Sharepoint Site to Create Efficiencies

A project related to improving processes and efficiencies for a sales leadership team

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella isolated from poultry farms

Antimicrobial agents are used in human medicine to treat infections by inhibiting the growth of bacteria. The same or similar drugs are used in in food-producing animals for therapeutic and sub-therapeutic purposes. Antimicrobial resistant bacteria that develop on farms are a public health risk as these organisms may contribute to treatment failures in infected humans. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Salmonella isolated from poultry farms in two different seasons to evaluate the effect of recommended biosecurity practices. Specifically, we identified Salmonella serotypes, measured antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and characterized AMR patterns. We hypothesized that implementing and improving biosecurity practices on poultry farms decreases Salmonella prevalence, resulting in a concurrent decrease in AMR Salmonella populations. Cloacal swabs, drag swabs, and litter samples were obtained from four different farms from the same integrator. These farms were sampled on three different days during one grow-out period during March-April (pre-recommendations season). After sampling, recommendations for improvement of the biosecurity practices were made and a second sampling was performed during October-November (post-recommendations season). Recommendations included, but were not limited to improvement of insect and rodent control, restrictions on farms visitors, restrictions on contact with poultry, and logging of entry and exit to farms. Presumptive Salmonella isolates obtained on selective agars (XLT4) were confirmed by performing PCR targeting the hilA gene. After confirmation, all positive Salmonella were serotyped and antimicrobial resistance was performed using the Sensititre™ micro-dilution system and NARMS plates. Higher Salmonellaprevalence values were observed for the post-recommendations season, however, no significant differences (p\u3e0.05) were observed between seasons. Overall, six different Salmonella serotypes were identified. S. Enteritidis was the most common Salmonella serotype followed by S. Berta and S. Mbandaka. These threeSalmonella serotypes were present on all four farms. S. Typhimurium, S. Kentucky, and S. Tennessee were each found on a single farm. A total of 7% isolates exhibited antimicrobial resistance with a single isolate showing multidrug resistance. Resistance values were highest for tetracycline, nalidixic acid, and streptomycin

Black hole shadow of a rotating polytropic black hole by the Newman--Janis algorithm without complexification

In this work, starting from a spherically symmetric polytropic black hole, a rotating solution is obtained by following the Newman--Janis algorithm without complexification. Besides studying the horizon, the static conditions and causality issues of the rotating solution, we obtain and discuss the shape of its shadow. Some other physical features as the Hawking temperature and emission rate of the rotating polytropic black hole solution are also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, some references adde

Radiative non-isothermal Bondi accretion onto a massive black hole

In this paper, we present the classical Bondi accretion theory for the case of non-isothermal accretion processes onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH), including the effects of X-ray heating and the radiation force due to electron scattering and spectral lines. The radiation field is calculated by considering an optically thick, geometrically thin, standard accretion disk as the emitter of UV photons and a spherical central object as a source of X-ray emission. In the present analysis, the UV emission from the accretion disk is assumed to have an angular dependence, while the X-ray/central object radiation is assumed to be isotropic. This allows us to build streamlines in any angular direction we need to. The influence of both types of radiation is evaluated for different flux fractions of the X-ray and UV emissions with and without the effects of spectral line driving. We find that the radiation emitted near the SMBH interacts with the infalling matter and modifies the accretion dynamics. In the presence of line driving, a transition resembles from pure type 1 & 2 to type 5 solutions (see Fig2.1 of Frank etal. 2002), which takes place regardless of whether or not the UV emission dominates over the X-ray emission. We compute the radiative factors at which this transition occurs, and discard type 5 solution from all our models. Estimated values of the accretion radius and accretion rate in terms of the classical Bondi values are also given. The results are useful for the construction of proper initial conditions for time-dependent hydrodynamical simulations of accretion flows onto SMBH at the centre of galaxies.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to be published in A&

Seven years of marine environmental changes monitoring at coastal OOCS stations (Catalan Sea, NW Mediterranean)

Since March 2009 up to the present (more than 7 years now), the Operational Observatory of the Catalan Sea (OOCS; http://www2.ceab.csic.es/ oceans/) remains a witness of persistent marine environmental changes. The OOCS has two fixed observation stations at the head of the Blanes Canyon (200 m depth, 41.66°N; 2.91°E) and at the Blanes bay (20 m depth, 41.67°N; 2.80°E) in the Catalan Sea, NW Mediterranean. At the canyon station, a multi-parametric buoy presently installed delivers high frequency (by 30 min) and multi-parametric oceanographic (i.e. salinity, temperature, chlorophyll, turbidity, as well as light intensity in the PAR range for the upper 50 m depth) and atmospheric (air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction and PAR) data. Subsurface photos and videos by an IP high resolution fisheye camera attached to the buoy are also delivered at 4-hour basis. Data and multimedia are transmitted in near real time for public access, via combined GSM/GPRS and 3G connections. At both stations, CTD profiles and water samples (collected for nutrients and picoplankton analyses) are carried out on board a research vessel at fortnightly basis. Numerical simulations along with the time series of in-situ observations show inter-annual seasonality anomalies possibly linked to global environmental changes. The lower-atmosphere and upper-sea environmental time series data collected prove the occurrence of shifting patterns of heat and matter fluxes impacting pelagic and benthic organisms.Peer Reviewe

Methodology for determining optimized traffic light cycles based on simulation

In large urbanized cities, a major problem that affects the economy and health of all citizens is vehicular congestion. This is because the traffic light cycles are not adequate. In the present study, we seek to optimize traffic light cycles based on simulation, in order to improve vehicle flow. For this, the PTV Vissim 9.0 software was used as a simulator and the Synchro 10.0 software to determine the initial optimal traffic light cycle. Through several runs and having as variables the length of queues, delay times and the average speed, the optimal traffic light cycle could be found for the study area. The results obtained reflect a 14% reduction in delay times and 10% in queue lengths. On the other hand, the average vehicle speed increased by 10.56%. All this represents an improvement in the service level of the study intersections

Using Social Network Analysis to Improve Communities of Practice

PublishedThis is the final version of the article. Available from University of California Press via the DOI in this record.n/

Contrasting patterns of selection between MHC I and II across populations of Humboldt and Magellanic penguins

Indexación: Web of ScienceThe evolutionary and adaptive potential of populations or species facing an emerging infectious disease depends on their genetic diversity in genes, such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In birds, MHC class I deals predominantly with intracellular infections (e.g., viruses) and MHC class II with extracellular infections (e.g., bacteria). Therefore, patterns of MHC I and II diversity may differ between species and across populations of species depending on the relative effect of local and global environmental selective pressures, genetic drift, and gene flow. We hypothesize that high gene flow among populations of Humboldt and Magellanic penguins limits local adaptation in MHC I and MHC II, and signatures of selection differ between markers, locations, and species. We evaluated the MHC I and II diversity using 454 next-generation sequencing of 100 Humboldt and 75 Magellanic penguins from seven different breeding colonies. Higher genetic diversity was observed in MHC I than MHC II for both species, explained by more than one MHC I loci identified. Large population sizes, high gene flow, and/or similar selection pressures maintain diversity but limit local adaptation in MHC I. A pattern of isolation by distance was observed for MHC II for Humboldt penguin suggesting local adaptation, mainly on the northernmost studied locality. Furthermore, trans species alleles were found due to a recent speciation for the genus or convergent evolution. High MHC I and MHC II gene diversity described is extremely advantageous for the long term survival of the species.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.2502/epd