The Motivational Bases of Attitudes to Living North and South of the Swan River

Previous approaches to the study of motivation within the domain of place were found to be disparate, and in need of a firm theoretical framework and appropriate methodology. With the exception of Korpela\u27s (1989) model of place identity, the issues of motivation and operationalization of other theoretical perspectives, (e.g., Proshansky, Fabian, and Kaminoff; 1983) have led to a sparse research base in the area of place. Recent developments in attitude theory ( Herek, 1986; 1987; Zanna & Rempel, 1988) and attitude model development (Hills, 1991) were then applied to the place domain A tripartite model of the motivational bases of attitudes (based on Herek\u27s, 1986, neofunctional model) incorporating an identification base, (Hills, 1991) was then applied to Perth resident\u27s attitudes to living north and south of the Swan River (the city\u27s main arterial waterway). A qualitative pilot study using responses from 18 interviews of a convenience sample of Perth residents, and 79 undergraduate students, indicated that four main themes focusing on social, instrumental, affective, and aesthetic motives, were important within the domain of place. A quantitative instrument was then developed, and 112 members of the urban public were randomly surveyed, and their responses assessed using the tripartite model. Results supported the expectation of significantly different motivational profiles for strong, moderate, and slight preference groups; on instrumental, expressive, (social) identification, (affective) and aesthetic motivational bases. Moreover, results suggested that the instrumental, expressive, and identification motivational bases were uniquely related to preference, using stepdown analysis. The unique significance of aesthetic motives was not supported. However a weak but significant correlation between strength of preference and length of residence was found, r(97)=.25, p.05, was not significant Resul1s were discussed in tem1s of the usefulness of the tripartite model for further research within the domain of place

Direct processing of structural thermoplastic composites using rapid isothermal stamp forming

A novel rapid isothermal stamp forming process is proposed which enables the rapid manufacture of structural thermoplastic composite laminate parts directly from multilayer hybrid fabrics comprising stitched unidirectional carbon fibre-thermoplastic polymer veil. The process employs rapid-response variothermal tooling, allowing macro-scale (fabric forming/draping) and micro-scale (fibre wetting/laminate consolidation) composite material transformation processes to occur isothermally above the constituent polymer matrix melt temperature (Tm), thus manufacturing a composite component directly from a hybrid dry fabric in a single press cycle in a relatively short overall cycle time. The proposed rapid isothermal stamp forming (RISF) concept is presented, and details of the process are given along with some considerations made throughout the formulation of the process. As a result of the RISF process development work, candidate manufacturing parameters were derived, delivering parts that exhibit acceptable composite laminate microstructure and mechanical performance within a press station cycle time of 330 s

Development of a novel off-grid drinking water production system integrating electrochemically activated solutions and ultrafiltration membranes

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Approximately 800 million people live without clean drinking water. Diarrhoea is responsible for between 1.7 and 2 million deaths each year (primarily children) which are the result of poor drinking water quality and sanitation. The main aim of this study was to demonstrate the production of drinking water from a raw water source using an off-grid drinking water production system. The off-grid drinking water production system (DWPS) developed at UWE Bristol, combines an ultra-filtration (UF) system with in situ generation of electrochemically activated solutions (ECAS). ECAS has two functional roles within the system; to manage biofilms within the UF system and as a disinfectant. Integrated in-situ probes (pH, oxidation reduction potential, chlorine, conductivity and dissolved oxygen) coupled with a water quality sensing network (pH, water temperature, conductivity and dissolved oxygen) enabled real time monitoring of; the operational efficiency of the DWPS, and the physicochemical parameters of both the raw water source and the produced drinking water. Spot samples of both raw and treated water were sent for independent chemical and microbial analysis at an accredited laboratory which demonstrated that the DWPS produced biologically safe potable drinking water according to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) standards. Samples from the raw water source were shown to be consistently unsuitable for human consumption, failing several of the DWI standards for potable water supply, including coliform bacteria. This study demonstrated that the novel off-grid DWPS was capable of producing DWI standard drinking water from a heavily biologically contaminated water source

Assessing the antimicrobial potential of aerosolised electrochemically activated solutions (ECAS) for reducing the microbial bio-burden on fresh food produce held under cooled or cold storage conditions

© 2017 The main aim of this study was to assess the antimicrobial efficacy of electrochemically activated fog (ECAF) for reducing the microbial bio-burden on artificially inoculated fresh produce held under cooled (cucumber and vine tomatoes) or cold (rocket and broccoli) storage conditions. The ECAF treatment (1100 ± 5 mV ORP; 50 ± 5 mg L−1 free chlorine; 2.7 ± 0.1 pH) resulted in a significant log reduction in the potential pathogen E. coli recovered from rocket (2.644 Log10 CFU g−1), broccoli (4.204 Log10 CFU g−1), cucumber (3.951 Log10 CFU g−1) and tomatoes (2.535 Log10 CFU g-1) after 5 days. ECAF treatment also resulted in a significant log reduction in potential spoilage organisms, whereby a 3.533 Log10 CFU g−1, 2.174 Log10 CFU g−1 and 1.430 Log10 CFU g−1 reduction in presumptive Pseudomonads was observed for rocket, broccoli and cucumber respectively, and a 3.527 Log10 CFU g−1 reduction in presumptive Penicillium spp. was observed for tomatoes (after 5 days). No adverse visual effects on produce were recorded. The results of this study will inform industrial scale-up trials within commercial facilities (assessing shelf-life, microbial quality and organoleptic assessment) to assess the developed ECAF technology platform within a real food processing environment

CoreGenes3.5: A webserver for the determination of core genes from sets of viral and small bacterial genomes

Background: CoreGenes3.5 is a webserver that determines sets of core genes from viral and small bacterial genomes as an automated batch process. Previous versions of CoreGenes have been used to classify bacteriophage genomes and mine data from pathogen genomes. Findings. CoreGenes3.5 accepts as input GenBank accession numbers of genomes and performs iterative BLASTP analyses to output a set of core genes. After completion of the program run, the results can be either displayed in a new window for one pair of reference and query genomes or emailed to the user for multiple pairs of small genomes in tabular format. Conclusions: With the number of genomes sequenced increasing daily and interest in determining phylogenetic relationships, CoreGenes3.5 provides a user-friendly web interface for wet-bench biologists to process multiple small genomes for core gene determinations. CoreGenes3.5 is available at. © 2013 Turner et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Constructing a coherent STEM strategy with schools

Most universities run STEM enrichment activities with local schools. At UWE we have run activities with respect to mathematics (Maths Challenge, Maths Event Day, FUNMaths Roadshows), Engineering (Engineering activity day, Bloodhound), Science (Science Awareness Day, Hands on Science Day, Bristol Festival of Nature). In contrast, the University of Plymouth as well as subject specific events, run a STEM activity incorporating all three STEM subject (Science, Engineering and Mathematics). This activity is rolled out to schools in the region throughout June. Both approaches have merit. We propose to share practice between the University of Plymouth and UWE through staff visits with the objective of setting up and piloting at UWE a STOP type project as currently run at the University of Plymout

In vitro discrimination of wound-associated bacteria by volatile compound profiling using selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry

© 2017 The Society for Applied Microbiology Aims: To determine if bacterial species responsible for clinically relevant wound infection produce specific volatile profiles that would allow their speciation. Methods and Results: Selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) in full mass scan mode was used to analyse headspace gases produced by wound-associated bacteria grown invitro, so as to enable identification of bacterial volatile product ion profiles in the resulting mass spectra. Applying multivariate statistical analysis (hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis) to the resultant mass spectra enabled clear speciation. Moreover, bacterial volatile product ions could be detected from artificially contaminated wound dressing material, although the pattern of product ions detected was influenced by culture conditions. Conclusions: Using selected product ions from the SIFT-MS mass spectra it is possible to discriminate wound-associated bacterial species grown under specific invitro culture conditions. Significance and Impact of the Study: The results of this study have shown that wound-associated bacteria can be discriminated using volatile analysis invitro and that bacterial volatiles can be detected from wound dressing material. This indicates that volatile analysis of wounds or dressing material to identify infecting microbes has potential and warrants further study

The efficacy of chlorine-based disinfectants against planktonic and biofilm bacteria for decentralised point-of-use drinking water

Chlorine solutions are used extensively for the production of biologically safe drinking water. The capability of point-of-use [POU] drinking water treatment systems has gained interest in locations where centralised treatment systems and distribution networks are not practical. This study investigated the antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity of three chlorine-based disinfectants (hypochlorite ions [OCl-], hypochlorous acid [HOCl] and electrochemically activated solutions [ECAS]) for use in POU drinking water applications. The relative antimicrobial activity was compared within bactericidal suspension assays (BS EN 1040 and BS EN 1276) using Escherichia coli. The anti-biofilm activity was compared utilising established sessile Pseudomonas aeruginosa within a Centre for Disease Control [CDC] biofilm reactor. HOCl exhibited the greatest antimicrobial activity against planktonic E. coli at >50 mg L−1 free chlorine, in the presence of organic loading (bovine serum albumen). However, ECAS exhibited significantly greater anti-biofilm activity compared to OCl- and HOCl against P. aeruginosa biofilms at ≥50 mg L−1 free chlorine. Based on this evidence disinfectants where HOCl is the dominant chlorine species (HOCl and ECAS) would be appropriate alternative chlorine-based disinfectants for POU drinking water applications

Real-time detection of volatile metabolites enabling species-level discrimination of bacterial biofilms associated with wound infection

Aims: The main aim of this study was to investigate the real-time detection of volatile metabolites for the species-level discrimination of pathogens associated with clinically relevant wound infection, when grown in a collagen wound biofilm model. Methods and Results: This work shows that Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pyogenes produce a multitude of volatile compounds when grown as biofilms in a collagen-based biofilm model. The real-time detection of these complex volatile profiles using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry and the use of multivariate statistical analysis on the resulting data can be used to successfully differentiate between the pathogens studied. Conclusions: The range of bacterial volatile compounds detected between the species studied vary and are distinct. Discrimination between bacterial species using real-time detection of volatile metabolites and multivariate statistical analysis was successfully demonstrated. Significance and Impact of the Study: Development of rapid point-of-care diagnostics for wound infection would improve diagnosis and patient care. Such technological approaches would also facilitate the appropriate use of antimicrobials, minimizing the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. This study further develops the use of volatile metabolite detection as a new diagnostic approach for wound infection

Genome sequence of vB_AbaS_TRS1, a viable prophage isolated from Acinetobacter baumannii strain A118

© 2016 Turner et al. A novel temperate phage, vB_AbaS_TRS1, was isolated from cultures of Acinetobacter baumannii strain A118 that had been exposed to mitomycin C. Phage TRS1 belongs to the Siphoviridae family of bacteriophages and encapsulates a 40,749-bp genome encoding 70 coding sequences and a single tRNA