Spatial and Temporal Tracking of Pathogenic Bioaerosols in Beef Slaughter Facilities Using Dynamic Monitoring Techniques

Salmonella and Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) have been recognized as pathogens of concern in meats due to the prevalence of this microorganism in the gastrointestinal tract and hide of livestock. Bacterial ingestion due to contaminated food products causes a great economic burden from the hospitalization and death of those who become infected. STEC and Salmonella annually cause an estimated 470 deaths in the United States alone. An estimated max of 77.1 billion dollars are lost each year as a direct result of contaminated food. During the harvesting process, these pathogens may become aerosolized from carcass by various mechanisms, including worker activity and airflow from heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems. In this study, one small rural facility and one medium-sized beef facility were examined. High air volume wetted wall cyclone (WWC) bioaerosol samplers capable of concentrating bioaerosols in a liquid effluent were used throughout processing at bleeding, de-limbing, de-hiding, washing, and other stages. Bioaerosols were analyzed using plating and qPCR techniques. Total bacteria count (TBC), STEC concentrations, and Salmonella concentrations were enumerated in the air, and critical areas were identified. Salmonella and STEC were found to increase with each passing day in the facility, and TBC and STEC increased between morning and afternoon phases of processing. Significant differences in TBC and temperature were found at different locations in the facilities. A novel unmanned aerial system (UAS) capable of capturing bioaerosols at high altitudes was testing alongside the WWC in cattle feedlots. The UAS performed well, capturing significant concentrations of STEC and TBC. As of now, HVAC systems have not been studied in correlation with the movement and concentration of bioaerosols in slaughter facilities. Blueprints were obtained from the examined facilities, the cattle processing floors were modeled, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were performed. The airflow created from the HVAC systems was found to have an enormous effect on the spread of bioaerosols. Similarities were found between the collected concentrations of bioaerosols and particle traces in the modeled facilities. Finally, new HVAC models were generated for the facilities to significantly increase the sanitation of the beef slaughtering process

Causes of bearing corrosion

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1941. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Spatial and Temporal Tracking of Pathogenic Bioaerosols in Beef Slaughter Facilities Using Dynamic Monitoring Techniques

Salmonella and Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) have been recognized as pathogens of concern in meats due to the prevalence of this microorganism in the gastrointestinal tract and hide of livestock. Bacterial ingestion due to contaminated food products causes a great economic burden from the hospitalization and death of those who become infected. STEC and Salmonella annually cause an estimated 470 deaths in the United States alone. An estimated max of 77.1 billion dollars are lost each year as a direct result of contaminated food. During the harvesting process, these pathogens may become aerosolized from carcass by various mechanisms, including worker activity and airflow from heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) systems. In this study, one small rural facility and one medium-sized beef facility were examined. High air volume wetted wall cyclone (WWC) bioaerosol samplers capable of concentrating bioaerosols in a liquid effluent were used throughout processing at bleeding, de-limbing, de-hiding, washing, and other stages. Bioaerosols were analyzed using plating and qPCR techniques. Total bacteria count (TBC), STEC concentrations, and Salmonella concentrations were enumerated in the air, and critical areas were identified. Salmonella and STEC were found to increase with each passing day in the facility, and TBC and STEC increased between morning and afternoon phases of processing. Significant differences in TBC and temperature were found at different locations in the facilities. A novel unmanned aerial system (UAS) capable of capturing bioaerosols at high altitudes was testing alongside the WWC in cattle feedlots. The UAS performed well, capturing significant concentrations of STEC and TBC. As of now, HVAC systems have not been studied in correlation with the movement and concentration of bioaerosols in slaughter facilities. Blueprints were obtained from the examined facilities, the cattle processing floors were modeled, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were performed. The airflow created from the HVAC systems was found to have an enormous effect on the spread of bioaerosols. Similarities were found between the collected concentrations of bioaerosols and particle traces in the modeled facilities. Finally, new HVAC models were generated for the facilities to significantly increase the sanitation of the beef slaughtering process

Zurück in den Alltag : Mütter nach Behandlung ihrer Alkoholabhängigkeit

Diese Studie wurde gefördert vom Schweizerischen Nationalfonds (Projektnummer 126870).Welchen Herausforderungen sehen sich Mütter nach der Behandlung einer Alkoholabhängigkeit gegenüber? Im Fokus der Studie der Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften in Kooperation mit der Forel Klinik stehen Mütter, die eine stationäre oder tagesklinische Behandlung hinter sich haben. Die Ergebnisse der qualitativen Studie geben einen Einblick in das Leben dieser Mütter bei der Rückkehr in ihren Alltag. Für die Bewältigung des Alltags nach dem Klinikaufenthalt haben sich verschiedene Herausforderungen als relevant erwiesen: die Positionierung als Frau und Mutter im sozialen Umfeld, die Beziehung zu den Kindern sowie eigene Entwicklungen und Veränderungen. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass die Patientinnen sich am ehesten der Herausforderung der persönlichen Entwicklungen und Veränderungen stellen können. Die Bewältigung von Herausforderungen, die in Zusammenhang mit dem nahen sozialen Netz stehen, bereitet mehr Mühe. Ausgehend von diesen Erkenntnissen wird deutlich, dass bei der Behandlung und Nachsorge nicht nur das Befinden der Mütter, sondern auch der Einbezug des sozialen Netzes – insbesondere der Kinder – thematisiert werden sollte

Scientific modeling of Optical 3D Measuring Devices based on GPU-accelerated Ray Tracing using the NVIDIA OptiX Engine

Scientific optical 3D modeling requires the possibility to implement highly flexible and customizable mathematical models as well as high computing power. However, established ray tracing software for optical design and modeling purposes often has limitations in terms of access to underlying mathematical models and the possibility of accelerating the mostly CPU-based computation. To address these limitations, we propose the use of NVIDIA's OptiX Ray Tracing Engine as a highly flexible and high-performing alternative. OptiX offers a highly customizable ray tracing framework with onboard GPU support for parallel computing, as well as access to optimized ray tracing algorithms for accelerated computation. To demonstrate the capabilities of our approach, a realistic focus variation instrument is modeled, describing optical instrument components (light sources, lenses, detector, etc.) as well as the measuring sample surface mathematically or as meshed files. Using this focus variation instrument model, exemplary virtual measurements of arbitrary and standardized sample surfaces are carried out, generating image stacks of more than 100 images and tracing more than 1E9 light rays per image. The performance and accuracy of the simulations are qualitatively evaluated, and virtually generated detector images are compared with images acquired by a respective physical measuring device.Comment: conferenc

A Workflow Approach to Visualization-Based Storytelling with Cultural Heritage Data

Stories are as old as human history - and a powerful means for the engaging communication of information, especially in combination with visualizations. The InTaVia project is built on this intersection and has developed a platform which supports the workflow of cultural heritage experts to create compelling visualization-based stories: From the search for relevant cultural objects and actors in a cultural knowledge graph, to the curation and visual analysis of the selected information, and to the creation of stories based on these data and visualizations, which can be shared with the interested public.Comment: VIS4DH 202

Pandemic Strain of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Serotype O

The PanAsia strain is spreading explosively in Asia and extending to parts of Africa and Europe