Driving Environment Inference from POI of Navigation Map: Fuzzy Logic and Machine Learning Approaches.

To adapt vehicle control and plan strategies in a predictive manner, it is usually desired to know the context of a driving environment. This paper aims at efficiently inferring the following five driving environments around vehicle's vicinity: shopping zone, tourist zone, public station, motor service area, and security zone, whose existences are not necessarily mutually exclusive. To achieve that, we utilize the Point of Interest (POI) data from a navigation map as the semantic clue, and solve the inference task as a multilabel classification problem. Specifically, we first extract all relevant POI objects from a map, then transform these discrete POI objects into numerical POI features. Based on these POI features, we finally predict the occurrence of each driving environment via an inference engine. To calculate representative POI features, a statistical approach is introduced. To composite an inference engine, three inference systems are investigated: fuzzy inference system (FIS), support vector machine (SVM), and multilayer perceptron (MLP). In total, we implement 11 variants of inference engine following two inference strategies: independent and unified inference strategies, and conduct comprehensive evaluation on a manually collected dataset. The result shows that the proposed inference framework generalizes well on different inference systems, where the best overall F1 score 0.8699 is achieved by the MLP-based inference engine following the unified inference strategy, along with the fastest inference time of 0.0002 millisecond per sample. Hence, the generalization ability and efficiency of the proposed inference framework are proved.

Identification of Trueperella bernardiae isolated from peking ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) by phenotypical and genotypical investigations and by a newly developed loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay.

Trueperella (T.) bernardiae is a well-known bacterial pathogen in infections of humans, rarely in animals. In the present study, five T. bernardiae isolates, isolated from five Peking ducks of four different farms, were identified by phenotypic properties, by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis, and genotypically by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, the superoxide dismutase A encoding gene sodA, and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase encoding gene gap. In addition, the T. bernardiae isolates could be identified with a newly developed loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay based on the gyrase encoding housekeeping gene gyrA. All these tests clearly identified the T. bernardiae isolates to the species level. However, the detection of the specific gene gyrA with the newly designed LAMP assay appeared with a high sensitivity and specificity, and could help to identify this bacterial species in human and animal infections in future. The importance of the T. bernardiae isolates for the clinical condition of the ducks and for the problems at farm level remains unclear.

Effects of Chemical Compositions on Plating Characteristics of Alkaline Non-Cyanide Electrogalvanized Coatings.

The effects of zinc and sodium hydroxide concentrations in an alkaline non-cyanide zinc bath on the electrodeposition characteristics of zinc deposits are systematically investigated. Using microstructural and phase analyses of specimens with specifically designed geometries, the study indicates that the bath formulations critically control the electrogalvanizing characteristics and affect the coating surface morphology, deposition rate, throwing power, coating uniformity, and residual stresses developed during and after electrogalvanizing. The coatings produced from baths with a moderate Zn-to-NaOH ratio of 0.067-0.092 appear to provide uniform and compact deposits, moderately high deposition rate, and relatively low residual stresses.

Genotyping of Riemerella anatipestifer by ERIC-PCR and correlation with serotypes.

Riemerella anatipestifer (RA) is a widely distributed bacterial pathogen of birds responsible for remarkable losses to poultry production, especially among waterfowl. We characterized the genomic diversity of 166 field isolates of RA, collected from geese and ducks, using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The field strains and five reference strains showed 17 distinct patterns consisting of five to 12 bands ranging from approximately 150-1800bp. The majority of the strains belonged to two closely related ERIC-PCR types (A and B), while the other types contained only a few isolates each. There was no association between ERIC-PCR type and host species, place, or year of isolation; however the ERIC-PCR pattern was correlated with serotype for most isolates. The majority of serotype 1 strains (101/107) belonged to ERIC-PCR type A while the remaining six strains represented five different ERIC-PCR types (D, G, L, M, and O). Serotypes 1,7 and 7 corresponded to ERIC-PCR types B and C, respectively. Serotypes 2, 4, and 10 could be subdivided by ERIC-PCR revealing two to four patterns within each serotype. These results indicate that ERIC-PCR may be a suitable technique for the molecular identification of RA serotypes, and the detection of subtypes within certain serotypes may aid further epidemiological investigations. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS ERIC-PCR analysis of field R. anatipestifer strains revealed 17 distinct patterns Most strains belonged to two closely related ERIC-PCR types Serotype 1 was the most prevalent serotype representing 64.5% of the strains ERIC-PCR may be suitable for molecular identification of R. anatipestifer serotypes.

Vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics for food producing animals. Part 1: challenges and needs.

Vaccines and other alternative products can help minimize the need for antibiotics by preventing and controlling infectious diseases in animal populations, and are central to the future success of animal agriculture. To assess scientific advancements related to alternatives to antibiotics and provide actionable strategies to support their development, the United States Department of Agriculture, with support from the World Organisation for Animal Health, organized the second International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics. It focused on six key areas: vaccines; microbial-derived products; non-nutritive phytochemicals; immune-related products; chemicals, enzymes, and innovative drugs; and regulatory pathways to enable the development and licensure of alternatives to antibiotics. This article, part of a two-part series, synthesizes and expands on the expert panel discussions regarding opportunities, challenges and needs for the development of vaccines that may reduce the need for use of antibiotics in animals; new approaches and potential solutions will be discussed in part 2 of this series. Vaccines are widely used to prevent infections in food animals. Various studies have demonstrated that their animal agricultural use can lead to significant reductions in antibiotic consumption, making them promising alternatives to antibiotics. To be widely used in food producing animals, vaccines have to be safe, effective, easy to use, and cost-effective. Many current vaccines fall short in one or more of these respects. Scientific advancements may allow many of these limitations to be overcome, but progress is funding-dependent. Research will have to be prioritized to ensure scarce public resources are dedicated to areas of potentially greatest impact first, and private investments into vaccine development constantly compete with other investment opportunities. Although vaccines have the potential to improve animal health, safeguard agricultural productivity, and reduce antibiotic consumption and resulting resistance risks, targeted research and development investments and concerted efforts by all affected are needed to realize that potential.

Vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics for food producing animals. Part 2: new approaches and potential solutions.

Vaccines and other alternative products are central to the future success of animal agriculture because they can help minimize the need for antibiotics by preventing and controlling infectious diseases in animal populations. To assess scientific advancements related to alternatives to antibiotics and provide actionable strategies to support their development, the United States Department of Agriculture, with support from the World Organisation for Animal Health, organized the second International Symposium on Alternatives to Antibiotics. It focused on six key areas: vaccines; microbial-derived products; non-nutritive phytochemicals; immune-related products; chemicals, enzymes, and innovative drugs; and regulatory pathways to enable the development and licensure of alternatives to antibiotics. This article, the second part in a two-part series, highlights new approaches and potential solutions for the development of vaccines as alternatives to antibiotics in food producing animals; opportunities, challenges and needs for the development of such vaccines are discussed in the first part of this series. As discussed in part 1 of this manuscript, many current vaccines fall short of ideal vaccines in one or more respects. Promising breakthroughs to overcome these limitations include new biotechnology techniques, new oral vaccine approaches, novel adjuvants, new delivery strategies based on bacterial spores, and live recombinant vectors; they also include new vaccination strategies in-ovo, and strategies that simultaneously protect against multiple pathogens. However, translating this research into commercial vaccines that effectively reduce the need for antibiotics will require close collaboration among stakeholders, for instance through public-private partnerships. Targeted research and development investments and concerted efforts by all affected are needed to realize the potential of vaccines to improve animal health, safeguard agricultural productivity, and reduce antibiotic consumption and resulting resistance risks.

Comparison of pathogenic and non-pathogenic Enterococcus cecorum strains from different animal species.

BACKGROUND: Enterococcus cecorum (EC) infection currently is one of the most important bacterial diseases of modern broiler chickens but can also affect ducks or other avian species. However, little is known concerning pathogenesis of EC and most studies concentrate on examinations of EC strains from broilers only. The objective of this study was to compare pathogenic and commensal EC strains from different animal species concerning different phenotypic and genotypic traits. RESULTS: Pathogenic and commensal EC strains were not clearly separated from each other in a phylogenetic tree based on partial sequences of the 16S-rRNA-gene and also based on the fatty acid profile determined with gas chromatography. C12:0, C14:0, C15:0, C16:0, C17:0, C18:0, C18:1 w7c, C18:1 w9c and C20:4 w6,9,12,15c were detected as the major fatty acids. None of the 21 pathogenic EC strains was able to utilize mannitol, while 9 of 29 commensal strains were mannitol positive. In a dendrogram based on MALDI-TOF MS data, pathogenic strains were not clearly separated from commensal isolates. However, significant differences concerning the prevalence of several mass peaks were confirmed between the two groups. Two different antisera were produced but none of the serotypes was predominantly found in the pathogenic or commensal EC isolates. Enterococcal virulence factors gelE, esp, asa1, ccf, hyl and efaAfs were only detected in single isolates via PCR. No virulence factor was found significantly more often in the pathogenic isolates. The chicken embryo lethality of the examined EC isolates varied from 0 up to 100%. The mean embryo lethality in the pathogenic EC isolates was 39.7%, which was significantly higher than the lethality of the commensal strains, which was 18.9%. Additionally, five of the commensal isolates showed small colony variant growth, which was never reported for EC before. CONCLUSIONS: Pathogenic and commensal EC isolates from different animal species varied in chicken embryo lethality, in their ability to metabolize mannitol and probably showed divergent mass peak patterns with MALDI-TOF MS. These differences may be explained by a separate evolution of pathogenic EC isolates. Furthermore, different serotypes of EC were demonstrated for the first time.

Trueperella abortisuis, an emerging pathogen isolated from pigs in Germany.

In the present study four Trueperella (T.) abortisuis strains isolated from an umbilical swab, two anal swabs and from a placenta after abortion of four pigs, respectively, could successfully be identified phenotypically, by MALDI-TOF MS analysis and genotypically by amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene sequence and gene sodA encoding superoxide dismutase A as additional molecular target. All four T. abortisuis were isolated together with various other bacterial species indicating that the pathogenic importance of this novel species remains unclear. However, according to the literature and to the results of the present study T. abortisuis could be recovered from samples of animals in Japan and in different microbiological laboratories in Germany emphasizing its increasing importance.

Experimental reproduction of an Enterococcus cecorum infection in Pekin ducks.

Enterococcus cecorum (EC) was thus far only known as a pathogen for broilers and broiler breeders. Recently there was evidence of EC field outbreaks in Pekin duck flocks in Germany. In this study we experimentally reproduced an EC infection in Pekin ducks. At 12 days post hatch, groups of Pekin ducks were infected orally, via the thoracic air sac or intravenously with 1.5 × 10(9) colony-forming units (CFU) of EC per bird or via the air sac with 8.5 × 10(5) or 8.5 × 10(7) CFU per bird. Ducks of the intravenously infected group showed 100% mortality after 2 days post infection. The air sac inoculated high-dose group exhibited a mortality rate of 67%. Birds that were infected with 8.5 × 10(5) and 8.5 × 10(7) CFU showed 6.7% mortality after 7 days post infection. Dead birds displayed pneumonia, airsacculitis, pericarditis and splenitis and EC was re-isolated from these organs. Surviving birds of all groups apart from the orally infected ducks demonstrated clinical signs such as huddling, reduced mobility and diarrhoea. Furthermore, they showed gross pathological lesions including airsacculitis and splenitis and lower bodyweights than the control group at necropsy on days 7, 14 and 21 post infection. The present study clearly confirms that EC is pathogenic for Pekin ducks after experimental infection via the intravenous route or the respiratory tract. EC therefore has to be considered as an emerging avian pathogen not only in broilers but also in Pekin ducks.

Multiple stress signal integration in the regulation of the complex sigma S-dependent csiD-ygaF-gabDTP operon in Escherichia coli.

The csiD-ygaF-gabDTP region in the Escherichia coli genome represents a cluster of sigma S-controlled genes. Here, we investigated promoter structures, sigma factor dependencies, potential co-regulation and environmental regulatory patterns for all of these genes. We find that this region constitutes a complex operon with expression being controlled by three differentially regulated promoters: (i) csiDp, which affects the expression of all five genes, is cAMP-CRP/sigma S-dependent and activated exclusively upon carbon starvation and stationary phase; (ii) gabDp1, which is sigma S-dependent and exhibits multiple stress induction like sigma S itself; and (iii) gabDp2[previously suggested by Schneider, B.L., Ruback, S., Kiupakis, A.K., Kasbarian, H., Pybus, C., and Reitzer, L. (2002) J. Bacteriol. 184: 6976-6986], which appears to be Nac/sigma 70-controlled and to respond to poor nitrogen sources. In addition, we identify a novel repressor, CsiR, which modulates csiDp activity in a temporal manner during early stationary phase. Finally, we propose a physiological role for sigma S-controlled GabT/D-mediated gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) catabolism and glutamate accumulation in general stress adaptation. This physiological role is reflected by the activation of the operon-internal gabDp1 promoter under the different conditions that also induce sigma S, which include shifts to acidic pH or high osmolarity as well as starvation or stationary phase.