Method to estimate soil macroporosity and microporosity based on sand content and bulk density

Macroporosity is often used in the determination of soil compaction. Reduced macroporosity can lead to poor drainage, low root aeration and soil degradation. The aim of this study was to develop and test different models to estimate macro and microporosity efficiently, using multiple regression. Ten soils were selected within a large range of textures: sand (Sa) 0.07-0.84; silt 0.03-0.24; clay 0.13-0.78 kg kg-1 and subjected to three compaction levels (three bulk densities, BD). Two models with similar accuracy were selected, with a mean error of about 0.02 m³ m-3 (2 %). The model y = a + b.BD + c.Sa, named model 2, was selected for its simplicity to estimate Macro (Ma), Micro (Mi) or total porosity (TP): Ma = 0.693 - 0.465 BD + 0.212 Sa; Mi = 0.337 + 0.120 BD - 0.294 Sa; TP = 1.030 - 0.345 BD 0.082 Sa; porosity values were expressed in m³ m-3; BD in kg dm-3; and Sa in kg kg-1. The model was tested with 76 datum set of several other authors. An error of about 0.04 m³ m-3 (4 %) was observed. Simulations of variations in BD as a function of Sa are presented for Ma = 0 and Ma = 0.10 (10 %). The macroporosity equation was remodeled to obtain other compaction indexes: a) to simulate maximum bulk density (MBD) as a function of Sa (Equation 11), in agreement with literature data; b) to simulate relative bulk density (RBD) as a function of BD and Sa (Equation 13); c) another model to simulate RBD as a function of Ma and Sa (Equation 16), confirming the independence of this variable in relation to Sa for a fixed value of macroporosity and, also, proving the hypothesis of Hakansson & Lipiec that RBD = 0.87 corresponds approximately to 10 % macroporosity (Ma = 0.10 m³ m-3).

3-year follow-up results of bone mineral content and density after a school-based physical activity randomized intervention trial.

BACKGROUND: As an important modifiable lifestyle factor in osteoporosis prevention, physical activity has been shown to positively influence bone mass accrual during growth. We have previously shown that a nine month general school based physical activity intervention increased bone mineral content (BMC) and density (aBMD) in primary school children. From a public health perspective, a major key issue is whether these effects persist during adolescence. We therefore measured BMC and aBMD three years after cessation of the intervention to investigate whether the beneficial short-term effects persisted. METHODS: All children from 28 randomly selected first and fifth grade classes (intervention group (INT): 16 classes, n=297; control group (CON): 12 classes, n=205) who had participated in KISS (Kinder-und Jugendsportstudie) were contacted three years after cessation of the intervention program. The intervention included daily physical education with daily impact loading activities over nine months. Measurements included anthropometry, vigorous physical activity (VPA) by accelerometers, and BMC/aBMD for total body, femoral neck, total hip, and lumbar spine by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Sex- and age-adjusted Z-scores of BMC or aBMD at follow-up were regressed on intervention (1 vs. 0), the respective Z-score at baseline, gender, follow-up height and weight, pubertal stage at follow-up, previous and current VPA, adjusting for clustering within schools. RESULTS: 377 of 502 (75%) children participated in baseline DXA measurements and of those, 214 (57%) participated to follow-up. At follow-up INT showed significantly higher Z-scores of BMC at total body (adjusted group difference: 0.157 units (0.031-0.283); p=0.015), femoral neck (0.205 (0.007-0.402); p=0.042) and at total hip (0.195 (0.036 to 0.353); p=0.016) and higher Z-scores of aBMD for total body (0.167 (0.016 to 0.317); p=0.030) compared to CON, representing 6-8% higher values for children in the INT. No differences could be found for the remaining bone parameters. For the subpopulation with baseline VPA (n=163), effect sizes became stronger after baseline VPA adjustment. After adjustment for baseline and current VPA (n=101), intervention effects were no longer significant, while effect sizes remained the same as without adjustment for VPA. CONCLUSION: Beneficial effects on BMC of a nine month general physical activity intervention appeared to persist over three years. Part of the maintained effects may be explained by current physical activity.

A new poly(ortho ester)-based drug delivery system as an adjunct treatment in filtering surgery.

PURPOSE: Pharmacologic modulation of wound healing after glaucoma filtering surgery remains a major clinical challenge in ophthalmology. Poly(ortho ester) (POE) is a bioerodible and biocompatible viscous polymer potentially useful as a sustained drug delivery system that allows the frequency of intraocular injections to be reduced. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of POE containing a precise amount of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in an experimental model of filtering surgery in the rabbit. METHODS: Trabeculectomy was performed in pigmented rabbit eyes. An ointmentlike formulation of POE containing 1% wt/wt 5-FU was injected subconjunctivally at the site of surgery, during the procedure. Intraocular pressure (IOP), bleb persistence, and ocular inflammatory reaction were monitored until postoperative day 30. Quantitative analysis of 5-FU was performed in the anterior chamber. Histologic analysis was used to assess the appearance of the filtering fistula and the polymer's biocompatibility. RESULTS: The decrease in IOP from baseline and the persistence of the filtering bleb were significantly more marked in the 5-FU-treated eyes during postoperative days 9 through 28. Corneal toxicity triggered by 5-FU was significantly lower in the group that received 5-FU in POE compared with a 5-FU tamponade. Histopathologic evaluation showed that POE was well tolerated, and no fibrosis occurred in eyes treated with POE containing 5-FU. CONCLUSIONS: In this rabbit model of trabeculectomy, the formulation based on POE and containing a precise amount of 5-FU reduced IOP and prolonged bleb persistence in a way similar to the conventional method of a 5-FU tamponade, while significantly reducing 5-FU toxicity.

XML-based content transformation in converged service development

Tele- ja dataviestinnän yhdistyminen digitaaliseen sisältöön luo uusia palveluideoita sekä mobiili- että internetverkkoihin. Nämä palvelut kehitetään usein erikseen, jolloin saman sisällön käyttäminen eri pääsymenetelmin ei ole mahdollista. Sisältömuunnos on mahdollista sisällön ja muotoilun eriyttämisellä, joka puolestaan vaatii informaatioyksiköiden merkkauksen sisältöä kuvaavilla lisätiedoilla. Tässä diplomityössä tutkitaan Extensible Markup Languagen (XML) käyttöä yhdistyneiden palvelujen sisältömuunnoksessa. Nykyisiä ja tulevia palveluita ja verkkoja tarkastellaan sekä sisällön että liiketoiminnan kannalta. Lisäksi esitellään lyhyesti omia ajatuksia ja käsityksiä yhdistyneistä palveluista ja informaation täsmällisyydestä. Työn käytännön osuudessa kuvataan itse suunniteltu palvelualusta sekä esitellään sen avulla rakennettuja sovelluksia

Managing R&D Content with Web-based KM Software

Työssä tutkittiin tehokasta tietojohtamista globaalin metsäteollisuusyrityksen tutkimus ja kehitys verkostossa. Työn tavoitteena oli rakentaa kuvaus tutkimus ja kehitys sisällön hallintaan kohdeyrityksen käyttämän tietojohtamisohjelmiston avulla. Ensin selvitettiin käsitteitä tietämys ja tietojohtaminen kirjallisuuden avulla. Selvityksen perusteella esitettiin prosessimalli, jolla tietämystä voidaan tehokkaasti hallita yrityksessä. Seuraavaksi analysoitiin tietojohtamisen asettamia vaatimuksia informaatioteknologialle ja informaatioteknologian roolia prosessimallissa. Verkoston vaatimukset tietojohtamista kohtaan selvitettiin haastattelemalla yrityksen avainhenkilöitä. Haastatteluiden perusteella järjestelmän tuli tehokkaasti tukea virtuaalisten projektiryhmien työskentelyä, mahdollistaa tehtaiden välinen tietämyksen jakaminen ja tukea järjestelmään syötetyn sisällön hallintaa. Ensiksi järjestelmän käyttöliittymän rakenne ja salaukset muokattiin vastaamaan verkoston tarpeita. Rakenne tarjoaa työalueen työryhmille ja alueet tehtaiden väliseen tietämyksen jakamiseen. Sisällönhallintaa varten järjestelmään kehitettiin kategoria, profiloitu portaali ja valmiiksi määriteltyjä hakuja. Kehitetty malli tehostaa projektiryhmien työskentelyä, mahdollistaa olemassa olevan tietämyksen hyväksikäytön tehdastasolla sekä helpottaa tutkimus ja kehitys aktiviteettien seurantaa. Toimenpide-ehdotuksina esitetään järjestelmän integrointia tehtaiden operatiivisiin ohjausjärjestelmiin ja ohjelmiston käyttöönottoa tehdastason projektinhallinta työkaluksi.Ehdotusten tavoitteena on varmistaa sekä tehokas tietämyksen jakaminen tehtaiden välillä että tehokas tietojohtaminen tehdastasolla.

Inter-rater Reliability of Criteria-Based Content Analysis of Children's Statements of Abuse.

The evaluation of children's statements of sexual abuse cases in forensic cases is critically important and must and reliable. Criteria-based content analysis (CBCA) is the main component of the statement validity assessment (SVA), which is the most frequently used approach in this setting. This study investigated the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of CBCA in a forensic context. Three independent raters evaluated the transcripts of 95 statements of sexual abuse. IRR was calculated for each criterion, total score, and overall evaluation. The IRR was variable for the criteria, with several being unsatisfactory. But high IRR was found for the total CBCA scores (Kendall's W = 0.84) and for overall evaluation (Kendall's W = 0.65). Despite some shortcomings, SVA remains a robust method to be used in the comprehensive evaluation of children's statements of sexual abuse in the forensic setting. However, the low IRR of some CBCA criteria could justify some technical improvements.

The Role of Video Based Content Marketing as a Part of Modern Marketing Communications

The thesis studies the role of video based content marketing as a part of modern marketing communications.

A novel polar-based human face recognition computational model

Motivated by a recently proposed biologically inspired face recognition approach, we investigated the relation between human behavior and a computational model based on Fourier-Bessel (FB) spatial patterns. We measured human recognition performance of FB filtered face images using an 8-alternative forced-choice method. Test stimuli were generated by converting the images from the spatial to the FB domain, filtering the resulting coefficients with a band-pass filter, and finally taking the inverse FB transformation of the filtered coefficients. The performance of the computational models was tested using a simulation of the psychophysical experiment. In the FB model, face images were first filtered by simulated V1- type neurons and later analyzed globally for their content of FB components. In general, there was a higher human contrast sensitivity to radially than to angularly filtered images, but both functions peaked at the 11.3-16 frequency interval. The FB-based model presented similar behavior with regard to peak position and relative sensitivity, but had a wider frequency band width and a narrower response range. The response pattern of two alternative models, based on local FB analysis and on raw luminance, strongly diverged from the human behavior patterns. These results suggest that human performance can be constrained by the type of information conveyed by polar patterns, and consequently that humans might use FB-like spatial patterns in face processing.

Web based content and hybrid teaching: student perceptions of the effectiveness of using web based content and hyper-linked teaching units in teaching hybrid business and marketing post secondary classes /

This exploratory, descriptive action research study is based on a survey of a sample of convenience consisting of 172 college and university marketing students, and 5 professors who were experienced in teaching in an internet based environment. The students that were surveyed were studying e-commerce and international business in 3^^ and 4*'' year classes at a leading imiversity in Ontario and e-commerce in 5^ semester classes at a leading college. These classes were taught using a hybrid teaching style with the contribution of a large website that contained pertinent text and audio material. Hybrid teaching employs web based course materials (some in the form of Learning Objects) to deliver curriculimi material both during the attended lectures and also for students accessing the course web page outside of class hours. The survey was in the form on an online questionnaire. The research questions explored in this study were: 1. What factors influence the students' ability to access and learn from web based course content? 2. How likely are the students to use selected elements of internet based curriculum for learning academic content? 3. What is the preferred physical environment to facilitate learning in a hybrid environment? 4. How effective are selected teaching/learning strategies in a hybrid environment? The findings of this study suggest that students are very interested in being part of the learning process by contributing to a course web site. Specifically, students are interested in audio content being one of the formats of online course material, and have an interest in being part of the creation of small audio clips to be used in class.

A Motion compensated filtering approach to remove sunlight flicker in shallow water images

A common problem in video surveys in very shallow waters is the presence of strong light fluctuations, due to sun light refraction. Refracted sunlight casts fast moving patterns, which can significantly degrade the quality of the acquired data. Motivated by the growing need to improve the quality of shallow water imagery, we propose a method to remove sunlight patterns in video sequences. The method exploits the fact that video sequences allow several observations of the same area of the sea floor, over time. It is based on computing the image difference between a given reference frame and the temporal median of a registered set of neighboring images. A key observation is that this difference will have two components with separable spectral content. One is related to the illumination field (lower spatial frequencies) and the other to the registration error (higher frequencies). The illumination field, recovered by lowpass filtering, is used to correct the reference image. In addition to removing the sunflickering patterns, an important advantage of the approach is the ability to preserve the sharpness in corrected image, even in the presence of registration inaccuracies. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated in image sets acquired under strong camera motion containing non-rigid benthic structures. The results testify the good performance and generality of the approach

Validity evidence based on test content

Resumen tomado de la publicación

A singular vector perspective of 4D-Var: Filtering and interpolation

Four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) combines the information from a time sequence of observations with the model dynamics and a background state to produce an analysis. In this paper, a new mathematical insight into the behaviour of 4D-Var is gained from an extension of concepts that are used to assess the qualitative information content of observations in satellite retrievals. It is shown that the 4D-Var analysis increments can be written as a linear combination of the singular vectors of a matrix which is a function of both the observational and the forecast model systems. This formulation is used to consider the filtering and interpolating aspects of 4D-Var using idealized case-studies based on a simple model of baroclinic instability. The results of the 4D-Var case-studies exhibit the reconstruction of the state in unobserved regions as a consequence of the interpolation of observations through time. The results also exhibit the filtering of components with small spatial scales that correspond to noise, and the filtering of structures in unobserved regions. The singular vector perspective gives a very clear view of this filtering and interpolating by the 4D-Var algorithm and shows that the appropriate specification of the a priori statistics is vital to extract the largest possible amount of useful information from the observations. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society

Effect of breed, gender, housing system and dietary crude protein content on performance of finishing beef cattle fed maize-silage-based diets

Maize silage-based diets with three dietary crude protein (CP) supplements were offered to 96 finishing cattle of contrasting breed (Holstein Friesian (HF) v. Simmental x HF (SHF)) and gender (bull v. steer) housed in two types of feeding system (group fed v. individually fed). The three protein supplements differed either in CP or protein degradability (degradable (LUDP) v. rumen undegradable (HUDP)) and provided CP concentrations of 142 (Con), 175 (LUDP) and 179 (HUDP) g/kg dry matter (DM) respectively, with ratios of degradable to undegradable of 3.0, 1.4 and 0.9:1 for diets Con, LOP and HUDP respectively. DM intakes were marginally higher (P = 0. 102) for LOP when compared with Con and HOP Rates of daily live-weight gain (DLWG) were higher (P = 0.005) in LUDP and HOP when compared with Con. HF had higher DM intakes than SHF although this did not result in any improvement in HF DLWG. Bulls had significantly better DM intakes, DLWG and feed conversion efficiency than steers. Conformation scores were better in SHF than HF (P < 0.001) and fat scores lower in bulls than steers (p < 0.001). There was a number of first order interactions established between dietary treatment, breed, gender and housing system with respect to rates of gain and carcass fat scores.