19 research outputs found
Klebsiella Species associated with bovine mastitis in Newfoundland
No full textKlebsiella spp. is a common cause of bovine mastitis, but information regarding its molecular epidemiology is lacking from many parts of the world. On using mass spectrometry and partial sequencing of the rpoB gene, it was found that over a one year study, K. variicola and Enterobacter cloacae were misidentified as K. pneumoniae in a small number of clinical mastitis (CM) cases from Newfoundland. Results suggest that the currently used standard biochemical/phenotypic tests lack the sensitivity required to accurately discriminate among the three mentioned Gram negative bacteria. In addition, a single strain of K. variicola was associated with CM from one farm in the study as demonstrated by Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR. To the best of our knowledge, K. variicola, which is normally found in the environment, has not been isolated previously from milk obtained from cows with CM. Therefore, it is possible that K. variicola was not detected in milk samples in the past due to the inability of standard tests to discriminate it from other Klebsiella species
Comparative Performance Study and Analysis on Different Edge based Image Segmentation Techniques of Thermal Images
No full textIn this work, authors have been tried to analyse the edge-based approach for thermal image segmentation. Here, author?s have used different thermal images for the edge based analysis of image segmentation. Author?s have given studies regarding different edge operators like Prewitt, Sobel, LoG, and Canny edge detection operators for segmentation purposes and analyze their performance. This paper compares each of these operators by the manner of checking Peak signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Squared Error (MSE) of resultant image. It evaluates the performance of each algorithm using image quality analysis. This paper presents a comparative analysis of different edge based thermal image segmentation techniques
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
Typing of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis isolates from Newfoundland using fragment analysis
No full textShort Sequence Repeat (SSR) typing of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (Map) isolates is one of the most commonly used method for genotyping this pathogen. Currently used techniques have challenges in analyzing mononucleotide repeats >15 bp, which include some of the Map SSRs. Fragment analysis is a relatively simple technique, which can accurately measure the size of DNA fragments and can be used to calculate the repeat length of the target SSR loci. In the present study, fragment analysis was used to analyze 4 Map SSR loci known to provide sufficient discriminatory power to determine the relationship between Map isolates. Eighty-five Map isolates from 18 animals from the island of Newfoundland were successfully genotyped using fragment analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on Map SSR diversity from Newfoundland dairy farms. Previously unreported Map SSR-types or combinations were also identified during the course of the described work. In addition, multiple Map SSR-types were isolated from a single animal in many cases, which is not a common finding
Embodied energetics : a digital design-production system for passive solar walls in Vinalhaven Island, Maine
No full textThis electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2019Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 102-105).I propose a digital design-production system to easily assemble, selectively disassemble, and reassemble novel passive solar walls. The problem statement I tackle is that all houses in Vinalhaven Island, Maine have high home-heating energy burden due to their thermally weak thin walls. Substituting thin walls with typical passive solar walls is a known solution, however such walls would be inundated with (i) high embodied energy in non-recoverable materials, (ii) high complexity of construction, and (iii) high cost of construction and renovation. Facilitated by a CAD-CAM interface, I develop a methodological framework called Design for Assembly, Disassembly, and Reassembly to lower all three parameters efficiently. I demonstrate both the framework and its outcomes by rapidly prototyping a few study models of passive solar walls. I speculate on the urban implications of a widespread integration of walls with reduced and recoverable material embodied energy. In order to effectively visualize this, the system boundary of urbanism scales up from a wall to a house, to two adjacent houses, and finally to five houses in Vinalhaven's downtown. I claim that successful on-site substitution of today's standard walls with Digital Passive Solar Walls will accelerate Vinalhaven's island homes toward a holistic energy transition. Broadly, I encourage professionals in the building industry to embrace such digital systems to recover material embodied energy locked in their designed artifacts.by Ankur Podder.S.M.S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architectur
On the Multiplication Tuples Related to Certain Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces
No full textWe consider a class of subnormal operator tuples consisting of multiplications by coordinate functions on a class of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces associated with certain bounded domains in , with the closure of being the Taylor spectrum of and the topological boundary of being the Taylor essential spectrum of . If T is a subnormal operator tuple quasisimilar to , then we show that the Taylor spectrum of T is provided is polynomially convex and provided is either strictly pseudoconvex with boundary or is starlike, and that the Taylor essential spectrum of T is provided satisfies the Gleason property as well. This generalizes some previous work of the first-named author in the context of the unit ball and the unit polydisk. The relevant theory is then applied to the multiplication tuples on the Hardy and Bergman spaces of complex ellipsoids
Unsupervised Clustering and Automatic Language Model Generation for ASR
No full textI hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii The goal of an automatic speech recognition system is to enable the computer in understanding human speech and act accordingly. In order to realize this goal, language modeling plays an important role. It works as a knowledge source through mimicking human comprehension mechanism in understanding the language. Among many other approaches, statistical language modeling technique is widely used in automatic speech recognition systems. However, the generation of reliable and robust statistical model is very difficult task, especially for a large vocabulary system. For a large vocabulary system, the performance of such a language model degrades as the vocabulary size increases. Hence, the performance of the speech recognition system also degrades due to the increased complexity and mutual confusion among the candidate words in the language model. In order to solve these problems, reduction of language model size as well as minimization o
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF ADAM SMITH'S WORK
No full textThe paper will discuss the theological foundation to Smith's writings. Teleology, final causes and divine design were initially seen as central to understanding Smith's writings. Over time, this view fell out of fashion. In the period after World War II, with the rise of positivism, commentators tended to overlook or downplay this interpretation. In the last decade, or so, teleology has started to be restored to its former position as an essential element in understanding Smith. After spelling out Smith's teleology and his view of final causes, divine design and the ends of nature, we try to explain the Panglossian nature of the 'new theistic view' of Smith. While our view differs somewhat, we agree with the essence of the 'new view' claim: a theological view exists in Smith which underpins his moral and economic theories.Political Economy,
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
