Carbohydrate hydrogels with stabilized phage particles for bacterial biosensing: bacterium diffusion studies

Bacteriophage particles have been reported as potentially useful in the development of diagnosis tools for pathogenic bacteria as they specifically recognize and lyse bacterial isolates thus confirming the presence of viable cells. One of the most representative microorganisms associated with health care services is the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which alone is responsible for nearly 15 % of all nosocomial infections. In this context, structural and functional stabilization of phage particles within biopolymeric hydrogels, aiming at producing cheap (chromogenic) bacterial biosensing devices, has been the goal of a previous research effort. For this, a detailed knowledge of the bacterial diffusion profile into the hydrogel core, where the phage particles lie, is of utmost importance. In the present research effort, the bacterial diffusion process into the biopolymeric hydrogel core was mathematically described and the theoretical simulations duly compared with experimental results, allowing determination of the effective diffusion coefficients of P. aeruginosa in the agar and calcium alginate hydrogels tested.Financial support to Victor M. Balcao, via an Invited Research Scientist fellowship (FAPESP Ref. No. 2011/51077-8) by Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil), is hereby gratefully acknowledged

A Customer Perspective on Product Eliminations: How the Removal of Products Affects Customers and Business Relationships

Regardless of the apparent need for product eliminations, many managers hesitate to act as they fear deleterious effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Other managers do carry out product eliminations, but often fail to consider the consequences for customers and business relationships. Given the relevance and problems of product eliminations, research on this topic in general and on the consequences for customers and business relationships in particular is surprisingly scarce. Therefore, this empirical study explores how and to what extent the elimination of a product negatively affects customers and business relationships. Results indicate that eliminating a product may result in severe economic and psychological costs to customers, thereby seriously decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This paper also shows that these costs are not exogenous in nature. Instead, depending on the characteristics of the eliminated product these costs are found to be more or less strongly driven by a company’s behavior when implementing the elimination at the customer interface

Experiments in neutron production

A precise method of monitoring the neutron yield from the D-D reaction would provide a convenient standard source of fast monokinetic neutrons. The possible reactions are: D2 + D2 → He3 + n1 + 3.18 M.V. → He3 + H1 + 398 M.V. In principle this objective could be achieved by counting the number of He3 nuclei emitted in a known solid angle. Because of their short range, however, (4.3 mm in air) it is more convenient to monitor the 14.7 cm range protons and the neutron flux is then determined if the ratio of the two reaction is known as a function of bombarding energy. The branching ratio is also of theoretical interest. The determination of the ratio of the yield in the two reacctions was the objective in the experiments described. [Introduction continued in thesis]</p