Source Attribution Research Articles

Overview of Foodborne viruses: Important viruses, outbreaks, health concerns, food Handling and fresh produce

Foodborne viruses can transmit through food in lots of ways including consuming items of animal origin containing zoonotic viruses, consuming contaminated food handled by infected food workers, and consuming contaminated food produced by humans. Viral foodborne illnesses are now a major contributor to all foodborne illness reports in recent years and are seen as a rising issue to the public health of humans and animals. Noroviruses and hepatitis A viruses were shown to be predominantly linked to the food-handler transmission and sewage-contaminated foods, according to microbiological research. In order to facilitate source attribution and identify risk preventive measures, routine, standard surveillance of viral outbreaks, and surveillance of virus occurrence in food products, combined with systematic strain typing, food and clinical microbiologists, would be advocated.

Molecular Epidemiological Evidence Implicates Cattle as a Primary Reservoir of Campylobacter jejuni Infecting People via Contaminated Chickens.

The study aimed to determine the relative contribution of cattle to the burden of illness in a model agroecosystem with high rates of human campylobacteriosis (≥ 115 cases/100 K), and high densities of cattle, including large numbers of cattle housed in confined feeding operations (i.e., in southwestern Alberta, Canada). To accomplish this, a large-scale molecular epidemiological analysis of Campylobacter jejuni circulating within the study location was completed. In excess of 8000 isolates of C. jejuni from people (n = 2548 isolates), chickens (n = 1849 isolates), cattle (n = 2921 isolates), and water (n = 771 isolates) were subtyped. In contrast to previous studies, the source attribution estimates of clinical cases attributable to cattle vastly exceeded those attributed to chicken (i.e., three- to six-fold). Moreover, cattle were often colonized by C. jejuni (51%) and shed the bacterium in their feces. A large proportion of study isolates were found in subtypes primarily associated with cattle (46%), including subtypes infecting people and those associated with chickens (19%). The implication of cattle as a primary amplifying reservoir of C. jejuni subtypes in circulation in the study location is supported by the strong cattle association with subtypes that were found in chickens and in people, a lack of evidence indicating the foodborne transmission of C. jejuni from beef and dairy, and the large number of cattle and the substantial quantities of untreated manure containing C. jejuni cells. Importantly, the evidence implicated cattle as a source of C. jejuni infecting people through a transmission pathway from cattle to people via the consumption of chicken. This has implications for reducing the burden of campylobacteriosis in the study location and elsewhere.

The effects of journalistic intervention and falsely balanced reporting on support for voter ID law

ABSTRACT Does the way journalists report on electoral fraud affect Americans’ support for voter ID laws? Drawing on an original survey experiment, we show that exposure to reporting on voter fraud that contains weight-of-evidence information and factual corrections reduces support for voter ID laws. The results of a causal mediation analysis show that this effect is mediated by beliefs about the severity of voter fraud. Further, we find that news source attribution does not moderate this effect.

Russian Engraving of the 17th Century in the Studies of Dmitry Rovinsky

The article is devoted to the works of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Rovinsky (1824—1895), a famous Russian scientist and collector, the founder of Russian engraving studies. There are special articles devoted to him in modern literature, but mostly of a biographical nature. This article explores his methods for studying early Russian engraving of the 17th century. The author shows the directions and approaches to the topic identified and developed by D.A. Rovinsky. Exploring the scientist’s work in the context of the development of art criticism of the 19th century, the article reveals methodological errors in the attribution and identification of iconographic sources of Russian engraving of the 17th century. The article shows the features of D.A. Rovinsky’s approach to specific works, which determined his conclusions and observations in the assessment of Russian engraving of the 17th century, some of them remain relevant today. There are demonstrated the material research characteristics associated with socio-political reasons that determined the direction of censorship in relation to the study of plots and iconographic issues of early Russian engraving. The article shows for the first time the features of studying early Russian engraving of the 17th century as an independent phenomenon, reveals the origins of the formation of modern trends in art criticism (engraving) research, and demonstrates the processes of formation of our ideas about the initial stage of the development of the art of engraving in Russia as a special kind of art and a phenomenon of artistic culture.

Improved identification of pollution source attribution by using PAH ratios combined with multivariate statistics

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are contaminants introduced by different pathways in the marine ecosystem, affecting both aquatic and sediment bodies. Identification of their sources is of vital importance for protecting the marine ecosystem. The attribution of the pollution sources is usually made by using diagnostic molecular ratios of PAHs isomers. The reliability of this approach diminishes when PAHs contents are measured far from their original source, for example in water bodies or in bottom sediments. Conventionally the source attribution is based on time consuming univariate methods. In the present work coupling of molecular ratios with advanced supervised statistical techniques was used to increase the accuracy of the PAH source attribution in bottom sediments. Data on PAHs distribution within 5 port areas, with known pattern port activity, were collected. Evaluation of multiple PAHs ratios at once by means of supervised OPLS-DA technique was performed. A robust descriptive and predictive model was set up and successfully validated. The proposed methodology helps identify PAH transport pathways, highlighting interactions between pollution patterns, port activities and coastal land-use supporting decision makers in defining monitoring and mitigation procedures.

Influence of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumers’ Brand Equity: Case Study of Super Brands Companies in Kenya

This paper was a seminar presented for partial fulfilment for the award of a degree in doctor of philosophy in Business administration (marketing option) at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) Kenya. The paper takes the format of mini-research. The study’s aim was to establish the influence of Celebrity endorsement on consumer brand equity on selected super brands in Kenya. Specifically, the study intended to establish whether the two major attributes of celebrity endorsement: Credibility and Attractiveness, influence consumers’ brand equity. The independent variable was celebrity endorsement and brand equity was the dependent variable. The study was anchored on the TEARS model that combines many marketing communications theories that describe attributes of a good source of information. These are the Credibility model, source attractiveness model, the meaning of transfer model, and the product-match-up hypothesis, consumer, and buyer behaviour theories. The empirical literature on celebrity endorsement was reviewed regarding different views of measurements of brand equity and how celebrity characteristics affect brand equity. The study raised two questions; whether celebrity credibility influences consumers’ brand equity and whether celebrity attractiveness influences consumers’ brand equity. To answer these two questions, a Target population of 20 consumer super brands companies was picked with only 11 super brands qualifying to be the unit of observation on the basis that they have hired celebrities to advertise their brands. The unit of analysis was 40 consumers who were classified as lecturers, professionals, and students. These respondents were given a structured questionnaire based on the two objectives of the study. Thirty-eight questionnaires’ (95% response) were returned and two were spoilt. Data were analysed by use of a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and presented in tables. The study findings indicate that celebrity attractiveness has the highest influence as compared to celebrity credibility in influencing consumers’ brand equity. On methodology, the study recommends that a mixed design approach and change of unit of analysis in future research, development of hypotheses, include moderating variables as well as add to the main research the three remaining variables in the TEARS model. Study findings indicate that celebrity endorsement influence can lead to brand equity in the form of customer brand preference, awareness, loyalty and association, attitude, relevance, and differentiation. However, marketing and brand managers need to be careful when hiring celebrities to market their products because of the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy. On theoretical and academic implications, the study concludes that most of the studies carried out are in western countries. There remains a need for more studies in the field of celebrity endorsement in Kenya, especially in the area of theories of source credibility, source attractiveness, match-up hypotheses and meaning transfer model. These models emphasise that source of information must have power. Scholars can further apply exploratory research in areas of psychological and consumer behaviour theories in relation to Celebrity endorsement

Trustworthiness of voice-based assistants: integrating interlocutor and intermediary predictors

When intelligent voice-based assistants (VBAs) present news, they simultaneously act as interlocutors and intermediaries, enabling direct and mediated communication. Hence, this study discusses and investigates empirically how interlocutor and intermediary predictors affect an assessment that is relevant for both: trustworthiness. We conducted a secondary analysis using data from two online surveys in which participants (N = 1288) had seven quasi-interactions with either Alexa or Google Assistant and calculated hierarchical regression analyses. Results show that (1) interlocutor and intermediary predictors influence people’s trustworthiness assessments when VBAs act as news presenters, and (2) that different trustworthiness dimensions are affected differently: The intermediary predictors (information credibility; company reputation) were more important for the cognition-based trustworthiness dimensions integrity and competence. In contrast, intermediary and interlocutor predictors (ontological classification; source attribution) were almost equally important for the affect-based trustworthiness dimension benevolence.

An automatic inversion approach for magnetic data applying the global bat optimization algorithm (GBOA): application to ore deposits and basement rock intrusion

Recently, metaheuristic approaches are frequently used to the potential data inversion (i.e., magnetic data) as a global optimizing approach. In the present study, we proposed a global optimizing bat algorithm (GOBA) that based on bat echolocation behavior to obtain globally optimal solutions (best parameters) of magnetic anomalies. The best determined source parameters were picked at the suggested minimum objective function. The proposed GOBA approach does not require prior information and represents an effective technique of surveying the entire domain of the raw data to evaluate sources optimal parameters. The GOBA approach is employed to magnetic data profiles to determine the characteristic source attributes (i.e. the vertical depths to the center of the anomalous structures, the magnitude of amplitude coefficients, the sources origin, the approximated geometric form factors, and the effective angles of magnetization). The GOBA approach can be applied to single and multiple anomaly structures in the restricted categories of basic geometric shapes (spheres, cylinders, sheets, and dikes). The stability, constancy, and performance of the given GOBA approach are achieved on different purely and contaminated examples for individual and double sources. Besides, the introduced GOBA approach has been fruitfully utilized to three field datasets from Turkey, Canada, and Senegal for ore deposit and basement rock intrusion investigations. Overall, the recovered inversion results from the GOBA approach are in high correlation with the available drill-holes, geologic data, and scholarly articles outcomes. Finally, the provided metaheuristic GOBA approach is a simple, accurate, and powerful technique for magnetic data interpretation.Article highlightsAn automatic approach for magnetic data interpretation to investigate the ore deposits and sustainable resources such as volcanic and basement rock intrusions based on bat echolocation behavior to obtain the global optimal solutions.In this study we built 2D models aims to image of the interior of the subsurface to investigate their natural resources, for example minerals & ore deposits and rock intrusions, helping in understand their concentration and the distribution location, including the depth to their sources.We came to the conclusion that the suggested approach is useful in ore & mineral research, the reconnaissance geological studies and can be extend to the volcanic activity & geothermal exploration studies in the future.

Particulate matter source attribution and restaurant mitigation behavioral intentions: an application of attribution theory

PurposeAs commercial cooking is known as a source that generates great concentrations of particulate matter (PM) emissions first accumulating in kitchens before spreading to dining areas, this study aims to explore how to improve restaurants’ efforts to reduce PM emissions by the application of attribution theory.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from restaurant managers operating their business in South Korea, considered to be qualified to provide accurate information regarding the survey questions. A scenario-based experimental approach was used to test the hypothesized relationships. Cognitive and emotional risk judgements were assessed for its potential interaction effects on the relationships between restaurant perceptions of PM source attributions, preventions attitudes and mitigation behavioral intentions.FindingsResults revealed that perceptions of PM main sources were attributed to internal rather than external factors, which improved mitigation behavioral intentions. Such an effect was partially mediated through PM pollution prevention attitudes. Additionally, when applying external source attributions, PM mitigation behavioral intentions were improved by cognitive risk judgements, and PM prevention attitudes were enhanced by affective risk judgements.Research limitations/implicationsResults assist restaurants to better understand their operations that may be emitting significant levels of PM, thereby encouraging them to set more ambitious and effective PM mitigation operational guidelines for their employees and diners.Originality/valueThis study provides a fundamental baseline of management perceptions regarding PM emissions related to restaurant mitigation behavioral intentions. Results are useful in designing appropriate communication strategies addressing restaurant PM pollution issues to improve internal restaurant practices regarding clean air quality.

Identifying the sources of human campylobacteriosis in Nigeria

Campylobacter spp. have been shown to be the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Cases of human campylobacteriosis are usually reported as sporadic and not part of an outbreak which makes the identification of the source of infection difficult. A study of the relationships within isolate populations in Nigeria and source attribution analysis of Nigerian human Campylobacter spp. to other animal isolates was carried out to determine the possible sources for human Campylobacter infection in Nigeria. The results showed nine sequence types (STs) common to both humans and livestock isolated from abattoirs, farms and live bird markets with similar STs clustering together on a phylogenetic tree, confirming a degree of genetic similarity. Source attribution analysis suggests wild birds as the most important reservoir (38%) for human Campylobacter spp. infection in Nigeria followed by chicken (23%), pig (19%), cattle (11%) and sheep (8%). This might be an indication of the importance of this infection source to humans in Nigeria and probably other low-income countries due to farming practices and human habits.

Assessment of summertime ozone formation in the Sichuan Basin, southwestern China

The alarming increase of ambient ozone (O3) levels across China raises an urgent need in understanding underlying mechanisms of regional O3 events for highly urbanized city clusters. Sichuan Basin (SCB) situated in southwestern China has experienced severe O3 pollution at times in summer from 2013 to 2020. Here, we use the WRF-CMAQ model with the Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) to investigate the evolution mechanism and conduct source attribution of an extreme O3 episode in the SCB from June 1 to 8, 2019. This typical summer O3 episode is associated with the synoptic-driven meteorological phenomenon and transboundary flow of O3 and precursors across the SCB. Weak ventilation in combination with stagnant conditions triggered the basin-wide high O3 concentrations and enhanced BVOC emissions substantially contribute up to 57.9 μg/m3 MDA8 O3. CMAQ-ISAM indicates that precursor emissions from industrial and transportation have the largest impacts on elevating ambient O3 concentrations, while power plant emissions exhibit insignificant contributions to basin-wide O3 episodes. These results improve the understanding of the summertime O3 episode in the SCB and contribute insights into designing O3 mitigation policy.

Research and Innovation Opportunities to Improve Epidemiological Knowledge and Control of Environmentally Driven Zoonoses.

While zoonotic diseases are defined by transmission processes between animals and humans, for many of these diseases the presence of a contaminated environmental source is the cause of transmission. Most zoonoses depend on complex environmentally driven interactions between humans and animals, which occur along an occupational and recreational environmental continuum, including farming and animal marketing systems, environmental management systems, and community leisure environments. Environmentally driven zoonoses (EDZs) are particularly challenging to diagnose and control as their reservoirs are in the natural environment and thus often escape conventional surveillance systems that rely on host monitoring. Changes in the environment as a result of climate change [1], human population density [2], and intensification of agriculture [3] have been linked to increasing transmission events for this group of infections. As such, there is a recognised need to be able to detect the presence of EDZs in the environment as a means to better anticipate transmission events and improve source attribution investigations. Finally, the recognition that a One Health approach is needed to combat these infections is signalling to governments the need to develop policy that optimises trade-offs across human, animal, and environmental health sectors. In this review, we discuss and critically appraise the main challenges relating to the epidemiology, diagnosis, and control of environmental zoonotic disease. Using a set of exemplar diseases, including avian influenza and antimicrobial resistant pathogens, we explore the epidemiological contexts (risk factors) within which these infections not only impact human health but also contribute to animal health and environmental impacts. We then critically appraise the surveillance challenges of monitoring these infections in the environment and examine the policy trade-offs for a more integrated approach to mitigating their impacts.

How can marine fishery enable low carbon development in China? Based on system dynamics simulation analysis

As an ingredient of the marine economy, the marine fishery has the dual attributes of carbon source and carbon sink. Marine fisheries are vital to the sustainable development of the marine economy and pivotal to the dual carbon goals. To explore the new mode of low carbon development of marine fishery, this paper utilizes system dynamics to establish the simulation model of low carbon development complex system of Chinese marine fishery for 2010 to 2019. Then, the carbon emission process of Chinese marine fishery is characterized from the perspectives of mariculture, marine fishing, marine processing industry, and marine shellfish carbon sink. This paper also performs policy simulation applying the system dynamics model to forecast and analyze marine fishery carbon emission development trends in adjusting GDP growth rate, fishery industry structure, and marine employment ratio. The simulation results indicate that the socio-economic system can influence marine fishery system development, which is an essential factor driving marine fishery carbon emissions. The number of marine fishery employment is associated with the scale of marine fishery development, which is the primary positive driving factor of carbon emissions from the marine fishery. Under the premise of excluding the heterogeneity of aquatic products, the energy consumption of the marine fishing industry is significantly higher than that of the mariculture industry in producing a unit of marine products, i.e., adjusting the structure of the marine industry can cause an inhibitory effect on the carbon emission of the marine fishery. Our findings contribute to policy implications for policymakers to reasonably restructure the marine fishery industry and the ratio of marine capture to mariculture to facilitate the low-carbon development of marine fishery.

Genomic characterization of Francisella tularensis and other diverse Francisella species from complex samples.

Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes the zoonosis tularemia, and its genetic near neighbor species, can be difficult or impossible to cultivate from complex samples. Thus, there is a lack of genomic information for these species that has, among other things, limited the development of robust detection assays for F. tularensis that are both specific and sensitive. The objective of this study was to develop and validate approaches to capture, enrich, sequence, and analyze Francisella DNA present in DNA extracts generated from complex samples. RNA capture probes were designed based upon the known pan genome of F. tularensis and other diverse species in the family Francisellaceae. Probes that targeted genomic regions also present in non-Francisellaceae species were excluded, and probes specific to particular Francisella species or phylogenetic clades were identified. The capture-enrichment system was then applied to diverse, complex DNA extracts containing low-level Francisella DNA, including human clinical tularemia samples, environmental samples (i.e., animal tissue and air filters), and whole ticks/tick cell lines, which was followed by sequencing of the enriched samples. Analysis of the resulting data facilitated rigorous and unambiguous confirmation of the detection of F. tularensis or other Francisella species in complex samples, identification of mixtures of different Francisella species in the same sample, analysis of gene content (e.g., known virulence and antimicrobial resistance loci), and high-resolution whole genome-based genotyping. The benefits of this capture-enrichment system include: even very low target DNA can be amplified; it is culture-independent, reducing exposure for research and/or clinical personnel and allowing genomic information to be obtained from samples that do not yield isolates; and the resulting comprehensive data not only provide robust means to confirm the presence of a target species in a sample, but also can provide data useful for source attribution, which is important from a genomic epidemiology perspective.

Quantitative Analysis of H+ Transportation of Nafion film on Different Substrate using Planar Inter Digitated Electrodes

Introduction: Ionomer thin-film gained attraction because of their thickness- and morphology-dependent changes in ionic conductivity. In a fuel cell catalyst layer, ionomer thin films coating the carbon-supported Pt-based catalysts (Pt/C) is distributed in spatially heterogeneous manner with variation in thickness and connectivity. Thus, it is difficult to clarify the quantitative attribution of the true source of effective proton resistance among Pt and carbon-support. To evaluate the quantitative attribution of proton conductivity of a thin-film ionomer on relevant substrates (e.g., carbon), we have fabricated specially designed interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) to accommodate different substrates upon which ionomer film is coated. In this work, we present the Nafion (~55 nm) proton (H+) transportation over carbon and quartz substrate in N2 atmosphere. Also, we will discuss the true attribution of substrate-dependence to estimate the Nafion’s thin film conductivity. Experimental: Interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) with and without carbon pad were fabricated in clean room facilities. To prepare IDEs, the patterned carbon structure was developed and pyrolyzed at 1000 ºC in 2% H2/N2 gas before the Pt deposition. 1.2% Nafion dispersion was spin coated and dried at 40ºC under vacuum before electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement in N2 atmosphere. Relative humidity (RH) dependence of in-plane H+ resistance was obtained and discussed through EIS measurements. Results and Discussion: Figure 1 (a) and (b) shows the side view of IDEs with (Pt_C_IDE) and without carbon pad (Pt_Q_IDE), and also Nafion’s (~55 nm) H+ resistance obtained from EIS measurement at various RH in N2 atmosphere. Nyquist plot (not shown) exhibited significant difference and ascribed film resistance (Mean value) for ionomer at carbon substrate was significantly lower (one order of magnitude) compared to that at the quartz substrate, as shown in Fig. 1 (c).In case of H+ resistance using Pt IDE with carbon (Pt_C_IDE), approximately 90% of the IDE area between the electrodes is carbon and the rest is quartz. Therefore, the method of estimation of Nafion’s thin film conductivity from impedance response must be reviewed carefully and will be discussed later in detail.

Source attribution of particulate matter in Berlin

The exposure to ambient particulate matter in metropolitan areas is a major health problem. A prerequisite for formulating effective mitigation strategies it to understand the origin of particulate matter in terms of source regions and sectors. We performed a source attribution of particulate matter (PM) for the Berlin agglomeration area covering the period from 2016 to 2018 using the LOTOS-EUROS chemistry transport model. The (3 year-) mean modelled urban background PM2.5 concentration (10.4 μg/m³) is largely explained by households (3.2 μg/m³) and industry & energy (2.0 μg/m³), while the remaining source sectors contribute the other half. The modelled annual mean urban increment for PM2.5 is mainly attributed to households (1.6 μg/m³) and traffic (0.5 μg/m³). With respect to its relative shares the PM10 source attribution looks similar to that of PM2.5 throughout the year, but with enhanced natural contributions. From a geographical perspective the main source area for the PM2.5 in Berlin is Germany (5.1 μg/m³) itself, followed by the contributions from transboundary transport (3.4 μg/m³). The German sources could be further split into Berlin (2.6 μg/m³), Brandenburg (0.7 μg/m³) and remaining states of Germany (1.8 μg/m³). About one third of the foreign shares can be attributed to Germany's neighbouring countries Poland and Czech Republic. During episodes these contributions can significantly differ, e.g. in February 2017 the Polish contribution is about 1/3rd. The sectoral contributions agree with previous findings except that our study indicates lower contributions for traffic. The model's underestimation of total PM is largely caused by an underestimation of the coarse mode PM. Both the coarse mode urban increment as well as the regional background concentrations are underestimated by the model, especially during summer. We suggest that the enhanced coarse material (in the city) during warm seasons is predominated by (road) resuspension processes which need more of our attention to further improve our models.

Source attribution of nitrogen oxides across Germany: Comparing the labelling approach and brute force technique with LOTOS-EUROS

Millions of people are exposed to enhanced levels of nitrogen dioxide in urbanized areas, leading to severe health effects. Moreover, nitrogen oxides contribute to the formation of ozone and particulate matter, and as such have wider health related impacts. A substantial reduction of nitrogen oxides may offer considerable health benefits for the human society. As a first step, this requires a detailed understanding of source sector contributions to nitrogen oxide levels. Whereas many regions have information on the local (traffic) contributions, the source contributions to the rural and urban background levels are commonly not available. In this study we compared and evaluated the results of two source attribution techniques to quantify the contribution of 5 source sectors to background nitrogen oxide levels across Germany. The results of a labelling technique were compared to brute force simulations with variable emission reduction percentages. The labelled NO2 source contributions of the main sectors averaged for all urban background stations are road transport (45 ± 5%), non-road transport (24 ± 6%), energy & industry (20 ± 3%), households (10 ± 6%), and the remaining source sectors (1 ± 1%). For the brute force technique, the explained mass differs from the unperturbed baseline concentration after scaling the impact of each sensitivity simulation to 100%. The attributed concentration of NO2 is lower in urban background areas (−3 ± 5%) and larger in the rural background (4 ± 6%) than that of the labelling. Largest deviations up to −15% are calculated for the major cities along the Rhine and Main. The annual average overestimation for NO is about 53 ± 24% for urban and 40 ± 26% for rural background sites based on a 20% reduction of emissions. On shorter time scales the differences are larger. These deviations are caused by (the lack of) regime changes in the titration of ozone, most notably present at ozone-limiting conditions during nocturnal winter periods. As a consequence, the differences between the methodologies are larger for smaller emission reduction percentages applied in the brute force technique. Similarly, for small-sized emission source sectors larger deviations were found compared to large-sized sector categories. Hence, applying the brute force technique for the source attribution for a single sector should be avoided as there is no way to verify for consistency and quantify the error for the sector and total explained contribution. We recommend applying the labelling approach to estimate sector contributions in forthcoming studies for nitrogen oxides.

Бронзові окімоно доби Мейдзі в музейних колекціях України: компанія Міяо

The study is focused on a bronze sculpture of small forms (okimono) of the Meiji era, in particular, art pieces that came to Europe under the Miyao brand, from the collections of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art, Lviv National Art Gallery, Feldman Family Museum (Kharkiv). The article highlights the historiographical and terminological aspects of the research topic, outlines the principles of formation of the source base, attribution, and examination of the works; the positions of prominent scientists on the artistic assessment of bronze okimono are determined. The results of the study are a reconstructed context of the formation of a new type of bronze sculpture, highlighting the transformations that took place during the Meiji reforms in the organization of the artist’s work and aesthetic landmarks; the typology of bronze sculpture and the range of main plots are determined (characters of Shinto and Buddhist mythology, Taoist hermits, heroes of folk tales, plots from the life of peasants, aristocrats, bureaucrats). In the process of studying the collections, the attribution of a group of works, the analysis of their figurative and content structure and stylistic and technological component, the typology of signatures have been carried out. Miyao’s products have been found to be the result of the loss of the domestic market and reorientation of exports: the special role of metal products in international exhibitions, the influence of the European art system, and its organic combination with traditional Japanese crafts have been emphasized. It is shown that on such grounds as increased decorativeness, the use of elements of clothing and other details identified as Chinese, a significant part of Miyao art pieces can be considered as a modern (oriental) version of Chinoiserie, or a model of Oriental Orientalism. It is proved that bronze sculpture of small forms in artistic and technological senses is worthily represented in museum collections of Ukraine, demonstrates a variety of approaches and models, typologically can relate to both applied art and decorative sculpture of small forms. The fact of preservation of the tendency to imitate Miyao’s style among the masters of the late 19th century and early 21st century has been revealed.

Seasonal Prevalence and Molecular Identification of Thermophilic Campylobacter from Chicken, Cattle, and Respective Drinking Water in Kajiado County, Kenya.

Thermophilic Campylobacter species are a leading cause of human gastroenteritis throughout the world and have been implicated in reproductive disorders (abortion), mastitis, enteritis, and/or diarrhoea in livestock. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Kajiado County to determine prevalence, seasonality, and molecular detection of thermophilic Campylobacter species (with emphasis on C. jejuni, C. coli, and other thermophilic Campylobacter species) in chicken, cattle, and respective pooled drinking water. A total of 457 samples comprising 265 cattle rectal swabs, 142 chicken cloacal swabs, and 50 trough water samples were collected from 55 randomly selected smallholder farms. Individual samples were subjected to standard techniques for isolation and biochemical tests, followed by singleplex polymerase chain reaction (sPCR) assays for identification and confirmation of genus and species. Overall, thermophilic Campylobacter prevalence was 35.4% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 31.0–39.8), with C. jejuni dominating at 55.6% (95% CI = 47.9–63.3%) over C. coli in all sample types. The highest thermophilic Campylobacter prevalence was observed in cloacal swabs of live chicken at 44.4% (95% CI = 36.2–52.6%), followed by rectal swabs from live cattle at 30.9% (95% CI = 25.3–36.5%). Water samples from cattle drinkers/trough were found to be contaminated at 34% (95% CI = 20.9–47.1%). The isolation rate was higher in cattle under the confinement system (44.3%) (95% CI = 36.1–52.5%) than in those under the free-roaming grazing system. Thermophilic Campylobacter species were isolated in both seasons, with higher prevalence (39.8% (95% CI = 33.6–45.9)) recorded during rainy and cold season in all sample types except for water. There was significant (P < 0.05) association between season and thermophilic Campylobacter occurrence, even though there were no statistical differences in the prevalence values across the two seasons. Results of this study demonstrate that cattle, chicken, and respective drinking water harbour potentially pathogenic thermophilic campylobacters, with C. jejuni being widely distributed among farms. It is possible that seasonal variations and cattle confinement result in differences in thermophilic Campylobacter carriage. Further epidemiological and phylogenetic studies comparing distribution of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. isolates in livestock, environmental, and human samples are recommended to establish source attribution to reduce the impact of resultant diseases for the wellbeing of public and livestock.

New contributions of measurements in Europe to the global inventory of the stable isotopic composition of methane

Abstract. Recent climate change mitigation strategies rely on the reduction of methane (CH4) emissions. Carbon and hydrogen isotope ratio (δ13CCH4 and δ2HCH4) measurements can be used to distinguish sources and thus to understand the CH4 budget better. The CH4 emission estimates by models are sensitive to the isotopic signatures assigned to each source category, so it is important to provide representative estimates of the different CH4 source isotopic signatures worldwide. We present new measurements of isotope signatures of various, mainly anthropogenic, CH4 sources in Europe, which represent a substantial contribution to the global dataset of source isotopic measurements from the literature, especially for δ2HCH4. They improve the definition of δ13CCH4 from waste sources, and demonstrate the use of δ2HCH4 for fossil fuel source attribution. We combined our new measurements with the last published database of CH4 isotopic signatures and with additional literature, and present a new global database. We found that microbial sources are generally well characterised. The large variability in fossil fuel isotopic compositions requires particular care in the choice of weighting criteria for the calculation of a representative global value. The global dataset could be further improved by measurements from African, South American, and Asian countries, and more measurements from pyrogenic sources. We improved the source characterisation of CH4 emissions using stable isotopes and associated uncertainty, to be used in top-down studies. We emphasise that an appropriate use of the database requires the analysis of specific parameters in relation to source type and the region of interest. The final version of the European CH4 isotope database coupled with a global inventory of fossil and non-fossil δ13CCH4 and δ2HCH4 source signature measurements is available at https://doi.org/10.24416/UU01-YP43IN (Menoud et al., 2022a).