In his paper “Architects or Builders; scaffolding or duck tape?” (in this volume) Russell Beale states that we might not educate the students right for the challenges of HCI that are to come. The paper asks for the right way, a strict architectural view, or a view with the focus on the practical work at a lower level. In this commentary I will argue the intention of question itself rather than ...

During the summer 2012 an incidence of high mortality, above 44 percent, in two flocks of Muscovy ducklings in Poland was noted. The clinical signs included considerable weight loss and inability to walk. During the post-mortem evaluations dehydration and enteritis, gouty kidneys as well as hemorrhagic liver and spleen lesions were found. The laboratory diagnosis included agar gel precipitation...

It was a nice October day in the year 1997, the world of carmakers was celebrating Daimler–Benz’s new highend luxury limousine “Mercedes-Benz Maybach’’ at the Tokyo Motor Show, when suddenly the news about the “Moose-Test’’ fell like a bombshell. With the so-called swerve to avoid hitting elks (“Moose-Test’’), the Swedish car tester Robert Collin had destroyed the reputation of Mercedes’ A-Clas...

113 Effects of dietary non-phytate phosphorus level and phy­ tase on growth performance of Cherry Valley duck. Z. Z. Ren*1, Q. F. Zeng1, X. M. Ding1, S. P. Bai1, Y. H. Luo1, J. P. Wang1, K. Y. Zhang1, and G. Xu2, 1Institute of Animal Nutrition, Animal Nutrition and Feed Engineering, Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Sichuan, China, 2Sichuan Chuanheng Chemi­ ca...

MHC class I proteins mediate functions in anti-pathogen defense. MHC diversity has already been investigated by many studies in model avian species, but here we chose the bar-headed goose, a worldwide migrant bird, as a non-model avian species. Sequences from exons encoding the peptide-binding region (PBR) of MHC class I molecules were isolated from liver genomic DNA, to investigate variation i...

An outbreak of egg drop disease occurred in many chicken and goose farms in China in 2011. By using an NS5-specific reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), we found that 56% of chicken and 38% of goose samples were positive for Tembusu-like virus (TMUV). Isolates showed high sequence homology to duck TMUVs, and chickens and geese showed signs of egg drop disease after experimental infection with du...

Interferons are a group of antiviral cytokines acting as the first line of defense in the antiviral immunity. Here, we describe the antiviral activity of goose type I interferon (IFNα) and type II interferon (IFNγ) against duck plague virus (DPV). Recombinant goose IFNα and IFNγ proteins of approximately 20 kDa and 18 kDa, respectively, were expressed. Following DPV-enhanced green fluorescent p...

We report the complete genomic sequence of the full Muscovy duck parvovirus (MDPV) strain, designated GX2011-5, isolated from a Muscovy duck in Guangxi Province, China. The complete genomic sequence was 5,132 bp in length and contained two major open reading frames encoding a 1,844-nucleotide (nt) nonstructural protein and a 2,199-nt capsid protein. Comparison of the complete sequence of GX2011...