The aim of this study was to identify a set of genetic polymorphisms that efficiently divides methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains into groups consistent with the population structure. The rationale was that such polymorphisms could underpin rapid real-time PCR or low-density array-based methods for monitoring MRSA dissemination in a cost-effective manner. Previously, the ...

In recent years there has been an increasing need to improve satellite attitude control performance in terms of agility and attitude accuracy in large-angle attitude maneuvers. To achieve such control performance, single-gimbal control moment gyros (SGCMGs) should be mounted as modern-type actuators. Conventionally, based on the torque command calculated by the attitude control system of the sa...

Exotoxins, including the hemolysins known as the alpha (alpha) and beta (beta) toxins, play an important role in the pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus infections. A random transposon library was screened for S. aureus mutants exhibiting altered hemolysin expression compared to wild type. Transposon insertions in 72 genes resulting in increased or decreased hemolysin expression were identifi...

Most cases of severe Staphylococcus aureus disease cannot be explained by the action of a single virulence determinant, and it is likely that a number of factors act in combination during the infective process. This study examined the relationship between disease in humans and a large number of putative virulence determinants, both individually and in combination. S. aureus isolates (n = 334) f...

Control of flexible structures is an open problem. Such structures can be very different, for example, robot arm or satellite solar panel. The common point between these structures is their very light weight and large length. Light structure control requires less energy but a much more complex control system to deal with vibrations. In this paper a flexible rotatory beam is modeled by Euler-Ber...

The evolution of Staphylococcus aureus has been described as predominantly clonal, based on evidence from seven housekeeping genes. We aimed to test if this was also true for more polymorphic genes. In a collection of 60 isolates including major European epidemic methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and sporadic MRSA strains, we compared the partial gene sequences of seven housekeeping genes ...

An extensive array of virulence factors associated with S. aureus has contributed significantly to its success as a major nosocomial pathogen in hospitals and community causing variety of infections in affected patients. Virulence factors include immune evading capsular polysaccharides, poly-N-acetyl glucosamine, and teichoic acid in addition to damaging toxins including hemolytic toxins, enter...

In this paper, two methods are presented for solving closed loop optimal control problem and finding dynamic load carrying capacity (DLCC) for fixed and mobile manipulators. These control laws are based on the numerical solution to nonlinear Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation. First approach is the Successive Approximation (SA) for finding solution of HJB equation in the closed loop form an...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is an increasingly important cause of nosocomial bacterial infections worldwide. S. aureus is responsible for several pathologies, including skin infections, endocarditis, meningitis, deeptissue ulcers, and sepsis. S. aureus biofilm formation on catheters and other medical devices is a major post-operative concern, because biofilms are often the sourc...

Here we present an algorithm which addresses the need to produce high performance, provably stable feedback controllers for constrained nonlinear systems with goals and constraints that are not fully specified until runtime. Our approach is to precompute a multi-query directed “roadmap”, with each segment representing a locally optimal trajectory of the system and a continuous family of verifie...