QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN A CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT: LOOKING FOR NEW CONVERSATION TOOLS

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Auctions as an Alternate Method of Selling Fish in New England

Selling fish at the landings stage by auction, as opposed to the current practices of selling to middlemen and through cooperatives, has been proposed by several authors. They suggest that fishermen would receive higher prices and that auction competition would improve fish quality.The aim of this study was to compile the rules and procedures of existing fish auctions, and to explore their effect on price formation. This would provide a basis for any who wished to determine the applicability of fish auctions in particular ports. While the findings are relevant to all fish auctions, special emphasis was placed on the performance of New England\u27s two existing fish auctions. Possible improvements to those two auctions were shown. The study found that where minimum requirements in buyer competition and sales volume were met, fish auction prices would accurately reflect value. Fishermen often prefer stable and steadily increasing profits over maximum profits, and thus they support fish auctions on grounds other than that they give the best prices. Auctions are shown to be a very efficient means of marketing fish in terms of time and participant involvement, and are sometimes also used because crews want prices to be publicly displayed

Directed evolution of a fungal β-glucosidase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Additional file 1. Table S1. Primers used in this study

Wheelchair Tire Change

This project consists of a rear wheel wheelchair lift to be designed and created by a Cal Poly senior project team. This project was created for injured veteran Ms. Landeen who has the trouble of tracking mud into her house because of dirty wheelchair tires. The project was presented by the non-profit organization The Quality of Life Plus (QL+) Program. Much like when you remove your shoes coming into your home, Ms. Landeen needs a way to exchange her outdoor wheels for her clean indoor wheels. The expected outcome of this project is a fully functioning device that will safely and effectively allow Ms. Landeen to independently change her tires. The following report details the problem given, background research on current products, initial analysis to define the problem, the ideation process performed by the team, concept and prototype designs, design iteration, manufacturing, design verification, and testing of the final design prototype

A quantum trampoline for ultra-cold atoms

We have observed the interferometric suspension of a free-falling Bose-Einstein condensate periodically submitted to multiple-order diffraction by a vertical 1D standing wave. The various diffracted matter waves recombine coherently, resulting in high contrast interference in the number of atoms detected at constant height. For long suspension times, multiple-wave interference is revealed through a sharpening of the fringes. We use this scheme to measure the acceleration of gravity

Thottapalayam virus is genetically distant to the rodent-borne hantaviruses, consistent with its isolation from the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus)

Thottapalayam (TPM) virus belongs to the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae. The genomes of hantaviruses consist of three negative-stranded RNA segments (S, M and L) encoding the virus nucleocapsid (N), glycoprotein (Gn, Gc), and polymerase (L) proteins, respectively. The genus Hantavirus contains predominantly rodent-borne viruses, with the prominent exception of TPM virus which was isolated in India in 1964 from an insectivore, Suncus murinus, commonly referred to as the Asian house shrew or brown musk shrew. Analysis of the available TPM virus S (1530 nt) RNA genome segment sequence and the newly derived M (3621 nt) and L (6581 nt) segment sequences demonstrate that the entire TPM virus genome is very unique. Remarkably high sequence differences are seen at the nucleotide (up to S – 47%, M – 49%, L – 38%) and protein (up to N – 54%, Gn/Gc – 57% and L – 39%) levels relative to the rodent-borne hantaviruses, consistent with TPM virus having a unique host association

Comparative genomics of Salmonella enterica serovars Derby and Mbandaka, two prevalent serovars associated with different livestock species in the UK

Background Despite the frequent isolation of Salmonella enterica sub. enterica serovars Derby and Mbandaka from livestock in the UK and USA little is known about the biological processes maintaining their prevalence. Statistics for Salmonella isolations from livestock production in the UK show that S. Derby is most commonly associated with pigs and turkeys and S. Mbandaka with cattle and chickens. Here we compare the first sequenced genomes of S. Derby and S. Mbandaka as a basis for further analysis of the potential host adaptations that contribute to their distinct host species distributions. Results Comparative functional genomics using the RAST annotation system showed that predominantly mechanisms that relate to metabolite utilisation, in vivo and ex vivo persistence and pathogenesis distinguish S. Derby from S. Mbandaka. Alignment of the genome nucleotide sequences of S. Derby D1 and D2 and S. Mbandaka M1 and M2 with Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPI) identified unique complements of genes associated with host adaptation. We also describe a new genomic island with a putative role in pathogenesis, SPI-23. SPI-23 is present in several S. enterica serovars, including S. Agona, S. Dublin and S. Gallinarum, it is absent in its entirety from S. Mbandaka. Conclusions We discovered a new 37 Kb genomic island, SPI-23, in the chromosome sequence of S. Derby, encoding 42 ORFS, ten of which are putative TTSS effector proteins. We infer from full-genome synonymous SNP analysis that these two serovars diverged, between 182kya and 625kya coinciding with the divergence of domestic pigs. The differences between the genomes of these serovars suggest they have been exposed to different stresses including, phage, transposons and prolonged externalisation. The two serovars possess distinct complements of metabolic genes; many of which cluster into pathways for catabolism of carbon sources

Calcium isotopes in enamel of modern and Plio-Pleistocene East African mammals

Calcium isotope analyses show a depletion of heavy calcium isotopes in vertebrates, compared to food sources along each trophic step. Recent studies show considerable variability of the calcium isotopic composition of bone and teeth in modern mammals, leading to inconclusive interpretations regarding the utility of Ca isotopes for trophic inference in mammal-dominated terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we analyzed modern enamel samples from the Tsavo National Park (Kenya), and fossil enamel samples dated from ca. 4 Ma to 1.6 Ma from the Turkana Basin (Kenya). We found a constancy of taxa ordering between the modern and fossil datasets, suggesting that the diagenesis of calcium isotopes is minimal in fossils. In modern herbivore samples using similar digestive physiologies, browsers are enriched in Ca-44 compared to grazers. Both grazer and browser herbivore tooth enamel is enriched in Ca-44 relative to carnivores by about +0.30 parts per thousand. Used together, carbon and calcium isotope compositions may help refine the structure of the C-3 and C-4 trophic chains in the fossil record. Due to their high preservation potential, combining both carbon and calcium isotope systems represent a reliable approach to the reconstruction of the structure of past ecosystems. (C) 2018 Eisevier B.V. All rights reserved

New remains of <i.Machimosaurus hugii</i> von Meyer, 1837 (Crocodilia, Thalattosuchia) from the Kimmeridgian of Germany

The fourth complete skull of the marine crocodilian Machimosaurus von Meyer, 1837 is hereby described together with an associated complete mandible and disarticulated postcranial elements from the Kimmeridgian of Neuffen, Germany. Although the genus has been described fairly recently on the basis of two nearly complete skulls, their state of preservation did not allow a thorough examination of the entire skull anatomy. Here, we add new information with the description of nicely preserved cranial and mandibular elements of a single individual attributable to Machimosaurus hugii von Meyer, 1837. The diagnosis is updated for the genus and for the species M. hugii and challenges the validity of the second species M. mosae (Liénard, 1876). Moreover, previous assumption that Steneosaurus obtusidens Andrews, 1913 is a junior synonym of Machimosaurus hugii is not supported by our observations. Notably, M. hugii differs from S. obtusidens by a lower tooth count, the morphology of the dentition, the shape of the supratemporal fenestrae and the absence of an antorbital fenestra. Comparative anatomy and a phylogenetic analysis show that Machimosaurus is more closely related to the genus Steneosaurus than to Teleosaurus cadomensis (Lamouroux, 1820). doi:10.1002/mmng.201300009</a