880 research outputs found
Are point of management assays relevant for food safety in the poultry industries?
The current pandemic has ensured considerable attention has been paid to the role of the approach termed ‘Point of Care’ diagnostics. Indeed, the term ‘RAT’ (Rapid Antigen Test) and RAT hunting now have totally different meaning to that widely understood before 2020. In the veterinary field, including food safety, the term used for these types of rapid in situ assays is ‘Point of Management’ (POM) assays. In this article, we describe our recent research on low cost, low technology, in-house style POM assays in the field of food safety as applied to the poultry industries. We then discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages of these low cost, low technology POM assays
Population and Virulence Factor Analysis of Staphylococcus aureus from Bovine Mastitis.
End of Project ReportsStaphylococcus aureus is a major cause of bovine mastitis and the disease
is responsible for substantial economic losses in the dairy industry
world-wide. A large number of commonly accepted virulence factors are
associated with S. aureus but it is yet to be elucidated which of these are
important for infection of the bovine udder.
A rational and effective strategy for the control of intramammary
infections may need to be directed against clones of S. aureus that
commonly cause disease. The objective of this study was to characterise
the genetic variance of S. aureus isolate populations from infected
udders in Ireland using RAPD-PCR, ribotyping and multilocus enzyme
electrophoresis (MLEE). Similar S. aureus isolates collected in the USA
were also typed in order to compare strain differences in staphylococcal
populations in a different environment. Phenotypic diversity based on
a number of presumed virulence factors together with antibiotic
sensitivity was examined and correlations between phenotype and
genotype were identified, if present. In addition, a pathogenicity island
encoding multiple superantigens was completely sequenced and
characterised. Knockout mutants of these superantigens were also
constructed and in vitro functional analysis performed.
Laboratory animal experiments (mice and rabbits) were used to study
the relative pathogenicity of individual staphylococcal strains (mice) and
also to measure the immunological responses after prolonged exposure
to the predominant strains (rabbits)
Classical symmetric functions in superspace
We present the basic elements of a generalization of symmetric function
theory involving functions of commuting and anticommuting (Grassmannian)
variables. These new functions, called symmetric functions in superspace, are
invariant under the diagonal action of the symmetric group on the sets of
commuting and anticommuting variables. In this work, we present the superspace
extension of the classical bases, namely, the monomial symmetric functions, the
elementary symmetric functions, the completely symmetric functions, and the
power sums. Various basic results, such as the generating functions for the
multiplicative bases, Cauchy formulas, involution operations as well as the
combinatorial scalar product are also generalized.Comment: 21 pages, this supersedes the first part of math.CO/041230
Be different to be better: the effect of personality on optimal foraging with incomplete knowledge
Many animal populations include a diversity of personalities, and these personalities are often linked to foraging strategy. However, it is not always clear why populations should evolve to have this diversity. Indeed, optimal foraging theory typically seeks out a single optimal strategy for individuals in a population. So why do we, in fact, see a variety of strategies existing in a single population? Here, we aim to provide insight into this conundrum by modelling the particular case of foraging seabirds, that forage on patchy prey. These seabirds have only partial knowledge of their environment: they do not know exactly where the next patch will emerge, but they may have some understanding of which locations are more likely to lead to patch emergence than others. Many existing optimal foraging studies assume either complete knowledge (e.g. Marginal Value Theorem) or no knowledge (e.g. Lévy Flight Hypothesis), but here we construct a new modelling approach which incorporates partial knowledge. In our model, different foraging strategies are favoured by different birds along the bold-shy personality continuum, so we can assess the optimality of a personality type. We show that it is optimal to be shy (resp. bold) when living in a population of bold (resp. shy) birds. This observation gives a plausible mechanism behind the emergence of diverse personalities. We also show that environmental degradation is likely to favour shyer birds and cause a decrease in diversity of personality over time
The Link vs. the Event: Activating and Deactivating Elements in Time-Based Hypermedia
Activation and deactivation of media items plays a fundamental role in the playing of multimedia and time-based hypermedia presentations. Activation and deactivation information thus has to be captured in an underlying document format. In this paper we show that a number of aspects of activation and deactivation information can be captured using both link structures and events in time-based hypermedia. In particular, we discuss how deactivation and activation can be specified, how the activations and deactivations can be initiated and potential (synchronization) relationships between the elements involved. We first introduce the notions of time-based scheduling and event-based scheduling and then present a short summary of linking. We discuss the similarities between event-based scheduling and linking. We describe a number of aspects of activation and deactivation that can be specified within a document. We then discuss how activation and deactivation information can be recorded in link structures and events
Multi-band material loaded Low-SAR antenna for mobile handsets
Previous studies have shown that monopoles loaded with material of equal permittivity and
permeability values give increased bandwidth and radiation efficiency for a given size reduction.
Positioning the monopole orthogonally to the head directs pattern nulls towards the head, which
leads to low Specific Absorption Rates (SAR). Simulated results of the material loaded monopole
showed dual-mode behaviour. In this paper, the simple monopole is translated into a compact
antenna design suitable for mobile handsets. Metallic strips are printed on the material block to
increase the number of modes and realise a small, quad-band, low-SAR handset antenna
Investigation into the realisation of a low-SAR, dual mode material coated antenna for mobile handsets
Previous theoretical and experimental work on material loaded antennas illustrated that choosing a material mix containing equal permittivity and permeability in combination with specific positioning of the antenna in relation to the head can produce the definitive small size, high efficiency, low specific absorption rate (SAR) antenna. Further results obtained from a TLM simulator indicate the antenna's ability to operate in wideband dual mode and provide design guidelines for its realisation. New materials are tested and design-engineering techniques are explored, towards the ultimate aim of realising and integrating the antenna into the handset
Feasibility of a triple mode, low SAR material coated antenna for mobile handsets
It has been previously established that material loaded monopoles having equal
permittivity and permeability values, give increased bandwidth and radiation
efficiency for a given size reduction. Very low Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) have
been obtained by orthogonally positioning the antenna towards the head. Recent
results obtained from a TLM simulator indicate the antenna’s capability to operate in
dual mode. In this present paper various designs are researched, in order to preserve
and translate the antenna features into a more compact embedded version. A final
design solution is presented with the addition of metal strips, confirming the
realisation of a small, triple-band, low-SAR handset antenna
Macdonald polynomials in superspace: conjectural definition and positivity conjectures
We introduce a conjectural construction for an extension to superspace of the
Macdonald polynomials. The construction, which depends on certain orthogonality
and triangularity relations, is tested for high degrees. We conjecture a simple
form for the norm of the Macdonald polynomials in superspace, and a rather
non-trivial expression for their evaluation. We study the limiting cases q=0
and q=\infty, which lead to two families of Hall-Littlewood polynomials in
superspace. We also find that the Macdonald polynomials in superspace evaluated
at q=t=0 or q=t=\infty seem to generalize naturally the Schur functions. In
particular, their expansion coefficients in the corresponding Hall-Littlewood
bases appear to be polynomials in t with nonnegative integer coefficients. More
strikingly, we formulate a generalization of the Macdonald positivity
conjecture to superspace: the expansion coefficients of the Macdonald
superpolynomials expanded into a modified version of the Schur superpolynomial
basis (the q=t=0 family) are polynomials in q and t with nonnegative integer
coefficients.Comment: 18 page
Professor Jim James ... a great researcher and motivator in the field of antennas
This paper is dedicated to Professor Jim James. It is a
celebration of his life, career and world renowned research
contribution to the engineering community. Jim was eminent
for his pioneering research contributions to the fundamental
understanding of radiation mechanisms in printed patch and
small antennas including seminal achievements, both
theoretical and in terms of demonstrated practical
applications, in communications, radar and medical
electronics. The paper includes a brief summary of his
research. Details will also be included on some of his latest
work involving low SAR material coated mobile handset
antennas
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