Investigating the control of Listeria monocytogenes on uncured, no-nitrate-or-nitrite-added ready-to-eat meat products using natural antimicrobial ingredients and post-lethality interventions

Restrictions on the use of conventional antimicrobials, combined with the restricted use of nitrite and nitrate, have generated concerns over the perceived risk for foodborne illness associated with natural and organic RTE meat and poultry products. Thus, the use of natural antimicrobial interventions alone and in combination with post-lethality interventions as a means to inhibit the recovery and growth of Listeria monocytogenes in naturally cured RTE processed meats was the focus of the work reported in this dissertation. Natural antimicrobials evaluated were cranberry powder, vinegar, and vinegar and lemon juice concentrate. Post-lethality interventions studied were high hydrostatic pressure, lauric arginate, octanoic acid, and post-packaging thermal treatment. Parameters evaluated through 98 days of storage at 4C included viable L. monocytogenes on modified Oxford (MOX) and thin agar layer (TAL) media. The vinegar and vinegar and lemon juice concentrate ingredients exhibited strong bacteriostatic properties against L. monocytogenes whereas cranberry powder did not. However, none of these natural antimicrobial ingredients exhibited bactericidal properties under the conditions or these studies. Additionally, the high hydrostatic pressure, octanoic acid, and lauric arginate post-lethality interventions demonstrated significant bactericidal effects on initial numbers of L. monocytogenes whereas the post-packaging thermal treatment investigated did not. Nonetheless, although beneficial from the standpoint of initial lethality, none of these post-lethality interventions offered protection against the growth of surviving L. monocytogenes upon storage of the products and under the conditions of these studies. Furthermore, upon studying the combination of natural antimicrobial ingredients with the use of post-lethality interventions, results showed that implementing the high hydrostatic pressure, octanoic acid, or lauric arginate post-lethality interventions in combination with vinegar or vinegar and lemon juice concentrate, under the conditions of these studies, represent promising multiple-hurdle approaches for not only addressing the potential presence of L. monocytogenes in naturally cured RTE processed meat products, but also at inhibiting the potential recovery and growth of those cells that remain viable over the refrigerated storage of the products. The combinations of these hurdles represent effective options that could be instituted by manufacturers of organic and natural processed meat products in their L. monocytogenes control plans

Pandemia in translation: a comparative understanding of European social values

This volume, resulting from the training and research activities of the “Pandemic in translation” project – FORTHEM’s Experiencing Europe Lab, University of Palermo –, deals with central issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, and aims at contributing to a comparative understanding of mainly, but not exclusively European values challenged during this contingency. This interdisciplinary projects mobilizes a multicultural and multilingual debate about norms and beliefs, cultural identities and societal values, public policies and emotional communities. Using methodologies drawn from Comparative and International Law to Comparative Literature, from discourse analysis to Translation Studies, this book clarifies the socially constructed nature of the pandemic reality and calls for a redefinition of some long-assumed categories. Although translation can function culturally, epistemologically and cognitively as a metaphor, in fact translation seems more like “a process endogenous to social life”: in this sense – and from an anthropological point of view – it allows for the articulation of ethical, legal, normative and ideological representations. In some cases, translation can highlight the hermeneutic impasse between public policy actions and the discursive politics that emerge from them. The social suffering caused by the pandemic crisis calls into question both scientific mediation as a whole and scientists’ position in particular: how can scientific accuracy be reconciled with the need to make certain warnings known? Who is qualified to speak about the pandemic and its societal implications? Which authority figures are expressing their thoughts on the matter, and how trustworthy are they? Indeed, the methodological combination of 1 the approaches of Translation Studies and Multilingual crisis communication points to translation as a key theoretical concept not only in social and human sciences, but also in the anthropological and epistemological construction of global public health discourses

Leprosy in Espírito Santo State, Brazil: a growing endemic?

Descrição do comportamento e análise da tendência da hanseníase entre pacientes residentes no Estado do Espírito Santo, Brasil, de 1980 a 2003. Utilizando modelos estatísticos para séries temporais, identificou-se tendência crescente para todo o período da taxa de detecção global (p < 0,05) com aparente estabilização no final do período, verificamos também tendência crescente para os períodos: (i) 1980-1987 nos grupos etários de < 15 anos e 50 anos e mais e para formas paucibacilares; (ii) 1988-1995 para as faixas de 15-19 anos, 20-29 e 50 anos e mais e para formas multibacilares; (iii) 1996-2003 no grupo de 20-29 anos e formas paucibacilares. Os indicadores de avaliação da endemia apontaram patamares estáveis do grau de incapacidade 2 (em média 6%); a proporção de casos entre < 15 anos situou-se abaixo de 10% e a de abandono de tratamento em torno de 6%. A prevalência apresentou forte declínio. A tendência crescente pode ser explicada, em parte pela maior sensibilidade da vigilância, mas a elevada proporção entre < 15 anos aponta a necessidade de estudos visando ao melhor conhecimento dos resíduos de fontes de infecção especialmente no domicílio.This study provides a trend analysis of leprosy among patients in the State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, from 1980 to 2003. Using temporal series statistical models, an upward trend was identified throughout the period in the overall detection rate (p < 0.05), with an apparent stabilization at the end of the period. We also observed an upward trend for the following periods: (i) 1980-1987 in the < 15 and > 50-year age groups and for paucibacillary forms; (ii) 1988-1995 for the 15-19, 20-29, and > 50-year groups and for multibacillary forms; and (iii) 1996-2003 in the 20-29-year group and paucibacillary forms. The indicators for evaluation of the endemic indicate: stable levels in grade 2 disability (mean of 6%); a proportion of less than 10% of cases in individuals < 15 years of age; and a treatment dropout rate of approximately 6%. Prevalence showed a sharp decline. The upward trend can be explained partially by greater surveillance sensitivity, but the high proportion of individuals < 15 highlights the need for studies aimed at better knowledge of residual sources of infection, especially in the household

Is the future of urban mobility shared? : modeling ride-hailing adoption and preferences for ownership and sharing of autonomous vehicles

Society is experiencing the initial stages of a technological revolution that promises to disrupt urban transportation as known today and induce behavioral and social changes. The main factors guiding the transformation of urban mobility are the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-enabled transportation services and the development of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. While the use of ICTs and vehicular automation are expected to provide direct road capacity improvements due to the real-time provision of traffic information, crash reductions, and platooning capabilities, these gains may be offset by latent demand effects. That is, the increase in level of service may actually result in the generation of more trips and escalation of vehicle miles traveled. In this sense, proactive planning and policy guided towards promoting the use of shared vehicles and pooled rides are important to minimize possible negative externalities of automation. The current dissertation provides initial guidance to such planning by examining individuals’ preferences toward the adoption of current and future mobility services and technologies. A research framework containing four independent but related analysis components is developed to allow a comprehensive investigation of travelers’ characteristics and behaviors associated with ride-hailing use and preferences regarding AVs. Empirical analyses are conducted using advanced econometric techniques applied to different types of data from three different cities. The results of the empirical analyses are compared and implications to transportation planning and policy are discussed. The results from the analyses undertaken in the dissertation show that, from a behavioral perspective, a service-based transportation future where people predominantly travel using shared vehicles and pooled rides instead of their own vehicles is on its way but still distant. A complex combination of actions is required to promote the use of shared services both today and in an AV future. Among these actions, we identify the need for campaigns to (a) increase technology awareness among older individuals and individuals from lower income households, and (b) reduce privacy-sensitivity among non-Hispanic Whites and millennials. Such efforts should also be complemented by a decrease in service fares and urban densification. The results also suggest the need to promote policies and integrated multi-modal systems that discourage individuals from substituting the use of active and public transit modes by ride-hailing and AV-based services. Finally, we observe that individuals seem to be less sensitive to the presence of strangers in a commute trip than in a leisure trip, but the sensitivity to time is the opposite. The implications of these results are that pooled services may have a large market penetration potential for commute trips as long as operated efficiently with minimal detour and pick-up/drop-off delays.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Introduction to metamodeling for reducing computational burden of advanced analyses with health economic models : a structured overview of metamodeling methods in a 6-step application process

Metamodels can be used to reduce the computational burden associated with computationally demanding analyses of simulation models, though applications within health economics are still scarce. Besides a lack of awareness of their potential within health economics, the absence of guidance on the conceivably complex and time-consuming process of developing and validating metamodels may contribute to their limited uptake. To address these issues, this paper introduces metamodeling to the wider health economic audience and presents a process for applying metamodeling in this context, including suitable methods and directions for their selection and use. General (i.e., non-health economic specific) metamodeling literature, clinical prediction modeling literature, and a previously published literature review were exploited to consolidate a process and to identify candidate metamodeling methods. Methods were considered applicable to health economics if they are able to account for mixed (i.e., continuous and discrete) input parameters and continuous outcomes. Six steps were identified as relevant for applying metamodeling methods within health economics, i.e. 1) the identification of a suitable metamodeling technique, 2) simulation of datasets according to a design of experiments, 3) fitting of the metamodel, 4) assessment of metamodel performance, 5) conduct the required analysis using the metamodel, and 6) verification of the results. Different methods are discussed to support each step, including their characteristics, directions for use, key references, and relevant R and Python packages. To address challenges regarding metamodeling methods selection, a first guide was developed towards using metamodels to reduce the computational burden of analyses of health economic models. This guidance may increase applications of metamodeling in health economics, enabling increased use of state-of-the-art analyses, e.g. value of information analysis, with computationally burdensome simulation models

Filtering data from the collaborative initial glaucoma treatment study for improved identification of glaucoma progression

Abstract Background Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is a prevalent, degenerate ocular disease which can lead to blindness without proper clinical management. The tests used to assess disease progression are susceptible to process and measurement noise. The aim of this study was to develop a methodology which accounts for the inherent noise in the data and improve significant disease progression identification. Methods Longitudinal observations from the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) were used to parameterize and validate a Kalman filter model and logistic regression function. The Kalman filter estimates the true value of biomarkers associated with OAG and forecasts future values of these variables. We develop two logistic regression models via generalized estimating equations (GEE) for calculating the probability of experiencing significant OAG progression: one model based on the raw measurements from CIGTS and another model based on the Kalman filter estimates of the CIGTS data. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and associated area under the ROC curve (AUC) estimates are calculated using cross-fold validation. Results The logistic regression model developed using Kalman filter estimates as data input achieves higher sensitivity and specificity than the model developed using raw measurements. The mean AUC for the Kalman filter-based model is 0.961 while the mean AUC for the raw measurements model is 0.889. Hence, using the probability function generated via Kalman filter estimates and GEE for logistic regression, we are able to more accurately classify patients and instances as experiencing significant OAG progression. Conclusion A Kalman filter approach for estimating the true value of OAG biomarkers resulted in data input which improved the accuracy of a logistic regression classification model compared to a model using raw measurements as input. This methodology accounts for process and measurement noise to enable improved discrimination between progression and nonprogression in chronic diseases.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109450/1/12911_2013_Article_773.pd

LIDERANÇA E SUA TÓPICA NO IMAGINÁRIO DOS LÍDERES

What is a leader, in a leader's perception? The author confronts this questionutilizing psychosocial and psychoanalytic instruments applied to popularneighborhoods in João Pessoa. This theoretical framework reveals not similar,but contrasting identities. The interviews register, in fact, a clear contradictionbetween the leader’s identity in the individual-familial world and in the social-collectiveworld in which he is inserted. This contradiction, in its turn, emerges as anew element in the study of relations between social movements and public policies.Qu’est-ce qu’un leader dans la perception d’un leader? C’est la questionque I’auteur cherche a répondre, se munissant d’instruments psycho-sociaux epsychoanalytiques appliqués aux quartiers populaires de João Pessoa. Ce cadrethéorique permet d’indiquer que les identités perçues ne sont pas similaires,mais contrastantes. En effet,les entretiens révèlent une nette contradiction entre1’identité du leader à Fintérieur de Fespace individuel-familial et dans I’espace sociocollectifoil il s’insère. A son tour, cette contradiction émerge en tant qu’élémentnouveau dans Fétude des rapports entre nouvements sociaux et politiquespubliquesO que e' um líder na percepção de um lider? Esta é a questão que a autoraenfrenta, utilizando um instrumento psicossocial e psicanalftico em bairrospopulares de João Pessoa. A partir deste marco teórico de análise é possívelperceber que as identidades assinaladas não são similares mas contrastantes.De fato, as entrevistas realizadas permitem registrar uma clara contradição entrea identidade do líder no espaço individual-familiar e no espaço social-coletivoem que o sujeito se encontra inserido. Por sua vez, esta contradição pareceemergir como elemento novo no estudo das relações entre os movimentos sociaise políticas públicas