Lameness, metabolic and digestive disorders, and technical efficiency in Danish dairy herds: a stochastic frontier production function approach

The relationship between reported treatments of lameness, metabolic disorders (milk fever, ketosis), digestive disorders, and technical efficiency (TE) was investigated using neutral and non-neutral stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). TE is estimated relative to the stochastic frontier production function for a sample of 574 Danish dairy herds collected in 1997. Contrary to most published results, but in line with the expected negative impact of disorders on the average cow milk production, herds reporting higher frequencies of milk fever are less technically efficient. Unexpectedly, however, the opposite results were observed for lameness, ketosis, and digestive disorders. The non-neutral stochastic frontier indicated that the opposite results are due to the relative. high productivities of inputs. The productivity of the cows is also reflected by the direction of impact of herd management variables. Whereas efficient farms replace cows more frequently, enroll heifers in production at an earlier age, and have shorter calving intervals, they also report higher frequency of disorder treatments. The average estimated energy corrected milk loss per cow is 1036, 451 and 242 kg for low, medium and high efficient farms. The study demonstrates the benefit of the stochastic frontier production function involving the estimation of individual technical efficiencies to evaluate farm performance and investigate the source of inefficiency. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

RI MELHOR QUEM RI NA SALA DE AULA? UM ESTUDO SOBRE A PERCEPÇÃO DO RISO POR ALUNOS E PROFESSORES

Pouco discutido no âmbito pedagógico, o riso tem sido historicamente dissociado da escola, motivo pelo qual este trabalho tem como objetivo identificar como ele é percebido em sala de aula. A proposta é entender como o riso e sua função social são vistos por professores e alunos. Para isso, foi selecionada uma escola pública estadual na cidade de São Bernardo do Campo, SP. Lá são atendidos adolescentes que frequentam as aulas no Ensino Fundamental II e Médio. A pesquisa foi realizada com estudantes que estão terminando o Ensino Fundamental. Cem alunos responderam a questionários estruturados, compostos por itens de perfil e questões abertas. O mesmo foi feito com dezenove professores da referida escola, entretanto as questões para cada público sofreram variações. Como categoria analítica, foi utilizado o conceito de representação da Teoria de Representações Sociais, de forma instrumental. Os resultados obtidos indicam que os sujeitos observam um conceito híbrido presente na composição do objeto em análise, de forma que o avaliam ora como um elemento nocivo, ora como um recurso estimulante a aulas mais agradáveis. Foi constatado que os alunos riem na escola, mas é expressivo o fato de não associar essa ação ao contexto escolar. Os estudantes reforçam que o riso na sala de aula atrapalha a concentração, embora sejam conscientes de que essa constatação é circunstancial. Em contrapartida, mais de 60 alunos afirmaram já terem aprendido algo com a interferência do riso, sendo o professor o principal protagonista nesses momentos. Com relação aos docentes, a maioria afirmou que o riso pode ajudar o aluno a aprender algo, mas compreendem que a maior contribuição desse elemento na sala de aula é a de proporcionar um ambiente mais agradável. As duas desvantagens mais listadas pelos professores sobre o riso na sala de aula é a de que ele pode provocar a falta de atenção do aluno e também momentos de bullying entre os colegas de sala. Acredita-se que a associação do ambiente escolar com manifestações de seriedade justifique as frequentes referências feitas ao seu aspecto negativo, retratado na pesquisa pelos sujeitos. Mais da metade dos docentes analisa que o riso pode servir como instrumento pedagógico, entretanto os alunos afirmam que isso depende do professor e do momento. A pesquisa deixou evidente que o aspecto negativo do riso impede que este objeto seja mais bem aceito na escola, de forma que a percepção que os sujeitos fazem sobre o riso passa a interferir na relação que estabelecem com ele em sala de aula.

Antimicrobial efficacy of chlorhexidine digluconate alone and in combination with eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil and thymol against planktonic and biofilm cultures of Staphylococcus epidermidis

Objectives Effective skin antisepsis and disinfection of medical devices are key factors in preventing many healthcare-acquired infections associated with skin microorganisms, particularly Staphylococcus epidermidis. The aim of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial efficacy of chlorhexidine digluconate (CHG), a widely used antiseptic in clinical practice, alone and in combination with tea tree oil (TTO), eucalyptus oil (EO) and thymol against planktonic and biofilm cultures of S. epidermidis. Methods Antimicrobial susceptibility assays against S. epidermidis in a suspension and in a biofilm mode of growth were performed with broth microdilution and ATP bioluminescence methods, respectively. Synergy of antimicrobial agents was evaluated with the chequerboard method. Results CHG exhibited antimicrobial activity against S. epidermidis in both suspension and biofilm (MIC 2–8 mg/L). Of the essential oils thymol exhibited the greatest antimicrobial efficacy (0.5–4 g/L) against S. epidermidis in suspension and biofilm followed by TTO (2–16 g/L) and EO (4–64 g/L). MICs of CHG and EO were reduced against S. epidermidis biofilm when in combination (MIC of 8 reduced to 0.25–1 mg/L and MIC of 32–64 reduced to 4 g/L for CHG and EO, respectively). Furthermore, the combination of EO with CHG demonstrated synergistic activity against S. epidermidis biofilm with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of <0.5. Conclusions The results from this study suggest that there may be a role for essential oils, in particular EO, for improved skin antisepsis when combined with CHG.

CFD modelling of the fast pyrolysis of biomass in fluidised bed reactors. Part B: Heat, momentum and mass transport in bubbling fluidised beds

The fluid–particle interaction inside a 150 g/h fluidised bed reactor is modelled. The biomass particle is injected into the fluidised bed and the heat, momentum and mass transport from the fluidising gas and fluidised sand is modelled. The Eulerian approach is used to model the bubbling behaviour of the sand, which is treated as a continuum. Heat transfer from the bubbling bed to the discrete biomass particle, as well as biomass reaction kinetics are modelled according to the literature. The particle motion inside the reactor is computed using drag laws, dependent on the local volume fraction of each phase. FLUENT 6.2 has been used as the modelling framework of the simulations with the whole pyrolysis model incorporated in the form of user-defined function (UDF). The study completes the fast pyrolysis modelling in bubbling fluidised bed reactors.

Auctioneers and misdescription:between Scylla and Charybdis

In Elidor Investments SA v Christie's, Manson Woods Ltd the court implied a term as to Wednesbury reasonableness into an auctioneer's agency contract which fettered its ‘sole and complete discretion’ to describe lots. It is contended that, in so doing, the court unjustifiably and unnecessarily extended the jurisdiction into areas where it was not required and, in granting an injunction to restrain the sale of the lots, failed properly to apply the appropriate criteria.

Derivation of Context-free Stochastic L-Grammar Rules for Promoter Sequence Modeling Using Support Vector Machine

Formal grammars can used for describing complex repeatable structures such as DNA sequences. In this paper, we describe the structural composition of DNA sequences using a context-free stochastic L-grammar. L-grammars are a special class of parallel grammars that can model the growth of living organisms, e.g. plant development, and model the morphology of a variety of organisms. We believe that parallel grammars also can be used for modeling genetic mechanisms and sequences such as promoters. Promoters are short regulatory DNA sequences located upstream of a gene. Detection of promoters in DNA sequences is important for successful gene prediction. Promoters can be recognized by certain patterns that are conserved within a species, but there are many exceptions which makes the promoter recognition a complex problem. We replace the problem of promoter recognition by induction of context-free stochastic L-grammar rules, which are later used for the structural analysis of promoter sequences. L-grammar rules are derived automatically from the drosophila and vertebrate promoter datasets using a genetic programming technique and their fitness is evaluated using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The artificial promoter sequences generated using the derived L- grammar rules are analyzed and compared with natural promoter sequences.

Volt-e likviditási válság? Volatilitás és likviditás kapcsolatának vizsgálata (Was there a liquidity crisis? Analysis the relationship between volatility and liquidity)

Széleskörűen alátámasztott, empirikus tény, hogy önmagában a nagyobb volatilitás csökkenti a piac likviditását, vagyis változékonyabb piacokon várhatóan nagyobb lesz egy-egy tranzakció áreltérítő hatása. Kutatásomban azt a kérdést vizsgáltam, hogy a Budapesti Értéktőzsdén az OTP-részvény piacán a 2007/2008-as válságban tapasztalható, átmeneti likviditáscsökkenés betudható volt-e egyszerűen a megnövekedett volatilitásnak, vagy ezen túl abban más tényezők (pl. a szereplők körének és viselkedésének drasztikus megváltozása, általános forráscsökkenés stb.) is szerepet játszhattak-e. A volatilitást a loghozamok szórásával, illetve a tényleges ársávval, míg az illikviditást a Budapesti Likviditási Mértékkel (BLM) reprezentáltam. Egyrészt azt állapítottam meg, hogy az OTP esetében a tényleges ársáv szorosabban korrelál a BLM-mel, mint a szórás. Másrészt az is egyértelmű, hogy a válság előtti kapcsolat a volatilitás és a likviditás között a válságban és azután már jelentősen megváltozott. Válságban az illikviditás jóval nagyobb volt, mint amit a volatilitás növekedése alapján vártunk, a válság lecsengése után azonban megfordult ez a reláció. _________ It is a widely supported empirical fact, that the greater volatility in itself decreases the liquidity of the market, namely more volatile a market is, the higher a transaction’s price impact will be. I have examined in my paper the question, whether the decrease of liquidity during the crisis of 2007/2008 in case of the OTP stock – traded on the Budapest Stock Exchange – was the consequence of the increased volatility, or other factors had an effect on the illiquidity as well (e.g.: the drastic change of market participants’ behaviour; reduction of fi nancing sources; etc.). I have represented volatility with the standard deviation of the logreturns, and with the true range, while the illiquidity with the Budapest Liquidity Measure (BLM). On one hand I have identifi ed, that in case of the OTP, the true range has a stronger relationship with the BLM than the standard deviation has. On the other hand it was clear, that the relationship between volatility and liquidity has changed notably during and after the crisis. During crisis the illiquidity was greater than what I have estimated based on the volatility increase, but after the crisis this relation has changed.

Undergraduate catalog (Florida International University). [1995-1996]

https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/catalogs/1036/thumbnail.jpg

Aerial photo of southern boardwalk at TS/Ph-7b, Taylor Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Severe Heat Cramps in a High School Football Player: A Case Report

We present a case study of an adolescent football player who suffered from severe full body muscle cramping after supplementing with creatine for two months. A paucity of data exists regarding the safety of creatine supplementation and its side effects on dehydration, body fluid/electrolyte balance, and other heat illnesses.

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Photo from the Wolfsonian ArtBasel event on 12/2/2046