A Markovian–Bayesian Network for Risk Analysis of High Speed and Conventional Railway Lines Integrating Human Errors

The article provides a new Markovian–Bayesian network model to evaluate the probability of accident associated with the circulation of trains along a given high speed or conventional railway line with special consideration to human error. This probability increases as trains pass throughout the different elements encountered along the line. A Bayesian network, made up of a sequence of several connected Bayesian subnetworks, is used. A subnetwork is associated with each element in the line that implies a concentrated risk of accident or produces a change in the driver's attention, such as signals, tunnel, or viaduct entries or exits, etc. Bayesian subnetworks are also used to reproduce segments without signals where some elements add continuous risks, such as rolling stock failures, falling materials, slope slides in cuttings and embankments, etc. All subnetworks are connected with the previous one and some of them are multi‐connected because some consequences are dependent on previous errors. Because driver's attention plays a crucial role, its degradation with driving time and the changes due to seeing light signals or receiving acoustic signals is taken into consideration. The model updates the driver's attention level and accumulates the probability of accident associated with the different elements encountered along the line. This permits us to generate a continuously increasing risk graph that includes continuous and sudden changes indicating where the main risks appear and whether or not an action must be taken by the infrastructure manager. Sensitivity analysis allows the relevant and irrelevant parameters to be identified avoiding wastes of time and money by concentrating safety improvement actions only on the relevant ones. Finally, some examples are used to illustrate the model. In particular, the case of the Orense–Santiago de Compostela line, where a terrible accident took place in 2013.     

Training realisation and training demand in the Rioja wine sector in Spain

Training has been identified as an effective tool in the development of human resources, especially in the current context of change. This work aims to analyse the realisation and demand on training courses in the Rioja wine sector in Spain. A representative sample of companies in the sector was interviewed using a questionnaire. Two types of analysis were conducted: univariate and a factorial analysis of variance. These analyses allow using a hypothesis test in which three independent variables are controlled – zone, ownership, and winery size. The results show that the realisation and demand for training are focused on topics related to wine production, and not on marketing. No significant differences were found regarding the realisation and demand for training and the independent variables.     

DiSeg 1.0: The first system for Spanish discourse segmentation

Nowadays discourse parsing is a very prominent research topic. However, there is not a discourse parser for Spanish texts. The first stage in order to develop this tool is discourse segmentation. In this work, we present DiSeg, the first discourse segmenter for Spanish, which uses the framework of Rhetorical Structure Theory and is based on lexical and syntactic rules. We describe the system and we evaluate its performance against a gold standard corpus, divided in a medical and a terminological subcorpus. We obtain promising results, which means that discourse segmentation is possible using shallow parsing.     

Lactic acid production using waste generated from sweet potato processing

Organic waste generated from industrial sweet potato canning is estimated to be 30% of incoming raw material with significant residual carbohydrate content. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of waste generated from sweet potato processing material to support the growth of lactic acid bacteria and the production of lactic acid. The waste was comprised of 16.5% solids consisting of 18.5% ash, 4.4% protein, 20.5% simple sugars and 19% soluble starch. Following a screening of three lactic acid bacteria strains, Lactobacillus rhamnosus was deemed the best candidate for lactic acid production. The potential of various dilutions of the enzyme‐hydrolysed waste, with and without pH control, as a fermentation substrate was evaluated. Lactic acid production was highest in hydrolysed waste (without dilution) at pH set point 5.0, yielding 10 g L^?1 in 72 h. Thus, lactic acid, a valuable organic compound, can be generated from sweet potato waste.     

Role of Btg2 in the Progression of a PDGF-Induced Oligodendroglioma Model

Tumor progression is a key aspect in oncology. Not even the overexpression of a powerful oncogenic stimulus such as platelet derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B) is sufficient per se to confer full malignancy to cells. In previous studies we showed that neural progenitors overexpressing PDGF-B need to undergo progression to acquire the capability to give rise to secondary tumor following transplant. By comparing the expression profile of PDGF-expressing cells before and after progression, we found that progressed tumors consistently downregulate the expression of the antiproliferative gene Btg2. We therefore tested whether the downregulation of Btg2 is sufficient and necessary for glioma progression with loss and gain of function experiments. Our results show that downregulation of Btg2 is not sufficient but is necessary for tumor progression since the re-introduction of Btg2 in fully progressed tumors dramatically impairs their gliomagenic potential. These results suggest an important role of Btg2 in glioma progression. Accordingly with this view, the analysis of public datasets of human gliomas showed that reduced level of Btg2 expression correlates with a significantly worse prognosis.     

Viable Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis isolated from calf milk replacer

When advising farmers on how to control Johne's disease in an infected herd, one of the main recommendations is to avoid feeding waste milk to calves and instead feed calf milk replacer (CMR). This advice is based on the assumption that CMR is free of viable Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) cells, an assumption that has not previously been challenged. We tested commercial CMR products (n = 83) obtained from dairy farms around the United States by the peptide-mediated magnetic separation (PMS)-phage assay, PMS followed by liquid culture (PMS-culture), and direct IS900 quantitative PCR (qPCR). Conventional microbiological analyses for total mesophilic bacterial counts, coliforms, Salmonella, coagulase-negative staphylococci, streptococci, nonhemolytic Corynebacterium spp., and Bacillus spp. were also performed to assess the overall microbiological quality of the CMR. Twenty-six (31.3%) of the 83 CMR samples showed evidence of the presence of MAP. Seventeen (20.5%) tested positive for viable MAP by the PMS-phage assay, with plaque counts ranging from 6 to 1,212 pfu/50 mL of reconstituted CMR (average 248.5 pfu/50 mL). Twelve (14.5%) CMR samples tested positive for viable MAP by PMS-culture; isolates from all 12 of these samples were subsequently confirmed by whole-genome sequencing to be different cattle strains of MAP. Seven (8.4%) CMR samples tested positive for MAP DNA by IS900 qPCR. Four CMR samples tested positive by both PMS-based tests and 5 CMR samples tested positive by IS900 qPCR plus one or other of the PMS-based tests, but only one CMR sample tested positive by all 3 MAP detection tests applied. All conventional microbiology results were within current standards for whole milk powders. A significant association existed between higher total bacterial counts and presence of viable MAP indicated by either of the PMS-based assays. This represents the first published report of the isolation of viable MAP from CMR. Our findings raise concerns about the potential ability of MAP to survive manufacture of dried milk-based products.     

Time of Entry of Salmonella and Campylobacter into the Turkey Brooder House

The prevalence of Campylobacter (>90%) and Salmonella (33%) in turkeys at slaughter has been estimated. This report describes studies to estimate the time of entry of Campylobacter and Salmonella into the brooder house, which is the first stage of commercial turkey production. In trial 1, birds (∼100 per time point) were monitored by conventional culture at three intervals (0, 9, and 16 days of age). Campylobacter spp. were not detected in poults at the day of hatch; Salmonella was isolated from the ceca (3.9%) and yolk sac (0.1%). By day 9, Salmonella were frequently isolated from the ceca (55%) and small intestine (45%) while Campylobacter was not cultured. By day 16, the prevalence of Salmonella in the ceca (21%) and small intestine (5.1%) had declined; Campylobacter was infrequently isolated from either the ceca (2%) or small intestine (3%). In trial 2, poults (50 per time point at 5, 20, and 33 days of age) were monitored for Campylobacter and Salmonella by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR); Salmonella was also monitored by conventional culture. Whereas Campylobacter was not detected by real-time PCR in the ceca of 5-day-old birds, it was detected on days 20 (92%) and 33 (90%). In contrast, Salmonella was isolated from young birds at days 5 (98%), 20 (98%), and 33 (98%), after which time the turkeys were moved to the finisher house. At slaughter at 138 days, Salmonella prevalence in the ceca had declined (4.5%) in contrast to the prevalence of Campylobacter (92%). Antimicrobial sensitivity profiles of the Salmonella isolates indicated an increase of sulfonamide-resistant isolates throughout the brooder stage. Genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of Salmonella (45 isolates per sampling time) indicated fluctuating populations as the birds matured.     

Defecting From the Gutenberg Legacy: Employing Images to Test Knowledge Gaps

Education‐based knowledge gaps are well‐documented across countries, media platforms, and content. Without exception, knowledge is measured through words not images. Given the centrality of sight in the natural history of Homo sapiens, the extraordinary visual acuity of humans, and the proliferation of screen‐based visual media environments in contemporary life, an experiment was conducted to test the knowledge gap visually. Participants watched 8 audiovisual news stories. Simple recognition of story details and comprehension of that information were tested in verbal and visual modalities. Results offered the first confirmation of the knowledge gap in visual terms. Yet, gaps were significantly smaller employing visual than verbal measures, pointing to the need for continued efforts to develop visual measures for future memory studies.