Isolation of Bartonella henselae from a serologically negative cat in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Sera collected from apparently healthy 6-12-month-old cats (n = 31) presented to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Veterinary Clinic in Bloemfontein for neutering were tested for antibodies reactive to Bartonella henselae (Houston-1 strain) by indirect fluorescent antibody testing. Whole blood collected from the cats was used in isolation experiments and subsequent identification of Bartonella species was based on comparison of the nucleotide base sequence of polymerase chain reaction-amplified citrate synthase gene fragments. While none of the cats had antibodies reactive with B. henselae at titres > 1/64, an organism with a partial citrate synthase gene sequence identical to that of B. henselae (Houston-1) was isolated from 1 cat

Rapid survey protocol that provides dynamic information on reef condition to managers of the Great Barrier Reef

Managing to support coral reef resilience as the climate changes requires strategic and responsive actions that reduce anthropogenic stress. Managers can only target and tailor these actions if they regularly receive information on system condition and impact severity. In large coral reef areas like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), acquiring condition and impact data with good spatial and temporal coverage requires using a large network of observers. Here, we describe the result of ~10 years of evolving and refining participatory monitoring programs used in the GBR that have rangers, tourism operators and members of the public as observers. Participants complete Reef Health and Impact Surveys (RHIS) using a protocol that meets coral reef managers' needs for up-to-date information on the following: benthic community composition, reef condition and impacts including coral diseases, damage, predation and the presence of rubbish. Training programs ensure that the information gathered is sufficiently precise to inform management decisions. Participants regularly report because the demands of the survey methodology have been matched to their time availability. Undertaking the RHIS protocol we describe involves three ~20 min surveys at each site. Participants enter data into an online data management system that can create reports for managers and participants within minutes of data being submitted. Since 2009, 211 participants have completed a total of more than 10,415 surveys at more than 625 different reefs. The two-way exchange of information between managers and participants increases the capacity to manage reefs adaptively, meets education and outreach objectives and can increase stewardship. The general approach used and the survey methodology are both sufficiently adaptable to be used in all reef regions

Dynamic modelling of optimal pricing and trading policies under uncertainty

The objective of this thesis is to present a set of useful tools for problems of sequential decision making under uncertainty. Specifically, we study three applications of dynamic planning: dynamic pricing of non-durable products in the context of Markov processes, dynamic pricing of high end fashionable products with autoregressive demand, and the dynamic trading of financial securities with added sign constraints.Market volatility, incomplete or delayed information, and unpredictability of underlying systems are integral to real-world problems. It is important to establish methods to integrate these factors into the modelling framework of choice. In this research we study stochastic dynamic programs and their use in finding optimal or near-optimal strategies for the above problems.In the first of three papers comprising this thesis, we examine the dynamic pricing problem in the context of Markov decision processes, and explore the structural characteristics of the model. Our results support the use of exact methods when assuming the state of the system (demand) is unobservable. The second paper is concerned with a dynamic pricing problem that assumes an autoregressive evolution model for the demand. We provide a simple but ef- fective approximate dynamic programming method that outperforms the classic methods of solving dynamic programming problems. Finally, in the third paper, we examine the dynamic trading of large blocks of securities by extending the dynamic programming framework to include constraints and additional information. We explore the characteristics of the model to improve on the closed form solutions available in the literature, but we also utilise a heuristic approximate dynamic programming method to provide near-optimal results when the problem is augmented with necessary constraints to handle practical settings.<br/

Rodentolepis straminea in an urban population of Apodemus sylvaticus in the UK

The presence of the cyclophyllidean cestode Rodentolepis straminea (Cestoda, Hymenolepididae), was confirmed by molecular DNA analysis from a wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) population inhabiting urban woodland in Salford, Greater Manchester (UK) with a prevalence of 27.8%. It would appear that the only previous published record of this species in A. sylvaticus in the British Isles is that from southwest Ireland, where 24% of the wood mice examined were infected with R. straminea. This species has been recorded in studies on A. sylvaticus in continental Europe. The current report represents a new record for R. straminea on mainland Britain and a first study of helminth parasites in an urban wood mouse population