New Zealand immunisation schedule history

The first formal immunisation schedule for the delivery of triple (DTP) vaccine was drawn up in November 1960. Since 1960 there have been many changes to the immunisation schedule, with a further change proposed for 1996. These changes have been in response to new vaccine development and better understanding of vaccine immunology. Further changes are certain.     

Dispersed solar thermal generation employing parabolic dish-electric transport with field modulated generator systems

This paper discusses the application of field modulated generator systems (FMGS) to dispersed solar-thermal-electric generation from a parabolic dish field with electric transport. Each solar generation unit is rated at 15 kWe and the power generated by an array of such units is electrically collected for insertion into an existing utility grid. Such an approach appears to be most suitable when the heat engine rotational speeds are high ( >6000 r/min) and, in particular, if they are operated in the variable speed mode and if utility-grade a.c. is required for direct insertion into the grid without an intermediate electric energy storage and reconversion system. Predictions of overall efficiencies based on conservative efficiency figures for the FMGS are in the range of 25 per cent and should be encouraging to those involved in the development of cost-effective dispersed solar thermal power systems.     

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor enhances function rather than survival of intrastriatal dopamine cell-rich grafts

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to promote the survival of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra in cell culture. In order to assess whether a similar survival-promoting effect is present also in vivo, we grafted fetal nigral tissue to the dopamine-depleted striatum of 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats receiving two-week intraventricular infusions or daily intrastriatal injections of BDNF, NGF, or vehicle. When infused chronically at a high dose (12 micrograms/day) into the lateral ventricle, BDNF caused a behavioral syndrome of reduced food and water intake, body weight loss, and locomotor hyperactivity in comparison to NGF- and vehicle-infused graft recipients. NGF-infused graft recipients displayed a transient weight loss during the first week of infusion. At 15 days, amphetamine-induced turning was significantly attenuated to 3% of pregraft values in BDNF-infused recipients, whereas functional graft effects were not present in NGF- or vehicle-infused animals. Survival of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive graft cells, however, was similar in all treatment groups. Notably, NGF- and BDNF-infusions led to a significant size increase of cholinergic host neurons in the medial septal nucleus and the vertical limb of the diagonal band ipsilateral to the infusion, whereas there was no cholinergic neuron hypertrophy in vehicle-infused animals. Daily intrastriatal injections of BDNF (2 micrograms) produced no weight loss or locomotor hyperactivity, but also enhanced functional graft effects in BDNF-injected, as compared to vehicle-injected animals. Survival rates of grafted tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive cells were, however, similar in both groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Security and key management in IoT‐based wireless sensor networks: An authentication protocol using symmetric key

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) consist of hundreds of miniature sensor nodes to sense various events in the surrounding environment and report back to the base station. Sensor networks are at the base of internet of things (IoT) and smart computing applications where a function is performed as a result of sensed event or information. However, in resource‐limited WSN authenticating a remote user is a vital security concern. Recently, researchers put forth various authentication protocols to address different security issues. Gope et al presented a protocol claiming resistance against known attacks. A thorough analysis of their protocol shows that it is vulnerable to user traceability, stolen verifier, and denial of service (DoS) attacks. In this article, an enhanced symmetric key‐based authentication protocol for IoT‐based WSN has been presented. The proposed protocol has the ability to counter user traceability, stolen verifier, and DoS attacks. Furthermore, the proposed protocol has been simulated and verified using Proverif and BAN logic. The proposed protocol has the same communication cost as the baseline protocol; however, in computation cost, it has 52.63% efficiency as compared with the baseline protocol.     

The spatial and temporal distribution of metals in an urban stream: A case study of the Don River in Toronto,Canada

Widespread growth of cities, the association of trace metals with urban runoff, and the potentially deleterious effect of metals on aquatic ecology have made it important to understand the distribution and transport of metals through surface water channel networks. The Don River in Toronto, Canada has been identified as an Area of Concern for pollution to Lake Ontario, with historically high levels of metal contamination. Sampling programs are sparse, therefore a model is needed to understand the spatial and temporal variability of metals in the river network. The objectives of the current study are to: i) describe the sampled spatial and temporal variability of metals in the Don River and ii) develop a modelling strategy to describe within flood metal transport dynamics. A model setup tool is developed that links Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) with the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) to allow a seamless transition from catchment hydrology to in-stream hydraulic and chemical processes. Results show that lead pollution in the Don River is decreasing, likely as a result of policy changes and sediment dredging in the mouth of the river. However, zinc and copper pollution are increasingly problematic, with copper exceeding recommended lower guidelines, particularly during floods. Model results confirm that most of the sediment and metals are transported in relatively short bursts within longer flood durations and are stored in depositional hotspots within the Lower Don River. A better monitoring strategy is needed to understand and more accurately parametrize these processes in an urban river system.     

Longitudinal vibration analysis of nanorods with multiple discontinuities based on nonlocal elasticity theory using wave approach

Microsystem Technologies - Discontinuities such as cracks and steps on the length, and the mass of attached buckyball on the tip, of nanoresonators have large effects on nanoresonators natural...     

Modified poly(vinyl alcohol)/chitosan blended membranes for isopropanol dehydration via pervaporation: Synthesis optimization and modeling by response surface methodology

Box–Behnken (BB) design of response surface methodology (RSM) was effectively applied to optimize fabrication conditions of modified poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan (CS) blended pervaporation (PV) membranes. The PVA/CS membranes were crosslinked either by chemical reaction with glutaraldehyde (GA) or by heat‐treating at different temperatures. The main objectives were to determine the optimal levels of fabricating parameters and also to investigate interactions among the variables. CS content in the blended membranes, concentration of crosslinking agent and heat‐treating temperature were the fabrication parameters, the main effects and interaction effects of which on membrane structure and PV performance toward isopropanol (IPA)/water dehydration were investigated, and for which regression models were established. The modified PVA/CS blended membranes were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) as well as X‐ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that the CS content is the most significant factor influencing flux and separation factor among the three studied variables and the experimental results are in excellent accordance with predicted values from the developed RSM regression models. The RSM results indicated that under preparation conditions of 80 wt % CS in the blended membrane, 0.58 wt % GA concentration, and 77 °C heat‐treating temperature, the maximum separation factor of 5222.8 and the normalized flux of 9.407 kg µm/m²h can be acquired with feed content of 85 wt % IPA at 25 °C, showing that the prepared membrane is highly efficient for PV dehydration of IPA. The models were satisfactorily validated against experimental data. Furthermore, the optimum membrane presents excellent separation performance at different feed compositions and temperatures. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44587.     

Adsorption of platinum(IV) from an aqueous solution with magnetic cellulose functionalized with thiol and amine as a nano‐active adsorbent

In this study, magnetic cellulose was prepared and then functionalized by the grafting of glycidyl methacrylate and reaction with thiourea/amine [to produce grafted magnetic cellulose with thiol/amine (GMC–N/S)]. Thus, GMC–N/S as a nano‐active adsorbent was investigated for the adsorption of Pt(IV) in a batch system. A response surface methodology was used to study the effects of four independent variables [Pt(IV) concentration, temperature, pH of the solution, and adsorbent dose] and to optimize the process conditions for the maximum adsorption of platinum(IV) from aqueous solutions by GMC–N/S. A high coefficient of determination (R² = 98.46) implied the adsorption of Pt(IV) onto the adsorbent in a valid manner, and only 1.54% of the total variable was not explained by the model. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to the Langmuir isotherm. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of the adsorbent (GMC–N/S) for Pt(IV) was determined to be 40.48 mg/g. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45361.     

Design of all-optical simultaneous AND,NAND, OR,and NOR logic gates using phase-based control of three coupled waveguides

In this paper, we present a novel phase-based structure for implementing the all-optical multi-function logic gates. The proposed structure which is composed of three coupled waveguides allows us to simultaneously access OR/NOR and AND/NAND logic functions from different output ports. The phase of middle waveguide plays the role of control tool which defines the logical values of outputs. The output ports can be switched from OR/NOR to AND/NAND logic functions by changing the control phase from 24\(^{\circ }\) to 237\(^{\circ }\), respectively. Beam propagation method has been employed in order to accomplish the simulations of light propagation.