The design of a new bacon product : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Food Technology at Massey University

An initial examination of the New Zealand domestic meat market showed that the bacon industry was most in need of help from the development of new products. Per capita consumption of bacon and ham, products which provided almost 70% of the bacon industry's revenue, were shown to be declining. The aim of the project was to design new cured meat products which would replace bacon as the major revenue centre for the industry. A market survey and two consumer surveys were carried out in Palmerston North with the aim of determining the reasons for the apparent decline in bacon and ham consumption. The three surveys were extended to include beef, sheep meat and pork cuts as well as ham, bacon and smallgoods so that the most consumer-acceptable cuts could be identified.The market survey showed that the industry was in fact selling their bacon and ham through the most important retail outlets and while poor advertising and packaging might have been partly responsible for the decline in per capita consumption of bacon and ham, they did not appear to be the major cause. The first consumer survey was carried out to see whether any changes in socio-economic factors such as household size, gross income of the household head or age of the housewife were responsible for the decline in consumption of bacon and ham. Trends evidenced in the New Zealand society since 1966, rather than contributing to the apparent decline in consumption of these products, were in actual fact favouring the consumption of these two meats. The second consumer survey evaluated the attitudes of thirty Palmerston North housewives towards bacon and ham as well as a number of other meats. This survey identified the reasons for the apparent decline in consumption of bacon and ham. Bacon, in particular, was seen to have intermediate properties, intermediate between fresh meat and smallgoods. The data from this second survey was examined by way of Principal component factor analysis and the following variables were isolated as being common to all meats: preference, nutrition, flavour, prestige and length of cooking. An analysis of main meal and snack meats identified additional variables which were unique to each meat group and still other variables were isolated for individual meat cuts. Together, these were hypothesised to be the blueprints for the individual products which enabled consumers to identify each meat product from a whole host of other meat products. The consumer-acceptable meats were examined and the attributes responsible for the success of these products were identified and new cured products were designed, and these attributes were built into them

The Approach of the Edgar Cayce Readings to Dreams and Dreaming

A preparatory presentation of the origin of the Edgar Cayce psychic material and its approach to the nature of the mind and sleep is made. Then, the psychic material of the late Edgar Cayce is examined in relation to dreams and dream interpretation. Dreams, according to the Edgar Cayce Readings and the author, are meaningful, purposefully directed experiences that have as their goal the full development of personal potential. Suggestions are given for the recording and interpretation of dreams

Micrurus limbatus

Number of Pages: 3Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Employment relations and human resource management.

This chapter locates the emergence and significance of key intersections of Human Resource Management (HRM) and Employment Relations (ER) in a threefold manner. First, the chapter traces the origins of HRM, highlighting the importance of longstanding domain assumptions which formed the conceptual heritage of the term. Second, the chapter explores key waves of research that have characterised the field since the mid-1980s, including an emphasis on strategy, HRM-Performance linkages, and employee outcomes. Third, the chapter draws on a 5C framework to provide a critical evaluation of HRM. Overall, this serves to illuminate the value of more employment relations grounded understanding and on-going conversation between related modes of thinking about the management of people at work in contemporary society

Parameter uncertainty of a dynamic multispecies size spectrum model

Dynamic size spectrum models have been recognized as an effective way of describing how size-based interactions can give rise to the size structure of aquatic communities. They are intermediate-complexity ecological models that are solutions to partial differential equations driven by the size-dependent processes of predation, growth, mortality, and reproduction in a community of interacting species and sizes. To be useful for quantitative fisheries management these models need to be developed further in a formal statistical framework. Previous work has used time-averaged data to “calibrate” the model using optimization methods with the disadvantage of losing detailed time-series information. Using a published multispecies size spectrum model parameterized for the North Sea comprising 12 interacting fish species and a background resource, we fit the model to time-series data using a Bayesian framework for the first time. We capture the 1967–2010 period using annual estimates of fishing mortality rates as input to the model and time series of fisheries landings data to fit the model to output. We estimate 38 key parameters representing the carrying capacity of each species and background resource, as well as initial inputs of the dynamical system and errors on the model output. We then forecast the model forward to evaluate how uncertainty propagates through to population- and community-level indicators under alternative management strategies

Additional Routes to Staphylococcus aureus Daptomycin Resistance as Revealed by Comparative Genome Sequencing, Transcriptional Profiling, and Phenotypic Studies

Daptomycin is an extensively used anti-staphylococcal agent due to the rise in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, but the mechanism(s) of resistance is poorly understood. Comparative genome sequencing, transcriptomics, ultrastructure, and cell envelope studies were carried out on two relatively higher level (4 and 8 mu g/ml(-1)) laboratory-derived daptomycin-resistant strains (strains CB1541 and CB1540 respectively) compared to their parent strain (CB1118; MW2). Several mutations were found in the strains. Both strains had the same mutations in the two-component system genes waIK and agrA. In strain CB1540 mutations were also detected in the ribose phosphate pyrophosphokinase (prs) and polyribonucleotide nucleotidyltransferase genes (pnpA), a hypothetical protein gene, and in an intergenic region. In strain CB1541 there were mutations in clpP, an ATP-dependent protease, and two different hypothetical protein genes. The strain CB1540 transcriptome was characterized by upregulation of cap (capsule) operon genes, genes involved in the accumulation of the compatible solute glycine betaine, ure genes of the urease operon, and mscL encoding a mechanosensitive chanel. Downregulated genes included smpB, femAB and femH involved in the formation of the pentaglycine interpeptide bridge, genes involved in protein synthesis and fermentation, and spa encoding protein A. Genes altered in their expression common to both transcriptomes included some involved in glycine betaine accumulation, mscL, ure genes, femH, spa and smpB. However, the CB1541 transcriptome was further characterized by upregulation of various heat shock chaperone and protease genes, consistent with a mutation in clpP, and lytM and sceD. Both strains showed slow growth, and strongly decreased autolytic activity that appeared to be mainly due to decreased autolysin production. In contrast to previous common findings, we did not find any mutations in phospholipid biosynthesis genes, and it appears there are multiple pathways to and factors in daptomycin resistance

The dog as an animal model for bladder and urethral urothelial carcinoma: comparative epidemiology and histology

Despite the recent approval of several novel agents for patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC), survival in this setting remains poor. As such, continued investigation into novel therapeutic options remains warranted. Pre clinical development of novel treatments requires an animal model that accurately simulates the disease in humans. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the dog as an animal model for human UC. A total of 260 cases of spontaneous, untreated canine primary urethral and urinary bladder UC, were epide¬miologically and histologically assessed and classified based on the current 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) tumor classification system. Canine data was compared with human data available from scientific literature. The mean age of dogs diagnosed with UC was 10.22 years (range, 4 15 years), which is equivalent to 60 70 human years. The results revealed a high association between UC diagnosis with the female sex [odds ratio (OR) 3.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.57 4.79; P<0.001], surgical neutering (OR 4.57; 95% CI 1.87 11.12; P<0.001) and breed (OR 15.11 for Scottish terriers; 95% CI 8.99 25.41; P<0.001). Based on the 2016 WHO tumor (T), node and metastasis staging system, the primary tumors were characterized as T1 (38%), T2a (28%), T2b (13%) and T3 (22%). Non papillary, flat subgross tumor growth was strongly associated with muscle invasion (OR 31.00; P<0.001). Irrespective of subgross growth pattern, all assessable tumors were invading beyond the basement membrane compatible with infiltrating UC. Conventional, not further classifiable infiltrating UC was the most common type of tumor (90%), followed by UC with divergent, squamous and/or glandular differentiation (6%). Seven out of the 260 (2.8%) cases were classified as non urothelial based on their histological morphology. These cases included 5 (2%) squamous cell carci¬nomas, 1 (0.4%) adenocarcinoma and 1 (0.4%) neuroendocrine tumor. The 2 most striking common features of canine and human UC included high sex predilection and histological tumor appearance. The results support the suitability of the dog as an animal model for UC and confirm that dogs also spontaneously develop rare UC subtypes and bladder tumors, including plasmacytoid UC and neuroendocrine tumor, which are herein described for the first time in a non experimental animal species

Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis and host RNA expression in Africa

Improved diagnostic tests for tuberculosis in children are needed. We hypothesized that transcriptional signatures of host blood could be used to distinguish tuberculosis from other diseases in African children who either were or were not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV

Response to comment on 'Amphibian fungal panzootic causes catastrophic and ongoing loss of biodiversity'

Lambert et al. question our retrospective and holistic epidemiological assessment of the role of chytridiomycosis in amphibian declines. Their alternative assessment is narrow and provides an incomplete evaluation of evidence. Adopting this approach limits understanding of infectious disease impacts and hampers conservation efforts. We reaffirm that our study provides unambiguous evidence that chytridiomycosis has affected at least 501 amphibian species