This study was undertaken to determine the effect of acid adaptation on the survival and growth of Escherichia coli in broth and fermented goat milk. In the first phase of the study, acid resistance of E. coli O157:H7 strain UT 10 and E. coli ATCC 25922 was determined in brain heart infusion broth at pH 7.4, 4.5 and 2.5. Variations due to acid stress in the counts of both strains were determined. Alterations in the fatty acid profile due to acid adaptation were also determined. Acid adaptation enhanced the survival of both strains at pH 4.5, but neither strain could survive after 4 h at pH 2.5. At optimum growth conditions (pH 7.4), E. coli ATCC 25922 exhibited increased viability over E. coli UT 10. At pH 4.5, E. coli UT 10 was more tolerant to low pH than E. coli ATCC 25922. An increase in saturated fatty acids (SAFAs) of both AA strains was observed, indicating the importance of lipid modification in enhancing survival at low pH. In the second phase of the study, acid resistance of E. coli O157:H7 strains UT 10 and UT 15 were determined in commercial fermented at 30 °C for 24 h and stored at 7 °C for 2 days and traditional Amasi fermented for 3 days at ambient temperature (ca 30 °C). E. coli O157:H7 counts in traditional Amasi could not be detected after 3 days of challenge while those in commercial Amasi were detected at 2.7 log10 cfu/ml after the same period. The survival of acid adapted (AA) and non-adapted (NA) strains was similar in traditional Amasi while in commercial Amasi, the NA strain survived significantly better than the AA strain. The results of this study indicate that E. coli O157:H7 can survive during fermentation and storage of fermented goat milk Amasi. They also show that survival of the pathogen in a broth model differs from that in a food system. Survival of E. coli O157:H7 in fermented milk is affected by fermentation time, pH and storage temperature. The food industry should therefore adapt their processing/ preservation procedures by taking the most acid tolerant pathogenic E. coli strains into consideration in order to ensure the safety of their products. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Food Science / unrestricted

Adaptation from literature to film has always been a much criticized enterprise, with fidelity criticism, or an attempt to discredit fidelity criticism, often driving the critical discussion. However, this type of thinking is somewhat limited, becoming circular and going nowhere productive. Instead, taking into account what has come before, this thesis attempts to settle on a method of examination that moves away from fidelity criticism and towards an approach that aligns itself with cultural studies. Adaptations, then, can be seen as products of the historical, cultural, political and general socio-economic framework out of which they emerge, owing perhaps more to their context of production than to their source material. In order to provide a case study that reflects this idea, this paper looks to an author who has been adapted on multiple occasions, Jane Austen, and examines her as a cultural construct. Looking at Austen’s most popular novel, Pride and Prejudice, and using Robert Z. Leonard’s Pride and Prejudice (1940), Cyril Coke’s Jane Austen ‘s Pride and Prejudice (1980), Simon Langton’s Pride and Prejudice (1995), Andrew Black’s Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy (2003), Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice (2004) and Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice (2005), the thesis argues that the appeal of Austen is a result of her cult status and economic viability, and also the malleability of her text, which allows filmmakers to use it in a number of different contexts, while still embodying the source material. / Arts, Faculty of / Theatre and Film, Department of / Graduate

Speech recognition systems have been developed for the major languages of the world, yet for the majority of languages there are currently no large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) systems. The development of an LVCSR system for a new language is very costly, mainly because a large speech database has to be compiled to robustly capture the acoustic characteristics of the new language. This thesis investigates techniques that enable the re-use of acoustic information from a source language, in which a large amount of data is available, in implementing a system for a new target language. The assumption is that too little data is available in the target language to train a robust speech recognition system on that data alone, and that use of acoustic information from a source language can improve the performance of a target language recognition system. Strategies for cross-language use of acoustic information are proposed, including training on pooled source and target language data, adaptation of source language models using target language data, adapting multilingual models using target language data and transforming source language data to augment target language data for model training. These strategies are allied with Bayesian and transformation-based techniques, usually used for speaker adaptation, as well as with discriminative learning techniques, to present a framework for cross-language re-use of acoustic information. Extensions to current adaptation techniques are proposed to improve the performance of these techniques specifically for cross-language adaptation. A new technique for transformation-based adaptation of variance parameters and a cost-based extension of the minimum classification error (MCE) approach are proposed. Experiments are performed for a large number of approaches from the proposed framework for cross-language re-use of acoustic information. Relatively large amounts of English speech data are used in conjunction with smaller amounts of Afrikaans speech data to improve the performance of an Afrikaans speech recogniser. Results indicate that a significant reduction in word error rate (between 26% and 50%, depending on the amount of Afrikaans data available) is possible when English acoustic data is used in addition to Afrikaans speech data from the same database (i.e both sets of data were recorded under the same c`12onditions and the same labelling process was used). For same-database experiments, best results are achieved for approaches that train models on pooled source and target language data and then perform further adaptation of the models using Bayesian or discriminative techniques on target language data only. Experiments are also performed to evaluate the use of English data from a different database than the Afrikaans data. Peak reductions in word error rate of between 16% and 35% are delivered, depending on the amount of Afrikaans data available. Best results are achieved for an approach that performs a simple transformation of source model parameters using target language data, and then performs Bayesian adaptation of the transformed model on target language data. / Thesis (PhD (Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / unrestricted

In the present study, I used transcriptomic data to elucidate the role of selection in maintaining genetic cohesion and promoting divergence among wild populations of the annual sunflower Helianthus annuus. I observed that nearly half of the loci displaying high levels of population structure (44%) show allele frequency spectrum skew consistent with recent exposure to natural selection. Among transcriptomic regions at which allele frequency divergence is lowest, fewer loci maintain strong signals of selection (34%). Additionally, I find evidence supporting the maintenance of evolutionarily complex haplotype structure within populations at loci showing high levels of among-population allele frequency divergence.

The effect of exposure to sub-lethal chlorine stress on Salmonella enterica serotypes Typhimurium and Heidelberg was examined in this study. Both serotypes demonstrated an acquired tolerance to chlorine with the adapted cells growing in concentrations above the MIC. Chlorine induced a morphological change to the rugose variant in Salmonella. The biofilm formation of the adapted and control cells was tested on food-contact surfaces at room temperature and 37°C. The chlorineapted rugose formed stronger biofilms (P < 0.05) when compared to smooth (adapted and control) on both surfaces tested and at both temperatures. The possibility of crossaptation to antibiotics and low pH was evaluated. Adapted rugose showed reduced susceptibility against some of the antibiotics tested. Chlorine does not aid in the survival of Salmonella enterica at low pH. Chlorine stress can select for tolerant Salmonella cells that attach strongly to food-contact surfaces and after some time may become less susceptible to antimicrobials.

Glyphosate-resistant (GR) giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.) has been confirmed in several states across the mid-western and mid-southern U.S. Greenhouse and lab studies were conducted to investigate possible mechanism of glyphosate resistance in a suspect population from Monroe County, Mississippi. Translocation of 14C-glyphosate in the susceptible biotype was 77%, compared to 12% in the resistant biotype at 120 hours after treatment, suggesting that the glyphosate resistance mechanism for this giant ragweed biotype is reduced translocation. Dose response studies were conducted to confirm and characterize glyphosate resistance in suspect biotypes from Mississippi (MS-R) and Tennessee (TN-R). The ED50 for MS-R and TN-R were 3.9- and 6.3-fold higher than a susceptible biotype. Results from a fallow field study conducted in 2016 in Monroe County revealed PRE and POST treatments containing dicamba and mesotrione alone and in various combinations provided effective control of GR giant ragweed. Studies were conducted to measure fitness, phenotypic, and genetic variation among GR biotypes from MS-R, TN-R, and Ohio (OH-R). Non-destructive measurements of plants over an eight-week period revealed rapid early growth of two GR accessions from MS in the absence of glyphosate. However, no differences in vegetative biomass were recorded after eight weeks with the exception of OH-R biotype which exhibited lower biomass due to photoperiod sensitivity. Vegetative biomass and fecundity were similar. Multivariate and PCA analysis of traits grouped biotypes based on state of origin. Groupings by state of origin can be significant as managers could design similar methods of control to address giant ragweed in these areas. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to record genetic diversity among and within biotypes. Genetic diversity values were high at 0.514, 0.502, and 0.525 within biotypes from MS, TN, and OH, respectively. However, genetic diversity did not differ due to glyphosate response or level of glyphosate resistance. High levels of genetic variation can be an indicator of the ability of giant ragweed biotypes to adapt to changing environments and conditions.

No description available.

High altitude is one of the most extreme environments inhabited by endotherms, where extreme cold temperatures and low O2 availability (hypoxia) can constrain aerobic heat production (thermogenesis) to maintain body temperature (Tb). Recent findings suggest that the gut microbiome contributes to whole-body thermogenesis, but the significance of this mechanism for coping in cold environments is unknown. We examined whether the gut microbiome contributes to adaptive variation in thermogenic performance in deer mice at high altitude. Mice from populations native to high altitude and low altitude were born and raised in common conditions. Adults from both populations were acclimated to warm (25C) normoxia or cold (5C) hypoxia (~12 kPa O2 for 6 weeks) in a full factorial design, and a subset of mice in each group were treated with antibiotics to deplete the gut microbiome. Thermogenic endurance was then measured as the duration that Tb and metabolism could be maintained during acute cold challenge. In lowlanders, antibiotics had only modest effects on thermogenic endurance. In highlanders, in stark contrast, antibiotic treatment led to pronounced reductions in thermogenic endurance in both environments. These effects could not be explained by impairments in aerobic heat production by host thermogenic tissues, because antibiotic treatment had no effects on cold-induced increases in O2 consumption or UCP1 content of brown adipose tissue. These results suggest that the gut microbiome plays an increased role in thermogenesis in high-altitude mice. Thermogenic performance contributes to fitness at high altitude, suggesting that changes in host-microbe interactions contribute to high-altitude adaptation. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / High altitude is one of the most extreme environments inhabited by endotherms. Recent findings suggest that the gut microbiome contributes to thermogenesis, but the significance of this mechanism for coping in cold environments is unknown. We examined whether the gut microbiome contributes to adaptive variation in thermogenic performance in deer mice at high altitude. Adult mice from low and high-altitude populations were acclimated to warm normoxia or cold hypoxia, and a subset of mice in each group were treated with antibiotics to deplete the gut microbiome. Thermogenic endurance was measured as the duration that Tb and metabolism could be maintained during acute cold challenge. In lowlanders, antibiotics had modest effects on thermogenic endurance but in highlanders, it led to pronounced reductions in thermogenic endurance in both environments. These results show that thermogenic performance contributes to fitness at high altitude, suggesting that changes in host-microbe interactions contribute to high-altitude adaptation.

When military members deploy or temporarily relocate, spouses are left behind to maintain not only their normal day-to-day activities, but also assume the responsibilities of the absent spouse. In cases such as these potentially stressful events, it is important to have adequate support networks within the community to assist individuals in sustaining a sense of personal well-being. The data source of the study is the 2001 Survey of Army Families IV. The survey focuses on randomly selected wives of active duty Army members (n=6451). The research model for this study includes wives' adaptation as the criterion variable, with community connections as independent variables and a set of contextual influence measures also considered as independent variables. Regression analysis for the entire sample indicated that wives with greater adaptation utilized more formal network resources. Among wives of officers, the most important predictors were volunteering and having a close confidant, whereas among wives of enlisted military members most important factors were participating with the Family Readiness Group and employment status. / Master of Science

No description available.