OT Modeling: The Enterprise Beyond IT

Enterprises are composed of an enormous number of elements (e.g., organizational units, human resources, production processes, and IT systems) typically classified in the business or the IT domain. However, some crucial elements do not belong in either group: they are directly responsible for producing and delivering the company’s goods and services and include all the elements that support day to day operations. Collectively, these elements have been called operational technologies (OT) and have been conspicuously excluded from enterprise modeling (EM) approaches which traditionally have focused on the business and IT dimensions. Evidence of this is the absence of OT elements in languages and metamodels for EM. This is in line with the historical division between IT and OT in organizations that has led to information silos, independent teams, and disparate tech- nologies that only recently have started to be reconciled. Considering that OT is critical to most productive organi- zations, and the benefits that EM brings to its understand- ing and improvement, it makes sense to expand EM to include OT. For that purpose, this paper proposes an extension to ArchiMate 3.0 which includes crucial OT elements. On top of that, this paper also proposes an approach to further expand ArchiMate to address specific industries where more specific OT elements are required. This is illustrated in the paper with an extension for the Oil and Gas case that was validated with experts belonging to five companies in the sector

Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) as a Powerful Novel Alternative for Differentiation of Epizootic ISA Virus Variants

Infectious Salmon Anemia is a devastating disease critically affecting world-wide salmon production. Chile has been particularly stricken by this disease which in all cases has been directly related with its causative agent, a novel orthomyxovirus which presents specific and distinctive infective features. Among these, two molecular markers have been directly associated with pathogenicity in two of the eight RNA sub genomic coding units of the virus: an insertion hot spot region present in viral segment 5 and a Highly Polymorphic Region (HPR) located in viral segment 6. Here we report the successful adaptation of a PCR-dependent denaturing gel electrophoresis technique (DGGE), which enables differentiation of selected reported HPR epizootic variants detected in Chile. At the same time, the technique allows us to distinguish one nucleotide differences in sequences associated with the intriguing, and still not well-understood, insertion events which tend to occur on RNA Segment 5. Thus, the versatility of the technique opens new opportunities for improved understanding of the complex biology of all ISA variants as well as possible applications to other highly variable pathogens

No influence of oxygen levels on pathogenesis and virus shedding in Salmonid alphavirus (SAV)-challenged Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For more than three decades, diseases caused by salmonid alphaviruses (SAV) have become a major problem of increasing economic importance in the European fish-farming industry. However, experimental infection trials with SAV result in low or no mortality i.e very different from most field outbreaks of pancreas disease (PD). This probably reflects the difficulties in reproducing complex biotic and abiotic field conditions in the laboratory. In this study we looked at the relationship between SAV-infection in salmon and sub-lethal environmental hypoxia as a result of reduced flow-through in tank systems.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The experiment demonstrated that constant reduced oxygen levels (60-65% oxygen saturation: 6.5-7.0 mg/L) did not significantly increase the severity or the progress of pancreas disease (PD). These conclusions are based upon assessments of a semi-quantitative histopathological lesion score system, morbidities/mortalities, and levels of SAV RNA in tissues and water (measured by 1 MDS electropositive virus filters and downstream real-time RT-PCR). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the fish population shed detectable levels of the virus into the surrounding water during viraemia; 4-13 days after i.p. infection, and prior to appearance of severe lesions in heart (21-35 dpi). After this period, viral RNA from SAV could not be detected in water samples although still present in tissues (gills and hearts) at lasting low levels. Lesions could be seen in exocrine pancreas at 7-21 days post infection, but no muscle lesions were seen.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In our study, experimentally induced hypoxia failed to explain the discrepancy between the severities reported from field outbreaks of SAV-disease and experimental infections. Reduction of oxygen levels to constant suboptimal levels had no effect on the severity of lesions caused by SAV-infection or the progress of the disease. Furthermore, we present a modified VIRADEL method which can be used to detect virus in water and to supplement experimental infection trials with information related to viral shedding. By using this method, we were able to demonstrate for the first time that shedding of SAV from the fish population into the surrounding water coincides with viraemia.</p

Viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER) in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar after intraperitoneal challenge with a nodavirus from Atlantic halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus

Homogenate of tissue from juveniles of Atlantic halibut Hippoglossus hippoglossus suffering from viral encephalopathy and retinopathy (VER) was used to challenge smolt of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar with an initial average weight of 110 g. The nodavirus was administered in the form of an intraperitoneal injection, and the fish were kept for 134 d post challenge. Genotype characterisation of the nodavirus was performed by sequencing the RNA1 and RNA2 segments, and a quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) assay was developed. Tissues from different organs were stained by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Samples were collected at random on Days 7, 25, 45, 69, 125 and 134 after challenge. Mortality, clinical signs and pathology of VER were observed only in the challenged group. The Q-PCR detected positive fish only in the challenged group, all of which were positive on all days of sampling. An increase in relative virus concentrations was observed from Day 7 to Day 25 post challenge. The increased level of virus concentration was maintained in the medulla oblongata throughout the experiment, suggesting persistence or slow elimination of the virus over time. The IHC detected positive cells on Days 34, 70 and 74. These results suggest that the nodavirus is transported to the medulla oblongata from the intraperitoneal injection site and is able to replicate in salmon. When injected, this nodavirus isolate caused mortality and established a persistent infection in the challenged salmon throughout the experiment. This susceptibility suggests that co-location of salmon and marine species should be avoided until further studies of possible transmission have been carried out

Importance of casein micelle size and milk composition for milk gelation.

The economic output of the dairy industry is to a great extent dependent on the processing of milk into other milk-based products such as cheese. The yield and quality of cheese are dependent on both the composition and technological properties of milk. The objective of this study was to evaluate the importance and effects of casein (CN) micelle size and milk composition on milk gelation characteristics in order to evaluate the possibilities for enhancing gelation properties through breeding. Milk was collected on 4 sampling occasions at the farm level in winter and summer from dairy cows with high genetic merit, classified as elite dairy cows, of the Swedish Red and Swedish Holstein breeds. Comparisons were made with milk from a Swedish Red herd, a Swedish Holstein herd, and a Swedish dairy processor. Properties of CN micelles, such as their native and rennet-induced CN micelle size and their zeta-potential, were analyzed by photon correlation spectroscopy, and rennet-induced gelation characteristics, including gel strength, gelation time, and frequency sweeps, were determined. Milk parameters of the protein, lipid, and carbohydrate profiles as well as minerals were used to obtain correlations with native CN micelle size and gelation characteristics. Milk pH and protein, CN, and lactose contents were found to affect milk gelation. Smaller native CN micelles were shown to form stronger gels when poorly coagulating milk was excluded from the correlation analysis. In addition, milk pH correlated positively, whereas Mg and K correlated negatively with native CN micellar size. The milk from the elite dairy cows was shown to have good gelation characteristics. Furthermore, genetic progress in relation to CN micelle size was found for these cows as a correlated response to selection for the Swedish breeding objective if optimizing for milk gelation characteristics. The results indicate that selection for smaller native CN micelles and lower milk pH through breeding would enhance gelation properties and may thus improve the initial step in the processing of cheese