reagents. Here we report an artificial-intelligence enabled reagent-free imaging hematology analyzer (AIRFIHA) modality that can accurately classify subpopulations of leukocytes with minimal sample preparation. AIRFIHA is realized through training a two-step residual neural network using label-free images of isolated leukocytes acquired from a custom-built quantitative phase microscope. By leveraging the rich information contained in quantitative phase images, we not only achieved high accuracy in differentiating B and T lymphocytes, but also classified CD4 and CD8 cells, therefore outperforming the classification accuracy of most current hematology analyzers. We validated the performance of AIRFIHA in a randomly selected test set and cross-validated it across all blood donors. Owing to its easy operation, low cost, and accurate discerning capability of complex leukocyte subpopulations, we envision AIRFIHA is clinically translatable and can also be deployed in resource-limited settings, e.g., during pandemic situations for the rapid screening of infectious diseases. Corresponding author(s) Email: rjzhou@cuhk.edu.hk, rishikesh.pandey@uconn.edu
The "easy part" of the Hard Problem: a resonance theory of consciousness
Tam Hunt [1], Jonathan SchoolerUniversity of California Santa Barbara Synchronization, harmonization, vibrations, or simply resonance in its most general sense seems to have an integral relationship with consciousness itself. One of the possible "neural correlates of consciousness" in mammalian brains is a combination of gamma, beta and theta synchrony. More broadly, we see similar kinds of resonance patterns in living and non-living structures of many types. What clues can resonance provide about the nature of consciousness more generally? This paper provides an overview of resonating structures in the fields of neuroscience, biology and physics and attempts to coalesce these data into a solution to what we see as the "easy part" of the Hard Problem, which is generally known as the "combination problem" or the "binding problem." The combination problem asks: how do micro-conscious entities combine into a higher-level macro-consciousness? The proposed solution in the context of mammalian consciousness suggests that a shared resonance is what allows different parts of the brain to achieve a phase transition in the speed and bandwidth of information flows between the constituent parts. This phase transition allows for richer varieties of consciousness to arise, with the character and content of that consciousness in each moment determined by the particular set of constituent neurons. We also offer more general insights into the ontology of consciousness and suggest that consciousness manifests as a relatively smooth continuum of increasing richness in all physical processes, distinguishing our view from emergentist materialism. We refer to this approach as a (general) resonance theory of consciousness and offer some responses to Chalmers' questions about the different kinds of "combination problem." At the heart of the universe is a steady, insistent beat: the sound of cycles in sync…. [T]hese feats of synchrony occur spontaneously, almost as if nature has an eerie yearning for order. Steven Strogatz, Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos in the Universe, Nature and Daily Life (2003) If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.Nikola Tesla (1942) I. Introduction Is there an "easy part" and a "hard part" to the Hard Problem of consciousness? In this paper, we suggest that there is. The harder part is arriving at a philosophical position with respect to the relationship of matter and mind. This paper is about the "easy part" of the Hard Problem but we address the "hard part" briefly in this introduction. We have both arrived, after much deliberation, at the position of panpsychism or panexperientialism (all matter has at least some associated mind/experience and vice versa). This is the view that all things and processes have both mental and physical aspects. Matter and mind are two sides of the same coin. Panpsychism is one of many possible approaches that addresses the "hard part" of the Hard Problem. We adopt this position for all the reasons various authors have listed (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1997, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017). This first step is particularly powerful if we adopt the Whiteheadian version of panpsychism (Whitehead 1929). Reaching a position on this fundamental question of how mind relates to matter must be based on a "weight of plausibility" approach, rather than on definitive evidence, because establishing definitive evidence with respect to the presence of mind/experience is difficult. We must generally rely on examining various "behavioral correlates of consciousness" in judging whether entities other than ourselves are conscious – even with respect to other humans—since the only consciousness we can know with certainty is our own. Positing that matter and mind are two sides of the same coin explains the problem of consciousness insofar as it avoids the problems of emergence because under this approach consciousness doesn't emerge. Consciousness is, rather, always present, at some level, even in the simplest of processes, but it "complexifies" as matter complexifies, and vice versa. Consciousness starts very simple and becomes more complex and rich under the right conditions, which in our proposed framework rely on resonance mechanisms. Matter and mind are two sides of the coin. Neither is primary; they are coequal. We acknowledge the challenges of adopting this perspective, but encourage readers to consider the many compelling reasons to consider it that are reviewed elsewhere (Chalmers 1996, Griffin 1998, Hunt 2011, Goff 2017, Schooler, Schooler, & Hunt, 2011; Schooler, 2015). Taking a position on the overarching ontology is the first step in addressing the Hard Problem. But this leads to the related questions: at what level of organization does consciousness reside in any particular process? Is a rock conscious? A chair? An ant? A bacterium? Or are only the smaller constituents, such as atoms or molecules, of these entities conscious? And if there is some degree of consciousness even in atoms and molecules, as panpsychism suggests (albeit of a very rudimentary nature, an important point to remember), how do these micro-conscious entities combine into the higher-level and obvious consciousness we witness in entities like humans and other mammals? This set of questions is known as the "combination problem," another now-classic problem in the philosophy of mind, and is what we describe here as the "easy part" of the Hard Problem. Our characterization of this part of the problem as "easy"[2] is, of course, more than a little tongue in cheek. The authors have discussed frequently with each other what part of the Hard Problem should be labeled the easier part and which the harder part. Regardless of the labels we choose, however, this paper focuses on our suggested solution to the combination problem. Various solutions to the combination problem have been proposed but none have gained widespread acceptance. This paper further elaborates a proposed solution to the combination problem that we first described in Hunt 2011 and Schooler, Hunt, and Schooler 2011. The proposed solution rests on the idea of resonance, a shared vibratory frequency, which can also be called synchrony or field coherence. We will generally use resonance and "sync," short for synchrony, interchangeably in this paper. We describe the approach as a general resonance theory of consciousness or just "general resonance theory" (GRT). GRT is a field theory of consciousness wherein the various specific fields associated with matter and energy are the seat of conscious awareness. A summary of our approach appears in Appendix 1. All things in our universe are constantly in motion, in process. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at specific frequencies. So all things are actually processes. Resonance is a specific type of motion, characterized by synchronized oscillation between two states. An interesting phenomenon occurs when different vibrating processes come into proximity: they will often start vibrating together at the same frequency. They "sync up," sometimes in ways that can seem mysterious, and allow for richer and faster information and energy flows (Figure 1 offers a schematic). Examining this phenomenon leads to potentially deep insights about the nature of consciousness in both the human/mammalian context but also at a deeper ontological level.
The Cream of the Crop: Biology, Breeding and Applications of Cannabis sativa
Susanne Schilling*^
Cannabis sativa is an extraordinarily versatile species. Hemp and its cousin marijuana, both C. sativa, have been used for millennia as a source of fibre, oil and for medicinal, spiritual and recreational purposes. Because the consumption of Cannabis can have psychoactive effects, the plant has been widely banned throughout the last century. In the past decade, evidence of its medicinal properties did lead to the relaxation of legislation in many countries around the world. Consequently, the genetics and development of Cannabis as well as Cannabis-derived products are the subject of renewed attention.Here, we review the biology of C. sativa, including recent insights from taxonomy, morphology and genomics, with an emphasis on the genetics of cannabinoid synthesis. Because the female Cannabis flower is of special interest as the site of cannabinoid synthesis, we explore flower development, flowering time well as the species' unique sex determination system in detail. Furthermore, we outline the tremendous medicinal, engineering, and environmental opportunities that Cannabis bears. Together, the picture emerges that our understanding of Cannabis biology currently progresses at an unusual speed. A future challenge will be to preserve the multi-purpose nature of Cannabis, and to harness its medicinal properties and sustainability advantages simultaneously.
Open Chemistry, JupyterLab, REST, and Quantum Chemistry
Marcus D. Hanwell
Quantum chemistry must evolve if it wants to fully leverage the benefits of the internet age, where the world wide web offers a vast tapestry of tools that enable users to communicate and interact with complex data at the speed and convenience of a button press. The Open Chemistry project has developed an open source framework that offers an end-to-end solution for producing, sharing, and visualizing quantum chemical data interactively on the web using an array of modern tools and approaches. These tools build on some of the best open source community projects such as Jupyter for interactive online notebooks, coupled with 3D accelerated visualization, state-of-the-art computational chemistry codes including NWChem and Psi4 and emerging machine learning and data mining tools such as ChemML and ANI. They offer flexible formats to import and export data, along with approaches to compare computational and experimental data.
Masks for the public: laying straw men to rest
Trisha Greenhalgh
This paper responds to one by Graham Martin and colleagues, who offered a critique of my previous publications on masks for the lay public in the Covid-19 pandemic. I address their charges that my co-authors and I had misapplied the precautionary principle; drawn conclusions that were not supported by empirical research; and failed to take account of potential harms. But before that, I remind Martin et al that the evidence on mask wearing goes beyond the contested trials and observational studies they place centre stage. I set out some key findings from basic science, epidemiology, mathematical modelling, case studies and natural experiments, and use this rich and diverse body of evidence as the backdrop for my rebuttal of their narrowly-framed objections. I challenge my critics' apparent assumption that a particular kind of systematic review should be valorised over narrative and real-world evidence, since stories are crucial to both our scientific understanding and our moral imagination. I conclude by thanking my academic adversaries for the intellectual sparring match, but exhort them to remember our professional accountability to a society in crisis. It is time to lay straw men to rest and engage, scientifically and morally, with the dreadful tragedy that is unfolding across the world.
Supporting Information for "Learning Assembly Tasks in a Few Minutes by Combining Imp...
Padmaja Kulkarni
This Supporting information includes interactive plots, videos, and data captured while performing evaluation and validation experiments for our paper.
Rethinking wellbeing: Toward a more ethical science of wellbeing that considers curre...
Jessica mead
The construct of wellbeing has been criticised as a neoliberal construction of western individualism that ignores wider systemic issues including increasing burden of chronic disease, widening inequality, concerns over environmental degradation and anthropogenic climate change. While these criticisms overlook recent developments, there remains a need for biopsychosocial models that extend theoretical grounding beyond individual wellbeing, incorporating overlapping contextual issues relating to community and environment. Our first GENIAL model \cite{Kemp_2017} provided a more expansive view of pathways to longevity in the context of individual health and wellbeing, emphasising bidirectional links to positive social ties and the impact of sociocultural factors. In this paper, we build on these ideas and propose GENIAL 2.0, focusing on intersecting individual-community-environmental contributions to health and wellbeing, and laying an evidence-based, theoretical framework on which future research and innovative therapeutic innovations could be based. We suggest that our transdisciplinary model of wellbeing - focusing on individual, community and environmental contributions to personal wellbeing - will help to move the research field forward. In reconceptualising wellbeing, GENIAL 2.0 bridges the gap between psychological science and population health health systems, and presents opportunities for enhancing the health and wellbeing of people living with chronic conditions. Implications for future generations including the very survival of our species are discussed.
Global synthesis of the effectiveness of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control,...
Matthias Albrecht
Floral plantings are promoted to foster ecological intensification of agriculture through provisioning of ecosystem services. However, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of different floral plantings, their characteristics and consequences for crop yield across global regions is lacking. Here we quantified the impacts of flower strips and hedgerows on pest control and pollination services in adjacent crops using a global dataset of 529 sites. Flower strips, but not hedgerows, enhanced pest control services in adjacent fields by 16% on average. However, effects on crop pollination and yield were more variable. Our synthesis identifies several important drivers of variability in effectiveness of plantings: pollination services declined exponentially with distance from plantings, and perennial and older flower strips with higher flowering plant diversity enhanced pollination more effectively. These findings provide promising pathways to optimize floral plantings to more effectively contribute to ecosystem service delivery and ecological intensification of agriculture in the future.
Biomolecular Histology as a Novel Proxy for Ancient DNA and Protein Sequence Preserva...
Landon A. Anderson
Researchers' ability to accurately screen fossil and subfossil specimens for preservation of DNA and protein sequences remains limited. Thermal exposure and geologic age are usable proxies for sequence preservation on a broad scale but are of nominal use for specimens of similar depositional environments. Cell and tissue biomolecular histology is thus proposed as a novel proxy for determining sequence preservation potential of ancient specimens with improved accuracy. Biomolecular histology as a proxy is hypothesized to elucidate why fossils/subfossils of some depositional environments preserve sequences while others do not and to facilitate selection of ancient specimens for use in molecular studies.
FFP3 respirators protect healthcare workers against infection with SARS-CoV-2
Mark Ferris
IntroductionConsistent with World Health Organization (WHO) advice [1], UK Infection Protection Control guidance recommends that healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) should use fluid resistant surgical masks type IIR (FRSMs) as respiratory protective equipment (RPE), unless aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are being undertaken or are likely, when a filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirator should be used [2]. In a recent update, an FFP3 respirator is recommended if "an unacceptable risk of transmission remains following rigorous application of the hierarchy of control" [3]. Conversely, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19 should use an N95 or higher level respirator [4]. WHO guidance suggests that a respirator, such as FFP3, may be used for HCWs in the absence of AGPs if availability or cost is not an issue [1].A recent systematic review undertaken for PHE concluded that: "patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection who are breathing, talking or coughing generate both respiratory droplets and aerosols, but FRSM (and where required, eye protection) are considered to provide adequate staff protection" [5]. Nevertheless, FFP3 respirators are more effective in preventing aerosol transmission than FRSMs, and observational data suggests that they may improve protection for HCWs [6]. It has therefore been suggested that respirators should be considered as a means of affording the best available protection [7], and some organisations have decided to provide FFP3 (or equivalent) respirators to HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients, despite a lack of mandate from local or national guidelines [8].Data from the HCW testing programme at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) during the first wave of the UK severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic indicated a higher incidence of infection amongst HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19, compared with those who did not [9]. Subsequent studies have confirmed this observation [10, 11]. This disparity persisted at CUHNFT in December 2020, despite control measures consistent with PHE guidance and audits indicating good compliance. The CUHNFT infection control committee therefore implemented a change of RPE for staff on "red" (COVID-19) wards from FRSMs to FFP3 respirators. In this study, we analyse the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs before and after this transition.
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Vitamin D and Diagnostic Colonoscopy for Colorectal Cancer in Indonesian Population
Andriana Purnama
ABSTRACT Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the world's third most common type of cancer. Case studies have shown an inverse correlation between serum vitamin D levels and the incidence of human colorectal cancer. This study aims to assess vitamin D levels in patients who underwent colonoscopy for diagnostic colorectal cancer. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study with subjects in this study were patients who came to the Digestive Surgery polyclinic and underwent a colonoscopy for diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Level of vitamin D was collected before the colonoscopy examination and categorized into three groups, vitamin D with a value of < 20 ng/mL indicate a deficiency, a level of 20 – 30 ng/mL as an insufficiency level, and a value > 30 ng/mL as a sufficient value. A colonoscopy examination was performed to obtain a diagnosis of colorectal cancer based on anatomical pathology examination. Result: Examination of vitamin D levels from 120 subjects showed the average vitamin level was 16.36 ng/mL, which indicates vitamin D deficiency levels. A total of 85 subjects (70.8%) showed vitamin D deficiency, as many as 24 (20%) showed vitamin D insufficiency levels, and only 11 study subjects (9.2%) showed sufficient vitamin D levels. The colonoscopy showed 60 subjects (50%) with colorectal cancer. The relationship between vitamin D levels and the diagnosis of CRC showed a value of p = 0.60 (p > 0.05). Conclusion: There is no significant difference between low levels of Vitamin D and the diagnosis of colorectal cancer patients.
Different Clinicopathological Characteristics in Indonesian Colorectal Patients with...
Kiki Lukman
Abstract Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the world's third most common type of cancer. Data in Indonesia based on GLOBOCAN in 2020 shows CRC in the fourth position with around 35,000 new cases each year. The pathogenesis mechanisms of CRC are complex and heterogeneous, one of which is the involvement of NRAS (Neuroblastoma Rat Sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) mutations which play a role in cell growth regulation, as well as the expression of Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This study aims to assess the association of subject characteristics and NRAS mutations with HER2 expression in CRC. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study. There were 58 patients included in this study, they were colorectal cancer patients in the Digestive Surgery division at Dr. Hassan Sadikin Hospital. Examination of NRAS mutations was carried out by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) from fresh tumour tissue obtained from surgery or colonoscopy. Meanwhile, HER2 examination used the Immunohistochemistry (IHC) method of paraffin blocks for anatomical pathology examination. Result: HER2 overexpression was found in 6/58 (10.3%) patients with CRC, and from 8 subjects with NRAS mutations, only 1 subject (1.7%) showed overexpression of HER2. Univariate analysis of HER2 expression showed no significant associations to age, sex, histologic feature, tumor location, and NRAS mutations. A significant association was found between HER2 expression and stadium of the CRC with p=0.001. Conclusion: There is no association between NRAS mutations and HER2 overexpression in colorectal cancer patients.
Biotoxic and Cytotoxic Effects of Occupational Pesticide in the Buccal cells of Sudan...
Yousra Ali
Farmers are at high risk for developing adverse health problems due to occupational pesticide exposure. we aimed to compare the frequency of the micronuclear (MN) cellular changes, g binucleated cells (BN), karyorrhexis (KR) and karyolysis (KL) in pesticide exposed farmers and non-exposed individuals. Also, to correlate between the frequency of MN cellular changes and the other nuclear abnormalities with farmers' age, their use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the duration of pesticides exposure. A total of 92 buccal smears were collected from Sudanese farmers (cases: n=50, exposed to pesticides) and non-farm workers (controls: n=42, non-exposed to pesticides). The smears were fixed with 95% ethanol and stained following the standard Feulgen technique., A structured questionnaire was designed to collect demographic data and pesticide exposure related information. 39 (78%) farmers do not use PPE. In addition, there was a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the frequency of Micronucleated cells (MN), Total Micronuclei (TMN), Binucleated cells (BN), Karyorehxsis (KH), and Karyolysis (KL) in the buccal cells of cases and control. The application of pesticide without adopting standard protective measures caused genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in farmers' buccal cells.
Fentanyl-induced respiratory depression is independent of β-arrestin2 signaling
Background and Purpose: β-arrestin2 plays an important role in opioid receptor signaling, but its involvement in morphine- and fentanyl-induced respiratory depression is widely debated. The aim of this study was to determine whether β-arrestin2 signaling is associated with fentanyl- and morphine-induced respiratory depression. Experimental Approach: This study investigated whether β-arrestin2 is involved in respiratory depression induced by fentanyl or morphine by inhibiting the upstream signaling molecule GRK2 and knocking out β-arrestin2 in mice, using whole-body plethysmography chambers to assess changes in respiratory function. Key Results: In the experiment of inhibiting GRK molecules, GRK inhibitors significantly improved the respiratory depression induced by morphine, but had no effect on fentanyl. In experiment of knocking out β-arrestin2, respiratory depression was significantly improved in the morphine group, but less affected in the fentanyl group. Conclusion and Implications: Our results suggested that inhibition of β-arrestin2 signaling alleviated morphine-induced respiratory depression but had little effect on fentanyl-induced respiratory depression in both models, suggesting differences in the respiratory depression mechanisms between fentanyl and morphine. This suggests that we may need to give a differentiated dosing regimen in clinical treatment of respiratory depression caused by the two drugs.
Bio-evaluation of Poly-Lactate co-Glycolic Acid (PLGA) nanoparticles loaded with radi...
Imran Ibni Rather
The poly lactate co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles of tubercular drugs have been demonstrated to have sustained release profile over seven days. There is no information on the location or mode of release of these nanoparticles in living system. Therefore, we have planned the study to explore the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of PLGA rifampicin nanoparticles in healthy human volunteers. Rifampicin was labeled with 99mTc by indirect method and nanoparticles were prepared by a single emulsion evaporation method. To investigate the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of nanoparticles, a single dose of 450 mg of rifampicin was administered orally to healthy human volunteers divided into two different groups. Following a single oral dosage of the rifampicin nanoformulation, the PK parameters were significantly different between the nanoparticle and conventional groups AUC (113.8 vs 58.6), MRT (16.2 vs 5.8) and Ke (0.04 vs 0.10). Also SPECT/CT images revealed bio-distrubution of nanoparticles in the distal portions of the intestine, which is consistent with our dosimetry analysis Significant difference in PK parameters and bio-distribution of nanoparticles in spleen and lymph nodes with maximum deposition were observed in large intestine. Nanoparticle distribution pattern may be advantageous for the treatment of intestinal or lymph node TB and has the potential to result in a lower dose of rifampicin nanoformulation for the treatment of pulmonary TB.
"People are just firefighting and coping with it, until they're not": Qualitative ins...
Ann Luce
Abstract Introduction NHS staff face mental health problems due factors including burnout, workload, exposure to trauma and lack of support. Healthcare professionals often face barriers to seeking help and are less likely to seek out professional help for their own mental health. Following staff suicides, this study aimed to identify the perceived barriers to seeking support faced by staff members across an NHS Trust. Methods Semi-structured interviews with 29 participants, each lasting approximately 90 minutes. A further 10 informal conversations were had with staff not wanting to be formally interviewed. Results Framework analysis was used to analyse the data, resulting in four themes being identified around perceived barriers to seeking support: stigma organisational culture privacy access to support Discussion Findings indicated that staff perceived significant barriers, including mental illness-related stigma, workplace trauma, organisational culture, confidentiality concerns and access to support. Many staff members who needed to help did not reach out for support within the workplace, despite knowing they needed it. Conclusion There are perceived barriers to seeking help affect both the individual and the culture of the organisation. Larger studies are needed to assess the perceived barriers experienced by staff nationwide, with the aim of tackling these to improve staff wellbeing.
Research on Online Condition monitoring for Complex System based on Modified Broad Le...
Chong Wang
Monitoring the condition of complex systems with implemented sensors in an online manner is of great importance to their safety and availability. Broad learning system (BLS), which expands the single-hidden-layer neural network by enriching the number of hidden-layer nodes, can greatly improve the model training efficiency. But, the randomly generated hidden-layer nodes make BLSs performing poorly in some high-dimensional data classification tasks. This paper focuses on providing some ideas to tackle this problem by optimizing the generation of initial nodes to compact the BLS hidden-layer structure. Specifically, logistic regression (LR) and structural causal model (SCM) are considered to obtain rough predictions of system fault state to replace the randomly generated hidden-layer nodes with no practical significance. Thus, the outputs of the initial node groups are more closely related to the system health status. The proposed methods are expected to improve the feature extraction effectiveness, to simplify the network structure, and to reduce the computational burden. Various simulation datasets are considered to prove the universality of the proposed method in complex system fault diagnosis. And, with real data from a high-speed train brake control system, the effectiveness of the proposed online monitoring framework is further verified. It is also shown that the proposed methods are convenient to migrate to new operation environments.
Ground state solution for a periodic p\&q-Laplacain equation involving critical g...
Liejun Shen
We study the ground state solutions for the following p\&q-Laplacain equation \[ \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} -\Delta_pu-\Delta_qu+V(x) (|u|^{p-2}u+|u|^{q-2}u)=\lambda K(x)f(u)+|u|^{q^*-2}u,~x\in\R^N, \\ u\in W^{1,p}(\R^N)\cap W^{1,q}(\R^N), \end{array} \right. \] where $\lambda>0$ is a parameter large enough, $\Delta_ru = \text{div}(|\nabla u|^{r-2}\nabla u)$ with $r\in\{p,q\}$ denotes the $r$ Laplacian operator, $1
Notch S-N Curve Method for fatigue life analysis of notch components of metals in low...
xiangqiao yan
From the author's recent studies, it was found that, in low/medium/high cycle fatigue(LHCF) regime, the Wöhler Curve Method is well suitably employed to perform the fatigue life assessment of metals, in which the stress-based intensity parameter calculation is based on the linear-elastic analysis. In this study, an attempt is made through many fatigue test data of notch components of metals from the literature to illustrate that, in LHCF regime, the Notch S-N Curve Method is well suitable for fatigue life analysis of notch components of metals, in which the stress-based intensity parameter calculation is based on the linear-elastic analysis. By concepts of the critical stress and the critical distance by Taylor and by two calibration fatigue failure curves of a smooth specimen and notch specimen by Susmel and Taylor, further, a local approach for predicting the notch S-N curve is proposed based the linear elastic stress fields ahead of notches. Accuracy of the Notch S-N Curve Method is proven by many fatigue test data of notch components of metals from the literature in LHCF regime.
Where the Electron Correlation Energy resides within Hartree-Fock Theory
Itai Panas
A method for accurately estimating the electron correlation energy as a 1 st order correction to the Hartree-Fock energy is presented. It succeeds by disallowing the representation of the electron repulsion operator to be more fine-grained than the corresponding representation of the two-particle density. To extract the electron correlation contribution to the molecular internal energy from the exact wavefunction, the short-range contribution to the electron repulsion operator is replaced by a corresponding correlation kinetic energy penalty. Utilizing the virial theorem, this self-interaction-free exact-exchange method becomes applicable on condition of stability of the Self-Consistent Field wave function. Laplace as well as Fourier transforms are resorted to as consistency checks. Atomic and small molecular ions are considered for validation. The latter require modelling of the screened Coulomb hole associated with 1s electrons owing to coupled short-range electron-nucleus and electron-electron interactions. For this purpose, Hooke's atom is analyzed (0.03 ≤ í µí¼" ≤ 1000) and consistency is demonstrated for 1s ! Helium-like ions (Z=1-36). While impacting core-valence interactions, the said screening is absent in the valence as confirmed by the Be-like ions (Z=3-36) 1í µí± ! 2í µí± ! systems, for LiH, BeH + , Li2 and for LiBe +. A chemistry associated exclusively with K-shell orbitals is briefly discussed based mainly on results for HeH + and H3 +. Fractional charges scaling the Coulomb hole is inferred to better represent the complex correlation hole in hydrogen clusters and high-pressure metallic hydrogen.
The Structure of the Lingual Papillary of the Asian Palm Civet's ( Paradoxurus hermap...
Dwi Kusindarta
The Asian palm civet ( Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is a wild mammal which is living in nature in Indonesia forest. Recently due to the highest demand of civet coffee, push the changes of the living environment of the Asian palm civet as the pet or captive breed. Changes in the environment from the wild to human intervention cause shift in their behaviour and feeding patterns. This is thought possibly to affect it's anatomical structure and histology digestive organ and mainly the lingual papillae as an entrance of the food. This study aims to analyse the anatomical structure of the lingual papillae and the secretions of the lingual glands in Paradoxurus hermaphroditus due to the changes of the food behaviour by gross macroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) in the form of histochemical staining (hematoxyline eosin, Alcian Blue-Periodic Acid Schiff, and Masson's Trichrome). The SEM results revealed that several type lingual papillae are found on the tongue of the Paradoxurus hermaphroditus they are: fungiform, arrowhead filiform, giant arrowhead filiform, scale-like filiform, conical, and circumvallate papillae. The histological results showed that on the radix of tongue of the civet are found Weber's glands which produce the secretion of neutral and acid mucin. Collagen fibers were found scattered in all of the lamina propria and some of the tunica muscularis with higher collagen intensity at the apex. In conclusion, these results provide the new insight of the adaptation form of the lingual papillae of the Asian palm civet due to their changes of feeding behaviour based on the type, number, distribution of the papillae, as well as the type of lingual gland secret and the presence of the collagen fibre.
Three dimensional Spatio Temporal Imaging Correlation (STIC) in the diagnosis of isol...
Mani Ram Krishna
Isolated TAPVC is difficult to diagnose on a prenatal ultrasound as standard obstetric screening views are often normal. We present a case of isolated infra-cardiac TAPVC highlighting the utility of STIC imaging in the diagnosis ofTAPVC
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Cloud Macro-and Microphysical Properties as Coupled to Sea Ice Leads During the MOSAi...
Pablo Saavedra Garfias
This study presents the micro- and macrophysical cloud properties as a function of their surface coupling state with the sea ice during the wintertime of the MOSAiC field experiment. Cloud properties such as cloud base height, liquid- and ice water content have been previously found to have statistically distinguished features under the presence of sea ice leads (characterized by sea ice concentration, SIC) along downwind direction from the central observatory RV Polarstern. Those findings are mainly in an increase of liquid water content, and favored occurrence of low level clouds as contrasted to situations when the clouds are thermodynamically decoupled.The present contribution is an update considering two recent developments in the liquid detection in clouds and in the detection of sea ice leads. First, radar and lidar-based cloud droplet detection approaches like Cloudnet (Illingworth et al. 2007, Tukiainen et al. 2020) using Arctic wintertime observations and applied to measurements by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement mobile facility (ARM) instrumental suite on-board the RV Polarstern during MOSAiC.Secondly, we explore a new sea ice lead fraction product based on sea ice divergence. Sea ice divergence is estimated from sequential images of space-borne synthetic aperture radar with a spatial resolution of 700 m. The lead divergence product, being independent of cloud coverage, offers the unique advantage to detect opening leads at high spatial resolution.Statistics for the wintertime cloud properties based on the coupling state with the sea ice concentration and sea ice lead fraction will be presented as an approach to study Arctic clouds and their interaction with sea ice.
Carbonates in the Critical Zone
Matthew David Covington
Earth's Critical Zone (CZ), the near-surface layer where rock is weathered and landscapes co-evolve with life, is profoundly influenced by the type of underlying bedrock. Previous studies employing the CZ framework have focused primarily on landscapes dominated by silicate rocks. However, carbonate rocks crop out on approximately 15% of Earth's ice-free continental surface and provide important water resources and ecosystem services to ~1.2 billion people. Unlike silicates, carbonate minerals weather congruently and have high solubilities and rapid dissolution kinetics, enabling the development of large, interconnected pore spaces and preferential flow paths that restructure the CZ. Here we review the state of knowledge of the carbonate CZ, exploring parameters that produce contrasts in the CZ in different carbonate settings and identifying important open questions about carbonate CZ processes. We introduce the concept of a carbonate-silicate CZ spectrum and examine whether current conceptual models of the CZ, such as the conveyor model, can be applied to carbonate landscapes. We argue that, to advance beyond site-specific understanding and develop a more general conceptual framework for the role of carbonates in the CZ, we need integrative studies spanning both the carbonate-silicate spectrum and a range of carbonate settings.
Intermodel spread in Walker circulation responses linked to spread in moist stability...
Margaret L Duffy
The response of the Pacific Walker circulation (WC) to long-term warming remains uncertain. Here, we diagnose contributions to the WC response in comprehensive and idealized general circulation model (GCM) simulations. We find that the spread in WC response is substantial across both the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) models, implicating differences in atmospheric models in the spread in projected WC strength. Using a moist static energy (MSE) budget, we evaluate the contributions to changes in the WC strength related to changes in gross moist stability (GMS), horizontal MSE advection, radiation, and surface fluxes. We find that the multimodel mean WC weakening is mostly related to changes in GMS and radiation. Furthermore, the spread in WC response is related to the spread in GMS and radiation responses. The GMS response is potentially sensitive to parameterized convective entrainment which can affect lapse rates and the depth of convection. We thus investigate the role of entrainment in setting the GMS response by varying the entrainment rate in an idealized GCM. The idealized GCM is run with a simplified Betts-Miller convection scheme, modified to represent entrainment. The weakening of the WC with warming in the idealized GCM is dampened when higher entrainment rates are used. However, the spread in GMS responses due to differing entrainment rates is much smaller than the spread in GMS responses across CMIP6 models. Therefore, further work is needed to understand the large spread in GMS responses across CMIP6 and AMIP models.
Root traits and functioning: from individual plants to ecosystems
Monique Weemstra
Root traits and functioning: from individual plants to ecosystemsFine roots, the most distal portions of the root system, are responsible for the uptake of water and nutrients by plants, represent the main type of plant tissue contributing to soil organic matter accrual, and are key drivers of mineral weathering and soil microbial dynamics (Bardgett et al. 2014). Despite the overwhelming importance of fine root traits for plant and plant community functioning and biogeochemical cycles, basic information about their ecology is lacking, particularly compared to the wealth of information developed for leaves and stems. Testing hypotheses on how root traits underlie these ecosystem processes has been particularly hampered due to (1) a paucity of systematically collected data and (2) the complexity of the relationships between root traits and root, plant and ecosystem functioning. Nonetheless, the development of the field of root ecology in the last two decades has been outstanding, in particular in the compilation of belowground trait datasets (Iversen et al. 2017), methodological root ecological handbooks (Freschet et al. 2021b), novel conceptual frameworks to describe root trait diversity (Bergmann et al. 2020), its connection with belowground plant and community function (Bardgett et al. 2014, Freschet et al. 2021a), species' distributions (Laughlin et al. 2021), and scaling up traits from the individual root to the ecosystem level (McCormack et al. 2017). The papers that feature in this Special Issue on Root traits and functioning: from individual plants to ecosystems cover different climate regions, taxonomic and spatial scales, and a diversity of traits (Table 1) and form perfect examples of this upward moment of the belowground component in plant ecology.
MEDA HS: Relative humidity sensor for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover
Maria Hieta
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) provides a relative humidity measurement sensor (HS) for NASA's Mars 2020 rover. The sensor is a part of the Mars Environmental Dynamic Analyzer (MEDA), a suite of environmental sensors provided by Spain's Centro de Astrobiología. The main scientific goal of the humidity sensor is to measure the relative humidity of the Martian atmosphere near the surface and to complement previous Mars mission atmospheric measurements for a better understanding of Martian atmospheric conditions and the hydrological cycle. Relative humidity has been measured from the surface of Mars previously by Phoenix and Curiosity. Compared to the relative humidity sensor on board Curiosity, the MEDA HS is based on a new version of the polymeric capacitive humidity sensor heads developed by Vaisala. Calibration of humidity devices for Mars conditions is challenging and new methods have been developed for MEDA HS. Calibration and test campaigns have been performed at the FMI, at University of Michigan and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin to achieve the best possible calibration. The accuracy of HS and uncertainty of the calibration has been also analysed in detail with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Assessment of sensor performance after landing on Mars confirms that the calibration has been successful, and the HS is delivering high quality data for the science community.
"Laser-based therapy: is the right answer for pulmonary vein isolation?"
Claudio Tondo
Laser- based PVI has been around for many years and this modality of ablation is to provide a continuous circular overlapping lesions around the PVs' ostia. In order to ensure the continuity of the lesion, a camera is embedded in the system as to guide the placement of sequential applications with the target to make an adequate overlapping of two contiguous lesions as to reduce the likelihood of gaps. The first version of the system required the operator to manually rotate the catheter as to create a continuous arc of lesion around the PV's ostium. This approach is time-consuming, with a substantial overall time for each PV. The evolvement of the technique has been recently offered, with a novel semi-automated VGLA as to improve ablation efficiency by using a motorized system which moves the laser arc continuously in order to reduce the application time and, hopefully, minimize the creation of gaps.
Surface deformations caused by pressurized finite ellipsoidal cavities
Mehdi Nikkhoo
Volcano deformation monitoring is fundamental to detect pressurizations of magma bodies and forecasting any ensuing eruptions. Analytical and quasi-analytical solutions for pressurized cavities are routinely used to constrain volcano deformation sources through inversion of surface displacement data. Due to their computational efficiency, such solutions enable a thorough exploration of the parameter space and thereby provide insight into the physics of magma-rock interaction. Developing more general deformation models can help us better characterize subsurface magma storage. We develop quasi-analytical solutions for the surface deformation field due to the pressurization of a finite (triaxial) ellipsoidal cavity in a half-space. The solution is in the form of a non-uniform distribution of triaxial point sources within the cavity. The point sources have the same aspect ratio, determined by the cavity shape, while their strengths and spacing are determined in an adaptive manner, such that the net point-source potency per unit volume is uniform. We validate and compare our solution with analytical and numerical solutions. We provide computationally-efficient MATLAB codes tailored for source inversions. This solution opens the possibility of exploring the geometry of shallow magma chambers for potential deviations from axial symmetry.
Megathrust Heterogeneity, Crustal Accretion, and a Topographic Embayment in the Weste...
Suoya Fan
Between 81º30' E and 83ºE the Himalayan range's "perfect" arcuate shape is interrupted by an embayment. We hypothesize that thrust geometry and duplexing along the megathrust at mid-lower crustal depths plays a leading role in growth of the embayment as well the southern margin of the Tibetan plateau. To test this hypothesis, we conducted thermokinematic modeling of published thermochronologic data from the topographic and structural embayment in the western Nepal Himalaya to investigate the three-dimensional geometry and kinematics of the megathrust at mid-lower crustal depths. Models that can best reproduce observed cooling ages suggest that the megathrust in the western Nepal Himalaya is best described as two ramps connected by a long flat that extends further north than in segments to the east and west. These models suggest that the high-slope zone along the embayment lies above the foreland limb of an antiformal crustal accretion zone on the megathrust with lateral and oblique ramps at mid-lower crustal depths. The lateral and oblique ramps may have initiated by ca. 10 Ma. This process may have controlled along-strike variation in Himalayan-plateau growth and therefore development of the topographic embayment. Finally, we analyze geological and morphologic features and propose an evolution model in which landscape and drainage systems across the central-western Himalaya evolve in response to crustal accretion at depth and the three-dimensional geometry of the megathrust. Our work highlights the importance of crustal accretion at different depths in orogenic-wedge growth and that the mid-lower crustal accretion determines the location of plateau edge.
Barrier breaching versus overwash deposition: predicting the morphologic impact of st...
Jaap H Nienhuis
Waves and water level setup during storms can create overwashing flows across barrier islands. Overwashing flows can cause erosion, barrier breaching, and inlet formation, but their sediments can also be deposited and form washover fans. These widely different outcomes remain difficult to predict. Here we suggest that a breach develops when the sediment volume transported by overwashing flows exceeds the barrier subaerial volume. We form a simple analytical theory that estimates overwashing flows from storm characteristics, barrier morphology, and dune vegetation, and which can be used to assess washover deposition and breaching likelihood. Our theory suggests that barrier width and storm surge height are two important controls on barrier breaching. We test our theory with the hydrodynamic and morphodynamic model Delft3D as well as with field observations of 21 washover fans and 6 breaches that formed during hurricane Sandy. There is reasonable correspondence for natural but not for developed barrier coasts, where traditional sediment transport equations do not readily apply. Our analytical formulations for breach formation and overwash deposition can be used to improve long-term barrier island models.
Near-Real-Time analysis of the ionospheric response to the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tong...
Boris Maletckii
We present a near-real-time (NRT) scenario of analysis of ionospheric response to the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption by using GNSS data. We introduce a new method to determine instantaneous velocities using an interferometric approach and using the time derivative of the total electron content (TEC). Moreover, for the first time, we propose a novel method that automatically estimates the propagation velocity of disturbances from near-real-time travel-time diagrams. By using our new methods, we analyzed the dynamics of co-volcanic ionospheric disturbances generated by the Hunga-Tonga eruption, and we estimated the first propagation velocity to be ~800-950 m/s, which subsequently decreased to ~600 m/s. We demonstrate that our approach can be used to detect, analyze and identify the complexity of a natural hazard event. Also, it is important to note that our new methods can perform at a low spatial resolution and 30-sec cadence data.
The 2015–2017 Pamir Earthquake Sequence: Fore-, Main-, and Aftershocks, Seismotectoni...
Wasja Bloch
A sequence of three strong (M W 7.2, 6.4, 6.6) earthquakes struck the Pamir of Central Asia in 2015–2017. With a local seismic network, we recorded the succession of the fore-, main-, and aftershock sequences at local distances with good azimuthal coverage. We located 11,784 seismic events and determined 33 earthquake moment tensors. The seismicity delineates the tectonic structures of the Pamir in unprecedented detail, i.e., the thrusts that absorb shortening along the Pamir's thrust front, and the strike-slip and normal faults that dissect the Pamir Plateau into a westward extruding block and a northward advancing block. Ruptures on the kinematically dissimilar faults were activated subsequently from the initial M W 7.2 Sarez event at times and distances that follow a diffusion equation. All mainshock areas but the initial one exhibited foreshock activity, which was not modulated by the occurrence of the earlier earthquakes. Modeling of the static Coulomb stress changes indicates that aftershock triggering occurred over distances of ≤90 km on favorably oriented faults. The third event in the sequence, the M W 6.6 Muji earthquake, ruptured despite its repeated stabilization through stress transfer in the order of -10 kPa. To explain the accumulation of M W > 6 earthquakes, we reason that the initial mainshock may have increased nearby fault permeability, and facilitated fluid migration into the mature fault zones, eventually triggering the later large earthquakes.
Fine Particle Mass Monitoring with Low-Cost Sensors: Corrections and Long-Term Perfor...
Carl Malings
Low-cost fine particle mass (PM2.5) sensors enable dense networks to increase the spatial resolution of air quality monitoring. However, these sensors are affected by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity and their effects on ambient aerosol, which must be accounted for to improve the in-field accuracy of these sensors. We conducted long-term tests of two low-cost PM2.5 sensors: Met-One NPM and PurpleAir PA-II units. We found a high level of self-consistency within each sensor type after testing 25 NPM and 9 PurpleAir units (and after rejecting several malfunctioning PurpleAir units). We developed two types of corrections for the low-cost sensor measurements to better match regulatory-grade data. The first correction accounts for aerosol hygroscopic growth using particle composition and corrects for particle mass below the optical sensor size cut-point by collocation with reference Beta Attenuation Monitors (BAM). A second, fully-empirical correction uses linear or quadratic functions of environmental variables based on the same collocation dataset. Either model yielded comparable improvements over raw measurements. Sensor performance was assessed for two use cases: improving community awareness of air quality with short-term qualitative comparisons of sites and providing long-term quantitative information for health impact studies. For the short-term case, either sensor can provide reasonably accurate concentration information (mean absolute error of ~4 µg/m3) in near-real time. For the long-term case, tested using year-long collocations at one urban background and one near-source site, error in the annual average was reduced below 1 µg/m3. These sensors are thus suitable for supplementing regulatory-grade instruments in sparsely monitored regions, neighborhood-scale monitoring, and for better understanding spatial patterns and temporal air quality trends across urban areas.
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FIFA Admits Having Made Payment to Ireland to Stop Legal Action
World | June 5, 2015, Friday // 11:05| views
FIFA logo at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, 04 June 2015. Photo: EPA
FIFA admitted of having made a payment of EUR 5 M to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to stop legal action initiated by the Irish.
Ireland launched the legal action after the team was controversially defeated by France in the play-off for the 2010 World Cup, the BBC reports.
French striker Thierry Henry played with his hand before passing the ball to William Gallas, who scored the equalising goal in the second leg of the play-off.
With the game in Paris finishing 1-1, France qualified for the World Cup in South Africa after having won 0-1 in the first leg in Dublin.
The chief executive of FAI John Delaney said a legitimate agreement was made with FIFA to drop the claim.
A spokesman of FIFA confirmed that it had entered into an agreement with FAI in order to put an end to any claims.
FIFA clarified that the payment amounted to USD 5 M and was a loan granted for the construction of a stadium in Ireland.
According to the arrangement, Ireland had to repay the loan in case the team qualified for the 2014 World Cup.
Ireland failed to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil and FIFA wrote off the loan on 31 December 2014.
The comments of Delaney come amidst the corruption scandal, which has rocked FIFA and led to the resignation of its recently reelected President Sepp Blatter.
FIFA is facing two investigations by the USA for widespread bribery allegations and by Swiss authorities over the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Tags: FIFA, ireland, FAI, world cup, corruption, claim, Sepp Blatter, bribery, bidding, play-off, Thierry Henry
Bulgarian PM: Head of Anti-Corruption Commission No Longer has Access to Classified Information
World Media on Bulgarian Elections: Anti-Corruption Candidate Rumen Radev Won a Second Term
Kiril Petkov: I Want the Chief Prosecutor to be Replaced
Germans Claim to be Under the "Tyranny of the Unvaccinated"
Football World Cup: Bulgaria Lost to Lithuania with 1:3
European Commission Should Be Penalized for Ignoring Rule of Law Issues – MEP Elena Yoncheva, Bulgaria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama.
President Barack Obama's three-day visit to India came on the heels of an economic recession and a losing war in Afghanistan. Just before his visit, Obama felt the full lash of frustration from the American people in the midterm elections on account of a stagnant economy and increasing unemployment. Thus creation of jobs in the United States is his prime objective.
American businesses desperately need markets to sell their products. They are looking towards the developing world with great optimism. India, being the second-fastest growing economy after China, is a major consumer of everything from bikes to aircrafts, nuclear power to defense equipment. In order to take advantage of the burgeoning demand from India, on the very first day of Obama's visit, 20 business deals worth a total of $10 billion were signed between the two countries.
The deals included sales of Boeing passenger aircrafts, Boeing C-17 Globemasters to Indian armed forces, GE 107 F414 jet engines to the Indian Air Force, GE power turbines, and the setting up of a Harley Davidson assembly plant, among others. Obama declared that these deals will create around 54,000 jobs in the United States. All this was said and done despite the restriction on outsourcing from India.
Obama also declared to lift the ban of high-tech and dual-use exports to Indian agencies—Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research and Development Organisation, and Bharat Dynamics Limited. Moreover, his administration has supported India's full membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australian Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement. It is being said that these concessions will help India to develop its space technology and defense industry.
All this might seem to be the generosity of the Obama administration towards India, but the reality is different. Apart from eyeing economic gains by the sale of high-tech and dual-use products, the United States also wants to make geopolitical impact in Asia. Worried by the rapid rise of China, the United States wants to create a counterbalance in Asia by allying India with itself.
On the last day of his visit, Obama addressed the Indian Parliament. He said many things India wanted to hear, and a few things it didn't. The most important was his vocal support for India getting a permanent seat in the reformed U.N. Security Council (UNSC). Since such a statement would not come without conditions attached, he asked India to play an active role in passing and enforcing sanctions resolutions during its two-year stint as a non-permanent member. By this, he wanted India to change its consistent stance on Iran. This was also reflected in the joint statement issued by both countries. On Iran, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to diplomacy and discussed the need for India to meet its obligations towards the International Atomic Energy Agency and UNSC.
On Pakistan, in line with Indian expectations, Obama said that terrorist safe havens within Pak borders are unacceptable and also called on Pakistan to punish the terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks. This was the most an American president could do notwithstanding the lack of strategic convergence between India and the United States on Pakistan. While for the United States Pakistan is a part of the solution, for India it is the heart of the problem. The United States badly needs Pakistan in its war against al Qaeda and the Taliban in the AfPak region. On the controversial issue of Kashmir, repeating his earlier stance, the U.S. president said Washington couldn't impose a solution and intends to work with both sides to resolve the issue bilaterally. His silence on Kashmir was ensured by the above aircraft and defense deals.
Stressing the phrase "two largest democracies," Obama sought to send an indirect message to China that development can be achieved by following democratic norms and values. This was in contrast to his visit to China where he talked about "G-2" leading the world. It clearly shows that the United States seeks to contain China in Asia by supporting India. In reality, India and China cannot be compared. China has more than $2.6 trillion of investment in U.S. securities. Moreover, the annual bilateral trade between the United States and China is more than $500 billion, with balance of trade in favor of China. China has leverage with the United States that India does not.
Also in his speech, Obama questioned the silence of India on human rights violations in Myanmar and maintained that being upfront on such issues did not mean interference in the affairs of another country. One could say that the same should apply to U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia and other West Asian allies where citizens don't know the meaning of human rights—not to mention the human rights violations of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
This visit was different in the sense that it was a give-and-take event, unlike prior visits by U.S. presidents who sought only to extract from India as much as they could. Obama gave many concessions and assurances to India. Still, there are many issues on which both countries do not share a common view. India, being a sovereign nation, has always followed an independent foreign policy. Our defined principles determine our relations with neighboring countries and the world. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rightly said, "We cannot choose our neighbors." We need to learn to live in peace with them without bowing to any external pressure. Indian policymakers should keep in mind that, in the 21st century, America may need India more than India needs America.
Sameer Jafri is an India-based political analyst.


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By the time [our work] was complete I was taller, more energetic, and confident in my own body. Normally when I run it's more of a chore, fighting with my body to keep momentum. But, this time everything felt fluid and strong and I was able to run longer than usual. I had no idea how much that tension was holding me back.
Update on the shoulder: It doesn't hurt at all anymore. Never.
When I started working with Liam I was in pain 6 days out of 7 from two herniated discs. My level of physical activity had steadily decreased over the previous year which was very discouraging. Over the 6 months of our work together, I slowly started to see a decrease in the number of days of pain each week, and was also able to steadily increase my activity level. My "pain free days" have increased to most of the time, and more importantly, I know what I need to do to get out of pain. Liam is a kind, caring and very intuitive healer, who I enjoyed working with immensely.
Thanks … after our session, I had the best dance followed by the best game of tennis of my life.
I was referred to Liam for treatment in my recovery from 5 back fusion operations. I was suffering from extreme pain and weakness in my left leg and lower back. I felt as though I was walking on sharp glass and was not able to climb stairs without support. Walking was difficult and tiring, as I had to learn to walk again after my 5 surgeries.
Liam did an evaluation and proposed a treatment program that has provided me with much appreciated pain relief and increased mobility and strength.
Liam's knowledge of how the body mechanics work and how to free up the body's own restorative capabilities has given me a new lease on life. After 6 years of pain and suffering, my wife says I now look and act 10 years younger.
I would highly recommend Liam to anyone who is suffering as I once was.
I stopped twice this morning in the utter darkness, with my dogs in tow, to take several deep high chest breaths and to just check my body. It felt great. The leg issue is a non-issue since I saw you on Tuesday.
Update: 11 hours outside last weekend – moving almost the whole time with full rack/rope in boots/crampons – ZERO numbness. Huge victory. Thanks so much!
I feel amazed at what your work was able to accomplish in the first two sessions. Looking forward to the third.
Best bodywork I've ever had. Times ten.
I felt like Liam was just as motivated as I was to see improvement in my body. I was most impressed in how he listened to my concerns and areas I wanted to address. Many times in the past I have worked with massage therapists and I wonder if they heard anything I said regarding areas I'd like work on. I'd highly recommend working with Liam.
I've been noticing big changes in my body, now for days after our last session.
I immediately felt very safe in the space, and was able to relax deeply during the session. I left feeling revitalized and energized.
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text:
https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/3-more-arrested-in-suspicious-death-11866139.php
3 more arrested in suspicious death
Published 12:00 am EST, Sunday, February 27, 2011
PLYMOUTH (AP) -- Three more people have been arrested in connection with the death of a Connecticut teenager whose beaten body was found in the Plymouth woods.
The body of 19-year-old Dylan Sherman of Bristol was found by a hiker on Wednesday. Two brothers, Michael and Dennis Guerrera, were arraigned Friday in connection with the case on charges including assault. A Superior Court judge said Dennis Guerrera could be charged with murder and his brother could be charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
On Saturday, state police announced the additional arrests of 21-year-old Jonathon Wilcox of Terryville, 20-year-old Sarah Boilard of Bristol and Michael Boilard of Bristol.
None are charged with murder. Each is being held on charges including accessory to assault and conspiracy to commit assault. Wilcox also faces a kidnapping charge.


text:
Lijit Networks Raises $6M
USAventure capital
Lijit Networks, Inc., a Boulder, CO-based provider of search and discovery tools for online publishers, has completed a $6m financing.
The round was led by existing shareholder Foundry Group, with participation from other previous investors Boulder Ventures and Colorado Fund I, managed by High Country Venture.
This new capital, which brings the total amount the company has raised to date to $17m, will be used to support the growth of Lijit's publisher network and accelerate its recently launched Advertising Services platform.
Incorporated in 2006, the company currently provides individual publishers, commercial web sites and content networks, with content discovery and search tools useful to obtain insight into reader intent, behavior, content, and demographics and subsequently take action to enhance engagement, lengthen time on site and increases page views.
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NFWare Raises $2M in Funding
Stellar Cyber Raises $13.2M in Series A Funding
By FinSMEs	Published on February 26, 2019
Core2 Group Raises $4.3M in First Funding
By FinSMEs	Published on September 2, 2014 September 2, 2014


Active senior living. A community of friends. A welcoming home. It's all here for you at Victoria Park in North Seattle. As a Choice community by SHAG, we make it easy and attainable for you to get more out of life with options for seniors with moderate to higher income levels.
See how affordable senior living comes to life at Victoria Park in North Seattle. From beautiful outdoor areas and spacious apartments with contemporary finishes to an array of amenities and activities, we've created a community where seniors can enjoy new opportunities, new friendships and a renewed zest for living.
We know animals are an important part of your family and that they offer numerous health and wellness benefits. But it's their unwavering companionship that makes them such a welcome addition to SHAG Victoria Park. And perhaps even some of the most popular faces in our senior living community.
Each of our one and two-bedroom apartment homes feature kitchens with energy efficient appliances, wall-to-wall carpeting and contemporary finishes. In each layout, living areas flow into private bedrooms and bathrooms complete with full size tubs, perfect for relaxing after an active day.
You've got a lot of life to live and we want to help you do just that. Think of Victoria Park Senior Living as your upside to downsizing as here you'll find less stress, more freedom, more friends and more time to enjoy defying expectations.
Located north of Seattle off Lake City Way, Victoria Park is near shopping, medical facilities, public transportation, restaurants and all the services you need.
Our residents want to feel safe and at home here at Victoria Park. They find peace of mind knowing who our friendly staff members are and that they are committed to meeting their needs.


RCR General Meeting May 17, 2019 at 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm Please arrive by 6:00 PM - Meeting starts at 6:30 PM SHARP. OPEN TO MEMBERS AND APPROVED PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS ONLY – BRING YOUR CARD! This means no guests including spouses, children, friends, significant others, etc.


The ETAM collections for women, they are very stylish, trendsetters and convey authenticity. Now and how not only has to be a perfect treat for today's woman, also launched a child bathroom collection. The proposed models can be seen in images for the 4, 6 and 8 years old kids with a composition of polyamide, elastane, polyester and cotton.
Designs include bathing suits y bikinis with vichy pictures and with stripes that girls feel comfortable and encourage to enjoy the water. Here at FindJobDescriptions you can get more different models and styles. The price of designs that are shown is of 9,90 EUR and they can be purchased in stores and on the Internet. The designs, which we have seen at home with the small, liked us although we are left with the desire to dare to manufacture swimwear for older girls. The image shows the design of the so-called striped swimsuit Violette.
In addition all bathing suits and bikinis can be game patterned dresses that girls live their experience of beach or pool in the coming summer.


text:
Official 1C Company forum > 1C Publishing > 1C Games
Two new 1C titles ship to retail stores across North America
1C Games Discuss 1C games not listed below.
1C Company and Atari, Inc. announced today that both Fantasy Wars and Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey for Windows PC have shipped to retailers across North America.
Fantasy Wars is rated "T" for Teen and is now available at a suggested retail price of $39.99. Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey is rated "M" for Mature, and is now available at a suggested retail price of $19.99. Both titles were produced by 1C, a leading publisher and distributor of computer games in Eastern and Central Europe.
"The blending of turn-based strategy and role-playing elements in Fantasy Wars and action and role-playing elements in Swashbucklers is sure to captivate gamers," said Todd Slepian, Producer, Atari, Inc. "The release of these two titles solidifies our relationship with 1C and our commitment to distributing fun-filled games."
You can read about Fantasy Wars here, find out more about Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey here.
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text:
A tallium(III)-hidroxid vagy tallium-trihidroxid szervetlen vegyület, képlete Tl(OH)3. Benne a tallium oxidációs száma +3. Fehér, szilárd anyag, erősen toxikus, gyenge bázis, oxidálószer. Melegítve előbb tallium(III)-oxidra, majd tallium(I)-oxidra és oxigénre bomlik.

Hivatkozások

Fordítás

Talliumvegyületek

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Chicago version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship promoted by the Chicago-based Fred Kohler Enterprises, a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The championship was for two-man tag teams only. While the NWA Board of Directors mandated that there would only be one NWA World Heavyweight Championship, they did not regulate the use of championships labeled "NWA World Tag Team Championship", allowing any member that so desired to create their own local version. As a result, as many as 13 different, regional versions were active in 1957, the highest number of active NWA World Tag Team Championships in existence at the same time.

The championship was introduced in 1953 when the promoters awarded the championship to Lord James Blears and Lord Athol Layton. The championship was promoted from 1953 until 1960 when Fred Kohler left the NWA to help form the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and thus the AWA World Tag Team Championship became the top tag team championship in the Chicago area. The Chicago promotion would later be bought by Dick Afflis, who merged it with his Indianapolis-based territory. The last NWA World Tag Team Championship was won by the Shires brothers, Roy and Ray, on April 9, 1960. The Volkoffs, Boris and Nicoli, held the championship four times, the record for the Chicago version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Art Neilson and Reggie Lisowski held the championship for 371 days, the longest individual reign in the championship's seven-year history. Being a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively, but instead determined by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The title is awarded after the chosen team "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.

Title history
Key

Team reigns by combined length
Key

Individual reigns by combined length
Key

See also
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA World Tag Team Championship

Footnotes

Concurrent championships
Sources for 13 simultaneous NWA World Tag Team Championships
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Central States version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Chicago version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Buffalo Athletic Club version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Georgia version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Iowa/Nebraska version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Indianapolis version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Salt Lake Wrestling Club version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Amarillo version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Minneapolis version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)

References

Chicago-related lists
Fred Kohler Enterprises championships
National Wrestling Alliance championships
Tag team wrestling championships
Professional wrestling in the Chicago metropolitan area
World professional wrestling championships


Taste test: These tortilla chips had a light yellow color, with lots of small green seasoning bits on the surfaces. Many of the chips were folded-over or broken, but the intact ones were large and quarter-circle shaped. All of the chips had lots of bubbles of various sizes embedded inside.
We crunched in to find a very nice crispness and light crunch, a great texture for a very Doritos-like feel (though a bit less crunchy than Doritos). The initial taste had a just a mild jalapeño kick, as the flavor seemed like a mix of ranch and jalapeño, an unusual combination, but a good one. The jalapeño heat picked up after eating several chips in a row, and it stayed around for quite a while with a lingering aftertaste. Our snackers were fans, as people praised the taste while enjoying these chips with some beer.
Smell test: Nice but mild, more ranch than jalapeno.


text:
Delta Dental of Colorado named a 2020 Top Workplace by The Denver Post
June 29, 2020 By Social Media Collaborative
At Delta Dental of Colorado, our team members are dedicated to our mission to improve the oral health of the communities we serve. "The impact we have on the community is amazing," said a team member when asked to reflect on why Delta Dental is a great place to work. "I feel like a part of something bigger than me. It makes my work meaningful."
This makes the honor of being named one of 150 Top Workplaces of 2020 by The Denver Post a special honor. The award is based solely on team-member feedback, and we are grateful for the positive input our team members offered in order to make this a reality.
"Delta Dental of Colorado is proud of being named a 2020 Top Workplace by The Denver Post," said Helen Drexler, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado. "Our mission and values are at the core of everything we do, and it's reflected daily in the interactions we have with our members, groups, brokers, providers, and each other. Our team members are the heart of Delta Dental of Colorado, and we couldn't be prouder that the feedback they provided is what led us to this distinct honor."
We're committed to continuing to build upon the culture that has led us here, by having continuous conversations about what it means to be a DDCO team member, driven by our core values:
Do what's right when no one is looking
Delight the people with whom you come in contact
Make tomorrow better than today
Find joy in whatever you do
Grow through learning
"DDCO encourages the employees to follow our core values that all employees had input in creating," said another team member.
To learn more about Delta Dental of Colorado visit: https://www.deltadentalco.com/aboutdeltadental.aspx
Filed Under: Dental Health


text:
Q: Ocaml: Lazy Lists How can I make a lazy list representing a sequence of doubling numbers? Example:
1 2 4 8 16 32

A: The great blog enfranchised mind has a great article on this topic:
http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/ocaml-lazy-lists-an-introduction/
You can also check out http://batteries.forge.ocamlcore.org/doc.preview%3Abatteries-beta1/html/api/Lazy%5Flist.html
which is the standard library for dealing with this.
This question is also very similar to this question:
What OCaml libraries are there for lazy list handling?

A: Also, there is a lazy list module called Cf_seq in my OCaml Network Application Environment Core Foundation.  In fact, I wrote a whole passle of functional data structures.  It's all available under a 2-clause BSD license.  Enjoy.
Update: the code has been renamed "Oni" and it's now hosted at BitBucket.  You can also use the GODI package for it.

A: If you want to do it by hand, I'd say you have to main options:

*

*Use a custom lazy_list type, like ephemient said (except his solution is a bit broken):
type 'a lazy_list =
    | Nil
    | Cons of 'a * 'a lazy_list

let head = function
    | Nil -> failwith "Cannot extract head of empty list"
    | Cons (h, _) -> h

let tail = function
    | Nil -> failwith "Cannot extract tail of empty list"
    | Cons (_, t) -> t

*Use a kind of thunk (like the thing used to implement lazy evaluation in a language that does not support it). You define your list as a function unit -> 'a that says how to get the next element from the current one (no need to use streams for that). For example, to define the list of all natural integers, you can do
let make_lazy_list initial next =
    let lazy_list current () =
        let result = !current in
        current := (next !current); result
    in lazy_list (ref initial)

let naturals = make_lazy_list 0 (function i -> i + 1)

The if you do
print_int (naturals ());
print_int (naturals ());
print_int (naturals ())

you will get the following output:
0
1
2

A: Using streams:
let f x = Stream.from (fun n -> Some (x * int_of_float (2.0 ** float_of_int n)))

or
let f x =
  let next = ref x in
    Stream.from (fun _ -> let y = !next in next := 2 * y ; Some y)

Using a custom lazy_list type:
type 'a lazy_list =
  | Nil
  | Cons of 'a * 'a lazy_list lazy_t
let rec f x = lazy (Cons (x, f (2*x)))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Send a complaint to the Embassy of the country where the scammer resides AND their Embassy in your country - for example, if you live in USA and the scammer resides in Russia, you should send your complaint to the Russian Embassy in USA and USA Embassy in Russia.
Name and surname of the scammer (the person on whose name the money was sent, even if it is different from the name of the person your were corresponding with).
Details of the scam - a complete story including dates, names of the persons and agencies, printed copies of letters, copies of Western Union receipts etc.
Request to hand your complaint to the Ministry of Home Affairs of the country where the scammer resides (where you have sent the money to) and request to prosecute the scammer.
Your name, address, email address and phone number.
Print the complaint, number the pages and initial every page, sign the last page.
Include a copy of your ID/passport (page with your name and photo).
Such a complaint will be considered as an official statement, and can be used by authorities to initiate a criminal investigation, and, possibly, recover your money.
Without official complaints authorities are not able to prosecute scammers.
Inform the agency/website where you have found this person (or where s/he has found you), giving them all details of the scam and asking to remove the scammer from their pages. Request response.
Inform the service provider where the scammer's email account has been registered, and ask them to disable this address. Request response.
Use aliases POSTMASTER and WEBMASTER; so if the address was somebody@mail.ru report it to postmaster@mail.ru and webmaster@mail.ru. Forward them the letter with money request and the story of how you have been scammed.
If you have sent money to a scammer via Western Union, report it to Western Union fraud department and customer support department. Request response.
Your responsible position helps to protect others!


text:
import * as fs from './index';

(async function () {
    await fs.writeTextFile('data.log', '\nPASSED!\n', undefined, 'a');
    process.exit();
})();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Less than 1% of buildings in George Town legally built: Chennai corpn tells Madras HC
Only 1% of all buildings in George Town area have been built in accordance with development control rules, corporation of Chennai told Madras high court, prompting the latter to question authorities as to how unauthorized buildings were being assessed for tax and given water, electricity and sewerage connections.
A Subramani
Madras high court
CHENNAI: Only 1% of all buildings in George Town area have been built in accordance with development control rules, corporation of Chennai told Madras high court, prompting the latter to question authorities as to how unauthorized buildings were being assessed for tax and given water, electricity and sewerage connections.
Chennai Corporation conceded to the court that out of 11,304 buildings inspected by its officials in the George Town area, only 72 buildings were found to have been built in accordance with rules. "From the preliminary survey that merely 1% of the buildings are built without any deviation," the civic body told the court.
Taking judicial note of this data, the court then asked the authorities to render unauthorized buildings 'unoccupiable, by not providing them water, electricity and sewerage connections to the so-called 'legally constructed portions' of the building.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T S Sivagnanam, making it clear that the only action that needs to be taken in case of illegal buildings is to seal the entire building till the owner puts it in conformity to the sanctioned plan, said: "Building plans are obtained and construction is made with impunity, violating all norms. Still the property is sought to be assessed for property tax, apart from grant of electricity service connection, water and sewerage connections, tacitly on the ground of legally constructed portion."
The bench was passing orders on the PIL filed by social activist Traffic Ramasamy on Friday.
The judges then directed housing, municipal administration and water supply departments, CMDA and Chennai corporation to place before the court a plan of action "as to how the process will now be established to ensure that such buildings are not made capable of occupation."
It is not a solution to say that a part of the building was legal as it had been constructed as per sanction plan, when the whole building in question is prima facie illegal, the bench said, adding: "These constructions are not in the nature of additional construction, which may be capable of being regularized, but of extra floors being constructed."
It all began with Ramasamy's PIL seeking action against illegal constructions in the George Town area, especially Sowcarpet and its vicinity. On August 7, 2014, the court had ordered inspection of each building in George Town area within three months and notice to be issued to unauthorized constructions.
Of the 11,304 buildings, 10,381 did not have set back at all, while 731 had certain deviations in set back.
The CMDA, in its report, told the court that government's exemption scheme for unauthorized constructions would be applicable to buildings built before the cutoff date of July 1, 207. However, a set of guidelines ot implement the amended provision of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 was yet to come. Scrutiny of applications made by owners of unauthorized constructions would be taken up after the guidelines are framed, it said.
The bench posted the matter to December 18 for further contempt of court proceedings.
Most Read in Regulatory
Stamp duty waiver helped Maharashtra's revenue grow by Rs 367 crore


Greate Photoshop plug-ins for professional photo retouching. Power Retouche Photoshop plug-ins for high quality photo retouching and image editing. 8 and 16 bit. Supports RGB, CMYK, Lab, Grayscale, Duotone.
This is why Outlook plug-ins (programs intended to enhance certain operations or add new features) are so popular today.
As a heavy Outlook user myself, I tried and used many different plug-ins.
PanHandler (for DirectX) is a surround sound panning and encoding plug-in that works with any application that supports DirectX plug-ins. The PanHandler pans and encodes a sound source in surround sound.


Meetings of the CRCOG Policy Board, and its appointed committees, are held in accordance with the agency's established Rules of Procedure and Bylaws. The current revision was updated in 2014.
The CRCOG Policy Board is composed of the Mayors, First Selectmen and Council Chairmen of the 38 Capitol Region municipalities. The City of Hartford has three additional representatives on the Policy Board. The CRCOG Policy Board is the Council's governing body that is responsible for establishing policy, setting CRCOG agenda, and taking administrative actions on behalf of the Council.