Nasal Bacterial Microbiome: Probing a Healthy Porcine Family

Upper respiratory tract (URT) infection caused the leading and devastating diseases in pigs. It was believed that the normal microbiome of URT plays a vital role in health and disease development. As the entry point of the URT, little knowledge of bacterial microbiome in porcine nasal was known. A cultivation-independent approach directly to 16s ribosomal RNA genes enabled us to reveal the nasal bacterial community, structure and diversity. Here, we found that an unprecedented 207 phylotypes were characterized from 933 qualified clones, indicating the variable, species richness but particularly dominant bacterial microbiome. The dominant species were from genus Comamonas and Acinetobacter, which constitute core normal bacterial microbiome in porcine nasal. Moreover, a set of swine specific pathogens and zoonotic agents were detected in the swine nasal microbiome. Collectively, we provided a snapshot of our current knowledge of the community structure of porcine nasal bacterial ecosystem in a healthy family that will further enhance our view to understand URT infection and public health

Sustaining the ecosystem of higher education in China: Perspectives from young researchers

The sustainable development of higher education in China has been a key priority for the national, social, economic and political development. Responding to the severe competition in various university ranking systems, most universities in China have set aims to enhance their sustainability in research and publication. There has been a prominent conflict that young scholars are expected to be productive, with publications in academic journals, competitive in receiving national and municipal research grants, and prestigious in the national and international arenas, or they will be terminated by the ‘six-year-up-or-out’ policy. Recent reform in higher education that calls for a sustainable development for young researchers is a strategy to revert the side effects from global university ranking systems by nurturing young researchers in their early academic lives, enhancing their productivity in research and publication internationally, and enhancing their global competitiveness without harming sustainability in academic development. This research explored (i) the difficulties that most young scholars face in sustainable academic research development, (ii) the factors that enhance or inhibit research productivity of young researchers, and (iii) the work lives in their early-career development in China. A qualitative study was conducted with data obtained from semistructured, in-depth interviews of 24 young university researchers from three provinces and a municipality in China. Findings show that factors that relate to sustainable research productivity are individual attributes, discipline attributes, institutional attributes and policy attributes. Lastly, suggestions for policy making in higher education and for improving sustainable research development of young researchers in China are provided and implications for future research are discussed

Influence of the Mega-Urban Heat Island on Spatial Transfer of Summer Thermal Comfort: Evidence from Tianjin, China

Human thermal comfort in urban spaces deteriorates as rapid urbanization proceeds. However, effective tests and discoveries of spatial statistic patterns are currently absent. This study collected remote sensing images and measured meteorological data of the summers of 1992–2017, Tianjin of China and aims to clarify patterns of spatial transfer and thermal comfort changes caused by a mega-UHI (Urban Heat Island). An analytic transfer matrix and the spatial autocorrelation were developed to study spatial pattern changes and features of the spatial transfer of thermal comfort caused by UHI. Results show these patterns in the affected areas can be divided into different levels: patterns of low-level affected areas transferred by circular expansion into block-mass jumping, while the position of high-level affected areas remains stable. The spatial transfer of thermal comfort in the affected areas shows two apparent stages: the transfer from areas of high-density and low-storied buildings and into areas of multiple storied buildings, and transfer from areas of low and multiple storied buildings into those of high storied buildings. This implies changes in urban planning can guide spatial, structural, and functional evolution. The study identifies features of spatial change and spatial patterns related to the influence of Mega-UHI on thermal comfort

Planning and coordinated response mechanism of economic and ecological services in urban expansion

Against the backdrop of urban sustainable development around the world, how to coordinate both economic growth and ecological benefits in urban space becomes an important problem. Therefore, this study simulated and predicted the spatiotemporal changes in urban economy and ecosystem service value (E.S.V.) equivalent ratio under the current policies by 2030, and analysed how adjusting planning policies influences economy and ecology. This process was based on the future land use simulation (F.L.U.S.) model of coupled neural network, and on methods assessing the spatial changes in ecosystem services and land economy. This study aims to analyse urban land economy and E.S.V., and assess how China’s land spatial planning guides and promotes high-quality urban economic development. Results show that artificial intelligence (A.I.) simulation can forecast the results of spatial planning policies of national lands, to make policy-making more forwardlooking. The guidance of planning policies on urban expansion accelerates the increase in economic value of urban residential and commercial lands, thereby promoting the economic growth. However, adjusted planning policies may lead to ecological destruction. So, this study provides model verifications and path guidance to realise coordinated sustainable development between economy and ecology, serving as an important reference to formulating proper policies for urban development

Spatial Evolution of the Effects of Urban Heat Island on Residents\u27 Health

Rising summer temperatures caused by the urban heat island (UHI) has considerable effects on the physical and mental health of urban residents globally. To categorize residents’ health risk areas and evaluate the characteristics of urban spatial evolution, based on data analysis methods, such as ArcGIS, ENVI software, and geostatistical analysis, data from meteorological stations, satellite images, and electronic maps were used to investigate spatial evolution and the process by which UHI affects the respiratory, circulatory, and cardiovascular systems and emotional health of the residents of Tianjin. Results show the UHI significantly increases respiratory, circulatory, and cardiovascular diseases. The emotional health of residents is also significantly affected with the affected level moving from level 1 to level 2-4. Highly concentrated areas in the urban center and patches with high health risks are found to be scattered and fragmented, as indicated by the phased pattern of spatially deteriorating hotspots. Hotspots expansion occurs unidirectionally to the south, surrounding the city center, while shrinking from the inside to the outside. The study identifies urban health space risks and provides theoretical guidance for urban space optimization and healthy urban planning

Process analytical technologies for a continuous capture and connected downstream process

As we move towards the implementation of continuous and connected processes, it becomes apparent that we can no longer avail ourselves of traditional sampling points (pools). Therefore, the implementation of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT) to demonstrate process robustness or to monitor process consistency, becomes necessary. Methodologies to monitor mass and yield are still necessary and the need to have at- or on-line analytics becomes more real. In-between, it may be necessary to bridge between the traditional analysis of unit pools to a more dynamic process monitoring. Recovered product mass and step yields per unit operation are commonly used to monitor process robustness. This is however more challenging in a connected/continuous mode, where there are no longer pools. The presented approach will demonstrate how UV absorption measurements can be utilized to track yield and to show process consistency. To tackle the issue of signal saturation, variable pathlength measurements as well as UV measurements at 300 nm were used. While univariate UV measurements were used for post-Protein A steps, multivariate measurements in conjunction with Partial Least Squares Regression modelling were evaluated for mass tracking in harvest. The monitoring of quality attributes within continuous processes also requires an adapted approach. The most straightforward approach in this context is the automation of already existing assays. The poster will present how the turnover time of an offline SEC assay was reduced to 1 min and how the method was applied for automated aggregate analysis. Furthermore, it will be shown how an Online-UPLC assay was used to control the aggregate level in chromatography runs with variable column load densities and aggregate levels in the load. Until at- or on-line analytics can be developed for all critical quality attributes, a bridging method is required. Here, a testing strategy based on pseudo-product pools will be presented, which allows bridging of quality data from a continuous process stream to a traditional standard batch pool concept. Slip stream pumps were used to generate pseudo pools, whenever product pools were not available. It was demonstrated, that the pseudo pools are representative and that the data is applicable for statistical comparison with historical batch data.

Are integrated processes a solution looking for a problem to solve, or a tool to solve the problem?

Significant advancements in process economics require significant reductions in capital and labor cost, beyond what is currently achieved. In the overall effort to achieve dramatically lower cost, lower labor, and more flexible production facilities; we have systematically identified tools and technologies that will allow for meaningful reductions in capital and labor costs. Integration of continuous and connected operations can be effectively utilized to facilitate very high mass productivity in small footprint facilities. Furthermore, the resulting operations are more amenable to low labor automated operations. Novartis is advancing a full-scale concept that integrates the process from perfusion culture to continuous capture and through an automated connected-downstream sequence. The process, equipment and facility all play a role in achieving the next-level of productivity and flexibility. This has been demonstrated at full-scale with comparable quality results as a traditional process stream with a fraction of the operations staff. It is intended to share comparison data between integrated-continuous process and a traditional batch proces

Process validation approaches to continuous/connected downstream process

One of the enabling technologies that Novartis has developed for its small and flexible biomanufacturing plant is the continuous/connected downstream process. The major benefit of continuous/connected downstream process is elimination of large product pool tanks (a few 1000L) by introducing small surge tanks (\u3c100L) which greatly reduces plant foot print. The characteristics of continuous/connected downstream process are: 1) multi-unit operations work together in the same time 2) homogenous intermediate product pools are no longer available for typical offline analytical measurements. These new characteristics require process validation approaches to be reexamined. This talk covers development of representative scale down models for continuous/connected downstream process to efficiently and robustly support process characterization. Viral clearance validation approaches will be also discussed to reflect the requirement of continuous/connected downstream process. Sampling approaches is an integral part of control strategy which needs to be modified as well to ensure successful process validation