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.     

Automatic heart sound detection in pediatric patients without electrocardiogram reference via pseudo-affine Wigner–Ville distribution and Haar wavelet lifting

Having in mind the availability of electronic stethoscopes, phonocardiograms (PCGs) have become popular for cardiovascular functionality monitoring and signal processing applications. Detection of fundamental heart sounds (HSs), S1s and S2s, is considered to be a crucial step in PCG analysis. Electrocardiogram (ECG), noted as a reference signal, is often synchronously recorded in order to simplify the S1/S2 detection process. Nevertheless, electronic stethoscopes are frequently used without additional ECG equipment. We propose a new algorithm for automatic fundamental HSs detection via: joint time-frequency representation based on pseudo affine Wigner–Ville distribution (PAWVD), Haar wavelet lifting scheme (Haar-LS), normalized average Shannon energy (NASE) and autocorrelation. The performance of the proposed algorithm was calculated on both normal (50) and pathological (75) PCG recordings, eight seconds long each, contributed by 125 different pediatric patients. The algorithm showed relatively high recall (90.41%) and precision (96.39%) rates of S1/S2 detection procedure in a variety of PCG signals, without ECG as a reference. Furthermore, it indicated the ability to overcome splitting within the S1/S2 heart sounds.     

Passive detection of accelerometer-recorded fetal movements using a time–frequency signal processing approach

This paper describes a multi-sensor fetal movement (FetMov) detection system based on a time–frequency (TF) signal processing approach. Fetal motor activity is clinically useful as a core aspect of fetal screening for well-being to reduce the current high incidence of fetal deaths in the world. FetMov are present in early gestation but become more complex and sustained as the fetus progresses through gestation. A decrease in FetMov is an important element to consider for the detection of fetal compromise. Current methods of FetMov detection include maternal perception, which is known to be inaccurate, and ultrasound imaging which is intrusive and costly. An alternative passive method for the detection of FetMov uses solid-state accelerometers, which are safe and inexpensive. This paper describes a digital signal processing (DSP) based experimental approach to the detection of FetMov from recorded accelerometer signals. The paper provides an overview of the significant measurement and signal processing challenges, followed by an approach that uses quadratic time–frequency distributions (TFDs) to appropriately deal with the non-stationary nature of the signals. The paper then describes a proof-of-concept with a solution consisting of a detection method that includes (1) a new experimental set-up, (2) an improved data acquisition procedure, and (3) a TF approach for the detection of FetMov including TF matching pursuit (TFMP) decomposition and TF matched filter (TFMF) based on high-resolution quadratic TFDs. Detailed suggestions for further refinement are provided with preliminary results to establish feasibility, and considerations for application to clinical practice are reviewed.     

Physical topology optimization of infrastructure health monitoring sensor network for high-speed rail

With the rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) systems, the security and safety of these huge systems are becoming the primary concerns for passengers. HSR infrastructure plays an important role in HSR systems, making the maintenance of security and safety of the HSR infrastructure especially important. Meanwhile, sensor network technologies allow the realization of real-time and all-weather monitoring of HSR infrastructure. This paper analyzes the application requirements and characteristics of infrastructure health monitoring sensor network (IHMSN) through construction of a three-layer IHMSN which is composed of end devices, repeater points, and access points. The physical topology optimization goal of IHMSN is to set the optimal number of network nodes (namely, minimum cost) as well as the best physical connections. Given types and amount of the end devices, a multiple knapsack model is established which converts the physical topology optimization problems into multiple knapsack problems. Based on the different needs of practical application, three different cases (basis case, adding devices case and weight-based case) are proposed, and the corresponding models are built. Some artificial intelligence algorithms and a traditional dynamic programming algorithm are presented to solve the problems. In addition, a general algorithmic finite state machine is proposed to describe the solving process. After comparing these algorithms in execution time, memory, and optimal results, the genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization algorithm stand out when used to solve the basic case as well as the extended cases. The numerical results show that these proposed models and algorithms can effectively solve the physical topology optimization problem of IHMSN for HSR systems. Moreover, these methods can effectively reduce network costs and provide a theoretical basis for network communication link optimization.     

Home health care routing and scheduling: A review

In home health care (HHC) operations, nurses are scheduled and routed to perform various services at clients' homes. As this often requires a combination of vehicle routing and scheduling approaches, resulting optimization problems are complex and, hence, of high interest to stakeholders such as researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. With demand for HHC expected to increase substantially, future work is essential to decrease costs and to guarantee service quality. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of current work in the field of HHC routing and scheduling with a focus on considered problem settings. Recent advances in HHC optimization are highlighted and future research directions discussed.     

试谈软件编程的风险规避

在我国科学技术和信息化的迅速发展中,计算机和互联网在各行各业中的应用也日益广泛,与此同时,各种类型的软件也在不断被应用。在软件功能和规模日益扩大中,其编程过程也日益复杂,因而也使一些风险和问题不断显现。通过对软件编程中各种风险的分析,提出了有效规避措施。     

School attendance and daily respiratory symptoms in children: influence of moisture damage

We investigated the effect of weekends and school holidays on the daily frequency and severity of respiratory and other symptoms among children attending schools with (index) or without (reference) moisture damage in Spain, the Netherlands, and Finland. Throughout 1 year, parents of 419 children with a respiratory condition attending index (n=15) or reference (n=10) primary schools completed three symptom diaries. We assessed associations between lower respiratory tract, upper respiratory tract or allergy, and other symptom scores and school day, weekend, or summer holiday using mixed regression models stratified by country and moisture damage. We evaluated interactions between moisture damage and type of day. We combined country‐specific estimates (incidence rate ratios [IRRs] and 95% confidence interval [CI]) in meta‐analyses. Symptom scores were lower during weekends and holiday. Lower respiratory tract symptoms were statistically significantly less common during holiday with strongest effect in index schools (IRR=0.7; CI=0.6–0.8). Reporting of other symptoms was more reduced during holiday in index (IRR=0.6; CI=0.4–0.9) than in reference (IRR=0.95; CI=0.8–1.2) schools (interaction P<.01). In conclusion, symptoms were less frequent and/or severe during summer holiday and weekends. This pattern was stronger among children attending moisture‐damaged schools, suggesting potential improvement in moisture damage‐related symptoms during school breaks.     

Use of fuzzy sets in developing code risk factors

Fuzzy set theory is used to produce risk factor values for a building code. Working through reliability indices, a transformation is developed to convert estimates of relative social importance of a building into code load factors. The importance estimates are found by surveying knowledgeable members of society or playing their roles, and by using fuzzy set theory to combine their views according to their significance. An extension, again using fuzzy set theory, brings in the use of multiple criteria on which to base judgements. An example gives risk factors close to those in an existing code.     

Hierarchical Particle Swarm Optimization with Ortho-Cyclic Circles

Cloud computing is an emerging technology which deals with real world problems that changes dynamically. The users of dynamically changing applications in cloud demand for rapid and efficient service at any instance of time. To deal with this paper proposes a new modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm that work efficiently in dynamic environments. The proposed Hierarchical Particle Swarm Optimization with Ortho Cyclic Circles (HPSO-OCC) receives the request in cloud from various resources, employs multiple swarm interaction and implements cyclic and orthogonal properties in a hierarchical manner to provide the near optimal solution. HPSO-OCC is tested and analysed in both static and dynamic environments using seven benchmark optimization functions. The proposed algorithm gives the best solution and outperforms in terms of accuracy and convergence speed when compared with the performance of existing PSO algorithms in dynamic scenarios. As a case study, HPSO-OCC is implemented in remote health monitoring application for optimal service scheduling in cloud. The near optimal solution from HPSO-OCC and Dynamic Round Robin Scheduling algorithm is implemented to schedule the services in healthcare.     

论我国等同采用国际风险管理标准的必要性

日前,国际标准化组织ISO正式发布了用于风险管理的国际标准ISO 31000:2009《风险管理——原则与指南》。该标准是在经济全球化的新环境下,"特定事件"和"特定法规"的基础上产生的,体现了世界范围内风险管理的最新理论和最佳实践。在全球金融危机尚未结束的今天,该标准的发布具有重要意义。本文从6个方面论述了我国"等同采用"ISO 31000:2009标准的必要性,并指出我国尽早"等同采用"该标准既有实践的基础,又有现实的意义。